Who is this M5Power guy?

[Joey D]

This aside, the article is quite concerning - it seems to laud excessive, reckless driving for the end product of... well... being nerdy. I have no problem with being nerdy - hell, I am one - but I'd struggle to justify repeated acts of law-breaking in the pursuit of my nerdiness...

It's reporting what the writer experienced and what Doug told him, if it's reckless behaviour then so be it but it would be really bad journalism not to report it or change it around to make it sound safer. Magazines report on street racing from to time, which we can all pretty much agree is more dangerous then making a U-turn in traffic.

===

I do the same thing as Doug, just not to the same extent because I don't have the time or the population to support that many exotic cars. I see nothing wrong with running around taking pictures of cars, it's a hobby and give me something to do.

Oh and like most college kids Doug works during the summer when he's not going to school, I'm not going to fault him for not having a job during the school months. I didn't have a full time all-year-around job until I was a senior in college.

 

[Rue]

And still the Doug bashing goes on even if he doesn't post here any more? If he enjoys what he does then fair play to him, I've always enjoyed taking photos of cars myself (not quite to the extent of Doug agreed), it keeps you active and gives you a hobby rather than loafing in front of the TV all day. From Dougs feedback he always got positive comments from the drivers and it seems he must have made a few friends out of it since he got that rrrather cool job driving supercars round all last summer. Yes, it's geeky and not everyone's cup of tea but I like old Doug and good on him I say!

 

[Famine]

It's reporting what the writer experienced and what Doug told him, if it's reckless behaviour then so be it but it would be really bad journalism not to report it or change it around to make it sound safer.

it seems to laud excessive, reckless driving

Furiously working his Tiptronic transmission, Doug peels out of the parking lot, hurtles the wrong way up a left-turn lane and cranks off another illegal U-turn. Two minutes of brisk driving puts him in position for photos

[...]

He goes wherever the lights let him (and sometimes where they won't), swerving onto side streets, doubling back along shortcuts, and ducking into mall parking lots at regular intervals. He drives confidently and aggressively, liberally using his horn, constantly working the Tiptronic and darting into openings in traffic.

[...]

Doug never does anything stupid or dangerous.

(sic)

As I said, the article seems to laud reckless driving (so long as it's not stupid or dangerous). It paints a positive tone over the illegal activities and, yes, makes it sound safer. Doug's the hero and he'll do anything to get his man - but he's doing it confidently and aggressively, so that makes it okay!


(note: This isn't Doug-bashing. This is journalistic review)

 

[Keef]

I did notice that the author made many mentions of law-breaking behaviour. Apparently that person didn't think it was all that big a deal for some reason. Hopefully it doesn't effect him negatively. I've known of word going around amongst police on a local level with some of my friends, but imagine what could happen with a world-wide magazine!

 

[Azuremen]

(sic)

As I said, the article seems to laud reckless driving (so long as it's not stupid or dangerous). It paints a positive tone over the illegal activities and, yes, makes it sound safer. Doug's the hero and he'll do anything to get his man - but he's doing it confidently and aggressively, so that makes it okay!


(note: This isn't Doug-bashing. This is journalistic review)

The author appears to be rather younger and sounds new to journalism, as I mentioned earlier. The writing is a bit over the top and feels as if it is trying to hard. And the author could be struggling to add actualy excitement to a modern equivalent of bird watching.

 

[Alex.]

As much as I am impressed by the article. I selfishly and perhaps arrogantly believe that people on here including myself have spotted better cars.

 

[Danny]

Not consistently though...

 

[Alex.]

He's in the magazine because he consistently posts rare cars, which may defeat the point of them being rare in the first place.


But hey, perhaps that's just me a tad envious.

 

[MarinaDiamandis]

He's in the magazine because he consistently posts rare cars, which may defeat the point of them being rare in the first place.


But hey, perhaps that's just me a tad envious.

You don't need to be envious you fool, in the future you will work on cars that Doug could only ever dream of

 

[Prosthetic]

As much as I am impressed by the article. I selfishly and perhaps arrogantly believe that people on here including myself have spotted better cars.

