Monday, July 27, 2009

The August Monterey Weekend

Great news













Clara Cunningham Photo

Gret news for AllCarCentral.com and you, our visitors. We have conformation for our media covering of the upcoming 36th Rolex Monterey Historic Automobile Races
Mazda Raceway this August 14-16, 2009 at Laguna Seca, Monterey, California 2009. This rounds out all the events that our team can cover in this over the top, car intense weekend.

We will be at Pebble Beach that Thursday recording Blackhawk Museum’s cars, and checking in with the Pebble Beach Concours people, to get set up for the big Sunday show. Infiniti will provide the Media Center at Pebble, which gives one a nice place to organize the day. Infinity will also have a reception on Friday that will show off the “Infiniti's all-new 2011 M” by Global Virtual Preview, (guess it’s going to be a bit like a TV show, this one)

Friday morning will have us at the Concorso Italiano 2009 immersed in all that wonderful excitement at their new location, back on the green. After a hard day there, we will try to make it back to the Infinity reception. Negotiating the forests of Pebble Beach area has always been a challenge but with the GPS aids, all becomes a fun experience.

Saturday is the Race day at Mazda Raceway and Porsches will rule! The last time Porsche was at Laguna Seca was 1998, Porsche’s 50 year mark. It was Porsche Pandemonium. There were more Porsches there than one could count. I had to park so far away by the time I made it back to the track the day was about over. I have never seen so many cars at this track before or since.

Sunday it is back to the soft green of the lawns at Pebble Beach and their special hospitality. This is a Show of Shows and will provide all with Bentley Team cars, Ferraris and much, much more. Cars that are so rare that one can only dream of seeing them and yet there they are. Brought to this blessed place at great expense and placed there for one’s personal wonderment. I personally stand in awe as I ponder how the automobile has so evolved.
Below are the links to the main pages for more information
http://www.allcarcentral.com/Monterey_Historic_2009.html
http://www.montereyhistoric.com/

http://www.allcarcentral.com/Pebble_Beach_Concours_2009.html
http://www.pebblebeachconcours.net/

http://www.allcarcentral.com/Concorso_Italiano_2009.html
http://www.concorso.com/

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Tuesday, July 21, 2009

This is a NEW BLOG Site with a new address.

We are very sorry to have to do this. However the set-up that we had, which our web host failed to inform us about in the beginning, had serious shortcomings.

The first Blog site, hosted by Word Press, would only allow a few pages to be available to viewers. We want viewers to have access to all archived Blog postings. We maybe could have updated the Word Press site, but the “Conditions” which Word Press imposes would be in conflict with the inter workings of AllCarCentral.com and its Blog.

Therefore after much very hard work, the ‘import and export” features would not work between the Word Press and Blogger, we have transported by hand all of the previous posting as noted below into one very long ‘post’.
Main web site http://www.allcarcentral.com/ for all the great Car Stuff
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Monday, July 20, 2009

February 10, 2009 to July 16, 2009

July 16, 2009
Its been a space since my last post








Saleen Ford 2002





Its been a space since my last post. Much to do to get the photos and stories onto the web. Too many images and stories and not enough time. The last posts covered the NASCAR weekend and since then I had our main computer go down. This put me to struggling with the back-up with its 10 megs of ram. One goes to have a coffee while things load. After much swearing and great help from Doctor Google, I made the leap and blindly replaced the PSU (power supply unit). Went up from a 380 watt PSU to a 5oo watt one. And. Happy days! All the lights that
mysteriously went dark came back to bright again. Almost like the bloody thing was made by the “Prince of Darkness” Lucas Electric. Well that almost took a week of loosing stuff, fixing things and doing stuff all over. But all is back to the normal out-of-control state. The Ford section, which comprised of 14 galleries’, has been rewritten so that now most all gallery pages are sorted by years. The cars run from 1914 to 2009 so there is a fine display of Ford cars to enjoy. Next, Chevrolet, Alfa Romeo and Mercedes Benz pages are needing to be ‘improved’.

Bits and pieces:
A visitor to the site sent us some very nice photos of her 1913 Saxon. Many Contributors are sending photos and stories of their and found cars. Dozens of cars are added weekly.

