Road Closed?
No way! This road will remain open for the foreseeable future. Hard to believe it’s March already and I haven’t made a post in 2016 yet. Yikes. This post will be a bit of a blog style chronicle, because there’s good news: I managed to take photos of the most interesting things that have been keeping me busy since the last time I posted here.
One of the most exciting developments is a nice selection of 675LT’s have come across my path.
There are literally infinite choices with regard to color, which is probably why I always find myself being drawn to whatever I saw last. Unlike certain other cars where people tend to buy particular colors, McLaren owners seem to like to differentiate themselves by ordering something different.
It can be painful when you’re actually driving something insanely bright and eye-catching, but you reap what you sow as soon as you get out and look at its glory.
I’m not sure if I could handle owning a car painted Napier Green, but my eyes are drawn to it like bees to a flower.
Yabba dabba doo! This car is from McLaren’s press fleet, which gave me plenty of leeway to take it for a proper drive.
And of course that included a stop by this prehistoric sculpture.
I shot a 2015 WRX for SuperPro Suspensions–that was pretty cool.
Where can you find such exquisite carbon fiber?
In a Volvo, of course.
For a cool 800 bucks, you can have carbon fiber inlays throughout the interior (the rear doors also have them). I can’t think of any reason not to! That much carbon fiber in a McLaren would cost you several thousand dollars.
Speaking of which…what’s another hot new car with carbon fiber trim and Bowers & Wilkins audio?
That would be the exquisite new McLaren 570S. I would take one of these over a 650S–it’s a more satisfying, engaging drive.
It took me a while to warm up to the styling, but the more you look at it the more you appreciate it.
Beige supercar, eh? It works.
Even though I’m not a teenager, sometimes I still partake in a bit of carspotting. 997 GT3’s are some of my favorite cars…ever.
My first time getting a media pass at Laguna Seca was for this ChumpCar race; I shot the Belgian VW Club as they piloted a Mk4 Golf TDI.
That was great–it’s amazing how many great vantage points are hidden behind fencing at Laguna Seca. I finally got to shoot at the bottom of the corkscrew!
Most recently, I participated in the “Coastal Range Rally” held by Driving While Awesome. I wrote an article highlighting my experiences, so check it out.
Okay, I promise to keep this site more updated. There are actually a few posts in the works, I just haven’t gotten around to finishing them up. Keep an eye on this space!
Only the Best?
That is a 2007 Porsche 911 GT3. Of all the 997’s I’ve driven, that one was easily my favorite. In fact, of all the cars I’ve ever driven, that is one of my absolute favorites. Every control is perfectly weighted, the chassis is balanced, and the engine just sings to 8000 RPM. In short, it’s one of the greatest driver’s cars of the 21st century.
That Prius was my daily driver for a while. Whaaaat? Yep, my Scion FR-S (another one of the best cars I’ve ever driven) was recently at the dealership getting its transmission replaced under warranty, so I had a loaner car.
And you know what?
I loved it.
Okay, so it’s not a 911 GT3. A Prius doesn’t turn, go, or stop nearly as well as a Volvo, let alone a Porsche. It’s also butt-ugly inside and out; the seat shape and steering wheel arrangement put you in a weird driving position; and the interior materials are uninspiring and crappy, even compared to a Corolla.
But it has a decent stereo and a reasonable trunk, plus a ton of legroom and enough vertical space to wear a top hat.
And for reasons completely unrelated to Porsche, the Prius is fun to drive. Yep, I said it. So you don’t have to back-track, I’ll say it again: the Prius is fun to drive.
Have I gone insane?? Nope. You still take it to the limit in a Prius, just in a different way. There’s a meter in the dashboard that shows your throttle and brake inputs, which you use to try to maximize the battery’s intervention. In particular, I really get a kick out of braking right at the limit of the regen meter to get the most energy back into the battery. And if you accelerate slowly enough, you can do so without waking up the internal combustion engine and continue to cruise as a polar bear friendly EV all the way up to 44 miles per hour.
