I remember hearing this new A3 Sedan, which has specifically been designed for the US market (the hatchback resistant market) is roughly the size of the B3/B4 80/90/4000—which to me is THE perfect size for a sedan. I can’t wait to see what they’ve come up with…..if it is anything like this sketch, it will be a huge success i’m sure.
As i was watching the film “Senna” yesterday, i took a few photos of the big screen with my silly little mobile phone. 2 of those photos came out quite interesting….they almost look like paintings. These, of course, have no effects put on them. They are simply attempted photos taken with a rubbish camera.
Yesterday I sat at an Italian Pastry Shop with my friends who run Automobilac and Motoring Con Brio and we discussed our favourite cars, automotive musings, and anything related to our favourite hobby. I distinctly remembering mentioning to them how obsessed I have become with the Alpine A110…and I felt later that the only people who could truly understand would be people into automobiles and motoring. I have been gathering an unhealthy obsession with the Alpine-Renault A110. Readers of this blog will know that I have always carried an obsession with it—however these days it is interfering with my time. The last time this happened, was in 2000 with the then-new Audi TT. I ended up buying that car 3 years later after 3 years of incessant obsession and lust. I have owned it ever since, for the last 8 years. I have been obsessed with the Alpine A110 for at least the last 4 or 5 years. But it has been steadily been increasing.
Are there any stories of Automotive obsession that you have? What became of it? Are you currently obsessed with a car of your absolute dreams? There are days I close my eyes and imagine myself on an evening mountain road with dim lights in my Alpine, pummeling through empty rough roads in an anonymous country. These scenes flood my brain.
However, for the time being, I am simply confined to these daydreams and imaginary movements; while I remind myself to work hard on my career to develop the financial character to go out and buy the A110 of my choice—–assuming they are not (A) all destroyed by then (B) they don’t all get purchased by the Japanese, and (C) their price does not move past the ‘buyable’ level….whatever that means.
This afternoon, at the uneasy time of 12:15am on a Saturday, I was joined by a couple mates (also from the automotive blogging world) to go see “Senna”, which is playing at the Village East Cinema in NYC. We entered the theatre right on time, and joked that we were wondering who the other 15-20 people were in the theatre; and WHY they were there! Could there be this many motorheads willing to make it to the theatre at that time on a Saturday? Apparently so.
The film was quite lovely; made like a documentary—spanning from the beginning of his career in karting til the obvious end of his career. Touching on his youth, but showing some very rare and moving film clips with scenes I had never seen before. As a kid growing up in Detroit, one of the events I annually attended with my father was the Detroit Grand Prix, where I remember there was a time when Senna would win every year. The first year I went, i remember Nelson Piquet winning. So naturally, my favourite 2 F1 drivers became Nelson Piquet and Ayrton Senna.
(sorry, i took these pics with a mobile phone!)
I know that Senna was a character. He was competitive, full of personality, not afraid to speak his mind, and most of all a tremendous driver. This film essentially covered all of his positive attributes, and showed him in the light of a tribute. It was a fitting tribute. I had seen many clips of his races online, and a lot of this film I had seen in some form or another; but I have never seen any clips of driver’s meetings with the FIA directors, I had never seen some of the more candid interviews and conversations—–and maybe because I was too young—I never realised how much battling and political stuff was going on between Prost & Senna. Now it makes sense WHY i hated Prost as a kid—-because he was always batting with my favourite who was Senna.
I won’t tell you the full details of the film, because I feel you should watch it yourself. Seeing F1 in the movie theater was a pleasure, and although it seems like a collage of document film clips taken from many different sources; it was full of great commentary, great footage, and some truly moving moments. All in all, a great film; I am really glad someone made it (in this case, a gentleman named Asif Kapadia)—-you should all see it.
