Pat is now piloting a twin turbo Nissan 350z. Listen to the turbos spool up in the launch. With the fisheye lens you can see Angels stadium fly by in the background and the gigantic “A” sign that sits out front of the stadium.

Shot with a Century Optics Fisheye lens, Canon HF20, and a suction mount to the inside of the windshield. Gotta work on some of the vibrations.

More to come…

John Naderi and I went to Sonoma to drive the new 2010 Ford Mustang GT500. I was behind and in front of the camera. Being in front of the camera is a little bit odd- its much more interesting to be behind the viewfinder and composing shots- instead of being the shot. It was nice to get another perspective and see what Ricky, John, and all of the other on camera personalities I’ve worked with have to do. Its not easy being green.

About a month ago, Ricky Chu and I went to Texas for the Texas Mile event. We got a tour of Henessey performance from John Hennessey himself and went to MSR Houston to watch them test their 2009 Corvette ZR1 – zr750. Which makes 112+ hp than a stock ZR1. Here is a quick video I put together to highlight a few of the quick laps!

Rick Crawford was nice enough to sit down with us during the Auto Club 500 @ California Speedway. Rick talks about how he got into driving professionally, the differences between NASCAR trucks and Cup cars.

Shot and Edited by me. 

Let me know what you think.

Long Beach Grand Prix 2009. ALMS series has the return of BMW with the Rahal-Letterman built BMW M3′s for the GT2 class. Since I was out shooting with StreetFire.net and always am packing my Panasonic LX-2- I decided to take a few photos of these impressive machines. Here are 24+ photos of the BMW M3 GT2′s from the 2009 Long Beach Grand Prix. Enjoy.

Note. All of these images were taken with my Panasonic LX-2 Point n Shoot. RAW files. Edited in Adobe Lightroom. I’m pleased with the Panasonic’s image quality for being a pocket camera. The Macro focus also allows for good control of DoF. 

Air jacks up. Spare wheels with rain tires are put on in the paddock to roll the car out to the pits. Then the proper wheels and tires for the track are put on- to avoid picking up gravel and wear during the move.

Rear fender diffuser

I like the lines of the stock M3- but the wide body design and diffusers on the M3 GT2 are really something beautiful. Plus being an all white car with subtle “M” badging and livery gives the car a clean look. Hopefully Porsche will not complain too much this time.

Photography by Will Roegge, Copyright 2009.

April 14, 2009. Sounds like a good day for a mustache. After letting my beard go rampant for a few weeks- it was time to see if I could hang in the world of upper lip exclusive facial hair. My upper lip has never had a solo show. It feels funny. In college I sported the chin strap, the goatee, and some massive side burns. It was time to push into un-charted territory. Immediately things were different on Mustache day.

People assumed I was a non-english speaker. I am an exclusive speaker of English- I fought with espanol for a few year, but could never get beyond being able to do a really authentic sounding double “rr” sound. That’s neither herre, norr therre…

Mustache day has come to a close. So for the dude at Tacos Mexico who clearly heard me talking to my friends in english- but asked me for my order in spanish- thank you. For the bro at Dodger’s stadium who asked me in spanish about my video equipment. At least I think he asked me about my video equipment? Thank you too. You made mustache day memorable. 

I think I’ll stick to beards and burns.

Here are some photos from the day that was, Mustache day. 2010 Chevrolet Camaro SS spotting, Nissan EV prototype, and blue eyes for Kelly.

Check out the rest of my photos:

2010 Chevrolet Camaro SS camped outside of Dodger’s Stadum

Hope the Nissan folks didn’t mind me scoping out this for a few.

Muscle car revival theme from Detroit? Recessed headlights, grilles, suicide slit front windshields. Front hood cowl.

Bug splat

On pet peeve with GM- is their badging. Its impossible to forget this is a GM product- due to the badges on every side of the car. The obnoxious GM square badge on the front fender is lame. We get it already. As if the styling alone wasn’t enough of a cue. This is clearly not a European or Japanese car. Plus the Chevy badge on the grille looks like it was taken off a Silverado tail gate- its massive.

No too over-done Super Sport badge.

After being able to drag race and drive the 2010 Mustang Shelby GT500 on the road for 80+ miles- I really want to drive a new Camaro for comparison. Stylistically, I like the heavy body lines, flared rear fenders, and square back of the Camaro and the Dodge Challenger. Its just too big though. Too much mass for the sake of muscular design. 

The reason for being at Dodger’s Stadium. The Nissan EV-2 prototype. Note the lightning/electricity themed grille.

