As you all know, SEMA is the “Super Bowl of Automotive” it’s the largest automotive display, party, business function and network’s paradise.

Normally, I’m there shooting an episode or two for a TV series, however, this year, I was there as the “official female spokesperson / TV personality” representing EBC Brakes.

When I arrived at the airport in Orange County, Ca I ran into my friend Bill O’Roake who is a long time employee of Mickey Thompson, to my surprise he was on my flight. The trip was off to a great start and I hadn’t even arrived in Las Vegas yet!

I landed and hitched a ride to my hotel with team Mickey Thompson. Before even reaching the hotel I started receiving text messages, tweets, IMs, emails, facebook notes, etc all regarding SEMA updates, unveiling’s, party invites and inquiries regarding whether or not I thought this years event was going to be a success or a ghost town (many individuals were extremely concerned about attendance, etc due to the economy.)

The EBC booth was exhibiting at the Las Vegas Convention Center and was located in the far right-hand corner of the south hall. Due to the location, none of us thought that we would see much foot traffic, till close to noon. However, that wasn’t the case at all! We were literally crazy busy from the time we reached the booth till closing every day! Personally, I feel that this is a nice sign for the automotive industry in 2010.

The other thing I really enjoyed about SEMA 09, was finally getting the chance to catch up with all of my long time friends. After all, SEMA is similar to a giant automotive family reunion – lol!

Special thanks to:

Team EB Brakes – I love working with you guys!

Dennis Gage (My Classic Car Host) and his crew for inviting me to join them at the SEMA banquet.

Steve Russo and Jon Van Buren (two of my newest team members) for all the SEMA still images.

Enjoy more images from SEMA here:

Gallery one

Gallery two

Behind the scenes videos on Qik shot with my N95.

Genevieve Chappell “The Queen of Cars”

I was rolling over to the Pep Boys Speed Shop LA Grand Opening when the Eagles’ Deperado was ringing in my ears: “…Don’t you draw the queen of diamonds, boy She’ll beat you if she’s able. You know the queen of hearts is always your best bet.”
I don’t know about Henley and the boys but I’ll bet on “The Queen of Cars” Genevieve Chappell anytime. She’s not just a pretty face in front of a camera, but a savvy businesswoman too. But wait, there’s more. She knows her way around a garage as well.

I first heard of Genevieve Chappell about a year ago from her work with the short-lived Velocity TV – an online version of Velocity Magazine featuring the Orange County, CA car-culture. You can view the videos on Vimeo here: www.vimeo.com/velocitymag.

I had an opportunity to meet with Genevieve and found her as genuine as she is on the videos. I asked her about how she found her passion in cars and what is her earliest memory of cars:
“I truly believe, that people learn about, talk about and surround themselves with things they are interested in and love. I have always loved classic cars (first memory of this was age 4) as well as watching something old and rusty be transformed into something beautiful. I have always been extremely attracted to everything automotive (both exterior, interior and under the hood), it’s in my blood – so talking about anything and everything automotive related comes naturally to me and it makes me happy.”

She continues: “I don’t attribute my passion for automotive to anyone except myself. From a young age I was drawn to and inspired by design (fashion, interior, automotive) art and colors combinations, etc. Because of where I lived in Whittier Ca (from age 10-16 yrs) and observing my neighbors and guys I went to school with customizing their cars, I got to experience first hand the art and culture of automotive. From the mechanics to the engineering to the sound systems all the way to the custom design – it was absolutely amazing to me! It still is amazing to me!”

As she tells this story I can picture her hanging out with the guys doing a bit of wrenching, but most importantly enjoying the rides around the Southern California landscape. 1987, Before text messaging, when the summer days had a blue-green hue contrasting the bright sunsets. Her blonde hair flowing in the barren freeway breeze and cooling off with a cruise up Whittier Blvd., or up to Van Nuys.

I can understand how she found her passion in all things automotive, and I wonder how difficult it is for her in this male-dominated industry.

Difficult or not, she has made quite a mark.

For the past 10 years she has worked, operated and progressed to “expert status” in a man’s world – extremely difficult to attain to that status in this business/automotive industry.

She is considered and highlighted as a “Social Media Personality” in both the automotive world and techy world.

Her dedicated fans follow her almost exclusively via new media. That’s unique for this very old-school industry. She currently has 6000 readers a month on her website that read her daily blog updates. Make that 6001, I just signed up at: http://www.thequeenofcars.com

Enjoy the pics and keep a lookout for this bombshell exploding in the Car Scene of Southern California and Beyond.

To view photo gallery and Blacktop Magazine’s home page, click here

T-Bone

The first quarter of 2009 ICON continued to see a series of exciting successes–despite the challenging economic environment and uncertainty around us. Flight test recently completed high-performance water testing, sales passed position #400, and we continue to see unprecedented levels of market and media enthusiasm for sport flying overall and ICON in particular. Our recent customer survey results confirmed what we’ve suspected since our launch–there is indeed a huge, untapped market of non-pilots who are excited to join the aviation community if inspired by the right companies and products.

