I have this new interest… And it’s kinda weird. I think, since it’s winter and nothing much is going to be happening here, that I’m going to figure out if it’s a passing thing or not.

My weird new interest is…..

Not sure what it is..... But vintage cameras have captured my interest!

Vintage cameras. Kinda random really.

While I really love photography, I’m a happy digital photographer. My only brushes with film that I can recall were disposable cameras given to me on vacations to play with. I sort of remember having a regular sort of point and shoot film camera, but nothing crazy.

My Nikon D3000 was my first SLR, and I still love her. Even if I don’t use her nearly as much as I should. :/

My interest in vintage film cameras mostly comes in the collectible and resale market. For me, it seems like a possible way to take something I enjoy (photography, cameras) with a way to make a little money off of it.

This probably has to do with: one, my recent sales of a few things on eBay — I mean actually selling things for once! Haha. And probably also to do with the fact that since I decided to sell some things on eBay I began reading blogs written by people who sell things on eBay.

Yup, work gives me way too much time to read…. I have read blogs that make me want to sell on eBay, refinish furniture and can pickles. Help.

Either way, in the end I’m just looking for ways to help save up for the next car I want to buy…. A Porsche 911 SC.

I've actually printed out this photo to keep as a visual reminder of what I'm working towards right now!

Seriously, how appropriate would it be paying for a vintage Porsche with profits from vintage cameras?! (Yes, I daydream way too much. I already know.)

So I think I got it to work from my phone…. If it looks weird or isn’t working, I apologize. I’m certainly not the greatest with video at all.

However, I did want to at least try to share this clip. It’s a whopping ten seconds, but it’s quite heavenly. Of course, she sounded so much better in person still.

And hey, doesn’t the iPhone 4S take great video?? I definitely need to mess with it more… (I just *hate* video editing!!)

Are you ready to hear about the second day of the CanAm drive? I hope so, because it’s pretty cool.

Day two was entirely spent driving around British Columbia and mostly sightseeing. But for me, it was all about one thing…

My ride in a 996 Turbo.

Yup…

A 996 Turbo. A real 911 Turbo. One of the cars I would name as in my top five dream cars. I have loved them for longer than I’ve owned my own turbo car.

I’ve heard a lot about them and the way they drive. I know how it should have been. But it was completely different actually being in the passenger seat of that car.

This is the amazing 996 911 Turbo that I got to ride in. ^_^

She belonged to an awesome guy who lives up in Nelson and recently retired after 29 years in the police force there. He led the group on an awesome little road to New Denver, and I got to be the passenger in the Turbo leading the way. (Huge thanks to his wife who graciously gave up her seat for me! It was a life-changing ride!)

And really, it was life-changing. I had my desire to own a 911 Turbo before. Afterwards, I knew I had to make sure that at some point in my life I own one of these beautiful and amazing cars.

I don’t care if I could get better performance with a GTR or something. I want a 911 Turbo. I want to know what it’s like to drive that much power — and not useless power, completely controlled power. It was an amazing ride and I will find a way to have one. Mark my words: Some day, I will own a 911 Turbo.

Of course, the ride came with some warning, which was mostly to not get one for my first 911. Get a regular 911, learn how to drive the car properly, and when I’m ready for the toy that is the 911 Turbo then get one. But not before — I must learn to drive a 911 properly first.

Which is okay with me, honestly. I’m looking forward to getting that first 911 and learning how to drive one fast and smooth. And then that wonderful day where I can call a 911 Turbo “mine.”

The Rest of the Day…

To be honest, the rest of the day just couldn’t compare to that ride. It was fun, relaxing and dinner was great. But I kept remembering that ride in the Turbo.

It’s not really describable with words. It’s a feeling you get. The way that car hits boost is similar to other boosted cars but at the same time it’s not. It’s more. It’s wicked, wicked fast.

I feel incredibly lucky to have gotten to ride in the car, let alone on a beautifully twisty road by a driver who knows the road like the back of his hand.

You couldn’t wipe the grin off my face, that’s for sure. And no photo could capture that feeling it gave me. (Thankfully, it’s a feeling that was so strong that I kept it with me. There’s now a fire inside me — it reminds me to work hard and I will have my Turbo too.)

Oh, there were a few photos though too.

This is one of the Canadian Porsches that joined us; leaving Ainsworth on the second day.

Another photo of the same 911 -- I really liked the paint scheme. I also laughed when he told me he had an S2000 before and called it his "gateway drug" to sports cars. Too perfect, because they are!!

I have this weird thing for foreign signs, but I don't indulge nearly as often as I should with photographs. This sign I couldn't resist snapping a photo of.

Another somewhat successful driving snap. I like how I managed to catch the sign in it -- km/h instead of the miles/hour I'm used to.

