MotoGP takes off with a tumultuous time in Thailand.
In qualifying the Aprilias display their prowess and must have Ducati alert to a real threat this year. Bez continues his hot streak from last season to take the first pole of the season. Raul Fernandez continues his streak for 3rd, Jorge Martin finishes 5th, and Ai Ogura in 8th for all four riders and machines in the top ten. Quite an accomplishment after such a long streak of Ducati dominance. Marc Marquez, while still not physically 100%, pulled a rabbit out of his hat for the 2nd best time with Digi in 4th. Alex Marquez well down in 7th. Bagnaia missed out on Q2 entirely and starts from 13th (!).
Pedro Acosta is top KTM starting from 6th with Binder in 11th, and a pair of Hondas joined Q2 as well.
Yamaha is out to sea and occupying the bottom end of the timing tower.
In the sprint Bez and Marc get off to a good start with Marquez taking first. Bez and Marc exchange places and Marc pressures for a just two laps before Bez loses the front and wrecks out of the sprint. Due to a new rule around restarts riders are now much less likely to rejoin a race as they must keep the bike lit to rejoin from trackside. Otherwise, bike starts must take place behind a barrier (presumably for track personnel safety as they often push the bike for the restart).
Early contact between Alex Marquez, running in hot to a turn, and Digi take both of them into the back field. Digi was able to claw his way back into the points.
Pedro Acosta worked his way to 2nd behind Marc and the two passed back and forth time and again in turn 12 (last turn, slow right hander before main straight). That is until Marc made a very aggressive move which caused Pedro to stand up and go wide. The move was borderline and Marc was penalized one position. Acosta wins his first sprint in MotoGP in his third year in the class. Marc finishes second. Raul Fernandez takes third, with Ai in 4th (his best finish, I believe) Jorge Martin 5th.
In the race proper it is once again Bez out front, this time with a stronger start. Marc doesn't look as strong and fades all the way to 5th at one point. Raul Fernandez bolts away behind Bez who is well ahead. Marc bides his time and watches Acosta and Martin duke it out for third, and then cleanly overtakes both during lap 10. Unfortunately, Marc's sharp racecraft is all for naught as Acosta retakes and then finds a second wind a few laps later. Fernandez begins flagging due to injury around lap 20, and his large gap to 3rd is not enough to keep Acosta behind. Marc goes wide in a turn and hits a curb hard enough that his wheel deforms severely and he loses all the pressure out of the tire. No points for 93, but on the bright side he wasn't slammed to the earth and hurt with a long season ahead. Alex Marquez lost the front and exited race within a lap of this incident.
Joan Mir also had poor luck with his tire partly delaminating toward the end of the race after a very promising looking run in the top 10.
Rookie wise: Diogo Moreira, replacing Somkiat Chantra at LCR Honda, looks strong with a points finish in the race. Toprak finished ahead of Jack Miller and the Ducati test rider (filling in for an injured Fermin Aldeguer). Yamaha looks adrift and struggling on their new V4 platform. With the displacement change next year I actually don't know right now how many allowances they have for engine development this year. Supposedly they're well down on power and they look worse than they did with the venerable inline 4.
Acosta leads the championship going into Brazil in two weeks' time.
EDITED TO ADD:
MotoAmerica runs the Daytoner Two hundie this weekend. Of utmost importance is that the premiere series, King of the Baggers, does have points races this week. Apparently so is the supersport category? That is a change this year.
Also; MotoA must be hurting for subscriptions because their splashpage is advertising 2 seasons of live for $150 which is a lot of racing for the money and like buying season tickets to your local minor league team.
Aprilia have a fascinating aero update - an "F duct" running from the front of the fairing, dumping about where the riders' elbows are. It apparently improves ground effect at extreme lean angles, and the riders' forearms block the exit when they're tucked in, minimizing the drag on the straights.
Motorbike aero has seemed so primitive compared to car racing. These wings or winglets that change angle to the ground as the bike leans, how were they compensating for that in past years? There were also a few years when I felt that front end washouts were way more common because the disruption of having a bike in front of you made the grip level change a lot going into a corner. Way more impactful than some understeer in a car.
I know, but these manufacturers do the most primitive stuff then brag about 14 grams of downforce at 300 km/h. The Aprilia RS660 street bike comes with winglets. WHY????
And active aero is banned so that's the only way to legally do it. Also, the other factories get one shot to copy it this year and get it right due to homoligation rules.
Definitely a stolen march by Aprilia. Good for them, I say.
Crafar’s penalty on MM in the Sprint was complete BS! If you can’t do that, it’s not racing anymore. Acosta didn’t think it deserved a penalty— that tells you everything you need to know.
Classic block pass. Acosta should have let him through and cut back underneath him (and he knows it). If that would have happened there would not have been a penalty.