The other strangely alluring thing about the Prius is something that is very important to me. After driving it all over the place for a couple weeks, I realized something: every single time I got out of it, I felt relaxed. For some reason the Prius gives me a zen-like feeling about being stuck in traffic. Repeatedly getting cut off by people who immediately slam their brakes doesn’t seem so offensive in a Prius, plus there’s that whole EV function, which really takes the edge off stop-and-go traffic because your mileage actually improves when you’re inching down the highway at twenty miles per hour.
Just because the Prius has none of the most important things I truly value in an automobile doesn’t mean I can’t appreciate it for what it was designed for and what it actually does.
But that seems to be really difficult for many people.
The announcement that I got a Prius loaner was met with derision from everyone I told (well, except my mom). Which I find strange because people never share any personal experiences about how bad a Prius is, just how theoretically evil they are. Hmm, that’s actually starting to sound just like my FR-S.
I see the same thing all the way up and down the spectrum, from the lowly Prius to hypercars like the Veyron. People are so quick to unleash negativity. Maybe it has something to do with the internet, where negativity attracts attention and people seem to be more interested in “winning” an argument than actually having a discussion with someone.
One problem with the internet is that it’s given everyone a voice, but not everyone knows what to do with that power. There are a lot of people talking, but there aren’t a lot of people with something to say.
But even more dangerous is that people don’t understand why they say the things they do.
Take the C6 Corvette for example. There are so many things that might come to mind when looking at these cars, but online discussions always come back to one place: the interior. Guess what? It’s really not as bad as people think it is. In fact, for the time it was released–2004–it’s not bad at all.
Want proof? Go search for what a 2004 Lamborghini Gallardo interior looks like, which was loaded with the switchgear from the lowliest Audi’s. Or how about a 2004 Porsche 911—yes the 996, which has that roundly loathed interior. If anything, this should serve as a reminder to just how far automotive interiors have come in the past twenty years.
But people don’t care. It’s much more fun to argue about bullshit than to actually have a realistic outlook, right?
Which brings me back to the Prius. Does it sing like a Ferrari? No; it actually sounds quite bad even for a four cylinder.
But, when you think about it, the Prius achieves its goal of being very quiet and unobtrusive most of the time. It also has plenty of space for passengers and cargo, is extremely reliable, gets excellent fuel economy in the real world, and so on and so forth.
Most importantly however, if you drive a Prius the way it’s meant to be driven, it’s really fun. Just like a Porsche.
Parking While Awesome – The Newest “Cars & Coffee”
While the Cars & Coffee meet held at Canepa Design is the new king of early Saturday morning meets ever since the original Irvine gathering got shut down, it only runs half the year, from March to October. Everybody knows California weather is good all year long, so what are we supposed to do in winter?
Hold our own meet, of course! Well, actually I had nothing to do with this, although I am good friends with the organizers. They call themselves “Driving While Awesome” and if you have some time, you should check out their website. And if you have a lot of time, you should check out their podcast.
Anyway, I think it was a resounding success for a first meet, for one simple reason: variety. What makes these “C&C” events so fun is seeing all kinds of different cars. You expect to see everything: 911’s, hot rods, classic cars, supercars, tuner cars, and random crap, right? It was all there at the first DWA C&C.
LS swap all the things! So let’s begin the roll call with with something LS-swapped—Drew’s Volvo V90. It blows my mind that these engines make so much power and are so efficient. All while sounding awesome and being incredibly reliable. And with the new electronic exhaust cutout, I’m struggling to think of a downside to this setup over the straight six that originally powered this car. Time to hit up a road course!
Gotta have some old VW buses, right?
Although I guess this Type 2 is technically not a bus, eh?
This Syncro looked like it had seen some action.
Yikes!
