Mmmmmmaranello

Maranello is always a fun place to be.

I spent some days there some weeks ago to check out what Ferrari was up to. But even if there were just some mules driving around, like 3 F450 mules, one mule for the next generation 612 and one strange 599 mule with the exhaust pipes almost like the race concept 599 XX, there is still fun to be there. You always see something cool and exciting.

Like Formula1 cars driving around at Fiorano, or some old cool Ferraris like a F40 or a 275 GTB.


Maranello is always good for a surprice.

Summer in Munich...well, atleast it was hot.

Last week I was in Munich/ Germany to see what our friends from BMW where driving around. Of course there were a lot of X1 driving around in different levels of cammo, and I also saw some X3 but still in the well known cammo they have had for almost a year now. The 5 GT is driving around a lot in light cammo, and of course a lot of full cammoed 5 series, both as sedan and touring (wagon).

But there is also a 5 series touring in “light” camouflage, the well known BMW psycodelic, and I managed to get some great photos of it. It was really surprising to see the touring in that level of cammo, since we were expecting the sedan to come first. I was hoping to be alone with the photos, since I haven’t seen anyone of the competitors there, but…..like a lot of times that was not the case. Automedia was there with two guys and they managed to get a set shortly after me.

Well, the weather was great with a lot of sun and about 24-27C. I also want to thank my good friends over at Evo7 for letting me stay there and for the great fun we always have.

Tough job....

Ok ok, the spy business is a hard and tough job. And sometimes you really need to relax and have more fun. Yes, more fun, because this job is in most cases so much fun. So what do we do then? Well, in Arjeplog for example there are some ice tracks where we can go and play for a while.

The owner used to work for ATM who prepares the tracks for Bosch, but now he makes the tracks for the AMG driving academy. And we are allowed to use them..hehehe. Not just with our own cars, but he also has some old Volvos there that we can use, cars that you don’t have to care about if you don’t manage to keep them on the track. Too bad were not allowed to drive the AMGs.

Yes, you can have great fun with some old Volvos............

In most cases we go there in the evenings, but sometimes you really need to celebrate some good shots in daytime as well. And it’s so much fun. For those of you who never tried, you should really go ahead and try. Two years ago we had our fun with some Porsches, I had access to a 997 C4 almost all day and a friend of mine took his 911E from 1973 that day. Great fun, which would have been even more fun with studs on the winter tires on the 997.

Here a picture of Stefan, the owner of the tracks, who is kind enough to let us play there. As you can see, he likes to play as well.

Hot news

Yesterday I heard about two things from the automotive industry that are interesting.

First, Steve Mattin, chef designer from Volvo will quit. When he came to Volvo in 2005, after 18 years at Mercedes, he mentioned he would stay with Volvo forever, but yesterday the bomb came that he will quit. Of course the rumors started at once, where will he go? What will he do? Well, since Chris Bangle quit BMW there is a place free there. Maybe designing new BMWs is more exciting that to do the same at Volvo? But I think we can all agree that Steve has done a superb job at Volvo, even if it will really first show with the new and upcoming models like the new S60 and V60.

Next thing is that Porsche have threatened to quit winter testing in Arjeplog if the city of Arjeplog doesn’t stop us photographers.

Porsche means that we are such a big problem for them, and now they are tired of it. I mean this is just bullshit, we take pictures of them at other places as well, like the Nürburgring, and they will never say that they will move from there.

They are just trying to get money from the city of Arjeplog, so that they could build a new test center in Arjeplog. All Porsches that we photographed this winter, where already photographed at other places, like the “Ring”, in other places in Germany and in Spain. So, even if I’m a really big Porsche fan I think Porsche should stop this crap.

The prototypes are disguised and they have to drive on public roads. It doesn’t matter where they move, we will follow.

Where to put your spare tires in a Porsche Panamera

What to do if you want to go on a two week holiday with your family. The trunk is full with bags and stuff that you will need, but you want to take the spare tire with you. Or maybe even two spare tires? Well, even if your car is a Porsche Panamera that will be no problem. I noticed this Panamera in a group of Panameras traveling from Stuttgart/ Germany all the way up to Arjeplog/ Sweden. I know there is not much new, but it still looked cool with those two spare tires on the roof.

I fuck you, I kill you, Have a nice day

Bruce Lee wanna be?? Nope, just a crazy Korean test driver screaming all the English words he knows. Who said the Koreans where calm people ?

So, I’m back again after some days of stomach flu. And what a day we had again. With both light snowing and fog in the morning the weather turned out great later on. After a shorter round in Arvidsjaur we decided to go to Arjeplog the rest of the day. Not much new was going on at first, some Opel Merivas, Mercedes E-Class wagon and Porsche Panameras in various colors so we took an early lunch to be ready for the afternoon action.

