Fresh Perspective

This is why DragTimes.com is one of the best sites on the Internet. Viper ACR Dyno Pulls. Love it!

2008 Dodge Viper ACR on the Dyno- Video.

Cool Video that my buddy Alexis shot, something even more special to follow tomorrow.

Hurst Challenger revs-up- Video.

First, congrats to Brooks for running a great time without Launch control. 11.6@118 is impressive. Second, this video illustrates why the GT-R is going to loose a roll-on race against most 11 second cars. The GT-R’s weight slows down the ET (118), so the Viper is catching up toward the end (122). This is not unlike how the GT-R does against the Z06 as well. In the 8th, my money in on the GT-R, at the Qtr it’s a driver’s race, take it further, and the Viper is going to win.

2009 Nissan GT-R: 2009 Nissan GT-R vs 2008 Dodge Viper SRT10 Video.

Gasoline in the veins!

My son’s first drive in the Challenger- Video.

…while filming. Grinner rocks!….oh, and he crunched his ride….ACK!

Gateway Raceway Drift Day- Video.

Old but worth posting still. I have about a gig worth of video cluttering up my hard drive that is all B-Roll from this shoot.

And of course I took plenty of photos on this shoot as well..

Believe it or not Dodge was pretty happy with this shoot since it was part of a larger “Challenger Week” we ran on the site.  My Favorite video from that week was actually the Top Gear Photo shoot we did.  Andrew from CarPix is an amazing photographer and really did a great job explaining how he composes photos for Top Gear.

“Challenger Week“

Deborah Meyer Vice President and CMO Chrysler

One of this year’s most anticipated speakers at The Mixx Conference in New York was Deborah Meyer, the newly appointed Vice President and first ever Chief Marketing Officer of Chrysler….well most anticipated by myself and the small StreetFire team that was attending.

2008 has been a horrible year for auto, and I wanted to hear how Chrysler was going to react to it given the Cerebus buy out. I’m beating a dead horse to talk about the themes in America’s auto industry…… High gas prices leading customers away from domestic products combined with a financial crisis creating the perfect storm of the worst year in auto in a long time. Deborah opened with how Chrysler is addressing it, by walking away from typical brand building and going where the users are. Bravo.

As a 14 year web geek and founder of an automotive web site it’s music to my weary ears to hear an Automotive executive climbing out of the primordial ooze and finally “getting it.”

First, 80% of all car buying, regardless of vehicle segment or niche, begins online according to Meyer. I’m happy to hear an automotive executive realize that not only are their products being chosen online, but that online buyers need a different format of marketing based on engagement and influencing opinion. Authenticity, deep information and taking a message to a pre-existing community. Agree on all points, and something echoed not just by me, but others as well.

What worries me is the execution of the vision. For example the upcoming RamChallenge.com minisite designed to create authenticity with the real America that will buy it….okay, sounds good.

“We need to be authentic here, no actors, real America and what they think of the 2009 Dodge Ram,” Meyer stated and I nodded in agreement, but the execution looked like a Jerry Bruckheimer Blockbuster with helicopters, explosions and a Rock and Roll Sound track.

Dodge to debut the RamChallenge.com

Is this going to work? I don’t think so, I thought this was supposed to be Joe Average?…..unless Joe Average is hauling lumber through an obstacle course of trunk conkers while being chased by a helicopter through explosions… I think they missed something when they sent it off to creative. What I do think is going to work is their other initiative at Jeep.

Sorry I should have grabbed a snap of the new site, but Jeep is going to celebrate the photos and communities that have cropped up around Jeep with Yahoo Groups and Flickr communities….now we’re almost talking…. I say almost because I really don’t know any serious enthusiast that spends a lot of time on Yahoo groups. The real enthusiasts go to destination sites, like JeepForum.com with over a 160,000 Jeep Enthusiasts.

Okay, so the reality is that Chrysler spends a ton of money with Yahoo, and the tie into Flickr (owned by Yahoo) and Yahoo groups, is probably part of some larger Yahoo buy, but still I think Deborah could have built a massive amount of community credibility by giving a mothership endorsement to one of their largest fan sites. But credit where credit is due this is a step in the right direction and I’m sure Deborah had a board room full of people to please on both the Jeep site and RamChallenge.com, I hope a few more iterations will lead us closer to what really makes sense. Something they’re actually already doing…..

Dodge Viper SRT10 ACR Sets Nurburgring Record

You see, there are already groups inside of Chrysler, GM, BMW and others that get it, and that are moving in this direction. I believe the piece missing for Deborah Meyer, and other CMO executives is how do you makes enthusiast communities accountable to actual leads, which is why she has to try out things that directly lead to lead-gen like RamChallenge.com, rather than just directly tap the large Dodge truck communities already around. To her credit, given the economics of the day, Deborah is acting as a good steward of the marketing budget and making sure that every dollar is accountable. This is the lead gen flow chart for a typical initiative. I dare say it’s more complicated than the entire StreetFire video sharing service!

This is how a CMO thinks

In summary I am optimistic that Chrysler is getting smart about how to create online marketing. They’ll need to iterate a few times to take out some obvious big-budget Hollywood agency pieces and create an authentic message. The fact that they sent a team to the Nurburgring to take the record in a Viper ACR shows they get online marketing and are trying to put it into practice. Deborah Meyer’s focus on accountable spending and funnel analytic analysis is right for this space, making her the right executive for the job. I just hope that Chrysler and the other manufacturers finally have the needed epiphany that enthusiast communities are their biggest untapped asset and that is the secret puzzle that needs to be figured out.

Started when Garage419 did the GT-R vs ZR1, and now the fight continues between the ACR and ZR1.  Andi Bartichi put this video together to show the two side by side.  Looks to me like the Viper is a little more composed, but then it should be with all that downforce and rubber.

andi baritchi – the blog: Viper ACR vs Corvette ZR1 Side by Side at Nurburgring Video.

I was very excited to see the new Motor Trend test to find “America’s best handling car”…. though I think it’s silly to not include the Vette, since the ZR1 is just as new as the Shelby 500KR and Viper ACR. That said I was SUPER ANNOYED by the lack of a clear leaderboard. Sheesh, stop trying to placate everyone, man up here and stack these cars properly! Since Motor Trend is too something, to do this, I’ve done it for them based on their own data.

America’s Best Handling Car – Track Testing – Comparison – Motor Trend.

When you need a pit crew to start up your “street car” you may be pushing the definition a little thin. Jump to 6 minutes 10 to see the action.

Swedish Dodge Charger 950 hp on the streets