Eddie's GTR and Nicole's X5

These images were shot in August of 2016. Since then, Eddie's GT-R is now a whole new mermaid with a new custom wrap from Colorbomb, hopefully updated shots will be available soon!

Becoming an automotive photographer is interesting as you get to meet a lot of new, cool people. One of these people I have met is Eddie. Funny enough, it started with him liking a lot of my photos on Instagram until I finally met him and his Mermaid (Nissan GT-R) at a meet. He loves my work and wanted to shoot with me, and I obliged. He also asked if another fellow petrolhead, Nicole, could come along with her BMW X5. I said of course, the more the merrier!

Eddie has been in Arizona for a long time, 27 years, but it wasn't until he bought a BMW Z4M that he got truly into cars. This was traded for an M6, which eventually was replaced with a CTS-V Coupe, which is where he says the passion for serious modding develped. His former CTS-V Coupe had D3 parts pushing over 800HP and had all of the carbon fiber exterior fixings. But, one day he took a peek at the GT-R, which led to a test drive, which led to him coming home with it, causing the V to be sold to focus solely on the GT-R.

Eddie is in the scene today for the people, like those in the OneAuto group and sharing a bond with his son. He loves to see the younger generation of petrolheads get inspired and create goals and dreams of their own for their future cars.

As of when these photos were taken, the mods to Eddie's GT-R were the following:

  • Joe Bach GTRR 700 Package

    E85 Conversion

    Speed Density Conversion

    Upgraded injectors

    Intake

    Hard Piping

    Cobb Tune

    Full Variable Exhaust with upgraded down pipe and mid pipes

    Head lights by Fly Ryde (demon eyes, angel eyes)

    Tail by Turn Conversion by Fly Ryde

    Ride Controller Auto Start and Under Lighting

    Air Lift Suspension with 3H/3P

    Rohana Rims with MPSS

    Carbon Fiber front spoiler

    Duck Bill Carbon Fiber Trunk

    Carbon Fiber Side Skirts

Unfortunately I could not find the bio information for Nicole, and since a long time has passed and I'm trying to push out my old content, I decided to not seek it out again and bother her more. However, there will be more shoots and more opportunities in the future.

Dalton and Rachel's Mustangs- Rolling Shots

It's funny how life works sometimes. I've seen Dalton and Rachel's Mustangs at car shows aplenty in the past, but they were like most of the other cars in the show: amazing machines, but faceless and without an owner. I could admire and tag photos on Instagram, but I wouldn't have a face-to-face conversation with the owner. 

Fast forward to the spring 2016 semester at ASU. One of my friends posts on her Snap story that she's riding in a Mustang; "Oh, ok" I thought and was about to quickly go through the story, until something caught my eye: what looked like an air tank in where the backseat should have been. Sure enough, the next photo was a red Mustang GT, the same Mustang GT I kept seeing at car shows. And that is how I met Dalton and got to know about the man behind the machine. Being a photographer himself as well and seeing my work, both Dalton and I vowed to set up a photoshoot. One day, at least, since we were both engineering students, meaning time was not abundant.

 Fast forward again to last weekend, and after enduring our classes, Dalton and I finally got a plan together to take photos. With a date made and a location and time set, it was going to finally happen. Then, Dalton let me know that his friend, Rachel, would also like photos. Turns out she's the owner of the now-Nardo Grey (or as she calls it, Nardo Gay) bagged Mustang that I would also see at car shows. And, I had also gotten to talk to her before at a Pavilions Meet, shortly before the police came to kick us out.  My friend volunteered to drive my car so I could take rollers, and we were all set.

We took the rolling shots on the way to the static photoshoot location. In hindsight, we realized we should have dedicated the entire evening to either rolling shots or static shots due to lighting, but alas, it is what it is. The rolling shots were at the perfect time of day, with the perfect amount of reflections and sun for tasteful lens flares and golden highlights. The trip though was short, only around half a dozen miles, and the opportunities to take photos were further reduced by the need to merge behind them to get into exit lanes. Our route was down the State Route 51 from Bethany Home Rd, down to the I-10 West until we exited at 7th Ave. Looking at a map, you can see that it's not the longest of trips. Still though, 3/4ths of my body was out the window of my car, much to probably the shock and confusion of the evening traffic behind us (which, funny enough, didn't dare try to pass any of us), and I got these shots. 

Stay tuned for the static shots, as well as more information and detail about the cars!

Bugatti Chiron

Living in Arizona has its perks, especially as a car person. Scottsdale is home to all kinds of amazing cars and car events, all of which I had no idea existed three years ago. The wonder never ends, as I would have never guessed that I would be able to come face-to-face with the Bugatti Chiron, fresh from Geneva and resting before Pebble Beach.

