RideLust

*Photo credit: History.com

As the first season of Top Gear on History channel comes to a close I’m left with bittersweet feelings. I’m going to miss the hosts over the next few months who have entertained me the past ten episodes with their shenanigans. I still can’t believe Tanner Foust drifted an Evo on the ski runs of Mammoth I love to snowboard on.  I loved watching the Couple DeVille get completely wrecked by Adam.  How about the Alaska trip? You know if you could plow over someones makeshift house you would do the same. Truth be told, I was there at the first taping, and that guy Brian from the second episode, “Blind Drift,” was blind. I didn’t believe it until his dog pissed on stage and Brian didn’t know what was going on. Read More…

Photo Credit: Access Hollywood

Now here’s something that should make all of you testosterone headed man folk happy. You see we’ve got a new contributor here at Ridelust.com, and not only is she one beautiful lady, but she can drive the wheels off a car like nobodies business. Folks, I’ve seen this woman humble many a man, so don’t go thinking that she’s just another pretty face because people, this lady’s got skillz… Anyway, Jennifer recently attended a taping of The Car Show, the much anticipated new automotive program on SPEED starring Adam Carolla, Matt Farah, Dan Neil and John Salley. She was also kind enough to give us her thoughts as well as an insiders view on what we should expect. Read More…

Ok, here’s the deal. Matt Farah, host of The Smoking Tire is getting ready to go on a little reality show adventure compliments of Ford. You see Matt and arm-candy teammate Brittney Boddington have been selected to compete in the Ford Focus Rally, a show set-up specifically to showcase Ford’s new 2012 Ford Focus. The premise is simple, six teams compete in a cross country scavenger hunt and the chance to walk away with $100,000 in cash. In order for Matt and Brittney to win though, they need to recruit as many people as possible to their team. You see this show is interactive and that means that without the assistance of the viewing audience, they’ve got no shot at the crown. The other bonus is that by joining their team you guys have a shot winning a brand new 2012 Ford Focus, as the winning team is giving away TEN cars, not just 1. People, I’ve seen this car up close and personal and I can tell you that it is a NICE automobile. So, with that being said head on over to www.focusrally.com and help Matt win some cash, and yourselves win a new ride!

Source: FocusRally.com

I honestly don’t know anyone out there who doesn’t like a good car commercial. At the end of the day a good automotive ad should accomplish three things. It should get us intrigued, get us excited and get us to buy. If it can accomplish this, well then it’s hit the mother lode. Some car companies rely on image and humor, some tug at our heart strings, while others rely on heritage and pedigree to get them through. Whatever route they take though, the end result is always the same – sell cars. The following is a listing of the 10 Best Car Commercials of 2010 according to me, your Editor. Now go fourth, press play and enjoy.
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If you’re familiar with Speed TV then you’ve no doubt watched “My Classic Car”, hosted by Dennis Gage. Gage is best known for his trademark handlebar mustache, wonderfully cheery disposition and love for the classic automobile. On December 23rd however tragedy struck the Gage family as fire ripped through their home in northern Vanderburgh County in Indiana. The fire apparently broke out at around 2:45am at 13930 Brownwood Lane, where Gage’s wife Ellen and son Samuel were located. Martha Scheessele, the spokeswoman for Gage’s production company MadStache, said that at the time of the incident Gage was actually in Chicago visiting his ill mother.
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Poor James May. Not only is he the butt of most of the jokes on Top Gear UK, but he recently took one hell of a digger and apparently whacked his head something fierce. May was filming an episode of Top Gear in Syria of all places, when the accident occurred. According to UK publication The SUN, May was helping to pull Jeremy Clarkson’s car out of a ditch when he slipped and hit his noodle on a rock. Apparently it was one of those really hard rocks too because May had to be brought to the hospital where he was diagnosed with a concussion and received some stitches to close the wound.
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Now here’s some good news for those of you out there who want an alternative to the History Channel’s, TOP GEAR. Apparently Adam Carolla and our good friend Matt Farah of The Smoking Tire are gearing up to shoot a pilot on Speed Channel that has to do with our favorite subject, cars. They’ll be accompanied by auto writer Dan Neil and ex-NBA star John Salley in a show that we hope, gives us the straight and narrow on everything automobile related. According to Variety Online the show will be a combination of TOP GEAR and the old Fox sports show, The Best Damn Sports Show Period. Obviously Adam Carolla is hilarious, as well as a rabid gear head, and we know that Farah will say and do just about anything, simply because he just doesn’t care. My biggest concern is how they’ll blend with Dan Neil, who is a Pulitzer Prize-winning Wall Street Journal writer and ex-baller John Salley. Obviously we wish our buddy Matt the best as we know if he’s involved, interesting things WILL happen.

Source: VarietyOnline.com

You’ve heard them – your friends and coworkers railing with righteous indignation against Top Gear USA.

“It’s nothing like the UK version,” they howl.

“It’s not funny.”

“There’s no rapport.”

“It’s a goddamn insult!”

Or, like me, you were sent a host of emails and texts containing such terse and pithy messages as “FAIL,” “EPIC FAIL,” and “WTFail.”

So everyone has been pulling their hair and gnashing their teeth as if Beelzebub had yacked in their Lucky Charms. But was it really THAT bad?

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If you have a passion for cars, chances are good that you’ve wanted to race them at a professional level. I know I did, so I spent a year club racing in the SCCA to learn that I was neither fast enough to get rich nor rich enough to get fast. Sure, I could safely pilot a race car around a track, but I just couldn’t do it at 99.9% for lap after lap. If you’ve raced, you know how thin the margin is between “not enough” and “a little too much”.

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Cop shows… I love them. As a kid we’d sit in front of the television and watch every type of cop and P.I. show that we could affix our adolescent eyeballs on. Shows like Magnum P.I., Starsky and Hutch and Simon and Simon made us, as kids want to be private investigators. Not only did these shows fill our TV sets with action, but the late 1970s and 1980s were the heyday for the hero car on television. Hell, there’s even a show on this list that’s on TV right now. The Ferrari Testarossa from Miami Vice, the 1976 Ford Torino from Starsky and Hutch and the 1982 Trans Am from Knight Rider all helped set this guy on a lifelong path that would be filled with automobiles. Below is a list of 10 amazing TV shows whose main star was of the four wheeled kind. Obviously some of you out there may be a little young to remember these, but after reading this, do yourselves a favor and look them up. You’ll be glad you did!
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