Wednesday, March 19, 2008
Woot! Vacation time.
It's time for me to once again make a trek to Arizona to see my friend Jason. This'll be the third time goin' there and I'm lookin' forward to it. I was going to drive like I did the first time I went (however, this time I wasn't planning on taking a 5 and a half hour wrong turn), but an interesting thing happened. My boss was going to go see his family in Arizona, but he totally forgot that this Sunday is Easter and decided that he couldn't make it. So, instead of getting practically nothing for the plane tickets, he sold one to me. I expected spending about $270 on fuel alone to get there and back, but now I get a round trip ticket for $100 less than that! This past week hasn't been all good stuff though... to be able to go, I need to finish a four week project by tomorrow. I worked on it for a week about a month back, so I needed to do 3 weeks of work in the span of four days. So I worked on Sunday... and I worked yesterday for 16 hours, and I'm working today for 16 hours, and I'm still not sure if I'm going to finish everything. Even if I don't though I don't care. It's been rough and I've gotten no support from either of the bosses for this project and I'm going to save my sanity weather this job is done or not. I think it's gettin' to the point where I need to find other employment.
Monday, March 17, 2008
My AAE Video.
I've talked about my Ariel Atom Experience I did last year in detail with you all, but few have actually seen this video... so here it is.
If you want to see it larger, it's also on YouTube:
Thursday, March 13, 2008
Awesome Test Drive.
I really should be working right now, but something happened last night as I was coming home and I simply have to brag.
I was driving along Florin road down the seedier sections of used car dealers and I saw something that I had to make a u-turn to check out. It was a DMC DeLorean. I chatted with the simply slimy sales guy and actually bluffed him into thinking that I was actually interested in buying the car (to be fair, if I had the cash I would have bought it right then) and he let me take it out for a spin!! Good Gravy I'd wanted to drive a DeLorean for as long as I can remember. It's right up there with flying an X-Wing fighter. It was fantastic, and I'm glad that I knew a lot about cars because that car is Garbage to drive. The suspension is all wishy washy, and the engine is completely under powered. 88 Miles an hour would be kind of difficult to achieve. For crying out loud, the Speed-o-meter only goes to 95 mph. But I didn't care, it was awesome! Opening that Gullwing and stepping out brought a huge grin to my face. Right up until I stood up and bonked my head on it. I wish I could have said that everyone was looking at the car as I drove by, but I couldn't tell. There is almost no visibility. There is a back window, but you can't see through it, and the side mirrors are so small that they were practically useless, and since I'm so tall, I saw more of the ceiling of the car than the windscreen. But again, I didn't care. My word I want to buy it. I just need to figure out how to make $14,500 in the next 12 hours.
I was driving along Florin road down the seedier sections of used car dealers and I saw something that I had to make a u-turn to check out. It was a DMC DeLorean. I chatted with the simply slimy sales guy and actually bluffed him into thinking that I was actually interested in buying the car (to be fair, if I had the cash I would have bought it right then) and he let me take it out for a spin!! Good Gravy I'd wanted to drive a DeLorean for as long as I can remember. It's right up there with flying an X-Wing fighter. It was fantastic, and I'm glad that I knew a lot about cars because that car is Garbage to drive. The suspension is all wishy washy, and the engine is completely under powered. 88 Miles an hour would be kind of difficult to achieve. For crying out loud, the Speed-o-meter only goes to 95 mph. But I didn't care, it was awesome! Opening that Gullwing and stepping out brought a huge grin to my face. Right up until I stood up and bonked my head on it. I wish I could have said that everyone was looking at the car as I drove by, but I couldn't tell. There is almost no visibility. There is a back window, but you can't see through it, and the side mirrors are so small that they were practically useless, and since I'm so tall, I saw more of the ceiling of the car than the windscreen. But again, I didn't care. My word I want to buy it. I just need to figure out how to make $14,500 in the next 12 hours.
Tuesday, March 11, 2008
My Top 10 Garage.
I thought I'd explain my Top 10 Garage list because I don't think many people know about most of these cars.
Ariel Atom:
Most of my family already knows about this car because I talked endlessly about it for a while. I will soon write a piece about my Ariel Atom Experience where I drove one on a track in northern California. So, some information about the car: It is a superlight track toy with a seriously powerful engine. It weighs only about 1,200 pounds and at full spec, has close to 300 bHp meaning it has a 0-60mph time of sub 3 seconds. To put that into perspective on how royally fast that really is, it can go from 0 mph, to 100 mph, and back down to 0mph again only 1 second slower than it takes my Focus to go from 0-60.
