SBV8 One-Year/20000-Hit Review

SBV8 Stats Page (yeah, I'm still using the old view)

So it's now been over a year since I started blogging. I didn't really know what to expect when I started, it was just to start brushing up on my writing skills a bit and rant about stuff I didn't have an opportunity to rant about on other car sites, and that still happens from time to time, although I haven't ranted for a while now. Unfortunately, it's also becoming something of a procrastination tool, which is evident by the fact that in just over two months I've written half as many posts as I did all year in 2011! This is the 50th of 2012, which I guess I could treat as a landmark too. Sort of. at any rate, you can see what most people are looking at above, and you can also see that the greatly increased frequency of posts has produced results of sorts, as there's a nice big spike where 2012 started. January '12 was the higher than any month last year on its own, then February sticks out like the rear wing on a Plymouth Superbird because over 300 people clicked on my F1 2011/12 Winter Update, which I guess turned out to be very helpful for some of you, so, er, glad I could help! More after the jump, as they say.

What else has happened since the 10,000 Views post? Well, more spam sites have appeared on my stats page (like Domar.ru), as well as a spam commenter called emailrobertcena (or some variation thereof), which is a pain in the arse, but I've also made a Formula 1 page which will act as a resource for F1 people who follow me as I report on everything of note, and to find all things F1 when I'm posting about other things (I was going to do a testing update, but because the times don't mean all that much, I didn't see much point). There's also some stuff too small to make into a post on there.

I've been talking more about car design recently, as evidenced in three of the most recent posts, the Infiniti Emerg-E writeup - which was linked to in a forum, so thanks NSXprime user! - as well as the Pininfarina-vs-Roding comparison below this and the Ferrari F12 Berlinetta. This is partly because I'm looking to get into an automotive design course at university, and having sent them the URL they might read and appreciate it, but it's also very easy to talk about without being wrong! That's because, of course, all design is subjective and there is no wrong answer. Some people for example think the Pontiac Aztec isn't that bad-looking, even though most people think it's as hideous as watching a disfigured cockroach give birth in HD. There's also been lots of Subarota BRZ86GTFR-S on here, because I think it's a really cool car, not necessarily on the outside, although it's hardly ugly, but on the inside and underneath it screams "driving machine", which I love. I also love that the stripped-out "Purist Version" has been confirmed for the UK!

Apparently there's a convertible version on the way to fight the Mazda MX-5 as well, but I don't want that, partly because I wouldn't buy a convertible anyway, but also because chopping the roof off will make it heavier and less rigid, worsening the sports car-ness that is entirely the point of the car, not to mention that convertibles meant to be convertibles in the first place are always better than chopped coupés, like the Porsche Boxster, Honda S2000 and indeed the Mazda MX-5. It'll probably find some buyers, though.

Anyway, I also signed up to AdSense, but so far I've only made 12p from it, so that sucks. It's probably because the ad's in the sidebar below all the other stuff. I don't really want to paste ads all over the page though, it would look messy. There has also been another motor show since last time I did something like this, and the Geneva show starts in 4 days, so within a week of next Tuesday you can expect to find a paragraph or two about 10 cars worthy of note from there. I might try and make this one funny to add interest, but that's not a promise!

The last rant I did was actually back when SAAB's museum in Trollhättan was all for sale, although I'm happy to say the 123 cars are all staying where they are, in the crazy Swedish company's home town, where 3500 jobs have now been lost. Also, the TopGear tribute last week made me want a 99 Turbo quite a lot. You can see all the rants here, or by clicking the category tag atop every page. The manual transmission one is worth a look, if I may say so myself. That was some fairly heartfelt writing, although at points I had trouble keeping it going. It's important though, because I don't want to become one step removed from driving the car until I can't use my left leg anymore for whatever reason. I can see the point of paddleshift 'boxes on a track, as it takes a layer of thought/concern off your mind when you're hurtling towards a corner, but I would definitely miss it on the road.

Anyway, enough of me rambling on, if you want to read more than the articles I've linked to here, all of them are accessible via the archive on the right. Also, click on the F1 page, because it's pretty cool, also because I said so. Only one person has so far :-(

So yeah, this is SmallBlogV8. Enjoy!

No no, not this. This is a smallblock V8 (a GM LSA, to be precise). Small Blog V8 is the rest of what you're looking at.

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