Friday, June 16, 2017

this was a good paintjob representation of the CJ logo, well done

Hurst Armed Forces Club Newsletter (thanks Bobby!)


1970 Ford commercials (thanks Bobby!)



actor Michael Fassbender has successfully completed the first round of the 2017 North American Ferrari Challenge


A single-model (488) championship series developed by Ferrari for clients who have a passion for racing, the Ferrari Challenge Trofeo Pirelli has thrilled drivers and fans alike since its inception in 1992. The Challenge is run in three divisions– Europe, Asia, and North America – and is an ideal platform for drivers who have a passion for racing.

The current season started on May 12 at Laguna Seca, not far from the annual Pebble Beach Concours is held.

57 amateur invitee drivers ripped through the 2.2-mile track’s fabled Corkscrew turn in a mix of 458 EVO Challenge and new 488 Challenge cars, the latter being the first turbocharged machine Ferrari has deployed for this mono-marque competitive series.

For a substantial sum (one that includes ownership of the vehicle), Ferrari gives its fans the ability to train with its top drivers in preparation for six races that culminate in a global showdown of top Challenge series racers each fall. Beyond helping amateurs amp up their skill level.

It all begins with the Corso Pilota, Ferrari’s progressive program of two-day training sessions on the track that qualifies each participant to race. A successful Challenge driver can advance into the GT series, which includes endurance racing, as well as Ferrari’s FXX and F1 Clienti programs — the former is by invitation only and involves track days around the world in racing versions of cars such as the 599 and LaFerrari, while the latter involves ownership of a retired F1 machine.

The next round of Ferrari Challenge competition will take place in four weeks’ time, June 9-11, heading north of the border to the prestigious Circuit Gilles Villeneuve in Montreal, Canada.




anyone else find it odd that a 40 year old millionaire actor doesn't own a car, but wants to hit the track racing in a Ferrari?

He decided at 17 to be an actor, when he was working in his parents’ restaurant in Ireland—and then nurtured that dream through more than a decade of failure.

Jobs he's had: barman, an unsuccessful audition for Ben Affeck’s part in Pearl Harbor ("Disney sent me a really nice note!"), unloading trucks, doing market research for Dell and the the Royal Mail.

While working for the mail, Fassbender was tasked with following up on complaints; no call could last longer than ten minutes. "You’ve got to hang up on these, like, lovely old people."

You might not recall, but he was in the tv shows Band Of Brothers, Murphy's Law, both before 2007, and then switched to movies, and does on average 4 a year since 2009

He was on Top Gear in Dec 2012, 18th series, 4th episode it looks like according to IMDB

http://www.thegentlemanracer.com/2017/05/gentleman-racer-michael-fassbender.html
https://www.facebook.com/MichaelFassbenderOnline/
http://races.ferrari.com/en/corse-clienti/news/actor-michael-fassbender-races-with-ferrari/
https://www.facebook.com/theloudpedal/
http://www.gq.com/story/michael-fassbender-cover-story-november-2013
http://magazine.ferrari.com/en/people/2016/10/28/news/fassbender_at_ferrari-18504/
http://robbreport.com/automobiles/cars/michael-fassbender-races-in-the-ferrari-challenge-at-laguna-seca-2713511/
http://www.scuderiacorsa.com/scuderia-corsa-celebrates-record-setting-ferrari-challenge-season-opener-at-laguna-seca/

http://brettberk.com/2017/10/04/driving-160-m-p-h-with-michael-fassbender/

Why is there a law making it illegal to import cars into the USA that are less than 25 years old?

Because Mercedes Benz blew a million or more dollars convincing senators and congressmen (who mostly drive Mercedes Benz vehicles) to pass a law keeping US citizens from competing with MB as we can do it cheaper then they can.

There you go, rich politicians acting in their best interests and the interests of big business instead of the citizens and voters.

No real surprise is it? And that's why it's illegal to bring a 1996 Nissan R33 Skyline GT-R into the USA

You can get most anything older than 1992 though, http://www.importavehicle.com/ has an inventory of marked up but ready to buy cars

http://www.thegentlemanracer.com/2017/05/why-is-nissan-skyline-gt-r-is-illegal.html
http://www.postandcourier.com/business/feds-seize-fast-furious-car-say-north-charleston-business-illegally/article_7a36ee46-3a5b-11e7-bacd-f34ca15bbbca.html

2017 Mille Miglia cars, such a cool bunch of cars







Competing with Vespa - The Iso Rivolta Chronicles

Recycling... yeah, my 8mpg 426 wedge powered R/T is good for the environment

https://swarfs.tumblr.com

If I were into stickers, I'd get this one 

If you'll recall, I was just ranting about the stupidity of registration fees.

