God_speed

Yeah the 1984 (?) TR, not the 250 Testa Rossa which was gorgeous. the 250GTO and 250SWB would be up there as my all time favourite car designs. Hmm yeah I think that Luca di Montezemolo in taking over from Enzo has wisely taken Ferrari in a direction where the cars are much more useable and credible from a chassis, packaging, and reliability (to an extent) standpoint. Enzo also said that Ferrari would never advertise. The Shell/Ferrari commercial of about 2008 (?) is an example of brilliant marketing while still respecting the marque IMO, but all that merchandising junk is a real shame. The Ferrari World in Abu Dhabi also looks like a massive sellout. Good point on the journos; I do recall reading reviews on the F355 which said it was not so much a facelift of the 348 as a completely new car in terms of its handling; the 360 came out and they said it was a revolution compared to the F355; when the F430 came out they said the 360 was actually quite tricky at the limit and that the F355 was arguably better handling than the 360, now the 458 has come out and made the F430 feel completely obselete, etc. Interestingly though, I see a bit of a parallel with GT-Rs in a way. Some reviews I've read recently of the R34 GT-R (Evo UK) still place it highly as a driver's car, but say that it feels decidedly out of date, as if it doesn't quite match the hype. The R34 was an evolution of the R33, and the 33 of the 32. A Wheels article (I know, I know) compared the three modern GT-Rs to the R35 and again came to the conclusion that the earlier GT-Rs didn't quite impress like they expected. There's a definite mystique (to put it nicely) or hype (to put it bluntly) about some brands and some models which tends to colour people's perceptions of the true merit of a car, I guess. What do you think?

Can't vouch for how a Ferrari handles, but when you say they handle badly - really? Relative to other supercars? Or period? I know kind of what you're referring to; Enzo himself used to say "you pay for the engine, the rest of the car I give you for free" or something like that; and unashamedly admitting his road cars only existed to fund his race cars. Models like the original Testarossa were apparently little more than a jaw dropping bodyshell existing merely to house an incredibly powerful engine. Handling was supposedly 'interesting' with the flat 12 being mounted quite high, etc etc. I think Ferraris kind of reached a zenith around the late 90s (F355, 360 CS) and their new models are a bit too "techy". Yes they might be overrated, but surely when looked at 100% objectively with no romanticism, most Ferraris are still very, very good cars, if not absolutely exceptional ones? Finally, everyone will have their own unique tastes and opinions, but surely when you're spending over, say AUD$200K, a great car is the one that makes the owner happy (even if that means the car relies on embellishments of brand-wank-factor, or a killer exhaust note). The Honda NSX might have been a brilliant car from a technical design standpoint, but unfortunately failed to excite and few people bought them relative to the 911 et al. It'll be interesting to see how the MP4-12C (massively dorky name) sells compared with the 458, as the McLaren is undoubtedly a brilliant technical achievement but doesn't have the brand cachet except amongst true enthusiasts or maybe Saudi F1 fans.

Cheers Paul. I remembered that we don't often stop there that long, so a few of the shots were a bit rushed. Otherwise I would've asked you to pose next to your car

Getting Vertigo from that! Great shot For some reason, I reckon this could look awesome if converted to B/W and with upped contrast. I also think it could be a great theme if you could get access to some 'darker' buildings that are more adventurous architecturally. If that makes sense. Just a few from the weekend's Macquarie Pass Pie run; trying out my new 50mm F/1.8 G

$875 per month = $202 per week For that you could have this (you may or may not be impressed): http://www.domain.com.au/Property/For-Rent/Studio/NSW/Cabramatta-West/?adid=7081972

Really? Must've come back on the market after someone sold their GTR recently.

Haha your car looks the goods Owen. It's not a standard colour is it? I just saw a blue flash go by as we were going down Jamberoo Mtn Road but I still recognised it.

875?? Wow. Makes the CTS deal look like a bargain. They can trickle charge and even detail the car for you if you want (at some additional cost)

MattBoy coached me for hours beforehand to make sure I held the right Blue Steel look for the photoshoot

Very tidy VL! Here's mine - a 1989 Prelude 2.0 Si - the first production car with four wheel steering! Love the dashtop tacho. Looks a bit like the lap timer / stopwatch on the new Porsches with the Sport Chrono Pack (expensive option):

Nick - thanks for the feedback mate. Yep - decals. Moelders' GT-R is a rare sight and looked great on the day. The blue and white is a great combo. Steve's GT-R from Steve's Auto Barn in the Blue Mountains has a similar look:

Cheers Matt I'm very happy mate. Thought it would be better if I was looking straight ahead as opposed to directly into the camera which is why I did that. Didn't realise I looked sleepy though The car looks fantastic. Appreciate your efforts and in getting 'Serena' on court first just in case we were booted. I love that little detail across the bootlid of the car with the three stripes of light. The irony of thinking we might get kicked out when all we were doing was standing around in a carpark photographing 5 cars with a combined 2000bhp+ moving at <5km/h, while the locals were doing burnouts in their barinas...

Some pics from Saturday.

Yeah the Classic Throttle Shop down the road from my work offers this service including cafe / shower / lockers, and vacuum-sealed bubble enclosures for the car; they start from $300 per month. http://classicthrott.../ctscarbank.htm

Hahaha I was looking for an "embarrassed" emoticon just now but there's isn't one.

There's something about #5 that I like (the sepia one). Nice work!

So did I - I just assumed. Hahaha Only now noticed on page 1 the owner of the blue Silvia is named Steve. Didn't get a chance to chat to him

Yeah I thought i saw your blue meanie Owen!

Holy crap, substantial biff. Great photo of an unfortunate mess What was up with that blue sportwagon on picton rd mate?

Great work mate, that was quick!

That was a crazy drive down to Albion Park... Good fun otherwise and some of us had a nice run through Jamberoo Mtn Rd and Mt Keira Rd on the way back north. Thanks for organising Gemma. I think most of us managed to steer clear of a certain car that tried to bring the event down a level or three Michael I assume you got started again, how many pies did it take?

Yeah, not bad... I think I prefer the Novitec Rosso ones though. Is everyone a fan of the black wheels trend? Esp. with the white body? For me it works on some things like a white LP640 but I think it's done a bit too often

+1 RenaultSports are great FWD cars, right back to the Clio Williams. I've got a Clio 172 ('02) and it's quite a different feel to the car compared with the GTR (just talking about the chassis and drivetrain layout) but it's still fun to drive after getting out of the GTR. Potentially, this will eat into Honda's market share, as there seems to be tons of people who drive Civics who wish they were driving bimmers instead and rice it up accordingly with chrome, cheap-ass aftermarket xenons and larger rims... As a bit of a BMW fanboy I'm not quite sure what to make of it; the original "2002" BMW was not exactly a luxury car but was a fun to drive, sporty, stylish coupe priced slightly above the average car - this could be BMW having it both ways, returning to its roots while retaining the rest of the luxury range.

I'm waiting for Kujotk to join this thread

Yeah I hate the standard star-spoke pentagram rims. 599 with the optional rims looks the goods: Don't usually like modded Ferraris, but this one I wouldn't kick out of my garage: