Every now and then, events happen. Then later that day, week or even year, the event takes on a life of its own. I don’t mean the story changes, or that I can’t ever shake the thoughts, because frankly with these kinds of events, you don’t want to lose a single second of the memory. I could roll right into a story about a girl right now….but I won’t, Motorfanatics is not that kind of place.

What I can go off about is what happened out in Chino, California recently. Well first, let me back up a bit.

It’s no secret that Chris and I have lofty goals for Motorfanatics. What most don’t know is how lofty those goals are. I’m talking a racetrack compound, airfields, space vacations, a bombing range, remote controlled everything, and a warehouse that Chris can sleep in to make sure he’s never to far from the smell of petroleum. I’ll be honest, many of these hair-brained ideas come during our regular indulgences of beer in a can, fresh from the Rockies, but the point is, we want Motorfanatics to grow to something more than our original title for the blog “2 guys website”.

Ok, back to the “event”…one of my fascinations in life is the airplane, especially military aircraft. So this weekend, the Planes of Fame Museum is holding their yearly air-show. One of the guest performers will be “The Horsemen”, the worlds only P-51 Mustang flight demonstration group. They are sponsored by the U.S. Military, and they are basically the Blue Angels, in P-51s. I set my eyes on them, and had planned to produce a piece on them specifically. Unfortunately for me, they couldn’t make the press preview event, and weren’t going to have enough time during the weekend to accommodate us smaller outfits. At first, bummer. But, that quickly changed when I got to the Museum on the preview day, and walked out of the hanger and saw 2 perfect P-51 mustangs sitting side by side. Read the rest of this entry »

Living in Southern California has its ups and downs. Homes are pretty expensive, there are WAY to many people, the state is broke, and the traffic BLOWS. But there are the upsides, spectacular weather, and the cars you see on the road daily, would rival those of most car shows. That makes the local car shows absolutely incredible, but the event I recently attended was different. This one was special.

Every month or so, CBS studios invites its employees to a bring their cars to the Studio City lot, and hosts a private gathering. Guys bring everything from exotics to classics, but this particular day had a cherry on top, the guys over at Cinema Vehicle Services, decided to make some calls and invite as many movie car owners as possible. So I got a last minute call from my friend Fireball Tim, and we where off.

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One of the greatest things about living in Southern California, is the access to so many cars.  Now some may see the cars as a bad thing, and don’t get me wrong…traffic sucks.  But the benefit of having a gazillion people jammed into one area…is that there are literally millions of people who are motorfanatics, and the diamond in this situation is that many of them have the money to act on it.
As members of the automotive press, there are also many perks, and this last weekend was a great example of that.  We where invited to tour 3 private car collections on Saturday, the catch was that we weren’t allowed to know where we where going until that morning.  Unfortunately for my partner in crime, he was in Michigan doing among other things, testing his dads DSG transmission, and  driving their project car.  But you’ll read about that later.  Anyway, Chris couldn’t make the tour and the friend I invited to go with me, had a late night on Friday as well.  So I struck out alone to the address I was given, not knowing what to expect. Read the rest of this entry »

As they say “Tis the Season”….well, here at motorfanatics, ’tis the season to be dreaming. Dreaming about fantasy shopping binges. Yesterday, Chris and I went for lunch..and after a quick bite to eat, we decided to do some window shopping. I quickly remembered the BRABUS showroom in Newport Beach, and we headed over. As we pulled in, it occurred to me that it had been a while since I looked in the window. BRABUS was gone, but there was a Rolls Royce Phantom staring out the window with a big bow on top, so we knew we’d still get to see some goods. Inside we found another ½ dozen rolling palaces, in various colors and configurations. All equally extravagant, and excessive. But in the back we found the cars more our style. Read the rest of this entry »

Who would a’ thought it? I guess if something already kicks ass, it can be made more kick ass. Taking their cues from the Porsche philosophy of “refine and perfect”, the kids over at TECHART set out for the Trial of Strength at the High Speed event in Nardo, Italy, to set a record, and they did it. Now, I can speak from experience when I tell you that a Porsche Cayenne can move down the road, but 200mph? That’s more than the legal speed limit faster than I’ve ever driven mine.  An insane 690 horses made it possible for the TECHART equipped Cayenne Turbo S to hit the mark. Rather than regurgitate the details of an event I did not attend, here is what they say happened.

