Vol. 2 Issue 3
Willow Springs Literature California Drifters
contents
II. ..................................................the best Ferrari III. don’t rob banks, but if you do...use an Audi VII. ..............................................california drifters XV. .......................does Heaven have Hennessey? XVII. ..........................................................infographics
Contributors Creative Director Mike Minidis mike@speedliterature.com Infographics John Nelson uxblog.idvsolutions.com
Music Editor Charles Lee charles@speedliterature.com Writer / Editor Brandon Mann brandon@speedliterature.com
Willow Springs Literature is published by Speed Literature. The views expressed in this magazine are those of Speed Literature. Willow Springs International Raceway is in no way responsible for the remarks made in this publication.
Š
supercars
...finally, tbe Ferrari you name your daughter after—
Berlinetta
No more Alexus, Mercedes or Porscha. You can even forget the names that don’t take after cars such as Jaquizz or Jadeveon, because the Ferrari F12 Berlinetta is here. Supposedly the 4-syllable word means “closed coupe” in Italian. While I’m not really sure what that means for your daughter when she visits Italy during the exchange study program later in life, the good surely outweighs the bad. You can’t find a more perfect car that has a V-12 engine, 729 hp and can reach 211 mph. And it’s control at that top speed is second to none. Only once in a lifetime will you find a car name perfect enough to give to your first born. Now this Ferrari will set you back about $330,000. Luckily there’s an unwritten rule that specifies you don’t actually have to own a car to name your daughter after it. II WSL | willowspringsraceway.com
don’t rob
banks, but if you do... use an Audi
This is a sketch of an Audi R8 V10 Spyder. But considering you are robbing a bank you probably don’t have $120,000 to blow so set your sights lower.
“Time!” Your partner yells. You continue stuffing your bag to the point of no zip. Then you realize that you’ve never seen this much money in one place before. “We set a one minute limit for a reason, let’s go!” another masked man screams. The three of you make for the exit. Your fourth accomplice is nowhere to be found and the sirens in the background say prison is closing in. When the first cop turns on the street, freedom grows distant and incarceration becomes a reality. At the opposite end, sliding through the intersection from the adjacent street, is the most beautiful piece of hope you’ve ever grabbed hold of. “It’s him!” Robber #2 yells. He’s swiped the most flamboyant getaway car he could thieve. This, however, is no luxury willowspringsraceway.com | WSL III
car. It’s a Mercedes C63 AMG with an angry V-8 German Shepard under the hood. And you’re going to need it too. Your gang frantically packs into the four-door Merc with renewed hopes of enjoying Mojitos on foreign soil. Suddenly, smoke surrounds the car and a loud bang follows. Did the coppers A.) empty a magazine of bullets into your engine? B.) throw teargas at your car hoping you would cry yourself to surrender? or C.) throw a bomb at your car because you happened to rob a bank in a third world country that doesn’t tolerate criminal activity? The answer is... D.) none of the above. Your wheelman is an idiot because he stole a Mercedes to do the job. He burned all your rubber and blew your tire—the product of rear-wheel drive. Not to mention your car stuck out like a fan at a Wizards game. A Merc C63 AMG is the comedian in your family that does cartwheels and tells jokes at your grandfather’s funeral. To a Mercedes it doesn’t matter the situation; it’s all fun and games. Where other cars are about fun, the Audi is all business. They don’t wear clothing that screams “look at me!” They simply blend in with a suit jacket and let their work do the talking. Too often the Audi is an underestimated car but that’s what you need in a robbery. It succeeds in this scene because of it’s all-wheel-drive system which gives it a considerably better launch then any rear-wheel-drive vehicles you can buy for 3 times the price. AWD feeds power to all wheels instead of just two. It is heavier than RWD which means a cars handling must be sacrificed (with AWD your front wheels aren’t just turning anymore they are turning and propelling the car forward). But with the Audi, handling is not sacrificed, like with the overly praised, overly stable AWD Nissan GTR, only compromised. Subtle enough to blend in with most circumstances but performance heavy enough to get you through any sticky situation the Audi should be the hands-down choice for your next heist.
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Proof TG was here A $375,000 LFA, $120,000 Viper and $280,000 Vanquish combined makes about 500 million dollars. And lets not forget the two Marchetti fighter planes that are priced at upwards of, well, a lot of money. That takes the figures to about a trillion dollars. And they were all right here, in your backyard by way of your only English television network the BBC. Their purpose? To play the most expensive game of laser tag ever. We would then see whose front-engined supercar got hit the least amount of times by the fighter planes to assess which car was the best. willowspringsraceway.com | WSL V
Look Familiar? What looks better out of the WS pits than a yellow LFA?