Any of the Tri-Five Chevys would have been perfect, but the fact that it was a ’57 Bel Air two-door hardtop–perhaps the absolute most iconic year, trim level, and body style–was especially poignant.
And how about something that we never got in this country? Present and accounted for, courtesy of this Evo 6.5 Tommi Makinen Edition.
Air-cooled 911’s? Of course.
I couldn’t resist playing with that shadow!
Modern supercars were present too, like this RUF RGT…
…and its younger cousin, the 991 GT3 RS.
What about a hot rod or something pre-war?
Got that covered with this 1938 Ford Woody.
One cool thing about DWA is their “project car” series. That whole idea has become kind of a fad now (hell, even Speedhunters has staff project car features), but it’s definitely still fun. It’s so much more interesting to follow along with a build rather than simply be presented with a “finished” product. This Euro-spec 1984 BMW 323i is the latest addition to the DWA project car stable. With no sunroof, crank windows, and a dogleg manual gearbox, this definitely has the right funky attitude.
Lane’s 944 is another one of the DWA cars. His latest project was an “RS” console delete with a lightweight stereo replacement.
Ah yes, the black sheep of the Civic Si family. It’s almost like they sabotaged this car to say “See! Americans hate hatchbacks! So coupes and sedans it shall be.” If this car had a proper K20 that revved to 8000, it would be a cult classic. Instead, it just begs for an engine swap.
Whatever, I still think they’re pretty cool, although I haven’t actually driven an Si from this generation. An interesting side note is that the ’02-03 was 4×100 and the ’04-05 was 5×114.3; this car is on Evo wheels so it must have a conversion.
Sometimes you just point and shoot. I don’t really know anything at all about these Triumphs, but I love all the cool details, from the silver steelies to the front air dam to the bullet mirrors. Even the government-mandated reflectors have an interesting design.
It’s totally normal to want to feel how a car shifts, right? I jumped into a ’79 911 and felt the 915 gearbox, and Art really wanted to see what this TR6 was like.
This 2002 was pretty cool.
Especially because of the M42 swap from a 1991 318is. A nice amount of power in a reliable, OEM+ package. By the way, apparently that header is horrible and it’s being replaced very soon.
Next to that was Ruben’s GTS4 E46 M3 race car. Yup, that’s a full on race car that is still technically street legal.
The funny thing is that it’s actually extremely quiet! He put the stock exhaust back on to lose a few ponies, because his engine build was a little too strong for his class.
After that, we hit the road for our pilgrimage to the Summit Store. The group spread out pretty quickly, but I took the opportunity to grab some rolling shots from the back of Drew’s Volvo. Unfortunately we didn’t plan ahead with something to hold the hatch up, so I shot from the side windows.
I’ve never really tried to do rolling shots, and it was an interesting experience. While fairly “easy” from a photography perspective, I realized that there needs to be some aspect of directing involved.
These are both narrow body cars, but check out how much it grew in width over one generation.
But you don’t know wide until you see this thing. I never really liked the look of the GT3 RS when I was looking at it on the internet. But when I saw it in person, it all made sense.
Highway 17 was pretty torn up and nasty for a while, but a recent repaving project has made it smooth an extremely satisfying to drive. The only problem? It’s “cop heaven” (as Art likes to say), which is on one hand infuriating, but also totally understandable; everybody thinks they’re Senna, right up until they understeer their Camry into the center median.
We, however, were simply out for a Saturday cruise amongst the other hoards of weekend traffic. Don’t forget that this sexy snake of tarmac is also the main artery between San Jose and the Pacific Ocean.
The summit is the only place that doesn’t have a center median. Seems hard to believe the entire road used to be like that. They began to add metal barriers in the 70’s and then concrete throughout the 80’s.
Note that now we’re on the other side of the mountain, and the newest revisions haven’t yet caught up. The pavement isn’t bad over here, so it’s not a big deal, but it is noticeably older. The big difference is the center median; it’s basically a series of old jersey barriers on this side, whereas the renovated sections get a more attractively designed permanent wall (see above). Okay, enough of the highway stuff, check out that Lava Orange GT3 RS!
