Another Cars & Coffee post already? I know but I figured since the Formula Drift Tech Day event was near by I would visit Cars & Coffee first then head over to Source Interlink. I am very, very glad I decided to do that because the meet was pretty awesome this week. There were a ton of cars new and old, plenty of exotics, beautiful classics, and as you already saw in a previous post the first BAC Mono in the US!
I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: Find a Cars & Coffee event local to you and go! It is totally worth waking up early on a Saturday I promise! For now you can see a few pics below (just click the thumbnails) or you can visit our Facebook page for the full gallery.
Surprising absolutely no one, today Lamborghini officially revealed the Aventador LP 700-4 Roadster. If you were shocked by this then you haven’t been paying attention to Lamborghini for the last 8 years or so. If there is one thing the Italians love to do, its take their tops off. In the Aventador Roadster’s case the top is actually two pieces (made from carbon fiber) and have to be manually removed. You hear that, person who is about to spend over $300,000 on a car? Despite its price, you still have to get your ass out of the car to take the blasted roof off. Although given its looks and its uncanny ability to instantly draw the attention of the fairer sex, I am sure getting out of the car to remove the top wont stop too many people from pulling the trigger on it.
Performance-wise the Aventador Roadster LP 700-4 is exactly the same as the coupe. It has the same 700 horsepower V12 engine with a 7 speed dual clutch transmission. Really, this is a car that does not require much to be said about it. If you like Italian cars, angular shapes, and wind blown hair then you should probably buy this.
In case you really are considering buying this then well first of all I would like to say I make an excellent best friend and secondly feel free to check out the 25 picture gallery below. If you are not rich enough to buy one of these its ok, you can still look at the pictures too By the way each picture is 1920 width in case you feel so inclined to turn one of these shots into a wallpaper. Enjoy!
Last Saturday morning I decided to once again torture myself for you by waking up earlier than time itself to make the trek to Mazda North American HQ in Irvine, CA for the weekly Cars & Coffee meet. OK, so maybe I did not wake up quite as early as I should have but it was still early! I still managed to get there with enough time to snap some shots of the nicer cars at the show and there were some nice rides indeed. A Ferrari Enzo made an appearance as well as few Audi R8′s and a nice Lamborghini that I will show you in depth later. For now you can check out a few pics below and then head to our Facebook gallery to see the full set.
Today’s hype video comes from “Driven” a show on the “Drive” YouTube channel. In this episode of Driven JF Musial brings the audience inside the McLaren Technology Centre in the UK and gets tons of insight on McLaren’s philosophy, inspirations, and processes on how they produce their race cars and their newest road car, the MP4-12C. I should warn you now, while this is an awesome video it is nearly 30 minutes long! So this might be something you may want to watch on your lunch break if you are at work. Scroll down and enjoy!
Every now and then I torture myself and wake up at the dawn of time on a Saturday so I can make the trip out to the OC (Orange County for you non-California folk) so I can visit one of the best car meets in Southern California, “Cars & Coffee” at the Mazda Corporate campus in Irvine. If this is the first Cars & Coffee post you’ve read from me and are not sure exactly what it is then allow me to explain. Every Saturday morning (emphasis on the “morning”) car enthusiasts from all walks of life and cultures from millionaires with Lamborghinis to your average joe with a classic car to teenagers with modded imports come together to hang out. They check out each others cars, talk shop, take pictures, and as the name suggests consume coffee (there are also donuts if you show up early enough).
Sometimes the variety of cars at this meet can be hit or miss but this weekend was exceptionally good! There were not one but two Ferrari Enzos showed up as well as a classic Porsche LeMans race car (seen above), an all electric powered Lola prototype race car, and a whole section of Shelby Cobras (in honor of Carroll Shelby). There are a few teaser shots below but you can check out the full gallery on our Facebook page. If you have never been to a Cars & Coffee meet you should definitely check one out. I know the thought of waking up at 6am on a Saturday is enough to give you a headache but trust me, it will be worth it! Also don’t worry if you aren’t from Southern California. There are Cars & Coffee meets all over the country and even in different parts of the world! Just go to CarsAndCoffeeOnline.com to find one near you or find out how to start one of your own if there isn’t one near you.
The new Lamborghini Aventador is just straight up and down badass. Even though I have not had the extreme pleasure of driving one I can tell just by looking at an Aventador that it is an absolute Italian masterpiece. If you agree with me then like me you would probably want to know how the Aventador went from concept to real-life amazeballs. Well in this promo video titled “Quality” we get to see just how the Aventador went from a sketch, to scale model, to the street. Enjoy!
As you may remember I paid a visit to the weekly Cars & Coffee meet out in the Irvine/Newport Beach area last weekend. While I was there I saw an absolutely beautiful McLaren MP4-12C and even though it was parked next to a white Lamborghini Gallardo and a neon green Murcielago convertible the McLaren stood out, especially with it’s doors up! This was my first time seeing a production MP4-12C in person since McLaren brought a prototype and bare chassis to Cars & Coffee a while back for an unofficial North American debut. After drooling over the car for a few minutes I leared that the owner Nick Jones is actually the Sales Manager of the new McLaren Newport Beach dealership. Nick informed me that the dealership was officially opening to the public later that day and invited me to come check it out.
The first thing I noticed when I reached the dealership was how subtle the exterior and interior design was. It was almost sterile but not in a boring way if that makes any sense. Nick informed me that McLaren takes very strict control over the look of their dealer’s showrooms. Dealer’s simply give McLaren the dimensions of the space that they are in and then McLaren takes over from there bringing in their own contractors to transform the space into what you see in the pictures. Very little is left to choice for the dealer as Mclaren chooses everything down to the smallest detail. Nick told me that all Mclaren dealerships no matter where they are in the world will look pretty much the same. Even down to the placement of display cases!
Besides three MP4-12C’s on display there was also a bare rolling chassis similar to the one brought to Cars & Coffee a while back and a vintage McLaren F1 chassis. In fact the chassis on display at McLaren Newport beach is the same chassis that one the Long Beach Grand Prix (my home race) back when it was a part of the Formula 1 schedule. He informed us that he tried repeatedly to get an Ayrton Senna chassis for his showroom when he visited the McLaren factory in England but was shot down (apparently no dealership will get their hands on a Senna chassis!) but I did learn that he got a preview of the upcoming MP4-12C convertible. According to Nick the convertible will be a hard top and with the lid closed will look exactly like a coupe. He also learned that the successor to the McLaren F1 will be a twin-turbo V8 with a massive power boost and the chassis will actually be smaller than the MP4-12C. That is good to know in case I want to buy one… It could happen! Ok maybe not.
Anyhow I had a great time visiting the dealership and if you are ever in the Newport Beach area you should check it out. If you are actually in the market for an MP4-12c then you definitely want to talk to Nick and tell him we sent you! If you can’t make it out then feel free to enjoy the pictures and our short video tour below.
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By the way each picture is 1920 width in case you feel so inclined to turn one of these shots into a wallpaper. Enjoy!
