Vipers, Supra's NSX's, Audi's were all there and Joel is spouting names and e.t.'s. If they were not there, Joel was on the cell and they were there in twenty minutes or less! He was even telling us of full tube chassis V8's running nines and a Honda Civic with full interior running nines, and only for the streets! A pair of Audi's showed up per Joel's request that were very nice with very cool stereo systems; so that helped us with features for the magazine! So all in all, the Houston scene was absolutely great and was a major highlight of the trip. The personal highlight of the trip for me was one of the cars that came along on the Trek all the way from Canada. I have a burning passion for Ford Festiva's and Cam (cwstuning.com) had beat me to the punch by dropping in a Mazda 323 GTX Turbo motor in his Festiva last year. I got to drive this lightweight rocket and it was absolutely FUN to drive at 172hp and a total weight of 1700lbs. It smoked our HKS Mazda Miata and was a match race for the Sport Compact Car project Turbo Matrix. So you can guess what is on my Car Audio Magazine project plate!
Cellport SystemsSeventy percent of all cell phone calls today are made from cars, according to General Motors. New York was the first state to ban motorists from using hand held cell phones while driving. Practically every state has some type of legislation proposed on banning or restricting cell phone use while operating a vehicle. Of course, as a country we are a bit behind the 20 other countries that already have such laws in place. And we wonder why we have such bad drivers out on the road.
So we all know that at some point soon, everyone is going to be forced to have a hands-free system for cell phones in our cars. A lot of you already have those little earpieces. It has become fashionable to have the "hands-free look." Some people walk or cruise in their cars like they're CIA agents. At CES back in January I was intrigued by the Jabra gel blue earpiece that was actually a listening device and microphone in one (it uses the ear bone to transmit your voice). Cool, but I am a car guy and my biggest issue has to do with talking on the phone while driving. For instance, while shifting gears!
Attending the Rally of Great Britain back in October last year, I noticed that all the racecars had a stationary on-board cell phone cradle. These cars are the most extreme vehicles on earth as far as I am concerned, so I knew then that this is what I wanted. Hey, I am just like you, I want what the pros are using! Richard Burns, Colin McRae and Tommi Makinnen all have this cell phone mounted in the racecar. It's functional fashion! Yes, I've seen some business geeks with it in there car, but I'm on a different level with it now, so hey!
Cellport Systems Inc. was established in 1993 and is addressing the need for both handset-based and embedded automotive telematics solutions by providing an open-architecture platform standard for the automotive industry with multiple devices and applications. Cellport Systems is also going for the aftermarket industry. The company's premier product, the Cellport 3000 with Voice Command, is the first voice-activated universal hands-free system on the market. My first experience with the system was with Ronald Cocks, a western regional sales manager that was in the area one day to give me a demo of their system. The cell phone was sitting in its cradle and Ronald casually commanded "Cellport, wake-up", and a female voice answered back. That is, after the system automatically muted the music playing over the radio.