Almost six months before filming was set to begin on Fast and Furious 4, the movie’s picture car coordinator Dennis McCarthy was already running out of space to hold all the cars, trucks, semis and trailers being built for the production. This was way back in October 2007 and it was McCarthy’s job to bring together every vehicle that would be seen on-screen in the fourth in The Fast and the Furious series. Sound easy? It wasn’t; there were going to be more than 200 of them.
“Reading the script, it was obvious this was going to be bigger than Tokyo Drift,” said McCarthy…Â More info
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One recent Saturday night, when the Santa Ynez Valley YMCA held a father-daughter dance, one of the evening’s party-goers could have easily been excused for being too tired to cut a rug that night.
While Andy Grider of Los Olivos and his daughter Marley may have had fun at the soir/e, Grider’s already had more fun and excitement than some of his neighbors might see in a lifetime.
Grider has returned to the Central Coast after having spent most of January in South America as the navigator for Team Dakar USA in the 5,948-mile Dakar Rally, the world’s longest and most dangerous racing event.
He navigated while riding in a Hummer H3 driven by NASCAR owner-driver Robby Gordon.
It was a fruitful trip for Grider, whose wife Annie accompanied him on the trip for the two-week race (Jan. 3-17) through Argentina and Chile. He and Gordon took third place in the car category — the glamour division of the event — with a finishing time of 45 hours, five minutes and 50 seconds…. More info
Subaru Rally Team USA driver Ken Block has a target on his back heading into Round 2 of the Rally America championship. The fast and flowing course suits Block’s flat-out style and he’s proven tough to beat at this early spring event. The event was the scene of the driver’s first national win in 2006, and he’s taken the top spot every year since then.
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Subaru Rally Team USA driver Ken Block has a target on his back heading into Round 2 of the Rally America championship, the Rally in the 100 Acre Wood, in southern Missouri Feb. 27 – 28.
The fast and flowing course suits Block’s flat-out style and he’s proven tough to beat at …Â More info
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‘Saab 96 two-stroke singing.”
Watching and, more importantly, listening to the above-titled YouTube video clip of a mid-60s Saab 96 rally car tackling a gravel stage in snarling snap-crackle-and-popping fury is a better introduction to the charm of these feisty little Swedish cars than I can manage with mere words.
Sounds and smells often take a back seat to the visuals that can pop up unexpectedly on memory’s monitor. But when they’re triggered, they can transport you back in time with an astonishing degree of intensity.
A V-12 Matra Formula One car on a misty long-ago Mosport morning. The smell of Castrol R “bean oil” cooking off a Manx Norton single that’s being rhythmically revved to warm it up in a racetrack paddock and emitting a ripple of crisp-edged thuds on the way up and a unique twitter on the way down. These are just two memories that come readily to mind…. More info
