Our BIGGEST Event Yet: Joint Book Signing with ‘Ludicrous’ Author Ed Niedermeyer
Join us for delicious drinks, lots of Tesla talk and a livestream of the new Cybertruck pickup reveal on Nov. 21st!
A weekly newsletter by Ryan K. ZumMallen | @zoomy575m
Happy Race Day, especially to off-road legend Robby Gordon. Apparently he gets his ideas for Stadium Super Trucks by front-flipping RC trucks.
BIG NEWS: Okay… I’m just gonna say it. We’re doing another book signing. I’m so thrilled to partner with L.A. Ale Works and fellow author Edward Niedermeyer for this very special event:
Ed is the author of the critically-acclaimed Ludicrous: The Unvarnished Story of Tesla Motors, a wonderful deep dive into the inner workings of the most revolutionary car company of our time. It’s an honor to welcome him to Los Angeles for a really interesting and informative evening.
I’m also thrilled to partner with L.A. Ale Works, an award-winning brewery that comes highly recommended, both for its outstanding in-house beers and its commitment to hosting events for the community and small businesses like ours. Please visit their Instagram page to learn more.
Here are the details: Ed and I will be signing and discussing our books, with copies available for sale, and discussing the ways that our respective communities are shaping the future of the automobile going forward.
I’m really excited to find common ground between electric vehicle evangelists and performance enthusiasts. Unlike most headlines out there, we don’t believe that EV lovers and car nuts are mutually exclusive. Here’s to building together as one.
To that end, we are welcoming Unplugged Performance as an event partner. Unplugged is a leading aftermarket company serving Tesla owners with unique — often extreme — parts and body upgrades. We’ll discuss their role in shaping Tesla culture. Follow them on IG!
To take things to another level, the brewery is right around the corner from SpaceX. And it just so happened that Tesla announced it will unveil the Cybertruck pickup that very same night, about a block from us.
We’re taking advantage. The Cybertruck reveal will be live-streamed at the brewery, so that we can all watch together (as a family, aww), and Ed and I will be on hand afterward to provide immediate thoughts and analysis.
No cover! So please, come one and all, to this very special, one-night-only event. It coincides with the L.A. Auto Show, so spaces will fill up. Please RSVP at the event page here, and prepare to arrive early. Parking is first-come, first-serve.
I am so thrilled to have this opportunity, grateful to Ed and our many partners, including our friends at Top Rank Imports and Oilstain Lab, and can’t wait to see all of you there. Thank you for making this possible. Thank you, always.
On with the show!
Culture
More SEMA goodness. Rad creations are still trickling in one week after the auto convention in Vegas. Here we have an “Outlaw” Honda S600, a slammed Volvo V90 wagon and a pair of stanced, widebody Ferraris by designer Mitchell Button.
Race Day regular @the_kyza waited until after the show to unveil his unreal E30 Touring body kit.
More than one person told me recently they’d like to see the street truck style return. Courtesy of Nissan, ask and ye shall receive.
There’s a Facebook group dedicated to documenting the crappy and dangerous builds at SEMA.
No lies detected:
Some stallion is driving a long-forgotten Suzuki Equator pickup truck… for Lyft!
I absolutely loved this thread about how the Honda Prelude — a successful car in the U.S. — became an abject failure in its native Japan. It involves a “pervert lever.”
Turns out, Corvette fans are not pleased with Road & Track for choosing a Hyundai as its Performance Car of the Year. Say it with me now: “Okay Boomer.”
Dr. Michael Olinger, longtime medical director for IndyCar and other motorsports, passed away recently. An outpouring of support and appreciation immediately came from drivers. I especially liked this one from J.R. Hildebrand.
Apparently there’s a glitch in Need For Speed: Heat that allows you to mash two different cars together to create wild new combinations. Here’s a Ferrari F40 and Lamborghini Huracan engaged in an unholy alliance.
Subaru has spent millions creating ads that align their brand with dog lovers. And they could never make anything as good as this:
Safari everything. And when I say everything, I mean Mercedes sedans on monster truck tires.
This build thread on a Lego Land Rover Defender set is both very cool and extremely frustrating. Look at all those little parts!
Video Reel
I’m no mechanic, but if your gear shifter shakes like this it’s… not great.
The BMW tuners at Alpina are having a moment. Here, the Donut Media team hilariously breaks down what makes it so special.
Three minutes of insane driving skill in rally cars from the ‘70s, ‘80s and ‘90s at the Rally Costa Daurada Legend 2019 in Catalonia, Spain last weekend.
Online racing is motorsports. Here’s a revealing clip showing how a pro driving career just wasn’t financially feasible for Lucas Blakely, until he found video games.
The revived Ford Bronco is right around the corner, y’all. That gave my Edmunds colleague Elena Scherr an opportunity to see the new race truck version up close, and share her extensive off-road knowledge in the process:
The Bronco news means we’re one step closer to finding out whether or not this guy has to eat a sock.
DTM put out a video demonstrating what a possible all-electric touring car series might look like. Hydrogen powertrains, automated pit stops, replaceable battery packs? Is this for real? We shall see.
Race Results
Bit of controversy in the World Endurance Challenge at Shanghai, where the top Toyota team was overcome by a private Rebellion Racing squad. A huge upset on paper. But the real reason is that race officials handicapped Toyota to make a more interesting battle up front. Which of course begs the question:
The new Hypercar class can’t get here soon enough.
Wet and wild weekend for Australian Supercars at its legendary Sandown track. Turns out, racecars don’t work great in the rain! Super fun to watch, though. [Race 1 | Race 2 | Race 3]
Thirteen-year old Juju Noda will compete in the Formula 4 minor league in Denmark next season. She would likely be ready for F3, but there’s a 15-year old age restriction. Here’s wishing her luck!
Really cool recap of the latest F1 eSports weekend, with five exciting moments from the pro gamers.
One interesting development is last year’s champion, Brendon Leigh, is quickly sliding down the standings. He’s currently fifth and nearly finished last that weekend. In another, he dropped like a stone after starting in second. The leading theory, at least among YouTube commenters, is simply that the growth of eSports talent has significantly raised the bar. What does it say about the sport if he can’t recover?
Forza Motorsports has a new partner in its eRacing series: Lamborghini. This is the second big manufacturer signing on to a video game series, the first being Toyota with Gran Turismo GTC. It feels big in the ongoing development of online motorsports.
An amateur driver and medical doctor named Dr. Tim George suffered a medical issue while inside an LMP3 car during a four-hour IMSA race. Unfortunately, Dr. George passed away. R.I.P.
Auction Block
A 1991 BMW E30 325i M-Sport sold at the Silverstone Auction for the U.S. equivalent of about $56,000. That seems… kind of insane!
A meticulous “Eleanor” GT500 replica sold for the equivalent of $85,000. That seems… like a bargain! Funny how that works.
An extremely rare Jaguar XJR-9 racecar is coming to the RM Auctions. Nice kitty.
And Finally…
A large rock at a shopping mall is causing terror as distracted drivers keep running it over. Jalopnik argues, convincingly, that we should all be on Team Rock.
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.
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