Strange as the colors might look there, that’s reality. Ocean Blue Metallic is a very light blue where the sun hits it, mostly a medium blue in direct light, navy blue in indirect light, and then totally purple at oblique angles.
Then we cruised along Summit Road, which can best be described as meandering. It’s not really twisty as such, but it is a curvy road. Although you might think of the limit as being “only” 35 miles per hour, the scenery and elevation make it interesting enough to be an ideal cruising road: you could roll casually in anything from a Model A to a Model X and feel right at home.
Even though cars can cruise at 40-45 without attracting the ire of local authorities, bicycles are free to engage their top speed, which unfortunately is much lower than the 35 MPH Speed Limit even at the best of times. When faced with an obstacle, such as any slight incline, that top speed drops drastically.
I was very surprised the other day when I opened up my BBC World News app to read about something that happened very close to where I work. A Mountain View police officer was riding along on his motorcycle and noticed a huge line of backed up traffic. When he worked his way up to the front, he saw the source of the calamity: there was a Google self-driving car, going 24 in a 35. Heroically, MVPD pulled over the offending car (no word on whether Google has written an algorithm that recognizes when it’s being pulled over and acts accordingly) and “educated the operators about impeding traffic.” Google’s excuse? Their cars’ speed is capped to 25 for safety reasons. In other words, “Suck it, we’ll go as slow as we want and you have to deal with it.” Kind of painful, isn’t it?
That’s how I feel about bicycles on narrow roads. While I’m free to go 35 miles per hour, even around a turn or up a hill, bicycles can struggle to make even ten miles per hour at times. It would be considered pretty unsafe and anti-social to pilot a motor vehicle at speeds that aren’t even befitting a horse, so why is it acceptable for cyclists to crawl up narrow, steep roads with blind turns at single digit speeds?
Anyway, a few minutes later we arrived at the Summit Store. We drove around the parking lot, where there was actually a surprising amount of cars. Since we had more cars than usual, a plan was hatched to park all the Porsches down in front. Art jumped out and cleared the (empty) trash cans, while Hunter got Ruben’s 964 ready.
Finally, we saw the cyclists we’d passed. However, after we arrived a much larger gathering of people wearing helmets and neon spandex took over the entire Summit Store for a big lunch party.
Okay, no long hood or 996, but otherwise it was a pretty complete lineup of 911’s.
You know what, it’s true: there really is no substitute for a 911.
Ah, the good ol’ Summit Center. They make some damn good sandwiches in there.
I love how the V90 is just lurking in the background, so spooky and Swedish.
Not a grey or silver car in sight. Long live colors!
Okay, that’s it for this month’s coverage. The next one is December 12th; we hope to see you there! Follow @drivingwhileawesome on Instagram for all the juicy details (and much more, of course).
Rennsport Reunion V Recap: The Paddock
It’s time to settle down with a nice beverage, or perhaps even a snack; this is going to be a long post. As I mentioned in the previous Rennsport Reunion post, we arrived at Laguna Seca in the afternoon and only saw a race and a half. However, the track would still be open all day, which was good thing because there was an overwhelming amount of things to see.
Laguna Seca translates to “dry lagoon”, which is a name that’s lost some of its playful irony as the lagunita in the infield complex has shriveled during the recent California drought. I’ve never seen it so low.
Into the paddock now, and there were about a million things to point my camera at. It’s definitely a sensory overload for a Porsche lover, with 360º worth of sights, sounds, and smells to tempt you.
How about this cute little bus?
Or a 991 GT3? I really love this livery.
Next to that, a stunning long-hood car. Look at that air dam!
Here’s another way to go wide. The smooth body reminds me a lot of the current GTLM-spec 991, and perfectly matches the 993’s aesthetic.
