Another fairly quiet Cars & Coffee event on May 5th, but that doesn’t mean I don’t have anything special in store.

It may have been small, but I’ll start right off with the show-stopper: this beautiful 1986 Turbo-look Carrera. She’s one of five that were built in 1986 like this, and the ONLY one without the spoiler! Yes, she’s quite rare, even if she doesn’t look it… And just immaculate. So pretty. I want.

I snapped this photo of one of the 991 911s with the roof open and the spoiler up — Looks pretty good I think, and not sure how many people have realized how far the design has come in terms of going from a traditional sun roof to a fully opening one and the now integrated spoiler on the decklid. The little things in the evolution of the 911.

One of our regulars showed up AGAIN in a different car! This time a cute Plum Crazy MGB.

She wasn’t alone in terms of MGs, as another MGB showed up along with the second appearance of this MGA.

Our STi even got some company, with this World Rally Blue STi hatch and this white WRX showing up. Believe it or not, the STi has a TON of money put into the engine and is pushing 550 HP at the crank. Sadly, the BOV up and quit and she was relegated to severe-grandma-driving. Hopefully she’ll be back to normal soon.

Lastly, this adorable 911 SC. Ever since driving one I’m head over heels for them and really can’t wait to get my own classic Carrera…. For now, I’ll dream and admire everyone else’s. (Though the only thing I see changing is my dream becoming a reality, as I’ll always admire other people’s 911s!)

Oh, and I took this super quick video of the 991 Cabriolet’s top going down! As I always say, I’m not much for video but I am beginning to dabble a bit more…. It’s pretty cool to see the top in action, especially as it now has no ribbing whatsoever and when it’s up looks very close to the 991 coupe!

While it was a quiet Saturday for the most part, I didn’t entirely mind because Sunday was the first local drift event I’ve been able to go to. I believe it was last year that some of the guys got together and found a track willing to let them hold drifting events there; the days last year didn’t quite match up with my schedule, though.

I’ve been wanting to try my hand at drift photography for quite some time, and this event was my first time having a decent vantage point to shoot from. I didn’t end up staying for too long, but I’m hoping to go out to more events and shoot some more. I now have some better ideas of what to try and where to shoot….

Of course, taking photos of cars sitting still is almost a specialty of mine, haha. Of all the photos of the drift cars I snapped before they got started, I liked this one of this 240sx the best.

This Audi A6 was out at Cars & Coffee a week or two back, but I figured nobody would mind seeing her again. She seems pretty popular on Flickr….

There was also this Audi A6 out. Not as crazy with the fitment but still pretty nice.

Naturally, I’ve got a shot with my STi in it…. But only because a friend of ours showed up with this white Evo VIII. I love getting pictures with Evos and STis next to each other, and it seems that other people like the photos too.

Okay, onto the actual photos of drifting. This beautiful old Toyota Corolla was one of the best looking cars out there, if not the best. Not sure I’m happy with the first photo, I had upped my shutter speed after getting frustrated with panning…. It would have been so cool if I hadn’t. :/ Ah well!

There was also this Corolla GTS out there.

Not sure what was powering this RX7, but it added some variety to the lineup.

This RWD WRX wasn’t looking bad out there either…. But he ended up blowing his differential. Ooops. Subarus don’t seem to like not being AWD…. Save for that odd BRZ.

Aside from those cars, and a fox body Mustang that showed up later, it was all Nissan 240sx’s. Not surprising really…. I’m pretty sure the 240sx is the most popular drift car in the US, if not everywhere. As pictured earlier, here’s the grey coupe getting sideways.

There was also a black coupe.

And an RB20DET powered red coupe.

And a multi-colored coupe.

As for the hatchbacks, there’s this black one with a white hatch.

And this green one that I seemed to really like. Well, that my camera seemed to like at least. Of course I was digging the cage setup, I love cages in cars….

These were the ones I felt were the best and that I thought were worth sharing. I’d like to have a well-rounded motorsports photography portfolio, and drifting is something that should be a part of it.

Even if they aren’t that great, I know the drivers appreciate seeing photos of them driving and it’s going to be a great way to make sure I finally catch onto panning… I’m looking forward to future events and taking more photos, hopefully with some warmer weather though!

Even though Cars & Coffee is every week, I try to keep the cars different so it’s not always the same thing over and over. Besides, I’d like to think that eventually I’ll get better at taking pictures and the weekly practice is really nice for that!

Anyhow, I have a special treat from this particular week’s meet: a brand new Porsche 991 911 Cabriolet! Isn’t she pretty?!?

Here’s some more shots of the Ferrari F430, I think these are finally better photos of her…

More BMWs showed up, too! There was this Dinan M3 that’s driven a regular.

