Josh Karsten
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Posts by Josh Karsten
What’s going on 3/25-3/27
Mar 23rd
Cuban Film Festival – Thursday March 24th
The Minnesota Cuba Committee, in partnership with the Film Society of Minneapolis St. Paul and the Cuban Film Institute, presents the 7th edition of the Minnesota Cuban Film Festival. This Thursday marks the fifth film screening in a series of six. Just bring your Spanish translator because the films are in Spanish.
Macy’s Flower Show – Now until April 3rd
You don’t need to go to Denver to enjoy some good greenery. Over the next few weeks the eight floor of Macy’s downtown will come alive with grasses, tropical flowers, cacti, and other green and not-so-green flora. It’s too bad we don’t have a VW bus in the MHCC fleet. It would fit this event perfectly.
Smoke Signals BBQ and Brewfest – Saturday, March 26th
Generally we’re not fan of smoke, whether it’s blue smoke from a tailpipe or any other variety, but we can’t turn down a little smoked barbeque. This Saturday Indeed Brewing is paring some of the finest BBQ with some of their tasty suds at Smoke Signals. Throw in an outdoor bonfire for good measure you’ve got a great trifecta.
What’s Going On 3/4-3/6
Mar 2nd
Tribute Night at Amsterdam Bar and Hall – Friday, March 4th
Unless you have a Delorean and can time travel back to the early nineties it’s unlikely that you’ll be able to hear Weezer’s entire Blue Album, Alice in Chains’ Dirt and Nirvana’s Nevermind performed live from start to finish. Fortunately, you won’t need Marty McFly’s help this weekend because all three albums will be performed atAmsterdam Bar and Hall’s Tribute night. All this for just $10.
MMA at Mystic – Friday, March 4th
The last fight we saw at a casino was between two seniors trying to stake their claim on a lucrative penny slot. This weekend you can witness more intense fighting when the MMA heads to Mystic Lake. We’re not big on fighting, but you probably knew that since we’re looking for a Volkswagen Hippie Bus.
Bedrace for bridging – Saturday, March 5th
There’s nothing quite like snuggling up in a warm bed — while hurtling down a snowy ski slope. If this sounds like your idea of fun you have to check out the Subway Bed Race for Bridging. This annual winter extravaganza pairs mattresses of all sizes with exuberant individuals looking for a different type of winter activity.
Minnesota Roller Girls Home Season Championship – Saturday, March 5th
Hell on wheels. That’s what we’d call our roller derby team if we had one. Alas, we don’t so we have to resort to watching others play. We’re in luck because theMinnesota Roller Girls Home Season Championship kicks off this Saturday.
What’s Going On – 2/25
Feb 25th
A shortlist of upcoming events that piqued our interest
Adult Coloring Club – Thursday, February 25th
Who says coloring should only be for kids? The Coloring Club MPLS gives artistic adults an opportunity to put their colored pencils to use, which is good for people like Amber (one of our graphic designers) who have “coloring degrees” and want to keep up on their skills. Throw in $5 beers from Eastlake Craft Brewery (the event host) and coloring sheets from local artists and you can’t go wrong.
WinterFest at the Union Depot – Friday, February 26th
When he was in town last week Vice President Joe Biden had nothing but good things to say about St. Paul’s Union Depot. If that’s not reason enough to plan a visit maybe a little beer might persuade you. This Friday the Minnesota Craft Brewers guild is hosting Winterfest, a tribute to Minnesota beer. Chase out the winter chill with a multitude of Winter Warmers, hearty food, beer education, entertainment and music.
Tech Fest 2016 – Saturday, February 27th
We’re all for introducing our youth to engineering, mechanics and hands-on technology. If we don’t who is going to fix all of these old cars we’ve collected? All kidding aside, The Works Museum is hosting a neat family engineering and technology fair offering hours of technology exploration for the whole family. Consider it a good alternative to sitting home on the couch.
Red Bull Crashed Ice – February 26th and February 27th
The icy spectacle known as Red Bull Crashed Ice returns to St. Paul this weekend for its fifth straight year in a row and serves as the grand finale of the worldwide four-stop tour. If you’ve never been it’s definitely something you should check out. Also be sure to check out the Crashed Ice Village. If you’re looking for easy travel to and from St. Paul Metro Transit will be offering a variety of free shuttles.
An SUV with the Heart of an Italian Sport Car
Feb 20th
Italian automakers have historically produced some of the most beautiful and best sounding vehicles, but they don’t often make Sport Utility Vehicles. Maserati has been delivering fun to drive, gorgeous cars to showrooms for years and they are now taking that recipe to the SUV market with the Maserati Levante. They have carried over the company’s design language with an aggressive front end highlighting the tapered headlights. The signature styling continues past the grill feature with three iconic air vents and trapezoidal C-pillar. The underpinnings of the Levante feature sophisticated air suspension with air springs and controlled damping. The Q4 all wheel drive system similar to the Quattroporte and Ghibli is adapted for unparalleled on road performance and low grip off road situations. An 8 speed transmission has been specially calibrated for the new SUV attaching to the gasoline powerplant.
