Ferrari F14 T Revealed

There's a ton of excitement swirling around the upcoming F1 season. The main reason is this season will require each team to debut an all new car to comply with the heavily revised 2014 regulations....including turbo V6 power plants and new aero regulations.  It already appears that the 2014 car designs (click here to see them) will vary dramatically and that success hinges on which engineering team was able to balance practicality and creativity while taking on the new rule book. Basically, this season epitomizes everything NASCAR is not (see previous rant here).

Ferrari have officially unveiled the F14 T, the car the Italian team hope will bring them championship glory this year in the hands of new driver pairing, Fernando Alonso and Kimi Raikkonen. In line with the heavily revised 2014 regulations, the Scuderia’s new challenger is powered by a 1.6 liter, turbo V6 power engine and features a new-look nose, quite different to that seen on other 2014 cars so far.

For the past two decades I've been amazed as historically angular F1 designs transitioned into sleek and curvy sculptures that seemed to be zoomorphic at times. I guess the 2014 F14 T design continues to amaze me for the same reason.....but not in a good way. I can't be the only person who thinks the new F14 T looks like an aardvark.

But it doesn't end with Ferrari. The McLaren MP4-29 and Williams FW 36 appear to be styled after the speedy anteater:

Can't wait to see the other designs and how the season plays out.

Vegas for Car Guys

I haven't been posting for a while.  I've basically been waiting for some descent weather to visit New England so I can start getting out and reporting on the local scene.  However, I just spent the last week in Las Vegas on a business trip.  During my trip I managed to spend a little bit of time enjoying myself.....turns out Vegas is a fairly car guy friendly place.....

I had some time to kill to so I checked out http://www.fantasycarrentals.com right by the airport.  Other companies offer exotic car rentals in Vegas (such as Hertz) but Fantasy Car Rentals has a great selection ranging from vintage American cars to modern European exotics.  They will also pick you up at the airport or hotel and drop you off afterwards.  Since I was on a budget and the weather was fantastic I ended up with a convertible Camaro SS.

A view from Fantasy Car Rentals

Another view from Fantasy Car Rentals

First stop was Red Rock Canyon.  Its amazing that a place like Red Rock is within 30 minutes of the strip and yet the completely polar opposite of what the strip is.  Its a great drive out there and the 13 mile scenic loop is breathtaking.  The speed limit in the loop is 35 MPH so it is in fact a scenic loop and not a high speed circuit.  I didn't do the Hoover Dam or Lake Mead on this trip because I did that on a previous trip (in a rented Cobra!).

On my way back from Red Rock I decided to swing by Count's Kustoms. The speedshop owned by Danny 'Count' Koker and made famous by shows like Pawn Stars and Counting Cars. The people were extremely friendly and they have a section of the shop dedicated to displaying some of Danny's collection. Free, laid back, and about a mile from my hotel on the strip.

Next morning I headed north to where Las Vegas Motor Speedway is located.  The area of the speedway is a car guy's paradise.  In addition to the race track, the area hosts a dragstip and a few companies that specialize in exotic car driving experiences such as http://www.exoticsracing.com.  The area also houses an industrial complex loaded with racing teams and automotive related businesses.  My favorite is the headquarters of Shelby American Inc.  The facility includes a museum area. The contents of the display is always changing and includes some of the most famous cars ever produced from the first Cobra CSX2000 to prototypes of the Series 1, Shelby GT-H, Terlingua, GT500KR, and others. Shelby also runs a free tour of the shop at 10:30AM Monday through Saturday.

I arrived at the speedway area early one morning during the week (so I could take the Shelby tour). When I pulled off the highway exit and entered the track complex I was immediately met with the sound of a race car circling the speedway, Shelby moving cars around their lot (including a Shelby 1000) and a herd of exotic sports cars coming up the street on their way to the lot location where they operate their driving experience business.  Just for an extra helping of testosterone, fighter jets from nearby Nellis Air Force Base would make intermittent cameos overhead! Freakin' awesome!

Another thing I did not do on this trip to Sin City was visit the Auto Collections at the Quad Resort & Casino (which used to be the Imperial Palace).  I went there last year and did have to get some work done on this trip. 

But there you have it.....Vegas from a gearhead's perspective.      

Remember when NASCAR was cool?

The Daytona 500 kicks off the 2013 NASCAR season in a month....but I don't care! First some eye candy and then my rant....

I grew up as an avid follower of NASCAR in the 80's. However, I have zero interest in current day NASCAR. What happened? I firmly believe that in its efforts to broaden the appeal of the spectacle (which I cannot fault them for), NASCAR ultimately alienated car guys. 

"Two decades ago everybody had their own unique cars," said Robin Pemberton, NASCAR's vice president for competition and racing development. "Much of the sheet metal was out of the box from the factories and the dealerships, and you built them in a way to get your advantages however you could. You saw quite a menu of spoiler sizes and nose changes and a constant leapfrogging of technology to get an advantage. One car would run good at Michigan and then wouldn't run good at Daytona."

Everything Pemberton described in this quote is exactly why I used to like NASCAR....and it is missing from today's version of the sport.

Coupled with NASCAR's marketing machine keying in on the drivers (both their skills and personalities), the tragic death of Dale Earnhardt triggered a tremendous effort into improving driver safety (with amazing success). This ultimately culminated in the introduction of the generic race car dubbed the "Car of Tomorrow."  Without question, the COT accomplished many of NASCAR's safety goals, but it was also the final nail in the coffin in essentially removing the importance of the car, engineering and technology (all stuff I love) from the equation of determining a race's winner.

 

The crazy thing is I didn't even grow up in NASCAR's glory years (think winged warriors!). I picked it up in the mid 80's. But even then, the Monte Carlos and T-Birds were far more interesting than  today's sterile "Car of Tomorrow." Back then, we all knew people with a mid 80's G-body (Chevy Monte Carlo, Pontiac Grand Prix, Buick Regal, Olds Cutlass) and if you squinted when you looked at them they looked like their racing counterparts.  My brother's first car was a '83 Monte Carlo and we loved that it had race car DNA.  In the 80's we even got a taste of the homologation days as we saw quirky stuff hit the showroom like the Monte Carlo and Gram Prix Aerocoupes...

To me, the beginning of the end wasn't the "Car of Tomorrow."  The writing was on the wall with the introduction of the Chevy Lumina. The second a showroom product that was a unit body, front wheel drive, V6 (at best) automobile appeared on the track as a rear wheel drive, V8 powered race car I knew whatever remained of the illusion of 'stock car racing' was completely gone.  Then the Ford Taurus added insult to injury by proving the showroom variant didn't even have to have the same number of doors as the racing version.  At this point, manufactures don't even offer cars with push rod V8's (but they race them).

But there is a glimmer of hope (just a glimmer).  NASCAR has announced that it intends to reintroduce some diversity among the models being raced in 2013. Its a baby step but its just never going to be what it was. 

    

I will summarize my whole point in 5 words and 2 pictures:

This...

made this...

very cool.