Cars & Coffee, April 2018

Went along to a meet organised by the BMW Drivers Club NSW and NSSCC the other Sunday morning.

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Coffee & Classics November 2015

I went along to this month’s edition of Fuel Magazine’s Coffee & Classics this morning. Rather more sedate than the last time I went, probably because there were a few showers about.

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Motorclassica 2015

Great to see Motorclassica continue to thrive. Tonnes of manufacturer support this year, with stands from Mercedes-Benz, BMW, Porsche, Jaguar, Alfa-Romeo, Maserati, Citroen, Ferrari… Without a stable motorshow in Australia, Motorclassica seems to hit a sweet spot for showcasing these historic marques to their most enthusiastic followers and customers.

Special mention to BMW for having two concepts on display: their 3.0 CSL Hommage concept and M4 GTS concept; Mercedes-Maybach for showcasing their new S600; and Porsche for bringing a 991 GT3 RS to the show.

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Coffee & Classics September 2015

A few of my shots from the first Fuel Magazine Coffee & Classics meet in Port Melbourne for the season. Do really need to get the ‘tii back on the road and take it to one of these.

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Classic Japan 2014

My photos from the Classic Japan 2014 event held today at South Yarra’s Como Park.

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Motorclassica 2014

Some photos taken on Saturday at this year’s Motorclassica event.

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Day 48: Dismantling

Made the fateful decision back on on 18 Nov (48 days ago) to take the 2002 off the road and start the restoration that had to happen.

Activity so far has been about taking as much off the car as possible in an orderly manner. Aim is to get the body shell all set for an overhaul, some new panels and some new paint.

Rear suspension is off, working to remove the rear subframe. Interior is just about stripped, lots of tidying of the under dash wiring loom needs to be done.

Very aware that lots of these projects get off the ground only to falter, leaving nothing more than a collection of boxed parts.

Wish me luck.

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BMW R90 Cafe Racer

I don’t usually like motorbikes. For this, I make an exception.

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Suspension overhaul

Started pulling the rear suspension apart this afternoon.

Right is largely done, left underway. Everything is caked in oil and dirt, looking forward to getting it all cleaned up and back together.

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Motorclassica

• ‘65 Porsche

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An hour and a quarter of Mark Higgins flogging an ever-so-slightly-enhanced Subaru around the Isle of Man TT course. What’s not to like?

Purchased.

Volkswagen Driving Experience

Took part in the “Volkswagen Driving Evolution” course yesterday at Phillip Island. Good fun, especially because it was so wet.

Recommend doing it.

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Turbo R

The ultimate air-cooled 911?

(Taken way back in ‘06, London GB)

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I have a bit of thing about re-manufactured cars - Icon FJs, JIA Jensen Interceptors - but these guys take it to another level.

Number 1 on my wish list.

Sprints at Phillip Island

Porsche Club of Victoria Sprints at Phillip Island. Cold and wet, wouldn’t have missed it for the world.

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Car spotting

From the archives…

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Car Spotting Chicago

Aventador, N Rush.

Dodge Challenger, E Superior.

Honda Element, S LaSalle.

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Parked

Back when the Golf was a few weeks old, I think this was Oct ‘11.

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Ferrari Concours Melbourne

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Dub-stitute

Loads of stanced mkI’s in attendance. More shots up on Flickr.

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XM

Straight out of Ronin.

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Motorclassica

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Caught in the rain

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The Hollywood Megamercial

Ken Block is back for round 4 of his gymkhana series, this time he’s in and around the Universal Studios lot.

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You should have heard them

So I was filling up the Polo the other day…

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Hypermiling

Since it’s last fill, I’ve been attempting to hypermile the Polo to see how low I get it’s fuel consumption. Not doing anything too hardcore: just running without a/c whenever possible, keeping the revs below 2,000 and throwing it into neutral down a few of the bigger hills on the commute to work.

In the 7 months or so we’ve had it, the average fuel consumption has been hovering around 6.2L/100km with a PB of 5.8 on a drive up to Penang. All will be revealed at the next fill-up…

update 25 Jul 2011: 5.5L/100km - a new record! (581km / 32L)

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Bangkok Corona

Nicely patinated, looks like it was once a taxi.

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On the road once more

Finally got ourselves a car here in Malaysia, a Candy White VW Polo 77TSI DSG. Picked it up on Xmas Eve and have been driving around ever since. Below is a video of me driving into work for the first time in it on Monday morning, sped up x4.5 😁

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McLaren F1 turns 20

Incredible to believe that the mighty McLaren F1 turns twenty this week. Twenty!

At the time it was launched, I can remember reading and re-reading magazine articles about the development and specifications of the F1 - from the use of kit-cars to test various components prior to building a chassis proper; the three-seat, driver in the middle, passengers behind the driver on each side layout (still brilliant, yet still not emulated); that carbon fibre chassis (a first); the gold foil lined engine bay; the titanium tool kit; the built-in modem to dial back to the factory during servicing; and the time one of the initial prototypes was lost in a high-speed roll testing in Namibia.

