Wall to Wall: It’s a Tough Job, but Somebody Has to Do It

From the front cover to the last page, our June 2012 issue of Motor Trend is stuffed with the kinds of cars whose pictures kids would tear out of magazines and pin to the wall, back when kids read magazines and pinned actual pictures onto real walls.
It wasn’t easy to capture all the exotic hardware you’ll find throughout this issue. We sent crews out of town, across the country, and around the world to gather photos, video, numbers, and driving impressions. We logged hundreds of hours in the air, on the set, and behind the wheel. Were all the early call times, 14-hour days, connecting flights, and time away from loved ones worth it?

Well, you could ask John Carey, who traveled all the way down to Port Elizabeth, South Africa, to be teased with a drive of the World’s Fastest Roadster. You could question Paul Horrell, who jetted to Nardo, Italy, to bear witness to the birth of Porsche’s next-generation supercar. Nate Martinez and Mike Shaffer have an answer as well. They dropped everything to sprint to across the country to catch five hours with a Motor Trend exclusive: BMW’s all-new Spyder concept.
You could ask every member of the crew involved with the hectic, epic week that brought the stunning new McLaren MP4-12C to our office, alongside a Porsche 911 Turbo S and Nissan GT-R. The most mind-bending part of that week wasn’t the incredible numbers all three put down at the test track, but how they looked standing stock still, in a rundown warehouse in downtown Los Angeles, next to the blood-red reptile that dominates this month’s cover.
Scott Evans can tell you all about it. He went on a 10-day sports car bender that started at the 2012 Geneva auto show, where he and I (along with Angus MacKenzie and Todd Lassa) witnessed the official reveals of the world’s fastest roadster and the most powerful Ferrari ever produced. After that, Evans jetted to the South of France to fling around the all-new Porsche Boxster. The day following his return, he and Jonny Lieberman met up to carve some canyons in the aforementioned 911 and GT-R. The very next day, he was back on a plane to the Motor City for details on the Viper. Yeah, whew!