The 80 Minutes of Le Mans

Just wanted to let everyone know that Audi's documentary about last year's 24 Hours of Le Mans, Truth in 24 II: Every Second Counts, is downloadable on iTunes.  It can also be viewed via Youtube... which means it's also here on FPH.  What a great way to kick off this race filled weekend!

More Cars, More Coffee

This past Saturday two big names from the Boston area hosted separate Cars and Coffee events.  The Herb Chambers Porsche/Audi dealership and the Larz Anderson Auto Museum put on quite a show, showing off more exotic hardware than a Beverly Hills plastic surgeon's office.  Here are some of the sights from both.  Enjoy!

Warning: large photos ahead

"Days Go By" (NSFW)

While searching for some sweet, feels-like-I-just-did-crack-and-got-punched-in-the-face videos on vimeo, I came across this little gem.



That video got me thinking of this commercial.



It inevitably led to this skit.



Hope this gets you through the week!  Enjoy!

You Can't Handle the Truth (in 24 II: Every Second Counts)

Any enthusiast worth his nomex driving gloves knows that Audi is a powerhouse in the world of endurance racing.  With ten overall Le Mans victories since the race in 2000, no manufacturer has ever achieved the same levels of success that the boys from Ingolstadt have in such a short amount of time.  So, what happens when your trophy cabinet is overflowing with French hardware?  Relive the glory by making a documentary, of course!

Fresh from a screening held at the Larz Anderson Auto Museum in Brookline, Ma, I can share my thoughts on the second documentary that...errrr... documents the Audi way of life at Le Mans.

Sunoco Sponsorship

When you can say you've been associated with Penske, McLaren, Donohue, Porsche, Audi, and Ferrari you're kind of a big deal.  While Sunoco isn't much of a team sponsor these days, choosing instead to put their backing into being the title fuel sponsor of NASCAR, they still were one of the iconic liveries of the 70's. In fact, they were so closely linked with the Camaro Trans-Am program that when the Camaro was relaunched, they were a part of the first Grand-Am Continental Tire Series GS effort (along with the matching #6 as well).  Enjoy!

Photos By Jay Bonvouloir

Photo By Wayne Lamport

Photos By Louis Galanos
Also check out a couple of Mr. Galanos' stories (1969, 1971) on historic races including the story of the 1969 24 Hours of Daytona in which the winning Sunoco sponsored Penske Lola was later stolen and chopped up!

Photo by Nancy Nally

Photo by Bo Nash

Force Fed Friday

Alliteration is a great device to use when telling anecdotes to a group of friends.  It can turn an awful storyteller into an amazing one... or at least make the words more interesting to hear.  I don't think a story about a partially petrified paleolithic pancreas is that interesting but it's fun to say!  Sorry to all the archaeologists out there!

Where was I?  OH!  Alliteration!  Yes, it's fun.  In fact, this being the weekend, make a drinking game out of it.  At a wedding reception, we, the wedding party, all had to take a drink every time a word started with the letter "L."  We were soon talking about litigious lesbians loving lipsticked lawyers.

You should convince your friends to give it a shot.  You can use words that start with "F" but try to use innuendo more than cussing and swears.  I'll start you off with Force Fed Friday.

Incidentally, that sounds like a great title to use for a bunch of videos about turbo and supercharged cars too!  Enjoy these somewhat artsy, kind of informational, partially awe-inspiring videos.

Fragile females fracture forearms from falling. Drink! (responsibly and don't drive)

Happy Friday!  Feel free to add your own alliteration or video in the comments!


Streetgasm Top Secret Twins - RPM Online from Seifer Chimera on Vimeo.



MRC WIDEBODY S4 - THE SEQUEL 204.4MPH from MRC Tuning on Vimeo.

Snick Snick

2011 has officially come and gone and with it there has been some depressing news.  Ranking pretty high on the list of unapologetically stupid actions by carmakers is canceling all production of manual transmissions.  The primary culprits of this heinous crime are no other than Ferrari and Lamborghini for not only murdering their manual transmissions but, in the process, committing manslaughter against their beautiful gated shifters.  Instead of mourning the passing of the gated shifter, we've decided to celebrate its life.  Enjoy and Happy New Year!

Teutonic Tuesday

Welcome to the first and possibly the only Teutonic Tuesday!  We've scoured the internet... ok, we've scoured about 100 pages of Vimeo for the best videos of German cars.  We've taken a more artsy route with our video choices and decided to showcase very well executed films instead of straight car porn.  Without further ado, here are the films:


MRC WIDEBODY S4 from MRC Tuning on Vimeo.



Ben Thomas' B5 Wagon from Speedline Film Werks on Vimeo.



Tribute to BMW e30 M3 EVO II by sixrun from SixrunDIGITAL on Vimeo.



The SLS Experience from Clashproduction on Vimeo.

If Bmw Is Going to Lose Their Soul...

A couple years ago, BMW dropped the tagline "The Ultimate Driving Machine" and it appears the company took that to heart with its current and forthcoming lineup.  For a company that has always prided itself on selling exceptionally composed driving dynamics in their cars, a portfolio aimed at maximizing profits seems to be the new goal.  By sacrificing its hallowed M badge along with trying to fill every niche just to match their Stuttgart rivals, BMW is losing their faithful following by losing themselves.

Join The Dark Side

LeMans Blue, British Racing Green, Blue Water, Black Sapphire, Alpine White, Palladium Silver, Indium Grey, the list of color choices is endless. Sure, all of these colors are great, but let's get down to the basics, the nitty gritty. I'm thinking of a color that's bare bones, yet it's something that invokes a raw feeling: Flat Black.

We don't see many vehicles on the road this color, but when we do, oh man! Luke, we're sorry, but FPH is turning to the Dark Side!

Battle at the most important premium segment

"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.

N-thusiast X-tinction Part 2

Look down at your center console (now at me, now back to your console...damn Old Spice commercials).  I bet there's at least 3 things that you notice right away.  There's the shifter, a cup holder probably, and the hand brake.  This last item goes by many names.  There's hand brake, parking brake, and emergency brake, or e-brake for short.  I've decided that e-brake will from now on mean "enthusiast brake."  Let me explain after the jump.

My Mazdaspeed 3

N-thusiast X-tinction

Many people consider the Ferrari 458 to be the pinnacle of automotive excellence.  It is the ultimate in high performance, vehicular perfection.  With its combination of active aerodynamics, lightweight exotic materials, a horsepower dense power plant, and lightning fast transmission, this car sits at the top of the evolutionary charts.  Although for the everyday enthusiast like myself, it marks the end of an era that many people never really got to appreciate...

deshow.net

Killer B: This one is for the ladies

"It's like a ballet, it's like a dance. It's fantastic."

-Michele Mouton

Michele Mouton, the Quickest Woman in the World.