I wonder what the new owners of Indian will do with KotB. As for the low subscription numbers to Live +. "Sell your soul to the Devil and the balance comes due one day". I believe the initial rush of bagger owners to MotoAm is receding and with Indian participation a question it may continue to decrease. What fun is it if you can only root for your brand to beat your brand. KotB is Nascar on 2 wheels. Also could be that Superbike/Sportbike fans kind of see the balance of promotion for the series going to the baggers. Wouldn't be the first time a fan base was made second fiddle for some new shiny thing. Kind of hurts. Harleys are dinosaurs and Indians are copies of Harleys. They're bought for the image which is really just a marketing plan. Anyway purchasers are dying off so there's that too.
Yep. Agree. From a business and marketing perspective. I'm thinking it's like a Tran's blindness to the reality of who they, them, it really are. The genuine enthusiasts, drivers and spectators, may only still exist in the amateur program's. Driving as a Pro certainly has its benefits but it comes with much baggage that doesn't have anything to do with the drive.
"degree in education policy" taught by people who have never spent a single day in an elementary/middle/high school classroom as an adult. and we wonder why certain things are f'd up?
So the dude bought a 15 year old 160k mile n55 car at the absolute height of its depreciation due to a decade's worth of deferred maintenance and then complained about the costs of taking it to a shop to perform well known service on BMW weak points?
Hopefully he used it to get laid before the clutch dies. It was close to end of life and he was definitely burning through it on his test drive. Hopefully he figured out how to slip it a bit better after purchase.
Sad but true story of the guy who bought my brother's 2010 335i a while back ago:
1. Paid $10k for a chipped 335i with 115k miles.
2. Turbo wastegates started sticking. I hooked him up with a friend that would just fix the gates and not replace the whole thing. Still cost a few grand
3. Transmission solenoids started going bad. Changed fluids then changed the solenoids. Seemed to improve.
4. Transmission completely died. Replaced transmission with another used one.
5. Injectors started running rough. Again, hooked up with my bmw out of his garage buddy. Still cost quite a bit.
6. Engine started smoking. 3rd valve cover went bad.
7. I hear that this guy killed himself. His friend claims he wasn't happy with his marrige...
If you go over to that other substack, this was not a bottom barrel car. High mileage but not full of deferred maintenance. They ALL need this much at this age.
I'm not saying what you described doesn't happen. And probably A LOT. But as an "original owner", I spent way too much on repairs hoping to keep the car, before I finally gave up.
Having said that, this guy is CLEARLY an amateur. He was *afraid* of spending ten grand on a used BMW? Ha!
I like the idea of having a German car, but the reality is that the UP simply has nowhere to go to maintain it. And if it breaks I don't want to have it towed to frickin' Toledo.
If anyone ever wondered why the gas door was left open on a yellow Viper GTS at Yark BMW, it’s because pre-teen me touched it. I am deeply sorry.
My dad and I often used to go down there on Sunday mornings and look at cars. They always had cool cars on the lot. I remember being in awe of how fancy Taylor Cadillac was.
I can remember Taylor Kia, but my memory is hazy on where Taylor Cadillac was...
I worked in the detail barn when it was still a brown garage behind the Jeep/Olds/whatever showroom. It was a rare opportunity to touch anything really cool. The other detailers were all sort of jealous of the porters who worked in the BMW/Porsche building and had to wear khakis and never got their hands dirty.
It was relatively reliable but there were surprise serpentine belt failures which were inconvenient. The oil pump went at 199,000 miles and the cost was more than the car was worth.
If German cars don't all suck when the Audi is at end of life at 45k miles, I'll highly consider getting another one. There's nothing I like right now but hopefully that changes in 5 years.
LC500 is pretty cool in terms of styling inside and out and yes I would like to have one some day, but what do you think about the RC Fs? Lately I've actually come around on them...
The RC F is a nice car, and it would be smarter to buy that one and pay less for insurance and safer to park at Walmart, but if I was going to do something more conventional I'd look at Mustangs and Challengers.
In a week I'm 45 and my kids are all teenagers and I've never had a really cool, unique car ever, so I want the concept-car looks and Yamaha-tuned exhaust cost be damned (in Nori Green Pearl, if I can find it). Things I've read say the LC500 is smoother to drive, too, which as I age, sounds better to my bones.
There’s a couple at my church who has bought several Audis in their family over the last fifteen years, keeping them past the warranty period, and they have only had a control arm bushing as a repair outside of maintenance and wear items.
I don’t think I’d have that kind of luck, so I’ll stick to my Hondas!
My 2007 328 wagon is needy and I’m definitely putting my mechanic’s kids through a nice school, but at least it usually breaks down in my driveway. BMW Stockholm Syndrome.
