Car Freak

Many kids dream about being an astronaut or a football player, I dreamt of Lamborghinis and being a racecar driver. I know many gearheads were the exact same way, and now some own a Lamborghini, some drive racecars, but others carry out their love for cars as a hobby. This is done by getting a fictional Ph.D in car knowledge, playing racing simulators or sitting down with a friend and your drink of choice watching Top Gear.  This all sounds fun, but the reality is that Ferrari basically doesn’t sell manual gearboxes anymore, gas is nearing $5 a gallon and most of us don’t own the car of our dreams.

I have heard many people complain about the state of the automotive industry, and yes, there is some cause for concern. More governmental regulations mean car makers have to jump through more hoops to make their cars, and the lack of customer support for manual transmissions is causing Ferrari and others to abandon them altogether. But let’s not misplace blame. Ferrari only stopped making manuals because people stopped buying them, and most car companies have nothing to do with government regulations, the voters do.  So yes, although we car lovers are frowned upon more than ever, I would argue that today, right now in 2012, the people passionate about cars are making the best cars ever. I’m here to tell you why.

Competition Creates Change

Whether it’s competition from the price of gas, financial struggles, or other automakers, the automotive industry is facing stiff competition and resistance from all sides. But this is helping to create amazing technological advances. For a start, the 2013 Porsche Boxster is said to get 35mpg or better! That means that very soon we could have a Porsche that gets 40mpg without hybrid technology. We have a new Mustang GT500 that goes 202mph, a Lamborghini Aventador with a brand new flame spitting V12, and automakers such as Pagani, Koenigsegg and Bugatti are still producing extremely powerful cars that, let’s be honest, will never reach their potential with most of the customers who buy them (I’m looking at you, who put your ski rack on a Koenigsegg Agera R).

More exciting than this however, is that the spirit of automotive enthusiasm is being preserved by the automakers. Despite the abandoning of traditional gearboxes, Ferrari president Luca di Montezemelo has said that we will “never see a Ferrari electric because I don’t believe in electric cars”. However he has mentioned they are working on hybrids. I have nothing against electric cars, but it’s good to know that Ferrari, among others, will continue to invest in gas powered engines.

I can think of nothing that represents the spirit of driving more than the Toyota FT-86/Scion FRS/Subaru BRZ that is being released this year. The car is the opposite of what most cars today are becoming. The car is small, light, with less than 200hp and the manual transmission is preferred.  It is a front-engined, rear-drive, affordable sports car that has been on the minds of the guys at Toyota for many years. The car was made to be accessible with the focus on the joy of driving. Read any review of the car and it’s obvious that the designers intended the car to be fun, not just about shaving tenths off a lap time. Even the proposed STI version of the BRZ is said to be focused on handling alone, with no extra power out of the boxer 4 cylinder! It feels to me like Toyota and Subaru are purposefully rebelling against the trend of going faster and faster in favor of a driver-focused, fun car and I love it!

Driving is slowly becoming more and more of an exclusive hobby. Yes, everyone gets in their car and travels from point A to point B, but not everyone drives. The people who love cars are standing out more in a crowd, and that’s a good thing. We now have movies that are called “Drive” and the best car channel on Youtube right now is called “Drive”. The art of driving and the hobby of cars is more prevalent, and the results are truly exciting for us gearheads.

I recently had a discussion with a friend of mine who said “I am not a fan of all this new technology. To me a supercar is a wild, flame-spitting, out-of-control monster of a car, and there are less and less of those now”.  Some have called the new Lamborghini Aventador “tame” and less like a real Lamborghini. Even the new Viper SRT-10, being released later this year, will have (gasp) traction control. I love a good Lamborghini Diablo roar, or a wild Z06 careening around a track, but we have better technology now, and we should use it. If I want something wild, Lamborghini did that for 40 years, I have options. A quick look at the pinnacle of automotive enjoyment and motorsports tells us that the way to get around a track best requires a dual clutch transmission.  Even though certain automotive journalists look down on “flappy paddle gearboxes”, it is, in my opinion, time to embrace the new technology, because there is no going back to manual gearboxes as the norm, as much as we may want it. It would benefit the entire automotive community if we would stop wading in the past glory of old technology, and embrace the new golden age of performance cars.