The A5 has been undergoing an extensive test flight regimen. While designing an “average aircraft” can be challenging enough, delivering a truly great aircraft requires an enormous amount of work. We recently completed a series of rigorous hydrostatic and hydrodynamic tests. These tests were designed to assess the basic hull performance for typical seaplane operations, as well as expand the envelope into higher winds and rougher sea states. Additionally, given that the A5 is designed to be a pure sport seaplane, it was engineered to handle more aggressive maneuvering on the water in order to make your experience safe while being extremely exciting.
With the combined efforts of some of the world’s top marine architects working side by side with ICON’s engineering team, the A5 may, in fact, have one of the most sophisticated seaplane hulls ever designed. Ironically, getting the hull performance of a seaplane dialed in is one of the harder tasks. So far, the A5 hull has far exceeded our expectations and is a star performer.
The details: The seawings on each side of the fuselage provide outstanding stability both hydrostatically and hydrodynamically. The seawings also provide robust, buoyant platforms for the users to move in and around the aircraft while on land or in the water. They also function like the swim platform on the back of a ski boat facilitating easy docking as well as easy access in and out of the water.

The hull’s forebody design achieves effortless “on-step” acceleration with little to no deck-angle change throughout transition from displacement to plowing to planing modes. There is minimal porpoising tendency. In fact, the A5 will smoothly and quickly accelerate onto the step to takeoff speed in a stick-free condition requiring little to no pilot input until rotation speed. The forebody’s higher deadrise allows the A5 to handle relatively rough water on takeoff and landing for such a small amphibian.
During step-turns (the first photo), the seawings allow the aircraft to bank significantly more than outrigger-type sponson floats that you see on typical hull-type seaplanes. This allows the A5 to make more coordinated, tighter turns on the water. The seawings are designed to engage the water and keep the wingtip from touching throughout the normal maneuvering envelope. However, the A5 also has planing wingtips that not only provide additional hydrostatic stability in extreme crosswind conditions, but are effective hydrodynamic planing surfaces should a wingtip contact the water in extreme or inadvertent conditions (the second photo).
The image below is an unusual sight–an aircraft in flight with its wingtip in the water. It was taken while testing the planing wingtip performance in extreme or “out of the envelope” situations. While the A5 is certainly not intended to be flown with the wingtip in the water, and is only being done here by a professional test pilot, the test successfully demonstrated the wingtips’ effectiveness and increased safety margins should such conditions ever be inadvertently encountered.

Going forward there are a number of areas still being meticulously refined on the A5, including gear installation, aerodynamic refinement and drag reduction of the hull, water-rudder improvements, and spray-pattern optimization. Stay tuned.

Hydro Test Photo Gallery

Mickey Thompson Performance Tires & Wheels is proud to announce the launch of a branded online video site called MickeyThompsonTV.com. This online video player, produced by PowerTV, is stocked with a variety of video content on Mickey Thompson strip, truck, motorcycle, off-road, and Bonneville racing that will include recent video as well as some vintage Mickey Thompson video footage. Video will also include product information, company news, event coverage and more.

Any video on MickeyThompsonTV.com can be viewed, selected, and then embedded into other web pages, forums or blogs so the video can be shared. Mickey Thompson enthusiasts and fans will also be able to upload their own video content. Members will have the ability to share comments, and participate in related forums, and will also be able to access Mickey Thompson product information, company news, apparel and much more.

“We are very excited to introduce a customized online video player to the friends and fans of Mickey Thompson,” said Ken Warner, Mickey Thompson Performance Tires & Wheels. “This new site has been designed and developed with the input we have received from the loyal Mickey Thompson fans and racers from around the country. We are very excited to provide a place where race fans, racers, vehicle builders, staff, dealers, installers, friends and family can connect online and develop a unique Mickey Thompson community. We are looking forward to bringing some really great stuff to our members that they won’t be able to find anywhere else. It will be a lot like having the Mickey Thompson version of YouTube!”

MickeyThompsonTV.com has been developed for use with Adobe Flash Player 8 or above, and has been optimized for multiple browser platforms making it accessible for the PC and Macintosh user. To get Adobe Flash Player, visit http://www.adobe.com/products/flashplayer/. To become part of the legend, visit http://www.mickeythompsontv.com. For more information about PowerTV, visit

http://www.powertvmedia.com.

About Mickey Thompson Performance Tires & Wheels
Mickey Thompson Performance Tires & Wheels designs, develops, and markets racing and high-performance tires for drag-racing cars and motorcycles, modified street cars, off-road race vehicles, modified pick-up trucks, Jeeps, 4×4’s and sport utility vehicles. The company, founded in 1963 by racing legend Mickey Thompson, is headquartered in Stow, Ohio, USA, and offers a wide range of tires and wheels in unique sizes to enhance the look and performance of these specialty high-performance and racing vehicles. For more information, visit http:/www.mickeythompsontires.com/

Candace Kita & Genevieve Chappell

This Sunday listen in live from 2-3pm (PST) as I chat with Radio Host -Candace Kita from Hottie Help- on LA TALK RADIO.

We will be discussing women’s safety along with ways parents can help protect their children 

We will be on Channel number one  http://www.latalkradio.com/Candace.php

The call in number is: 323-203-0815

Listen to interview by clicking here

 
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Guess who’s featured on the cover of the December 08 issue of Hot Rod magazine and in the special Speed Parts Hall of Fame spread? Yes! You guessed right, yours truly.

Here’s a sneak peak of one out of the six features.

KN Air Filter

It’s on the stands now! Purchase your own personal copy or click here to order online, send it to the mailing address on my contact page with pre-paid postage and when I receive it, I’ll autograph and send it right back to yha.

Special thanks to:

Steve Strope at Pure Vision for letting us use his shop and for keeping us entertained with some good shop talk.

Jerry Pit, Rob Kinnan and Edwin Alpanian from Hot Rod Magazine, for all your support.

Efrain Olivares from Shift Communications Group for being an awesome PR manager.

Your Friend,
GC