Oh, it’s just Hurley Haywood driving by in his personal 918.
Another rally/safari car. Now I’m really wondering what it’s like to off-road a 911! Check out those huge tires.
I wish I’d been around to watch the Stuttgart Cup races, which featured the 993 and 964 Carrera and Super Cup cars (among many other things). This period-correct livery really brought me back; I was a big Altavista fan in the late 90’s, before some young upstart named “Google” popped up.
This yellow 934/5 is one of my absolute favorites. It still really looks like a road-going 911, down to the lights and impact bumpers.
Which is crazy to think that this beast came along only a few years afterward. Still based on the 911, this Kremer K3 is also one of my favorite 911 race cars.
This is a 908/2. What a beautiful car…I just love the look of prototype racers from the 60’s and early 70’s.
The 924 is pretty unloved, but the 924 Carrera GT is a badass looking car.
In the background of the 908/2 photo, you may have spotted a Singer 911. After all the cars pulled out from the paddock to the pits, I realized I was standing right in front of their designated spot in the paddock, so of course I went for a closer look. While checking the cars, I also noticed Rob Dickinson floating around and chatting with people.
I’d seen the white coupe before, so I was really excited to see the brand new “Cupertino” Targa.
I would definitely get a non-sunroof coupe if I ordered a Singer, but this Targa is still incredible. The interior in particular was something very close to how I’d want mine, with a low-key brown and black setup. The only thing I don’t like about Singers is right there on display: that chrome ring around the horn button. Give me a Momo button with a matte black ring and I’m done–these cars are perfect to me.
If you were wondering what makes a Singer so special, just compare these original Porsche lights to the ones on the Singer, with their hidden hardware and perfect fitment.
How about a short hood?
Ah yes, the Footwork FA12, a complete failure of a Formula One car. Porsche delivered the engine to Footwork behind schedule, but it was way too big so they had to start the 1991 season with the previous year’s car while they re-did the chassis to accommodate the oversized powerplant. When the Porsche engine was finally in the car, it failed to qualify on a few occasions and never finished a race. So Footwork switched to a Ford DFR, which at least let them qualify and finish some races, and that was the end of Porsche’s ignominious return to Formula One in the 90’s.
From an early 90s narrow body Carrera Cup 964…
…to a modern wide GTLM 991. I can’t even begin to pick a favorite.
The Porsche Museum brought out a few cars, including this 356 SL.
Under a nearby tent was an excellent exhibition of classic Porsche race cars. I was enthralled with this original GT1; I love the early cars which took their visual cues from the 993.
Of course, one problem with taking pictures at events is all the people wandering around. This would have been a much better photo if there were no dudes walking around, but hey, what are you going to do? Those people have as much of a right to wander around as I do.
Much is said about the 911 S, T, and even RS, but not much about the original 911 R. Speaking of which, I’m pretty excited to see what the new 911 R will be about (if that’s what they indeed choose to call it).
Very cool minimalist interior.
For some reason after I post a long-hood car, I feel like I have to post a short-hood one!
These GT1’s are so awesome in a 90’s racecar sort of way; I just love everything from that time. Maybe it’s simply because that’s when I grew up. By the way, I couldn’t figure out how to make this photo work in color, so I just went for a black and white edit.
Simpler light on this side, so I was able to showcase the fluorescent “Marlboro” livery.
The 911 GT1 had 993 elements and the GT1 Evo had 996 elements, and those both had road car equivalents that were sold to people around Europe for road use. But it seemed like the homologation rules devolved into “make one, we’ll glance at it and give you a thumbs up”, and that’s where this GT1-98 came from. Indeed, Porsche made one Straßenversion road car, but it wasn’t even for sale, then or now–Porsche still has it! However, the improved focus on the race car ultimately paid off, because they finished 1-2 overall at Le Mans in 1998 in the new GT1-98’s.