Carfreak’s videos to watch:

Please help the greatest car commercial ever get more than 4,000 views. It is a perfect portrayal of the young gearhead.

Chris Harris is in my opinion the greatest current automotive journalist. This is an excellent video of Chris living with the Porsche 911 GT3 RS 4.0. From the slow motion oversteer to eating breakfast on the rear wing, he shows how to properly live with and portray a car.

January Cars and Coffee in Plano, TX

I had the pleasure of going to Cars and Coffee again in Plano, Texas. It was an amazing show! If you are any way interested in fine automobiles, you must try and attend this event. It is the first Saturday of the month, and I guarantee it is worth the drive, even if you are not in the Dallas area.

There were many high points of the show, including a brand new McLaren MP4-12C and a Lamborghini Aventador, both of which I had never seen in person.  However the most exciting thing for me was the presence of the Yokohoma Racing Lamborghini Gallardo LP560-4 GT car! This car has been participating in the American LeMans series in the GT class all over the country, and here it was in Plano, TX! Not only that, but one of the drivers of the car, Dominik Schwager, was there too! I didn’t get the chance to talk to him, as he was surrounded by a mob of people for most of the day, but I did overhear him a little talking about the racing he has done all over the world, including places like Abu Dhabi! It was extremely exciting to have this driver and his car right here to look at, and a Lamborghini race car no less! It doesn’t get much better than that. I have included some links with information about the driver at the bottom.

There were police officers at the show making sure people didn’t get too crazy when leaving, but that didn’t stop them! There were at least 3 times  where someone burned rubber in front of everyone, and a cop proceeded to race after them, much to the crowds delight, although quite unfortunate for the drivers! There was actually a wreck, although thankfully not near the crowd. A BMW decided to punch it going onto the toll way, hit the curb, and overcorrected into the wall. We watched the whole thing.

Suffice it to say, between all this and almost everyone else giving it full throttle while leaving, it was quite an exciting show! I have uploaded many pictures of the show and a short video of some of the exits as well. Links below. Enjoy!

Pictures: http://www.flickr.com/photos/32006262@N04/sets/72157628827836401/

Video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8ELsC1pzRYg

Dominik Schwager and his car:

http://gt1world.com/drivers/profile/RG9taW5payBTY2h3YWdlcg==

http://www.motorsport.com/alms/photo/main-gallery/008-west-yokohama-racing-lamborghini-gallardo-lp-560-4-nicky-pastorelli-dominik-12

The muscle car wars are becoming a little one sided. The battle between Ford, Chevy and Dodge is hardly even a fair fight. Not too long ago Ford and Chevy fought like Ali vs Foreman, Chevy and the Camaro put up a good fight, but in the end, Ford, just like Ali would always end up the winner. With the announcement of the 2013 Shelby GT500 however,  the battle looks a little bit like Ali fighting a little girl with balloons for boxing gloves. It’s not even a fair fight.

With 2013 expected to be the last year of the current generation Mustang before a complete overhaul, Ford and it’s engineers are using the GT500 as a last hurrah of sorts; a final stake in the ground to announce who is the king of current muscle cars. Let’s go through some numbers. It is now pumping out 650HP, and 600 lb-feet of torque with an increased output of 5.8 liters from its supercharged V8, all while avoiding the gas-guzzler tax with an expected 24MPG highway.  Impressive, but no one ever complained about the “old” GT500 not having enough power, the problem was getting that power to the ground.  Ford has the answer to this with revised gear ratios to improve traction to 60 and top speed. This means that the 2.66 first gear, along with the 3.31 final drive, will get the GT5000 to 62 in first gear, and on to a top speed of 202mph.  With an expected power-to-weight ratio of 5.9, I would expect the car to power to 60 in the mid 3 second range and run the quarter mile in the high 11’s.

With these kinds of numbers, it doesn’t just compete with the Camaro’s measly 580HP, it takes on everything from Chevy. It  even has 12 more horsepower than the Corvette ZR1. Ford says this is the most powerful production V8 ever. This is not completely true, if taken literally, there are some cars that beat it. (Such as this.) But it is the most powerful mass production V8 engine ever built.

