Down Shift Magazine

While range limitations may cause anxiety to some, for others it’s little more than a speed-bump along the way, a sort of temporary limit that can be creatively overcome. To that end, tempered resolve, forward planning and a bit of geographic luck are allowing growing numbers of electric car enthusiasts to take longer and longer road trips…continuing long after others would have had them give up and get towed home.

Tesla owners are  increasingly taking their cars on longer and longer trips…and a brace few are even going coast to coast.

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Today we leave our offices in Tampa, Florida and head to the west-coast for a week long working vacation which will take us to the annual SEMA show in LasVegas, some 2013 model road testing from Vegas to the Yosemite and a  factory tour with the fine folks at Tesla Motors in beautiful San Francisco, California. Be sure to keep checking the Down Shift Magazine website, Facebook page and Twitter feed for ongoing coverage and updates live SEMA and our west-coast trip. See y’all next week!

SEMA Show 2012 – Tuesday October 30th through Friday November 2nd

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Last Thursday we packed up our 2013 Mazda 6 road-test car (thanks Mazda) and headed north to the rolling hills of Northern Georgia to enjoy some cooler fall weather (yes, it’s still summer here in Florida) and the always amazing annual Nissan enthusiast extravaganza that is the Z1 Motorsports hosted Z Nationals car show and track-day. Today we’re sharing a few photos from the weekend with complete coverage to follow on Monday…but it just didn’t seem right sending everyone into the weekend without at least a few pics first!

The Z1 Motorsports G35 Coupe and 370Z take to the field together at the Barber Motorsports Park in Birmingham, Alabama for the 8th Annual Z Nationals Track Day.

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As Floridians one of the most simple, cathartic and utterly complete weekend get-aways we are easily afforded, is the exploration of our northern neighbor’s pastoral small towns and blue-highways…

The beautiful pastoral winding roads of rural Georgia offer green landscapes, twisty-highways and most importantly very little traffic to ruin a good time....

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A magazine’s staff is usually spread out across the country, with contributors often working remotely, telecommuting and making the most of the digital age. While being efficient and cost effective for business the drawback to this is that we get very little face time with our co-workers and staff in lieu of emails, text messages and conference calls.  At Down Shift, our remedy to this malady of modern publishing has been to get everyone together each year for SEMA and then as a group enjoy a few days of rest and relaxation at a different location each year; 2010 was no exception.

The 2011 Infiniti G37 Sedan Is Hands Down Our Favorite All Around Road Tripper To Date (1920x1200)

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Ichnetucknee Springs Draws People from All Over Florida and Beyond

Summer in Florida is a hot, humid sweat inducing affair…there is just no way around it. Thankfully Mother Nature graced our state with the Florida aquifer and there in a plethora of beautiful and refreshing spring fed pools and rivers within which to relax…

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The 2011 Nissan Versa Hatch

Recently I was afforded the opportunity to accomplish one of those motoring dreams I’ve harbored since before I was even old enough to drive; drive the length of the American eastern seaboard. To that end the route was simply laid out as depart from our offices in Tampa Florida and arrive in Burlington, VT nearly a week later  while making stops along the way in Savannah, GA, Washington, DC, Philadelphia, PA, New York City, Boston, MA and Concorde, NH.  The return trip would in turn mirror the journey north and deliver us back to Tampa again. An idealic journey only complicated by the fact it would be accomplished in (2) 2011 model economy cars; the first being the wide-selling Nissan Versa hatchback and the 2^nd being the newly redesigned Hyundai Elantra…oy vey

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The Down Shift 2010 Road Trip Weapon of Choice - 2011 Infiniti G37

Every year following the festivities that is SEMA super-show we like to dial it down a notch, pack up the team and take a fun, relaxing west-coast road trip. This year’s destination the amazing vistas of the Grand Canyon and the Ponderosa pines of Flagstaff, AZ.

Vehicles: 2011 Infiniti G37 Sedan, 2010 Hyundai Elantra
Start: Las Vegas Convention Center – Las Vegas, NV
Stop #1: Grand Canyon National Park, AZ
Stop #2: Flagstaff, AZ
Finish: McCarran International Airport – Las Vegas, NV
Miles: 600

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