But there was this e46 ZHP 330Xi that showed up for the first time!

And this very nice e30 325i as well. I really like e30 BMWs…

It was a very quiet Cars & Coffee, but it’s always fun hanging out and the Cabriolet was a real peach! Afterwards we went and helped out the Porsche Club with a charity penny drive, which was pretty fun too. Sadly it was cloudy and felt pretty cold. :/ I didn’t take too many photos from that of the cars, but I did spot this Shelby GT500 that showed up towards the end of the drive:

Yup, parking lot stalking at its finest. It’s just what I do. (Sometimes.)

April 22nd was an exciting day for me — It was my first autocross of the 2012 season! Not only was it my first race of the season, it was my first autocross ever driving the S2000. To say I was nervous would be an understatement.

Unfortunately, we didn’t manage to get the KW Variant 3 coilovers installed before the day, but I’m hoping to get them in before the next autocross. I figured at the very least I now have something to compare the coilovers to and maybe I’ll notice a difference. Either way, the Bridgestone Potenza RE-11 tires are great!!

My only goal for the day was to NOT SPIN. The S2000, especially the early AP1s like mine, are very prone to snap oversteer. The course had two turn around points, both being pretty wicked corners that would easily induce oversteer or understeer, depending on the car. While drifting might look cool, it sure isn’t fast…. And autocross is about being fast.

Luckily, I didn’t spin at all!!! I had a pretty nice drift in my first run though, here’s the video for that:

I was really happy I didn’t, and I felt pretty accomplished considering a LOT of people did end up spinning throughout the day. I wasn’t one of them, though! I learned by my second run (video below) that the S2000 responds best when I drive as smooth as possible. And, since smooth is fast, that’s what I was going for anyhow!

After my second run, I knew that the S2000 was only going to be as much of a handful as I would let her be. She’s not crazy or out of control or hard to keep facing the right way… At least not when I’m trying to be crazy fast. Of course, the idea *is* to get faster, and thankfully I managed to do that in my third run!

Also running for the first time of the season and in a different car was my husband, Sean. He decided to take our STi out and see what she could do. He royally kicked my ass, laying down a 51 second time when my fastest was a 58, but part of that comes from the turbo and AWD of the STi too. Plus he’s just more aggressive than I am. Here’s one of his videos:

I went into the afternoon knowing that I was in 3rd place in my class, and I wanted to keep it! I didn’t know how many people were in my class, and though it turned out to only be three, I still wanted to do as good as possible. My fourth run was another improvement, hooray! I also moved the camera to the hood to see how it turned out, but I don’t think I’ll do it again… It’s pretty shaky.

My fifth run went a little backwards in time, as I got a little too gas-happy and had to slow down in the first slalom. Ick.

Unfortunately, the camera’s battery died after my fifth run and I didn’t get to record my sixth run, which also happened to be my fastest. I set down a best time for me of a 58.160, which wasn’t bad at all! It was an improvement of at least three seconds over the day, which is pretty good honestly. I believe the time translated to a PAX-adjusted 49 seconds and some, which sounds better to me honestly!

I did manage to get a 3rd place trophy, too! Yes, I was third out of three people…. But I was still proud of myself for getting a trophy. I may not be the fastest, but at the very least I do get out there and actually race instead of just watching from the sidelines!

I’m very excited for the next autocross, which is on May 20th!

As it was the third Saturday of the month, after Cars & Coffee there was the Porsche Club meeting. However, I pretty much dropped the ball and hardly took any photos of the Porsches…. So I’ll just be adding them to the Cars & Coffee photos. Heh. My bad.

However, it was another great turn out for Cars & Coffee! Yippee! Had some new cars and faces out and everything.

This time I made sure to get at least one photo of the Ferrari F430 with my camera. I don’t care how many times I see them, I love them!

The dealership decided to have fun torturing tempting me with this beautiful Guards Red 1986 coupe. Only thing missing for me would be a whale tail, but those sport seats are ridiculously comfortable…. I really wanted to take her home. :/

There was this adorable MGA out. What a fantastic little car, she’s a full restoration and was acquired through a trade off a property in Montana, where she was left out for four years with the top down. But you’d never know that just by seeing her now!

Our friend had his Porsche 944 out, since he was joining the Club on their poker run and lunch activities later in the day.

I ended up bringing the S2000 out again, which is nice because I’m slowly getting some decent photos of her as she sits now. Still need to install the coilovers though…

And our STi was sporting her new Hella lights. They need to be wired up yet, but they look great I think!

This Jaguar XK150 was at the British Detailing Session, but I don’t mind seeing more of her!

We had a small group of two BMWs and an Audi roll up — some very nice looking cars.

