A couple of weeks back I headed over to Compomotive wheels with Si from Retro Cars and Elliot from PVW to shoot a feature. I don’t usually post these things as they are going in the mag, but I thought I’d flash a bit of B-Roll because the place was AWESOME. Make sure you check it out in Retro cars and PVW: British engineering alive and well!
It’s that time of year when all the mags round-up their years worth of feature cars and let the public vote for their favorite, and Retro Cars is no different. I was stoked when I got my copy and my car had been nominated! Even cooler than that is so has Yuta’s 240 (getting my vote!!!). It was a great feature, beautifully shot by living legend Linhbergh (still one of my favorite ‘togs).
It’s a great mag this month and among a load of great writing, photography and feature cars is Ramon Portugal’s ’72 TE27. It’s perfection with 20 valves and those TRD wheels.
Jan 2011 out now – go buy!
Racer86.com: Curing Fast Car editorial staff erectile dysfunction since 2005.
Monster shows like this are regularly attended by big-name scene celebrities; here’s a couple of exclusives I snapped:
Simon Jackson
Elliot Roberts
Ed the dog
Chris Pollitt
That kid who totalled his Escort.
Racer86.com: Like Heat magazine but on the internet and with cars n’ stuff.
In between work and house moving chaos I took a day out to head down to Retro Cars HQ in Kent for a decent catch up, some office based shenanigans and a track day!
Magic Happening:
Firstly I have to own up on selling out; I took the Roadster…Maybe I’m getting soft but with a 4 hour each-way journey and an evening of track action I took the quieter comfy way out (if coilovers and a bucket seat is a comfy way out…)
The track day was organised by Motorsport Vision (massive thanks to Nick for the hook up!) and was held at Brands Hatch. Now I’ve never even visited Brands before, let alone driven it so I was suitably brimmed with fear and excitement as I noise tested, signed on and bagged a pit garage! Now the Roadster did qualify in the at least 20 years old “Retro” band, but compared to some of the entries I was pretty embarrassed. The quality and mix of cars was insane! I wish I had more time to run round with the camera but, well, I was having too much fun!
It was an open pit event so you could have as much fun as you and your car could take! I did about four fifteen minute sessions, taking Andy and Simon (as if you don’t know I mean Team Retro Cars) out for rides. Disappointingly they were pretty unshakable, though I’m sure there was some twitching doing on as we hit Paddock Hill bend sideways! Talking of the track…WHAT A TRACK!!! Paddock Hill bend is amazing; like a roller coaster: off the pit straight, on the brakes, down to 3rd, hang it out, straighten up, power on through the compression at the bottom (the Roadster sump guard was catching the ground at the bottom shooting sparks out the back!), then it was back on the brakes for the hairpin! The old girl did me proud, not only passing some more expensive/ better cars on track, but not missing a beat over the whole weekend!
The track action only makes up about 2/3 of these events for me. The atmosphere in the pits, the chance to chat to other drivers, check out the cars and catch up with the Sothern contingent gold plate the whole affair.
Massive thanks as always to Si and Andy from Retro Cars, Simon and David from RSM for the pics and Motorsport Vision for the hook up! Good to see you chaps and I can’t wait for the next hang out!
More pics can be found on the RSM FlickR Account.
Sideways @ Druids
Race car low
I got buzzed a link over to this awesome feature on the KP courtesy of Crank and Piston!
They’ve been supplied the pics from my Retro Cars shoot by the legend that is Mr Lipman. Make sure you check out his site as, following a revamp, it’s more awesome than ever!
I’ve be desperate to whore out these pics, so now they are all branded up, I’m going for it!
I love post. Not bills and junk mail, but interesting post. This Friday I received a card-backed envelope full of love from Stickr Geek; the best kind of post!
’80s Hero!
Geek-chic.
Split rims, box-fresh Etnies dunks and Vinyl. Could this post be any more “scene”?
Head over to the StickrGeek blog for all your dope vinyl content and pick up your own slice of the action at the StickrGeek.com shop.
Full 7-Page feature and a poster:
Massive thanks to Simon Jackson for the words and Jamie Lipman for the photos!
Just out: Jan 2010 Issue
Yes, more wagons rolling! The Chevette is featured in this months RC mag. OK, so I guess it is a bit of a cheat as I shot the pics and wrote the feature, but any sort of media coverage for something you have built is awesome. I still get super stoked when I see a little 3x5cm pics of one of my cars in a mag, so a feature is a pretty big deal. Add to that the fact I got to write and shoot it then you can imagine how pleased I was when I opened it up!
I also got a mention in the Old Skool Mania show report and some of my pics are used in the Bromley Pageant report.
Did I mention how stoked I was?
In other news, if you have found your way to my blog from the link in the mag then hello! If you have any comments or suggestions hit me up at Racer_86@hotmail.com; It would be good to hear from you!
As always, check out Retro Cars mag online and even better than that, go buy a copy!