We have received the photo passes for the Concorso Italiano and Pebble Beach Concours this coming August. This will really add to the great photos we all ready have of these fantastic old and fast cars that show up at Monterey California each August. If you like cars and haven’t experienced this yet have a look at the pages linked to this site. www.allcarcentral.com/concours_and_car_show It will blow your socks off. All the cars which we shoot ends up on the proper pages for that make.

The Main Site HomePage is at http://www.allcarcentral.com/

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June 24, 2009
NASCAR on a road course








NASCAR on a road course. Infineon Raceway near San Francisco, California.




This last weekend, Infineon Raceway near San Francisco, California, was host for 3 days to one of the great automotive world specials. NASCAR cars on a road course. Infineon is a, tough twisty up hill and down, road track with a much car-jumping and fender banging show for
all to see. This goes on for 350 Miles or 110 laps of the track. The sun was not too hot and the day played out on schedule with all the planed events. The one surprise was the winner, which was Kasey Kahne, in car 9, who had struggled with the track in the early part of the weekend. Kasey gave all at the track an additional bonus. Richard Petty had been absent from the Winners Circle for far to long. But this Sunday, with a smile brighter and broader than the sun “King
Richard” drank wine from the Winners Goblet.

AllCarCentral.com had not received a call from the NASCAR world previous to this weekend to shoot up-close and personal, but this day we were finally there and we did get up close.

See the full story with pictures at www.allcarcentral.com/nascar_Infineon_2009

The Main Site HomePage is at http://www.allcarcentral.com/

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June 20, 2009
NASCAR 2009 Infineon Raceway






Carl Edwards Lifting a Wheel at turn 8a









The NASCAR Show is at Infineon Raceway this weekend and AllCarCentral.com is Track Side. Have a look at the Site Page For the news and photos at
www.allcarcentral.com/nascar_Infineon_2009

The Main Site HomePage is at http://www.allcarcentral.com/
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June 16, 2009
The 2010 Ferrari California







The 2010 Ferrari California






I received a nice surprise by email inviting AllCArCentral.com to the unveiling of the new Ferrari California at its arrival to Northern California’s San Francisco dealer. So how could that be turned down??

Red Wine and red Ferrari cars! With Camera in hand, my lovely partner and I made the comfortable drive from the AllCarCentral.com’s world head quarters, to have a look and record the show. With some fanfare, the shy well-covered form setting in the showroom was finally exposed to all. The lady in her shiny black paint showed off as her metal hard top retracted, reveling the great Pininfarina lines. We all then had a chance to sit in a very business like seat to enjoy that new Ferrari leather smell.

I am now patiently waiting for an invitation to go back and make a test drive, like we had with that fantastic 599 GTB some weeks ago.

Full Story at
www.allcarcentral.com/Ferrari_California_2010_viewing

The Main Site HomePage is at http://www.allcarcentral.com/

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June 9, 2009
“Heavenly Indulgence” and Ferraris




“Heavenly Indulgence” and Ferraris










The “Paddock at the Livery”, In Danville, California, was the host and site for the event titled “Cavallinos at the Paddock” or (Ferrari Car Show) Yes there were many Ferraris and most were red. There were also a few other cars parked around languishing in the soft sunlight of
this very nice setting, blessed with fantastic California weather, like a Porsche RS P2 Spyder. Nice stuff to look over. I was there with camera capturing all the fine shapes for the pages of
the website, AllCarCentral.com. As I had shot most all the cars on the field I changed my attention to the conversation behind me. The very fashionable woman’s clothing boutique’ and co-event host, “Heavenly Indulgence” was getting ready to start a fashion show which would be
staged alongside the fast red cars. Well I may be old but I have not slowed down that much. I gathered up all the lovely young ladies and we shot some very fine photos with Ferraris as the backdrop. How Fine is that! ”Heavenly Indulgence” indeed, and Ferraris.

The Main Site HomePage is at http://www.allcarcentral.com/
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June 4, 2009
Race Weekend at Infineon Raceway






Turn 2 Flat-Out







Infineon Raceway in Somona, California this last weekend. The great thing about this type of race event is two things. One, it is an automotive history lesson with out the written test and Two, you can walk up to the cars and drivers and talk to them between races. Try to do that with the NASCAR Boys.
See more at
www.allcarcentral.com/Wine_Country_Classic_2009
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May 14, 2009
Ferrari in the San Francisco, California, Bay Area








Choices. Choices. I took the red one.





