August 24 and 25 were rough. Not because it sucked or was boring, but because I did not get enough sleep. If you’ve ever heard of “The International” then you know that this year the prestigious DOTA2 tournament was being held in Shanghai. Coincidentally, 3 of my friends and myself thought it’d be a great idea to watch the last 2 days of competition. In its entirety. Mistakes were made.
Friday August 24 ended pretty early, as the games were done by 12am. The next day, I met with my friend Raymond who was coming up and visiting for the weekend. We drove to Horsepower 4 Hope and had a look around. Take a look!
This Murcielago from Pure Executive Auto was probably my favorite car at the show. Having seen various versions of this particular car over the years, I’m always surprised how it looks better with each iteration. The black and white color scheme is complimented by the beautiful AG wheels. The bronze color and rear concave make it look super aggressive!
Widebody Aventador, 991 GT3, M4. Deadly combo.
Cool little race car (I think it’s a Radical SR3?)
996 Turbo. A little rough around the edges, but that means it’s a car that’s been used (which is always a winner in my book)
Sad that this F430 no longer has the Pikachu livery to match the custom plate.
930 Turbo, AKA the widowmaker. Super cool to see one in real life, especially a well maintained example.
Love the wheels on this F430. Some foreground 993 booty in the action as well.
TT Auto’s LP640 Murcielago roadster also present
Never seen a Diablo in real life, very cool
Top Fuel dragster at the Canadian Tire booth
Overall Horsepower 4 Hope was a unique event and a good way to spend an hour or two. It was a charity show which is always nice and was catered more towards families and kids, with lots of activities for children. A much different vibe from other shows that seem to be targeted towards the 20-30s tuner crowd. All in all, a relaxed way to spend a Saturday afternoon.
The rest of the afternoon was spent at Buco in Windermere. Once evening came, the real test began.
On the last day of The International, there are the lower bracket finals and then the grand finals. Lower bracket finals are best of 3, upper bracket best of 5. After some delays, we started watching the Grand Finals at 1am. It stretched out to 4 games. So basically, we went to sleep at 7:30am and I had a bbq to attend in the afternoon. I think I slept in till 1pm and it was good enough to survive the rest of the Sunday. OG won though, which is crazy (first repeat winners, exact same lineup). Too bad for Team Liquid though.
On Sunday I was invited by TT Auto to RJ Auto’s grand opening. Ranno (a friend of TT) and his father own the shop and celebrated finally getting things sorted and being ready for business. It was a much bigger BBQ than I expected, with burgers, hot dogs, a roast pig, and plenty of cake and dessert. The food was excellent and really helped me re-energize. There were plenty of cool cars out too (mostly Euros). Have a peek!
First of all, did not expect a 991 GT3 here. Damn. It’s a track car too!
M4 on TEs. Yes. Also some serious rubber on this thing (Toyo Proxes R888)
Spoon S2K on Advan GTs. Yes.
Spoon brakes too!
C63 AMG on Volk Racing G25s. Love the sound of AMG cars, brutal and aggressive. Hilarious plate too
FC RX-7
Ranno’s LS slammed on Work VS-XX wheels. Clean and simple
Another M4, this example on HREs.
Lemans Blue 335D
CE28 fitted S2K beside the FC
My favorite shot that afternoon. When we arrived, there were no parking spots left, so Terence (in typical awesome Terence fashion) takes front and center. I didn’t know where to park, so I just parked right beside him!
This picture is a close second fav! Mochi inside the Muricelago’s frunk!
And that concludes a very busy but exciting weekend. I ended up having the next 2 weeks off, which was spent sleeping and catching up on all the PharmD rotation requirements. Not fun but you gotta do what you gotta do!
Fall is upon us now, so more shoots with pretty leaves coming up!
Cheers,
Gary