I have seen my share of big “one make” car meets in my time but nothing like what was recently done in the Netherlands. 683 Mazda MX-5′s got together for one huge parade lap of the RDW Test Center in Lelystad. This event destroyed the previous record of 459 MX-5′s which was set in Germany back in 2010. After an official from Guinness confirmed the new record the crowd decided to celebrate with a drive-in movie. They had three choices and the crowd was to vote by honking their horns. The movie that got the loudest reply was Arbitrage starring Richard Gere. Ah those crazy Dutch…
I can’t help but think that we should try to bring this record to the good ol’ U.S. I mean if 683 is the record, can’t we do better? We already know there is way more than 1,000 MX-5 owners in this country! Lets take a crack at it! Hey and if we win we can celebrate with the biggest drive-in showing of An Officer And A Gentleman ever!
Leverkusen, 17 June 2013. Mazda was able to set a new entry in the Guinness Book of World RecordsTM during the big MAX-5 2013 event on June 15 in Lelystad, Netherlands. A total of 683 Mazda MX-5s joined the procession on the roads around the RDW Test Centre at Lelystad, forming the longest parade of driving Mazdas ever. 1450 participants contributed to the successful record attempt, shattering the existing record for the “largest parade of Mazda cars” – 459 Mazda MX-5s – set in Essen, Germany in 2010.
The MX-5 parade through the fascinating polder landscape was led by a spectacular version of the MX-5, a third-generation (NC) racing model with the Dutch TV presenter Allard Kalff behind the wheel and President and CEO of Mazda Motor Europe Jeff Guyton beside him. Later on, after the successful record attempt, Guyton also received the official certificate which was presented by Guinness World RecordsTM adjudicator Pravin Patel.
Throughout the MAX-5 2013 event, the RDW Test Centre at Lelystad was completely dedicated to the Japanese brand and the Mazda experience. This included demonstrations by the Ribank Mazda MaX5 Cup racers and the three-rotor-engined Mazda3 20Bowned by Belgian racing family Van Herck. Participants also had the opportunity of extensively testing Mazda’s new i-ACTIVSENSE technology on the banked circuit, or entertaining themselves in one of the racing simulators. All the new Mazda SKYACTIV models were on hand for those interested in taking a test drive and visitors also had the opportunity of a free inspection of their own roadsters. During a special display with some of the finest MX-5s on hand, the award for the most beautiful and authentic Mazda MX-5 of the day was handed over to Pieter Staat from Meteren (NL). The second prize went to Maarten Tuiten from Almelo (NL), followed by Ludo Vander Vliet from Duffel (B), winning third place in this competition.
At the end of the day, about 250 cars still present joined to form a large drive-in cinema. Prior to the showing, the viewers were asked to pick from three films and seated at the wheel of their cars, the owners cast their vote by blowing their horn to indicate their preferred film. The loudest ‘vote’ was cast for Arbitrage with Richard Gere in the starring role.
Over the last 12 months the world as seen some exceptionally terrible tragedies. Be it natural disaster or acts of violence, each occurrence has resulted in deaths of innocent people and destruction. So it is nice when people, even if they are outside the situation, step in to lend a helping hand.
Toyota wanted to help with the horrible devastation that happened in Oklahoma due to the recent tornado so they have donated $250,000 dollars towards the relief effort. The money will be used for immediate needs such as food and medical assistance while some will be put towards rebuilding homes and small businesses that were damaged by the tornado.
If you want to help, the Red Cross is accepting donations. You can visit RedCross.org to find a local post to take a cash, check, or credit card donation to. Or you can simply use your cell phone and text REDCROSS to 90999 to donate $10 (via your cell phone bill) to the relief effort. Every bit helps!
NEW YORK, May 23, 2013 – Toyota today announced a $250,000 donation to support relief and rebuilding efforts for victims of the tornado that hit Moore, Oklahoma and the greater Oklahoma City area on May 20. Funds will be allocated to immediate response and for mid-to-long term needs in the areas of food, small business revitalization and home rebuilding. Toyota will also match employee contributions.