Ferrari 275 GTB/4:
This is my all time favorite classic car. I fell in love with it from the movie "A New Leaf" and still think it's quite possibly the prettiest car ever made... ever. I really don't know too many of the specifications of this car except that the 275 stands for the cubic centimeter displacement of each of the cylinders making it a 3,300 cc V12 which sounds just superb. It is rumored that the film "C'etait Un Rendezvou" by Claude Lelouch (seen HERE) was made by bolting on a gyro stabilized camera to the front of it. Even if he didn't use this car, it is known that the noise is from this car. It is one of the most glorious sounds any car has ever produced.
BMW M5 Touring:
This is by far the fasted practical car in the world. With 507 bHp it has a sub 5 second 0-60mph time and it has room for a family of 5 with whatever junk they want to take with them. It may look kind of boring, and it may have a limited top speed, but very few things can keep up with this car in the real world of traffic, speed bumps, and pot holes. Of my entire list, I think this is the one I'd actually buy without any regrets.
Mercedes CLK DTM AMG:
This car I chose simply because of how awesomely unexpected it was to me. It's based on a normal Mercedes CLK, but it is completely stripped out, the suspension has been totally revamped, and the engine has been tuned to provide 560 bHp. It's a track toy to be sure, and probably not as fast as an Ariel Atom around a track, but at least this one can be used in the rain. Just for a little information on what all the letters mean, here's a break down:
CLK: It's a C-class Mercedes that is sporty.
DTM: Stands for "Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters" which is the German Touring car Championship
AMG: AMG is the high end tuning division for Mercedes.
Porsche 911 Turbo:
This is the best "all rounder" sports car. With its All Wheel Drive system, it has fantastic grip in all circumstances. In the wet, a rear drive car can be really tricky to keep the back wheels from spinning and therefore send the whole car spinning in doughnuts whereas an All Wheel drive car uses the front wheels as well to keep the maximum amount of grip in any conditions. The downside to the All Wheel drive system is that it can sometimes make the car understeer under acceleration out of corners, but that just forces you to slow down rather than to spin out.
Renault Clio Sport V6:
This car is my favorite "Hot Hatchback" of them all. Usually a Hatchback (like my Focus) has a smallish engine in the front that powers the front wheels. However, this one is a bit mental. Instead of having back seats, or any trunk space, this car put a rather large 3 liter V6 in the back. The benefits of this is rather great! It balances the weight of the car, puts the power on the rear wheels so that the front wheels only have to break and turn (instead of break, turn, and handle the acceleration) which makes the car less likely to understeer. And just look at it! It's simply stunning. Those silver side inlets to cool the engine, the flared wheel arches, the lowered side skirts, they just make this car look pissed off.
Ferrari F430:
This is Ferrari's latest small mid engined supercar. The name 430 refers to the capacity of the engine; it's a 4.3 liter V8. Small and poised, and even more powerful than the Ferrari F40 (the first 200+ mph hypercar Ferrari ever made) this car is seriously quick. I really don't have much to say why I like this car... just every little detail all add up to make me love it.
Alfa Romeo Brera Spider:
I put this in here for a few reasons. A: I needed a convertible. Every Dream Garage needs at least one convertible, and B: It's an Alfa Romeo and every petrol head needs to own one at least once in his/her life. This car might break down after the first 50 yards or so, but nothing shouts Italian Passion like this car, except maybe that Ferrari 275 GTB/4 further up my list. This car is front wheel drive, but it does have an All Wheel drive option. Personally I wouldn't go for the AWD option though because I'd drive it too fast. This is more of a car to have people admire than to really go blitzing down a back road. Besides, the harder you drive it, the faster it breaks.
Nissan GT-R:
This car started out a long time ago as the Nissan Skyline GT-R and truth be told, I never liked it. It was completely overhyped and I think that's partly because it was outright Banned in the US (couldn't even have one personally imported) because of emission regulations. I think also, it was over hyped because it was such a "good tuning car" too, and I've never been too much into tuning. I don't understand how people could like a car that they then have to dump thousands of dollars into to make it better. Why don't the manufacturers just make the car the way the customers want it. This one however is different. They didn't start out with a normal car (the Skyline); they just built it up from scratch. And this one is good from the start. It's Twin Turbo V6 delivers power to all 4 wheels and is actually faster than the Porsche 911 Turbo around the infamous Nürburgring Nordschliefe which directly contradicts what I said about the 911 Turbo being the quickest all rounder. I'll still say the Porsche is the fastest until this car has been tested further, I mean for crying out loud, it won't be available for sale in the US until late 2007 to early 2008 therefore, too difficult to tell.
