This is the place where you will find quick reports directly from my race weekends, plus a lot of other fun stuff going on, not always about racing.
Cheers! /Carl
Pic of the week
Me in the Karousel, Nordschleife 2007.
Songs to check out
1. Foo Fighters - Let it die
2. Foo Fighters - The Pretender
3. Adam Tensta - My Cool
4. Outkast - Take Off Your Cool
5. Sia - Breathe Me
Food and Drinks
1. Vino Pasta, Gothenburg, SWE
2. The Standard, Hollywood, CA
3. Barney's Beanery, Santa Monica, CA
4. Le Clafoutis, Sunset Strip, CA
5. Heaven 23, Gothenburg, SWE
Other things
Spot to be filled with useful content.
Jaguar XF - cool cat for real drivers
Thursday, July 31, 2008
If you are looking for a reeaaallly nice car but a BMW feels to clinical, a Merc to stuffy, the Lexus to mainstream and a Quattroporte is just out of reach, Jaguar XF IS the car for you. I have never driven a car in the luxury sedan segment that wakes my passion for driving, a big engine in a stuffy old car doesn't do it for me. But this Jag does - whether the road is straight or twisty. It's got s o u l.
The Jaguar XF has really precise steering, perfect throttle response from take-off, really solid feel to the brakes and a very entertaining suspension setup. The automatic gearbox gives a really direct feel and the downshifts in sport mode are just great with the automatic throttle blips to match the next lower gear. This is not too different from how most people would describe most modern, sporty luxury sedans, but the Jaguar XF is different, it has something more, something only found in temperamentful sportscars, like classic Alfa Romeos and the likes.
With the dynamic stability control turned completely off, all that's needed is a throttle release and a slight "Scandinavian flick" and the car steps out perfectly controlled into a nice angle. Meeting up with the throttle makes the XF's V8 respond with a confident, really organic roar, it's almost like it is alive. From that point, you can have the car stay at any angle and have it go anywhere you want, the engine just never stops pulling and the car communicates with the driver in a way you wouldn't believe from such a plush luxurious touring car.
Not only is the XF a hit for the inspired driver - it is also a pleasure for the eye with its low coupe style roof-line and a perfect mix of modern edgy and classic rounded lines. The front fender gills/vents add an aggressive racy look.
Interior-wise, seating position for tall people (I am 6'3") leaves nothing to ask for and the design is a combination of sporty and classy, not dull and "oldish", instead just right - like a Grand Touring coupe with some add-ons like modern touch-screen LCD including a ton of car setting options, navigation etc.
Oh well... I could go on and on with superlatives for the Jaguar XF, and the biggest one is probably this: I wish I was a few years older and had a kid or two, then the Jaguar XF would be perfect for me. Maybe having an XF on the driveway is the wrong (and currently only) reason to wish for those things, but I can't wait. This car is one of few that gets top scores from me.
After returning to LA after a successful job for Jaguar (more about that car later), Jennifer and I packed our stuff and moved down to Redondo Beach, definitely a place we like! The day after I went out to the Redline Time Attack event at Cali Speedway for some networking and sponsor talks. Met some nice people and I also got to know more about this type of event. It was definitely a nice enviroment for drivers and fans to see some cool cars close-up and it is also competitive enough to make it interesting for top drivers and sponsors, as well as "reachable" for the enthusiasts who want to drive their sportscars in the street car class.
Everyone doing their job - the Hankook misses representing, me chilling in the tent and miss City Tire Online greeting customers.
I am currently preparing for the Turnstyle/Drift Day Pro-Am qualifier event in Tucson Arizona, Aug 2. Will be pretty interesting to see if I have already learned enough to earn a spot in the Formula D licensing event later this year, or if I will be needing some more drift practice. Stay tuned!
Yesterday I was interviewed in Hollywood by the Swedish lifestyle magazine Finest. I will post a link as soon as the interview is up on their webiste. Here are some clips they filmed during the interview.
Right now I am just waiting at LAX to go to Europe to do some testing for Jaguar next week. Drive safe!
Hello there, just catching up after some really good times! Little over a month ago I went to the east coast for 10 days to do some testing for Volvo, this was before the 24 hours of Nurburgring. Good to see New York, Boston and D.C. all on the same trip. Interesting weather variations, from well over 20 deg and sunny to below 9 degrees Celcius and pouring rain, felt really strange after having had a great spring in SoCal. Work went great and it was really fun to meet up with one of my former collegues.
