Before I started my job as a full time Speedhunter, I was a regular reader of the site. Looking back, I was pretty ignorant towards many of the varying aspects of car culture. I would often just skip past things without any consideration, searching only for those stories that appealed to me and my tastes.
Since coming on-board though, I've had every one of my opinions and viewpoints challenged on a daily basis. I've attended shows and events I never would have even considered previously and I'm definitely all the better for it.
I've often read in the comments (I might be paraphrasing here) 'Dude, I thought this was SPEEDhunters, not STANCEhunters LULZ FTL.' Well it is Speedhunters and whilst we do cover our fair share of speed, our tagline of 'Car Culture at Large' will always stand true.
There is so much to the automotive world that if we only concentrated on motorsport, we would miss out on so many amazing events.
It's only by opening our minds to other possiblities that we can develop and further our automotive tastes.
It is, in my opinion anyways, perfectly okay not to like something. But don't hate on something. You should never hate on anything as it says more about you than it does your target.
Early in December of last year, I made my way north to shoot these three cars for 3SDM wheels. It was a tough shoot with lashing rain and gusts of wind strong enough to destroy two of my flashes.
Towards the end of the day, the rain stopped and the sun came out just before it set below the horizon. For those twenty minutes or so, it was absolute bliss for me as a photographer and as an automotive enthusiast.
When presented with something that challenges your ideals, don't immediately react. Take a minute to try and understand it. Try and appreciate it.
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Paddy McGrath
OFFICIAL SPEEDHUNTERS SUPPLIERS
Felt Spec, got to love it
Well said, man.
Excellent photos sir. Could we have a desktop of the 2nd to last shot? Thanks Paddy!
I totally agree. Not liking something is different from hating, especially in car culture. Great article.
Felt spec is shit in fairness to say they're felt spec is an insult to the owners
I appreciate the work it takes to keep a car that clean and nice, however I cringe at the fact it's lost most all performance value :'( but not a lot of hate in that bag...
Well said. Thanks Paddy.
Love that Caddy... haulin' and looking good!
I follow all sorts of cars on here and in general.
Spice it up!
What are the make of tyres on the bmw???? (last shot) *ullway???
can never understand when people buy nice cars and nice wheels and then go and get the cheapest possible tyres they can find cause they cant afford to buy good ones.
tyres are one of the most important part of a car
What is this... emotion hunters?! Ha - kidding Paddy - luv it.
Stunning photography! May I know how you lighted this set?
Exhibit A : How to ruin a car. I'm not hating, honestly!!!
That van is epic!
I hope they dont have the boooo noise sh*t going on thats just retarded. Class looking machines though/
You're right about "not hating", however, many fellas are drawn on here because of the name of this site. As you said "SPEEDhunters", now, if you want to feature your bagged cars, by all means, do that! That's your prerogative, but! Don't expect people to stick around too long when you guys feature 90% of the time drift cars, hard parkers, feature interview with the next "badass" photographer, hella flush events, stanced-slammed sh!t (I used sh!t because this hella-flush movement/ trend, whatever you want to call it is a played out, over done, a cliche', ruins a car mechanically, not to mention that every damn hipster-wannabes with skinny jeans are on the same bandwagon, so it gets old after a while). What's so unique about these trends? People that insist on calling these cars "fresh" fail to understand that these cars/ concepts are NOT far and few in between, and we all know that, yet they insist that it's "hella fresh". Not to mention the boom of car photographers. Every damn hipster these days carry around a Canon and pretend to be the next badass photographer. They start their pointless blog, write and talk like a thug and feature over and over the same stuff. Do you want to give credit to every and each one of these "photographers"? By all means, do that, but remember that the majority of people come on here to check out cars. More specifically FAST cars. We already have too many Mark Arcenal in this industry, don't be the next one!
Anyway, back to the subject. Maybe you should suggest to your boss (Rod?) to reconsider the name for this site.....that way you could appeal to a broader audience....
While you do cover different Motorsport scenes, it's clear to all of us that:
1. You guys have a soft spot for those slammed cars, and you cover Motorsport solely because people beg you to, not because you guys are genuinely into that.
And 2. You have very little understanding about true racing and the actual meaning of MOTORsport, (hint?).
And this fact is clearly shown by the VERY vague description you guys give under every pics. Short, personal-opinion-sentences. Everyone has opinions. If you want to stay true to the actual site meaning, show facts, hard facts that is, not personal opinions.
I'm one of those people that stopped checking out this site regularly because bored of reading your guys' opinions (opinions that are often related to: wheels, wheels' fitment, stance, color-scheme, photography-quality and so forth).
Anyway, you obviously can't please everyone. I understand that.
I'm sure there are tons of hipsters out there that love what you guys feature.
With that said, best luck to you and SH.
I like street cars and I like race cars. I've never seen a "stanced" car do either.
They look neat, though!
Desktops for photos 1,6,7, and 8 please!!!!!
3rd shot for desktop!!!!
I'm tolerant of airbagged cars. But I will hate on the BMW with painted calipers and wheels a solid 2" too large in diameter.