“On behalf of Toyota, we express our sincere condolences to everyone impacted by this devastating tornado. Our thoughts are with the affected families as they work to rebuild their lives,” said Latondra Newton, group vice president of philanthropy and chief diversity officer.
Wow, it seems like just yesterday that I made the trip out to Lake Elsinore to visit a fleet of fresh Hondas at the 2013 Eibach meet. Wait, actually it wasn’t yesterday it was just a few hours ago… Yes, that fast and I already have my pictures up. Why? Because its Sunday afternoon and I am a very boring individual. Actually, its partly because my gallery is somewhat modest (150 pictures) compared to what I know will be galleries of thousands of shots from other outlets.
As far as my impressions of the meet? Well I should start off with a disclaimer that the last time I went to the Eibach meet, it was actually at Eibach’s facility. For a while now the meet has gotten so big that organizers have been forced to find larger venues. This year they visited the Storm Stadium in Lake Elsinore. While the location was scenic, it was also incredibly hot! As well as at least an hour away from most of the people who would visit. I’d love it if they moved it to some where closer and cooler (temp. wise) but part of the fun is the exodus to get out there right?
The quality of cars was not quite the way I remember it but, well trends are different now and with the economy the way it is there aren’t many who have the money or patience to pay a premium and wait 3 months for those JDM parts. I commend those who still do that despite the economic climate but it seems like the Honda scene is now more about creative without breaking the bank and that in and of itself makes for some pretty fresh rides.
I wasn’t able to capture everything but I figured I would just give you a taste of what was there. Click on the thumbnails for teaser shots then hit the red text for our Facebook gallery. If you want more just stay tuned to your usual internet haunts and I’m sure many more galleries will pop up. For now, enjoy!
This weekend is hands down the biggest weekend for all men and women who consider themselves certified “Honda heads”! The Eibach meet is one of the biggest car meets in the country and THE biggest Honda meet ever in history to ever happen in any place at any time. OK, maybe that last part is an exaggeration but still! In fact the Eibach meet is so big, that they can’t even hold the event at Eibach anymore.
This year the famous meet will be held in the massive parking lot at Storm Stadium in Lake Elsinore, CA. Sure it is a little bit farther out than Eibach’s facility but the extra space will allow more room for all the epic Honda-ness. Enough talk! I shall provide you with the details and you shall make plans for your exodus!
What results when film geniuses Clash Productions are combined with a snow camo’d Nissan GT-R, a ski slope, and snowmobile chase cameras? Two and a half minutes of AWESOME that is as pure as…well the driven snow (I make no pun apologies!).
This is one of those occasions in which a “where” and especially a “why” are completely unnecessary. All that you need to know is that a crew out in Sweeden dubbed “Team Ice Ricers” decided to answer the question: “can a GT-R climb a ski slope?”
This weekend was a treat for me. For a long time I loved visiting the annual Toyotafest (produced by T.O.R.C.). Unfortunately for the last few years the Toyotafest has landed on my birthday (May 9th). Naturally I have other plans on my birthday so I have been unable to attend. This year I got lucky and the Toyotafest fell a week earlier than it usually does! Needless to say it was a treat to be able to finally visit the event again after a few years and let me just say it is just as impressive as I remember it!
True Toyota corporate’s presence is smaller than I remember but that just made more room for owners to show off their toys (you see what I did there?). Toyotafest’s entry price of “free 99″ drew in tons of Toyota fans and car fans a like to the event and the quality of some of the cars on display kept them inside all day.
As usual there was a great mix of old school restored rides, modern builds, and cool one-offs. I combed through it all and shot the best of the best, some of which you can see here by clicking on the thumbnails. The rest of the pictures can be seen by vising the Facebook gallery.
The Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach plays host to several motorsport events over the course of one weekend. In fact there is so much going on that sometimes once one event is over they have to get out of the way to make room for another event. One such example is the Mother’s Car Show. You see, the ALMS main race takes place on Saturday but the Mother’s Car show takes place on the same real estate used by ALMS for their paddock. So, by Saturday night all the big rigs, equipment, trailers, and teams from ALMS are gone to make way for the car show. By Sunday morning what once was a hub for all things LeMans becomes a sea of gleaming super cars.
Traditionally it is one of the first things I shoot Sunday morning, and this year was no different. There were a slew of top notch automotive art on hand and armed with my trusty camera I snapped all the cars I thought were worth snapping. There are some preview thumbnails below and you can hit the red text for the full gallery on our Facebook page.
If you are reading this then I think it might be safe to assume that like me, you are passionate about cars, a “gearhead” as most would say. If that’s true then you probably know what its like to try to explain your passion to a non-gearhead. They find it hard to understand how someone can be fixated on what they think is just a machine. They might even think you’re a bit crazy.
The truth is only a gearhead can really understand another gearhead. That sentiment is captured in a beautifully poignant way in the film piece below by Steve Ketner (presented by Clash Production) called “A Best Friend’s Story”. Despite being only two minutes long we learn chapters about when a man’s passion for cars began, and how he defines his relationship with his beloved Mazda MX-5.
Breaking news from Subaru USA. It looks like they are taking a whole new approach in how they develop their cars by building them according to media hype and rumors. They have announced they will take all the rumored features of the BRZ and build them into a real car. The result: an AWD turbo convertible diesel hybrid! Oh, it will also be a two seater…
If you think this is a joke you can see the actual press release from Subaru below and click the source link to see it on Subaru’s media site. No foolin’!
Cherry Hill, N.J., - Bowing to continued media and internet speculation, Subaru of America has confirmed that it will launch an AWD Twin-Turbo Convertible two-seater Diesel Hybrid BRZ for sale in 2015. The new model essentially takes all of the media and internet rumors surrounding the highly successful BRZ sports car and delivers them in one fell swoop.
A spokesman for the company said: “Having just launched the current model to widespread critical acclaim, we are tired of fighting off the constant speculation about what’s “next” and so we are just giving in and delivering all the speculation in one vehicle.”
The new model, which is expected to have a starting price, will however NOT come with a much anticipated rear back-up camera. The spokesman confirmed that after shoehorning two convertible switches (up and down) onto the fascia there just wasn’t room for any more instruments. The AWD Turbo Convertible two-seater Diesel Hybrid BRZ will come in a single color, noseeum black and will be hand produced at Subaru’s Brigadoon facility.
More denials about future BRZ variants can be found at media.subaru.com
St. Patricks day weekend was cause for celebration for many people all over the country but it was also a big weekend for motorsport freaks like us. In addition to Sebring the past weekend also saw the return of Formula One. I decided to kick the weekend off by paying a visit to one of my favorite meets: Cars & Coffee in Irvine.
It was the first time I had been to the meet since the start of the year so I wasn’t really sure what to expect. I was pleasantly surprised to see an even more eclectic mix of cars than I was used to. There was everything from million-dollar exotics to a few rare classics. I even saw a crazy turbo-diesel zombie apocalypse truck! (more on that in a later post).
However, I would have to say the meet’s biggest attention getter was a genuine Bugatti Veyron brought by Symbolic Motor Cars of San Diego. As jaded as I am these days even I am still impressed with a Veyron sighting. I have only been in the presence of Bugatti’s hyper-car four times and only two of which (counting the weekend) were “wild” sightings.
All in all it was a great trip. If you haven’t been to Cars & Coffee I would highly recommend checking it out. If you’re saying to yourself: “Hey jerk, I don’t live in Southern California!” I would say “don’t interrupt me while I’m talking!” See, the cool thing about Cars & Coffee is that it is something of an organization now so there are meets in several places all across America; even in Europe! Just head to CarsAndCoffeeOnline.com to find the closest meet to you.
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