To the uninformed, the 2017 Bugatti Chiron is the successor of the Bugatti Veyron, the poster-car for "fast car" since its release in 2005. How do you top a 1000+hp, 250+mph, $1,500,000 USD hypercar? Take everything that was excessive and turn it up to 11.

A quick-run down of the specs. The Chiron will cost you $2.6 million dollars, if you somehow get your hands on one of the already-sold-out-500 copies to be produced. The engine now pumps out 1500 horsepower and 1200 lb-ft of torque from a revised quad-turboed W16 engine, venting all of those burned dinosaurs through six exhaust pipes, four out the rear and two out the underside of the car, creating a blown diffuser, the same technology that was banned in Formula One. In a world where the "Holy Trinity" have turned to creating hybrid hypercars, Bugatti stuck with time-old-tradition and kept the car with a gasoline engine only, using sheer force of engineering, displacement, and boost to crank out the power. With all of that power, it seems a little disappointing that the top speed is only 261 mph. However, this isn't it's final form. The 261mph top speed is "limited", since its record-setting top-speed attempt will attempt to crack 270mph. 

There will be no shortage of options, either, to make sure each car is unique. After all, if you're paying for the price of six Lamborghini Aventadors, you want to make sure that the Cars and Coffee meet you roll up to doesn't have a Chiron with the same grill-color, a $6,800 option. This is a steal compared to the bare carbon fiber option, which is $289,000, enough to buy a McLaren 650S with $24,000 left over. Or, if you aren't feeling up to completely exposed carbon fiber, a partly exposed carbon engine cover is a mere $17,000, which is perfect since this is the same price as the sports seats, so you can go even faster. Or, tl;dr, everything is expensive, but luckily, there is a four-year service plan that will cover all maintenance on the car, making it more affordable!

There's no need to go on about big the numbers on this car is, because they're massive.  Rather, lets talk about the design of the car. Now, this is completely objective, but when there is so much press over all the numbers I just quoted, personal opinion is always interesting to hear. I know many people who think the Chiron looks ugly, but I disagree. The Veyron was nice looking, but, dare I say it, it was a little "bland", since it was mostly made of basic, round shapes. As an engineer, I appreciate the engineering beauty of the Veyron, but I felt the aesthetic beauty was a bit lacking. The Chiron, however, is completely different. There are aggressive character lines all over the car, giving it the aggressive, assertive look it needs to say "Hey, you wanna race? Cuz you'll lose" to the face of P1s and LaFerraris, the current definitions of hypercars. The long taillight, and the angular rear that juts out, housing red taillights with beautiful geometry inside, is a sight to behold that no picture can do justice to. It captures the imagination as it looks like an impulse engine that belongs on the Enterprise in Star Trek rather than a car that sits in front of me. The massiveness of the wing on the back lets you picture the air rushing past it when the Chiron is racing at full speed. Those LED DRLs on the front of the car give an unmistakable, angry look, befitting for the rest of the front fascia. And the width, my God this car is so wide, it looks like it will not hesitate to eat small children and compact cars for breakfast. As an engineer, I love all of the vents and scoops, as it affirms my belief that form follows function, that engineering is beautiful, that engineering can be an artistic masterpiece. To think of how much air and fuel the engine eats at full-throttle, how the air moves around the body at Vmax, and how everything inside the car manages to not spontaneously combust is a beautiful thought in my head.

But the one obvious styling detail that i absolutely love is the characteristic 'C' line throughout the car. It's present on the side, acting as the dividing line between the two-tone color scheme. It splits the car in half, forming a crease on the hood that becomes pronounced on the roof and becomes a bridge overlooking the engine. The seats of the interior are bisected by a 'C', swooping gracefully through the cabin. In a world where extreme design is the norm, the Chiron nails it with unique styling elements that will make it to the walls of five-year olds and thirty-five year olds everywhere. 

Will the Chiron be able to define this generation of hypercars like its predecessor did, especially with fiercer competition in the guise of the Koenigsegg Agera R/ One:1/Regera, Porsche 918 Spyder, McLaren P1, and Ferrari LaFerrari? Only time will tell.

Am I fanboying over this car? Possibly. But when it's a car designed to define a generation like its predecessor did, it's hard not to be overwhelmed and infatuated at first-sight. Or second sight. Or third. The Veyron was an engineering marvel. The Chiron is this plus a work of art. It'll be great to keep this rosy image of the car in my head, as it is highly likely this will be the only time in a long, long while I will ever see this car. But, I hesitate to say "ever". After all, this is Scottsdale. Who knows what will show up next?