Ok, so it would be fair to say that I haven't updated this in a bit. However, the S is riding real nice these days. Why? Because of a proper set of upgrades. Behold! Click here for gallery

Ok, so the fires part might be a bit of an exaggeration. The rest however, is not.

This past Saturday was the third round of the 2010 Formula Drift season, The Gauntlet, held at Wall Speedway over in New Jersey. Despite the heat (temps were approaching the 100 degree mark), a huge crowd turned out to see how the top drifters in the world handled the steep banking that helps make The Gauntlet such a unique stop on the circuit tour.

Many moons ago (or, like a year or so ago) the staff was sitting here in the 0-60 offices, having an argument a discussion. My position in said discussion, was that anyone could go out and do a lap of the Nürburgring in under 10 minutes—assuming that they had a car with enough power and that wasn't life-threateningly difficult to drive. Of course, everyone else decided to hate on that notion, claiming that there was absolutely no way that was a realistic claim.

A few years back, I saw some straight up bullshit. Preferred parking for alternative fuel vehicles. Now, I’ve seen signs for parking spaces that are “reserved” for new and expectant mothers. And I’ve promptly parked in them because it’s not my fault that they got knocked up. I’m also familiar with handicapped spaces. If you’re disabled and need a space by the door, that’s cool with me—assuming it’s legit and you’re not some fat slob who had their doctor get them a permit because you’re too god damn lazy to lose some weight and walk the regular distance like the rest of us. New and expecting though? That’s not a medical condition, that’s self-inflicted. Besides, walking the extra 5 spaces will do those soon-to-be moms some good. It might even help them lose those extra pounds after they pop out their demon spawn. However, I had never come across preferred parking for alternative fuel vehicles.

As you probably know, there's a section that we run on a fairly regular basis in the mag called Wager. The premise is pretty straightforward. Someone bets another member of the staff that they can do something better than the other—assuming that it's automotive related, otherwise there'd be wagers going down every day and nothing would get done here. Previously there was a timed race through NYC traffic between a bike and a Smart Car, a contest to see who could achieve the worst gas mileage out of a hybrid in one lap of Manhattan and a race around the island of Manhattan between a CTS-V and a SeaDoo.

Now, these all sound fun—and they were—but there's a disturbing pattern that has developed. I've participated in the last two wagers (hybrid MPGs and car vs. watercraft) and managed to lose both. Badly. Unfortunately, when I decided to talk trash against Vaughn Gittin Jr. and his drift ability (I may have said that I could get within 8/10ths of what he does with only a car, some tires and an empty parking lot to practice), that prompted everyone in the office to declare bullshit and relay the message to Vaughn. The result? Vaughn bet that there was no way I could come close to him with only one day of work behind the wheel. In fact, he was so confident in the fact that what he does isn't easy, he bet me that his girlfriend, Abigail Baker, could whoop my ass drifting. Turns out she may have owned a 240 at some point in her life and may have had a smidgen of experience. Oh yeah, and she lives with a professional drifter. But I'm sure those things didn't factor in, right?

Every year, right before Easter, our hometown auto show rolls through the Javits Center. It's nice for us because it means that instead of schlepping our crap to some other major metropolis to shake babies and kiss hands, we get to wake up in the comfort of our own cramped apartments, ride our regular stinky trains to the show (actually, that's a lie, there's no subway service over in that part of town, we usually end up just cabbing it over from the office) and then when it's all over and we've drank up the last free cocktail at some manufacturer party, we get to retreat to the comfort of our own beds.

Most weekday evenings I have a fairly regular routine. Leave the office around 8 PM, head home, grab some grub, maybe watch some TV or tinker with my bike and then kill an hour or two checking in on a few of my favorite websites. And no, they're not all porn.

Behold, a 1996 DeTomaso Guarà. Super rare and exotic, yet pedestrian at the same time! With less than 100 examples built during the production run (1993-2004), you don't see them every day. That's not the point though. The point is this: Good looking car, yay or nay? Currently I'm engaged with an argument amongst the staff here. I happen to think that it's attractive in the most ungainly of ways. Everyone else would rather carve their eyeballs out with a rusty pocket knife than look at it. So, I'm going to leave it up to the masses. Hot or not? Leave your vote in the comments below.