VIDEO> Wangan Midnight Tokyo Highway
Mannnnn… following up on the cool video that 0-60 Magazine‘s Alex Bernstein shot of Nakai san‘s Rauh Welt Porsches cruising through the highways of Japan, one of the friends of the MotorMavens Crew, fellow Japanophile Edwin Reyes from NYC sent me this video through our Facebook page.
For those who haven’t heard of the Wangan Midnight comic book in Japan, it stars a certain S30 240Z and tells exciting stories of Japanese highway (wangan) battles with other high speed streetcars. I think the Wangan Midnight live action movie looks pretty cool – in fact, I can’t wait to see the entire thing. Hopefully someone has a torrent of it somewhere that they’d like to share? If you have it, let me know please!
It’s too bad NBC Universal didn’t make their Fast&Furious movies into something more like this. Movies like this would be off the hook! In fact, watching this makes me want to drive a black JZA70 or JZA80 Supra on the highway right nowwwwww!!! Or a Porsche GT3RS! Or an R34 Skyline GT-R V-Spec… Or… (What else?)
:: Antonio Alvendia
VIDEO> Rauh Welt Porsches on Japan Streets!
I just posted up a Papercuts story about 0-60 Magazine’s newest issue, which includes a feature on Nakai san and his Rauh Welt Porsches and on one of my favorite cars of all time – the AE86 Corolla GT-S, but I thought I should just go ahead and post this video as well! This video features clips from 0-60′s photo shoot in Japan, and some handheld video footage so that you can hear the Rauh Welt Porsche 911′s AMAZING exhaust note as it cruises through Japanese city streets and freeways!
Enjoy!
:: Antonio Alvendia
PAPERCUTS> AE86 & Rauh Welt in 0-60 Mag
It might have been just a kewinkydink, but since we all celebrated Hachiroku Day, August 6th, this past Friday... I thought it would be cool to point out that O-60 Magazine just printed an in depth article about the AE86 this month, in their column, The Sixty.
0-60 knows that most die hard AE86 owners are pretty crazy about their cars, so they were looking for a super clean AE86 to shoot for this month's feature. They apparently heard that I had some pretty clean AE86s in my collection, and called me up to ask if they would be able to do a photo shoot with one of my cars. Actually, they were asking if I'd be willing to shoot one of my cars for the magazine... of course! Everything was all going to be good, until we spoke further, and I realized that they were actually looking for a bone stock AE86 Corolla GT-S. Ummm... oops. None of my cars are bone stock. Read more...
WEBMINING> The Porsche GT3R Hybrid
While researching this new GT3R Hybrid, I stumbled upon some interesting facts. For example, this isn’t the first time that Porsche has toyed with "green" technology. Over a hundred years ago, Porsche's founder (Ferdinand Porsche), began his automotive career by making electric hubs that were later put into the wheels of horse carriages. In 1900, Porsche unveiled his hub motor design at the World’s Fair in Paris. Most people thought at the time that an electric driven carriage would be an epic fail. (But they didn't say it in those exact words, LOL) Little did they know that what Mr. Porsche was doing would become a precursor to another "green" technology in a century or so. Read more...
CARSPOTTING> AE Performance Porsche GT3 RS
By now you're probably thinking, "Enough already, dude, what's up with the sexy car?" You may even be asking where I got the plane for this shot. Well, this picture was totally a fluke. While wandering aimlessly around AE Performance's shop, which is located at the Chino private air field, we happened to stumble upon this nice gentleman's immaculate 1939 Lockheed executive twin prop plane. In the early 1940s, this was the plane of choice for shuttling around the ultra wealthy. Over 70 years later, it makes for an amazing shot, doesn't it?
The Porsche GT3 is no slouch. It's the embodiment of the whole "rear-engined sports car" vibe. Just climbing into one evokes a Zen-like feeling of oneness with the road. For me, what makes a Porsche so great (I mean, besides those sexy hips it calls fenders) is the tone the engine produces at idle or wide open throttle - siiiick. It's everything from the undeniable racing pedigree to the fact that Porsche actually took out a patent on the 911 body style. Need I say more?
Straight out of the box, the GT3 is ready to conquer any track you throw at it. But for some people, that's just not enough. This particular Porsche is for those people. For them, Porsche decided to put the GT3 on a strict diet regimen to shed some unnecessary weight - a mere 44lbs. "What good is that," you say? Let me tell you - it makes a huge difference. So when I heard that the guys at AE Performance had a rare white Euro-spec 2007 Porsche GT3 RS sitting at their shop, I just had to check it out! Read more...
COVERAGE> San Francisco Auto Show 2009
Since the FD wasn't back in San Francisco yet, I figured it would be a good chance to debut my RHD S14 and display it at this week-long show so I could show some love to my sponsors. Read more...
WEBMINING> Gulf Blue Porsche 911 Carrera
I wish I had an extra $69K laying around. If I did, I’d be inclined to pick up this gorgeous 1974 Porsche 911 Carrera, which is the only “big bumpered” Carrera I’ve ever seen that made me drool with this much intensity. Wait. Do people drool with intensity? Maybe salivate is a better word.
I can just imagine myself rocking my favorite Kangol, aviator glasses and a Steve McQueen replica Gulf racing jacket (the white leather one, of course) and driving this car up and down the California coast. If it were in a movie, I feel like California Dreamin by The Mamas and the Papas would be playing as I drove off into the sunset… but if I were actually driving this car, most likely I’d just be listening to the sweet sounds of the finely tuned carburetors screaming, with both windows down so that the crisp ocean breeze could blow into the cockpit. (more…)
WEBMINING> 480hp Porsche 911 GT3R
What do you get if you take one of the most capable cars and keep refining it and refining it? The answer is sophisticated and beautiful. The Porsche 911 GT3R. 480 horsepower in a car that weighs only 2646 lbs. WANT.
:: Antonio Alvendia
CENTERSTAGE> EVOMS Porsche 911 GT750
Since they worked on the development of this particular 996, EVOMS has also launched a standardized package for the 997, dubbed the EVT700, that can be seen here in addition to their own intelligent tuning services. However, for 996 fans around the world, it is easy to see why the earlier variant of the 911 Turbo remains so popular. Read more...
PAPERCUTS> Before Rauh Welt, it was ROUGH WORLD.
Many of you might roll your eyes after reading that statement... but seriously, if it weren't for BM and my other favorite Japanese mags, the only publications my friends and I would have been able to flip through all these years would be the American "import car" magazines, which always featured bright colored, custom stereo-with-neon, non functional rollcage-having, widebody-without-wide-wheels showcars on their covers. (The US magazines have improved a little bit since then... but just try to dig up an old import magazine from 1997 and you'll know what I'm talking about.)
Anyway, this particular AE86 special issue of BM is one of my favorite magazines in existence because of a feature on the legendary AE86 crew, Rough World. Of course, I couldn't read the text, but what was presented to me in color photographs really messed my head up. I didn't even know what it was at first; I just thought the cars looked so cool. At that point, I hadn't even figured out it was because of the perfect blend of camber, stretched tires, wide wheels, and slam that made the cars look so cool. Read more...
