Ralf Becker 21.03.11 Ralf Becker 21.03.11

Chromjuwelen En Route: Continental Tire Challenge, Rolex 24 at Daytona

"Fascinting Daytona Beach"

"Continental Tire Sports Car Challenge: Lyonel Kent"

"Rolex 24 at Daytona: (Patrick) Dempsey Racing"

Finally—our Grand-Am/Daytona Beach videos which we shot in the course of our Brand Ambassadorship for Continental are ready. Sorry fellas—German only. Props to Dean Malay (Producer), Jan Wigger (Camera) and Christian Tomes (Editing).

Appearance in alphabetical order:

Greg Cates (Team Manager), Dempsey Racing
Patrick Dempsey (Team Principal, Driver Rolex 24 at Daytona), Dempsey Racing
Charles Espenlaub (Driver Rolex 24 at Daytona), Dempsey Racing
Joe Foster (Team Principal, Driver Rolex 24 at Daytona), Dempsey Racing
Andy Green (Andy Green is the current holder of the World Land speed record, and the first person to break the sound barrier on land)
Lyonel and Danielle Kent (Driver Continental Tire Sports Car Challenge)
Buz McKim, NASCAR Hall of Fame
Tom Long (Driver Rolex 24 at Daytona), Dempsey Racing
Matthias Schönberg, Continental Tire The Americas
C. J. Wilson, Major League Baseball starting pitcher for the Texas Rangers

Make sure you visit Chromjuwelen.com for the full article and photo galleries!

Ralf Becker 16.03.11 Ralf Becker 16.03.11

Sneak Preview: NASCAR Hall of Fame

On our way to the Continental Tire Challenge and Rolex 24 at Daytona (GRAND-AM) we stopped at the NASCAR Hall of Fame in Charlotte to meet Buz McKim. Buz gives us a brief overview on the NASCAR history. For a "NASCAR Hall of Fame"-gallery hit on of the images above. Or just use this link.

This is a sneak preview—we will publish a full coverage of our latest trip soon.

Ralf Becker 06.03.11 Ralf Becker 06.03.11

MotoClub Hamburg: Finest Motorkultur since 2006, every Sunday.

Good to see the MotoClub Hamburg, which we brought into being 2006 with our soulmates from Motoraver, is still the place to be. Too bad I don't find the time to pay the Hafenbahnhof a visit more often. It is probably not the biggest weekly gahthering in Northern Germany. But it is the one with the best cars. To get an idea of it—here are some more photos.

If you'll ever be in Hamburg for a weekend, make sure you pop in.

Ralf Becker 04.03.11 Ralf Becker 04.03.11

Tumblr Cars: Ranking Position #1 and #9

How weird. I just apologized for my inabilty and stated I still have to learn how to use Tumblr. But something must have went right: Tumblr just ranked two of my blogs in their "#cars" top ten (link only works for logged in users). The Dodge Charger III Concept—source: Amcar Guide—went on first place, the 1970 Pininfarina Modulo, which I found at Flavien Dachet's always inspiring "Karznshit", ended up on position nine.

This is funny. I started using Tumblr as my personal scrapbook and moodboard, used it later as a workaround to collect inspiring sources for our Chromjuwelen Grid, but never checked whether my articles are liked by the Tumblr community. All the more I am surprised to find my articles in Tumblr's "Popular Top Ten".

But to make it clear: It was the Amcar Guide, who wrote the article about the Dodge Charger III Concept. And it was Flavien Dachet, who presented the Pininifarina Modulo. This means: The kudos belong to them!

Ralf Becker 02.03.11 Ralf Becker 02.03.11

I failed at tumblr

I just received an e-mail from one of my best-loved blogs, Just A Car Guy, that I reblog articles without quoting the sources right. I am a loser.

One of the biggest and outrageous blogging mistakes is not naming the sources—blogs, flickr, profiles—where you dig your stuff. I hate it when people are doing this with my stuff. But this is exactly what I did, so it seems.

I use my tumblr to dig articles which inspire me. We import those articles to Chromjuwelen.com as well. I relied on my workaround that everything would be fine. But it is not.

With this post I would like to apologize for my failure.

Ralf Becker 02.03.11 Ralf Becker 02.03.11

Guy Kawasaki: Enchantment

Tenshun—this is offtopic. Sorry for the interruption. It hasn't to do either with cars, nor with Motorkultur. But it has do with media. And this is at least our other passion.

A few weeks ago Guy Kawasaki sent me his latest book: Enchantment. If you are into (internet) media, you'll probably know Guy Kawasaki. Guy is a Silicon Valley venture capitalist and best known for his marketing campaigns in the early days of Apple. We got in contact over Guy's Alltop.com, where we contribute our Chromjuwelen articles.

I am just reading Enchantment, and I think it's a must read for everyone who tries to set up so called "Social Media" campaigns. Btw, I think in the meantime everyone is sick of hearing the expression "Social Media", but unfortunately it describes this Twitter-Facebook-Tumblr community clutter best (for the moment). Especially in Germany. Where still a lot people try to sell "Social Media" concepts to agencies and companies.

Guy is noted for "having brought the concept of evangelism" (Wikipedia). And this is exactly, where are lot of modern campaigns lack. In an automotive industry, where not uncommonly ideas are driven by the (private) interests of marketing decision makers and don't reflect customer needs or product visions.

To keep it short, here's a movie.