la casa di machina - the shed

after reading and viewing with interest the contents of big red's shed i thought it was time i put mine together.  the mazda mx5 roadster with the house i designed for my parents in the background.  it's still a great fun machine to just go out for a fine drive in.  this area in the top of the south island of new zealand has those perfect roads - quiet, with plenty of challenging twists and turns.  it's a 1989 model - which in automotive terms makes it almost vintage.  like a good bottle of vino rosso - it gets better with age.

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in the italian garage:

the photo right side shows our car. . . .  but, it's actually the one just behind the tasty looking audi s3 here outside the entrance to the mt blanc tunnel.  ours is the motor below.  the audi a4 quattro 2.5tdi v6 avant.  its got the 180 horse power turbo diesel motor and its a mighty impressive winter car with the winter tyres.  one impressive run in the north of italy in january in heavy snow had us driving uphill in the opposite lane passing car after car slipping and sliding or stranded on the way to a cross country ski comp.  the tdi motor has great torque but it's also a heavy car so you can't let the revs die too much if you're pushing on.  also the diesel gives good economy although 4wd does reduce this benefit a bit.  but in the mountains i would go for this quattro system every time - it's just so impressive in the wet, ice and snow.

also in the italian garage is the corratec.  a road bike - full carbon tipping the scales at 8kg with the fulcrum racing 1 wheel set.  believe me, light bikes are good when you are climbing 23km to the top of a 2200m pass!

Some of the recently (dearly) departed:

mercedes cl220tdi

subaru imprezza wrx type ra - photos from ngatimoti, new zealand

the merc, rover 75 and rover 25 (they almost look the same so one photo will do) and the fleet of opel's - merida and zaffira.  yes, i know, i know....

alfa 145

recent events:

audi experience day - coming up testing quattro performance on the frozen lake, lago di misurino in the italian dolomites

favourite car shot - thanks collin

 to driving x page (older site)

reflections of an imprezza - able tasman national park, nz