Self Portrait Through Machine
I don't think its a coincidence the people who have owned their cars for a long time (years) tend to have them pretty far along. Of my immediate close friends there are maybe a handful that I think have truly developed excellent representations of themselves through the cars they've built. After all the machine is just a self portrait or extension of us.
One of the attributes of Brandon you can see very well through his rx8 is his attention to aesthetic. He's a tattoo artist after all. You can't be a tattoo artist without attention to detail and a great overall appreciation for asthetic. Yes, Brandon attends HPDE's but What's speed without style? I know there are two school's of thought in automotive culture. Fast or pretty. I know from a motorsports stand point, time is the only thing that matters, not art, everything else comes second. I get it, time wins races which leaves a smaller window for aesthetic (I delve deeper into this in "Identifying Art As a Construct In Automotive") However my appreciation resides in function but not at the cost of form. What good is fast if it doesn't look good?
What's better than being able to drive your race car to your favorite public road or coffee spot to share that same enthusiasm with people alike.
I have so many specific memories good and bad alike that have been the center focus of moments only framed by the cars. Meaningful conversations with meaningful people while on a drive, breakups and first dates. Conversations in parking lots with friends over coffee or tea well past the time the diner closed.
These moments framed by machine are what ultimately creates the extension of ones self.
One of the main reasons I don't believe in giving any of my cars nicknames is because they are me. They are a direct reflection of me. A self portrait. Sure different platforms can have defining characteristics of that specific platform which give it its own identity as compared to a different machine built by the same individual, but ultimately they are only different brushes, tools, paints, strokes, used to mirror identity. This car is a direct reflection of Brandon.