The buzz is rising for Le Mans in June! Here’s the fantastic cockpit of the R18 e-Tron quattro! wicked.
src: Audi Sport
video of the day. History of AMG.
Nice video put together by Mercedes-Benz—-showing a short history of AMG. I admit to having a soft spot for Mercedes-Benz…always have, always likely will.
src: youTube
Dunhill custom shirt.
Unlike many modern workers, I still work in a somewhat traditional environment (Hospital) and each day I wear a dress shirt, a tie (50% of the time), a sport coat or blazer, and dress pants. I do think that modern men have lost the ability to properly dress for work and it’s a real shame. I see younger men in NYC walking to work dressed like they’re going to grab a sandwich (jeans, t-shirt, crap shoes), and to be honest it’s a damn shame.
To me, it doesn’t have to do with wealth as much as it does an appreciation of one’s work and respect for the environment around them. It shows one has the thought to care about their workplace, and has the dignity to spend the few extra minutes a day to look presentable outside to complement staying presentable inside. In the old days, coats and dress shirts were not only for the wealthy—they were for everyone. Taxi drivers wore shirts and ties, janitors wore uniforms—people had dignity about the service they were providing. These days, people don’t care about dignity—-they want their money and they want to go home. Definitely a damn shame…
If you’ve read IEDEI, you will surely remember that I have quite a big soft spot for Dunhill clothing and accessories. I do have a few Dunhill shirts and they are extremely comfortable and sharp fitting.
Great video showing the making of a Dunhill custom tailored shirt.
video of the day. chassis test.
Before the fantastic Renault Alpine A110-50 put on its futuristic body, it underwent testing! As we know, the A110-50 is based on the Megane Trophy, and has been adapted and tweaked into the A110-50. It’s pretty wicked to watch the skeleton going around the track…courtesy of the excellent Type 01
sighting of the day. track day 911s.
I was bumbling along in my rental Civic (yes i am still driving rental cars while the A3 gets fixed), and spotted these 2! Nice combination to see together being transported on trailers for what seems to be a track day exercise—not too common of a sighting in Queens, NYC.
Porsche 911 Targa and Porsche 911 GT3
art of the day. Speed 6 and Speed 8.
In celebration of upcoming Le Mans 2012—-here are two fantastic illustrations by Peter Hutton
The Le Mans-conquering Bentley Speed 6 and Bentley Speed 8.
foto of the day. 124 Sport.
Really starting to dig these after seeing a couple of great examples at the Carlisle Import Show a few weeks ago.
Fiat 124 Sport
src: carsFromItaly
Knize shaving soap.
Thanks for all the great comments, emails, and feedback around my shaving ‘megapost’ i made previously. The Proraso italian shaving cream i’ve been using is quite good, however being as Knize make some of the world’s finest clothing, accessories, and fragrances—I was obliged to try out their shaving soap in a beautiful Knize-etched wooden shaving bowl.
The soap is great, lathers up quite nicely after about 40-50 spins of my brush, and goes on with plenty of smoothness. The smell, as with all Knize items, is simply fantastic. It’s pretty difficult to find Knize accessories in the US, however this soap along with other Knize items are currently available at Colonial Drug in Cambridge, MA. This, by the way, is a great shop with tons of other great Knize items in stock. The shave soap and the bowl are $45 and in stock.
There will be a day when I make it to the only standing Knize shop in Vienna; but for now, I will take what i can get and scavenge around for these little pieces of gentlemen glory.
Audi Mobile Museum.
This is a place i’d really love to go to. The Audi Mobile Museum of Ingolstadt. There are many photos and videos of this fantastic place online, but I love the photography done by Yan Alexandre for Blenheim Gang
foto of the day. Hyena.
After checking out photos of the BMW Zagato Coupe concept yesterday, I found myself trying to think of the last Zagato-bodied car that i actually really liked. Immediately the first car that really came to mind was the limited production Lancia Hyena.
It’s important to consider that this was not only a fantastic looking car, but carried the performance to embarass a Lancia Delta Integrale. Bold words then…..so why is that true? The Hyena is based off the Delta Integrale, shares the same 250hp engine, but weighed 450+ pounds less (it weighed just 2550 pounds)! So stunning to look at, and with a 0-60 time in the low 5 seconds; stunning to drive!