Needless to say, the entire trip was well worth it for those 30 minutes of pure bliss. If I didn’t think I wanted one before, I now know I need to have my own 911 Turbo. That’s the only way I can put the experience into words.

That and, well, I think I need to find a way to pay for one of those super car experiences. Long before I can have one, I want to try driving one… Just to have that feeling again. To remind me what I’m working towards.

Yeah, I feel like my (working) life finally has a purpose, and that is a 911 Turbo.

March, I must say, started off really well for me. We got our taxes taken care of with nothing but good news, and then there was this treat…

Rare Porsches

One morning I was browsing Facebook, as usual, but I came across something very unexpected… The local Porsche dealership shared that they had not one, but two pretty rare Porsches in.

Needless to say, plans were immediately placed to go and check out these girls while they were still there. Thankfully, things happened to work out in my favor and that night we went to scope them out.

Gorgeous…

The Porsches that were there was a 2011 911 GT2 RS and a 2005 Carrera GT. Both pretty rare, both exceptionally beautiful, and a very rare treat to see them both together. Porsche’s super car, and the fastest iteration of the 911. (Tweaked so that it didn’t reach the top speed of the super car.)

Really, I could talk about them all I want, but the photos speak for themselves I think.

GT2 RS

As soon as I heard she was there, I HAD to go and see her. So amazing.

I have to admit, I touched the seats and the seats were crazy soft. I can only imagine how awesome it feels to sit in this car.

She proudly wears number 234 out of the 500 built.

I have zero doubts that she won't be anything but pampered and adored in her new home! (She came in just for a client of the dealership.)

Carrera GT

One note of mine: She is SO much more in person than in photos. She has this charisma about her that makes her presence so enjoyable… It’s something a photo could never convey. If you get the chance to stand by one, DO IT.

This photo does NOT do her any justice.... But she still manages to look beautiful in it.

She's amazingly low, wide and small in person. (And yes, that's the GT2 RS in the background!)

It was pretty cool to see the air intakes, exhaust parts and the rear suspension through the mesh on her. Details I wasn't sure I was good enough to capture with my camera.

One of the few details of her that I *did* manage to capture was this bit of carbon fiber -- found *inside the front wheel well.*

Amazing cars, I love them both and feel honored to have been able to add them to my car photo collection, as well as spend a few minutes in their amazing presence.

Anybody who’s watched any length of television lately has to have seen Toyota’s commercial for the LFA. Even if you don’t watch tv, if you’re into cars I’m sure you’ve seen it.

Just for review, to make sure we’re envisioning the same thing:

Well put words

For once, I’m not mad about seeing the same commercial a bunch of times… Really, who can get sick of seeing, but more importantly hearing, the LFA?

Not me!

But what I like is when it talks about the pursuit of the impossible… The pursuit of perfection.

Maybe the LFA is perfection to some, but the way the commercial puts it, it certainly isn’t to Toyota. And it shouldn’t be.

Perfection is too much of a moving target for anybody to ever hit it. I don’t think Porsche, Ferrari, Lamborghini or even Bugatti feel that they’ve hit perfection yet.

Always more

There’s always another level to achieve. When you hit one milestone, you may celebrate a little bit, but then you work on achieving the next level.

Each one of us is following the same path as Toyota — the pursuit of perfection. We all just have different definitions of perfection.

There won’t ever be one perfect car. Likewise, in racing you’ll never feel like a turn is perfect — perhaps good enough to win a race, but you’re always pushing for the next level, the next achievement, the next possibly perfect lap.

Sure, a novice like me is far, far, far from perfect, probably far from even worrying about perfection. But it’s still a target to aim for, a goal to aspire to reach.

One level and onto the next

I don’t think I could have guessed I would actually make Rookie of the Year when I started autocrossing.

No way was I near that good! Not when some of my friends, even my husband, didn’t even make it a whole season as a novice before moving up into the real competition.

I, for one, knew I would spend my entire season as a novice. My goal was to get Rookie of the Year.

And I did it. I still don’t know how. I know there were a lot of better racers out there than me.

It was achieving a new level, though, and as much as I celebrate it even now I know I need to strive to achieve the next level. I’m not totally sure what that is yet, but that’s okay. It’s a pursuit. A chase. A moving target. I’m just taking aim right now.

Track Days, then Time Attack

I’m planning on doing as many track days as I can over the next year. It’s going to take a lot out of me to just try and come up with the funds to do such a thing, as I’m pushing myself in my other pursuits as well. (Both writing and photography.) If necessary, I’ll find some job that works with all this.

All I know is I want to pull this off. The stakes are set, the die are about to be cast and I’m gonna need to hit the ground running as best as I can. I’ve got very little to lose, but a lot to gain.

After a sufficient number of track days, I’ve got my sights set on Redline Time Attack. I’m not sure how I’ll do it, but that’s the direction I’m going in. Autocross is incredibly fun and I still encourage people to start there if they’ve never done anything before, but I want more. More turns. More speed.

