Posts from the Event Alert Category at Autoblog

Event Alert: December Calendar of Automotive Events

Posted Nov 29th 2008 8:34PM by Frank Filipponio
Filed under: Motorsports, Auction Action, Misc. Auto Shows, Event Alert

Last year's Motor4Toys event, which collected more than 15,000 toys for needy kids

We started our monthly calendar of events last month and learned almost immediately that we will never be able to make it as comprehensive as everyone would like, but that's where you come in. Take a look at the list we've put together for December after the jump, and if you see changes that need to be made or events you'd like to add, leave a comment with event info and a link. Once again we've used two of our favorite resources: the New York Times automotive calendar for national and international stuff, and for local stuff here in Southern California, our buddy Dave Lindsay's SoCalCarCulture pages. Dave's photos from these local events are fantastic.

So check out the December event calendar we put together for you after the jump and start adding to it. And please note the large number of Toys 4 Tots drives being put on by local car clubs. With tough economic times it's important to remember that every child deserves a toy. Happy Holidays everyone!

Continue reading Event Alert: December Calendar of Automotive Events

VIDEO: Supercars make charity toy run in L.A.

Posted Nov 22nd 2008 6:33PM by Frank Filipponio
Filed under: Etc., Videos, Toys, Event Alert

Photos courtesy Speed and Motion

It's not often you see this many sports cars chasing a police cruiser, but this was for a good cause. To help get things kicked off for the 5th Annual Motor4Toys charity toy drive event, a bunch of participants followed a police escort over to a local Toys "R" Us to start buying toys for the December 7th event. The Motor4Toys group has been collecting gifts for needy children since 2004, and to date has donated more than 38,000 toys. The unique thing about this organization is that it is all centered around cars.

Motor4Toys taps into the Southern California car community and turns a huge car meet into one of the largest charity toy drives around. Car guys and gals from all over the Southwest show up with their sports cars, exotics, muscle cars, race cars and museum rides to help this worthy cause. Organizers expect to see over 5,000 cars at the event's new home this year, The Anthem Building in Woodland Hills. Entrance to the event is free for everyone, just bring along at least one new, unwrapped toy valued at $10 or more. If you're in the Los Angeles area that weekend, make sure you stop by between 9am and 1pm. And for those who can't make it, PayPal donations are also accepted. Hope to see you there, and remember, every kid deserves a toy! Complete details including maps to the new location and mandatory insurance waivers can be found on the Motor4Toys website. More photos of the drive can be found at Speed and Motion, who provided a video from last year's event that we have posted after the jump.

Continue reading VIDEO: Supercars make charity toy run in L.A.

Event Alert: November calendar of automotive events

Posted Nov 2nd 2008 10:48AM by Frank Filipponio
Filed under: Motorsports, Misc. Auto Shows, Event Alert

One of the big changes we made at Autoblog a couple of years ago was adding more live coverage of events with photos and impressions to hopefully make you feel like you were there with us. While we love going to these races, auto shows, concours and cruises to report on them for you, we know there are many of you out there who would like to witness these happenings firsthand. Many of you have commented that although you enjoy our event coverage you'd like more advance warning of the events we are attending so you might be able to check them out yourselves.

Well, as you might imagine, putting together a calendar isn't so simple. Often times we get last minute word of an event, or sometimes the events we cover aren't open to the public. Still, we understand your craving for live automotive events and we are here to help. We've scoured our planners and checked our favorite web links and have compiled a select calendar for November. We'll try to post a new one of these every month and we encourage you to add local events we haven't included in the comments for all to see. Our hope is that you'll scan the list and be able to find something exciting in your neck of the woods.

Don't take it personally if we skip one of your favorites, just know that we are trying to keep it simple for now. Two of our favorite resources for planning what events we are going to attend, btw, are the New York Times automotive calendar for national and international stuff, and for local stuff here in Southern California, our buddy Dave Lindsay's SoCalCarCulture pages. Dave has been photographing and reporting on the local car scene a long time and if we don't make it to one of the events on his calendar, you can be pretty sure that Dave will be posting pics of it before long. Enough talk, check out the select November event calendar we put together for you after the jump.

Continue reading Event Alert: November calendar of automotive events

Event Alert: The Garage419 Invitational is today!

