There have just been so many submissions to The Garage’s Flickr pool over the past week that I don’t know where to begin. There are photos from all sorts of genre, from motorsports to rust & from old to new.
I’ve chosen this shot of the Porsche 917 that Pedro Rodriguez and Jackie Oliver drove to victory at Daytona, taken by Nigel Smuckatelli. The cool thing about Nigel’s work is that he worked as a safety official at Daytona and Sebring in the late 60’s and early 70’s and took his camera along for the ride. Some of the pit and track images in Nigel’s photo stream are just incredible. Revson, Mcqueen, Andretti, Gregg are just a few of the drivers he has candid footage of.
Of special note to us here in The Garage are some shots of a Corvette that I believe a young Gary Faules may have crewed for.
There will be bonus points for the reader who can tell me which car in Nigel’s photos was piloted by a bunch of Ontarians, one of whom was the inventor of the serpentine belt!
Porsche and camera lens manufacturer, Sigma, have teamed up for a really cool contest. Every Supercup race weekend, Sigma will give away 1 300mm F2.8 APO EX DG HSM lens worth around 3,000 Euro. The prize will go to the FIA accredited shooter who grabs the most unusual shot of the weekend. At the end of the season, the photog whose image is chosen as Photo of the Year will win a 200-500mm F2.8 APO EX DG. While the contest isn’t open to the amateurs, there will undoubtedly be lots of sweet eye candy for the rest of us!
When we started planning The Garage a few years back, I envisioned a sort of virtual garage where all manner of car enthusiasts would feel comfortable dropping by and sharing a story or two. As The Garage has grown, we’ve been lucky enough to be joined by young enthusiasts and old racers. Time worn journos and new guys trying to make a name for themselves have dropped by with a few tales. Each one has helped shape The Garage and added a bit more flavour. Today, we have yet another talent coming dropping in for a visit. Thanks to Gary Faules, I am more than honoured to welcome C. Van Tune to The Garage.
Who is C. Van Tune? I’ll let Van make the introduction himself: If you’ve been a car enthusiast for any of the past 28 years, you probably know the name C. Van Tune. Maybe you’ve read some of the two thousand articles he’s written. Or seen any of his hundreds of TV news appearances. Or, maybe he’s best known as the Editor-in-Chief of Motor Trend Magazine from 1994-2001. He surprised everyone when he stepped down from MT’s helm, but very soon after he accepted the job as host of ESPN’s first automotive TV series “Drive”, and quickly set about doing his trademark sideways-driving, smoking-tire road tests for the sports world—a winning formula that continues today. A self-described victim of “Mad Car Disease” Van owns more than 15 cars, most of which are 1950s and ‘60s American classics. His love of motor-sports has put him behind the wheel in professional road racing, drag racing, hill climbs, autocrosses, off road racing, vintage racing and celebrity racing. Always a down-to-earth person who enjoys talking cars with anyone, Van can be counted on to leave the scene amid a giant cloud of tire smoke…and to hell with the hydrocarbons!
Van has hung up the keyboard for now, but has graciously allowed us to post some his Drive segments. While the products in these vids may be a few years old, those of us who live outside the reach of ESPN will have an opportunity to see some classic footage.
Over the coming weeks, we’re going to share as many of these Drive episodes as we can. After the break, watch as Van gets some seat time in a Porsche Carrera GT. Continue reading →
In today’s world, there aren’t too many manufacturers who see the value in building true race ready versions of their road cars. True, Dodge keeps on track with toys like the Challenger Super Stock and Ford has it’s FR500S, but there aren’t too many others. Beyond Porsche that is.
Porsche’s reputation has had a rock solid base in racing throughout the company’s history. There has almost always been full on race cars from the Porsche stable that are based on production cars and are available to the sporting consumer.
The latest in this line is the newest 911 variant: the GT3 Cup S. Based on the road going GT3 RS, the Cup S is a 3.6 liter, 440 horsepower race only car. If you have a spare 250,000 Euros lying around, you too can enter the Super Cup or Carrera Cup.
It never ceases to amaze me how European spyshots always show exposed cars in the open traveling down regular streets. Well I guess the blasé attitude of our friends from Rhineland benefit us with the release of photos of the soon to be revised Porsche Boxster and Cayman.
The current Porsche Boxster underwent a facelift in 2004 and the new revision is expected to reach markets in 2008. Continue reading →
It’s rare that I delve into the higher echelons of geekdom, but my Neanderthal brain can surmise something that looks cool.
A case mod is the modification of a computer chassis or video game console chassis. . Modifying a computer case in any non-standard way is considered a case mod. Well a cool case mod created by some car loving braniac has hit the limelight. Continue reading →
First it was Porsche partnering on a cheesy snow sled. Now Saab gets into the winter mix with the endorsement of a ski.
Saab has teamed up with sports brand Salomon to launch a new ski named the ‘Salomon Aero X’. The ski is inspired by Saab’s Aero X concept car that was unwrapped at the 2006 Geneva Show. Or at least that’s what the two companies’ claim, as I fail to see any resemblance at all between the two. The Aero X ski is priced at around $ 1.015.
Porsche seems to have entered the world of cheesiness with the introduction of a winter sled. The Porsche Kinderbob costs around $115 and comes complete with metal runners and a horn. Continue reading →
