Armadale Autoparts Show, 2016

One of the bigger shows on the car calendar with over 700+ hotrods, classics, muscle cars, the AAS is one show not to be missed. We organised a few of the crew together for the cruise down and we were't disappointed!

As expected it was well organised and catered for with lots to see and do and a perfect summer morning to catch up with other passionate enthusiasts for a chat.

A big shout out to Alan, Craig and the whole team at Armadale Auto Parts for putting on yet another great day.

Check them out for all things kool..http://www.armadaleautoparts.com

Bimmerfest

Bimmerfest UAE 2016 was held at the Autodrome in Dubai and was the place to be for the BMW fan! 
The event was very well organised with music supplied by Team Redbull, events and activities catered to for both the big and little kids. 
Many of the cars were highly modified monsters pulling big HP and was a sweet soundtrack throughout the day when they were started and revved.
Our pick of the show were both early 2002’s Tii in orange, and the other in white…with the later screaming out to be built as a track car. The orange 2002 was well restored and simply a beautiful example.

Cafe Rider, Dubai

Cafe Rider is a great way to start the weekend with pancakes and a cappuccino.

We caught up with the members of Petrolhead before heading out for a cruise to the Dubai Open Kartdrome(more of that later)...

There is always an interesting collection of cars that turn up to Cafe Rider, from an Austin Healy, Jaguar, Lotus to a good collection of VW’s, with even a Deloran arriving later in the morning. As interesting as the cars and bikes are its more  about the people, the conversations and of course great coffee. 

We wrapped up the morning and headed over to the Autodrome for the BMW Bimmerfest where we had a chance to walk around the pits and see the bikes and race teams preparing for a track day. It's great fun being in the pits and watching all the action....

• Stay tuned for the BMW Bimmerfest blog   

Tomini Classics

Tomini Classics specialises in the rare and highly collectable automobiles and a large percentage are part of the principal’s private collection. We were given a tour by Miguel the Marketing Executive, a man with a wealth of knowledge and history on everything automotive as he guided us through the showroom and what can only be described as a starry sky dotted with beautiful examples of some very special cars… yes, it was that special.

Filled with a wide range of marques that included rare Ferrari’s and Porsche’s, a classic P1800 Volvo and a very rare Toyota GT2000 was also part of the display. Personal pick was the Lamborghini Superleggera. Words can’t describe the effort and skill that has gone into its creation. The lines and styling are second to none.

Another interesting car was an immaculate Honda NSX with a genuine 101km on the clock! Some collectors buy 2 of the same cars, one as a driver and the other to collect and this appears to be one of those cars. We then ventured into the Vault but no photos were allowed unfortunately. A 1973 911RS in green and yellow was pick of the bunch but there was a wide variety of cars including a Jaguar XJ220,  once the fastest production car in the world. A special moment was saved for a luscious brown interior, throw back to the seventies and a deep shag pile carpet of a Renault 5 Turbo 2.  Although this is an 80’s car the interior was just 70’s, amazing to see such a covering of shag pile on such a monster of a car. What a beast.

What we took notice of was the range of cars and the very low km's. This is not just a place for the expensive and the exclusive…Tomini can spark your interest and get your brain ticking about future and potential classics.  A $2M Ferrari was displayed next to Mazda MX5 with only 1400kms. If you have read any of the classic car magazines over the past few years you will notice that they have all selected the MX5 as a future classic!

What we really took away from our visit was that there is a classic car you can buy, drive and enjoy no matter what budget you have, so get out there and have fun!

Thanks again to Miguel and everyone at Tomini Classics…you have inspired us!

http://tominiclassics.com

Valla 2016_Part II

The Outlaw356 was in Valla and performing well on the shake down test, however the real definition of a shake down test is on the track. A morning cruise to the Raleigh International  Raceway, armed with a fresh brew from Cafe 53 and we were good to go!

With a recently expired CAMS licence, Luke Pell gladly stepped in to do a few laps while we rode shotgun. The first lap was smooth and really just a warm up for what was to come and in the second lap we hit the first corner with the back end getting loose just a little as we accelerated into the second lap to see what else she had.  Into 2nd and the revs rocketed past 5000 RPM, she was flying and sounded like she had been caged for a very long time and then just released to run...wow what a sound!

We eat through the second lap, accelerating through the corners and down the straights before braking hard and late into the next corner.  As we came around for the 3rd lap we let her have 2 more corners to run at and then cruised her home. All up we were around 20secs off some of the quickest times for the day, not bad considering we were not on full noise and the new engine was not run in yet! 

Build...Drive...Race.