The Return of Radwood | Where to e-Order Slow Car Fast
The Millennial car culture book comes to new marketplaces and Radwood comes back to L.A.
A weekly newsletter by Ryan K. ZumMallen | @zoomy575m
Happy Race Day, especially to the rally driver who flew off a jump and smacked a drone in mid-air.
I’m proud to announce a big step in the roll-out of Slow Car Fast. The book is now available in FIVE major eBook marketplaces. If you’re a tablet, smartphone or eReader fan, this is for you! Here’s where you can now find digital copies of Slow Car Fast:
Amazon Kindle | Apple Books | Barnes & Noble Nook | Google Play | Kobo
And of course, you can always order directly from CarraraBooks.com as well. New paperback copies are on their way and deliveries will begin soon. And not to get ahead of ourselves, but holiday season is coming…
Which flavor of Slow Car Fast do you prefer?
Culture
Radwood is coming back to L.A., you tubular dudes. The ‘80s- and ‘90s-themed appreciation of all things neon and acid-washed will be held at Oak Canyon Park in Orange County on Saturday, December 7. See you there!
Here’s a great illustration of one of the central points of Slow Car Fast, namely, that speed and horsepower have gotten out of control:
In other words, it took just five years to go 12 mph faster with one whole less gear. In a $35,000 car. Crazy.
After taking a big step toward winning his sixth F1 championship last week, Mercedes driver Lewis Hamilton made a series of Instagram posts pledging to live a cleaner, vegan, emission-free lifestyle.
Hamilton got his share of reactionary, racially-tinged backlash.
Some came to his defense.
Maybe don’t be so quick to judge a guy publicly trying to be better.
No one is more outspoken about women in motorsport than IndyCar driver Pippa Mann. She met a young fan this week and posted an awesome sentiment about it.
Last week I lamented the loss of the print edition of Autoweek. The outlet will continue in digital format, and while that feels like a net negative, the remaining editors took a different perspective. During its recent podcast, staffers spoke about feeling optimistic to have more digital freedom and remove the massive costs of print and distribution. It’s a good point. Happy for the team and will continue to be a proud supporter. It’s a great listen if you’re a media nerd like me.
Here’s the bizarre tachometer in the 1982 Honda Prelude XXR, apropos of nothing.
Video Reel
Think you’ve got good body control? MotoGP rider Alex Márquez flew over the handlebars at 100 mph, caught it, and stopped safely so he could keep racing.
Here’s footage of rally racers driving the hell out of their mud-covered cars in 1984. Highly recommend following that account — you can get lost for hours.
Race Results
Slow week in motorsports, but that’s what e-gaming is for! Forza and its family of racing games has a full slate of cool events you can watch if you need your fix.
Formula Drift held its season finale at the Irwindale Speedway here in Southern California. Irish driver James Deane earned enough points to grab this third consecutive season title, but it was local boy Ken Gushi who took the win on his home turf. The victory brought him to tears:
Here’s the battle that won the title for Deane, a bitter fight with Forrest Wang that went extra rounds. In reading the comments and speaking with people who were there, it’s pretty clear a lot of people thought Wang was robbed. I believe it. I wrote in Slow Car Fast that seeing Wang drive in person last year was a revelatory event for me. Congrats to both competitors for putting on a show.
A new autos site popped up this week with the launch of AutomotiveMap.com. One of its premiere articles is on the Rebelle Rally, a women’s-only off-road race through the California desert. It’s grueling. One team rolled their Land Rover and another popped three tires on their Rolls-Royce. Scroll through the #RebelleRally2019 hashtag for some truly inspiring stuff.
Huge congrats to the overall winners, Taylor Pawley and our dear friend Rachelle Croft in a bone-stock Lexus GX!
Hyundai, of all people, turned its minivan into a racecar and set it loose at a track event. It does killer drifts.
The W Series announced the driver lineup for its second season after a successful inaugural campaign in 2019. The top 12 finishers from last year are back, including champion Jamie Chadwick and Spanish sensation Marta Garcia. Of the two U.S. competitors, Sabre Cook returns and Shea Holbrook does not.
Just imagen:
And Finally…
Some of the main points of Slow Car Fast were that A) slow cars are fun and B) slow cars on dirt tires are even more fun. So what we’re saying is… 1992 Mazda MX-3 rally car.
Drive hard and be safe.
Want your event included? Shoot me a note with subject line “Race Day” at ryan@carrarabooks.com.
Don’t forget to follow Carrara Media on Instagram, Twitter and Facebook and visit our store to order your copy of Slow Car Fast in paperback or eBook.