Posted Oct 26th 2008 8:01AM by Alex Nunez
Filed under: Etc., Event Alert

Heads-up, people: I'll be driving in the Garage419 Invitational later today at Grand Prix New York in Mt. Kisco. If you're in the area, the event's open to the public, so feel free to swing by and check out the festivities. All proceeds from the charity kart race benefit Racing4Research and the Children's Tumor Foundation as they work to raise awareness and find a cure for neurofibromatosis. It's all for fun and a good cause, and you can show your support by making a tax-deductible donation online. You can support any of the participating driver teams (cough...Nunez/Duffy...cough) with a per-lap or fixed-amount pledge. Anything you can spare is greatly appreciated.

Click here to donate.

If you do decide to head out to the Invitational (click here for directions), there'll be a car show out in the lot beginning at 10:00 AM. The race itself kicks off at 12:30, and there are four open slots that will be filled on-site tomorrow before the event via a free drawing. If you want to get in on that action, arrive early -- the drawing's happening at 10:45.

So head on out, come say hi, and please make a donation if you can. This should be a lot of fun.

Top Gear Series 12 officially starts November 2nd

Posted Oct 11th 2008 6:07PM by Jonathon Ramsey
Filed under: Etc., Euro, Lifestyle, Event Alert

It's incredible that there can be so many goings on around a little car show. There was a spot of turmoil in the last shortened season of Top Gear, a few grumblings of unhappy presenters, and then the hallowed BBC couldn't figure out when the next season was going to begin. But here we are, the date has arrived: Top Gear version 12 will commence on November 2nd, 2008, A.D. I guess then we'll start to find out what they're doing in Vietnam...

[Source: Top Gear]

Au revoir, Montréal: FIA cancels Canadian GP for 2009

Posted Oct 7th 2008 4:27PM by Noah Joseph
Filed under: Motorsports, Event Alert

Everyone's surprised as the FIA has announced it is canceling the Canadian Grand Prix. Those in the world of F1 racing have come to know the event as a staple of the F1 calendar. Racing fans in Montreal, this writer's home town that has hosted the race for the past three decades, are shocked to lose the event. And that includes the race organizers, who apparently learned of the news the same way the rest of us have.

The cancellation of the race leaves a month-long gap in the race calendar in August of next season, and with the U.S. Grand Prix off the schedule the past few years, means F1 will stay completely out of North America. And save for the Brazilian Grand Prix, out of the Western Hemisphere altogether. But the trip across the Atlantic for the one race cost the teams dearly, and the sport's organizers have been on a crusade to cut costs. No doubt the officials at le Circuit Gilles Villeneuve will be burning up the phone lines to Formula One Management and the FIA, and organizers in far-flung Rio de Janeiro and Melbourne will be waiting for the proverbial other shoe to drop. Thanks to everyone who sent in the tip.

[Source: F1-Live, Photo by CARLO ALLEGRI/AFP/Getty]

Garage419 Invitational: 4 weeks to go!

Posted Sep 28th 2008 5:14PM by Alex Nunez
Filed under: Etc., Event Alert

And now, a brief public service announcement and reminder. The Garage419 Invitational takes place exactly four weeks from today at Grand Prix New York in Mt. Kisco, NY. All proceeds from the event benefit benefit Racing4Research and the Children's Tumor Foundation, as they work to raise awareness and find a cure for neurofibromatosis. I'm driving in the pro-am-style kart event with Garage419 fan Mike Duffy, and you can make a tax-deductible donation in support of us (or any of the other participating driver teams) by punching in your credit card number on the online donation form. We'd like to help raise as much as possible for the charity. Autoblog readers are legion, and you guys can definitely make a significant impact. Remember, no donation is too small!

If you're in the area, feel free to swing by, say hi, and be a part of the festivities, which we hear will include a car show out in the parking lot and some sort of opportunity to get onto one of three driver teams being held open until race day. It'll be a good time for a good cause, and we appreciate your support.

Click here to donate!

Grassroots Motorsports $2008 Challenge headed to Florida

Posted Sep 23rd 2008 3:56PM by Merritt Johnson
Filed under: Motorsports, Tuners, Lifestyle, Event Alert

In these tight economic times, the project car budget typically gets left on the cutting room floor. Fortunately for addicted enthusiasts there are resources, such as Grassroots Motorsports Magazine, to prove that it is still possible to put together a prize winning ride for only a few bills. Just in time to save the wavering automotive habit of frugal individuals comes the Kumho Tires Grassroots Motorsports $2008 Challenge. For the past nine years, the magazine crew dedicated to amateur motorsports has organized an annual competition of cars built around a budget equal to the current year in dollars. It may sound impossibly restrictive, but some competitors even come in under the cap. The 2007 champion, a Chevrolet Corvette sucker-car, managed to top the field for less than two grand. The monetary limitation forces creative and innovative back-yard engineering amongst the entrants.

