The Only Way is Up: Colorado Road Trip Part 1

14,000 feet.

I repeat: 14,000 feet. That is 100 feet higher than your typical skydiving altitude. In fact, if you jump off a cliff at this height, you'll be freefalling for just about a minute. Not that you'd be able to, of course, as the tallest cliff in the world only clocks at a paltry 4,100 feet.

At this height, Oxygen becomes very thin (as I later found out). You will also see the curvature of the earth quite easily in the distance. Here, the boiling point of water is at 185 degrees.

In other words, 14,000 feet is quite high.

It is also the altitude you can find yourself at in Colorado. Colorado just happens to have 53 of those places above that altitude, known locally, as the fourteeners.

My goal is to drive up to two of those mountains -- Pikes Peak, and Mount Evans -- and see what the drive is like.

10 Best Driving Video Games

Any gearheads probably spent a considerable time in their childhood playing car racing video games. I certainly did: at the age of 6, one of my first interaction with Lamborghinis and Ferraris wasn't through a bedroom poster or a cut-out from a car magazine -- it was through my dad's old Windows 95 computer, driving around the country side while evading the cops, in a game called the Need for Speed.

It was glorious, and the game basically cemented me as a car person.

Since then, many more car racing games have been released, some are more arcade-ish games where you can shoot rockets out of a go-kart (or something), and some are more simulation-based games where you need to observe the proper racing lines in order to achieve the best lap.

As kids who have played a lot of those, here is our picks for the 10 best driving video games.

Can You Autocross With a Family Wagon?

Wagons always get an unfair reputation for being the nation's favourite schoolrun-mobile -- images of an '83 Oldsmobile Custom Cruiser, driven around by a family with three kids and a St. Bernard in the trunk doesn't exactly help shed that relative uncool-ness. Wagons just aren't sporty, and they sure aren't cool, people say. Over here, we have seen many people ditch the wagons in favor of the taller SUVs and crossovers for their bigger size.

For most of the world however, wagons are great alternatives for those who want to haul more things without needing to get a truck, but still retain the fun driving dynamics and fuel economy of a 4-door sedan. Don't believe me? Take a quick look on Google Streetview for streets of London and it will take you less than a minute to have the first wagon-sighting.

Case in point: in addition to the #SharkNoseDiary 6 series project car that I have, I regularly drive a slightly-scratched up 2007 Mazda 6 wagon as my reliable daily commuter. Fitted with a 3.0 V6 engine that produces 212 horsepower, the car (nicknamed Mazda Miyagi because why not) can propel itself from 0-60 at a respectable (in 2007 standards) 7.1 seconds.

My favorite thing about it though? It's mated to a 5-speed manual transmission. Combined with the zoom-zoom Mazda driving dynamics, I can go fast enough to quickly fall in trouble with the law while hauling my apartment in the trunk. You can't really do that with a modern SUV (unless you are willing to spend a lot of money for one of these).

The bottom line is: The car is a lot of fun, and it can do fun while hauling as much stuff as your neighbor's CR-V.

To prove my point, why not enter my car into an Autocross event?

The Grand Tour: What We Know So Far

Image credit: Amazon.

On Friday November 18, the whole world will be tuned to watch the debut of The Grand Tour -- Jeremy Clarkson, Richard Hammond, and James May's post-Top Gear project following a major fracas that really went on for way too long. Following almost a year of speculation, the beloved trio is finally coming out with a new car show on -- surprise surprise -- Amazon Prime.

Oh, when I said "the whole world", I actually meant the UK, the US, Japan, and Germany. You live somewhere else other than these four countries? Well, too bad. You won't be watching with the rest of us in the developed world.

Don't fret, however. Amazon has just announced yesterday that Amazon Prime streaming will be available in over 200 countries starting December this year. Unless you are HoldenMan3000. In which case, I am afraid you are stuck with... Whatever it is that you watch over there.

So, what can we expect from this brand-sparkling-new motoring show that is not Top Gear, but featuring a transferred-from-Top-Gear cast and Andy Wilman, the executive producer who made the old Top Gear one of the best TV programs at not only the BBC, but -- insert Clarkson voice -- in the world?

In this blog, we will look back and try to dissect what GT will actually be like.

#SharkNoseDiary: Hibernation and Repair

Mileage: 40 miles.
Fuel Economy: 18 mpg.
Expense: $195 (brake service, reservoir sensor reset).

Winter is here, and unfortunately being in the Pacific Northwest, it only means that people are only thinking about two things: 1. Boy, it is really starting to rain now; and 2. Honey, let's start packing for the emergency ark we have on our backyard. 

Normal winter day in the Pacific Northwest. Surf's up!

Unfortunately for me, it also means that I am going to stash my 6 series for until next year when the sky clears up. Not so easy though...

[Previously on #SharkNoseDiary: After displaying my $2100 classic BMW alongside $2-million hypercars, it is time to activate the Anti-Rust Protection Plan -- storing the car for the Winter]