1969 Dodge Dart GTS:
I think I like this American Muscle car the most for a similar reason as to why I like the Ferrari 275; it was imprinted into me at an early age. My mother told me stories about a guy she used to date who owned one and those stories stuck in my head and I did a bunch of research on the Dart. I found out that I really, really liked them. They certainly aren't a Muscle Car you see very often, and growing up in a town filled with classic Mustangs, Firebirds, Cameros, and the like, I don't think I saw more than 1 Dart in all my 4 years in High School. They're exceedingly unpopular and therefore awesome. They didn't even have the popular engines in them from the factory. Instead of the normal 350's 400's 440's and 426's that you'd find in other Dodges, Fords, and Chevy's, the 1969 Dodge Dart had a 318 Cu. In. block or the more powerful 340 Cu. In. 4 barrel unit. This made them a little harder to work on, which is why they probably were not as popular as the Chargers, Challengers, or 'Cudas that Dodge was making at the time. There were tuners that could shoehorn in the 440 Magnum, or the legendary 426 Hemi into this car, which made it the fastest Drag Strip car of the era (it was the lightest) but, I'm not into that. I'd just like to have one that's 2 door, white with a bumble bee stripe, with the 340 engine in it.
So that's about it.
Did I miss anything? Are any of these your favorites too? Do you disagree with me on any particular car? Let me know, I'd love some feedback.
Ariel Atom:
Most of my family already knows about this car because I talked endlessly about it for a while. I will soon write a piece about my Ariel Atom Experience where I drove one on a track in northern California. So, some information about the car: It is a superlight track toy with a seriously powerful engine. It weighs only about 1,200 pounds and at full spec, has close to 300 bHp meaning it has a 0-60mph time of sub 3 seconds. To put that into perspective on how royally fast that really is, it can go from 0 mph, to 100 mph, and back down to 0mph again only 1 second slower than it takes my Focus to go from 0-60.
Ferrari 275 GTB/4:
This is my all time favorite classic car. I fell in love with it from the movie "A New Leaf" and still think it's quite possibly the prettiest car ever made... ever. I really don't know too many of the specifications of this car except that the 275 stands for the cubic centimeter displacement of each of the cylinders making it a 3,300 cc V12 which sounds just superb. It is rumored that the film "C'etait Un Rendezvou" by Claude Lelouch (seen HERE) was made by bolting on a gyro stabilized camera to the front of it. Even if he didn't use this car, it is known that the noise is from this car. It is one of the most glorious sounds any car has ever produced.
BMW M5 Touring:
This is by far the fasted practical car in the world. With 507 bHp it has a sub 5 second 0-60mph time and it has room for a family of 5 with whatever junk they want to take with them. It may look kind of boring, and it may have a limited top speed, but very few things can keep up with this car in the real world of traffic, speed bumps, and pot holes. Of my entire list, I think this is the one I'd actually buy without any regrets.
Mercedes CLK DTM AMG:
This car I chose simply because of how awesomely unexpected it was to me. It's based on a normal Mercedes CLK, but it is completely stripped out, the suspension has been totally revamped, and the engine has been tuned to provide 560 bHp. It's a track toy to be sure, and probably not as fast as an Ariel Atom around a track, but at least this one can be used in the rain. Just for a little information on what all the letters mean, here's a break down:
CLK: It's a C-class Mercedes that is sporty.
DTM: Stands for "Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters" which is the German Touring car Championship
AMG: AMG is the high end tuning division for Mercedes.
Porsche 911 Turbo:
This is the best "all rounder" sports car. With its All Wheel Drive system, it has fantastic grip in all circumstances. In the wet, a rear drive car can be really tricky to keep the back wheels from spinning and therefore send the whole car spinning in doughnuts whereas an All Wheel drive car uses the front wheels as well to keep the maximum amount of grip in any conditions. The downside to the All Wheel drive system is that it can sometimes make the car understeer under acceleration out of corners, but that just forces you to slow down rather than to spin out.