Bus rider with a fur coat

Cat like reflexes are either a requirement for a race car driver, or, they ought to be. This guy's reflexes are unreal, and must be appreciated

Thursday, June 15, 2017

did anyone else notice the tribute Barracuda in the Logan movie deleted scenes? In the clip Logan Gets A Ticket, the Challenger has a 71-72 Barracuda looking grill center section


In this brief deleted scene in the BluRay extras, Logan, Charles and Laura are attempting to evade the bad guys seeking them, a cop asks them to pull the car over. Turns out Logan was speeding. Doing 86



the movie is supposed to be set in 2029, fyi. That's why the robotic moving container trucks are zipping along the freeways

There isn't any mention of this in IMCDb

Minute 3:41 in the clip below

LAPD training cadets stole 3 police cars, and weren't discovered to be joy riding in them until they raced off though South L.A. leading cops in car chases that ended in separate crashes



The cadet program was designed to help cadets develop life-building skills, bond with officers and volunteer at events such as Dodgers games and the L.A. Marathon. Currently, about 2,300 cadets are enrolled. Cadets participate in an 18-week academy training program, taking various classes while getting an introduction to police work. Then they do grunt work and pay their dues while sorting out if they really want to apply to be LAPD

The chases sparked an investigation that revealed that cops have a lot less control over their inventory system than they thought, as 3 teen cadets faked a cops ID that was on vacation, stole a bulletproof vest, two stun guns and two police radios, the LAPD Chief Beck said.

The department became aware that two LAPD cruisers had gone missing around 5 p.m. yesterday, and it took all the LAPD could muster to find the cruiser in 2 and a half hours. See, they weren't aware that their cars were stolen. How about that?!

At about 9:30 p.m., the stolen cruisers were spotted near 77th Street Division’s headquarters.

So, now you know LAPD can't find their own damn cop cars in their own damn city on a full scale manhunt in less than the time it takes to drive from LA to TiJuana.

To be accurate, LAPD doesn't know how many cars are missing from inventory, or for how long. "One of the cruisers was stolen from the parking garage at Central Division downtown several days ago, according to two law enforcement sources. One of the others was taken from 77th Street Division, one source said. One of the cars may have been missing since late May, according to Chief Beck"

Think your stolen car has a snowballs chance in hell of ever being found when cops aren't looking for it? Nope.

http://www.latimes.com/local/lanow/la-me-ln-lapd-stolen-cruisers-20170615-story.html

look at the body and trunk of this fantastic unrestored Hispano Suiza


It looks like a canvas over metal treatment, click on it for full size.






At this year’s Concorso d’Eleganza Villa d’Este, FIVA was invited to present the ‘Trofeo FIVA’ to the best-preserved pre-War car.

The car chosen was the remarkable 1927 Hispano-Suiza T49 ‘Weymann’ Sport Saloon

http://www.thegentlemanracer.com/2017/06/trofeo-fiva-winning-hispano-suiza-t49.html
https://www.classicdriver.com/en/car/hispano-suiza/t49/1927/233315

Auto Club Speedway welcomes the community to drive their own car, truck or motorcycle and take a spin on the racetrack as part of the popular Lefty’s Track Day on Thursday, August 24 from 4 p.m. – 7 p.m

When Playboys Ruled the World (thanks Wayne!)

I, like many of you I suppose, don't know who Barry Sheene is. (If you do, be cool, don't blast me in the comments) but I'm blown away that he just beat Joey Dunlop and Soichiro Honda out for induction into Motor Sport Hall of Fame


Two-time world champion Barry Sheene was inducted into the Motor Sport Hall of Fame on 7 June. Sheene topped a 12-strong shortlist following a public vote, joining John McGuinness, Valentino Rossi and the late, great John Surtees among others

‘Fast Freddie’ Spencer raced against Sheene in the early 1980s and added his own memories: “In 1980, I was 18 and had never raced outside the US. I came over for a match race and won, beating Barry – but he was the first person to come up afterwards and say, ‘Good job’. Then, in 1982, I was signing autographs with him and we’d been there about an hour. I began to stir and he said, ‘Where are you going? We stay here until the last person has their signature’. That was the Barry I knew.”

http://www.thegentlemanracer.com/2017/06/berry-sheene-inducted-into-motor-sport.html

So i looked around online to learn a bit about him...

"The miracle of his consummate 1976 500cc world title was that it came a year after he emerged from the wreckage of his 175mph crash at Daytona, where he broke his leg, six ribs, his back, a wrist and his collarbone. When he came to in hospital, the first thing he did was ask the nurse for ‘a fag’. (Brit speak for cigarette) 

Barry was no saint and for every achievement, such as his 137mph record lap at the treacherous old Spa-Francorchamps circuit, there was a TV thrown from a hotel window.

Yet he was the purest of competitors. Freddie Spencer, twice a 500cc world champion, still remembers fondly that it was Barry who hugged him after his first GP win. And Roberts once told me: ‘I could not have had a greater rival when we went to battle.’