Normally these camera cars are Cayennes, so when I saw a Panamera I was intrigued. Even more so when I saw the Espresso interior with a ton of carbon fiber!
This narrow beauty seemed all period correct. Check out the old school racing tires, low-back bucket seats, and curved “roll hoop”.
It was nearly impossible to get a clean photo since there were thousands of people clamoring amongst cars on pit lane. Miraculously, the crowd split and I jumped in to shoot this 904.
And to think that this was actually street legal somewhere.
Another rare car from the archives, the 968 Turbo RS. This is the only one that was made in Guards Red, but then again there were only four cars total. I suppose there just really wasn’t any demand for it as a race car at the time, even though it was faster than the contemporary 3.3L 911 Turbo.
If getting a shot was difficult before, there was no chance now. When hundreds of cars disappear from their normal display areas, people take notice.
So of course I went the opposite direction. This is Ryan Gates’ badass 930, which he had shipped (trucked?) from Minnesota to SoCal so he could drive up to Laguna Seca. Why get a mediocre rental car when you can drive your own air-cooled Porsche?
The small face, big lip BBS E50’s throw back to vintage race cars but still manage to look impossibly fresh. And the more you look at that exhaust setup, the more you wonder what this thing sounds like approaching redline.
Out of the show and into spectator parking, there were still plenty of interesting things to be seen even though most people had already cleared out.
Rennsport Reunion is the type of place where 993 Turbos seem common. If you’re the type of person who’s hyper focused on a single particular model of Porsche, I’m sure you’ll be satisfied by what you find here. Hell, I saw a GT2 RS in a restaurant parking lot.
I love Arena Red, so imagine my surprise to see two Arena Red 993’s bathing in the sunset. I love playing spot-the-difference between the wide and narrow bodied cars.
Cool detail of a 993 Turbo wing in the fading light. At this point we were due to meet for a gathering of GT3 owners, so we had to wrap things up. I wish I’d been able to attend at least one of the two other days so I could have seen more of the show. Hell, there’s some stuff that I would have wanted to see again the very next day. I may have inadvertently procured some of their intoxicating sweet beverage along the way, because for me there’s something so addictive and special about Porsches that makes you come back for more.
And that’s why, even when I was starving with the promise of fresh restaurant food on the agenda, I still wanted to run out and capture my friend Jono’s new GT3 RS right as the light faded.
(note: if you’re reading this way in the future, like 2016 and beyond, I want to point out that at this moment in 2015, the 991 GT3 RS is still extremely rare in the USA. Even at Rennsport I only saw one, and it was an official display)
We had to trek a bit to get to the car, and I was astounded that he had parked next to another GT3 RS. Apparently the whole place had been super crowded when he arrived–hence the remote parking space–and he just randomly stumbled upon the only empty spot, right behind another GT3 RS. There were at least twenty 991 GT3’s, but these were the only two RS’s.
Unfortunately, the dinner as an event and a meal were, quite literally, nothing to write home about. So I won’t bother. But what I will tell you is that on the way out I was walking with Art and scoping out the cars that were still in the lot, which included the aforementioned GT2 RS and a 991 GT3 vinyl’d in hippie livery. But out of everything, that JALOPNK plated wagon stood out. Euro wagon with a Jalopnik plate..? This intrigued Art and I, having just been at a Jalopnik event.
At that moment two dudes walked up to us and we had one of those “oh yeah that’s my car” moments. We asked if they worked at Jalopnik, and…they do not. Just huge fans of the world’s largest automotive tabloid (my words, not theirs). More surprising, however, was the admission that their BMW was not quite the brown manual diesel with cloth seats that one would expect from a hardcore Jalopnik fan.
We thanked them, and continued on our way back to the San Francisco Bay Area in the darkness. That concludes the Rennsport Reunion V coverage! There are tons of photos that didn’t make the cut for this post, so click here if you want to check those out.
Star Road 