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What happens when over 100 fast cars get together to blast all over Vegas? Expensive speeding tickets? Impounded exotic vehicles? Nope…we raised over $3,500 for the Nevada Diabetes Association!

Everyone left Cars and Coffee around 10:00am to begin a trek that took us all around town (even out of town in one case) with stops at twelve sponsors. Each stop had a professional photographer and a professional model. Unfortunately, my photos for this post are ones we took of the driving…BUT I will have the shots of the car with the model soon!

You may think the models were present simply to look good, but that isn’t true. Each model judged every car, so we could find the “hottest”, “cutest”, and “best date car” in the bunch. My Pantera held its own in the “hottest” category, but didn’t do as well when it came to cuteness. It looks and sounds too uncivilized to qualify as “cute.” Actually, I would be insulted if someone called my car cute. But it was judged even more harshly as a date car. Some say it was the lack of a back seat. Others say the lack of reclining seats held it back. Maybe the models noticed it would be impossible to get in and out of while wearing a skirt. Well, not so much impossible as obscene. I think it was because you have to SPEAK SO LOUDLY to hold a conversation. Dates are for talking, right?

There was no prize for arriving first, so we all spread out and relaxed. Heck, a group of us hung out at one stop for 30 minutes to eat ribs and drink non-alcoholic margaritas. I don’t think a single driver received a speeding ticket during the rally. Must be our “no idiot” policy.

The photos taken of the Ferrari Club cars will be become our 2009 calander, which will raise even more money for the Nevada Diabetes Association. We love them.

Remberber to wear on or our cool car t-shirts to your next rally!

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I thought this would be the year that I finally made it to Speed Week at the Bonneville Salt Flats, but managing our first run of Rever T-shirt designs kept me in Vegas. Fortunately, we still had people go to check it out and take pictures. So, no clever commentary, but lots of great shots of things that go fast on salty surfaces. Next year HAS to be the year I make it to Speed Week.

As an incentive, a friend has announced 2009 is the year he goes over 200 miles per hour on a motorcycle. Hopefully, we will start working on that project soon. A turbo ‘Busa should have no problem going that fast, but will it go 250 miles per hour? We will see—it might take a few years.

For those not familiar with Bonneville… It is a 159-square-mile salt flat in northwest Utah. W.D. Rishel recognized it as a perfect speed-testing ground in 1896, and it became famous when Malcolm Campbell set several speed records there in the 1930s. Cars now go over 600 mph. The salt keeps anything from growing, and every rainfall cleans the surface and keeps the densely packed salt very flat. Trivia: The huge beach scene in Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End was shot there because it is large enough for the curve of the Earth to make the salt seam endless.

A few days ago (September 5, 2008), Cliff Gullett was killed going 239 mph on his motorcycle. His family said he died doing what he loved.

Click photo for larger, funnier version.

Many of us own shirts and bumper stickers that make fun of cops, and their alleged love of donuts. Is your bumper sticker on your tool box or on your car? Do you have the guts to wear the t-shirt? My friend wears his, and it was only a matter of time before he got pulled over while wearing it.

Coming back from Mt. Charleston in the yellow Lamborghini Diablo—pictures of the car can be found elsewhere on FlyingPistons.com and ReverClothing.com. He passed a slow-moving truck as a police cruiser came around the curve. Memories get a little hazy as to whether a solid yellow line was crossed.

The officer was polite, and our hero did his best to cover his chest while explaining that he only sped up to pass a truck that was holding up traffic. All of a sudden the cop asks, “What does your shirt say?” Figuring honesty was the best policy, my friend answers “What speeding tickets pay for…” while twisting so the officer can see the illustration of cops eating donuts. He now knows it will be a few seconds before he knows whether his day just got worse. The officer will either think it is funny, or things are about to get expensive.

As you can tell by the photo, things turned out OK. You might think it was me shooting this photo of Chris in front of the cop car… It wasn’t. It was the cop, who was a great sport. He even let our fearless friend off with a warning.

We at Rever Clothing have thought about doing funny cop t-shirts since this happened. But we probably won’t, for the same reason we don’t have the courage to put “Bad cop… No donut” bumper stickers on our cars. Truth be known, we love the police and associate with many of them. We’ll keep those T-shirt ideas in the drawer.

So, what should you wear to a traffic stop? Are you kidding? We’re in the T-shirt business. The answer is a Rever T-shirt. We recommend you check out Flying Pistons, Turbo or Treadburst. Get some shirts for car lovers!

OK, so it isn’t the world’s fastest car. That would be some jet fighter without wings, but I’m talking about the world’s fastest production car. It has officially gone faster than the Bugatti Veyron—257mph.

It is called the SSC Ultimate Aero TT. 1180ish horsepower and modestly priced at around $600,000. This isn’t a concept car…you can actually buy one.

A small group of us took our cars out to Red Rock Canyon, on the outskirts of Las Vegas, with the designer/owner and a film crew. They were shooting for Newsweek.

Point of interest: Tires are the weak link when going over 250mph. Shelby’s tire partner had scientists and engineers at the top speed run (held in 2007) to help. No tire was allowed to stay on for more than 30 miles as the tires can’t stand up to that much punishment for long, and tire failure at those speeds causes a fatal crash, period. It doesn’t matter what kind of safety equipment is in the car.

Need wide tires with 29 miles on them?

I had been waiting for the group to make a run to Death Valley for months, but some of the exotics (including mine) couldn’t go until the weather was cool. A few months ago, we teamed up with a group of Audi and VW drivers for a lunch run.

I spent most of my time driving, so I didn’t get many pictures. Some of these photos were taken by Angie (lovely wife) from her car…in case you are wondering how I took photos of the Pantera from another car.

I found out a few important things on this trip:

1. I got my car up to 150mph at Spring Mountain race track. I heard rumors that a previous owner put a taller final gear in the transaxle- it could be true, or maybe it is the 550 pounds of torque. Regardless, this is pretty good for a car that went 130mph in stock form and only has a five speed.

2. The blowing sand is hard on paint. My front air dam looks like it has been sandblasted in some places…and, technically, I suppose it has been.

3. There is water in Death Valley. At least there is when it isn’t the middle of summer.

4. Tourists will walk up and down a wooden pier, that doesn’t go anywhere, in the middle of the desert. Why?

5. Audi and Volkswagen drivers have a different driving style than sports car and exotic drivers. They make up for it by being a very polite and likable bunch. I would love to hook up with them again if they will have us.