Month: April 2021

The quintessential hot hatch

I’m a sedan type of car guy, through and through. And I hate SUVs with a passion. However, I do have a HUGE soft spot for hatchbacks, specially the so -called “hot hatches”. The Renault 5 Turbo is one of the best examples of a hot hatch. Weighing just 970 kg but with 160 hp on tap, the mid-engine homologation special was a driver’s dream. And the car was so good that instead of the minimum 400 units Renault needed for homologation, over 3100 cars were made.

I hate to look back and sound really old by saying those were the “good old days”. However, back then we had a Renault 5 Turbo. Nowadays, it looks like of every three cars on the road two are SUVs… 😣

Sad news

Earlier this morning I received some very sad news. My great friend Gary Blythe passed away last night 😥

I knew Gary since around 2003. An avid diecast collector, we met through DiecastXchange, at the time the biggest diecast forum on the web, when I started to collect 1:18s. Since we were both pretty active in the community, in about one year we both became moderators on the forum. And by then we had become good friends, even though we had an ocean between us. Around 2008 I had to stop collecting, and a little later so did he. Unfortunately I drifted away from the diecast community and we lost touch. But in early 2017 I was back, but this time collecting 1:43s. Coincidentally, he also shifted to 1:43 some time earlier. Through S143 (a now defunct 1:43 forum) we got back in touch, and instantly rekindled our friendship.

Gary had a lot of health issues, but had a heart of gold. Despite the distance between us I’m privileged to consider him a friend. The Oaf (Earl of Northumberland, His Smeliness or Mr. Ugly) will be truly missed.

Rest in peace, my friend 😥.

Legendary Porsches

Welt just released the full version (in HD!) of their “Legendary Porsches” documentary. It’s a full hour about many of Stuttgart’s most iconic cars, with interviews and vintage race footage. With all that, I would say it’s a VERY well spent hour in front of the computer. In fact, it’s so good that I’m downloading it to have it in my video library.