Looking back at 12 years of blog posts, photographs and tech articles, today I’m pulling up some of my favorite photos from years past.
Photo descriptions include a link to the story where it originally appeared.
What can I say, McLaren knows how to build a car, put on a show and a party. In the past it’s been the 650S and P1 car launches, special events etc; but few things are as fantastic as test driving a McLaren!
Having spent a few days in the amazing MP4-12c (I even rented one for my 50th birthday), then test driving the then brand new 650S around Pebble Beach in 2014, I of course leapt at the chance to get behind the wheel of their latest car, the Sport Series (aka 570).
With an amazing test route loop on the infamous Laurels Grade before me, with great excitement I slipped behind the wheel of the above beauty!
After a quick overview of the vehicle operation, I was off! The first thing I noticed was the steering felt a little more connected to the ground than the MP4-12c, the car was really feeding back information on what was going on. Lucky for me traffic was mostly non-existent as the car rapidly announced that I’d exceeded the road’s speed limit (interesting feature… could really come in handy for those times you sort of get lost in the throttle and didn’t notice a change in the speed limit… for those that care about such things).
It was a spirited ride for certain. On the return leg of the test, I popped the car into auto-mode, and mashed the throttle. I was surprised to watch the tac blast past 8000 RPM as the twin-turbo V8 snarled behind me.. tires complaining… traffic rapidly disappearing behind… I LOVE IT!!
Although the entry-level McLaren.. the 570 is a satisfying drive. And dare I say it.. I think it looks better than it’s “bigger” MP4-12c and 650S family members. I wish I’d had a GoPro with me to capture the experience… but it’s one I won’t soon forget!
If you’re in the market for quarter-million dollar sports cars, give the McLaren Sport Series a drive. With two models (GT and S), you should be able to find what you’re looking for.
Here are 2 more Sport Series, waiting for the next test drivers to take the wheel. I think you can see a little more of an Italian flare in the front design, and I like it!
Quite a lineup here… almost the full family was represented here (I did find an F1 the next day at Laguna Seca).
I’m not much for white cars (which you might get looking at my fleet).. but I think the Sport Series looks pretty good in white. Now.. if one could only graft the GT front end onto the now (relatively) inexpensive MP4-12cs.. it would be a match made in heaven!!
Now.. no experience is complete without the fully off-hook full-tilt boogey P1. Here is one showing off it’s full carbon fiber construction. Just an amazing looking and sounding car. For the limited and fortunate few that were able to purchase one… I can only guess how getting behind the wheel must be akin to driving at ’11’.
The test-drive mule I got to flog.. even in that color I LOVE IT.
Another really interesting color on a 570. Here the nose clip looks vaguely La Ferrarish; which is what make me feel like this model has a little bit of an Italian flare.
Again, the P1. All carbon, all the time.
“The Crew” (most missing Beth, she was busying being part of a documentary McLaren was making that day). Carsten, Shawn, me, Moh. Yeap, we were all having fun driving cars and enjoying the hospitality.
One of Emerson Fittipaldi’s M23A/9 F1 car from the 1980s. Despite being 30 years old.. it still looks the business, and more car than my basic skills could manage.
This M80/4 CanAm car looked like a beast! The velocity stacks on that V8 look like they could swallow a small dog. What a rush it must be to drive something like that… open cockpit, raging V8 right behind you.. mega down force and all the balls you can manage to jam in your driving suit.
Here is “The Gang” again (Beth decided to take a break from being a film star to say hello) in front of Niki Lauda’s MP4-2/2 F1 machine. His teammate that year was Alain Prost, whom lost the championship to Lauda by mere points that year; which of secured McLaren a solid manufactures title as well.
For me, there is just something about a 60’s era open-wheeled car like this M28. It’s like a work of art. 🙂
Unobstructed view of Lauda’s MP4-2/2 F1 machine.
And one more look at the 570. I would be thrilled to put one of these in my garage.
HUGE Thanks to McLaren and Bernardus Lodge and Spa for hosting us for this event during Car Week 2016!!!
What an AMAZING event. A non-stop stream of Porsche Racing history!!
For this gallery I’m going to simply upload anything that looked suitable to post. Most of these are in chronological order from the event on 27-SEP-2015.
I hope you enjoy looking at these; they were a joy to experience first hand.
It was a 1966 Mustang notchback, powered by a 1970 BOSS 302. In a word, outrageous.
The year was 1986. Not long out of high school, and starting up my first software “company” (sold a few copies of this and that, but it never got off the ground). I’d been driving some of the worst cars on the planet, and I happened to spy and add in the Mercery News for a 1964 V8 Mustang for $3000. I went to look, and I just HAD to have it!