Shortly after, Jennifer and I went to our friends wedding in Redlands, which was significantly hotter - and really nice, such a great thing to see how love unites people, and how it rubs off on everybody around them.
Then after the 24 Hours of Nurburgring, I went to Sweden to meet my family and I also took the opportunity to meet up with some Swedish friends. Had some good meetings reg future racing events, went out sailing with Mats Johansson and his crew on the Navteq Maxi Racer and also played golf for the first time in several years, with my dad.
The following week (last week), I went to Copenhagen to drive three different cars for a film production, had the luck of hitting the best weather Scandinavia has seen in years, it was simply an amazingly beautiful trip/work week with a great crew.
Now back in LA, preparing upcoming events. Next up is the SoCal drifting All Star Bash which is going to be a totally epic two day camp weekend event, with the hottest cars and coolest drivers pulling out all stops to look our best in team tandem competitions. If you're anywhere near, don't miss it.
Decal work! That sort of sums it up... It is a cool livery that had to be mounted in place at the track. Luckily I have great team-mates who have helped a lot and once on the car, it looks great. A LOT of people who come by our pitbox take notice and ask questions. Will be fun to see the car out on the track tomorrow! (but even better driving it)
It wasn't all work... Borrowed a GT3 and spent half the day touristing, Jennifer and I went through the German villages and countryside to Cochem in the Mosel valley.
I don't have to mention that the car ran well on Autobahn as well, do I?
Just got back from 10 days at the east coast, doing testing for Volvo Cars R&D. Got to see NY, Boston, Philly, DC. Nice to take a jog in the park around the White House, many mighty buildings and interesting to see all the departments and associations coordinating from there to run the USA. But I like CA better. Now preparing for the 24 hours of Nurburgring next week, a lot of work and excercise.
Anyway, due to these busy times I haven't posted anything after the 2nd round of Just Drift Federal Cup, taking place at the Horse Thief Mile, so here goes: Practice with the new car (the City Tire 350Z) started out pretty well, I liked having the power and the diff and a lot of caster. I began with learning the HTM lines and felt I was starting to get the linking together. It's a pretty far distance and very steep down-hill from the top right-hander to the bottom left-hander so it has to be done perfectly, otherwise it looks bad.
Felt the car had too little grip and adjusted the swaybar and rear tire pressures, all I could do at that time. It got better but then I started to feel misfire and some drifts I just had to straighten out when power disappeared. We filled up the tank, thinking the low fuel level and the big elevation changes made it stop sucking up fuel.Riding the edge while learning the line. Photo: P. Lopez
Qualifying for top 16 went well, the car ran ok, but knowing what I know know, it actually was pretty weak on boost and high revs. I just did some safe runs and I got into the top 16 - which I am actually really happy with considering a new car.
Heading into top 8 I felt I had the feeling for the lines and that I could just adjust for a perfect linking, plus I was also aiming to be extremely smooth and not do one single big adjustment on the throttle. I would just hit the line and slide through on one big throttle feed with good speed.
At that point, the so far everlasting Nexen N3000 rears that I had used the whole day - and actually ran on the day before too(!!) - had gradually decreased the their grip so I got very little forward traction and a lot of sideways sliding... so I was surprised to just slide sideways like in slow motion, and dip the left rear in the gravel and then I was basically thrown off the track a bit on the other side. I just brought it in from that 4x4 driving and rolled back to stage for my second run. Late clipping/apexing but no great angle. Photo: P. Lopez
This time I initiated really deep and made a really late apex to help the rear tires go forward instead of only sideways, kept it composed and connected, but I couldn't make it look good enough against the competition. Anyway, it wasn't tooo bad, my points were around the mid 240's and that was about 10-15 points short from catching 8th place.
Had a fun time though, learned a lot and the week after we spent some time changing the rear shocks, alignment, ride height, offset and tire choice, so I could get it to behave like I want to.
Tested the changes during one morning session at a Speed Ventures event, and although the engine continued to develop severe boost issues and eventually lost all power above 5000 rpm, there was just enough time and speed to verify that the setup changes had done just what I wanted, a huge amount of extra grip yet with great control. With that, things look really promising for the future. Also, the engine is scheduled for rebuild.
