Modifying for the Future

I hope most of you liked the Taiwan Special I posted last week. I am planning on getting more involved with the car scenes, both local and international. In the upcoming months, I plan to make at least two more car show and car meet episodes. I am also studying different approaches to editing them, so hopefully that will be a good experiment. I've also had the chance to talk to some of you individuals, you know who you are ;), and as I mentioned to them, when I hit their home town, I'll meet up with the local car scenes there.

On another note, I mentioned that there was a bit more to the Taiwan trip than just the Auto Show. I got a chance to meet a friend of mine, who used to live locally, but moved to Taiwan. He's always been into cars, driving them, racing them, and now modifying them. He has a lot of years of experience and knowledge, so I've actually taken him to be a mentor of sorts. He gives good advice, that's all I can say. The timing was perfect because when Puyang and I went back this time, he had just finished his new build. If memory serves me correctly, it's a discontinued kit car from the UK. He chose an engine of his own choice, and the transmission. The chassis is custom built carbon fiber, and the whole car weighs lighter than his Lotus Elise, around 1600 lbs!

Since he has experience on the track, he told me he is more concerned about weight to power, aerodynamics, and handling. To keep such a light vehicle grounded, aerodynamics play a really big part. Needless to say, I am very interested in the concept of not needing to make engines bigger, but the car lighter overall.

He told me this was his first ever car build. There are no guides, or instruction booklets to build a car with a personally selected engine, transmission, and the looms of wire needed to make everything run the way it should. His next big project is to actually design a car. From the look of the car, to the aerodynamics, to the chassis, to the suspension, to the wheels, everything will be designed to how he wants his car to drive. He's also thinking of possibly making the car public if it comes to that. He's already been working on it for a couple of months, and he says it will probably take him a year or two to complete the project. I honestly can't wait to see it. It's quite possible that Machine Zealots will get the exclusive chance to see the car, and even be apart of the marketing plan! Only time will tell, but I honestly can't wait.

On the Machine Zealots side, I am planning a couple bigger film projects. I won't reveal too much right now, but I am hoping it will be super cool for you guys to see. I'll post teasers when I get to that point. In the meantime, I am still going to continue delivering the bi-weekly episodes, so stay tuned!