September 15, 2009

Luxury + Supercar Weekend in Vancouver

This past weekend was the first of hopefully more Luxury + Supercar Weekend at the Plaza of Nations in downtown Vancouver, BC. The event was hosted by the Edgewater Casino and featured the lastest releases from the manufacturers such as the Porsche GT3, the Ferrari California, the Audi R8 V10, the Murcielago SV, the SLR McLaren 722S, Bentley GTC Speed, the Spyker C8 Aileron, and more. It also showcased the 1000hp, 1.5 million dollar Bugatti Veyron. Ducati and Benelli also brought out some of their bikes to showcase.

And if even these factory tuned cars just don't interest you, there were some heavily modified exotics, including the contingent brought down by Calgary's ZR Auto that included the 707hp Novitec twin-supercharged F430, and the just finished Heffner Performance twin-turboed Murcielago putting down a dyno proven 1100hp to the rear wheels! They also brought their EDO tuned Enzo, and similarly tuned, but even more rare Maserati MC12.

There were also rare vehicles from private collectors on display, like a Ferrari Dino, F40, Lamborghini Muira, Diablo SE, Saleen S7, De Tomaso Pantera, Noble M400, and lots more. To see most of these cars would be a rare occurrence. To see them all in one place, was worth the price of admission. I'm glad I went down to the show on my motorcycle, and not in the Honda Fit. To have to walk back to the Fit after seeing all those cars...

Plus with the bike, I got to park steps away in downtown for free!

September 04, 2009

Oil Change #9 (45220km)

I was running some errands and got a haircut today on my day-off, and on the way back, I decided to stop by my mechanic's place to say hi and see when he can fit me in for my next oil change.

Turns out the bay was empty and so he just told me to drive it right in. Air filter was replaced last time, so just the standard oil filter and oil change. I was a tad late on my last oil change, so the oil life indicator still said 60%.

I also asked him to check some tire prices for me since I will need them fairly soon. It seems 195/55R15 is not a popular size anymore, and I have a very limited selection of tires. Add to the fact I need performance all-seasons, my choices are even fewer. It will probably be around 5 bills when it's all done even for something like Falkens.

That price is coming pretty close to a set of used aftermarket wheels/tires in 15 or 16 inch sizes. So I'm going to start looking for those as an alternative as well. Thing is though, I like how stock/low-key my Fit looks right now with the SiR wheels. Any car with aftermarket wheels will stand out. I would love to get my hands on a set of 16" HFP split 7-spoke wheels for my car. But they're more rare around here than real BBS LMs. And I'm not about to buy them new from the dealer.

Hmm... anyone got a set of take-off 16" GE sport wheels/tires for sale locally?