Ok so I think I might be a little tired and thus blabbing. But basically I love the cinematic feel of Laurent’s photos. You can check out my favourites after the jump or see the whole gallery here.

- t,

After our escapades to the Core Series final on Sunday, last night we dropped by the monthly JDMST Brisbane meet to see what these guys get up to. Reports were that last time over 150 cars turned out, so expectations were high. Needless to say, we weren’t disappointed with plenty of cars turning up. It’s nice to see there’s a move away from the candy paints, giant chrome wheels and airbrushing that seems to dominate the Australian scene. We didn’t bother taking too many shots because aside from there being plenty of guys that shoot all night, we’re still a grip on shooting in different settings.

Big thanks to Riley and Rory for making us feel welcome, and to all the guys and gals that grabbed some stickers cheers. I’m sure there were plenty of “what the…” reactions from those who found P4 stickers shoved under their windscreen wipers, but hey we’re shameless.

For more pics and future event info you can head to JDMST or check out Downshift Aus.

- P4

The other week saw the most recent running of the Pikes Peak hill climb. Whilst much of the track is paved nowadays, the course is still insane. Ride along with Jeff Zwart in his Porsche GT3 as he sets a new class record. Video comes care of Will Roegge.

- t

I’ve been compiling this list literally for months. It’s taken a while but I’ve finally got 10 things I feel like sharing with you.

- t,

1. Adidas Skate Busenitz Pro (Light Maroon) – $160

I’ve said it so many times, Adidas Skate is killing it these last few seasons. The back end of 2010 is no different, with my favourite new shoe in years; the Busenitz Pro Model coming in burgundy suede. Doesn’t get much better than that, and they’ll be in store at Laced next month. I want them now!

2. Mercedes Benz SLS E-Cell

Ok, so it’s just another electric car that a company has churned out to show that they’re “green” right? Well yeah probably, but the SLS E-Cell seems more than that. Look past the oh-so-arab colour and you’ve basically got a 480kw supercar. There’s no stupidly designed wheels, no pictures of leafs, no literal interpretations of being “green” (I’m calling the colour a yellow). At the end of the day, if you painted it silver it would be just like any other SLS AMG, except this one needs no petrol to go anywhere. Ok so there’s problems with battery technology, and there’s issues with how we product the electricity, but those can be fixed if we wanted to. Sure there’s no throb of a meaty AMG V8, but the thing revs to 12,000rpm and has more torque anyway. I think it does the SLS name well too, I mean the 300SL was a trail blazer with its fuel injected engine so what better platform to move technology forward again?

3. Ledbury Slim Fit Blue & White Collins Stripe Shirt – $142

We’re all growing up, and at some point in time you’re going to need a decent shirt to wear. Hell, I don’t mind wearing something with a collar now and then just because it takes my fancy. The trick is getting a decent shirt so you don’t look like a twat when you’re wearing it, which means it has to fit you properly.

American company Ledbury have some nice regular sized shirts, although still a bit slimmer than the cookie cutter options, but they also do a slim line for the less girthy gentleman (such as myself). I picked their collins stripe casual shirt because I’m not that serious, and not ballsy enough to wear anything pink or purple. Made in the USA and at a bloody nice price point. A worthy alternative to the generic polo made for 30 cents.

4. Tudor Heritage Chronograph – Hopefully not too expensive

I have gotten sucked into the world of mechanical watches this year, and being my normal self it has resulted in months of research and learning and zero purchases. The truth is that a decent watch is expensive, and I am not rich or even moderately comfortable financially. Still, when I think of the money I’ve spent on sneakers it’s not that ridiculous.

Recently Rolex’s lower-end brand Tudor announced the Heritage Chrono, which is actually a remake of a model they sold in the 70s updated for modern times. The face is offered in grey or black and has grown to 42mm, it comes with either a stainless bracelet or NATO strap. I’ve not read anything on pricing, but with my limited knowledge I can only say that it’ll be cheaper than the equivalent Rolex and probably still out of my price range. Here’s to hoping though.

A decent gallery of pics can be seen here. There’s also a sweet little video on Tudor’s website.

5. Be Positive Chukka Brush Off – $370

Italian footwear brand BePositive know how to make a Chukka boot, and it looks great in royal blue leather. They’re a bit pricey, but it’s Italian so camaaaan! What’s even cooler is their deer suede version that is actually cheaper than the pictured pair, mainly because they’re not from some random Russian site I found one late night, instead coming from Italy’s own Slam Jam.

6. HUF x adidas Rod Laver – $134

Proof of how long I’ve been compiling the bits for this post. When I picked this the damn shoe hadn’t even released, now it’s on sale at End Clothing. Grey perforated suede, snake heel, turquoise lining, nicely shaped shoe, ‘nuf said. Sure beats Huf’s own efforts into the footwear industry.

