I doubt the hippies would allow it to become a Le Mans like event.
They are less of the problem and more likely the massive number of people that live on it. And there really isn't anywhere on that road for people to actually sit and watch the race. The only chance it might have had was being a tarmac rally stage some 30 years ago.
Yep, exactly. They hate the automobile so much in California it would never happen. Very cool idea, and cool videos too!
Nevermind the fact that most of the Santa Monica Mountains (as well as Mulholland Dr itself) were paved over practically for the sake of driving enjoyment. Ask Madcow when I took him out there what it's like up there... not much for anything that was out trying to have a blast.
Much of california roads are not drilled THROUGH mountains or made straight but purposely carve out the side of a mountain or in some way built so that the driver is involved. The exception of course being the freeways.
Don't forget how much of the aftermarket industry is based here, hell 90% of the US based foreign auto industry is here. Most of the car mags are based out of here as well.
The only problem is a lot of the people live in California aren't from there, they moved there. Basically living in CA turns ppl into the kind of folks you hate, so even if you clear out the current population, the people who will take their place will transform into the same, its a dilemma and the only way to make it a nice place again is to forbid any humans from living there.
Pretty much. Too many people came in from out of the state and are ruining it. They've already cost us most of our race tracks. What didn't help us was the industry that died off in the 80's turning much of anything south of I10 and west of 605 into a wasteland and much of the residents moving except those that want to live off the government dime.
Anyone else seems to move next to an area with a race track and demand it be shut down. This is what happened to Lyons raceway, same for Riverside, Pomona is getting the ax soon
The problem with down here in the south I think is most of us car guys just don't seem to speak up, as we all have to have jobs to pay for our
hobby addiction and then spend our free time on our cars/trucks/bikes that the bored hippies with trust funds and those on welfare fuck it up for us.
If by "Car culture" you mean "Rich people who buy a lot of nice cars and park them on the street to show off, who coincidentally live vaguely near a bunch of Mexican lowrider shops and Asian rice shops, with a handful of alright custom shops" you're quite right, you don't get that anywhere in the world except LA.
But that crap isn't what cars are for - cars are supposed to be driven, and it's absolutely disgusting to me just how little of that actually takes place. Life in Los Angeles is dictated by the freeways - boundaries are drawn by them, entire lives lived along them - but the damndest thing about it is that you can't actually drive until you get outside that checkerboard grid and into the mountains and deserts - and fucking nobody does it.
Uhhh what? I'm sorry, I must have missed this part because I see a lot of different types of cars being driven (and hard) quite often. Also since when does being part of the car culture mean you have to be rich? Go hang out in Malibu for a while, I promise you'll see quite a few Exotica being driven vigorously. LA doesn't just mean downtown, remember it stretches from the SB mountains all the way to the Santa Monica's.
I also notice the massive number of car enthusiasts in general that meet up and go for drives (some more aggressive than others), help out on each others cars, and even help those in that crowd build a business around said cars.
Us SoCal roadster (miata) owners actually have a growing reputation as "those god damned southern california track rats." Usually because some of us* show up in street cars in full dope status and promptly wipe the floor with the competition... then drive 9 hours south down PCH back to LA.
http://speedhunters.com/archive/200...l-roadster-lifestyle-by-linhbergh-nguyen.aspx
I could go on for days, as I haven't even touched on the hot rodders, low riders, VW crew (which is FUCKING HUGE), among anything else.
I hear CONSTANTLY from people all over the world "I wish we had something REMOTELY close to the Socal Car culture."
Now if only my fucking state wasn't run by idiots who can't balance a check book...