"New driver...no problem"

Ok so for this post I decided to speak of the best options I believe are available for a learner driver (in Ireland mainly) to keep his or her costs as low as possible as it can be expensive (more so for male drivers) when starting off, these ideas involve car types, insurance options and hassles and a few other aspects within those areas.....

Now when it comes to cars and learner drivers your best bet is a small engined car which in turn usually means the car itself is small enough also.....this will help in many ways to save some cash when starting to learn to drive and are better to learn in as they are not too fast and are small which will make it easier to handle.....a few cars that would fit into this range would be: Volkswagen Polo or Fox, Seat Ibiza, Fiat Punto, Stilo or 500, Nissan Micra or Figaro, Toyota Yaris, Starlet or Glanza, Peugeot 206 106 ....the list goes on, all these cars are in between the 1.0 to 1.3 litre engine size which in some cases makes them in the lower insurance bracket and cheaper to tax too.....

Here are a select few pictures of some of the cars mentioned above...

 (Volkswagen Polo)

 (Toyota Glanza)

(Peugeot 206)

 (Fiat Punto)

 (Nissan Micra)

(Toyota Yaris)

If you are over the age of 20 you could try bigger engine sized cars like the Volkswagen Golf or Bora, Mitsubishi Mirage or Colt, Honda Civic and many other vehicles which go up to a 1.4 litre sized engine.....but that would be the biggest size engine I personally would recommend to go for unless you go as a named driver under somebody else's insurance or money is no object...

That brings me onto insurance and insurance companies itself, the worst part because no matter what they will do their very best to "screw" each and every one of us!

There are many things that when factored  in can and will increase the price of your insurance from the car to the littlest details about you yourself.....When it comes to the car apart from the make, model, engine size and design, insurance companies like to add to the price of the insurance if the car has any modifications done to it sometimes including aftermarket alloys even, for your first car try to keep modifications to a minimum...

Aftermarket alloys and many other parts increase costs...

Another way to go about insurance is to have a more experienced driver go as the main insurer with you as a named driver, that way the price should drop a fair bit (if your lucky) Now when you do lessons (if you do them) you can get deals with insurance companies were you pay for a certain amount of lessons and get six months free insurance as a named driver.....

This part of your "driving career" will probably be the worst part of your driving experience in terms of the high costs and small cars etc.....but everyone has to start somewhere!

Thank you for reading, if you want to talk to me more about this or anything else contact me here:

(http://www.facebook.com/pages/Flatline-Precision-Motorworks/425140864191542)

or...

(http://twitter.com/fpmotorworks)

These are my opinions and may change depending on you circumstances, once again thank you for reading, contact me with any thoughts and I hope it helped even if only slightly :)

THANK YOU!

"JDM, a way of life for some, trade for others"

It has been a while since I posted on this blog, the reason that I didn't know where I wanted "FPM" to go and I didn't know what I should write about next, now I know what direction I want "FPM" to go in, I want posts with first hand information on the subject at hand, which I can use for input into my blog post, post wont be every week like I wanted but I will try my best to publish them as often as possible, now on with this post!For this post I'm going to be looking into the term "JDM" to see what it means in different cultures and where its origins originate!

An "Eat Sleep JDM" sign

The abbreviated term "JDM" stands for "Japanese Domestic Market" which in Ireland is not used in that exact way. In Ireland "JDM" is the way the car look and when it has a certain spec and component set-up etc..... and I'm sure its the same in other countries too!

(Now some back story into the term "JDM")

The term "Japanese Domestic Market"  "JDM" refers to the local market in Japan for Japanese-made motor vehicles and components. Within the car hobbyist import scene, this term, and the related term Japanese domestic model, most commonly refer to Japanese-brand auto mobiles and parts designed and constructed to conform to Japanese vehicle and equipment regulations and to suit Japanese market preferences. "JDM" vehicles migrate to other markets through ordinary commerce and the Gray market. "JDM" vehicles often differ in features and equipment from vehicles sold elsewhere. For example, Honda has produced many different versions of the B18C, B16A and K20A engines for various markets worldwide. This is done due to varying emission regulations in different countries. Vehicles built to "JDM" specifications may have stiffer suspensions and improved throttle response over vehicles built for different markets, due to differing driving styles and different road types. For example, the USA features long highways where a smoother ride would be preferable, while Japan's roads are short and twisty, where a stiffer suspension is desired for improved handling capability. For the US and European market versions, some features may be removed in order to stay below a certain pricing goal for the car, such as using a conventional rear suspension instead of a double wishbone suspension and lack of electronic devices, furthermore, engine power of "JDM" sports cars is sometimes reduced because of stricter emission standards in other countries.