7. Go Faster: The Graphic Design of Race Cars by Sven Voelker – $30

Graphic design and racing cars, two things I love and enjoy immensely. I really don’t need to explain as to why this is here any more.

8. Oliberte Abido – $155

We here at P4 really appreciate people with big ideas, hell we push FEIT’s product hard because it’s just so nice to see them bring something fresh to the industry. Canadian company Oliberte are doing something pretty cool as well. They’ve focussed on supporting African nations with the production of their shoes. Rubber comes from Liberia, leathers from Ethiopia as well as the footwear being produced there. At the end of the day though, the product has to be appealing, and the Adibo Desert boot looks sick in deep navy suede. Clothing with a conscience, both ethical and environmental is something myself and Taz dig completely, and it’s nice to see companies out there giving a go at improving the way our clothes are made.

9. Adicup New York Pack - $280

I like the Adicup project, it’s cool and wish there was potential to do something similar in Australia. Alas there are so few stores left in the country that attempting similar would be almost impossible, but that’s another story. To celebrate each round there has been a pack made in collaboration with artists and stores from each host town. My favourite of the releases is the USA team kit created by Undefeated and Artkip. The Votary shoe looks wicked in that familiar blue adidas do so well. The bag I don’t really care about, but the jersey is pretty well executed (the Berlin one is the best of the series though). Limited to 300 sets of each they’re pretty hard to find though, especially since the USA pack hasn’t released yet after some issues with production.

10. Gran Turismo 5 Collectors Pack

I honestly can’t remember how long I’ve been waiting for the release of Gran Turismo 5 (I haven’t got involved in the Prologue version). The damn thing has been coming for so long that the cover “hero” car has changed three times (R35 GTR, ZR1 Corvette and now the SLR AMG).

Well last week at E3 the release date for GT5 was set for November 2nd. Seeing that I’ve been waiting for the release for so long, and the fact its been pushed back literally years I’m a bit skeptical. Obviously this is the most solid date set so far, so chances are it’ll be out when they say it is. When it does finally release I’m sure it’s going to be awesome, and it’s now just a matter of waiting. To celebrate this momentous release there is a collectors edition that includes 5 downloadable cars and an ugly model of an R35 GTR, as well as some sort of book that I can only assume is an excuse to take more money from us.

Watch the announcement video here.

I’m honestly trying to find something worth posting but I think I’ve become too cynical. I can’t even scrounge enough stuff together to do consistent Top Ten posts (I’m getting close to having enough for a new one though). As a result the blog has been pretty dead recently, which we’re both sorry for but I’m sure you can identify with the lack of truly interesting stuff in streetwear lately that hasn’t been done 800 times already. It’s probably more a result of being bombarded with new products every day over the last 3 years.

In the mean time, you can go for a (sighting) lap around the famous Circuit De La Sarthe in one of the best sounding race cars in the world, a GT2 Corvette C6.R. Chuck it on HD, turn the sound up full blast and try not to have a huge grin for the next six and a half minutes.

- t

It’s no secret that I’m a complete sucker for some car racing, and the Le Mans 24 Hours is the pinnacle of motor racing. Every year over 50 cars hit the public highway in France to compete in the most gruelling sports car race in the world. Because I don’t have any friends, I plan on spending as much time as I can watching the race (dad had to go and be born on Le Mans weekend…jeez) The racing will be broadcast on channel ONE in HD for a few hours, as well as Eurosport on Foxtel for 22 of the 24 hours.

- t,

LMP1 – #4 Team ORECA Matmut, Peugeot 908 HDi FAP

As cool as the Aston Martin entries may look in the legendary Gulf colours, they’re no match for the diesel powered prototypes. With the disappointing lack of my favourite Team Pescarolo from the grid this year, I’ve decided to back another long-running team that has received help from a manufacturer. Team ORECA will be running the fourth Peugeot 908 this year and I’ll be backing them to ruin the factory teams’ domination. I’ll be hoping that the second Oreca P1 car does alright as well in the unofficial “petrol” class.

LMP2 – #26 Highcroft Racing, HPD ARX-01C

The American HPD (Honda) prototypes are much much faster than the rest of the LMP2 category, although whether they’ll last the distance is yet to be shown. If one of them is to win, I’ll be backing the Highcroft team seen above with Aussie ex-pat son of a legend (and last year’s winner) David Brabham on board.

GT1 – #73 Luc Alphard Adventures, Corvette C6.R GT1

Unfortunately the GT1 category is a shadow of its former self, with many of the manufacturers now concentrating on the GT2 category. However there’s still some of the infamous C6.Rs left in the bracket, and you can’t but love the bone shattering sound of these beasts. #73 with Xavier Massen on board should be a chance at a class victory and if history shows us anything they’ll be sure to upset more than a few prototypes.