Ferrari came to the San Francisco, California, Bay Area and AllCarCentral.com was there.

So what is so new about Ferrari coming to the Bay Area? They have always had a dealer there and ran races at the Sonoma race track, now called Infineon Raceway. So what was the big deal? Well for one thing, As noted above, we were there to record it. This series of events
included a night party at Mill Valley Ferrari dealership with red Italian wine and red Ferraris to highlight the India tour of the Ferrari 599 GTB. Ferrari billed it as “The Galleria Ferrari
Photography Exhibition And Cocktail Reception Featuring images from the Ferrari Panamerican and Magic India Discovery Tours”

The next bit involved Ferraris of several year/models running along side Alfa Romeos and Maserattis in the historic car races that ran over a Friday, Saturday and Sunday. Mixed in with the older car races were the Ferrari F430 Challenge cars that made up the main event. The
Challenge race is always a hard fought race but this year the three days of rain made the spectator thing even more exciting, as well, I assume, the actual driving.

The final event for this fantastic display of Italian power and design was the invitation for AllCarCentral.com to have a go at actually driving one of these new V12 cars, which are billed as the most powerful Ferrari. Ever! Actually the invatition presented an interesting choice, as both the 599 GTB and 612 Scaglietti were available but only one could be driven. I choose the 599 and never looked back.

The Race weekend was 3 days of rain. Ok for watching the slipping around on the track that provided some exciting racing but when I pulled into the Mill Valley Ferrari dealership, the light mist that was falling was not making me feel warm and fuzzy about getting behind
all that power and pulling out into the Marin Peninsula traffic in the wet.

To meet me, was a fine young man hired by Ferrari to keep all the driving honest, safe and interesting. Tony Brakohiapa, racecar driver and instructor with the Jim Russell Racing Drivers School at Infineon Raceway, gave me a rundown on the controls in the cockpit and
instructed me to push the starter button.

Can I say this car is nice? Everything is in the right place. Power everything, windows, AC, seats, auto rain detection on the wipers, and so on. I only had to push on the two pedals on the floor, turn the wheel in front of me and flip the little paddles on the wheel with just one finger to make real excitement happen. The car does all the rest. No problem. Before we moved forward Tony pointed out a set of indicators on the wheel that selected sport driving, normal driving
and a mode that addressed the needs which rain driving demanded. Tony wisely stated that the selector was to be left in the ‘rain’ mode.

The 599 GTB is a road car. It is easy to see out of, to move around the driveway, to move through traffic. The trunk is large and there is ample room in the cabin for coats and packages that come with living life in a day-to-day fashion or driving through out the day. High
performance cars usually need high concentration on the driver’s part to operate. The 599 GTB, however is there to serve the driver. Moving this car around is like moving my wife’s daily driver. Until. Until that is, as Tony instructed me to flick that small paddle on the left side of the wheel twice.

The Song of Maranello.

Enzo Ferrari was the composer of the real national song of Italy, and it can only be properly played by a V12 Ferrari Engine.

A silky smooth explosion of forward velocity is the reward of downshifting and right foot pressure. Pure pleasure is the sensation. This is not my wife’s daily driver or any of its contemporaries. This a super class Ferrari ready to serve.

My loop around Tony’s carefully chosen roads ends way to soon and we are back at the dealership. But The Song of Maranello will forever be with me. Buy one of these and take you mate shopping. It will do the job, hold the packages and more.


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May 8. 2009
Ferrari Racing Days at Infineon Raceway, California.







Ferrari F430






This is a real sleeper in the racetrack spectator world. where can, these days, a racing fan find three days of hard door-to-door, door- banging, racing at a laid-back racing event. And I may add, at a very reasonable ticket price.

Ferrari Racing Days at Infineon Raceway this year provided two major venues, the Ferrari F430 Challenge Race and the historic Italian racecar race. The latter, placed historic Ferrari, Maseratti and Alfa Romeo cars on the track, at speed, and driven with the same zeal and skill as the original pilots of the past. Ferrari V12 songs are the music for the ears. Red is the candy for the eyes.