Ok so there's some back story of "JDM",so you see in Japan "JDM" is actually a way of life, you could even say its life in general in Japan "Domesticated everyday life there", but in other countries "JDM" is a different way of life, its a life surrounding the car culture itself! consisting of clean cars non-abused in terms of looks but instead tastefully sculpted to create your very own masterpiece, a one off to beat them all and turn heads along the way using all Japanese parts to help you!

Now, when it comes to cars created in Japan there all technically "JDM" but there are some ways to complete the "JDM" look and others that go a little too far...

 (Above) a "JDM" car I consider "Just Right" clean and not over the top.

(Above) a car made for the "JDM" market but done a bit over the top, what some might call a "Riced/Ricer", I personally hate the term ricer but its true!

Now, when it comes to thing associated with "JDM" in Japan and other countries there is differences to! for example, over here in Ireland there is a sticker/sign (pictured below)

In Ireland this is really just there as a symbol to represent the "JDM" car culture scene while in Japan the is a sign associated with learner/beginner drivers like the "L" sign here in Ireland (pictured below)

(Both mean the same thing in different cultures)

There are many more things like this which I will not gi into detail about, but it shows how something which is basically "domestic everyday life" in Japan can become morphed/mutated in to a different form of "lifestyle" in the western society!

This is all for this blog post, stay tuned for the next one, if you enjoyed reading this go read my older posts and go follow me on twitter @ (www.twitter.com/FPMotorworks) for car related things and check for updates of stuff to come, also search me on instagram under @David_FPM for more car pictures

I hope you enjoyed this, all there views are my own and I hope you agree with aspects of this post.

Thank you for reading, i appreciate it a lot :)

Nissan GT-R, "Godzilla" (R35)

As of the last few years and especially in the last year/few months I have been obsessed with all things   "GT-R" (R35), the car of my dreams! so I have decided to dedicate a blog post for the Nissan GTR.

(07/08 Nissan GT-R)

(2013 Nissan GT-R)

A nickname given to the GT-R as seen in the title is "Godzilla", the reason to me for such a name is derived from the GT-R's big size and weight :

Length: 4655 mm (183.3 in)

Width: 1895 mm (74.6 in)

Height: 1370 mm (53.9 in)

Weight: 1740 KG (3800 lb)

These stats seeming to be ineffective at making the performance of the car sluggish! but in fact helping keep the car hugged to the ground for better traction etc... overall the Nissan GT-R has an overwhelming amount of power even for its bulky size and weight!

The GT-R was produced/made in Tochigi, Japan, by Nissan, it was first released in Japan on December 6th, 2007, and in the United States on JULY 7TH, 2008 and then later released to the rest of the automotive world on March 2009, the car its self  being a front engined all-wheel drive 

(starts in rear wheel drive, changing to AWD to counter wheel spin) 3.8 litre VR38DETT twin turbo V6 six speed automatic dual clutch transmission.

From the first models in 2007 up to present and beyond to 2013, the Nissan engineers have increased and tweaked the GT-R's performance from around 480 hp in 07/08 to the present running at around 550 hp, these changes in horsepower and tweaked performance have made the car increasingly better every year! Not to mention its price is tiny compared to the cars it is compare to performance wise!

The GT-R has been a rival for the super cars of other automotive companies such as Lamborghini and Porsche etc... since its creation/release in 07/08. Because of the cars amazing performance, many aftermarket companies have invested in the GT-R to use as their race cars and see what kind of power they can squeeze out or add with their own performance GT-R aftermarket parts. A good example of a company doing this is Greddy Performance, 

(http://twitter.com/#!/GReddy_Power) 

(http://www.greddy.com/)

(GReddy GT-R)

I would love to one day own one or drive one of these amazing cars! It truly is a Godzilla in the automotive world, I wish to one day have a GT-R with "Flatline Precision Motorworks" across the sides and everywhere else!

(Computer created "FPM" GT-R)

The GT-R is truly an amazing car and has won numerous awards including Top Gears: Super car of the year on the year of its release etc... since its release in 2007, (it is the car Batman would drive if he were real) Nissan has definitely outdone itself and the 2013 GT-R is set to be even better, the car is sure to win many more awards and races throughout the rest of its lifespan!

Check out this video by Motor Trend: (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=50ebNYhnGPQ)

follow me on twitter: (http://twitter.com/#!/DavidHolmes_FPP)

These are my views nobody elses!

     Thank you for reading, hope you found this interesting, if so stay tuned for my next post.

"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 :)