I think about the stance side of argument often, and listen to the defense all the time. But all that sure seemed one sided... one trick pony would be putting it nicely. Stance is not everything, and there is no hate to be found within that statement. I find it boring/repetitive to read about, annoying to look at, and it is part of the ANTI-performance crowd. And performance is what I read about and look for.
Thanks for the post, but not for me to enjoy reading or viewing.
It's unfortunate that many don't think like you, Paddy. There's all these spec-list whores on the web nowadays. People like this can talk for days on end about specs. It's a shockingly VAST majority of readers that care about Nurburgring times. There is definitely value in those times, but only to a certain point. A very specialised point at that. If you're not a race driver or paid to shave milliseconds off track times, there's not much value in the specs/times itself. Most of these people who make an effort to complain about compromising performance, will most likely own cars that really aren't that hardcore performance anyway. They'll have cars with full interiors/very minimal weight reduction (carbon hoods/trunks and tidbits don't count sorry)/no corner balancing and very little suspension know-how/adjustment. That's opening a can of worms and there's so much more to 'performance' than what I've stated, to put it lightly, but it's a fact. If you're not paid to shave milliseconds, why care about it on regular roads what other people do to their cars? If anything, a creative 'boundary' isn't free, it's bound by these same people who draw a VERY thick line that they don't exercise themselves. Just food for thought.
Please make a desktop of the first pic...
I wonder if speedhunters would have covered ricers in the early 2000's... After all, there isn't much difference
Dude, I thought this was SPEEDhunters, not STANCEhunters LULZ FTL.
Sorry. but I was NEVER a fan of air-ride, stancing, bagging or whatever you wanna call it. The BMW for example is just ruined in my eyes, thousands of dollars gone just to teach your car to sit/lay?! I'll stick with racing and drifting, where lowering your car is for a purpose and done reasonably.
I dont think JDMized here Grasps that This is the way the site is for a reason, and Paddy said it best its Car culture at large, if there is a misconception its that SpeedHunters here limits it to cars, thank jeebus they feature Bikes and RC Nitro cars, not because I'de stop checking out the site if you didn't. the reality is Paddy says it best you you either relate or you don't. SpeedHunters Brings you the car culture in the only way that the internet can. visually and audiably. I'm sure there are countless sites devoted to strickly MOTORsport as you put it but this is obviously a site filled with a very savy artistic approach to car culture and Hate on the hipsters all you want but your obviously the numpty who cares more about lap times than anything else. please go bore people on forums with your evaluations on professional race teams if you don't appreciate the Natural Art Inherent in our passion. ART is what this site is about whether its the art of building the fastest thing on 4 wheels or building something that speaks to who you are, or is just fun. just calling someone a hipster in the car comunity is a joke, because we all know there are people out there with wallets and no style or brains but it doesnt matter! they support the industryand it makes them happy. done. I'm sure no one loves everything put up on SH but damn why complain!?
I hope I can put together something Like fatlace or speedhunters one day personally I love speedhunters because it focus' on the mechanical aspect of the culture, its the sites that are all clothes with the same logo, same focused approach to promoting bands and their clothing lines than featuring epic cars. i would like some technical specs in the features or when a car has a serious engine swap or something, but hery I could go off for a while with how great I think SpeedHunters is but fact of the matter is no one loves everything and ever since Gaudy colours became "in" I havnt been loving it all but hey we likes the lime Green Eclipse in TheFastATF and the orange supra etc, styles change, so will you.
Lastly your name is JDMized.. the Japanese car culture is the wierdest and most varied of the lot!
@ JDMized,
i see where your coming from, and you do make valid points.
but cars can be artforms at the same time as being a car.
there is still a MOTOR in them (as you hinted towards) and they do still have some form of speed, whether that be sacrificed by the mods they do or not, it is still speed.
You do make valid points, they just happen to be the extreme meanings of the words
@JDMized - Too each his own buddy! I get bored alot of the time on MotoIQ...You should go back there. NOW! Bye! no one cares...You say the same BS with every post on SH. Aren't you tired? Or maybe you are the E-thug? OH wait...No...You are a tech car nerd that likes to jerk off to dyno sheets... BORING.
@JDMized
Ditto!
Wow some people really didnt get the point of this article, which was well spoken btw...
Quit sippin that hatorade .. enjoy the content that no one is Forcing you to view and if you don't like, just move on
Peace
...and those BMW shots look stunning
Well said Paddy!
Being a hater is a state of mind. If they're not hating on "ricers", bagged VW's, and other cars, there would just be something else for them to dump their negativity onto.
Haters never actually DO anything. They buy a lot of stuff, but I've yet to meet a hater who changes the game- who builds stuff...
Unfortunately, the anonymity of the web allows punks to talk like thugs. The stuff they post - they would never say it to people's faces. They get access to your website for FREE, and yet the whine like such ungrateful little kids!
Keep on with your articles Paddy.
Supply more info on cars, and less opinions.
Whenever you feature a car that will split opinions most the arcticle is spent talking about how hatin's bad, not actually talking about the car!
