Tag: Ferrari

Supercar Sunday

therightliberalLeave a comment

I get excited by cars. Most of my friends would tell you I get too excited by them, like in a dangerous way.

So naturally it was only right for me to indulge myself by visiting this lovely event called Supercar Sunday in Woodland Hills.

Let me start off by saying that most car shows are lame. They are usually just trying to make money by showing off regular cars with some tuning or old relics that most people don’t care about.

Supercar Sunday is different. Supercar Sunday is a bunch of people with veryyyyyyy nice cars that show up and park their cars so dumb teenagers like me can go look at them and get sexually excited.

They don’t charge, they aren’t selling anything, there is actually parking. This is a pure viewing experience of some of the greatest cars ever made.

There was a Ford GT40 (the real one), a real AC Cobra, more Caterham 7’s than you could believe. There was a Lotus Esprit, a Countach, and some Martini Porsches.

Then there were new cars like (every) modern Ferrari (minus the Enzo), tons of lambos, Aston Martins, 911s, Lotus’ (or is it Loti?) and even two Mp4-12C’s.

There were also some tuners and some cool oldies (MGs, a cool old Sprite, and some lovely Datsuns) that were fun to see.

It was incredible to walk among these cars and get to talk to people who have a real passion for them.

Thanks to a good idea from my friend, we decided to go sit at the corner as the cars started to leave. Holy crap was this a good idea.

Despite there being numerous cops watching every street (the drivers waved at them and rev’d their engines to say hello) it was cool to be able to hear all the V8s and V12s (and a couple of V10’s (yay lambo!). I couldn’t help but quiver every time a Ferrari V8 was rev’d and the sounds of clutches slipping filled the air.

This is a great event because it is run by people who love cars, not by people looking to make money. I didn’t pay a dollar and yet I got to have the best car viewing experience of my life. A major hat tip to those people that throw Supercar Sunday!

P.S. The best Sunday to go is the last one of the month, that is when it is really big. If you are anywhere near Woodland Hills and have any interest in cars, go! you won’t regret it.

Of Cars and Men

therightliberal2 Comments

I drove around 300 miles today and they were some excellent ones.

I took my parents on an Easter excursion to see some great wildflowers up near Los Olivos, CA. The drive from Ojai to there was magnificent, something to really enjoy.

The roads are in great condition and the weather was beautiful, and it didn’t hurt that my mother allowed me to actually drive fast today.

To many, the car I was driving is not one to go fast in, and I would agree. I was driving a 2008 Toyota Camry Hybrid, a car that has taken me many places, a car that already has over 120k miles on it. But if I try hard enough I can get it going and it actually handles pretty well.

I love cars, so much so that some may describe it as a problem. And on my drive today, every time I saw a car, I tried to think of its personality and what kind of person it matched. This doesn’t mean what person was driving, just, if it were a person, what person would it be?

I see a BMW 550i and imminently think of a pompous and obnoxious businessman. I see a small Toyota Yaris and think of a poor college student who is broke. I saw an Escalade smashed into a pole and thought of Mitt Romney.

But the gem of the day was seeing a BEAUTIFUL Ferrari 308 GTS cruising over HWY 154. Such a wonderful and fantastic car. I can’t help but get shivers when I actually see one driving.

I mean sure, I saw new M5s and 911 Turbos but they just have no class when it comes to a 308.

I am not a fan of older cars, I usually think they are slow and not really that good looking, but when you see a car that looks that good with a Ferrari badge on it, you have to respect it.

This is a video of the road (Figueroa Mtn. Road) I was on, although I was going a tiny bit quicker.

Bailout

therightliberalLeave a comment

I try to stick to writing about politics but sometimes I just feel like there is something else that needs to be talked about which requires me making a pathetically weak connection.

I wanted to talk about cars so I thought, well there has been a lot of criticism aimed at politicians regarding their bailout of the motor industry. And personally, I feel that the complaints are not warranted, and here is why.

Despite the many complaints, we do in fact manufacture much in America. And one of our largest enterprises are cars. So why should we just let the car industry fail when it is so pivotal for our country.

“Oh well that’s not part of capitalism!” You are wrong. Capitalism requires doing what needs to be done to keep your market afloat, and that’s what we did.

But more importantly, look what we have created! We are currently experiencing a renaissance of the American (muscle) car.

ford shelby 500

We have the Chevy Camaro ZL1, Ford Mustang GT500 (and its other variations) and the Corvette (which is getting better and better).

Ford’s whole range of city cars like the Focus, Fusion and Fiesta are all great cars and the Chevy Cruze and Malibu are good too.

Sure we aren’t Italy; producing Ferrari’s, Lamborghini’s, Maserati’s or Alfa Romeo’s. But that has never been what we aim for.

I don’t like many American cars because I like going around corners as much or more as going very fast in a straight line. But we really are getting into the market with cars like the Focus that are perfect little rally racers.

Would I rather drive a Lotus than a Ford? Yes. Would I rather drive a 620 GT than a Camaro? I would imagine so. But are we doing good things in our car industry? Yes.

The next step for the American car industry is getting into the dream market AKA the super car market.

The Ford GT is the last super car we made and it was fantastic. We don’t really have a company here that makes super cars but with our reemerging industry one may emerge.

For now we can be happy with having Hennessy and the other great tuners of the Red, White and Blue.

America has had a long love affair with cars and we must work to continue that and build upon what we have. This is not a plea to buy American because I’m not a person who would. But if you fancy an American car don’t be ashamed, be proud.

The Expendables

venturatrekerLeave a comment

After a week of OVS, the weekend is a much-needed reprieve.  With multiple AP classes, being a senior and just being a teenager, life is quite exhausting.

So when that Friday ‘bell’ rings, its time to kick back and enjoy some….male gratuitous violence??

Yeah so for all the guys out there, here is a good list of things to do to get that ‘fix’

1.  Call of Duty: Black Ops.  When playing COD the best option is always zombies.  Being placed in some form of derelict environment with hundreds of brain craving undead after you and the only defense a plethora of automatic weapons.  OH YEAH that’ll do it.

2. ANY RACING GAME. Well when you have the option of crashing a 2.5 million dollar Bugati Veyron into an on-coming Aston-Martin at 250 miles an hour, seriously what could be more fun.  Or perhaps drifting a Ferrari 458 Italia around a 180 degree turn.

3.  But my personal favorite and the highlight of my weekend, was watching the Expendables movie.  Well really any movie with Sylvester Stalone or Jason Stathan is a true adrenaline pumping man’s movie.  The  Expendables movie, though, has both, plus a number of other action-super stars.  With little plot line to speak of, there is really only one thing that the movie has going for it, lots and lots and lots of gratuitous violence.