Completely underrated too….i would love to have one of these in my garage. They were supposed to make more than 100 cars—however production stopped after 26 cars. Stay tuned for a more in depth feature to come in the following weeks—-on a car i’m becoming more and more fascinated with.
art of the day. CD.
Beautiful painting by Meier, of the superb Panhard-Levassor CD #53 car which raced in the 1962 Le Mans. It also came in 1st place for the “Performance Index” (calculated by Performance: Energy ratio).
src: routeNational
the awkward: BMW Zagato Coupe.
Well this is an odd looking car isn’t it. The standard, current generation Z4 is not a bad looking car, however it has always seemed too long and a bit awkward. So how do you reckon making an already awkward car even more awkward can happen? Oh yes that would be the job of Zagato.
Zagato have always made strange looking cars, no question about it. Sometimes their madness pays off (Alfa Junior Z, Lancia Hyena, Lancia Fulvia Sport, Alfa Giuletta SZ), although it seems lately that everything they make sort of looks like a parody of the ‘old-school’ Zagato designs.
So Zagato have now rebodied a Z4 into what is know known as a BMW Zagato Coupe. I think it looks pretty subpar, if i’m honest…and I find the BMW-Zagato connection to be a little strange. That being said….it IS interesting—-although I think the previous generation Z4 Coupe would rather accomplish all of this in a far more attractive manner.
In the old days, these sorts of awkward body styles really did work—mainly because the bumpers were not ‘integrated’ as they are now, and the wheels weren’t absurdly large and bulky like they are today.
the BMW Zagato Coupe is debut’ing at this year’s Villa D’Esta.
the sketches actually looked pretty promising…
here’s a video discussing the idea and design of the car:
src: BMW
video of the day. Sidecars and Snow
Steeped in pre-war 1930s Russia, the origins of Ural Motorcycles is centered around them having sidecars and built with utilitarian, military-strength toughness! These days, the company still exists and has an enthusiastic following. This great video by Gear Patrol captures the essence of being into a specific make/type of machine, and driving it with pleasure. In this case, it is driving a Russian-built (built in Siberia) motorcycle through the mountains of Washington! It also really makes me miss the winter…
src: gearPatrol
foto of the day. the coolest rear view mirror!
The Audi R18‘s digital rear view mirror. The R18 has no rear visibility aside from the side-mounted mirrors. This is a very cool, tech solution is an active matrix OLED display with excellent image and screen quality. On top of that, there are NIGHT and DAY settings, to avoid headlights glaring at night and to avoid sun glare in the day.
src: Fourtitude
A110-50 around Monaco!
This car has already become a chameleon, donning at least 4 different types of wheels from all the photos i’ve seen so far. Well here are some great shots of it around the Monaco circuit today!
(click to get hi-resolution pics!)
src: Renault
L’Alpine has landed!
I will be posting lots of photos and videos (hopefully) from today’s Alpine A110-50 concept debut. As someone who is very excited and enthusiastic about the past and future of the Alpine marque—today should be a fascinating day!
Carlos Tavares, Chief Operating Officer at Renault….i dig the Alpine threads, man!
src: renault
foto of the day. Exige.
In light of today’s excitement with the ‘neu’ Alpine photos leaking, I’ve found myself considering what cars have carried the torch while Alpine has been away. The list is quite short, and what i’ve come to realise is that the Lotus Elise/Exige is basically the only car I can think of which truly carried the functionality and purposeful design in the manner in which Alpine did.
In summary…do want! especially in yellow. I drove one several years ago, and found it to be extraordinary to drive. There wasn’t much practicality, and as i’ve been told by a couple people who have owned them—the fiberglass body makes it quite tough to repair. But as a 2nd or 3rd car, I can’t think of another modern 21st century car that would be as enjoyable and as fascinating.
src: carAdvice
introducing: the Alpine A110-50!
In all its glory. I only have one word i can say right now: WANT
I am severely biased towards anything Alpine….but honestly lately i’ve REALLY been getting into ‘futuristic’ cars meeting ‘vintage’ in their philosophy…..and THIS is just brilliant. Magical, even. Renault read my mind.
big thanks to my friend Jon for tipping me about these photos! Unfortunately they are low-resolution; however i’m sure there will be plenty of high-res pics after tomorrow. Tomorrow there should be a lot more information about the technical specs, such as exact engine (400hp V6?)—but what we can confirm is that it is mid-engined.
src: autosblog.com.ar (via carstyling.ru)
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