Renault Clio Sport V6:
This car is my favorite "Hot Hatchback" of them all. Usually a Hatchback (like my Focus) has a smallish engine in the front that powers the front wheels. However, this one is a bit mental. Instead of having back seats, or any trunk space, this car put a rather large 3 liter V6 in the back. The benefits of this is rather great! It balances the weight of the car, puts the power on the rear wheels so that the front wheels only have to break and turn (instead of break, turn, and handle the acceleration) which makes the car less likely to understeer. And just look at it! It's simply stunning. Those silver side inlets to cool the engine, the flared wheel arches, the lowered side skirts, they just make this car look pissed off.
Ferrari F430:
This is Ferrari's latest small mid engined supercar. The name 430 refers to the capacity of the engine; it's a 4.3 liter V8. Small and poised, and even more powerful than the Ferrari F40 (the first 200+ mph hypercar Ferrari ever made) this car is seriously quick. I really don't have much to say why I like this car... just every little detail all add up to make me love it.
Alfa Romeo Brera Spider:
I put this in here for a few reasons. A: I needed a convertible. Every Dream Garage needs at least one convertible, and B: It's an Alfa Romeo and every petrol head needs to own one at least once in his/her life. This car might break down after the first 50 yards or so, but nothing shouts Italian Passion like this car, except maybe that Ferrari 275 GTB/4 further up my list. This car is front wheel drive, but it does have an All Wheel drive option. Personally I wouldn't go for the AWD option though because I'd drive it too fast. This is more of a car to have people admire than to really go blitzing down a back road. Besides, the harder you drive it, the faster it breaks.
Nissan GT-R:
This car started out a long time ago as the Nissan Skyline GT-R and truth be told, I never liked it. It was completely overhyped and I think that's partly because it was outright Banned in the US (couldn't even have one personally imported) because of emission regulations. I think also, it was over hyped because it was such a "good tuning car" too, and I've never been too much into tuning. I don't understand how people could like a car that they then have to dump thousands of dollars into to make it better. Why don't the manufacturers just make the car the way the customers want it. This one however is different. They didn't start out with a normal car (the Skyline); they just built it up from scratch. And this one is good from the start. It's Twin Turbo V6 delivers power to all 4 wheels and is actually faster than the Porsche 911 Turbo around the infamous Nürburgring Nordschliefe which directly contradicts what I said about the 911 Turbo being the quickest all rounder. I'll still say the Porsche is the fastest until this car has been tested further, I mean for crying out loud, it won't be available for sale in the US until late 2007 to early 2008 therefore, too difficult to tell.
1969 Dodge Dart GTS:
I think I like this American Muscle car the most for a similar reason as to why I like the Ferrari 275; it was imprinted into me at an early age. My mother told me stories about a guy she used to date who owned one and those stories stuck in my head and I did a bunch of research on the Dart. I found out that I really, really liked them. They certainly aren't a Muscle Car you see very often, and growing up in a town filled with classic Mustangs, Firebirds, Cameros, and the like, I don't think I saw more than 1 Dart in all my 4 years in High School. They're exceedingly unpopular and therefore awesome. They didn't even have the popular engines in them from the factory. Instead of the normal 350's 400's 440's and 426's that you'd find in other Dodges, Fords, and Chevy's, the 1969 Dodge Dart had a 318 Cu. In. block or the more powerful 340 Cu. In. 4 barrel unit. This made them a little harder to work on, which is why they probably were not as popular as the Chargers, Challengers, or 'Cudas that Dodge was making at the time. There were tuners that could shoehorn in the 440 Magnum, or the legendary 426 Hemi into this car, which made it the fastest Drag Strip car of the era (it was the lightest) but, I'm not into that. I'd just like to have one that's 2 door, white with a bumble bee stripe, with the 340 engine in it.
So that's about it.
Did I miss anything? Are any of these your favorites too? Do you disagree with me on any particular car? Let me know, I'd love some feedback.
Monday, March 10, 2008
Bleet
I'm a sheep, I made a weblog just like the rest of my family. Mine, I'm sure, will not be nearly as interesting as the rest because I really have very little to say unless it's about cars, racing, or fire sprinklers. I'll try to keep up with this at least once a week, but I can make no promises. I don't have internet access at home, and I have an aweful lot of work to complete. Busy busy busy!
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