Following some creative financing (i.e. loan from my Grandparents), I made the deal and brought home this red beast. An early 1966 FORD Mustang (no backup lamps in rear valance):
The machine was really, something else. Those that drove it were blown away at it’s raw speed, acceleration, and most notably it’s drum brakes. It’s about as close to a “Fuel Injected Suicide Machine” as I’ve ever helmed. Despite this short-coming; I, nor anyone else that drove it crashed, despite some less than responsible driving this thing was know to induce.
I’m guessing more than a few of you are saying “No.. it’s not a true BOSS 302, it’s a Windsor 302 with a 4bbl carb, and people are just saying it’s BOSS“. Well, let me assure that it was not some cobbled together 351C + 289W Frankenblock. Really, the only way to know for SURE if you’re dealing with a BOSS 302, is to pull the motor and check the casting numbers. So.. that’s what I did:
It’s a true 4-bolt main block with forged crankshaft. Notice the screw-in freeze plugs. That’s the easist way to externally ID an authentic BOSS block. After checking the numbers I found that it was a 1970 “small valve” (and I say that as relative to the 69 “big valve”)
motor. Here are the specifications (as was common at the time for these special edition cars, the HP was grossly under-rated):
| FORD BOSS 302 Engines | ||
|---|---|---|
| 1969 | 1970 | |
| Bore: | 4.004″ | |
| Stroke: | 3.0028″ | |
| Compression: | 10:5:1 | |
| Horsepower: | 290 BHP @ 5800 RPM | |
| Torque: | 290 ft./lb. @ 4300 RPM | |
| Redline: | 7800 RPM | |
| Intake Valve: | 2.23″ | 2.19″ |
| Exhaust Valve: | 1.72″ | 1.72″ |
| Carburation: | Holly 780 cfm. 4bbl | |
In fact, the valves where so large, the tops of the cylinder blocks were notched at the factory to keep them from hitting the top of the cylinder block at lift. The canting of the valves allowed this little trick to be employed. Another unique aspect to the BOSS 302 engine.
NOTE:At the time Hot Rod Magazine tested the motor in the 1970 BOSS 302 and found: “It produced a solid 372 hp @ 6,800rpm and 325 lb-ft of torque @ 4,200rpm.”.
The motor was a screamer. But I knew there was a lot more in there to be extracted, so I started doing some research on how these motors were built for Trans AM Racing. It took a little while but I located an engine builder in Santa Clara named Frey Racing, that specialized in building motors for the Trans AM racing series. These are the guys I wanted to work on my mill.
After discussion, we found that only 1 manufacture still made pistons for this beast; TRW. The downside is that these were true track pistons that would give the motor a 12.5:1 compression ratio. Far too high for the fuel available to peasants. They would have to be milled down. I performed volume calculations on the cylinder head chamber and the piston displacement (these were heavily domed), and we came up with the proper milling to get the motor to the 11:1 ratio.
To let them breath, I’d need a new camshaft, and again, not many parts where still available, however I did locate a part in the FORD SVO catalog for the BOSS 302 (which uses a solid-lifter camshaft, requiring frequent valve adjustments). The camshaft featured a .620″ lift with 300 degree of duration and a 92 degree overlap. Idling below 2500 RPM was simply not possible. 🙂
Finishing off the drivetrain was a close-ratio top-loader 4speed manual transmission (virtually bullet-proof) and a custom 5 link 9″ nodular rear end (it too should have been basically bullet proof but it blew up under the power of the re-worked 302).
Now all of this, as many surmised, simply could not fit in the very cramped engine compartment of the early mustangs. Designed to hold a straight 6 engine, when FORD shoe-horned in the 260 and 289 V8’s thee was little room to spare. The massive heads on the BOSS 302 were so much larger, it would seem impossible without cutting back the shock towers, or using a custom built set of headers that would snake through the very limited space. Basically, little on this car, was off the shelf.
Here is what it looked like back home inside the little notch-back
I eventually sold this car in 1989 to purchase a new FORD Mustang GT (red of course). I was sad to see it go, but it was really a very dangerous car to drive, and I just didn’t have the money at the time to resolve the issue of the drum brakes. If I still had this car today, it would be a VERY different story. It would be interesting to see what became of this beast. If I could find the VIN number somewhere, I might be able to track it down, but I suspect those records are long lost. Regardless, I had GREAT memories of cursing, street racing, and other activities best left off the interwebs.
