Thursday, December 2, 2010

Porsche Caymen R

Less is more


When I opened and email from Porsche today and read through their information promoting their new Caymen R. the first thought that popped in my mind was the Architect Ludwig Mies van der Rohe. While he did not coin the term he used it to describe his aesthetic concept of stripping a design, be it a building or a chair, to it’s most basic, essential elements, believing that there was beauty and power in extreme simplicity. To turn the quote around, “That adding more that what was necessary, created a design of Less value.
The irony is that Mies van der Rohe buildings were not inexpensive to build. In fact some of the “Simplicity” raised, rather than lowered the cost.

Read Porsche’s outline of the wonders of their new Cayman R, and you will see some common rhetoric with Minimalist design that began in Germany while Mies was working alongside Walter Gropius and Le Corbusier.
Cayman R

When developing the Cayman R, one thing was clear: It should be uncompromising, sharper and more radical than before. This was to be achieved through a consistent mid-engine concept combined with rigorous weight reduction and enhanced power output. The result: No radio. No air conditioning system. No cupholders. Instead: 19-inch lightweight alloy wheels. Sports bucket seats. And 330 hp. In short: 121 lbs. (55 kg) lighter and 10 hp more powerful than the Cayman S.



I understand that in any sports car weight is the enemy. Well to be more exact, the greater the weight the more horsepower needed to reach the top-speeds and 0-60 times that cause excitement for the owner. So I get the idea of taking steps to cut weight. That said I feel strange about paying Porsche thousands of dollars extra money to take-out equipment that they charged me to include in the car originally. It's a little like charging me $2 more for the Cheeseburger, than charging me an extra $1 to remove the cheese.

That said there is no doubt that it is a HOT car, and I'll bet fun to drive.

Saturday, August 7, 2010

Chicago Car Insurance Claims increase, are they part of a Worldwide Trend?

It is clear that America is not the only place where a rising number of law suits are having an impact on auto Insurance rates. In these Hard financial times, more people are under great financial pressure, This can often lead people to take actions that their conscience would not permit in less difficult times. It is interesting to see that Chicago, nor Illinois is not alone in this matter, but that is a part of a worldwide trend....



» Read "Chicago Car Insurance Claims increase, are they part of a Worldwide Trend?"...

Monday, January 18, 2010

Is my son insured to drive my Ferrari

Is true Christmas is the season of giving, and is also true that during this season your children deserves special attention, but still... This is what might happen when you borrow your Ferrari to your child. And we have two examples to make you think twice.



The first accident happened in Newport Beach, CA on Christmas Eve. The father (in his 90’s) gave his son (in his 70’s) a brand new Ferrari F430. The grandson was driving the car with his cousin in the passenger seat when the car lost control and crossed over onto oncoming traffic. The Ferrari crashed head on into a tow truck. The passenger was killed instantly, the driver was in critical condition.
The other accident happened in Romania and involved a Ferrari F430 Spider. The kid driving the car lost control and crashed into an oncoming car. He was unhurt.


Why dads shouldn't borrow their Ferrari to sons originally appeared on topspeed.com on Monday, 28 December 2009 09:52 EST.

Woodard Dream Cruise 2009
Ferrari Enzo
Dream Cars (Carrera GT)
Will 2013 look like this for Porsche?
BMW 850i and 850CSi 1989-1999

Monday, January 11, 2010

White Gold !

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A Mercedes has always been a status symbol, associated with wealth, power and a sense of class. The SLR McLaren is the flagship of the Mercedes line of cars. Mercedes-Benz has gone on record stating that they would limit the production to 3500 SLRs over a span of 7 years. The idea is to keep a level annual production of 500 cars. I understand that qualifies as a "limited- Production auto, but with the car's base price at $495,000, and the realization that we are in a World-Wide recession, that seems like a sufficient quality.

The more a car weighs, the greater the power needed to move the auto forward. The idea is to join a powerful engine with a lightweight body, to ubtain the greatest BHP to Weight ratio. The SLR uses carbon fibre for its entire body construction in an attempt to keep the weight to 3,898lbs.
With 600 + Horse-power, the SLR has proven can achieve a 0-100 km/h (62 mph) under the claimed 3.7 seconds and climb to a top speed of 334 km/h (208 mph). If fact Car and Driver achieved a quarter-mile time of 11.6 seconds.

I think most people would find the half a million dollar SLR qualified as a "Status-Symbol" with-out any customizing; but what do you do if you need to turn the status control up to eleven?

Build the car out of White Gold -



This Mercedes Benz,SLR is owned by an Abu Dhabi oil billionaire.
Featuring the newly developed V10 quad turbo with
1,600 horsepower and 2800nm of torque, it does
0-100km/h (62.1mph) in less than 2 secs, or 1/4 mile
in 6.89 secs, running on biofuel.
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One could ask why an Oil Sheik is searching for alternative fuels, You could also use this car as an example proving that cars, yes even "Fast Cars" can run on just fine without the use of gasoline.
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Just like in the Wild-West there was always a man with a "Faster-draw", well I guess there is alway some nut willing to spend more money on a car.