The $2008 Challenge will take place October 3 – 4 at Gainesville Raceway in Gainesville, FL. The cars will spend a grueling two days dueling it out on the autocross course, drag strip and even the parking lot for a car show. Competitors should also be brushed up on their accounting skills since they are required to keep an itemized list of all their expenses. This detail keeps the event fair and also offers the magazine's readership inspiration to create their own budget racers. Follow the jump to for the official press release.

[Source: Grassroots Motorsports]

Continue reading Grassroots Motorsports $2008 Challenge headed to Florida

Event Alert: Italy's finest heading to Chicago for Italian Style

Posted Sep 18th 2008 7:31AM by Noah Joseph
Filed under: Maserati, Ferrari, Alfa Romeo, FIAT, Event Alert

If you live in Chicago and have been waiting for the opportunity to check out the most scrumptious of Italian sheetmetal this side of the Atlantic, the Midwest chapter of the Italian-American Chamber of Commerce has got some treats in store for you.

Sponsored by Case New Holland – Fiat's American agricultural and construction equipment subsidiary – the annual "Italian Style" event is gearing up for a return from September 19-21 at Navy Pier in Chicago. In addition to all manner of heavy machinery from the CNH catalog, Ferrari will be showcasing its top-selling F430 Spider and the 599 GTB Fiorano, Maserati will be showing off its freshly updated Quattroporte S and Alfa Romeo will bring out the production version of the 8C Competizione for its first public appearance in North America. Fiat Group CEO Sergio Marchionne will be participating, Magneti Marelli and Fiat Powertrain Technologies will be displaying various components from Italian automobiles, and Ducati will be on hand with a display of its motorbikes. Head on down and check it out.

[Source: ItalianExpo.us and Italiaspeed]

The Garage419 Invitational: Autoblog's in, and we need your support!

Posted Sep 15th 2008 11:31AM by Alex Nunez
Filed under: Etc., Event Alert

The Garage419 Invitational is a pro-am-style charity kart race taking place on October 26 at Grand Prix New York in Mt. Kisco. All proceeds from the event benefit Racing 4 Research and the Children's Tumor Foundation, which are dedicated to raising awareness and finding a cure for neurofibromatosis, or NF, as it's more commonly known. (Last year, the local NBC affiliate here in NY did an informative piece that serves as a good primer on NF. You can watch it here.)

"I'd like you to be a part of this, it'll be fun." So said Mike Spinelli when he invited me to be one of the pros driving in the Invitational. I patiently explained to Mike that calling me a "pro" is akin to calling those dudes who play Madden in videogame tournaments "athletes", but he was undeterred. And because Spinelli is one of the best guys you'll ever meet, it's essentially impossible to say no to him, so here I am. He's right, too -- it should be fun. After all, there are worse ways to spend a Sunday afternoon than driving go-karts and hanging out with the likes of Spin, Matt Farah, Mike Musto (a.k.a. "Mr. Angry") and other fellow participants like Farnbacher Loles Racing's Bryce Miller and Jalopnik's Wes Siler. I've been paired with Garage419 fan Mike Duffy, and on behalf of my team, I'm here to ask for your help in the form of a donation to Racing 4 Research.

If you go to the online donation form, you can support the Alex Nunez/Mike Duffy duo (or any of the other participants, for that matter) by pledging a traditional fixed-dollar amount or an amount for each lap that we complete at the Invitational. All major credit cards are accepted and your donation is tax deductible. While I'll do my best to represent Autoblog well at the event, I'm asking you readers to help us put on a good show on the fundraising end of things. No donation is too small, and your generosity is greatly appreciated. Thanks!

Click here to donate

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Autoblog bloggers (30 days)

#	Blogger	Posts	Cmts
1	Jeremy Korzeniewski	107	13
2	Frank Filipponio	70	2
3	Noah Joseph	67	1
4	John Neff	58	0
5	Jonathon Ramsey	56	0
6	Drew Phillips	56	0
7	Sam Abuelsamid	46	9
8	Chris Shunk	46	1
9	Damon Lavrinc	43	2
10	Dan Roth	39	7
11	Alex Nunez	29	22
12	Michael Harley	27	2
13	Sebastian Blanco	22	0
14	Chris Tutor	14	1
15	Merritt Johnson	6	5
16	John McElroy	3	0

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