Senna is playing at the Village East Cinema in the East Village of NYC. (thanks to Xander for the tip!)
http://www.villageeastcinema.com/angelika_film.asp?hID=166&ID=fmj4747.79896806s137092v9.38
I’ve always seen that ‘famous’ photo of the Gendarmerie Alpine A110 with a cop standing at the side of the road—-however here is some actual footage and a short clip about the A110 Gendarmeriie—-there’s at least a couple of them in the video. As a bonus, you get to ride on board a Citroen SM Gendarmerie!
one of THE sounds of racing. the unbelievable 5-Cylinder Turbo from the Audi 90 IMSA GTO.
nuff said.
photos leaked out today of a Bertone 99 design which is going to debut in Geneva—-apparently they’ve designed it with Jaguar in mind—-and YES, surely there are some Jaguar designers who are feeling awfully bad about what they’ve designed currently for the lineup. THIS is exactly what i feel a ‘modern’ Jaguar should look like….i can’t even remember the last time Jaguar produced a car I even remotely cared about…maybe the XJS?
A pencil drawing, done by a DeviantArt member named Pizdexxx
One of the coolest cars ever made…..and the car Nuvolari used as his daily driver….the glorious Lancia Aurelia B20 Coupe
i saw this post on Motoring Con Brio showing the Lancia Delta ECV2 Group S rally prototype, developed for the days following the ban of the legendary Group B rally class.
Lancia Delta ESV2:
here’s the fascinating story of Audi’s ‘secret’ Group S prototype….a car even Audi/VW board members didn’t want to happen…..a mid engined, 1000hp rocketship, which obviously never made it to any form of completion due to regulatory changes in rally. Enlarge these photos to read the fascinating story of the Group S ‘secret’ Quattro.
credit for the scans go to the S2 forum by a lad named “HPmuirt”:
CLICK TO ENLARGE:
“Heights of Danger”. available on DVD. the film is from 1953. I wanna watch it! Gotta find a DVD.
This foto is just all types of wonderful….
Alfa Romeo 8C 2900
from some french film called “L’Homme Orchestra”.
featuring a Lamborghini Miura and some variant of a Fiat Coupe. I found this quite amusing!!
I have not bought an issue of Car & Driver for at least 7 or 8 years. But i bought a copy of the latest edition the other day at Duane Reade after surprisingly seeing the new quattro Sport Concept splashed across the cover along with the original. By far and away, my favourite concept car of the last few years—–and one that gets my blood rushing! MAKE IT AUDI! put me on the facking list!
But i gotta say, C&D have taken some GREAT photos of the new quattro Sport. Here are some of them (enlarge for hi-res)
C&D have also written a very nice article to go with these pictures, so i highly recommend having a read if you’re into the quattro Sport Concept as i am….
http://www.caranddriver.com/features/11q1/audi_quattro_concept_meets_ur-quattro-feature
i love this car. it is so weird. when i saw one in person once, it was even weirder. the Alfa Romeo Junior Zagato
the aardvark attacks! (click foto to enlarge)
i really like Mercedes-Benz models, i really do. I like the brand, and i like the way they feel to drive. I’ve never driven a more SOLID feeling car than the Benzes i’ve driven……but WTF are they thinking with the new C-Class coupe!? IT IS A HONDA ACCORD with different headlights!
what’s better than seeing my holy grail ultimate automotive perfection (Alpine A110) and one of the members of my shortlist of most desirable cars ever (Audi RS2) sneaking around in the background…in the same photo! Thanks to Michael Sakar for posting this on his FB.
the Audi TT-RS has just made its official debut at the Chicago Auto Show as an official Audi USA product for this market. And what a car……360hp ugraded 2.5L 5-cylinder which howls like nothing else on the market at the moment….i know, because i saw one in person last summer at VW Waterfest. As an Audi fan, i’m always listening to some of the Audi corporate news feeds, and apparently the US market will ONLY get a manual transmission; however they are saying that the DSG version of the car does 0-60 in 3.6 seconds. 3.6 seconds!!!! BRUTAL! and with style that only the TT can have…..price? $60k. superb.
South Africa, 1988. No words needed.
My first ‘real’ car (not counting my lime green 1977 Buick Le Sabre i had when i was 15/16) was a 1993 Nissan Sentra SE-R which was just a fantastic car….i still miss it sometimes. It was quite pure for its time. That SE-R was a natural descendant of this; the 510.
I found this great 26 minute vintage film called “Against All Odds” about the 510. Well worth a watch!
IEDEI 