Inside the Aston Martin Vulcan
Feb 10th
photo by The Drive
The production of the Aston Martin Vulcan is in full swing, of course by that we mean they are being hand built in a small facility outside of Aston’s main manufacturing space. All 24 cars are being built by a 40-member team who have worked on all of the Bond cars, put together the DBX concept, and shoehorned a V12 into the Vantage. In other words, they build all that is awesome in the world of Aston Martin. The Vulcans are built to order and will be run in a race series with only Vulcan’s all over the world, starting in United Arab Emirates at the Formula track Yas Marina. You can find more details about the Vulcan on our blog here.
Carfection recently was able to tour and fortunately for us they made a video with some great sneak peeks at the details incorporated into this track only car, you’ll want to turn up the volume for this one.
Aston Martin Vulcan leading the way for the future of oil changes
Nov 10th
Castrol is working hard to reinvent the oil change, which frankly sounds about as easy as reinventing the wheel. After a couple of years of developing what they are calling Nexcel, they have done something special. The Nexcel unit itself holds oil and the filter all in one container and simply fits into a base within the car’s engine bay. Once the recommended oil change interval is reached the Nexcel unit can be changed out in 90 seconds by simply lifting the unit out and replacing it with another one. The unit is sent back to be reconditioned for reuse and can be reconditioned 5 or 6 times before its service life is over.
We first found about this new product from an article on Autoblog.com and it peaked our interest that the Aston Martin Vulcan was going to be the first car to implement Nexcel. While the Vulcan is a track only car, Castrol UK worked closely with Aston Martin to develop Nexcel and test it in the real world, retrofitting Aston Martin’s cars with Nexcel and have been testing in England for the last couple of years. After talking to a representative from Castrol at SEMA we found out that other manufacturers are very interested, one being Ford as they get the street version the GT ready for 2017. There are also a couple of companies with fleets of long service life heavy duty trucks looking to retrofit this technology for their use as it would pay off over the life of the truck as they are in service for hundreds of thousands of miles.
Artful Living Magazine’s Kentucky Derby Party presented Morrie’s Luxury Auto
Apr 9th
Join Artful Living Magazine for their first annual Kentucky Derby Party, presented by Morrie’s Luxury Auto. Sip on traditional cocktails, savor Southern fare, and enjoy great company while watching the live races. We’ll be there with a selection of Aston Martins, Bentleys, and Maseratis available for test drives. For tickets click here.
http://www.eventbrite.com/o/artful-living-magazine-8038693698
Aston Martin Vulcan Revealed
Feb 25th
Aston Martin has announced that it will be bringing its extensive racing heritage to Gentlemen Racers by way of the Vulcan. The Aston Martin Vulcan project was born to give the customer an experience of performance driving like no other. Ownership allows participation in many performance driving events worldwide, unlike programs from competing performance brands. And Aston Martin will work with owners to ensure they can take the Vulcan to the tracks they want to drive and that it will meet the various sound requirements. Once you have committed to ownership, Aston Martin invites you to Gaydon for a unique commissioning experience to select the colors and finish for the car. Additionally, they take measurements for seating, steering wheel grips and custom racing suit and helmet.
Prior to taking delivery, Aston Martin will offer intensive track training for each customer via their Fast Track Training program. Experienced professional racers will offer a chance to refine driving skills and technique through practical and theoretical training events using Aston Martin’s already extensive stable of performance cars like the V12 Vantage S, One-77 and the Vantage GT4 race car to further build the customer experience.
If you haven’t been impressed so far, lets cover the car itself: The Vulcan boasts some amazing features like carbon fiber removable panels surrounding a rigid carbon fiber tub. Power comes from a 7 liter V12 engine producing 800 plus horsepower which is set back behind the front axle line to ensure an excellent weight balance. All of this power is channeled to a six speed sequential gearbox mounted in the rear of the car by way of a magnesium torque tube housing a carbon fiber drive shaft. To tame all this power, the brakes are carbon ceramic racing discs with 6 piston front and 4 piston rear controlled by a driver adjustable Bosch anti-lock braking system. Push rod suspension is mounted to all four corners with 4 way adjustable DSSV dampers.
Safety is also very important to Aston Martin, so they have worked very hard to design the Vulcan with FIA race requirements. This will include Frontal Head Restraint, 6 point racing harness, roll cage, fuel cell and fire extinguisher. All of these safety features allow the Vulcan to run one-make races or other open races.