A MC12 in the US is pretty freaking rare...


I guess I will be alone and say that I'm happy for him...

 

[YSSMAN]

I wouldn't say you're alone. There are just more people who have their panties in a bunch over anything Douglas-related.

 

[Alex.]

To be fair I never had anything directly against doug, but the way he branded his Carrera GT photo 'The greatest photo ever taken' in a serious manner, kind of grated on me.


Ok this is gonna escalate so I congratulate Doug on the article and draw the line here.

 

[Tornado]

Hate to be harsh, but the words "get a life" come to my mind here...

Getting a life for an American college student means getting drunk and playing Madden. I personally think Doug is making better use of his time.

 

[homeforsummer]

Personally I'd say good on Doug for getting an article written about his hobby. It's not something many of us will experience unless perhaps there are those of us lucky enough to get our car featured in a magazine, for example (which is probably the most likely of those situations for some around here).

I certainly don't feel any jealousy for Doug, though personally I find more excitement spotting weird stuff than I do ticking off the fiftieth F430 spot or whatever. With a lot of those cars, once you've seen one, you've seen them all. The only ones that genuinely impressed me were things like the Veyron, Carrera GT and Enzo spots, for example. My level of excitement with supercars and hypercars has actually died down from people posting them all the time in the DYSAGT thread. It's why I don't bother photographing the Astons, Porsches, Ferraris etc when I see them yet still photograph odd Japanese cars or classics.

 

[Alex.]

Getting a life for an American college student means getting drunk and playing Madden. I personally think Doug is making better use of his time.

Sounds pretty awesome to me

I kid, but still.

 

[Jondot]

Firstly, let me say that I'm very happy for Doug, and I think it's rather cool that a fellow GTPer has made it into a professional magazine. I liked that. A lot.



What I didn't like was the horrible contrived feeling that the article has throughout. Let's be honest here, Doug is a bit of a car nerd. We all are at the end of the day, and it's fair enough. But, of course, that's not really a magazine-worthy article, is it? 'Hey, here's a guy that spends a great deal of his time driving around until he sees an expensive car. Then he takes a photo of it. Then he carefully documents it into an Excel document for future reference, so he can keep count of the exact number of times he's see any given automobile.'

That sounds frighteningly fun, doesn't it. So what have they done? They've dressed the whole thing up with some cheap, speed-based tinsel that makes it all sound mightily exciting. So the fact that Doug is driving after a Lamborghini just to satisfy his own desires to photograph and catalogue as many as possible becomes 'De Muro darts from lane to lane after the speeding Murcielago, refusing to let it get away' or some Need4Speed-esque witterings to a similar effect. It's a bit sickening, in my opinion.

I particularly like the bit where they say 'The fact is, Doug is a major celebrity. ....among a really really small subset of car enthusiasts'; a fact that sounds so unimpressive that they might as well have not included it. 'Nobody knows who Doug is, but at least some car bores in the inner depths of the internet like him' is the hidden meaning there.

Again, I'm not contesting what Doug has achieved here; more criticising the pathetic attempts of the journalist to glamourise what is essentially a nerdy hobby. He's not a member of the paparazzi. He's not a professional photographer. He's not really anything outside of the internet, which is really the pure home of this carspotting business. I mean can you imagine if carspotting was a regular item in the motoring press? 'This week, reader Trevor Jones from Bideford saw a Porsche 911 on the M1. Pictures on page 12.' It doesn't work. Which is presumably why they've felt the need to glamorise Doug's hobby to such an exhaustive level. Which is a shame, I think.


Come back to the internet, Doug - we still like you for who you are!

 

[eiriksmil]

It's cool to bag a feature on anything, none are jealous here (I'm not atleast). Hey, I can take pics of cool cars if I'm cruising and they pass me slowly or something. But I never turn around and follow cars to take pics, I never stalk owners with their cars and so on, you know what I'm saying?

 

[ExigeEvan]

I thought Doug got his F50? Or does it not count as it was outside a Ferrari meet?

Fair do's do him, to get recognised for something that is purely a hobby that he'll probably never get paid for shows some devotion.