This extraordinary car even made it into Aussie folklore with a story of a certain car-loving beverage company CEO importing one to Australia - only to have his “mechanic” roll it into a ditch somewhere on West Head north of Sydney, far from any local BMW dealership. Or so the story goes.

I’ve had the privilege of seeing an F1 up close on three occasions, though unfortunately only ever on static display: firstly at the ‘95 Sydney Motorshow when one was displayed on the BMW stand (above), another time gawking at the example that sat on the showroom floor of the sole McLaren dealership on Park Lane, London for many years - same car that sold at auction in 2008 for £2.3m with 485km on the clock…

Closest I’ve been to one was the time I stumbled across this example (below) parked on Flinders Lane in the Melbourne CBD, one lunchtime a few years back.

Suffice to say, if I had the means - a McLaren F1 would be at the top of my supercar shopping list.

Three-cheers for the McLaren F1!

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Trackday at SIC

Spent a day out at the Sepang International Circuit on Saturday, checking out the local trackday scene. Unfortunately I didn’t bring along my long lens so only had a max of 55mm to play with, not the best for taking shots at a circuit with such massive F1-compatible runoffs.

Ended up walking right out to the end of what they call “The Mall”, between the main back-to-back grandstands along the two long straights, could not get over the size of this place. The trackday was being held on what is the full 5.5km F1 layout so that action was pretty spread out. That said, from a vantage in the main stand I could see the majority of the track, I just couldn’t reach it with my camera.

Lots of Lotii in attendance, along with a bunch of well sorted JDM Hondas, Subarus, a few (LOUD) Altezzas and a Veilside-kitted RX7.

The day itself seemed well organised, I only saw a couple of incidents - one Civic failed to secure its bonnet properly with obvious results, whilst another car (I think it was a Proton of some sort) stopped out on the circuit and brought out the red flags during one session. Overtaking seemed to be allowed anywhere and most, if not all, cars had passengers each time they went out. I can see how - with those two massive straights - the layout would suit big-power cars and can imagine that the big stops at the end of them, combined with the heat, would make this circuit pretty tough on brakes.

Perhaps next time I’ll get out on the track myself.

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A new MINI

Hot on the heals of MINI releasing the first official footage of their upcoming R60 Countryman SUV model, albeit heavily camouflaged, leaked photos of the final production model are now out.

I have to say that I do like it alot. Very impressed that MINI have finally got themselves what looks like a proper non-metallic white paint option - rather than the White Silver (dull grey) and Pepper White (cream) that have been offered to date. Really looking forward to seeing more photos and seeing it in full World Rally Championship warpaint soon (MINI are strongly rumoured to be entering the 2011 WRC with cars built by the venerable Prodrive outfit).

UPDATE: Official photos + info have been released by MINI, all the details about the new R60 Countryman can be found over on Motoringfile.

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MINI production line

Great video showing the current R56 MINI rolling down the production line.

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The Fast and the Famous

More Jay Leno action, this time he’s taking an SLS for a wrap around the streets of Hollywood/LA.

I love the sound this thing makes, almost sounds as good as a MINI JCW on over-run! Great video, check out the making of clip

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Jay Leno knows

Jay Leno is apparently in the process of fitting the M159 6.2L V8 sledgehammer, from the soon-to-be-released SLS AMG, into a 1969 300SEL 6.3 saloon.

The 563hp SLS weighs in at around 1,600kg, the W109 300SEL – depending on where you read it – weighs somewhere between 1,400 - 1,700kg. Remove the original iron-block W100 V8 engine, itself not a bad engine, and I’m sure it will be closer to the former than the later weight.

I can’t get enough of this stuff, Leno is a champion. Cannot wait to see this thing.

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Seems to be the latest news in the ongoing saga for survival for Saab. After failing to seal a deal with suitors Koenigsegg and then Spyker, GM announced last week that the venerable maker of quirky cars for architects would be would down, in the words of a GM vice-preseident:

We reached a point of impasse, we decided to deal with it and move on.

Or is it? Latest news today seems to indicate that GM still has number of parties with offers on the table for Saab.

Let’s hope they work something out, there aren’t enough independent car makers left, let alone one willing to make cars that are that little bit different.

Happy Birthday Mini!

Happy 50th Birthday!

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A thoughtful analysis of the history of the Saab and the enormous amount of goodwill caught up in GM’s bankruptcy and subsequent sale of of the iconic Swedish car manufacturer.

Audi brings a gun to a knife fight

Perfect, love it.

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MINI AUnited 2009

To celebrate the 50th birthday of the MINI and coinciding with the official MINI United bash on at Silverstone, UK the same weekend, MINI Australia are holding their celebratory bash christened - MINI AUnited - on May 24th in Sydney.

The event starts at Harold Park Paceway in Glebe at 2pm and ends after a screening of “The Italian Job” at the Blacktown drive-in in the evening, with a drive through the City in between. Entry fee is $50 per MINI and for that there seems to be a bunch of goodies thrown into the bargain.

Initial indications seem to point towards a pretty good turn-out, if my MINI mates are anything to go by - should be a hoot.

+ MINI AUnited information pack (pdf)

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