Cars and Coffee- July 2017

July 4th is America's Independence Day, and to celebrate that Scuderia Southwest made this month's Cars and Coffee American themed. More specifically, it was themed so that cars would park in a red-white-blue color to match the order of colors on the America flag. Plus, to add more detail to it, SSW wanted to have a diverse range of American cars and asked for different years of the same makes to line up for photos. It definitely paid off as the show-row was spectacular looking.

In addition, Lexus' corporate branch brought out the LC500 for people to test drive. Of course I signed up to test drive one, and I have to say the car is amazingly balanced. The 50/50 weight distribution really shows since it felt incredibly planted and stable when turning. And while I always thought it was a little down on power for the price/class, it certainly moved well.

Of course, Scottsdale McLaren came by to spoil us with a brand new 720S. I really did not like how it looked in the initial photos (mainly the front area due to the headlights), but it did begin warming up to me in person. It's definitely a car to look at in real life rather than photos to full appreciate the design. 

Despite the 'Murican theme, there were of course the usual European luxury, super, and classic cars. Again, I've been experimenting with compositions and different angles to change up my photography a little. I'm still a sucker for sunrise-lens-flare-exposures though, as you can see here. Honestly the AMG GTS looked like a shot out of GT Sport.

It was also interesting seeing a Ferrari FF and a Ferrari GT4 Lusso parked next to each other. Side-by-side you can really see the differences between the old and the new. Like every new Ferrari for me, it took seeing the GT4 Lusso in person for me to like how it looks (although I did see it in Monterey last year, so I've had time to warm up to it). The new grin is a different beast compared to the FF.

And, of course, there was a Japanese presence. Godzillas made their usual appearance, as well as some very nice looking NSXes. There was also an immaculate Supra present. 

However, it was extremely hot, and there is now another Cars and Coffee in Chandler at the same day and time. Thus, turnout wasn't as large as it had been. Whether or not this will change next week for August is to be determined. But, as usual, I look forward to seeing what shows up.

EAWraps Grand Opening

Back on April 24th, Echelon Autosports hosted a grand-opening event in Scottsdale. Being the choice of many nice cars for wraps and other services via Vault Motorsport Group, the turnout was immense. There was a massive line of cars parked on both sides of the street, and within the limited parking inside the shop's property, every space was filled with tasteful eye-candy. 

Inside was no different. Their entire garage was open for everyone to eat and talk to people, with some of their projects proudly on display. It was a great way to meet old friends and make new connections, as well as see the various projects that were ongoing that would soon hit the streets.

The main indoor attraction was the raffle, which was handing out prizes such as coupons for Vault Motorsport work to passes for No Fly Zone. However, these drawings were every 5 minutes, allowing for plenty of time to wander outside. 

It's good that there was plenty of time to wander because the event went on for most of the day. Thus, people came and went, meaning the cars in the parking lot and cars that parked outside kept changing. It was a "best-of" opportunity for the automotive community. 

It was a great experience, finally being able to see EAWraps after seeing so many of their cars, as well as getting to know some of the people behind the wheels of them. 

Hiroi Sekai Meet

Some friends and their car club Hiroi Sekai have begun holding weekly meets in Gilbert. I decided to go to it yesterday, since even though last week was only their second week some "heavy hitters" in the car scene here showed up to it, and I'm eager to see it grow. Some more heavy hitters showed up last night, and despite an incident with someone not even at the meet squealing tires, leading to cops showing up, the space we had was already pretty full and the meet went smoothly. I look forward to where this leads to.

First Street Refined Weekly Meet

After quite a bit of "planning" and talk, my university's official car club, Street Refined, held a meet that will hopefully become a weekly/bi-weekly event. The turnout was great. The parking lot of the Culver's we met at, a meet spot that we've used in the past, was completely full with the cars of our club members. It was an amazing turnout, and in addition, a great example of how diverse the car community is. Muscle, European, Japanese, spanning a range from a Nissan GT-R to a Honda Accord to Miatas to Mustangs, we're all one big happy family. 

It was a great night of seeing people again that haven't been seen for a while, and meeting new people who share a similar passion.

Vape Corps Grand Opening- Preview

Just in case I don't get around to editing all the photos from the Vape Corps Grand Opening meet, hosted by Fit Mob and Street Refined, here are some of the photos I've worked on. 

To help with the grand opening of Vape Corps, Fit Mob and Street Refined held a car meet+ car limbo contest on the night of their grand opening. Some very nice and interesting cars showed up, and the car limbo competition was intense. When I get to editing some more of the photos, a full write-up of the event will be posted, so stay tuned.