WEBMINING> Jay Leno Drives LA Circuit w/ SLS AMG
Okay, so you’ve already seen the photos of the red Mercedes SLS AMG that I shot at the LA Auto Show. You’ve even seen the video of our favorite late night television personality (well, aside from those hot chicks on the TV commercials that are always asking us to call them) Jay Leno comparing the new SLS AMG to his own 1955 Mercedes 300SL Gullwing on an installment of Jay Leno’s Garage. Man!
This morning, I actually took the time to browse the internet, and spent some time on another one of my favorite blogs this morning – CrankAndPiston. As I looked through their webpage, I saw this video that our friend Phil McGovern posted up, featuring Jay Leno driving the “Los Angeles City Circuit” with the SLS AMG. What’s the Los Angeles City Circuit, you might ask? Well watch this video to see. It features Mr. Leno taking us through one of his favorite routes through the Hollywood and Los Angeles. As soon as I get back home to LA after the holidays, I’ll have to try driving this route myself.
Enjoy!
:: Antonio Alvendia
Jay Leno’s Garage
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WEBMINING> Jay Leno Drives the SLS AMG
I’m not sure if all of our readers watch the new (reformatted/renamed) Jay Leno Show, or Jay Leno’s Garage… but personally, I’m a big fan of Jay Leno, but unfortunately I’ve never had the chance to run into him, even though the studio where they tape his show is less than five minutes away from my office.
Everyone who knows about Jay Leno knows that he is a huge fan of automobiles, and has a humongous car collection; he has so many cars that he even has his own personal hangars at the airport that are solely dedicated to housing his incredible collection of cars. It’s like having a bunch of Hot Wheels die cast, only Jay’s collection is 1:1 scale, and he can drive every single one of them!
Well, since he is Jay Leno after all, Mercedes gave him a chance to test drive their new SLS AMG Gullwing on the streets, and again since he is Jay Leno, he was able to have a film crew document it. (He didn’t need to shoot it guerrilla style by himself with a Canon point&shoot camera, like some other car lovers we know.) He even started out the video with a clip of his own 1955 Mercedes 300SL Gullwing!
That’s soooo dope! Once Toyota comes out with the FT86 in the USA, I need to shoot one of those with one of my own AE86s!
::Antonio Alvendia
Jay Leno’s Garage
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WEBMINING> Mercedes SLS AMG DTM Concept
SLS AMG DTM, OMG! This morning when I was checking my email, I noticed that AdamB18C, one of our readers, sent an email in telling us about the new race car concept rendering of the Mercedes SLS AMG DTM that was just rendered by Mattro Design.
It’s no secret that several of us in the Motor Mavens camp are infatuated by the sleek, sexy lines of the SLS AMG, so seeing a DTM inspired mockup of the car definitely has us hyped!
In the rendering, a careful eye will show that Mattro has revised the following:
-Front fascia, grill
-Echoes of the 1950s 300SL Panamericana paint scheme above the headlights, BUT carbon fiber vents instead
-Headlight modification with yellow LEDs added
-Front splitter
-Front canards
-Vent “gill” removals
-Rear spoiler
-Trunk mod (BMW Vorsteiner CSL style)
-Race mirrors
-Race Decals/Paint scheme
-Modified rockers
-Side exhaust (fire included)
Also, check out the cool shift knobs on sale at the Mattro Design website. I think they’re pretty cool because they actually have weight, which gives a better shifting feeling (in my opinion anyway). I have a pretty large collection of shift knobs for my cars, and I gotta say, I tend to prefer the heavier shift knob, especially since the TRD shifter on my AE86 rattles like crazy since TRD removed the weight in the actual shifter. There are some times that more weight in a car are desirable, and in my opinion, this is one of them. I think I’m going to try one of those Mattro shift knobs out.
::Antonio Alvendia
Mattro Design
ZeroToHundred
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CARSPOTTING> 2011 Mercedes SLS AMG Gullwing
If the car in the above photo looks familiar to you, it's because it reminds you of the most gorgeous, curvy (and rare!) Mercedes Benz collector's item from the 1950s... the 300SL Gullwing. The red car in these photos is the 2011 Mercedes SLS AMG Gullwing Roadster, which was the first car ever to be designed and built completely by AMG. Mercedes originally signed off on the Gullwing project with AMG way back in 2006, but the car would not be deemed ready until its pre-production mules had gone through years of secret endurance testing all over the world, including the Green Hell itself, Nurburgring's North Course. (Nordschleife). Read more...
COVERAGE> Kop Hill Hillclimb 2009
On the 26th and 27th of September, organisers decided to do a Kop Hill Commemorative Run to bring the sounds and sights and even smells (mmm, Castrol R) back to Kop Hill again. Over 250 cars and bikes were there, ranging in age from the 1900s right up to 1980s and even some very special modern cars. Read more...
SHOPAHOLIC> The Vintage Racers of Racecraft
WEBMINING> Belgian Benz on Bags
I have what some would call a soft-spot for German engineered autos. While I may be partial to a ‘certain’ manufacturer, I really adore them all. I was checking out one of my favorite websites, Speedhunters, and came across this crazy Belgian 250S. It just struck a chord with me. You would be hard-pressed to fuse class and charisma any better than this.
Check out the full feature on this 1967 Mercedes Benz 250S on Speedhunters.
:: Andy Sapp