Going this fast will means two things: the car will need to stop fast, and any curves in the road will appear very quickly. Ford has addressed these problems with improved suspension, brakes and aerodynamics. There are two optional packages to increase performance; the Performance package and the even more hardcore Track package. Included in the Performance package are electronically adjustable Bilstein shocks, adjustable to Normal and Sport modes, a Torsen limited-slip differential and Recaro seats. The Track package adds extra coolers for the engine oil, transmission and differential. For stopping power, bigger Brembo brakes come as standard. The Mustang has never been able to glide through the air like more expensive cars , Ford addressed this by equipping a new front splitter and grille.  This improves the aerodynamics 30% at 160MPH compared to the 2012 model.

With this extra performance, we can expect a significant increase in the current base price of $49,605. However, even if the price goes up to $60,000, the 2013 Mustang GT500 will still be the bargain of the current automotive world. Racing legend Carroll Shelby was on hand at the Los Angeles Auto Show to unveil the car, and standing strong at 89 years old he proudly proclaimed that this was the greatest Mustang ever built. Not only that, but it could be on track to become one of the most legendary cars ever built with its combination of speed, handling and affordability. The Mustang has grown up; it is no longer a muscle car, it has been promoted and earned the right to be called a fully-fledged supercar.

*photo is not mine

They say it’s not what you know, but who you know.  One day I am visiting a local car show and the next I’m riding shotgun in a 2005 Lotus Elise.  A local freelance web designer and car enthusiast, Tony Maples (Tonymaples806 for the Lotus Forum), was kind enough to spend half a day letting me take pictures and video of his beautiful Elise. Tony Maples is a prospective member of the Sun*Works team, and has done some very tasteful modifications to his Lotus.  Lubbock is mostly dust, trucks and wannabe street racers, so it was a treat to come across this beautiful Lotus Elise. This was very exciting for me, as the Elise is a strict driver’s car. The Elise is one of the few remaining cars that glorifies driving as a hobby. The same way football or tennis are hobbies and showcase the art of the sport, so the Lotus rewards the driver for doing just that, driving.

Initial impressions of the Elise are positive. Walking up to the car there is a strong sense of beholding an exotic vehicle. This is one of the best qualities of the Elise, they look, drive and feel exotic, but can be had for non-exotic prices. The Elise is so low to the ground (approximately 45 inches tall) that one has to almost fall into the seat, partly because you must step over the doorsill (which is actually the frame of the car) and descend into the seat.

I have spent quite a few hours riding in the Elise, and the characteristics of the car are very…defined. As mentioned before, it is a strict driver’s car, it was made for going fast in every direction. The suspension is very hard; the seats certainly did not come out of a Bentley; and the acceleration is sudden and rough. Depending on what you are looking for in a car, this is certainly not a bad thing. I can only imagine driving this car on a curvy mountain road! However, depending on the roads, it could be unpleasant.  All of this to say, if you are thinking of buying an Elise, I highly recommend taking a test drive. For me personally, the joys of driving overcome any other flaws the car may have.

Speaking of the joys of driving, the Lotus has this in spades. Because everything about this car is so raw, you hear the creaks and rattles, you feel every bump in the road, and most importantly, you hear the sound of the engine right behind you. With an inline 4-cylinder, Toyota-sourced engine, the sound this car makes is not unlike many sport motorcycles, which is a very good thing, especially when that sound is revving up to about 9,000RPM and making 190BHP in a car that weighs approximately 2000 lbs. In fact, the driving experience is similar to a motorcycle in many ways. The car is so raw, that you could probably tell the difference between running  over a quarter or a penny. Part of the reason a motorcycle is appealing is because you feel “one with the road”. This is the purpose of the Lotus Elise. If you want to make a business call, drink your coffee, or text your girlfriend, get a different car, because this car was made for driving.

I have come to the conclusion that it would be very hard to be in a bad mood when driving the Lotus Elise. The whole time I was riding shotgun, people never ceased to give compliments, wave hello and want to take pictures with the car! Warning: do not buy this car if you are shy. As my friend Tony said “driving the Lotus is like waking up with the face of George Clooney”, people are going to notice, and ask about it!