Its last favor to me was making really bad noises on start up, like something was caught in the radiator fan. It then drove fine so I ran a bunch of local errands but didn’t shut the car off. My last stop was at my mechanic’s where it would not start after I shut it off. (it was the starter)
See why I’m in love with the car? It warned me of the pending disaster, then saved me the money for a tow. I wish I could find a woman that reliable.
Towards the end of my 328ix wagon day I discovered that the scuffed interior pieces in the hatch in sand beige were NLA. So mismatched black was the way to go unless I scoured eBay for non-scuffed beige trim pieces which was obv a fool's errand because why would a wrecker part out a non-scuffed 17 yo piece?
And have I mentioned that each new trim piece of black plastic cost over $100?
Or the time I hit a pothole at night so hard the xenon, adjustable headlamps bounced out of their sockets. Replacement cost $3000, no way to fix. My insurer said no, I had to get lawyer feisty and eventually they paid up, but still, $3000 for headlamps?
Well the headlights that move with the steering are always expensive. Mine didn’t come with the internal cargo cover and boy were those things expensive. But I didn’t care about it so never bought one.
The 1989-1995 Taurus SHO had a better solution, cornering lights that were activated with the turn signal. So simple they did not break, even on a Ford. Perfect for dark Vermont dirt roads.
Get this - the previous (and now current) owner of my 135i paid to have both of the turning headlights on the car replaced TWICE. Not under warranty, and with his own money AT A BMW DEALERSHIP.
I cannot fathom the depth of love he has for that car. I always just thought I'd install the basic lights from a 128i if they went wrong.
My son and I have a 2008 135i first edition with the Dinan intake and software, which at the time was a factory warranted option. The car was also the test bed for the original Corsa exhaust which it still has. It's got about 45,000 miles and has been pretty good except for a very expensive ABS sensor. It's a keeper.
Question, how do those E36 M3 wheels on some of the pictures fit the 1 series? That's an issue, not too many wheel options.
Heaven knows that, with the general gentrification of the Traverse City area, along with Charlevoix/Harbor Springs, there’s got to be a Benz/BMW/Audi SOMETHING in that area. (I mean, TC has TWO Culver’s, FFS! 😂😂) Yes, still, what, three hours versus, what, eight?
It's four or more depending on traffic. Still a heck of a tow! It cost nearly $500 to have our Mazda5 towed to the Escanaba Mazda dealership (that is no longer there) to have the key replaced many years ago.
Paying other people to work on cars like this always blows my mind. It's a 15 year old high mileage entry level BMW. It's going to be rough. It's a project car. It's implied you're doing the work. If you buy a project car to pay shop labor rates and parts markup, you've lost the plot.
Why does it matter if somebody else is willing to pay for repair work on his car? I wouldn't describe this a project car. Seems like it was used as a daily driver as much as possible during the short ownership period.
You and a few other commenters here make several incorrect assumptions about my time with the 135i. Since I was the one paying the bills, I don't feel the need to defend my use of a shop owned by a friend to complete the big jobs. I'll also be clear that this car was the absolute best 1 Series that I could find within about 200 miles of my home, and I looked at a lot of them.
If you read my write ups you'll understand the car was an experiment, and not the first of it's kind that I've run. Enthusiasts love to imply "those other German cars are bad, but this model/engine/brand is reliable." Then they hand over their collected stack of appalling maintenance receipts as if they are an included accessory. It is a psychological disease, but having fun with cars is worth it.
My experience with older German cars, regardless of the badge on the hood, has been quite consistent. Some were financially ruinous even with yours truly and a cadre of buddies turning the wrenches. Others added a bizarre emotional trauma to the mix. I will never own another Porsche, for example, but that's another story.
Jack is very much being good-natured here, and I think we both felt it would be fun to compare a goofball German car against the granite-like Lexus. I invited Jack and you all to take pleasure from my "pain" over the car. It's a pain that most car enthusiasts share and can relate to.
However, if your comments are an attempt to paint me as arrogant, unintelligent, unable to turn a wrench, or something else negative I'd ask you to consider what's behind it. Do you have a high mileage E60 M5 in your garage that "just needs an SMG wiring harness?" You're among friends here.
I do same thing about people blowing wads on BMWs and Audis, as it's always a good joke.
However, when I used to get ribbed about my Land Rover tax, I would remind my friends about my parent's Lexus LX470. My parents spent more maintaining their LX than I did my 1998 Discovery. Other than a death wobble that took a while to fix, my Disco was suprisingly solid. I also screwed up my steering box by pouring too much fluid...but that's a different story.
My buddy the custom carpenter (cabinets, etc.) up North retired and moved closer to his children and grand children, bought a nice lot and is having a small house and shop built .