We should take this time to remind you readers of our very short budget. So out of hopes we don’t get sued into the next world we will give our T.V. hosts clever aliases—Jeremy Clarksomebody, James Mayfield and Richard Hammbone. As Mr. Clarksomebody discovered in his Lexus LFA, “at Willow Springs in California...the faster you go, the more grip you have.” And go they did reaching speeds well past 140mph. The segment mirrored a bunch of confused, high-horspowered sheep on a racetrack. However, what else would you rather imitate with such a rare opportunity? One might also characterize the opportunity to work with such an established corporation as the BBC and television show in Top Gear as rare. After all, there have been plenty of Willow Springs mentions in the TG shows and magazines following their visit and because of that we are hopeful they will make another stop during their America trip in their future seasons. We’re not sure which car won the game of laser tag but according to Mr. Mayfield, “the LFA looks absolutely epic.” VI WSL | willowspringsraceway.com
drift•er:
[drift-er] noun Origin: 1860 - 65
california drifters What does it mean to lose control? It means you’re an alcoholic. It means you may be overweight or you need anger management classes. But few realize how boring control is. Mel Gibson is guilty of being unbalanced and having a minor case of Tourettes but is certainly not boring. What if you could get paid to impersonate a lunatic? Well... you’d probably be a character on the Jersey Shore. Or would you? We love to watch other people lose control and because of that the most uncontrolled people get paid lots of money for our entertainment. Some act like idiots for their reality TV shows, others let their cars do the talking. Losing control is drifting. It’s the most controlled form of losing control on four wheels. By definition, drifting is when drivers “intentionally manuever their cars into well executed, controlled sideways slides at high speeds through a marked course” (FormulaD.com). Drifting is religion. Religion, defined as a cause, principle or system of beliefs held with faith, is what you are, not what you do. Religion is your most deeply rooted beliefs that won’t change. As it takes ample practice to be a doctor, a lawyer or an astronaut, the same is required to drift. Napoleon hill, a wellknown self-help author during the Great Depression, defined a drifter as “one who accepts whatever life throws in [their] way without making a protest...too lazy mentally to use [their] own brain”. Basically in the past, to be a devout drifter one had to simply do nothing. In 2013, drifting is now defined by a practiced productivity instead of absolute nothingness. Today, we’ve expanded on what Napoleon Hill once defined as drifting. Now, to drift means to control the uncontrollable. What was once aimless wandering has evolved to an organized sort of wandering. VIII WSL | willowspringsraceway.com
drift•er: [drift-er] 1. a person who goes from place to place, remaining in each for a short period. 2. an athete who makes their cars behave insanely by controlling the extreme slide of its tail through a corner.
What Drifting Is Not. It’s not NASCAR or IndyCar. Those sports have been around for decades. But it will never be those sports because it doesn’t need to be. The drifting sport
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represents what everyone for years has called Generation X in a respectable, organized form of industry. As every consecutive generation lives closer and closer to the edge cultures will
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find a way to profit from it. Fun is work and work is fun. Businessmen no longer wear suits. They wear big “M� logos on their hats, drink cans of liquid packed full of sugar and jump from outer space for fun. There are many organizations that are considered pioneers in the drifting world. The fact that drifting events have gotten much sponsor attention, especially in the way of the ever so popular energy drinks market, gives the burgeoning sport a much-needed form of credibility. Despite anybody’s lack of enthusiasm for the sport of drifting, companies like Red Bull who have been so successful at advertising with and then creating an extreme sports market are the loud, authoritative voice telling us that drifting is here to stay.
Sarah Burgess
XII WSL | willowspringsraceway.com
Property of Willow Springs Raceway
Willow Springs Street Drag Racing June 8, 22 July 6, 27 Aug. 10, 24 Sep. 14, 28 Oct. 19 Nov. 30 - Turkey Bowl (Day race) *Dates are subject to change*
raceway calendar May 2013
Week 1 Sat. 4 - Sun. 5 N.A.S.A. Auto Racing Week 2 Sat. 11 W.S.K.C. Go Kart Racing Speed Ventures Cobra Owners Club Sun. 12 Speed Ventures Cobra Owners Club
Week 3 Fri. 17 Motoyard Sat. 18 - Sun. 19 Porsche Owners Club Moto West Grand Prix
Week 4 Fri. 24 Southbay Motorsports (Motorcycles) Sat . 25 Just Drift Extreme Speed Southwest Superlates Speed Ventures Sun. 26 Just Drift Extreme Speed Week 5 Thu. 30 ProKart SKUSA Fri. 31 Team Topak
XIV WSL | willowspringsraceway.com
does Heaven have Hennessey? Mix the speed of a 4,400 pound Bugatti with the weight of a go-kart and you have the Venom GT. The Hennessey Venom GT, based on the body of a Lotus Elise, is not really a thing of beauty but more a thing of horror. The actual beauty of the car comes from just how horrifying it really is. I’ve never been in a space shuttle but I’d imagine the launch of a Venom GT has the same effect on your bodily organs as a launch to space does. It also “hisssses” louder than Kobe in the fourth quarter (hence the name Venom, I’m assuming). This is the result of its supercharged 6.2 liter LS9 V8 engine, whatever that means. willowspringsraceway.com | WSL XV
music
Casey Veggies Life Changes
Lana Del Rey Born to Die Paradise Edition
Curren$y New Jet City
Previous: The only road to the pearly gates & the Hennessey Venom GT is waiting Above: Red Brembo brake pads complement the exterior
Only if you are lucky (or rich) enough will you get to experience this supercar with a price tag of about $725,000. Just think, instead of Hennessey choosing a Ferrari body and making us wait three lifetimes in order to save the money to drive their car, they used the Elise body, which normally has a price tag of under $30,000. Now we only have to wait one lifetime. Thank you Hennessey. Still most of us will have to wait for the afterlife to enjoy this pleasantry.
XVI SL | speedliterature.com
infographics
Deadly Crashes Involving
Intoxication in the U.S.
The History of the Mustang by: Ricky Linn
XXII WSL | willowspringsraceway.com
Part I
willowspringsraceway.com | WSL XXIII
the Mustang
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Part I
To be continued...
willowspringsraceway.com | WSL XXV