Freak of the Week: Very Conspicuous.

No one can be as 'clever' as the British.

And nothing is more British than a Triumph.

Le Mans - A Classic

"The Ice in My Teeth Keeps the Cristal Cold"

Remember a few years ago when everyone in the rap game had to rock a grill piece to be legit?  The trend caught on for a very short time and you'd see kids buying knock-offs in the mall.  Hell, you'd see some white dudes like this rockin them.

seemygrill.com

Apparently, the automotive community took things a little too seriously and ended up with this.

"Your Moment of Zen"

I don't usually associate myself with any particular car or manufacturer.  However, my family has owned numerous Fords and they do hold a special place with me.  My uncle owned a '95 Taurus SHO and it was the fastest thing that my 9 year old self could fathom at the time.


Today was just one of those days where I felt nostalgic for some Ford.

Beauty in Racing

When looking at an open-wheel race car as a piece of art, there are many differing opinions on its physical beauty.  To most people, modern cars possess little to no inspiration in their design.  They are just an amalgamation of airfoils, winglets, and scoops.  To others, that is the beauty of the design, the process by which all those little pieces unify to create a blisteringly fast car that seems to cheat fluid dynamics and defy the laws of physics.

grandprix.com

Still, nothing can ever compare to the classics...

Freak of the Week: Marcus Moto Design F1 Tracker

Marcus Moto Design F1 Tracker

Freak of the Week #10, woohoo! Every week, I'm out looking for something balls off the wall crazy, polarizing or just weird and worth talking about.

A Lady In Red.

Till Death Do Us Part.

'Soul' is what you get when you've won the Formula One world championship and Le Mans 99 times. You can't design 'soul' or 'character'. You can earn it. -Jeremy Clarkson

It's Danny Chin's Birthday!

Happy Birthday, Danny!

The Swiss Alps? Oh, it's heaven on Earth!

Driving the Alps - BMW 335is European Delivery Trip from Janitha on Vimeo.

For Shame

Earlier this week Autoblog reported that the famous De Tomaso company would begin making cars again.  Of course, everyone immediately thought of the mid-engined Mangusta and Pantera like this:

fwallpapers.com

Then the picture of the new car loaded and it looked like this:

Rendezvous

You may or may not have seen this video before, filmed in the 70's illegally with a Mercedes then dubbed over with Ferrari engine sounds. Well worth the 8.5 minutes of your time...




And a look back at the making/route of video as well...

Freak of the Week: Green Machine

Welcome to Freak of the Week #9. A while back, I posted a FoTW on the "Angrier" Dodge Daytona pro touring. The idea behind the car was to modernize a muscle car so that it can accelerate, brake, and turn as well as a present day sports car.

Well, it seems like the idea has already been very popular and have ventured to less likely platforms. I present you Anthony's pro-touring Datsun 510.

Never Gonna Give You Up...

In honor of Valentine's Day, we'd like to share with you the aspects of the automotive world that make our hearts flutter.

Properly Used Carbon Fiber

McLaren MP4-12C

Lamborghini Aventador

Audi R18

Skylines in all its forms

 

Engine notes that give you goosebumps




Moments when cars, art, and life intersect

Why It's Good to Be The Man....

I don't need to say much here but in the spirit of Office Space... Damn it feels good to be a gangsta..

Le Touquet Enduropale

I found this video last week and thought that it was all very cool but unfortunately, I didn't know what to make of it due to my lack of French proficiency (Bonjour!).

I couldn't understand what I was watching. What on Earth is Le Touquet Enduropale? The opening scene was Dakar-esque but motorcycle-centric. Then it was beginning to look like motocross, except with 10 times the amount of riders tackling the same mound.

Well, it's neither. After some Googling, I found what Hell for Leather had to say about the business:

"Every February, around 1,000 bikes and 500 quads gather to race on a channel beach in Northern France. The 11-mile course is modified with whoops, jumps and chicanes shoveled out of sand, making it unique among endurance events. It’s something of an oddball event, frequently attracting frankenstein machines converted from superbike to enduro in someone’s le garage using le tall suspension and le knobby tires."

Hope everybody is enjoying a good weekend!

Why Do We Live?

No words are needed to understand this beautiful video.  Great find, Keqing!



Here is the general synopsis of the ad...

Freak of the Week: Practically Impractical

Welcome to Freak of the Week #8, where for every weekend, we look for something balls off the wall crazy, polarizing or just weird and worth talking about.

Ever since hot hatches became popular, so too have there been mid-engined hatchbacks. Unfortunately, though I can clearly see why, the idea never caught on...

In MOTORING CON BRIO fashion, I've compiled my own grab bag of photos of mid engine hatches.

Why Chrysler Failed?

A friend sent this to me and I thought it was absolutely hilarious. 

Oh Snap! Guess what I saw...

Here's a random snap of a first generation Honda Accord.  I spotted this at the Natick Mall in Massachusetts and I couldn't believe how clean it looked.  Sorry about the lighting and quality!

Behold the 1976-1981 Accord!

The "CVCC" badge touted the stratified charge engine
that met smog standards without a catalytic converter.

It was also equipped with a 5-speed!!! In a 30 year old car!!!

F1 2011. All teams. All pictures.

First and foremost, Flappy Paddle Heads wishes Lotus Renault driver Robert Kubica a rapid recovery.  It isn't the first time he's missed some bullets.

If I could be honest, as F1 fans, it's a bit inconsequential to cover the cars of 2011 so early in the year. Take the 2010 season for example, when McLaren created a bit of a commotion as the innovators of the F-duct so early in the season.

... Did they win the Constructors title?

What about when Red Bull was accused of an unfair advantage because of their blown diffuser and was then requested by the FIA to make changes before racing at Monaco?

Did they not win Monaco anyway?

But it's what we do, and unlike other sports where we worry about teams, players, and that Bud Light commercial, premiership motor sports has that extra little "hardware" factor-- Formula 1 being every engineering nerd's wet dream.

Here are the rules and regulations of 2011 in a nutshell:
F-ducts and double diffusers are gone, KERS is back, active spoilers are new, Pirelli is the official tire supplier for the 2011 season of Formula 1.


All photos credit to www.crash.net.

Affordable Supercar Series (ASS)

If you're sensitive to explicit material, just stop reading right now because this is pure smut!  This installment of ASS presents the most hardcore of any affordable supercar.  Of course, the car in question can only be the Dodge Viper.

netcarshow.com

The Silly Season, Eclectic Electronics, and Rosso Rossi

The MotoGP silly season is officially over and the riders have concluded their first day of testing in Malaysia.  For those interested, the times can be found here.  If you just want to hear about highlights and analysis, read on.

crash.net