Design Study 1.1

•October 20, 2009 • Leave a Comment

Sorry for taking forever and a day to update this but here it is.  I will focus on mainly aesthetics and attempt to explain why certain cars hit that certain erogenous zone within our minds. Let’s go.

We are going to start off with my favorite car of all time and what I believe is the pinnacle of road-going super cars. There may be other cars out there now that are faster, more powerful, and more technologically advanced but none of these cars have seem to capture the raw essence of design. That’s right, we are talking about the Mclaren F1.

The reason why the Mclaren F1 has managed to attain such a timeless look is due to its proportions. One of the most important characteristics to good car design is proportion and that is what Gordan Murray and company have managed to master. To give an idea on the size of the Mclaren F1, a normal road-going 1999 Honda Civic coupe measures 4,448mm in length while the Mclaren F1 measures 4,287mm. That means the Mclaren is about 16cm or 6in shorter than the Civic. I think that if the car had been any longer, the vehicle’s design cues would not look as stunning as they do now.

Mclaren F1 Front End

The Mclaren F1’s design has managed to become so timeless due to the fact that it has the perfect blend of edges and curves. Take for example the headlights. The inside corners meet at sharp, straight edges while the outside corners have a flowing natural bend to them. The fluid curves on the outside edge of the headlights help to enhance the semi-bulbous fender line while the sharp edges of the the opposite corners accentuate the design cues of the hood. If you look carefully, you will notice that the vehicle’s hood has rounded edges that match the outside of the headlights while the scoop is composed of just straight lines that match the inside of the headlights. That is ingenious.

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When you put all of these styling cues together, it just works. The angle of the cornerlights and headlights work in conjunction with the bonnet and hood scoop to sort of give this invisible racing stripe down the center of the car. The roof scoop is also the correct proportion and continues on the lines of the hood scoop. It is very difficult to achieve a balance between edges and curves but Gordon Murray and company have managed to do just that.

Part 2 coming soon.

Perfection

•September 12, 2009 • 5 Comments

Such a dynamic and timeless design.

For those who don’t know, I have been in love with the Mclaren F1 before I could even speak English. Its design is just captivating and I could spend countless hours studying it. There hasn’t been a car since that has invoked the same emotions in me as this one. This photo was taken by my favorite automotive photographer, John Brooks. No fancy studio set ups, no complicated off-camera lighting or extraneous editing; this just the pure art of capturing the raw essence of motorsports.

Keep a look out for the first in a series of design study posts that I hope you guys will enjoy.

Nerds x Drunks

•September 2, 2009 • Leave a Comment

The guys from the Gritsy and Heavy camps got together this past weekend for a this awesome little event called Revenge of the Nerds. It was a night of good music, good times, and bad fashion. There was dubstep in the main area, house on the patio, and dnb underground. I hope there will be more of these events in the future, especially at the venue it was held at.

Around 2, I decided to call it a night. As I was walking to my car, there was this 6 on 6 royal rumble going on in the parking lot adjacent to the venue. Lol, it was crazy. Everybody was wearing a goddamn Affliction or Ed Hardy shirt so all I saw was this big mass of shiny eagles and jewel encrusted tigers going at it. Then some random chicks got involved and ended up eating a knuckle sandwich. Lol. Anyways, onto the photos:

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John the Third looking more like Gordan Freeman than a nerd.

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I want to photoshop a giant violin in here so badly.

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Suraj K, one of the people who made the event possible.

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Dropping something nice and silky, probably a Joker track.

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All kinds of different nerds were in attendance.

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I don’t know what is happening here.

As always, you can find the full gallery on my Flickr.

Girly Gadgets

•August 31, 2009 • Leave a Comment

So my girlfriend told me the other about something called a purse hook. I’ve never heard of it in my life and apparently, it supposed to hang the purse from the edge of dining tables so that the bag would not have to sit on the floor or in another chair.  I must say that she is much happier now that she has a purse hook. So dudes, if you want to make your girl happy; buy them one of these little shits.