Ferrari F430 Challenge Race, however was a different thing all together. These high performance, highly prepared, modern race cars driven by skilled and highly motivated amateur racecar drivers become the battle chariots from modern Rome.

It could be said that the Ferrari F430 Challenge Race is a contact sport. Oh by the way, did I mention that it was raining and the track was wet. This is no wimpy NASCAR-I-won’t-drive-in-the-rain group. Formula One and European road racing, do-it-in-the-rain and so does the Ferrari Racing Days group.

Spins and banging is the method use to move ones car forward। Don’t get me wrong, there is real skill being demonstrated. This is raw racing at its best.
More here. http://www.allcarcentral.com/Ferrari_Racing_Days_2009.html
For a list of Track Events and Car shows look here;
http://www.allcarcentral.com/calendar.html
Ferrari F430 Challenge Races are held around the world
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May 8,2009
The Ferrari 599 V12 Road Car






Ferrari 599 V12







The Ferrari 599 V12 road car was sent to India to show off its wonderful V12 power to this emerging economic power. To show off the India event, Ferrari North America threw a party and covered the walls of the Mill Valley Ferrari dealership with fantastic photos of the
juxtaposition between this super car and the resident working Indian elephants.

Fine red Italian wine and great red Italian Ferraris were the setting for the photo display. I can say that each element received equal attention. But the cars were the stars.

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April 28,2009
April in San Francisco, California




San Francisco, California









One of the annual events for AllCarCentral.com to cover is the California Mille which sets off with some 70 historic race cars and departs San Francisco’s famed Nob Hill. The festivities of the car display, in front of the Grand Old Lady, which is the Fairmont Hotel, is an inspiring way in which to start the drive. The cars, who are the true celebrities, are driven down a red carpet and set aside in the soft April San Francisco sun to bask and pose for all to enjoy.

On a personal note with this being an odd year, I was very disappointed, after my long stint of shooting the cars, when I went off with my lovely wife to find a quiet spot to enjoy a glass of wine and reflect up on all the splendor of which we had witnessed. This remember, is at top of the famed Nob Hill in the center of San Francisco, California and in the mid of the afternoon. We tried the door of no less than three bars and found them locked up tight including no less The-Top-of-The-Mark. Come back later were the signs. As we were not part of the registered troupe that made up the California Mille, we disappointedly cast our tired thirsty selves off
the backside of the “Hill” in search of the famed California Wine.

You can see more at the event page। www.allcarcentral.com/California_Mille_2009.html
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April 17, 2009
Catching up to 2009




100 MPG Plug-in Toyota Prius







This last few days have been used to finish uploading the photos from the fantastic 4 days at Monterey, California। I shoot about 600 images a day and in the end I name most of the files with the name of the car and the location and date of the shot। I have discovered a simple way
to convey a lot more information about the cars which I photograph and display on the web site. This takes about 30 percent more work for each car but it is very much worth it. The set of files that I am now undertaking is from the San Francisco Auto Show this last November and
will show all the 2009 models. I have to finish all of my 2008 photo shoots so that I will be ready for starting all over with the 2009 events. The first events start this month. I don’t think I will make it।

The Main Site HomePage is at http://www.allcarcentral.com/
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April 02,2009
It’s a tough job but someone has to do these things!





2009 Ferrari 599 GTB





Work is suppose to be, as the saying goes, “All work and no play” But sometimes a guy just gets lucky. Ferrari is turning a new model loose into the world. It is called the 2009 Ferrari 599 GTB, and is billed as the most powerful Ferrari ever. And they want to show it off. AllCarCentral.com has been invited to a test drive session. And I am the one that gets to be there. I will post the results of my hard work in fulfilling this difficult assignment, in the weeks coming.

The Main Site HomePage is at http://www.allcarcentral.com/
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March 05, 2009
Race Car Photos




Excitement on the track as car spins out during the 35th Rolex Monterey Historic Automobile Races at Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca, California






Excitement on the track as car spins out during the 35th Rolex Monterey Historic Automobile Races at Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca, California। AllCarcentral.com was there with cameras.The photos for the Concorso Italiano's® 2008 in the Monterey Bay Area, California,have been up-loaded and now the photos of the Monterey Historic car races of last August are the next on the list. These are being named and readied prior to coding into the web site. Keep a look out for your fav race car.


