Cars are one of the most easily photographed things on the planet, so we at Jalopnik took full advantage of that fact this year. After all, what’s driving a car or going to an event without the photos to show for it? Here’s the best Jalopnik photography of 2018.
A Car Nerd’s Guide To Japan
Ken Saito continued his excellent work behind the camera this year. He went on a Pagani rally in Australia, spent some time at the Fuji Super Sports Day, hunted down Tokyo’s best car-spotting locations, checked out the Villa d’Este, hung out with a guy who daily drives a race car and met a cat.
Here are a few favorites.
Wasteland Weekend
Gizmodo Special Projects Desk’s Anna Merlan and photographer Tod Seelie went to Wasteland Weekend this year, a deeply strange desert festival that will make your wildest Mad Max dreams come true.
They saw some truly bizarre things.
That Modded 1969 Porsche 912 Slantnose
There was a beautiful set from Andrew T. Maness at the very beginning of the year of a heavily modified 912. The thing is show-stoppingly gorgeous and extremely cool. I want it.
Racing and Reviews: Bradley-Style
Kurt Bradley had a busy year of covering motorsports events like the 24 Hours of Le Mans, MotoGP and the U.S. Grand Prix. When he wasn’t doing that, he was reviewing cars, like the Morgan 3 Wheeler, VLF Rocket and Porsche Cayman GT4 RS.
What the Rest of Jalopnik Was Up To
And what about the rest of us?
Well, to start: Justin Westbrook spent this year reviewing cars like the new BMW 3 Series and the Volvo S60. He also towed a rally car with a Range Rover, something I am sure all Range Rover owners aspire to do. And he capture some truly ace behind-the-scene moments at the illustrious auto show media days.
When Raphael Orlove wasn’t painstakingly detailing the disastrous history of the Porsche 959 and thoroughly investigating Amati, the luxury car brand that never happened, he was checking out drifting with Super D.
Sitting in on the world’s most expensive traffic jam.
Watching trucks wait for ferries above the Arctic Circle.
Going to 7s Day.
Hanging out at East Coast Bash.
Kicking it with readers at our Amazon party in LA.
Walking around ProBroDown.
Taking an old BMW across the country.
And poking around Pebble Beach. (I still see that red GT40 in my dreams. And also that Ferrari 512S Modulo.).
Andrew Collins and David Tracy drove an $800 Jeep Wagoneer thousands of miles to Moab, Utah, and back. It’s not a trip I personally would have done (I’m a fan of creature comforts like heaters and showers) but they pulled it off! And the photos were amazing.
Oh, and while we’re talking about Andrew, he also went to an awesome Japanese car meet, put some hard miles on a Jeep Wrangler Rubicon and camped in a Mercedes-AMG E63 S wagon. Look at all that space!
And as for yours truly?
I finally got to fulfill a bucket list item of shooting Formula Drift in the media pit, went to The Quail for the first time, drove some Maseratis in the snow, had my life changed by a second-gen Toyota MR2.
Oh, and I became a Mustang Woman.