GT2 – #63 Corvette Racing, Corvette C6.R GT2

Ok so #64 is pictured here, but it’s basically the same looking as the sister C6.R. These guys are now in the GT2 category after dominating GT1 for years. This team is a favourite among the French for their patriotic brashness, and I’ll admit that they’ve won me over as well. Although the cars don’t look anywhere as mean as last year but they’re just as quick.

GT2 is easily the most competitive category this year and for sure it will be the place to look for the most entertaining battles. As well as backing Corvette for the win, I’ll be hoping that Schnitzer’s BMW Motorsport entries do well. Of course the Koons car looks great, but the team’s “normal” livery on its sister M3 GT2 is pretty slick looking in traditional German racing white. These guys were off the pace for the whole lead-up, but they’ve been slowly bringing themselves towards the leaders in GT2, hopefully come race day the famous BMW reliability will help them have a shot at a podium.

And that’s about it! Race start is 3pm local time on Saturday and it all doesn’t end until 3pm Sunday. You can get a brilliant spotters guide for all the 56 entries here. Hopefully I’ll be able to make the pilgrimage to this amazing event some time in the near future to experience it all in person.

Opening image from PeugeotBelux. All other images of the cars come courtesy of Endurance Info.

I posted about this collaboration between Jeff Koons and BMW a little while ago, and just a week ahead of the race it will be competing in, the 17th BMW Art Car has been unveiled. I’ve noted before that Jeff Koons is an artist whose work I’ve admired for a while, and I really like his livery design for the M3 GT2. This car carries the tradition of BMW Art Cars at Le Mans and I’ll be supporting them for the GT2 win. I’m sure they’ll have stiff competition in the GT2 category this year, especially with the infamous Corvette Racing crew competing in the lower class now.

- t,

A hi-res gallery and video of the launch can be found on Autoblog.

Great short movie from Tim Hahne catching all the drama of the brutal Nurburgring 24 Hours endurance race run a few weeks ago. For the motorsport nerds there’s some very familiar faces throughout. Almost makes me want a Canon 5D… Almost…

June 12-13 is the 24 Heuers Du Mans and most of it will be televised on ONE and Eurosport… No sleep for me that weekend then!

- t, the video is best watched in HD of course

Dope, no other words for it.

- t

There’s a few things about the newly announced Livestock x Ferrari x Puma pack that really annoy me. Rather than subjecting everyone that reads the site to my mindless drivel, I’ll post my thoughts after the jump.

- t

First of all, the name itself. It implies that Ferrari is involved in collaborating on this project. This is false, as far as it has been told, Puma own the rights to the Ferrari badge on apparel. From that we can deduct that Livestock requested to use Ferrari’s name and badge on the projects and Puma allowed them to do so. At no point is there any mention of Ferrari actually being involved in this pack of shoes.

Secondly, the choice of shoe model. Of all the shoes in the Puma lineup, I think the First Round Mid is possibly the least Ferrari-like shoe of all. The Suede Mid II is basically a clumsy Puma Suede produced to quench the thirst of the hightop crazed fools through the use of ugly patent formstripes and stupid prints. To then use this model to represent one of the finest sports car manufacturers is an insult. Why not use a classic model as a tip of the hat toward Ferrari’s heritage? Or what about something relatively new that echoes the high tech approach Ferrari’s new age cars have taken? God forbid someone should do something different for once.

Now I suppose I should critique the actually shoes as a whole. I think the red ones looks most Ferrari-like, and I don’t mean just because it’s red. I’ve actually spent many an hour slaving over the keyboard trying to think of how to best represent a car in shoe form, and as far as it goes Livestock have done an alright job. It seems to be that using a black sole is a good way of conveying the automotive look. I like that they scuffed the rubber to make it resemble a racing tyre.

The addition of 3 colours of eyelets is a bit of a step too far, but as much as it’s annoying it’s only a small thing. They did well by just putting the Ferrari badge on the heel. It’s probably a bit cliche` but it does tie into Puma’s own design. Suede works better than the yellow Kangaroo leather, it seems better to echo the racing boots used by drivers rather than trying to make a shiny shoe to look like a car. Whilst it was pretty cool to sit down and think up a dream track for the footbed print, in the end it looks a bit generic and the corner names are just lame. If you’re going to think up Ferrari relevant corner names, go a little further than just using a few generic terms.

Finally is the launch video. Whilst quite well put together, THE WHOLE VIDEO FEATURES A HONDA S2000. Whilst I’m not against the S2000 (I think it’s a great little car and often underrated) why the hell is it relevant to the Ferrari pack? Yes I know that there’s one shoe that’s based on the paint job of the Honda, but c’mon.

Unnecessary awesomeness follows…

At the end of the day, it seems like the Livestock guys are enjoying the opportunity they were given and I’m sure Puma put a lot of restrictions on the project. If it weren’t involving Puma and such a historically significant car maker I would probably care less, but to me it seems like a wasted opportunity to do so much more.