Thanks to City Tire Online for having me test their car at HTM and a special thanks to Miguel at RMJ Motorsports for supporting preps on my own car (which I would´ve used if I hadn't been able to run the City Tire 350Z). Also creds to RMJ's driver Jason for awesome qualifying, plus JD for a nicely hosted event.
Next up is the 24 hours of Nurburgring, after that a visit to Sweden to see family and friends plus do some sailing with a Swedish Champion, followed by driving on a film job in Denmark. Looks like a good way to start the summer. /Carl
This week it's time for the Long Beach GP, coolest racing event in LA in my opinion. My buddy Mike from German Auto Art will be at the races showcasing this electric powered Hummer which is an important step towards better air. I'll be at the stand to and forth, make sure to stop by and learn about the crazy specs - I can hint 425hp already...
Time IS really flying sometimes. Went to Irvine a week ago to drive for a some cool Acura photo shots, then spent much of the week doing prep for the 24 hours of Nurburgring as well as various errands like stopping by Brian, John and Auto at CityTireOnline, coolest tire shop in LA, to get for drift tires for the weekend, as well as rolling down to Santa Monica to pick up a set of 18" tires courtesy of German Auto Art.
On Saturday I got new adjustable Hotchkis swaybars on my 350Z "stock drifter" w the help of RMJ Motorsports, to prepare for drift practice Sunday (yesterday) at the Horse Thief Mile, Willow Springs, hosted by 626 drift.
HTM is a really crazy (fun) experience to drift on, I am bascially going through a "crash course" in drifting and it's really rewarding to find that my car seems to be up to the task most of the time, so I can drift like I want to. The HTM might be on the border of what this car can do without some more expensive mods, but we'll see... I really look forward to the 2nd round of Federal Top Drift Cup in three weeks.
Had some productive meetings during this quick-trip to Sweden, got some very good racing news to be presented soon. My sponsors Kemostal Process Technology, Ackert (decals) and Billes (print work) are all inspired about upcoming challenges, more to follow I hope, spring is always a time packed with meetings and announcements.
The season feels very far off though in Sweden, right now I see a lot of snow outside the window, but on Sunday I'll be back again in sunny California where the motorsport season started a long time ago - on my end with the 2008 Federal Top Drift competition which went really good. Soon time for 2nd round, I hope to be able to repeat the achievement from first round. To share some inspiration, here's a photo of me drifting captured by a guy who really knows how to shoot great motorsports photos - Paul Lopez! Drifting my stock Nissan 350Z at the Federal Top Drift Battle, round 1. Photo: Paul Lopez
Happy Easter to you, take it easy on the eggs. /Carl
Tomorrow I'm flying out to Sweden for a week to meet family and friends, do some work at my old job and I also have some Swedish sponsor meetings for my 2008 racing on the agenda. But first thing's first; tonight Jennifer and I are attending a Scandinavian Style Mansion gala to party with some of the most well-known Hollywood people of today. Good thing I brought not only my Stand21 racing suit but also my very Scandinavian J. Lindeberg... This will be one very upscale event, for sure. Pics to follow. Cheers, Carl
Not going to say too much else than that the Thursday concert was AWESOME. They played a really long concert, starting on the big stage for some real power, then mid concert they lowered down a center stage from the roof and went more towards an acoustic sound before heading back on to the big stage to keep pounding out all their great songs, Monkey Wrench, Breakout, The Pretender, Best of You, Hero etc etc etc etc, guitar duels and drums solos w RHCP drummer guesting. Lemmy came in for the second last song of the night and overall it was such a great concert and musical experience. Go see them if you have the opportunity.
Want a cool racing calendar for 2008? This signed limited edition Nurburgring poster calendar is yours for 99 SEK or 14 USD. Mail your order to info@car-engineering.se or get one at the Autorapid / Ravila Motorsport stand at Automassan 2008, Goteborg.
Got to share this music video that my good friend Mr Burke put together for his band "Naked Through Utah". Oh, btw forgot to mention earlier that he's running for president (but of what I don't know).
And when all this fun stuff is going on in the outside world I am working on my 2008 season, planning events and races. I'll keep you posted. /Carl
Last night was a fun night, Caran and Semcon, two consulting companies pretty recently merged into a big one, threw a great christmas party last night in Gothenburg, we were over 1200 guests. Dinner, free drinks and entertainment from Wallmans Salonger got everybody stuffed and ever more cheerful, then it was time for some good live rock music.
