Car Stats 2024
The saying is 'work harder, not smarter,' or have I got that turned around?
I took a lot of photos in 2024, and I was around a lot of cars.
Normally, I find it obnoxious when other people do things like this, but somehow I’m okay with it this time, sitting here, reading about my own experiences in my own voice. I keep a [lame] spreadsheet of the cars I’ve driven, because otherwise I’d forget, so it was easy to put together and interesting to quantify some of these things.
Photos taken: 65,386
Camera breakdown:
Nikon Z6: 31,056
Nikon Z7: 32,399
Nikon Z8: 1,931
Cars driven: 74 from 30 different manufacturers.
My guidelines for what counts: even if I drove it a mile, it still counts; if I drove it 50 feet, it doesn’t count. I don’t count the car if I’ve driven the same specific car during a previous year.
Cars photographed: 63
My guidelines for what counts: a pretty thorough photoshoot with the car. Sometimes at a media event I may grab a vehicle to get additional static photos of it, a mini-shoot, but it’s never really comprehensive enough to count.
Least Powerful Car Driven & Shot: 1976 Meyers Manx – 39 hp
Most Powerful Car Driven: 2024 Nissan GT-R Nismo (600 hp)
Most Powerful Car Shot: 2015 McLaren P1 (903 hp combined)
Most Cylinders Driven:
2015 Mercedes-Benz S600 (twelve)
2011 Rolls Royce Ghost (twelve)
1997 Ferrari 550 Maranello (twelve), 2000 Ferrari 550 Maranello
Least Cylinders Driven (non-EV): Autozam AZ-1 (three)
Most Recurring Car Photographed: Porsche 964-generation 911 (four)
Cars that inexplicably have the bonnet release on the passenger side:
I thought this was just a goofy British thing, but then I encountered the Karmann-Ghia, which has the release in the glovebox. All of these cars are left-hand drive. The Aston Martin really has no excuse.
Favorite RWD: 1981 Porsche 924 Carrera GT
I didn't count this in cars driven because I drove the same car in 2022, but I drove/shot it again in 2024, and it’s even more special and fun than I had remembered.
Favorite AWD: 2005 Lancer Evolution IX RS
Favorite FWD: 2007 Mini Cooper S JCW GP
I’ve always idolized the GP it was the wildest European FWD hatch ever sold in America for many years. Honestly, on normal roads, at normal speeds, it didn’t blow me away, but the theater and sense of occasion still makes it feel really special.
Most Surprising: 1982 GMC Jimmy
Ok. Someone check my pulse, I loved this thing.
Most Disappointing: 2024 Mercedes-Benz E350
There’s a lot to dislike beyond just the TikTok-based UX.
Most Fun: 2003 BMW ‘Safari’ M3
Youtube Videos Uploaded: 17
It might be recency bias, but this was probably the best one:
Books released: 1
You can order it here. 😄
I enjoy following your work, so this was an excellent year end summary. Thanks for sharing!
Happy new year, Kev. When is Capturing the Machine T-sirt coming out?