More chances for the perfect lap.

I’m not sure I can pull it off, but I’ve never been sure of what I’m fully capable of either. It’s time to start finding out.

This is the pursuit of the impossible. This is the pursuit of perfection.

Well…. Okay, maybe it’s not. But it is my pursuit for better developed racing skills.

Hope you’re here to share the ride with me, it’s gonna be interesting.

June is an exciting month, because what I consider to be the greatest race in the world takes place then (oh, plus my birthday… hehe) — the 24 Hours of Le Mans.

The Race

Why do I say it’s the greatest race in the world?

You’d just have to watch it, but it’s brutal. Insanely brutal. It’s one thing to go out and race for a few hours. It’s another thing to even run the 12 Hours at Sebring. But it’s a whole other level to run the 24 Hours of Le Mans.

I don’t think it rained this year, did it? I didn’t watch the whole thing! But it usually does rain for part of the race, making it incredibly chaotic when it does.

It also asks a lot from the cars, as well as the teams. This year especially saw many, many cars not finish.

Audi’s Comeback

Last year was a very sad year for me — Audi didn’t win. Peugeot did.

It was then that I realized how much I actually cared about the race… I didn’t think I did so much. This year I started watching ALMS more and I very much enjoy the series. The 24 Hours is the big highlight, though.

This year I watched some of it on tv. I saw one of the Peugeots blow up live. I ended up recording the last three hours of the race, and watched it Sunday morning. By then, I already knew who won…

It was Audi, with a 1-2-3 podium sweep! Woohoo!!

It’s kinda sad how it went down — all four Peugeots running were out of the race by the end. Audi was hoping for a showdown between themselves and Peugeot, not for Peugeot to blow up. I think most people were hoping for that too.

Endurance Racing 101

Then again, I think the way it happened shows just how awesome Audi is at racing at Le Mans.

Peugeot pushed their cars too hard. Sure, they were fast, but the cars couldn’t take it for the entire race.

Audi, on the other hand, proved to be reliable. All three of their R15′s finished the race, leading Audi to win their ninth time at Le Mans.

I hope Peugeot learns from their mistakes this year and comes back next year better. I have no doubt that Audi will continue to improve.

Besides…

The Audis are so pretty, aren’t they? I think they are….

Sleek, beautiful and deadly.

How they looked at Le Mans.

Even if they aren’t your thing, you have to give the Skyline a lot of credit.

I don’t expect many JDM enthusiasts to be turning their noses up at this car, then… Even if she is “only” an R32.

Just gonna say this: To the UK, you have NO idea how lucky you are. UGH! I hate you guys sometimes. </3 (But deep down, I really just wish I were British.)

Top Secret R32 GT-R

No need for words, if you wanna see what’s done to her read the page here. Lucky guy, whoever bought her…. He got a real gem!

All of the following pictures are from the sales page.

I would give quite a LOT to have one of Top Secret's cars...

Such a sweet looking back shot... Haha.

<3!!!!

The tried and true...

Perfectly clean & comfortable!

I have HUGE amounts of love & respect for Top Secret... They build amazing cars.

It’s only been this year that I’ve really started to watch some racing on tv. I can’t really tell you why, because up to this year it’s made awesome background noise for me, but lately I’ve actually been watching the action…

And I’ve found that I really enjoy it. A lot.

ALMS

While I’m not going to be one of the crazies who stays up until 2:30 or whatever time in the morning to watch Formula One, I do enjoy watching the American Le Mans Series when it gets covered on Speed.

Of all the racing series out there, I've taken to ALMS like no other.

I’ve always been a tiny fan of the 24 hours of Le Mans, because I love cheering for Audi!

I surprised my husband last year with a text about how it was a sad, sad day… When I found out that Peugot had bested Audi at the 24 hours. He was pretty shocked that I knew that before he did! It kinda showed I was actually sorta into it.

But this year…

This year, I can’t wait for the 24 hours to come on. I want to watch it!! A lot of it!

So far, I’ve watched all the coverage Speed has given us for the AMLS races. I watched what I could of Sebring, and on a bit of a delay watched nearly all of the Grand Prix at Long Beach. Both were stunning races!

There’s the App for That…

And when I bought Lilly, my iPhone, the ALMS app was one of the first I knew I had to have.

It’s fun now because I kinda know the teams, I can recognize the cars and I’m learning the drivers’ names. I’m getting more and more into the series, and bit by bit I’m loving more and more of it!

I mean, I was totally jealous when they were talking about people getting to line up for autographs at Long Beach…. I know I have to get to an ALMS race now!!