It's actually soo nice, everybody at these companies seem to love rock music, letting loose at the stage. Semcon's house band opened, then the Caran band took over and got people calling them in twice after the show. My brother play lead guitar and did some singing too, he's beginning to get way too good... I'm slipping behind. It was a really nice gig, biggest crowd for his band since the Caran party at the Are ski-resort I think(??). Anyway, good fun and nice to meet so many familiar faces in one place. Cheers!
Just home after a week of action driving on rally racing roads in Scotland, also got to outrace a helicopter on fairly winding roads, was a b l a s t! Regarding Scotland, my perspective is that it is a beautiful country with very cheerful people.
Marvellous views, anywhere you go in the Highlands!
A fun piece of news back home is that I am in a multi-page feature in the Street Xtreme magazine regarding the setup work I did on the Itsfun Porsche 911 Turbo this summer, the issue is coming out Nov 1. Cheers!
So it was time for a new blog design, and this is it. Still have some work to do with getting all parts of the content right, but it is started at least. Older blog entries are added piece by piece.
Right now I´m in Glasgow for a precision driver job. Weather today is really good and the city was nice to stroll around in. Get back to you with some pics from the coastline later on.
A little late on the update, but the days with the Itsfun Porsche 911 Turbo at Gatebilsfest Mantorp 2007 went great. We had "an impossible to drive" car as everybody said, to work on that I think just needed a lot of attention chassis-wise. So, going through a long series of adjustments on first of all wheel angles, ride height, dampers and sway bars the car became a great beast to drive!
The power was AWESOME and the rest of the car delivered really well, I was impressed by the guys competence building this machine. The car truly deserves to run on slick tyres, but to be one of the fastest road legal cars there is (it has a couple of world records for 3,5-litre turbocharged cars) it has to run on road legal tyres. Didn´t do too much harm to the enjoyment of the car on track, except brake distance get´s much longer than when running on slicks.
The event itself was pretty different from regular race weekends but really fun! All in all I had a great time hanging out with Tokan, Oscar plus their friends and hangarounds and it was nice to see and hear "The Poodles" rock everyones socks off on Saturday night. Gatebil is definately worth a visit for anyone who likes to kick back around car enthusiasts, drive on racetracks, look at neat cars and do some partying as well.
For more pictures and info, visit www.gatebilsfest.no and www.itsfun.nu, and also get the latest issue of Bilsport magazine!
A detailed article regarding the job we did on the car will be presented by the Itsfun crew in Sept or Oct. Cheers!
Having driven lots of different cars and being very focused on just racecars it´s not very often a car impresses me performance-wise, but on the paper this Porsche 911 Turbo does. Almost reaching 200 mph it actually passes 186mph after 18 seconds already.
So, this upcoming weekend I am assigned to set this beast up, to make it behave well on racetrack. This means playing with anything from wheel angles such as camber, toe to sway bars, the Öhlins shock absorbers, pressure in those fat Yokohama tyres, ride-height and aerodynamics. The pit crew will be kept busy for sure...
The event will be the Extreme Street Car Fest "Gatebil" at Mantorp Park, a 3,5k long racetrack located two hours from capitol Stockholm. A big crowd is expected, there´s gonna be lots of show cars, performance cars, car builders, drifters and fans around - and of course big parties - The Poodles are headlining btw, that rocks!
The event is somewhat different from a traditional Swedish racing weekend since there won´t be an actual race, but for me the job will be just the usual business anyway; two days of taking a lap or two at full throttle, going into the pits to adjust what needs adjusting, then out on the track again and quickly feel in the differencies and dive back into the pits for further adjustments - and then head out on the track again... Doing this we will bit by bit chew off small pieces of time and finally end up with a well balanced, very fast and decently driveable car.
Check out "Gatebilsfest" at www.gatebil.no and the Porsche at itsfun.nu
Name: Carl Rydquist Age: 31 Home: Redondo Beach Web:CarlRydquist.com Reel:Click to watch Highlights: Winner of Swedish Endurance GT Racing Championship (2001 & 2004). Winner of Zandvoort 500 (2005). Winner of Eurosport Super Racing Weekend Challenge (2001). 24 Hours of Nurburgring (2006, 2007, 2008). Memberships: FIA (international racing license), Performance Two Stunt & Precision Driving Team, Hollywood, CA (professional driver).