 

[eiriksmil]

Some would maybe see buying a supercar as a fashion statement, I for one think it's up to the owners if they want the attention, sometimes the attention is probably unwanted.. Why not use these skills to bag prototypes and test mules running around the world?

 

[TsukubaTrueno]

Congrats to Doug.

I read this article about a week ago, when the issue came out. I sent him a message congratulating him and I got no reply. Does he visit GTP still?

 

[kevinm]

Why is everybody saying he is "weird because he stalks cars" and "needs to get a life?" Obviously he enjoys cars, and if you think enjoying cars is weird, you're in the wrong place!! This is what he does for enjoyment and to have fun. I, for one, take enjoyment from and get relaxation from filming cars. I just don't understand the jealousy and bitterness towards Doug! Just because he has more time than many others to enjoy his hobbys inclines people to lash out from jealousy! The fact that people can't be happy for their fellow man is what is really sad... -kevin

 

[Duke]

Hey, I said "more power to him" and I meant it. I've certainly never had a 4-page spread in a major magazine dedicated to me. In general, though, he's just a tad too self-important for me to sit around wishing I could congratulate him in person.

 

[Casio]

I read this the other week too. You da man Doug. Though I noticed they left out the bit about pouring water on hot brake disks

 

[YSSMAN]

Though I noticed they left out the bit about pouring water on hot brake disks

Oh the memories!

RE: Homeforsummer and Old (Odd) Cars

Word. I've become far less interested in newer, more exotic cars recently just because they're so far out of reach. Furthermore, thanks to the internet (and even some videogames), I feel like I already know them inside and out. Frankly, seeing something as rare as a Beretta GTU or a Mustang SVO outweigh spots of an F430 or a V8 Vantage. But, everyone's different.

 

[Joey D]

You're so right Brad, I find myself less interested in the run of the mill exotics in favour of something a bit rarer. I've already retired the Maserati Quattroporte, Bentley Conti GT, and if I get another Aston V8 in the near future that one will be retired too.

 

[harrytuttle]

I must admit that I envy being published like that. I envy being published at all. I think the point of the article was to simply showcase the hobby-within-a-hobby that is car safari. It's fun. I do it all the time. The author, however, is a grade A dolt. Then again, most American journalists are, but this one tries to make a simple hobby to be more exciting than it is. It's a childish approach, but probably just as childish as they think their target market is for this article. Given the personality of most of the people in DYSAGT, I think the author got it all wrong.

👍 to Doug. I hope he reads this.

 

[Dead_Poetic]

I mean, this is cool and all, but he's supposed to be this great car enthusiast, and yet, he thinks automatic transmissions are better than traditional manuals. And I really dont know quite why his car spotting is article worthy.

 

[Duke]

You're so right Brad, I find myself less interested in the run of the mill exotics in favour of something a bit rarer. I've already retired the Maserati Quattroporte, Bentley Conti GT, and if I get another Aston V8 in the near future that one will be retired too.

Some of us just don't subscribe to the "Unobtainium" theory that the grass is always greener and anything you can't have is wonderful. Frankly unless I heated my house by burning spare cash, I just couldn't generate much interest in cars costing more than about $50k at the outside. And only the $50k cars because I know they might be near what I'm willing to pay after they are turned in from their 36-month leases.

Honestly, if an Enzo drove through my town, I'd watch it go by and say, "Hm, that's cool, I wonder where that came from?" But if I saw a local ad for a decent, rust-free, 20-year-old 325is for $1500, I'd get rather excited.

 

[Keef]

I'd have to agree that even if I was filthy rich I can't imagine splurging on things like exotic cars and whatnot. A test drive would be fun and I love seeing them, but I'm much more interested other parts of the automotive landscape. There are plenty of other cars that have a similarly glorious history (see avatar) that fit my personality much better.

 

[Joey D]

I like exotic cars just fine and if I had the money I would defiantly own something expensive and awesome...just probably not a new exotic. Give me a Ferrari Daytona Spider or something equally as rare and exotic. However, I still get excited when I see a F430 or a Murci. Mainly because they are so different from what I see day to day.