Glad to see this thread is still going SmileWavy

+1 On several levels for me.


In late 1979, my then girlfriend took her modeling career to LA. Among work she found was as an extra on "King of the Hill." At the time, I was more into music than cars, and it just so happened that the drummer in our band and I went to LA to shop a demo tape, hoping to score some "showcase" gigs at the Whiskey or Troubadour. Neither happened, but we did get to visit Becky in a parking lot at Griffith Park during night shooting.

To add insult to injury, the car used in the film wasn't even a Porsche, it was a flared Speedster kit car with a VW engine, like this. (Photo too large to link.) The night we were there, it was mounted on a trailer with camera mounts installed, ready for shooting some close up driving scenes.


But this really floored me:

I had the immense good fortune to meet and become friends with Gastone's son, Roberto and be his guest in Milan, and share a couple of fantastic motorcycle trips with him. Both extremely interesting characters.



Finally, thanks to you, Chris, and all the other "first-handers" who have posted. As a kid from Utah who grew up listening to "Little Deuce Coupe" and "Dead Man's Curve," you So-Cal guys were the stuff of legend. As a 50 year commemorative of my family's VW Westie trip from the Seattle World's Fair to Tijuana, I plan to put a roof rack on the SC and do a camping trip the length of the coast this summer. I'm going to have to add a few trips up Mulholland to the list, in your honor.

Really looking forward to the book coming out. Maybe someday I can stop by to have it "signed by author."

918
 

Thanks very much from myself and the other infamous racers of Mulholland Drive.

Hope to see you on Mul in your 356.

And now for some other information, check out this Porsche if you havnt already.

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1332626905.jpg

The 918 prototype you see here was in bits and pieces just a few weeks ago, and it’s one of only three in existence. The Porsche team assigned with 918 development arrived in Italy in early January and furiously began testing all the components before slapping together an assortment of chopped and mismatched 911 bodywork to get it ready for the track. And us.

Few outsiders get access to a vehicle this early in the development process – not even a cheap econobox, let alone a next-generation halo vehicle in Frankenstein form. But Porsche wants to show off what it’s been up to and give us a taste of how it’s reworking the recipe for world-beating performance.

The formula for the 918 starts in stereotypical supercar fashion: mount a race-bred V8 amidships that sends power to the rear wheels. In this case, Porsche pulled a variant of the 4.6-liter V8 originally fitted to the three-time ALMS LMP2 Championship-winning RS Spyder. That engine put out a comparatively paltry 503 horsepower, but fitted to the 918, output is up to 570 hp. That figure is before you account for the 918′s two electric motors, and it’s also where the similarities to past supercars ends. Abruptly.

As opposed to most engines, the eight cylinders’ exhaust outlets exit in the middle of the V, driving spent hydrocarbons out and over the engine into a muffler fitted atop the engine. That means heat in the engine compartment is kept to a minimum and – in an ingenious bit of form following function – a duo of exhaust outlets protrude upwards like two titanium trumpets signaling to the heavens. And it gets better.

The 918 Spyder is a full parallel hybrid, with a 90 kW electric motor sandwiched between the engine and seven-speed transmission. Easy enough for a Toyota, but Porsche takes things three steps further.

Another 80 kW electric motor is mounted on the front axle, powering the two front wheels and effectively making the 918 all-wheel-drive on-demand. That motor alone is good enough to get the 918 up to speed and driving around town on just electricity for 16 miles, but the combination of the two electric motors – on their own more powerful than the 1974 911 Turbo – and the mid-engine V8 singing at 9,000 rpm brings total output up to 770 hp, with an even more impressive 553 pound-feet of torque available across the rev range.

Porsche 918 Spyder races toward production - Autoweek

Porsche 918 Spyder: The first ride in the future game changer - Autoweek

I like the "Mad Max" look. :D

"and – in an ingenious bit of form following function – a duo of exhaust outlets protrude upwards like two titanium trumpets signaling to the heavens. And it gets better"

No it doesn't. Who writes that drivel? If someone wrote that about your Ducati, you'd kick him in the nuts.

Yes.. the Lotus is bad ass!
But Ronin drives way over his head, and braggs about it.

Banning is a legend! Mulholland is his....End of story!

I have never met a "Fast Driver" that had to tell me he was fast. The more bragging the less talent.... I.M.H.O

I met Ayrton Senna in 1990. Funny that during our conversation he never had to tell me how fast he was or what a good driver he was....lol

Personally i could careless, How Ronin drives on Mul.
But, it's only a matter of time before he goes off the mountain, takes a life or loses his own.. That is just the reality of running the mountain.

There is a long list of guys that thought they were fast up there, and their only legacy on Mul is how much Blood, Paint and car parts they have left on the Mountain...

Mul claims "FAST GUYS" on a regular basis....
If your lucky you'll just get a trip to the hospital, If not a "free" toe tag.

I wish Ronin nothing but luck, because the odds are in Mul's favor.