Still Kinda Surprised…

I’m still kinda shocked that I’ve taken to it so much, honestly! I’ve never been a huge sports tv watcher, because I’d rather go and actually watch in person… Watching something on tv has always been a lame alternative to me. (Mostly sports, because I’ve been to soccer, football, hockey, baseball, basketball games, all professional, all live.)

But being able to watching this sort of racing on tv isn’t so bad, I get to watch the cars and the drivers and see what they’re doing, which may, on some level, prepare me more for track driving myself.

It has, though, strengthened my resolve to get to one of these races! The bad thing is, with the way the schedule happened to go this year, Laguna Seca is coming up and they’ll be at Road Atlanta later in the season. Backwards from the way it would’ve possibly worked out for me.

I really enjoy cheering for Flying Lizard's Porsches!

Then again, there’s always next year…. And hopefully I’ll get to pull it off.

From there, I’ve got my work cut out for me: I want to get to the 24 hours of Le Mans, someday!

It’s on facebook. I tweeted about it. I posted pictures of it on Flickr.

But….

Here’s the official introduction on my blog to my new ink! As of this publication, it is about eight days old, or maybe seven and a half if you wanna get technical.

What it is.

For those who really know cars, it’s pretty obvious — it’s a connecting rod with some flowers.

I originally went in to just get the rod, and the suggestion of flowers came up. I make sure I pick good artists to begin with, so their suggestions of what will look good and what won’t are usually always followed. (It’s what they do for a living, after all.) As in every other time suggestions came up, I absolutely love love love how it turned out! It’s more than I ever expected and I love it.

We found a good angle for the rod, and the flowers give it a nice girly but not overwhelmingly girly touch. I’m totally psyched to be sporting what I feel is a clear step in defining myself as a true car girl.

Next up?

The way it ended up coming out, it fit perfectly a bit higher on my arm than I was expecting. No worries, since the next bit of work I wanted to get was going to be a couple of these little buggers:

Intake/Exhaust valves!

In the mean time…

Pics or ban, right? Oh, if you’re wondering about the other ink that’s peeking a bit in the picture, you can see that here!

This was right after it was done, so yes, the color will fade a bit.

My arm swelled up big time, shading is a PAIN. (Hurts, lol.) You can really tell how the area swelled up.

I couldn't be happier with it... Hoping to finish off this half of the sleeve-work soon.

I hate to say it, but you’ll go a lot further in life if you can figure out your priorities and keep them straight.

Or, as I always love to say, “Yes, you can have it all. Just not all at once.”

Most people don't understand the sacrifices made to have a car like this.

Priorities aren’t necessary to have it all, but they will help while you’re getting there.

Basic Definition

Technology is wonderful, isn’t it? A few clicks and I came up with this:

The right to precede others in order, rank, privilege, etc.; precedence.

Via dictionary.com. This is what a priority is, in a nutshell. Why am I including this? No, it’s really not because I think you’re dumb. It’s because the word is thrown around so much that sometimes you may not think about exactly what it means.

Take a bit and reflect on the definition. Don’t just blow it off — this is important, whether you want to realize it or not.

Your Take

Now, if I asked you what your priorities are, could you tell me? Would you be able to list out five things that are a priority in your life?

Here’s mine, for example:

1. My cars — including modifications & maintenance
2. Racing — the way I enjoy the money I put into my cars, I always make time for racing
3. Education — I’m inclined to be a perpetual (nontraditional) student
4. Culture — this is my “travel,” when I go somewhere, I want to learn culture, not just see sights
5. Networking — having a network of family, friends & associates is an area of focus for me

Final Thoughts

It isn’t enough to just list out your priorities. There are a few key things to think of when you see your own list:

• Your priorities should reflect your values. If not, something’s misaligned.
• Your priorities should be a summary of what you’re like — If I don’t know you at all or very little, what your priorities are should tell me something about you. (So you’d better like the message they project.)
• You should be working towards your priorities. If you aren’t, it’s time to figure out how to fix it.
• Set goals following your priorities. If you’ve been honest with yourself, your priorities are what speak loudest to you and what you hold most dear. You can’t go wrong following your passions… Promise!
• And remember — Nobody can tell you if your priorities are right or wrong except for you. Yes, they say something about you, but don’t let anyone judge you just on them alone. As with many things, they’re only one piece of the puzzle, and a small one at that.

Tie-In With My Cars

Okay, some of you may be wondering what this has to do with cars at all…. And it’s this:

My cars are my priority, so they’re first in line when it’s payday. If you ever wondered how we afford our cars, it’s because we value them above many, many things.

For those who are petrol-heads of a similar caliber, you totally get what I’m saying. Sadly, people who aren’t have a hard time getting it. (I think some people who I try explaining it to this way don’t even have their own priorities straight, which pretty much means, as suspected, the problem is with them and not us.)

Additional thoughts, peeps? Or am I being too deep and just thinking too much again?