California Legacy Plates

The California DMV has an awesome program which will enable you to order reproduction 1950 (yellow and black), 1960 (black and yellow) and 1970's ( blue and yellow) style number plates for your car or bike registered in California. This was created as California Vehicle Code Section 5004.3 and was added by Assembly Bill 1658 (Gatto), enacted in the 2012 Legislative session.

For the program to be implemented and for the plates to be made, at least 7500 of the style of plates need to be ordered and paid for. The plates can be put on any vehicle and is not part of the YOM program, which is for 1972 and older vehicles only. Currently the most popular is the black and yellow plate which has 5383 orders.

I would like the blue and yellow plate for my 74 vehicle, since the DMV and YOM program currently will not allow me to put the original blue and yellow plates that came with the vehicle originally to be re registered to the car. I hope that we get to 7500 in the Blue and yellow plates, or the DMV changes the YOM program to enable all cars with blue and yellow plates originally issued, to be able to re register if you have the original plates.

The DMV website says that they have until January 1st 2015 to get the required 7500 paid orders of any one type of plate to start the program, so time to get cracking and order your legacy plate, or one as a gift for your friends and family.

 Assemblyman Mike Gatto of Los Angeles 43rd district came up with this bill and I like it.

@CA_DMV @MikeGatto #CaliforniaLegacyPlates




 

World premiere of #PorscheMacan plus #Porsche918Spyder at 2013 #LAAutoShow

Porsche always has a very nice stand at the #LAAutoshow and this year they outdid themselves with the world premiere of the Macan and US premiere of the 918 Spyder. I was not overly excitable when I heard about the just released Macan, thinking it may be to much of a Q5 lookalike, until I saw it in person. I was wrong. The #PorscheMacan has been designed very well, is pleasing to the eye and is going to be a popular addition to the Porsche stable setting the benchmark for the compact SUV market.

 Both the Macan S and the Macan Turbo are powered by twin-turbo V6  engines.

 

For the US market, the Macan S will have a base price of $49,900, will come with all wheel drive and 7 speed Porsche Doppelkupplung PDK transmission and a 3.0 liter, 340hp engine with 339 lb-ft of torque. With the optional sport chrono package, you will be able to blast from 0-60 mph in 5.0 seconds to a top speed of 156 mph. Not bad for the base model.

 

The Macan Turbo with a base price of $72,300 will have the Porsche Active Suspension Management (PASM), adaptive sports seats,  Leather package, navigation and BOSE surround sound in addition to the S and will also have the PDK transmission. The engine is 3.6 liter with an output of 400hp at 6000rpm. 406 ft-lbs of torque and the optional sport chrono package propel the Macan Turbo to 60 mph in 4.4 seconds, with a top speed of 164 mph.

 

Both the S and Turbo have 19 inch wheels, so I am not sure how you'll be able to go hay bailing in the Macan ( not sure you can get a tow package anyway ) , but it will certainly be a street warrior.

918 Spyder

The US premiere of the electric hybrid 918 was at Los Angeles. The 918 is to be built in limited numbers and will quickly be snapped up by collectors and speculators. This race hybrid has, 4 wheel drive, a 4.6 liter V8 which revs to 9150rpm and has 608 HP and 2 electric engines with a combined output of 887 hp. The 918 Spyder with all engines ago will launch to 60 mph in 2.8 seconds and is capable of a 0-60 mph run of 7 seconds in full electric mode. The 918 Spyder also is capable of a sub 7 minute run on the Nurburgring, which puts it in the legendary category. Look for it at a charging station near you.

Formula 1 season 2013 and 2014

So Sebastian Vettel with Red Bull has wrapped up his 4th F1 championship, joining Alain Prost and surpassing Jack Brabham, Niki Lauda, Nelson Piquet, Sir Jackie Stewart and Aryton Senna who all won 3.

The 26 year old, shall he win a 5th, will tie Juan Manuel Fangio and will be two short of all time champion Michael Schumacher who blitzed to 7 championships over his 20 year career in F1.