Above all else, this car is loads of fun. With a base price of about $50,000, and used versions going for far less, any car enthusiast who worked hard and saved could have this, a pure driver’s car. The Lotus Elise is said to be quite reliable because of the Toyota engine, and not many people know that because it is only 4 cylinders and has an extremely low curb weight that the car easily gets north of 30MPG. Because of all these factors, the Lotus is certainly the go-to sports car bargain. It looks as good as a Ferrari, accelerates like a Porsche and handles like a go-kart, all for the price of a Toyota Camry! The Lotus Elise is the poster child for driving in this age of heavier cars, tree-huggers and batteries. It shows that bigger is not always better, and more horsepower does not always equal more fun. If driving is your hobby, look no further than the Lotus Elise.

Eight consecutive championships. How many people or teams have won eight straight of anything? Michael Schumacher, one of the best Formula 1 drivers ever, won five in a row. Lance Armstrong won seven Tour de France races consecutively, but I am having a hard time thinking of any other team or person that has won eight championships in a row. That’s exactly what Corvette Racing did in the American LeMans series in the GT class with the Corvette C6.R from 2001-2008. I would bet most people that drive Corvettes have no idea of this fact. The same is true of Porsche, Ferrari or BMW owners, which is sad, because racing is and always has been the backbone of car technology and development. This technology plays a significant role in the cars we drive every day, as well as in the high performance cars we dream about. I am not going to wax poetic over the Corvettes racing record, however, my focus will be on the road car, the Chevrolet Corvette C6.

Jeremy Clarkson, a British journalist and host of Top Gear, has openly criticized the Corvette. Many of his complaints are valid and true, such as the Corvette is made out of plastic and it feels cheap. I got a chance to experience this myself when examining one at the State Fair of Texas in 2010. Clarkson  points out that the back fender of the Corvette, between the lights, can be pushed in and out. After seeing this I had to try it myself, and much to my disappointment, it popped in and out like it was about to break. This would not happen on a Porsche or even the cheapest Mercedes.

Clarkson also says the interior is made out of plastic and feels cheap. This also was true when I sat in the car. The knobs feel light and not fastened down, they do not spin in a perfect circle, the dash squeaks if you push on it, and almost everything in the interior feels like it could be pulled off fairly easily.

Most of the other complaints are with the way it drives, of which I have no firsthand experience. He says the suspension is too hard, and that it’s hard to get traction out of a corner. These driving complaints are not of the base Corvette, mind you, they are in reference to the 505 Horsepower Z06 and the 638HP ZR1.

These complaints are all valid, yes, but the real problem with the Corvette is the way it carries itself. This is something I will call the “spectator spectacle” (try saying that three times fast). Everything from its name to the way it looks is a problem. Porsche Carrera, Lamborghini Aventador, then…Chevy Corvette. Even as I am typing this, Microsoft is OK with Chevy, the abbreviated version of a company, but not the European names, it is going to slap those with the red line, even Microsoft thinks the name is boring. I have yet to mention the way it looks, which is great…except they are everywhere. There is no exclusivity with a Corvette, even the high end models will look the same to the untrained eye.

However, amidst all these complaints lies a problem. This is something that I am just now realizing, and something that many people that like to stick their noses in the air will never realize. It’s this point that so easily picks out the snobs in the automobile world: priorities. You see, despite everything the Corvette does wrong, it does many things right, and those things just happened to be what should be top priority among sports car owners…driving! Sure, a Porsche will feel better, a Ferrari will look better, but if you want luxury buy a Mercedes, and if you want to pay $300,000 for a badge, buy a Ferrari.

I used to scoff at Corvettes and American cars in general because if you put them in a drag race, sure the ‘Vette will win, but take them both to a track that has actual curves and the Ferrari will win every time. This was absolutely true until Chevrolet introduced the C6, then the game changed. Remember the C6.R I mentioned earlier? Well it started beating Ferrari, Aston Martin and Porsche in races, and the world started to notice. Chevrolet capitalized on the development of this car and made the Z06 and the ZR1, world beating supercars. It’s almost as if the ZR1 is not a super fast version of the “regular Corvette”, the truth is the base Corvette is a toned down version of the ZR1 and C6.R racecar, because that’s exactly what is at the heart of the Corvette, a highly sophisticated racing machine. Let me list a few times from the 13 miles Nürburgring Nordschleife racetrack in Germany, a world benchmark for manufactures to test their cars and brag about times.

