13.4.10

Ferrari Challenge Pt. 3--FXX



Another "demo" from Ferrari at the Challenge was their sorta new FXX, based on the older Enzo. Again, Ferrari claims this is a "production" car (if you buy one, it comes with its own mechanic), but I doubt you'll see one on the streets. An amazing vehicle, what an engine roar!

Some pics from the garage:




And another brake pic:


And, of course, Ferrari red...


Here's a brief video of FXX track laps (the white car is a 599XX).

12.4.10

Ferrari Challenge Pt. 2--599XX


As part of the Challenge events, Ferrari brings some of their new cars to the track to run some "demo" laps. These are supposedly production cars; however, I'm sure this is a rather loose definition, since these are all out racing vehicles. A manufacturer has to produce so many to qualify as "production" vs "prototype". The number is small, so there are enough deep pocketed buyers who are able to afford these vehicles (probably for racing purposes more than street driving). The 599XX is a front engined vehicle (actually mid-engined, rear wheel drive). Here are some shots from the garage area.




And a few shots from the track (entrance to pit road):



Finally, here's a brief video clip of a 599XX passing by me on the way to the pits.


11.4.10

Ferrari Challenge Pt. 1 Miller Motor Sports Park


Well, finally some action around these parts. The MMSP hosted the Ferrari Challenge for the first time in Utah, which brought some very exotic cars and a fine afternoon to the state. Several years ago, Larry Miller, the auto king of Utah (and a few other states) financed probably the best racing facility in the country out in the Tooele valley. Larry had always been a racing fan (a conversation with him in the grocery store years ago yielded info on his extensive Cobra and Ford racing car collection, which are now in the museum that's part of the Miller Motor Sports Park). However, the facility so far is underutilized, other than a LeMans series race and some motorcycle action. My favorite Classic Car races ran a couple years, but haven't been rescheduled. I guess Utah is just too remote for big time action. But the track is so fabulous, I'm sure that will change.

So this past weekend, with decent weather for early April (warm enough for fans, cool enough for high performance engines), the Ferrari Challenge came to town. The FC is a series of races for Ferrari owners who are amateur drivers with dealer support. They get to race F430's and Ferrari gets to demo their latest performance cars. At the same time, all sorts of local Ferrari owners get to strut their stuff (cars). A big celebration. So I start a series of blogs, first with the scene and the cars that lined up for us peons to ogle. A very nice scene with snow packed Ochres to the east and snow packed Stansburys to the west. As always, click on the pics to get a bigger view.



Now some individual cars. First and older Ferrari, don't remember the model.

And, I believe, a Berlinetta, and a convertible F430:

I'm not much into yellow cars, unless they are Ferraris:

And the new Ferrari California:

When it comes to exotic sports cars, most folds are into the gorgeous body work, or the high performance engines. For some reason, I'm into the brakes, especially colorful calipers. You gotta stop these cars, pull 'em down from 100+ speeds in a short distance, without brake fade.
(There was a lot of action in the garage after track time blowing out the brake dust from under the wheel wells). So here's a couple brake pics:


At the top of this post is a pic of my friend, Fred, posing with an F430. He often attends these events with his buddy Davie who is an excellent photographer:

Davie does the photos, Fred applies a little Photoshop and then prints out the pics in large format. They have a little biz going, since owners often enjoy the large prints of their cars. But when it comes to photographers, I enjoy the young babes with a camera:

OK, enough for this post. Coming up, the F599XX, the FXX, and more on F430s, and some bonus pics of other interesting cars on display at the big Ferrari event.

2.3.10

Golden Eagle


Getting old is a bitch. Your body falls apart slowly (sometimes rapidly), the old energy just isn't there, and the babes give you the pity eye instead of the lust eye. Not much to look forward to as you age, other than a fat pension check, but I don't know anyone who gets one of those. But I did discover one advantage of age... the federal Golden Eagle (now Golden Age...whoops...now America the Beautiful Senior) card. For $10 I now get free admission to all national parks/monuments for the rest of my life. What a deal! Now all I have to do is stay alive long enough to enjoy using the card. Guess I should rush right down to Zion or Arches...

1.3.10

Better Off With the Blues Tunes


A couple tunes from the Studio 13 session. By the way, Better Off With the Blues features Jim Poulton and Paul Rasmussen on Guitars and Vocals, Ken Critchfield on Bass, and Lou Borgenicht on Harp and (occasional) Vocals.

Next Gig: May 15th at Sun and Moon 7-10PM.

With the group's permission, I've linked to a couple of tunes. Clicking should initiate MP3 play, Right-Click or Cntrl-Click should initiate a download.

First is the old standard Key to the Highway:

The second tune is Mean Old World:

25.2.10

Better Off With the Blues


Seems like there's always a group of folks playing the blues. The groups come and go, but the blues is eternal. Black or blue-eyed, everyone manages to express this music form in a fine manner, I guess because no one is immune from "the blues".

Better Off With the Blues is a newer local group composed of docs.... psychologists and medical. Hey, I guess they have the health care blues like the rest of us! Anyway, they play occasional gigs around town, and recently I had the honor of recording them at my Studio 13. I think we got some good stuff, and I'm in the process of mixing down the tunes. I'll try to post some initial results here. In the meantime, look for them around town... Cafe Niche and The Sun and The Moon are likely locations.

Blog Spam

Due to spam hitting this blog in the comments section, I've had to add word verification if anyone wants to leave a comment. Sorry for the hassle, but I'm tired of the junk. Please don't let this inconvenience stop the (3?) of you from continuing to comment... assuming I ever update this blog with anything interesting.