W2e got Ferrari’s We got Jaguars। We got cars you have never heard of।
http://www.allcarcentral.com/ Check out the full web site. It is free and funF
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February 26, 2009
Remodeling



Corvette Taxi: Hot Cars and Beautiful Women. Good Day





I have used the last few days to remodel the home page and some of the major portal pages that move our visitors into the body of the subjects they are interested in. This hopefully will make our guests visits more pleasurable and productive.

We have added 2009 data sheets from several car manufactures into the AllCarCentral.com archive sites for future reference and research by our visitors. The goal in this data archiving is to preserve all the data sheets from the manufactures of their current car models, each
year. Any submissions from our viewers will be most welcome. We are moving through all the manufactures and presently have progressed through the letter “I” . Most all of the 2008 manufacture online sheets have been archived.

Photos from the AllCarCentral.com backlog of images are also being identified and uploaded most everyday. These images cover show cars, old cars normal cars and race cars. Have a look for your favorite car.
Enter at http://www.allcarcentral.com/

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February 22, 2009
Ferrari Car Photos



Gumball 3000 Rally, 2008 San Francisco, California, USA






The last days I have Up-loaded some fantastic Ferrari photos from the Concorso Italiano® held in the Monterey Bay Area, California from this last August। Have a look at www.allcarcentral.com/ferrari_pix-10.html
The AllCarCentral.com site at http://www.allcarcentral.com/ferrari.html has over 200 Ferrari photos available for free viewing। Enjoy!
The Main Site HomePage is at http://www.allcarcentral.com/
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February 18, 2009
Pebble Beach Concours Photos




They called this one-off car the Predator Xtreme। The car was at the Concorso Itiliano® 2008 Show, Monterey, California





I have finally finished uploading and labeling all of the photos that we took at the Pebble Beach Concours this last August. They are located throughout the AllCarCentral.com Site. Just look on your favorite car model page for the photos. The new set of photos being worked on are of the Concorso Itiliano® which was also this last August all in the Monterey, California area. Keep checking your favorite Italian car pages for the new photo entries।

The Main Site HomePage is at http://www.allcarcentral.com/

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February 14, 2009
A day picking at loose ends







Wild Tow Truck






This last day was spent picking up loose ends on the web site and loading pictures and data for some of the many cars that populate the pages and build on the reference database. The photo above is of a tow vehicle that was used at the Concorso Italiano in the Monterey Bay Area, California last August, 2008, to drag around some of the Aircraft that was being displayed along with the wild and wonderful cars. You can see some of the cars in the show at the site
www.allcarcentral.com/Concorso_Italiano_2008.html
and
www.allcarcentral.com/concours_and_car_show
More of the Show cars will be up loaded in the future।
The Main Site HomePage is at http://www.allcarcentral.com/
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February 12, 2009
Lotus Cars and Venturi Automobiles





Chrysler ecoVoyager Concept Car 2008





This day was used to upload a Press Release from Venturi Automobiles of France noting their receiving an ward, “The Festival Special Prize” for innovation. Venturi Automobiles is a manufacture of electrical vehicles. More information can be had at the following
link.
www.allcarcentral.com/venturifile.html and the links provided therein. Also there were some Pontiac photos which included the Pontiac Bonneville Special of 1954 which was a GMC
Motorama Show car. This car was at the Pebble Beach Concours d'Elegance® this year. To finish off the day we Up-loaded the specification sheets for the 2009 Chryslers and the 2009 Lotus cars
in to the arcive files. Also worth noting, Lotus has brought out the fantastic looking Evora. Have a look. There is one photo and some links to let you see more. The Lotus pages are at
www.allcarcentral.com/lotusfile.html


Trust you enjoy having a look around the site. Let us know what you think of the data which we have made available to you
The main Site home page is at http://www.allcarcentral.com/
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February 10, 2009
Welcome to the AllCarCentral.com Blog





How would like this Red Hot Ferrari on your lawn?





Today is the start of the AllCarCentral.com's blog which will be use to report on what is going on in the back room of running this website.

I hope you will find the information and photos interesting and I
invite all to post your comments. http://www.allcarcentral.com/ AllCarCentral।com Website
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