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/othersports/article-4459324/The-story-British-champion-Barry-Sheene.html

By the late Seventies, Sheene was a bona fide star. He hung out with George Harrison and James Hunt

In his later years he formed a high-jinks gang named “The Squadron” with a bunch of friends including Steve Parrish. Once they underwent a clandestine rescue mission to reclaim £250-worth of goods owed to Sheene’s housekeeper by a former boyfriend. They broke into the house and then made their getaway in a Rolls-Royce.

http://www.gq-magazine.co.uk/article/ten-incredible-facts-you-didnt-know-about-barry-sheene

"Barry worked much more than just twisting the throttle," adds Parrish. "He spoke three or four languages because he knew that if he could communicate with all his mechanics, he could get better equipment from those supplying his bikes.

"There was this huge respect for him in the paddock, not just for his sense of humour but also his technical ability. He would even help rivals sort their bikes out."

http://www.bbc.com/sport/motogp/23844625

And it seems there will be, or was, a movie about him. IMDB says it's in development. So... since it's 18 months since they announced the movie was happening, I'm guessing it isn't going to. http://www.imdb.com/title/tt5345046/?ref_=fn_al_tt_1



and that's what's cool about this hobby, there are an unlimited number of real true stories out there, more to learn every day

SVRA at Sears Point Raceway, historic racing cars from the glory days of SCCA Trans Am racing series

Anyone else think it would be cool as hell to see the Grey Ghost and maybe other SCCA famous cars race in the Optima Challenge?






I've already extensively covered what makes this Tempest cool, one year ago, almost exactly to the day  http://justacarguy.blogspot.com/2016/06/the-grey-ghost-pontiac-tempest-had-life.html

https://www.facebook.com/groups/505973489414476/permalink/1600092596669221/

I just learned that Dodge has special edition trucks... they sure don't publicize it well





2017 Ram 1500 Sublime Green, Copper, Rebel® Black, Mojave Sand,
and the 2017 Ram 1500, 2500, and 3500 Night Edition

https://www.ramtrucks.com/

Newsflash! Breaking news, one hour ago, the blimp at the US Open golf game had severe problems, caught fire, the forward 2/3rds deflated, there was a fire, the operators are safe though, and the remains slowly lost altitude and crashed.


A blimp caught fire and crashed to the ground near the U.S. Open golf tournament, injuring the pilot and causing an explosion on the ground. Patrick Walsh, the company's CEO, tells CBS News the cause of the fire is still under investigation. Walsh says the pilot was the only person on board the blimp. He suffered burns in the crash but was OK, Walsh said.

“It started deflating, and then it started going down,” onlooker Bryan Rosine told the newspaper. “They were trying to give it some throttle and it didn’t go up. Then there was a bunch of kabooms and smoke clouds.”


How does an event with that many people, cameras, and news cameras... not have a single recording in focus, of the blimp from a better camera?





http://www.dailyitem.com/sports/blimp-crashes-at-u-s-open-with-one-person-reported/article_91d8c388-51eb-11e7-a236-1357360bff28.html
http://nypost.com/2017/06/15/blimp-appears-to-crash-at-us-open/

I had forgotten to follow up on the video series, An Italian Garage. They made some wonderful video documentaries! So, here you are, the Iso Rivolta Chronicles - in 2160p hi def, and full screen


Pipe Dream 2, taking the bike farther on water

a couple people were upset at yesterday's Atlas Bar post... and wanted to make sure I knew there are better ways to pick up a big heavy motorcycle... well, c'mon, I've posted these before! Many years ago, and I try to avoid repeating old posts. But all right, lemme repeat these then





compare the guy above, and the woman below. She talks you to death, and takes twice the time to talk about it as the guy does to just get it done. Tiresome.

Wednesday, June 14, 2017

First rule of off roading, never off road along




Tac Rider - Atlas bar... I bet this thing has a hell of a lot of uses, more than just getting a motorcycle uprighted


when big bikes (Up to 750 pounds)  battle deep sand, everyone falls sooner or later. However, you no longer need to break your back to get upright again. With the Atlas Bar you can take to the trails with confidence knowing that you have the added strength needed to easily set your bike back on its wheels after a spill.

Constructed from aircraft grade aluminum and reinforced with steel collars, the Atlas Bar weighs in at just 5 lbs 3oz. And best of all, with the push of a few buttons, the Atlas Bar collapses into a package small enough to fit inside most panniers and soft luggage systems.

Cost: $285.00 USD and I can't even guess why it isn't on their website yet



Mountain Havoc



and 2016



but the coverage is far more interesting to watch when they make it over the obstacle, no matter how much they struggle

Lions Back, Moab Utah off roading adventure trail, and Hells Revenge






Above, Lions back, closed since 2004




the Land Rover early versions (Series I, II, IIA) had a very innovative feature, the radiator shield grill was removable and used for BBQ grilling