Minnesota Fast Life
Sammy James leads the fast life in Minneapolis where his Minnesota Fast Life studio renders some of the finest custom car and truck designs. The studio specializes in realism, gallery-style, and accurate concepts using many mediums and a variety of formats, without the use of computer-aided design programs. If you’re looking for an artist to help develop a blueprint for an absolute dream ride, Sammy James is definitely a prime candidate. Sammy has promised to send more renderings for 8-Lug to run. Get your own rendering by contacting Sammy at
www.mnfastlife.com.
Sportboat Magazine Launched
Source Interlink Media recently launched Sportboat magazine. This new magazine is the vision of a group of industry veterans who have worked successfully in the past and will be published by Source Interlink Media (publisher of Motor Trend, Automobile, Hot Rod, and 8-Lug, four of the most recognizable publications in the automotive industry). Sportboat magazine is planned as a quarterly publication, and the first issue had plenty of HD trucks in it. We’re expecting more in future issues, and we might even help our buddies out with photography. Got a nice truck and boat combination? Email a photo to
bob.carpenter@sorc.com.
Victoria Newton is taking on the role of Associate Publisher at Sportboat. Prior to this new venture, Newton was with Powerboat magazine for more than 14 years, serving various roles, including Associate Publisher. She most recently worked as a key figure in the launch of Performance Boats magazine and the related website. An avid boating enthusiast, Newton is one of the most powerful women in marine publishing.
Taking the editorial reins for the second issue is Eric Colby, former Editor of Powerboat magazine for seven years and former Senior Technical Editor of Boating magazine (in which he authored the popular Boat Doctor column) for 10 years. An award-winning journalist and former offshore powerboat racer, Colby has written exclusively about the marine industry for 25 years.
The duo joins industry veteran and Sportboat publisher Joe Rode to produce the second issue after the first one was launched with 100,000 newsstand copies—the most ever for a performance boating publication. Combine Rode, Newton, and Colby’s experience with the support of the publishers of the popular Hot Rod, Automobile, and Motor Trend magazines, and the end result will be an exciting, innovative, new magazine that covers the recreational pleasure and performance boat worlds from a whole new angle.
“We are excited to enter this market and are thrilled with the industry support we have already received,” said Warren Kosikov, Vice President Sales and Operations, who also happens to be a 21-year veteran of marine publishing. “The performance automotive and performance marine markets have a lot of crossover, both on the industry and enthusiast sides. We look forward to utilizing Source Interlink Media’s publishing and distribution strength to serve the marine industry.”
Hush+Power= Money Saved
Our contacts at Flowmaster mufflers were very excited to show us some documented testing of the Hushpower mufflers on a fleet of school buses, as they think 8-Lug readers who do a lot of towing might see the same kind of results. Here, we’ll quote directly from the Salida Union School District report. “Salida Union School District is located in Stanislaus County, California. Our transportation department maintains our 10 buses and services the buses of several other districts in the area as well. Flowmaster approached our district and asked us to install a few of its Hushpower by Flowmaster mufflers on our buses to test them out. We agreed, hoping for better performance and better fuel mileage on our diesel buses, allowing us to save money on fuel.
“After installation of the Hushpower mufflers, we found better performance, a noticeable difference in power at the pedal, faster take-off, better acceleration, the decibel readings were no louder than with the stock muffler, the exhaust tone had a deeper sound, and the motor runs smoother. These mufflers can only be used on buses without particulate traps. We found a 20 percent mpg increase. That is huge! That means if a bus was getting 5 mpg, that same bus is now getting 6 mpg. With a 100-gallon tank, the bus would have previously gotten 500 miles on that tank. With the Hushpower muffler installed, the bus can now go 600 miles on that same tank. So, if diesel costs $3.00 per gallon, that equates to a savings of $60.00 per tank. If that same bus drives 10,000 miles a year, we have saved $6,000.00 on diesel for that bus. On our 10 buses, we have just saved $60,000.00 worth of diesel.”
Rhino Linings Celebrates 23 years
Happy 23rd anniversary to Rhino Linings Corporation, www.rhinolinings.com, the company known for protective polyurethane, polyurea, polyaspartic, and epoxy coatings. Over the years, the company has evolved into several distinct product divisions that include vehicle protection, industrial, military, flooring, and epoxy.
“To see how much this company has grown in 23 years is very exciting,” says Pierre Gagnon, President and CEO of Rhino Linings Corporation. “The mission has always been to design, develop, and sell top-quality equipment and protective coatings, and we will continue to deliver world-class products and services for years to come.”