"Consumer Friendly, dreams and reality"

For me T.V. programmes about the automotive industry can be extremely entertaining but at the same time saddening as I know without a doubt I will probably never get to drive that new Ford never mind a Ferrari being shown on the show or afford that new piece of automotive equipment/accessory just released onto the market,but I here to talk about consumer friendliness in today's automotive  T.V. shows.

I for one dream of having a job like the presenters of T.V. shows like "Top Gear" do, getting to travel the world, driving cars from every corner of the globe (cars that cost more than your average house) through deep forest riddled valleys and over rocky mountainous windy roads, competing in challenges that amaze and entertain the viewers every week. I know that these dreams will most probably never come true, but one can dream right ?

These shows have become larger than life! they have become like action films (demonstrated by the picture of "Top Gear" above) but that is what a large percentage of the audience want nowadays. Cars that only a very minuscule percentage of the worlds population will ever get a chance to drive never mind own, cars being shown to the people who tune in "just to dream", that being the only chance they may ever get to see the cars in action and come close to their dream.

Now don't get me wrong, these shows like "Top Gear" are amazingly entertaining but they have become dislodged from the reality that is the audiences consumer limits, these shows are not always consumer friendly but they wouldn't be entertaining if they were, would they ?

I loving all things automotive came across a show which I have now watched for the guts of a year or so, it is     consumer friendly and at the same time entertaining, its helpful to those with a not so large budget for vehicles and/or their modifications, this show is a show created and run on Youtube, ran by friends, its called "Mighty Car Mods", (http://www.youtube.com/user/mightycarmods)

"Mighty Car Mods" is Australian Youtube channel that has built an impressive following of over seventy thousand subscribers from all around the world, this show is budgeted mainly with the creators own money, and "Mighty Car Mods" has gained the sponsorship of three companies (Just car insurance, Go Fast Bits and Recaro) through pure dedication by those who run it! (there are many more similar on Youtube)

Both "bigger than life" shows and consumer friendly shows are enjoyable and entertaining but while both are entertaining, the consumer friendly show is more helpful as the people who watch can afford what's on display (in most cases) and so the audience can relate more to the presenters and the show its self.

I as I'm sure many others wish they were in a position to be a presenter or even just involved in a show like "Top Gear" but the odds of that being so small make people (me included) stop dreaming of being given such a chance.

I will say one thing, if your into the automotive scene/industry as much as I am, why not start to create your own videos like "Mighty Car Mods" did, something may come of it, if you don't have the equipment to make your own videos why not blog your thoughts and views like me on the automotive industry, you won't gain thousands or even hundreds of followers overnight but eventually people will follow if you show passion and motivation within your work, anything can happen if you give in time!

Again if you enjoyed reading this as much as I did writing it stay tuned every Monday for a new post, share this with your friends, tweet it anything you can to help would be appreciated, Follow me on twitter    (http://twitter.com/davidholmes_fpp ) send me ideas of what you want me to talk about and all that good stuff.

These are my views

Thank you for reading!

"It's a Minority in the Majority of drivers"

Two cars that may seem the same does not mean they are actually  the same, their owners are what make both similar cars different as no to car owners are ever the same, this creates many a dilemma for insurance companies as to how they can quote to similar cars with different owners. For example one of my personal favourite cars the "Honda Civic" a favoured car in the modified car scene:

These Honda Civic's have been a big part in the modified car scene for as long as the early 80's if not earlier, the problem is while there driven by modified car enthusiasts, they are also driven by so called "boy racers" (Females not just males) who give the modifying cars and its scene a bad name.

Upon my own experience and that of people I have spoken to and read about I have come to the realization that insurance quotes/premiums for males mainly under the age bracket of 25 are crazy, young males are tortured with car insurance quotes for incredibly large sums of money (so are females don't get me wrong) all this for being in the "boy racer" age group!

This minority who are called "boy racers" that treat our roads badly give the bigger modified car scene a bad name in Ireland and all over the rest of the world I'm sure, as a result car insurance premiums associated with the modified car scene and young/semi-older drivers has gone through the roof in Ireland. 

I myself (being in the age group of the "boy racer") see modifying cars as a hobby and would never use a modified/unmodified car in such a way (street racing etc....) that may endanger pedestrians and fellow drivers on public roads.

leave the racing on the track!

Nobody should be judged by there age or what they drive but instead by the way they drive, in my opinion insurance companies like "Axa insurance, FBD insurance, AA insurance etc...." (not saying there bad, they are great insurance companies) need to change the way in which they see the younger population as "boy racers", the "boy racers" arE a minority which includes females not just males and these are the people who are dragging the rest of the driving population down and making insurance premiums  what they are!

Now don't get me wrong I do not blame the insurance companies for their reasons that they charge such large sums to young people but it is those people who find it hardest to pay the prices given, young people find it hard to find a job due to inexperience so cannot afford the large insurance prices.

Overall not all young drivers are "boy racers" so why brand them with the name ? insurance companies need to realize this and try to sort out a more fair scheme to try and decrease the horrendous car insurance prices being asked of young drivers and drivers of modified cars after all if someone put their time and money into their car would they not take more care of it ? 

As I said before Keep the racing/excessive speeding on a closed track, and that is what many people do!

I have an opinion, this is it, sorry if I offend someone!

THANK YOU FOR READING :)

"Me, myself and FPP"

This post will be a short intro by me about this blog, me and Flatline Precision Photography.

Hi, I'm David from Co.Wicklow, Ireland. (http://twitter.com/davidholmes_fpp)
I have been interested in cars all my life and I have also become interested in photography over the past few years, so I thought to myself, why not combine both my passions together as a sort of publicly known hobby for now and see where it goes in the future.

I intend to focus mainly on the car industry/scene but might from time to time do other aspects of photography that I myself enjoy. In FPP's future I would love to do it full time as a career, have an official FPP track car and a daily car to double as FPP's show car, both cars separate of course for different genres of the car scene, have FPP sponsored by companies in the automotive industry and be known internationally by thousands, for isn't it the goal of everyone starting their own idea off ? 

This all may seem a bit far-fetched but why dream if your not going to dream big, life is what we make of it so "Go big or go home".

I hope to do this blog as a weekly post, so lets see where this goes!

Thanks for reading :)