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Ever been rendered speechless? Like when the hottest girl in school says she likes you?   Happened to me back in the 7th grade, no joke, hottest girl in school, an 8th grader, wanted to “go” with me.  What did that consist of?  Nothing, I think I spoke 3 words to her, danced with her at a school dance, was completely overwhelmed with confusing emotions, and then a week later, her friend called my house, and told me it was over.  But the level of stoke that first evening…was immeasurable.   That brings us to yesterday morning.   I’m sitting at my kitchen table, knowing what is about to happen, but I was still giddy like a pre-schooler on Christmas morning.  Then I hear it, the rumble, the power, the confused driver who can’t find my house.  I glance out the window and BAM!  Aston Martin DBS rolling past my window.  No joke, I jumped in the air with a double fist pump.  Sounds retarded, but its true, I had to tell myself audibly to keep it cool.  I had only been in 2 Aston Martins prior to yesterday.  I had a boss a couple years ago who owned a DB9 for while, and then a few weeks back, I got to drive a Vantage Roadster at the MPG track day.  I was about to put a 3rd notch on my Aston Martin score card. Read the rest of this entry »

These are the stories that we live for as MotorFanatics.  After browsing most of my automotive news outlets for the day, I ran over to check on the British fanatic site Autoexpress…and was met with this little jem.   The concept and theoretical successor to the Ferrari Enzo…the code named, and jaw dropping Ferrari F70.  First thought..DAMN!   Seems that  Ferrari is getting tired of all these “Did you hear about the Veyron?” stories, and is working on something more than the 458 Italia.  Well aware that the Ferrari mad scientists are always mixing and experimenting, I knew that the day would soon be here when we could actually start looking forward to something tangible from Ferrari, and the start of the next chapter of the supercar wars. Read the rest of this entry »

Have you ever been given a gift that seems to have a life of its own?  Like one that you are given initially and that alone is great, but it just keeps giving?  Things like BBQ’s, wet bars, hot wifes, surfboards, golf clubs…you get my point.  Well if you frequent motorfanatics, you may remember that earlier this year I bought into the Porsche family…and while that purchase wasn’t a gift per se, it sure has kept on giving.  Beyond the daily drive or even the joy that it gives me to clean it, being in the Porsche family automatically included me in the “club”.   Being in the club has had a couple immediate perks:  the first is that when you valet park a Porsche, you don’t get that silly giggle from the valet that you get in a rough idling 4runner.  Secondly,  as you probably already know, the new Panamara is starting to show up at dealerships and the dealership I bought my car from invited me to take a drive.  Read the rest of this entry »

This going to throw a lot of people off here.  First because we haven’t updated content in 3 months (our bad) second, it’s about a hybrid from a company in Japan and third, it’s about how I’m actually excited about it.  If you’ve been following us for a while, I’m sure you’ve noticed how pro-european we seem to be in terms of vehicles we favor.  I drive a VW, Dan drives a Porsche, and we both lust after anything that comes out of bavaria, the land of spaghetti, or the nation under rule of a queen.  Thus far, I could see how you might assume that we don’t care much for Asian vehicles, but I’m about to prove you wrong

As a self-proclaimed petrol head and hybrid hater, I’ve told countless people to buy a diesel instead of a battery, and for the most part I like to stick to that mantra.  Until that is, something performance oriented comes about.  Last year, I had the privilege of  riding in a Tesla roadster and the relentless rush of acceleration just blew my mind.  This electric car thing just might take off I thought…until I drove a Prius.  Commuting appliances aside, the ride in the Tesla made me realize that electricity is inherently awesome for us performance enthusiasts.  Lately, electricity’s been getting a bad wrap from us performance minded individuals due to being chained to gutless gas engines, lifeless CVT’s, snail-paced acceleration, and handling so numb you might as well be steering with a joystick.  The Tesla proved to me that through all this depressing, lifeless mediocrity there’s potential in powering vehicles with electricity, and I can’t wait for someone to tap into it.

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Well as in years past when Maranello speaks, we listen.  Today was a pleasant one…receiving the email from the Ferrari PR machine that our speculations in recent months are right on track for this fall’s release of the replacement of the F430.  Ferrari dubs it the 458 Italia, with a sure to be screaming 562 hp engine that they say will be redlined at 9k rpms….yes, 9k.

At first glance, and traditionally not a big fan of the dancing horse,  Chris almost soiled himself.  “Now thats a Ferrari I would own.”  Yes, he said it.  I on the other hand would own as many as I possibly could afford to.  But the point of this post is just to let you all take a look.

[View with PicLens]

Continue for the official words .

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