Big things happening on July 13!
Bootstrapping a start-up is hard, expensive work. But when you hear the call, it simply must be done. This was the case with OutspokenNinja. Balancing life and business is sometimes a tricky tight-rope affair. I believe it can only be done with an understanding and supporting partnership with the family. I’m blessed to have such a partnership.
For those embarking on the road to starting up, or even re-inventing your business, having buy-in from your family is critical, for they are the true support system when the road gets bumpy, and it will.
I’m looking forward to sharing more about this experience, once we’ve come out of semi-stealth mode, so I hope you follow me and the team on this new adventure.
Ciao!
Wednesday, I took in a nice set of the coast’s best back roads, including a lunch at the infamous Alice’s Restaurnt, all with the help of the great people at Club Sportiva.
Being a complete car nut, instead of borrowing one car, I borrowed these 6 examples of driving awesomeness:
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Blessed Mother of Acceleration, that thing is more than the sum of it’s parts. For all that it looks, with it’s massive motor, massive hood and ridiculous (ridiculously awesome!) gull wing doors.. I expected just it to be a muscle-bound pig. OK, so it is musclebound, but it didn’t feel like a pig. Not in the least! And to the company listed below, it was a pure joy to drive. Reasonably loud. When set in AMG manual mode the shifts were crisp but not abrupt (unlike one of the other cars in the list). This was probably tied with car #6 for the easiest of the lot to drive.
I fully expected this thing to scare me. And considering we’d be ascending the Calamari Highway at pace, I was apprehensive. I mean, if I bin the car, it’s going to cost me (or at least to me) a small fortune to repair or replace. And these guys check these things OVER before they hand off a set of keys.
So.. the car. It’s like sitting in a leather coffin. It’s tight inside. It makes a Cessna 152 Aerobat seem, accommodating. The door sills are pretty thick, and rather high compared to most any other car. Getting in and out can be a little amusing for an observer. Having the gull wing door shut, which feels like it’s 2′ thick, really made me feel sealed in cockpit of sorts, and just a tad claustrophobic. However once that lump in front was lit up and grumbling, I forgot about all that.
Suspension just sucked up the ratty road surface so well, It didn’t feel at all like the bumpy road of my youth. But that smooth driving didn’t come at the cost of a wishy-washy ride, like a couple of the cars I drove today.
Overall, this is one really fun car to drive. It’s refined enough to be a daily driver, and rude enough to be what it is; one super car.
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Wow.. what a HOOT!! It’s not much in the power category (190 HP) but the weight (1900 lbs) more than makes up for it.
Now, talk about cars with high and thick door sills. This is the patron saint of making men look absurd getting in and out of a street car. If the Benz was like being in a 152, this was like being in a Cub. Getting it started is a little odd. You put the key in, click it forward a few notches, then hunt for the START button (only 1 car today didn’t have a start button) way in the upper left.
For the set of cars today, I thought.. meh… they tossed this in as filler. I can’t say I was really excited about the prospect of driving it.
For the leg of the route I had this car, we made the run across the ridge (Skyline Blvd) to Alice’s. This is one of the sections of road things can really be cracked open. It’s very easy to hold a good 70-80 MPG avg. speed for the section, if you’re balls or wallet are big enough.
I lit it up, listened to the big Benz motor sound (I could not hear the Lotus over the Benz), and we set off. I think it took about 5 seconds for me to start grinning like a complete moron. OOOH BOY, this car is FUN! I want one. It reminds me of my old FZR400. Not much power, but light, and makes you feel sporty when you drive it. Did I mention it’s hilariously FUN!??! Banging up and down in the gears, heel-and-toeing the little thing into the corners and back out again.. it’s fun as snot! I’m going to start checking CL for them!!!
It does have a rather nasty bump-steer on corner exit throttle if you hit some nasty pavement. Of all the cars I drove today, this one scared me the most. You have to be ON your game, or going 25 MPH or it feels like it might dart off into the weeds before you can can finishing crapping your pants. It’s that on edge and that tight. You FEEL the road in that thing, in all the best ways!!! If you haven’t driven one in anger…. DO IT!!
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Following a great lunch, the next leg was going to be down one of my favorite Nor Cal roads. Highway 84 to the coast. It’s got great sight lines, 100+ sweepers, technical banked (properly banked) turns… through the rain forest and to the coast. It’s a driver’s (or rider’s) road. And I had what I can only guess is made of neutron materials, for a car. :/ Can’t win them all.