This 750iL had a GoPro attached, and I believe the guy was also taking video with a camera too. Not sure where it will get posted, but I’d love to see how it turns out! (If he ever finds this or someone who knows him does.)

The Audi was sporting one of the craziest wheel fitments I’ve seen in person to date. Quite the number of stickers, too. Wonder if she’s been on any of the sites?

My favorite of the group, though, was this M3 convertible. The BBS CH-R wheels fit perfectly under the fenders, and the whole car was just really clean and well done. Major props!!

Another quick shot of another bimmer and the VW Corrado that’s been posted in Cars & Coffee here before.

And a nice old school Japanese car for y’all — a Datsun 210. This one was new to me, as I really don’t know Datsuns other than the 510 (which came after her) and the Z cars. Clearly a work in progress, but that’s just how projects go as I’m sure most of you know.

I always give some love to the classic 911s that I find, and these two sitting off by themselves looked great. I’m not sure if the cream one is an SC or a 3.2 Carrera, but I know the black one is a 964.

Another SC or 3.2 Carrera, this time a black Targa. I’m working on differentiating the two. For now, I can only narrow down the years by the fog lights and they overlap between the SC and the 3.2.

Lastly, the Boxster S belonging to the president of the local chapter of the Porsche Club. It turned out to be a fantastic day for convertibles, even though the top is up here.

Saturday’s fun didn’t end with Cars & Coffee! In addition to the weather that made me think spring, the fact that car events are starting to happen again means it’s definitely getting closer to summer!

This was new for me, too, as I’ve never gotten to hang out with the British car club around here. I had met one of the guys at Cars & Coffee that morning for the first time (the MG BGT) and tagged along with my detailer friend as his photographer/assistant. (For the record, I make an awful assistant IMO… Good thing I work for free!)

Instead of heading out to a shop, like I figured we would, we ended up at a gorgeous property of one of the members. Even though I was an impromptu guest, I was still graciously welcome and didn’t feel too out of place at all.

I see the evolution of sports cars from this MGB to my S2000 (above). So, while my S2000 isn't from the same country or era, we fit in with the spirit that was there.

I did my best to photograph the event — I really like doing this sort of thing because I can capture the event and not feel bad for not being more of a participant, since I wasn’t going to be either way! I’m wondering if I can’t start doing this for more car clubs, honestly…. It’s fun for me!

Of course, with the gorgeous weather came my photography enemy, the sun. D:< It was pretty frustrating for me, partly because I’m shooting with a lens I haven’t used very much yet… Clearly I am still learning!

However, the weather was great for the event and a ton of beautiful classic British cars were out. While I myself am looking for an older German car, I still have a huge soft spot for old British cars…. I just don’t know nearly as much about them as I should!! (I know Lotus, that’s about it…. Heh.)

Thankfully, everyone was still nice even though I hardly knew anything at all. I’m hoping to see them again at some point! It was a real treat to see there cars and meet all the owners.

And who knows….. Maybe automotive event photography is more of what I should be doing. Lucky for me, there’s the Porsche Club to photograph, too! I should get plenty of practice this summer, hehe.

This particular Saturday was really the first one here that made me think, “Spring is here!!!” The weather was great and the cars were out!

So while I had next to no photos for the 7th Cars & Coffee, I hope to make up for that now.

For one, I had my own S2000 out! I don’t have her KW coilovers installed yet, so until then no super good photos…. But I couldn’t help getting a few while we were out. She got to have this cute MG BGT parked next to her.

Some new faces and cars showed up, too! Which is good since I didn’t think everyone wanted to keep seeing the same cars over and over, haha. This Ford Mustang was really nice, definitely loved her.

This Challenger SRT8 was pretty nice as well.

Not usually a fan of the Magnum, but I liked this wagon.

Of course there was a bimmer…

And a couple of Porsche 356s showed up, too!

This 1978 Porsche 911 SC of COURSE got my affections — not only is she from some of my favorite years, but her owner was kind enough to take me for a ride & let me drive her! If I had ANY doubt about whether I’d like to own an older 911 like her, it’s GONE! I can’t wait to really start looking for mine!

Oh, and of course there must be iPhone photos now. The sun was out, but that’s not always great for photos. This gorgeous Ferrari F430 is in the showroom on consignment for a client for a GREAT price. If only…. *Sigh* She’s a real manual, too!

Yes, I’m skipping from the 3rd edition of Cars & Coffee to the 7th… I missed quite a few weeks from my lovely vacation. As much as I hated to miss it, vacation was awfully nice.

I also hate to say it, but this is going to be a VERY short edition at that! I didn’t take many photos at all, mostly because there weren’t many cars there. I don’t think you really want to see the same cars over and over and over at the same place, do you? (Well, I know *I* don’t!)

