The Acer Guy

I don’t know about you but the allure of historical racing cars is, to me, one of life’s irresistible forces.

I grew up with Mario Andretti and James Hunt, and through them discovered Gilles Villneuve, Jackie Stewart, Jack Brabham, Stirling Moss and many many others.

I love those old black and white photographs showing the race winner sitting in the car just moments after crossing the finish line wearing an open shirt, their faces black except for the ring around their eyes from the goggles! Timeless..

Love them or loathe them, of the various teams competing today at the highest levels, only Ferrari has successfully carried a tradition of sporting excellence from the beginning, which is why it’s a truly magical sight to see these historical cars running - they’re just so damned evocative!

Shell has put together a very special TV advert that I haven’t seen yet (UK only perhaps?). In any case I simply couldn’t resist putting it up here, if nothing else so that I know where to find it every time I need that Ferrari fix.

Oh and what’s it got to do with Acer? Have a look as the 2007 F1 car pulls out of the petrol station. You can see the Acer logo in front of the left rear wheel. Not for long mind..

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Who said computers were boring?

Die-hard gamers know they’re not and anyone who’s earned 8 Linden dollars an hour gyrating somewhere meaningless in SecondLife knows there’s plenty of room for a giggle online.

Yesterday I received another mail from Ferrari World which I like to keep track of but never ventured into as I’m a little fussy about my paid memberships and have trouble thinking what Ferrari could possibly offer me under a paid subscription that I can’t get free somewhere else online. But that’s another story.

I was intrigued by the words “X-Challenge” on one of the stories and clicked to see what it was.

Turns out Ferrari World has launched a free racing simulation game called Ferrari X-Challenge where you can whiz round Fiorano or Mugello in an F430 Challenge. Club Ferrari members get to race each other online which is where that subscription fee enters the equation. Without it you’re on your own which, if you’re like me and your virtual driving skills would get you arrested in real life, is much better as I did more damage to my car than I’d care to admit publicly.


What’s this got to do with Acer? Well, as Official Sponsors to Scuderia Ferrari, Acer gets its own car!

Personally I think looking at a Ferrari F430 in “Acer Green” is more of a challenge than getting to grips with the car itself but hey, nobody’s perfect!

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As I wrote a few days ago, Acer put in an amazing performance last year, conceding third place to Lenovo but making up so much ground overall, it’s getting noticed (and not just for its Ferraris!).

So much so, that in an article over on the Inquirer, HP and Dell have been advised to look in their rear-view mirrors for Acer, an 800-pound gorilla that increased sales by 37.1 percent for the whole of 2006, according to Gartner numbers for Q4.

The same article also suggests that Acer is looking to tie up with US retail giant Best Buy to sell notebooks from February which could generate a 100 percent rise in US sales.

I wonder where we’ll be this time next year?

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