Then I started to drive it, really drive it. Once I pushed it out of auto mode in to tiptronic mode and was able to use the downshifting on corner entry instead relying on the brakes, I reeled the Lotus in with ease.
Wait.. no, not a typo.. yes it’s big, yes it’s fat, (yes it’s big and fat) but wow the motor in that thing must have been stolen from an cargo ship. It’s a monster. Not a fire breathing monster, but a torque shooting out your kiester and never wanting to stop monster. Speeds in excess of ….. were easy, on that road, a road that I nearly never ride my bike on that fast. It’s not a sports car, I know that, and it should royally stink but damn.. if I was old, like in my 40’s or something and needed a luxo-barge… this would most likely get the nod!!! The specs say it has almost 500 ft./lb. of torque and yeah.. OH YEAH!! … I say BRING IT!!
So it turned out that this one favorite part of the road, was enjoyed by a really pretty freaking fun car!!!
At the base of Hwy 84, we headed south on 1 to Pescadero State Beach where performed the next swap. Just as we arrived 2 bus loads of local kids were visiting the beach on a science field trip. The boys were going bonkers checking out the cars, taking pictures with their cell phones (these are like 9-11 y.o. kids.. what are they doing with smart phones!??!).
We give them some extra revs on the way out and manged to put in some WTO runs down 1 before turning up Pescadaro back to the top of the mountain. This is another fantastic piece of road!!. This time on one of the finest sounding cars of the bunch..
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OK, it’s not a DB9. They sold that one because it was too sloppy feeling. Maybe the DB9 coupe is better but the DB9 vert was supposedly a not mess. And frankly… and this was the biggest disappointment of my day, so was the Vantage. The body didn’t feel especially loose, but the car was nervous, and not in a good way. No matter what I did, what adjustment I made to the nannies, how I brakes and exited corners, I just COULD NOT get this car to handle like I wanted it too. It just felt out of sorts. Now, it could have been the tires, having just been replaced with Hankooks. Most of the cars are on PS2s, except the Bently was on some Continental tire.
Digressing… the sound from this car was FANTSTIC! The exhaust baffles are opened up, so it’s loud, proud and makes an intoxicating sound. And the single clutch computer controlled manual trans (like the BMW SMG) was really fun and responsive, and shifted like a human would shift, not really smooth at all. It had a very nice firm engagement on the up-shift. Maybe my Bimmers clutch is going, or my SMG needs to be re-programmed, but I liked this Aston’s trans a lot.
What I was not so much impressed by was the very obvious lack of power. It really needed the bigger Aston mill with at minimum 500 HP to make this worth the $$$ to me. I have to say.. this car is really making me re-evaluate my desire for an Aston Martin down the road. I was hoping a Vantage would be so much more. Of all the cars today, this is the only one that scared me, really scared me into thinking I could easily bin it, and not because it had too much power! Color me more than a little bummed.
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Having returned to Alice’s, I jumped in the next car. This is the only one that I could hear over the Benz. Also uncorked a bit, and the only other row-your-own manual trans in the lot, outside the Lotus. I was a little apprehensive about driving this car, after the bitter disappointment with the Aston. I figured a vaunted marque would once again, show it’s flaws.
And I was not far off the mark, it’s flawed. It’s heavy (ish), It’s old-school manual… AND IT’S A BLOODY RIOT!! OHHHH MY GOD. damn damn damn damn DAMN.
Almost any day I’ll take lucky over good. And this time I was putting my butt in one of the hottest cars of the bunch, for a return run on Hwy 35. And, I had nobody holding me up. 😀 We rocketed along the ridgeline at ludicrous speed. Well, maybe more ludicrous noise than speed. Of all the cars today, this one hit every note you want for an exotic.
I fell in looooove. She’s not perfect. In fact this car also put me on edge. Much like the Lotus, it’s tight, stiff, had really noticeable bump-steer, real manual trans, NO rear visibility, it’s about 8′ wider at the rear than the front (or so it seems when you’re worried about dinging wheels that cost about as much as I pull down in a month). Aside from a close call with a pair of bambies, the driving experience was exhilarating!!
The car has no practical purpose. None. Zero. There is no place to put anything in the passenger box. The frunk is smaller than the glove-box on my old Miata, and there is NOTHING for storage to the rear, unlike other exotics I’ve examined. It’s just… a car. A small, low, wide, exhilarating Italian car. The thing feels like it has a soul. The soul of Satan but a soul none the less. This car put a serious case of smiles on my face!!!
The motor was super responsive. Re-reving the motor to coax it into a missed gear, was super easy. It was hard to drive, in just about every good way possible. If I’d had to pick from one of these cars.. it would be up there with the SLS and the next one….