So here it is, a very brief post on another week of Cars & Coffee! I promise things get more interesting this month and there will be longer posts, haha.

The Corvette guys finally showed up with a Corvette!

I'm not sure why, but I hardly ever see NSXs around...

Still pretty to see! She got to be my 14th photo in my Project 52.

Of course, there's going to be a Porsche photo....

Eventually, our pretty 2011 STi will be someone else’s new to them used Subaru. No, it won’t happen for a year or two yet…. But someday, it will.

I mean, we did JUST get a set of hella lights for our STi, so she’s not going anywhere anytime soon, nor is she being completely ignored. We’re just looking forward to the next step, considering that we knew from the get-go that the STi wasn’t a keeper for us.

Though she IS great for the snow here…. So I’m not super eager to get rid of her. She’s fun to drive and comfortable, too. But my husband has his eye on the next step in luxury sedans…

A C63 AMG.

While it’s fun having a car that was ours from new, our next couple of cars (at least) will be used. My Porsche 911, obviously because I’m buying from the ’80′s, and the AMG we’re looking to get will be a few years old at least. What the STi has done for us is make us realize just how much fun and practical sports sedans are! And how nice it is to have a bit of luxury, too.

In the STi’s case, she’s pretty much a sports sedan with some luxury, whereas the C63 AMG will be a luxury sedan with some performance. So, while the AMG will definitely be an automatic with flappy paddles, she’s a luxury sedan first — so it’s okay by us. She wasn’t meant to be a hardcore performance sedan, she just happens to have enough power to make her more nimble for her size than you’d first imagine her to be.

This goes, of course, with what I said last week — When you know you’re looking for a car, even when it’s a good year or two out yet, start learning what you can. The last thing you want to do is work towards a goal, get to that goal, then realize it’s not exactly what you wanted to begin with.

Thankfully, my husband and I make a pretty good pair — I’ll make sure we always have a proper sports car, while he’ll make sure we always have a touch of luxury… And probably the better road trip cars between the two of us!

Shortly after getting home from Florida was the Auto Boat Speed Show here in Spokane. It’s not a huge show, and almost all classic and muscle cars, but to me it means that spring is here and progressing and that car things are FINALLY starting to happen again.

Lucky for me, there were a few cars there for me to oogle and get excited over. I also had a car of my own to show — a little Porsche 911 slant nose Turbo model that I put together just for the show! I had to rush to finish it in the two days before the show, but it was worth it to see it on the table in competition, even if it’s not the greatest. (It was my first finished model car, though! So I’m very proud. I’m already working on my next model.)

My finished model! This was taken before the final decals were applied though.

The first thing I tend to do with this sort of thing is walk around, see what there is to see and then decide what I want to take photos of. As much as I like my old classic American cars, they don’t make for interesting photos to me…. They all start to look the same, especially at shows like this where everyone does the same sort of things. So I just pick out my favorites and/or the most unusual to showcase.

First up, I was excited to find something right up my alley — A Ferrari 550 Maranello. Not only the one that I want to buy someday, but in the color I want, too!

The lighting was awful for photos... So I had to resort to having some iPhone photos for the show.

iPhone photo, from the back.

LOVE gated shifters. So classy.

Then there was this really nice 1988 BMW e30 M3. This car had quite the collection of trophies, plus a fully rebuilt engine plus a crazy restoration — the car looked practically brand new!

You can see part of this car's trophy collection in the lower lefthand corner of the photo.

Aside from the 550 Maranello, my favorite cars there weren’t actually part of the show, but they were beautiful. They were all Porsche 911 GT3 race cars, of course. Two Cup Cars (Rolex 24 at Daytona competitors, this year!) and one heavily modified GT3.

This is the modified GT3, the other two are the Cup Cars.

The body shop also had two boards on display, one with one of the Cup Cars having work done and the other showing a new project they’re working on, a Cayman R race car.

The GT3 Cup Car board.

The board for the Cayman R project.

Then there’s the old classic cars I did want to share. Such as this 1967 Shelby GT500 Mustang, which had an insane set up for the show.

The blue on this 1966 Chevelle SS was perfect!

And while this ‘Cuda wasn’t hiding a Hemi, it was still absolutely gorgeous to me.

This 1970 Pontiac GTO Judge was impressive to see, a complete numbers matching car.

Lastly, I love seeing Factory Five Cobras. I always have to snap pictures of them when I see them!

For my random photo, one of the setups included gumball machines with Ford gumballs.

Overall, it was a nice show and it was great to see my little model on the table! I’m hoping to build more and maybe show in another event sometime, after all, I came home with this certificate!

Not much, but it was great to have. I can’t wait for more car shows this summer! (And more other car stuff, period!)