Housed in a third generation, Japanese (right hand drive) Nissan Cube. The production EV-02 will be a hatchback.

Battery gauge instead of a gas gauge. Powered by lots of batteries similar to laptop batteries.

100+ mile range on a full charge. Fully Electric.

Dodger’s Stadium is a very cool and historic place. Too bad I can only think about flogging a Camaro and a Challenger for comparison to the GT500

Familiar site, my S14′s shift knob. Time to drive to StreetFire’s downtown office and edit.

My eyes are blue sometimes. I miss you Kelly.

Before the start of the 2009 Formula Drift season, Ricky Chu, John Naderi, and I headed out to MTN High for Formula D Ditch Day. Here is the combined footage and edit from Ricky, John, and I’s cameras. 

Framing up a shot in my Cosby sweater.

April 10th & 11th, 2009 was the first round of the 2009 Formula Drift Season at Long Beach. The Long Beach track is a portion of the setup used by the Long Beach Grand Prix which is held the weekend after Formula D. This year, shooting for StreetFire.net instead of Riceboytv- Ricky Chu, Ricardo Glock, Joshua Herron, and I set out to shoot the event. Here are some images from my Panasonic LX2 from the new StreetFire office in downtown LA, Korean BBQ Tacos courtesy of Scion (thanks Fred), some dupa fresh clouds, and of course drifting from LBC.

Check it out:

If you didn’t know this about me- I really like clouds. In Southern California we don’t get many big white fluffy clouds. When we do, I’m usually lost in them- like this past week. Head in the clouds. Reminding me of someone special…

Joshua Herron is in town and crashing on my couch- nice having two different S14′s to drive everywhere. Plus some much video dorking out.

Crazy J shift knobs are what the slider kids are rockin.

When you ride shotgun you can take photos and enjoy your world a bit more.

110 North express lanes overhead – I dig how it looks. Stacks and stacks of highways.

Downtown Los Angeles.

Outside the StreetFire.net office/loft

Inside the new digs.

8 stories low.

Downtown Long Beach. Dark skies.

Rik and I schemed to get our hard cards with photos of us with cowboy hats on- no luck.

Head in the clouds.

JTP, Justin Pawlak’s FC RX7

The new Bergenholtz racing RX8

Ricky Chu takes over so I can shoot some stills

Ross Petty’s rasta S15, remember the white S15 Ross was driving in Mexico- looks a little different now. Very nice from Garage BOSO.

Formula Drift starting grid

Korean BBQ steak and tofu tacos courtesy of Fred Chang and Scion.

Kogi Korean BBQ tacos

Ricardo Glock and Ricky Chu approve.

Couple of crazy supercharged G35s.

Victor’s Emergency Hookers towing service

Pat’s freshly painted Nissan 240sz S14, gold with white and red graphics- running an AIT body kit. 

Glad to see everyone out at Formula Drift! Till next time.

Here is my final StreetFire.net, NHRA video from the Winternationals this year. With Chris Cunningham, Bob Tasca III’s Crew Chief. Chris does a stellar job of breaking down the parts of the car and the details of this mean V8 8,000HP Machine. Let me know if you learn something new – I did. 

Bob Tasca 3′s crew breaks down his funny car engine at NHRA winter nationals in Pomona. The crew can tear down and rebuild an engine within 38 minutes of making as pass. 

I was lucky enough to be at the 2010 Mustang unveil back in November. Today, I got to work one on one with the 2010 Ford Mustang GT coupe. Shooting around Marina Del Rey, Pacific Coast Highway, and in the canyons over Malibu.

So come along with Ricky Chu and I as we shoot the 2010 Ford Mustang for Auto Blog and StreetFire.net

Framing up the 2010 Mustang GT in the LCD of the EX-1.

While not being the biggest Ford fan, I gotta admit the front grill of the Mustang is well designed. Recessed headlights and over-sized badge. Super clean.

Gitty-up ponies…

Ricky’s face says it all, early AM shoots are for suckers.

Wide Angle lens equipped StreetFire.net EX-1. The lens looks like Hal from a Space oddesy. 

Following the Mustang down PCH en route to Malibu.

Some nice switch-backs up in the Malibu hills.

The Mustang waiting on a turn-out for the next canyon run.

Rik examines the view. From the chase/lead camera car the benzo wagon. Maybe day dreaming about the AMG wagon?

J.Ramsey does his impression of driving the Mustang GT.

Neighborhood Watch. If I don’t call the police my neighbor will…

High Angle Rear 3/4. The Mustang’s angled rear tail lights look angular and strong from this view. 