IMG_3311If I was a girl, this would be awesome to me.

I have some pretty decent posts lined up for this week. They run the gamut from dim sum to a nerds dancing in a dark room, no lie.

Green Laser Eyes

•August 20, 2009 • 2 Comments

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Pew pew pew!

Import Faceoff 2009 x Texas is Way Too Hot.

•August 20, 2009 • Leave a Comment

Texas is way too hot, even for an immigrant kid from Vietnam. It was about 110 degrees during this show and I thought working in those Nike sweatshops back in the homeland prepared me for this, but I was wrong. After about half an hour of shooting, sweat started dripping down my forehead and into my eyes. I just noticed my last two posts have been complaining about this heat lol.  Anyways, onto the photos:

IMG_2909My long time buddy from middle school Lucius has certainly stepped his game up. He went from catching rides from his sister to this beautiful IS-F sitting on some Modulare wheels. This car is proper business.

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One of the NextStage NSXs. I like how you can barely see the kevlar at the bottom of the bumper. It is little touches like this that make a car.

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Kimo’s fresh new paint. This car has come a very long way and has been through so many stages. I am really digging the C-West front bumper splashed in this extra loud paint. I still hate eyebrows though, no matter what.

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Not sure whose car this is but it has decent parts. Those Starks look tiny on the car due to all this low offset madness that the west coast guys are doing. To think that a couple of years ago, +35 was considered a low offset for a FF Honda. Crazy.

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Mr. Doh’s ultra clean coupe from Team 5 Star. This car is a great example of quality parts executed correctly. Sometimes, certain cars have all these rare parts but it just doesn’t flow well together. This is not one of those times.

As always, you can find all 30 or so photos on my flickr

Barren Wasteland

•July 8, 2009 • 1 Comment

I really should update more than once a month. It’s time to start taking just random photos from my everyday life I suppose. Expect to see images consisting of mainly computers, my girlfriend’s television, and maybe the occasional pretty flower. I take that back, flowers are gay.

Some Drift Event I Forgot The Name Of

•June 19, 2009 • Leave a Comment

I went to some drift event that I forgot the name of this past Sunday where it was 100 degrees in the shade. Too bad I was out getting straight merked by the sun.  I have to give it to these guys though, they were just pushing their cars like none other. The only telephoto I had was this old, decrepit Canon 70-210 which smelled like the Great Depression and I’m never editing photos on my laptop again after this, lol.

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As always, the full gallery: Flickr

Doh

•May 20, 2009 • 1 Comment

So I edited all of the Eibach photos on a laptop. They looked pretty decent there but when I got home and viewed them on the desktop, everything is just way too damn green. I’m going to have to go back and fix this.

In the mean time, here are some more green Eibach photos for people who are too lazy to sift through the Flickr page.

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A quick observation: the current bread and butter set up seems to be chrome/polished wheels and engine parts, custom paint on both the exterior and engine bay, and low offset wheels. I feel that it is awesome how Honda guys are pushing new boundaries and being more creative with their builds. Take care.

Eibach Meet 2009

•May 18, 2009 • Leave a Comment

It was my first time going to Eibach and the quality of the cars was very impressive. There were quality builds to be seen everywhere alongside a plethora of quality parts. I thought MF10s were a rare sight to see in Houston but I counted at least 10 sets while at Eibach. I wish I had a wider lense since there were a lot of people walking back and forth between the cars and it was difficult to get the shots I wanted. A quick shout out to my wonderful girlfriend for buying me that drink! That shit was good as hell in the heat. Anyways, let’s just move onto the pictures. No lame comments this time.

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Gahhhh, yellow recaros.

I think one of my favorite cars at the event would have to be the white EK on the Work Meisters with the Airwalker bumper and the purple 510 on reverse meshies. Both are beautiful builds.

As always, you can find the full size photos on my flickr: flickr.com/omgodzilla. There are about 170 full-sized photos for your viewing pleasure. Enjoy and take care!