And what an action we got. After lunch we noticed a Kia VG prototype at a crossing and we jumped out and shoot some pics, the prototype drove of and we followed. Both the prototype and security car where driving very slowly so we passed them to shoot some more pics at the next crossing. But instead of just passing us, they came towards us and jumped out of the car. Four of them ran to Hanjo and tried to stop him from making photos, and then one of them noticed me and tried the same thing. After some minutes they took off and we followed again, after 200 meters the same story, all Koreans jumping out and screaming and waving their hands. Then they took off again, and this time to a dead end road so we just waited for them to get out again.

After 15 minutes they decided to get out off that road and first off was the security car, the driver had his side window open and screamed “ I fuck you, I kill you , have a nice day” !!! I guess the guy has seen too many American movies, and the only thing he could say in English where just those words. He probably thought that “have a nice day” was swearing as well hahahaha. The poor guy in the VG prototype looked so scared about all this being chased so I guess he just wanted to disappear. And we don’t know what all the fuzz was about because the car has been photographed before in the USA and in Korea. These where just the first winter test shots.

Next generation Opel Meriva testing in the winter sun. Finally Opel got their hands on some red paint instead of all those white/black prototypes we have seen before.

Snow snow and snow

Winter testing is always full of surprises, especially regarding the weather. Some days are really wonderful with the sun shining and therefore excellent photo possibilities. But some days are like a harmagedon. Just look at this picture, can you see what car it is driving in front of us? At those days it’s almost impossible to take photos. At least photos where you are supposed to see what they show. Another problem with that massive amount of snow is when you are driving on the roads and a truck is coming towards you, after that you have no, and I really mean no, visibility for several seconds. And if driving at 100 km/h, you drive several 100 meters with no visibility at all. All you can do is to hope that there are no animals like moose or reindeers crossing the road right then, or that someone in a car behind the truck is losing control over their car because they don’t see anything as well.

Even if it’s mostly colder when it’s clear, I prefer that rather than snowing.

And yes, the car on the photo is a Porsche Panamera.

Dont try this at home......

Most car testers are ok, they don’t always like what we do but they can accept it. But not this guy !! While trying to overtake him, he tried to block us all the time to protect the prototype, a Citroen DS3. At one point we overtook him at a crossing, but we had to use all of the other side’s road AND a parking lot because he didn’t want us to pass him. But soon after that he made a kamikaze maneuver, and because I still like to have my car in one piece, I decided to brake hard, very hard or else he would have crashed into my car. Someone should learn this fuckhead that when they drive on public roads they have to follow the rules and accept if someone wants to take photos. Well, he blocked us all the time and the prototype got away. We chased after him to tell him one or the other rule here in Sweden, but he didn’t stop and went into their facility.

Two hours later we noticed this idiot again, same car but this time without the prototype. We went after him, to explain some stuff to him, but he took off as quick as he could, we where after him, and this time the gate to the facility was closed so he had to stop. I got out of my car to talk to him, and then this fuckhead gets out of his shitty car with an iron stick, screaming some French/English mixture that he will kill me if I come closer !!!! He noticed my partner’s camera and used his brain for the first time this day; he got back in his car and took off into the facility. I´ll decided that’s it and went to the police. We had proof of both the idiotic driving and him wanting to hit me with the iron stick, photos and video. But here the police are so scared to take action against car testers, so they listened to me, and to the boss of that driver and decided: Well, it’s good that you have talked now. That’s it !! There was also a guy called Åke there, he is like a janitor at the test facility but he likes to see himself as the Sheriff. He claimed that it’s because of us photographers that it’s less testing in Sweden this year. I wonder if he has heard about the economical crisis..hahahahaha. I guess, if you’re stupid, then you’re stupid. Well I have a lot of stories about this Åke guy, so I’m sure you will hear about him sooner or later.

Back to the Citroen prototype, yepp, we managed to get some photos of it before the chase, and the rest while they were driving on the test track on the ice ;-)

Welcome..............

Ok ok , i have been thinking about this blog for a long time now, but i guess its finally time now.

So, what will you read and find here then ? Well, i will try and give you all a view into my life as a carspy and hopefully be able to tell you some exciting stories, rumors and inside information. I guess there will be a lot of pix here as well, even if there will be no new spyshots, as they will go out to my customers in first place. Maybe i´ll tease you with some crops here ...hehehe.

I have been working as a carspy for so many years now, and a lot of funny, cool and exciting stuff has happend during this time. And i hope there will be alot of exciting years left with me in this business. Right now im in Northen Sweden where the winter testing is going on at full speed. Well, full speed is not really correct as the financial crisis has hit our business as well. I talked to a BMW testdriver last week (while he was filling up his 5 series prototype), and he told me that they are here with only half of the normal amount of testers and prototypes. Of course that is the same with other brands, but there still are prototypes around here. I guess they are just testing with less people and for a shorter time to save money. To bad that they are missing a really cold winter, ideal for testing.