Don’t you hate it when you pour yourself a big bowl of cereal and find out you don’t have any milk? You need to put on your shoes, get in your 9-5 commuter car and wait in traffic on the way to the grocery store.
In the /DRIVE film “le pain,” Chris Harris has a similar problem. He’s out of bread. But he doesn’t get behind the wheel of an econobox to go get it.
He takes a 1992 Ferrari 512 TR. And the scenic route. Yummy.
Harris must have sensed how hungry his viewers would be – not for gluteny goodness, but for earfuls of the racy raspiness of the TR’s 4.9-liter flat-12. Aside from the sound of 428 horses running through the rev range, “le pain” is a largely silent motion picture.
After doing his best Don Johnson a la “Miami Vice,” he proceeds to take a winding, drift-filled trip through the countryside, occasionally pushing the metal shifter into and out of its finely hewn gates.
Derek Shiekhi's father raised him on cars. As a boy, Derek accompanied his dad as he bought classics such as post-WWII GM trucks and early Ford Mustang convertibles.
After loving cars for years and getting a bachelor's degree in Business Management, Derek decided to get an associate degree in journalism. His networking put him in contact with the editor of the Austin-American Statesman newspaper, who hired him to write freelance about automotive culture and events in Austin, Texas in 2013. One particular story led to him getting a certificate for learning the foundations of road racing.
While watching TV with his parents one fateful evening, he saw a commercial that changed his life. In it, Jeep touted the Wrangler as the Texas Auto Writers Association's "SUV of Texas." Derek knew he had to join the organization if he was going to advance as an automotive writer. He joined the Texas Auto Writers Association (TAWA) in 2014 and was fortunate to meet several nice people who connected him to the representatives of several automakers and the people who could give him access to press vehicles (the first one he ever got the keys to was a Lexus LX 570). He's now a regular at TAWA's two main events: the Texas Auto Roundup in the spring and the Texas Truck Rodeo in the fall.
Over the past several years, Derek has learned how to drive off-road in various four-wheel-drive SUVs (he even camped out for two nights in a Land Rover), and driven around various tracks in hot hatches, muscle cars, and exotics. Several of his pieces, including his article about the 2015 Ford F-150 being crowned TAWA's 2014 "Truck of Texas" and his review of the Alfa Romeo 4C Spider, have won awards in TAWA's annual Excellence in Craft Competition. Last year, his JK Forum profile of Wagonmaster, a business that restores Jeep Wagoneers, won prizes in TAWA’s signature writing contest and its pickup- and SUV-focused Texas Truck Invitational.
You must be logged in to post a comment.