7:19, 7:22, 7:24, 7:25, 7:28, 7:32, 7:33

The fastest time I listed is 7:19, which on a 13 mile track is…you do the math, almost 1 mile every 30 seconds? Want to take a guess what car did that time? I bet you guessed a Corvette, and you would be right. However, I bet you didn’t guess that the second time I listed was also recorded by a Corvette, the Z06 with the factory Z07 package. That’s right, those two cars beat in order of ascending times: Pagani Zonda F Clubsport, Ferrari Enzo, Porsche Carrera GT, Ferrari 458 Italia and the Koenigsegg CCX. I am willing to bet most of you haven’t heard of half of those cars, let alone seen the price tags! The price for all those cars the Corvette beat? I had to get my calculator out for this one: $2,415,000. How about the price of the Corvette Z06 that smoked them? $90,000.

Now that we have demonstrated the Corvette is just as comfortable around a circuit as it is in a straight line, the myth of the Corvette being a brash, prehistoric brute is debunked. The only truly valid criticism I see is literally just that, what I see. While the car is certainly not ugly, it has no awe factor when you pull up to the valet or the restaurant, that is until you rev the engine. Look up a drag race between the ZR1 and anything else, and the only sound you will hear is the wonderfully tuned small block V8 drowning out more feminine automobile noises. Because the exterior is pretty but not beautiful, and the interior is functional but not luxurious, the Corvette will not please everyone. However, I believe I can sum up your choice of whether or not to buy one in one small phrase: if you want to look pretty and prideful, buy a Ferrari, but if you want to win the race with a smile, buy a Corvette.

*Edit*

I should add that I deeply respect Ferrari and what they have done in the racing world, and I could only dream about owning one. I was only trying to contrast the typical stereotypes. The Corvette certainly carries a (sometimes negative) stereotype of it as well.

*Photo is not mine.

I love cars, so I usually prefer to ramble on about the driving experience or the sound of a good car, but today is different. I have noticed a particularly disturbing trend in the automotive industry. It seems that every week a high end automobile manufacturer presents their “new” car to the world. In the past six months we have seen a new Lamborghini Aventador, a new Porsche 911, a new Pagani Huayra, a new Aston Martin, and the first new McLaren in over a decade, the MP4-12C. I have no doubt that each of these save the McLaren are more exhilarating to drive than their predecessor.  There is a problem though, they are all either ugly or look exactly the same as the previous model.

I will admit, I am young, and my experience studying the automotive industry is only limited, however I believe the trend of poor and unoriginal automotive designs is on the rise. It is a rare thing to see a new car that is not a close copy of the last generation or a copy of other automotive designs. How a car looks is almost equal to how it drives, if it doesn’t look good when you set eyes on it in the garage, you won’t have that burning desire to get into it and drive it! Let’s look at a few examples to illustrate my point, namely the new Porsche 911, and the Aston Martin Zagato. Scroll to the bottom to see pictures.

Recently Porsche revealed the new 911 991 model, while at the same time playing a practical joke on us dyslexic types. Besides that however, the new car is longer and lower, said to give it a sleeker look. However, to the untrained eye it looks exactly the same is the 911 997 model.

What’s the problem you ask? The 911 design has never changed much! I beg to differ, take a look at the 996 model of the 911, then the 997 model. Anyone with or without a good pair of glasses can see the difference right away. The headlights are usually the first thing people will notice, but every panel is shaped differently, and the door handles and the mirrors are also different. This is not so on the 991 model 911. What happened Porsche? This is only the third new 911 in 48 years and you already ran out of ideas?

As much as they would hate to do it, Porsche should do what Ferrari did recently. Ferrari held a design contest between 50 universities around the world to see who could design the best Ferrari for the future. Porsche would benefit from doing something similar, so they could have thousands of eyes and minds creating a new 911 that was actually new while retaining the classic 911 look, something they obviously cannot accomplish on their own!

I love Porsche, and they have made some truly beautiful cars, but one car company that has consistently made some of the best looking cars is Aston Martin. Aston Martin revealed a new car called the Zagato, which is based on their highly popular V8 Vantage line of cars. I understand the Zagato is meant to be a modern interpretation and a tribute to past Zagato models. But let’s get straight to the point here, Aston Martin clearly borrowed design elements from other cars, namely, the Nissan GT-R and the Ferrari FF.

