Superchips Calls it Quits Due to COVID 19 The Facebook that greeted me this morning had the ominous headline - Superchips calls it quits due to COVID 19. The irony was not lost on me. It just so happens that in my Instagram Live session yesterday, a follower asked me what my thoughts were on the move away from internal combustion engines. As the discussion progressed, I touched upon the future of the automotive tuning world once hybrids and fully electric propulsion systems become the only choice.   The conversation then continued when someone asked about what were my predictions for the future of the tuning hobby - the ability to modify one's vehicle through some sort of programming device. More on that in a moment.   Of course, when I woke up this morning to this note posted on the website of Superchips UK, I was surprised: ***Important Announcement*** Superchips Ltd. Due to the current COVID 19 situation, we have taken the difficult decision to place Superchips Limited into liquidation and have instructed Quantuma to assist with this process. Thank you for your incredible business and support over the years. We alongside Quantuma will be working together over the next few weeks in order to assess whether we can sell

4 Most Common Vehicle Replacements     No matter what we buy, a time will come when it will either wear down or get too old for use. Sometimes, certain things we purchase can break (like a plate) or tear (like a piece of fabric). Therefore we always need to make sure that we are replacing old things with new things to ensure that everything is running smoothly and we face no trouble. If we consider a vehicle, it’s very likely that the paint job gets deteriorated over time or something probably breaks like a window or a door handle. This is where replacement comes in, and today we’ll discuss the 4 most common auto replacements car owners need to do.     1.   Windshields Nowadays the windshields of a car do more than just provide a barrier between you and the wind while you’re driving; they help to keep the roof of a vehicle intact and work to protect all car passengers in case of an accident. The best way to tell if you need to replace your windshield is when you notice that it is chipped or cracked, a former repair didn’t work, or when the glass seems to have changed after winter. In such

The Future of Cars I had a great conversation with some of my closest car friends, recently. Like most people I consort with, we are all united by our love for modified cars. In my current circle, that includes a group of friends that own a list of cares that include: a McLaren 650 a 997.2 Porsche Turbo a Ferrari 458 a C7 ZR1 Corvette various R35 GT-Rs a 2018 Jeep TrackHawk and other fun cars as daily drivers. Collectively, this group of seven people has nearly 200 years of automotive tinkering experience. Many of us have owned literally dozens of cars, from analog sports cars of the '60s and '70s to today's latest supercomputer-controlled hypercars. And this is in my little Facebook chat group. Most of us track our cars on road courses. Some are championship winners. This is an educated (and opinionated group). Invariably, our conversations often turn to speculation about what cars from what manufacturers are coming next. Will they be evolutionary or revolutionary? While opinions vary on what's most important on any given manufacturer's spec sheet, we all agree on one point - we are likely in the golden age of supercars that use internal combustion engines as there primary

In widely reported articles, the rumor seemed to have some teeth. As reported "The "Fast and Furious" franchise seems to have done it all after churning out eight movies in the span of nearly 20 years. "The Fate of the Furious" director F. Gary Gray has spoken about how heading into space would ramp up the ninth movie but actor Tyrese Gibson wants something else to happen. So, what will "Fast and Furious 9" be about?" This excerpt comes from an article written in 2017, but if you Google the topic, you'll see that there are many reports suggesting that it was being considered. But what's really happening? As of late 2019, we have already seen footage on social media of the production taking place in England, Tblisi (Georgia, previously part of the USSR) and other places. In October 2019, they were filming at Irwindale speedway. I received multiple reports and even photos of NASCAR style cars at the speedway. This suggests that there will be a flashback scene to when Dom's father was killed at a "stock car" event. Further reports of parts being ordered for a red FD RX7 suggest that we may get a glimpse of the RX7 back when

Cardi B Joins Fast 9 - Dumpster Fire Ensues   In what can only be interpreted as an attempt to appease a certain subset of the population, Cardi B has been added to the roster of transient (hopefully) "actors" of the franchise. As Cardi B joins Fast 9, I have to ask myself (like so many others), 'what the hell is Universal doing?'   Universal has been cunning (and in some cases, brilliant) in their choices of "talent" throughout the franchise. They've examined their audience demographics carefully and for the most part, have brought audiences some amazing talent. Whether or not they've made the best use of this talent is debatable, but the fact that none of these movies have even been nominated for an Academy Award is telling. The Academy doesn't pay much attention to box office results, so Fast's box office draw has done nothing to influence their consideration for an Oscar. More likely, the contrived scripts, razor-thin plotlines, and confusing timelines have contributed to continued snuffs.   I have to think that Vin Diesel was a club in New York and ran into Cardi B. His entourage and her entourage were popping bottles and Vin leaned over to Cardi and said, "hey, we should

Why street racing needs to come back for Fast 9 In September, 2018, I wrote a post outlining why street racing would likely not be making a comeback to the franchise. In the past paragraph of that article, I also outlined how street racing could be a part of the movie. (READ THE ARTICLE HERE). Let's look at some of the reasons street racing needs to come back for Fast 9.   In essence, I said that street racing movies don't sell movie tickets, actions movies do. Hollywood has known for decades that any movie they produce must appeal to the widest range of audiences possible. This is the reason why movies like TopGun have men's volleyball scene and why every freaking movie around has some sort of love story in it.   As I write this article, the Hobbs and Shaw film just released. Although the global opening isn't for two more weeks, the opening box office weekend here in the USA was mediocre - at $65 million, its a fraction of what Fast 7 brought in on its first weekend, but we must remember that this is a spinoff film. $65 million is actually pretty good, but a bit less than the $75

You want Fast and Furious videos? I've got 'em. I've now posted a dedicated page just for video content I'm producing related to the "making of" the movies.   The idea is to put all the content in one location for easy reference. Enjoy!

It's official, folks: John Cena is in per a Tweet he made in early June, 2019.  What does this mean for the storyline? That's anyone's guess, at this point although die-hard fans of the franchise are praying to God that the franchise will move away from the James Bond bullshit and get back to its roots: the car culture. I wrote about this back in September 2018 - Read it HERE - but I have to think that Vin Diesel is smart enough to listen to feedback from fans. I also have a hunch that the franchise is still struggling to close the unanswered questions about Brian's character. I'm hoping that in the last movie, Fast 10, we get some closure.  I truly believe the franchise has to come full circle and as we've learned from other lessons in Hollywood, that often means passing it on to the next generation. Since Dom and Brian's characters both have kids, it would be great to see their passion for cars passed along to those kids in some way. Whether that wil happen or not is anyone's guess, but even if it's the last few minutes of the last movie, I think that would be a

Another one of my favorite questions - this one shouldn't seem hard to understand, but as evidenced by the flood of messages I get daily on this topic, it's a mystery. Let's Start With Supply and Demand Oh, that simple principal that all first-year economics students learn. As a refreshers, the law of supply states that the quantity of a good supplied (i.e., the amount owners or producers offer for sale) rises as the market price rises, and falls as the price falls. Conversely, the law of demand (see demand) says that the quantity of a good demanded falls as the price rises, and vice versa. How does that apply here? Let's talk exclusively about the R34 GT-R (and if we have to, GTTs). The R34 has not been legal in the USA since the MotoRex scandal back around 2006. If you forgot what that was all about CLICK HERE If you DON'T read the referenced article, you'll have no idea what led to this situation. Regardless, they're not legal until 25 years after the date of manufacture. In other words, if you want any 1999 Skyline, GT-R or otherwise, you're not getting one here LEGALY under 2024. Period. Take this as a fact so that we can