Red Bull has quite the team. They have mastermind designer Adrian Newey, who seems to have the Midas touch when it comes to creating a winning car, youngest championship winning team boss Christian Horner and of course the access to the all important funds to make the team go. Red Bull Racing had income of $285.4 million and expenses of $284.4 million in 2011. The revenue came from prize money ($88.8 million), sponsors ($59.7 million), and the remainder from Red Bull. Expenses included $112.8 million in research and development and $82.7 million in salaries for 605 employees.

Vettel's current team mate Australian Mark Webber is retiring at the end of the year to go racing Porsche's. His replacement is fellow Ozzie Daniel Ricciardo who is being promoted from Red Bull's feeder team Torro Rosso.

For 2014 the engines in the pinnacle of motorsport are going from the current 2.4 liter naturally aspirated v8's to a 1.6 liter turbocharged v6 which should shake the field up and make 2014 a very exciting year.

Rumor is the Mercedes has the engine to beat....Time will tell.

Kimi Raikkonen is leaving Lotus and retuning to Ferrari for 2014 to replace Felipe Massa who is going to Williams. It was rumored earlier in the year that Nico Hulkenburg who is a great driver was off to Ferrari, but Kimi who won his championship with Ferrari in 2007 beat him to the seat. Nick Hulkenburg is tipped to be favorite to replace Kimi at Lotus, if the team can get their budget together.

Full run down of the 2014 season and who goes where is here.

We have the final race of 2013 this coming weekend in Brazil....... I wonder if Sebastian can make it nine wins in a row, of if Mark Webber will retire with a win?

Los Angeles International Auto Show 2013

We are off to the LA Auto show with our camera's and note pads. We will be reporting back to you with all of the latest information and worldwide vehicle debut's as they happen. Watch www.autoreports.blogspot.com for the latest information as it happens this week.

2013 Holden HSV Gen-F GTS

Holden will be responsible for producing the most powerful vehicle in Australian history when the 2013 HSV ( Holden Special Vehicles ) GTS hits the showroom floors this September.

The GTS will be powered by General Motors LSA 6.2 liter V8 supercharged engine that has been in the Cadillac CTS-V and Chevrolet Camaro ZL-1 for the last few years. It will put out about 430kw, or 576 hp and should be capable or low 4, high 3 second 0-60 MPH runs. The engine produces a lot or torque and has been known to shred tires in the wrong ( or right ) hands. Magnetic ride suspension which is a GM invention and adopted by amongst others Ferrari, will be on the GTS, so it will also be a brilliant handler.

The 2014 Cadillac CTS has just been released and I suspect that the CTS-V which is in the works may well be powered by a twin turbo V8 with even more hp that the HSV. Time will tell.

 2014 Cadillac CTS

Well done HSV and GM. Onwards an upward.

2014 Corvette Stingray

The 2014 Corvette Stingray is one sexy vehicle. GM appears to have struck a home run with the C7.

Due to be released at the end of 2013, the standard engine will be a 6.2 liter V8 producing about 450hp allowing the Stingray to sprint from 0-60mph in less than 4 seconds.

The Stingray will be released as a coupe and a convertible, both looking very Ferrari like, which isn't a bad thing in my opinion.

Both will be available as either a 6 speed automatic, OR a 7 speed manual, taking a page from the Porsche playbook. A 50/50 weight distribution is something reminiscent of a BMW and the engineers at Chevrolet have spent some quality time in creating a classy cockpit that has more of a European flair than previous versions of the Corvette which were sometime a bit bland.

Magnetic selective ride will be available with the Z51 performance package allowing for crisp handling creating a recipe that will bring the Corvette Stingray back into the desirable sports car category.

Who's telling what sort of power the Z06 and ZR-1 will produce..... Supercar.

China F1 preview

Looks like Ferrari and Massa have made some progress for the China F1 which will be held this weekend.


After the excitement of the Malaysian F1 with hearing problems and insolence from some of the drivers, I am looking forward to watching some serious rivalry unfold this weekend.

Keep an eye on Kimi also.

Cadillac gassing it up?

According to this write up, Cadillac is looking to become a global player again and launch new models including a BMW 1 series competitor and a flagship model.

I hope that the new CTS-V based on the yet to be released 2014 CTS includes a station wagon as I would like one. Time will tell???