This video pretty much sums up the definition of the term.
This is the famous “Yellobird” RUF CTR filmed in 1987 for a record breaking run on the Nürburgring Nordschleife. No traction control or FWD to assist the driver. This is pure driving control.
I’ve gotten back into my routine/commute with the MX-5. With premium gas dropping down to $1.95 per gallon, driving my Miata has gotten really cheap.
Unfortunatly it comes at a cost. A weak economy and less demand for goods and services all make life really uncertain these days. I’ve noticed these changes to drivers behaviors as well.
One example is this H1 Hummer I’ve seen sitting on a used car lot for months. Nobody seems dumb enough to pick up one of these gas guzzlers right now. I’ve also noticed people are paying more attention to fuel efficiency and a concern for the environment.
I’m glad to see these changes on the street and I hope it’s a behavior that continues. I only hope that once things turn around in this economy, people won’t be dumb enough to believe that gasoline will always be cheap.
F1 Fanatic had a pretty hilarious post about road cars with F1 engines. I found the Renault Espace F1 pretty amazing. This thing hauls ass! Imagine what all the soccer moms will think when you pull up in this thing to take the kids out for practice.
I’ve been considering a better commuter car with excellent millage and utility. I’ve been eyeing the Toyota iQ as a possibility. This video has given me more reason to think about this little car.
Sam (350Z), Sam (S2000), John (S2000), Luke (RX-7) and me (Mazdaspeed MX-5)
It’s been a little while since our last organized car cruise event, so John and Sam pulled together another fun route through Southern California. This time our route would take us farther east out towards Lake Elsinore. There we got off the 91 freeway and headed towards Ortega Highway (California State Highway 7). Following a few twisties, the route lead us to Pacific Coast Highway (PCH).
Ortega Highway was pretty busy and there wasn’t much space to allow more aggressive canyon driving. After a while things cleared up. PCH was pretty busy as well, but there was plenty of eye candy when it came to looking for rare and exotic cars. We ended the trip at a local seafood restaurant in Newport Beach.
Spotted a rare Porsche GT3 RS on Wilshire while waiting for beers at Wahoo’s.
Emily’s 5 month old maltese/poodle puppy in the driver seat of the MX5
It’s never been easy getting around in Los Angeles without a car. Unfortunately, it’s getting even harder with gas prices at record levels. With premium gas hovering around $4.75∼5.00 per gallon, I’m paying upwards of $50 a tank on the MX5 and $15 a tank on the Gixxer. Now I think twice about flooring the throttle.
In an effort to start saving money at the gas pump, I’ve been looking at alternative methods of getting to work. My daily commute is approx. 50 miles round trip. I get roughly 23 mpg on the MX5, which isn’t too bad compared to some other “sport vehicles.” If you crunch the numbers, the MX5 cost roughly $10.00/day just with gasoline consumption. I’m sure maintenance and wear-and-tear nearly double that amount.
There are other problems I get when commuting with the MX5 and Gixxer. For starters, the MX5 is NOT made for commuting. The small compartment and close proximity to the shifter make the MX5 an awesome track/weekend canyon driving car. But meandering through bumper to bumper traffic inside the compact MX5 cockpit make the driving experience super annoying.
Then there’s the Gixxer. It’s literally an edge of the seat riding experience when crossing through Los Angeles traffic. I feel constantly high-wired and stressed when trying to keep my eyes on the vehicles around me. I always have to make sure that other drivers don’t decide to swerve right in front of me. Fortunately, there still is a low cost and less stressful alternative to commuting in Los Angeles.
Up to this point, I’ve always been skeptical about Los Angeles mass transit. I thought that it would be too troublesome to use. I figured I’d have to learn all the routes it would take to get to my mid-Wilshire office. Yet, after snooping around and looking at maps, there is a public transportation option that makes a lot of sense.
The Sierra Madre Villa Station in Pasadena is only 5 miles away from my house in Temple City. This station is part of the Gold Line that leads to downtown Los Angeles’ Union Station. From there, I can transfer over to the Purple Line and get off at the Wilshire/Western stop. Then it’s a short bus ride to my office near Wilshire/Fairfax. And all this at a cost of $5 per day (or if I decide that I really like this option: $3 per day when pre-paid monthly).
I’ll need to start looking at this alternative option to my commute. Some benefits I can already see:
Tomorrow will be the first day I give this new option a try. Hopefully it will be all that I’m expecting.
I’ve been itching to hit up some canyon roads with the MX-5 ever since I got it back from the body shop. The car was finally back in a condition where it was ready for some twisties. I have a new set of BF Goodrich g-Force™ Sport tires and a realigned suspension setup. Now that the weather has been clearing up, John Wu and I have really interested in organizing a car cruise.
The last time we had one of these cruises, we headed down to Mt. Palomar in San Diego. It’s always fun to get a bunch of car people together to talk about cars and hit up some twisties. This time we wanted something closer, yet new to most of us. John came up with a great route that took us through the Malibu canyon area. These wonderful route covered everything from stretches of farmland through tight twists and turns of a challenging canyon road. (more…)