Legend
 

That's very nice of you to say my friend but the real Legend of Mulholland is Charley Woit.
I'm just riding on his 427 Side Pipes.
,
Without Charley as an inspiration I can gaurantee that no "Mulholland Carrera" like this thread address' would have been built.
Because of growing up very near Mulholland with a view east all the way to Deadmans, and a view west past Beverly Glen, I was afforded the good fortune of hearing most of Charley's early runs in his Vette. Laying in bed many nights I would hear a distant thunder

The sound would get louder and louder with crazy rpm changes that sounded like aggressive growls from some Beast.
Gradually the echoing thunder would get quiet. After maybe 3 minutes it would begin to come back again just as it had before.
Again getting quiet after tremendous impressive noises on the ridges of Mul.

Imagine how I felt the first time seeing and hearing this Vette in person, talk about a deja vu.
I had a 1973 911S and thought I was god's gift to Mulholland by this time. Boy was I a Turkey.

One night while I was passing Grandstands going west, with no warning...an old grey pickup with no lights passed me!
My jaw must have dropped to the floor mats as I said to Bruce (the guy in the photo, Porsche in liv. room), WTF!!!

I am witness to Charley's driving as I was right behind him and I swear to you NO stunt man could do what Charley did. I am amazed to this day how, in controlled drifts from right shoulder to left shoulder under full throttle he would go, with a beer can out the window just as legend has it.

That evening I knew that in a race against his Vette I would be the big, big, Loser. Might as well take up knitting.
Hence the reason for selling the 911S and creating something more competitive. ;)

So from my point of view...Charley was the Legend and remains so.
I just wish he were still here with us.

I looked into the Mulholland Experience book at Amazon.com and thought I might pick one up used for around $20.00. Now I understand another book will be released soon, so I am holding off.

I missed an oppertunity to drive through the 1.8 mile stretch last year when I flew down to Ontario and picked up my Carrera and drove it home up I5.
I stopped somewhere around Supulveta and realized I was close to the historic
road and really wanted to go cruise the famous road.
I should have done it but all I wanted to do is get home.

I am looking forward to the book. For sure I will get a copy and enjoy reading that little piece of America's hot rodding history.

Believe it or not, I have spent hours reading this thread and it is so cool.

Get that book out ASAP!

Thor Cadillac
 

In 2009 Cadillac introduced a thorium-powered concept car at the Chicago Auto Show. Designed by Lorus Kulesus, the sleek World Thorium Fuel Concept did not contain a working thorium-fueled nuclear-fission reactor that could generate the electricity to power it. But somebody at General Motors thought the idea to be sufficiently interesting to build a vehicle to show it off.

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1332949794.jpg

A 250-kilowatt unit (equivalent to about 335 horsepower) weighing about 500 pounds would be small and light enough to put under the hood of a car, Stevens claims. And because a gram of thorium has the equivalent potential energy content of 7,500 gallons of gasoline, LPS calculates that using just 8 grams of thorium in the unit could power an average car for 5,000 hours, or about 300,000 miles of normal driving.

Thorium, a silvery-white metal, is a mildly radioactive element (with an atomic weight of 90) that is as abundant as lead. It is present in large quantities in India and is a much-touted stand in for uranium in nuclear reactors because its fission is not self-sustaining, a type of reaction called “sub-critical.”

The idea has energized the small but active thorium community, which holds that it is the answer to our clean energy needs because it could, effectively, power a car forever. The new technology “would be totally emissions-free,” Stevens said, “with no need for recharging

Pretty nice lines, sort of Art Deco. I don't know where the inspiration for the wheels comes from. I guess Caddy is all about selling cars in the ghetto. That's the only place I see them.

The video has been removed :(

Sorry, nothing I can do about that. :(

Thanks for replying Chris!
Having Charley around would be cool....

But as a teenager, the "New West story on You and John Hall and the "Eye on LA "episode, set the hook pretty deep in me for wanting to Drive fast and Porsches.

Hopefully i can get a ride in the "Mulholland Carrera" sometime if i'm ever out there again.

This guy got the corner a little wrong today. Hit the hillside. Now that's what I call understeer! :eek:

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1333754592.jpg
http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1333754600.jpg

<iframe width="560" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/nJuuRlX4hSY" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

Down goes Frazier..
911uk.com - Porsche 911 Car For Sale, Finance, Insurance, Parts & Service : View topic - Worlds fastest Lotus rear ended by a Porsche

He has running threads going on at least three different forums . Quite entertaining.

I've read a couple of them. The guy seems to not make friends so easily. Also, from his own description of the event, it sounds like he switched lanes on the Porsche and ran into him. He even knew the guy in the Porsche, and they have a not-so-great history.

The Lotus guy seems like a total jackass. And that Lotus looks stupid. And he can't drive for s**t. I've seen his videos.

"Testosterone and horsepower do not a driver make." - Yoda

I've met him in person a few times at the top of the snake and had some good conversations . I think he is one of those type that their online persona is quite a bit different from face to face.

Fair enough. But he isn't helping himself any by calling everyone a "c**t" every other sentence, and publicly outing the guy (stating the P-car driver's name) when witnesses, and his own account, place blame not on one person, but possibly him alone if not both.

Most likely they are both to blame, but he's not exactly portraying himself in a positive light.

Can't disagee with you there . You can express yourself in better ways and still get your point across.