You want to feature cars that are dont for looks (read: hellaflush, bagged, etc), fair enough. But talk about the work that's gone into it!
exelent !!!! exelent !!!! exelent !!!! exelent !!!! amazing photos and car's !!!!!
I wont complain about stance content as long as speedhunters don't start posting fancy photography of smashed engine oil sumps... like in a thread I came across with PROUD displays of cracked and smashed sumps, even with tallys of how many the owner has gone through so far. Yes call me a hater and say I don't get it, but any genuine car fan will agree with me on this one, Its just complete insanity...
i like cars. thats why i came here. its not a debate. its a "car culture at large" dont like what you see? there are plenty of other sites. now shut up and enjoy the craftsmanship
Any chance of getting some desktops of that gorgeous Caddy?
Firstly, nice feature Paddy and great pics as always..
Very entertaining comments here. @JDMized, get a grip man. You remind me of the type that says "tattoos are stupid" because you dont have any, "rap music is shit" because you dont like it..Get my point?..If we all had the same taste in this world then it'd be a pretty boring place. The staff of SH do their best to cater for all tastes and in fairness, they do a pretty good job. I for one am not into the drift scene and there's still plenty on here for me to enjoy reading. If there's something on here that doesn't interest you, why bother looking at it and posting a comment?
Keep up the good work Pad, nice to see something like this on here.
Wow long comments... I like these styles... If all of the slammed, VIP, vanning, VAG & show cars are gone, I might go off too because those are what brought me to this site... While admiring all of that I get to know about other car cultures also and learn to like them.
as a Dubber who works for an upscale German car manufacturer at one their dealerships, i like what i see here, although the hardcore purist in me is saying 'awww man its on air-ride', they do look verey well tucked as we say 'up North. i agree with your sentiments too Paddy.. you gotta broaden you scope of interests and see what other and doing and you can benefit from what others are 'into' and like.. it doesn't really do any harm plus you will be enriched by the whole experience! - nice one Paddy! - Thanks
@JDMized
You are exactly the kind of hater that Paddy is talking about in this article. We must both be reading different speedhunters sites?, because the one I read has a perfect mix of all types of car culture. Thats what makes the site great. Don't like stanced cars...don't click on the article. Speedhunters provides something for ALL automotive tastes. Get the f*** off your hate train.
@Gvk These "long boring comments" give out a very interesting perspective on todays ever evolving trends in car culture. Its unfortunate you look at the superficial aspect of a well written argument.
Let's not forget that Speedhunters are also interested in getting as many people to come to the site as possible, and if that means doing stance features then that's what they'll do. Not saying they're necessarily just pandering to the lowest common denominator but it would definitely influence the content they show.
Why bother to comment if you don't like the article? You can find websites only for racing if you want to, why stick around at Speedhunters if you don't like the contents of the site?
I love SH the way it is. For me, working at a tuner shop and living my life with cars, MC's, RC cars and having a general interest in motorized vehicles, this site is visited every day, several times.
Greetings from Norway.
Most stance guys wouldnt have survived 3 minutes in my high school - posers used to have a corner they stuck to for there own survival and that was how it was. Hard park, stance it's all just posing so anyone operating from a practical perspective is going to hate on them naturally. There's really no reason to think or expect otherwise.
I think I like the house or whatever that building is, more than the cars. The cars are fantastic, but I could live in something like that with those cars
I think JDMized and Alex are the same person
Ha! Blew your cover bro....Sorry.
Matchless: I don't think you know what a "hipster" is. Look it up.
PS - This stance fad is nothing more than fashion. Its that simple. Its no different than the ladies and their shoes and handbags. Look at me! Look at me!
Y'all have fun with that. I like to drive fast, thank you very much.
soy de chile i creo que el concepto de la paguina es delicado en todo sentido .. yo creo que el gusto por los automoviles va mas alla de que sean 100% deportivo o 100% lujo .. los que amamos los autos los vamos amar siempre ... speedhunters son Bestias ¡¡¡
The Dalai Lama always says: "A mind is like an umbrella, if not open it don't work" and how true is that....
DP says: Keep up the good work....
I love how people blindly attack anyone who does not love this aniti-performance Stance trend; even when logical arguments are made by numerous people. This has become the overwhelming norm here, not the exception... "StanceHunters" would be MUCH more accurate than SpeedHunters, Speed takes a back seat to Stace.
If it was not for their TA pictures, I would not check this site as often. Function follows Form at SpeedHunters, which puts an irritating bias/skew on a lot of the content. Which is also why I go to so many other performance-minded sites before I come here, I know it is not necessary.
"You guys have a soft spot for those slammed cars, and you cover Motorsport solely because people beg you to, not because you guys are genuinely into that. " ... well put JDM.
Wow awsome pictures.
no. 8 should be called: Fairy Beemer.. lol
-(not on drugs)-
I think the point of this post is just to respect the different car cultures out there. If you dont like it, great, nobody gives a shit. Thats your opinion so just keep it to yourself and move on.
Great photography Paddy, really gorgeous shots.
FAGGIN it
Hi! Paddy its really a good collection of photograph on Volkswagen.