Vanilla Sky sunset. In another life when we are both cats.

Since I haven’t done a photo blog in a while – here is a photo from February. Got a sweet birthday/valentine’s day package. Thanks Burga’time you are the best. I want everyone to know.

Video Shot/Edited by me. @ Streetfire.net

300 MPH on four wheels on the ground. Pretty impressive. Right?

Now consider that the 0-100mph barrier is broken under 1 second. Think your Ferrari has pick up? Quick acceleration? Yeah right.

How about reaching 300MPH in under 1,000ft of runway. Impressed yet? I AM. 

Bob Tasca III of Ford Racing took the time to show us around his Nitro Funny Car rig and explain the gear he wears to protect himself and withstand the explosion of Nitro Methane race fuel. Naderi, Ricky, and I got to cover the NHRA top fuel drag races in Pomona and it was an eye opening experience. These cars are impressive machines that are fully piloted by the quick reaction time and instincts of their talented drivers. The engines have to be rebuilt after each pass because of the wear. Over 15 gallons of fuel pumps through the motor’s massive injectors during a single pass. Once the supercharger reaches power- the car’s horsepower rockets up to several thousands of ponies at the wheels. These top fuel cars are purpose built machines that are loud enough to kill your ears.

Watch the video on StreetFire.net’s new HD player.

A few weeks ago, I went with Ricky Chu up to Cinema Vehicle Services in North Hollywood to shoot a video on the cars of the upcoming Fast and the Furious film. Here is my finished edit of the day with the cars and Fireball Tim. These cars were not the primary cars used in the film- but the stunt cars that took a beating to make the high speed action happen on film. Cropped to cinema widescreen to mimic the look of the official trailer and teasers for the Fast & Furious 4. Let me know what you think.

Friday and Saturday were my first experiences with NASCAR. I had the opportunity to shoot the Auto Club 500 weekend at Fontana Motor Speedway. We followed the NASCAR truck series driver Rick Crawford. We also had the chance to check out Kyle Busch’s hauler and see his Sprint Cup car go through inspection for Sunday’s race.

More photos after the link. 

Joey Logano’s #20 Home Depot car in the garage- showing a little damage from practice.

A few of the haulers and rigs lined up. 

Cars out for tech inspection.

A little post NASCAR snowboarding at Mtn High. Trying out some new Burton Cartel Bindings. impressive.

A little while back, I posted about getting to watch Chris Forsberg drag race his drift built 350z at Fontana drag strip. Joey Redmond, of Wrecked Magazine, invited me to go with him and check out the occasion. Which is a great reminder that purpose built cars can be multi-purpose and by adjusting a few things- the power can be utilized in a different form. So a car that can freely break traction in high gear can also power down, launch hard, and record a fast ET in a drag race.

Here is my edit from a day at Fontana Drag Strip drag racing with Chris Forsberg.

Let me know what you think. Seriously, I want some feedback.

This edit was done quickly with News Market footage of the BMW 5 Series GT Concept. Added music, a few titles, some quick color grading to pop the contrast and diffuse the highlights.

]]> http://willroegge.com/blog/2009/02/13/2009-bmw-5-series-gt-concept/feed/ 1 http://willroegge.com/blog/2009/02/11/best-of-streetfire-february-9-2009/ http://willroegge.com/blog/2009/02/11/best-of-streetfire-february-9-2009/#comments Thu, 12 Feb 2009 02:39:15 +0000 Will http://willroegge.com/blog/?p=731

Best+of+Streetfire+-+Week+of+Feb+9%2c+2009

The best clips from the week on Streetfire.net this quick video helps to show case some of the impressive cars- 360 Forged Wheels Ferrari 430, the funny the gigantic Sling Shot, and an insane 1,000HP Toyota Tacoma truck. 

My edit has been selected as Streetfire.net’s Drift of the Week. Thanks to everyone who has watched the video and commented.

Especially to Patrick Mordaunt, for letting me rig up the POV camera to his tow hook on his Nissan S14 and for getting gangster with the S13, FC, and R33 in this video. Thanks again to everyone, it is a great honor.

Quick turn around for this video. Shot the event 7:30-8:30pm then edited in the car on Mac Book Pro and exported the finished video by 10:30pm. Color graded with a custom preset in Magic Bullet Looks to give a little bit of highlight diffusion and punch up the contrast. Shot on the Sony EX-1, edited with Final Cut Pro 6, grading in Looks 3, exported natively 1080 24p re-compressed to H264 720 24p for upload.