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Straight up. I’m not a big fan of Japanese anything (wait, I take that back, Yamaha is an exception). I’d read the articles, heard the rumors, listened to Klick-and-Klak blather on about the $1000 it costs just for the transmission fluid. It was the closeout car of the day. It’s quiet, it’s big, it’s not at all flashy. It’s like an appliance.
Like a twin-turbo charged fire breathing video game from hell is more like it. It’s easy to start. It’s really comfortable. It has 4 seats, and a truck that can old more than a 1/2 PB&J sandwich. The array of electronic doo-dads is mind numbing. 5 custom display screens with boost, temps, G’s, TPS. YOU NAME IT!! It’s any 10-year old video gamer’s dream. And it’s FAST AS ****.
I’d been warned. When those turbos really start to spool, things start happening fast. My God, of all the vehicles, only the Benz was close with off-throttle torque awesomeness. Despite being a “little” V6 she just about stole the show!
If you want super-car fun on a budget, and also be able to get kids to school and carry a week’s load of groceries.. and you’re on a “budget”. I don’t know how you could go wrong with this thing. WOOO LORDY!!
Popped the trans in race mode, set the suspension to normal (not comfort or race), selected some house music on the sat radio and set about chasing the Lambo down Hwy 9. OK.. so you just gotta let the statement sink in a bit.
Chasing a Gallardo, down the amazing Hwy9, in a GTR.
That.. for me, was almost as epic as hot-lapping Laguna the weekend before! Chasing a dream car, down a road I grew up learning to drive on, while in a car that would murder the Lambo in a drag race while eating sushi.
Oh my… I must say. That as some of the most grin-inducing 5 hours of driving I’ve every done! My how the world has changed for me since I moved back to CA!! 😀
Conclusion:
I’m going to do this again. Next time I’m taking one of the kids with me. One dad had taken his 11 y.o. out of school to do this today. It was his birthday… talk about a kick-ass BD present. At least I think it was!
I realize most of you have been buried with my non-stop picture posts from today… well, all I can say is…. meh.. I was excited, I love cars. so sue me.. 😀
Oh.. and to answer the question.. if I had to pick one of these cars…. which one would it be?
Well, I did have to pick, because I can only drive one car at a time… so I picked this one. She matches my Ducati nicely, NO?
I do have to return it tomorrow…. but the entire family sure had some fun when I got home!! Miranda was the first to take a ride up Hwy9 (which started 1/2 mile from our house.. which.. is sorta nice in itself) with me. Then AJ, and finally Deb went for a ride. Wow.. she had the biggest grin on her face as I ripped that thing up through the gears. WOOOO!!!! I think that if I manage to buy one, she’s not going to complain one freaking bit!!! But.. I don’t see that happening any time soon. Until then, I’ll just keep borrowing them. I think I’m going to grab the SLS next. 😀
Here are a bunch more snapshots from today!
March didn’t offer us the best weather for car gatherings, but that didn’t stop the gathering of some of the most unique Lamborghini’s in Northern California in Los Gatos.
What made the day truly special, as a visit by Lamborghini’s former test driver Valentino Balboni! What a treat to meet Supercar royalty.
31 new photos added 12-MAY-2014
WOO! Another year on Ducati Island, and being able to take advantage of the fact I own a few Italian bikes (including 2 Ducati) was awesome. My son was with me for the first time this year and he got to experience the awesomeness that is Ducati Island first hand. It was a great weekend!!
The first few pics were of us wandering around there on Thursday, before things really kicked off. It was nice that nobody harassed us, and my son was able to test sit a few bikes before the crowds descended the next day.
Friday morning arrived early, and we set about stocking the trailer and getting ready to tow back to Laguna Seca.
Having secured an overflow camping site (one of the last handful as it turned out), the evening before, we embarked on the first campout at Laguna Seca for us; despite attending motorcycle racing there since the 1980’s.
It did not disappoint! Everyone has seen a trailer, so there are not many pictures of the expedition equipment itself, but Friday’s small crowd allowed for a leisurely day of exploring the vendors and taking some more snap-shots.
Day -1 at the U.S. Red Bull MotoGP in Monterey CA was quiet, but attended more heavily than expected. The day before the official start of the event is always interesting.
I meet the vendors while they are setting up, and for those that are already selling, I start relationship building with them. This always pays off in many ways, not the least of which is simply meeting new people, and often old “friends” from events past.
Here are some photos of the wanderings around we did on Day -1.
