Home from Baltimore

Hi hi

I love how travel came with this job, I didn’t know that was going to happen; sweet surprise.

Early 6am flight home, traffic to downtown is awful in the morning eh, got some life admin done, then fell asleep at my desk in a weird position for a bit.

Today’s Autonet news is about how Hertz has added a fleet of supercars to their rental offerings (Ferrari, Aston Martin), here: ‘Hertz gets Fancy’. This week’s column made the cover today (about rims, “they’re like butter”), and just finished the outline for next week, (about car nerds). Also just got down the rough copy of my Fiat review; short answer is good, and review will print next week.

I’ll update here properly soon promise, I’m behind on email sorry, going for a little walk now, thanks for always checking back xo

UPDATE

Photos from Baltimore, Maryland.

I was there with Fiat to test their 2014 all-new 500L. It’s a five-door five passenger version of the Fiat you know, the 500 (I had one in the winter).

Will dedicate a post to the vehicle, short review is: if this is your look, you’re going to love it; base model comes well equipped; it’s a turbo engine; good value for money; great cargo space; get it in manual.

Had to buy a carry-on suitcase, I’ve been using that green duffel bag seen in my sidebar.

You never check your luggage on a press trip, no one does, so then you’re that guy who makes everyone wait.

Learned that the hard way, at the Detroit Auto Show in January.

Baltimore is a port town.

And all its industrial areas have been renovated, it’s a good looking, vibrant city. Baltimore really surprised me.

And get this – it’s one of the fittest cities in America.

There are no fast food restaurants in the city centre; you need to drive 10 miles outside of downtown to find one.

 

Big-time foodie movement if you like that stuff.

Dinner outfits.

Only dinner photo I took.

I’ve noticed at these events, that this crowd has really great phone etiquette. Cels get stored out of sight, no one is ever sitting all zoned out on their screen, it’s really refreshing.

Not my camera.

Wouldn’t know how to operate one of those.  If I could get away with it, I’d photo everything with my phone.

The camera belongs to my driving partner, Jeremy Sinek – veteran auto journalist, and chief road-tester over at MSN Autos.

We laughed a lot. Ape arms urgh.

 

 

How to Backup a Trailer in 5 Steps

Follow these 5 steps to backup a trailer.

  1. crank the steering wheel all the way
  2. find a towing buddy and agree on hand signals
  3. reverse with wheel cranked
  4. slowly un-wind the wheel as trailer straightens out
  5. follow the trailer back

Read it online here:

Favourite line:

The most important part to remember is – don’t do the math on the weight being towed, instead it’s the GVWR – gross vehicle weight rating.

Made a video to go along with this week’s column. 

Thanks to my driving buddy that day, Jeremy Sinek, for helping me film! We also won the fuel economy challenge, helped by that I didn’t drive.

Here we are with a Tyranasaurs Rex.

Where the video came from.

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