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.