This is disturbing to me because the modern Aston Martins: the DB9, the Vantage and the Rapide have an elegant and unique family quality to them that no other make of car shares today. The Zagato on the other hand, does not. If you take a look at the side panel of the Zagato, if you look at it in profile, it is obvious the panel behind the front wheel looks almost identical to that of the Nissan GTR. The angle of the intake is very similar, and the lines going back to the door handle and below the door are almost the same.

This is the most obvious similarity, and the first thing I noticed when I laid eyes on the Zagato, but if you look at its rear, the tail lamps looks almost identical to  the Ferrari FF! Both designs are multicircular LED lights set on the outside of the rear, surrounded by black bodywork. Either the designers live under a rock or thought they could improve on the design of the GTR and the FF, which I believe they did, because the Zagato is stunningly beautiful.  However, there is no getting around the similarities in the design.

Not all new cars are copies though, there are fortunately a few bright spots in the industry that come about every once in a while. The most recent is the Ferrari 458 Italia, which looks so much different from the F430 model before it, it is hard to tell they are even in the same model range as one another. Ferrari showed us that when you want to design a new car, you design a new car. I can only hope other companies follow suit, because a car of beauty is truly a work of art. You can look at a canvas or a picture all day, but none of those things match the beauty of a car that you can literally dive into. Now that is what I call art, and I do hope that the art of car design is not dead, and will stay alive for many years to come.

*Photos are not mine.

Walking up the lawn to the parking lot, I was not expecting to see an entire row of Italian art in front of me. Owners proudly showing off their red, yellow, and baby blue Ferraris and Lamborghinis is a sight I do not see every day. Horsepower and big engines were everywhere, with perhaps the only thing bigger than the engines being the iron pumping men who drove them. Yes, when I approached the baby blue Lamborghini Gallardo I expected to see a woman driving it. But like Al Gore on election day I was very surprised at what I saw, which was not a woman, but an obviously protein and heavy weight lifting loving man with his baby blue Lamborghini.

Besides the Baby Bull and its matador, other highlights of the show included: a custom painted Audi R8, a black Ferrari 458 and a Copperhead edition Viper SRT-10, along with numerous Lamborghini Gallardos, Nissan GTRs and two Factory Five GTM supercars, which are custom kit cars based on a Corvette.

Usually it is best to arrive at the show as early as possible, with most cars getting there before eight and leaving before ten. By 10:30 most of the exotics had left, so between about nine and ten is when the magic happens.

Starting at around nine, the cars leave the lot. Except most of these guys are not coming out just to cruise. Thankfully there was no police officers parked on the side of the service road like there was last month, so these cars flew down the service road. One exit in particular stood out. A Lamborghini Gallardo left and gave it the gas, right after it was a Viper and a Supra, and just as the tires were hooking up, two motorcycles, a Suzuki GSX-R and a Honda Fireblade screamed in behind them onto the nearby Dallas North Tollway. The Fireblade must have been pushing 80mph as he was going through the toll booth, and it was obvious his front wheel was barely kissing the tarmac as he pinned the throttle.

From then on the show only got better, with a new generation Chevy Camaro and a Nissan GTR both fishtailing like snakes moving through the grass. I sat down by the toll booth instead of right at the entrance, so by the time the cars got to me they had some serious speed as most were right at the top of their usually very tall first gears.

Unfortunately a member of the Plano police pulled over two or three cars that forgot to slow down as they approached the intersection. However, most people didn’t know he was down there, so they pulled out hard anyway.

The show was great this month, with not quite as many exotic and strange cars because of the holiday weekend, but the crazy exits more than made up for it. Most people seem to really enjoy the show, with everyone seemingly in a good mood and happy to talk about the cars. Events like this are why I love the Dallas area, it is a great family event and a chance to meet interesting people. I overheard someone saying a Bugatti Veyron showed up one month, now that would be a treat to see, only thing I would rather see is a Mclaren F1. I guess I will have to wait for August and see if I get lucky.

This is great, can’t wait to get some car related material on here!