Because he knows how fiddly I am he's been keeping me in the loop about the endless screw ups and back tracking the contractor has do do .
At this point he figures the contractor will lose $80K on the job due to his sub - contractors continually making mistakes, even when they're pointed out before they begin .
What a cluster show, I'll never buy a new house and wonder if I ever got the $ to do my own falling down termite farm, if anything would be done properly .
You* can make very good money as a carpenter or tradesperson by being honest, doing what you say you'll do, and showing up on time. I had a former friend who was a contractor who was very good at what he did but was always broke because he was always stiffing one person or another. I say former friend because he moved overnight without telling me and stiffed me for about a grand. Last I heard he was whining about being homeless on Christmas. Someone elses fault of course. I didn't really care about the grand but how he handled it left a bad taste in my mouth.
*the royal you, I'm sure you, the non royal version, do fine
awww, i was replying Dave. He noticed every fix was $3000 on his E90.
I went through a period where I only had Germs and so when I took them to the shop, the minimum was a grand, it seemed. I think when I got my last C5 Z06 and took it to the dealer for some service I realized how awesome American cars can be for their cost to maintain. There is a pretty decent chance that I'm out of the Germ game for good...we shall see.
Many see me out and about, far from home in some 50 + year old Mercedes W123 and say 'man ! I _gotta_ get me one of those !" .
My advice never varies : if you simply _must_ have a Mercedes, buy the newest off lease one you can find and take care of it, within 4 years it'll have a $1,500 (minimum) repair bill that doesn't effect it starting and going to work, at that time say 'No thank you " and take it home , $pend $150 on detailing and sell it to the first fool who shows you ca$h .
The few that follow this advice tell me it was good and they liked it .
Those others, they all tell me how much they grew to hate their beloved Mercedes .
Couldn't be me; I'm allergic to German cars, but I admire the guy for taking a crack at it nonetheless. To my mind, he went wrong by buying a 1-series; if you're gonna buy something stupid, buy something REALLY REALLY stupid, like an E60 M5.
The base model, with the standard six-speed, would be a (REALLY)^2 stupid rather than a (REALLY)^3 stupid, and at the right price I'd be very tempted indeed.
Yep. The airhead life is the least petulant and expensive of roundel vehicles. I was a k-bike guy for a long time, but that's basically a 3 series on two wheels, so you get a weird engine, the same fuel injection as the 80s cars/Ford trucks, and it handles like a tea trolley if you don't replace all the things that go in/out on each end. The frame is still al-dente pasta and you can get waggles at high speeds if you don't keep it tuned- and sometimes even if you do. But in BM's defense, even the mighty 750 Honda would waggle if you got it up to top speed. Materials and tech limits of the time.
I have a K75 sitting around I'm parting out because I'm tired of working on it and trying to sell it.
I worked at an indie shop for a while and did lots of airhead and K- maintenance/rescues. I like airhead people, and I like airheads, but I don't enjoy working on them at any price except Jay Leno levels of money and rarity. But I love to see them out and about and chat with owners.
"I will probably sell a few bikes and cars of my own in the near future" and you should first post them on the ACF Classified ads page you promised us long ago. :)
He’s a dude in Columbus that initiates conversations with strangers and posts them on Instagram. Usually his opener is something like, “Still doing X, eh?”
Everyone on the right pretty much hated him. A lot of people in Texas hated him. He's anti-gun and very much a rino. As a Texan, I'm glad he's gone, just wish he'd been gone sooner. The more we learned about him, the more we all wanted him gone.
On the glasses - a lot of those glasses are prescription to boot, so they'll always be worn.
Everyone with a brain KNOWS that human beings would be looking at those feeds, especially if anything good or criminal came along.
If it was up to me, everyone who bought a pair would be ruled incapably of handling their own affairs for extreme stupidity. As well as barred from voting or engaging in any other important decision making.
I don't go that far but I unplug my webcam after every zoom/teams meeting and all they'd see is a tired old man sitting at a desk. I assume my phone microphone is on all the time even if siri can't understand a word I say
I listened to him a few times on his podcast and was like, why does everyone hate this guy and then two minutes later I'd go and see something he posted on Twitter and I was like...ohhh.
Guy I shoot with wore Meta glasses to the club one day and was told as soon as he walked into the trailer “take that shit off and never bring it back here ever.”
Glad the range told him to remove them. Leave me out of your videos and taking photos of my weapons. Wish we had the right to disappear from the web like Europe even though their data privacy laws are not perfect I would prefer that we could opt out of crap rather than take boiler plate language.
The sticker might stop them from watching you but it won't stop them from listening. The little holes next to the camera are the microphones. Cameras can only record what's immediately in front of them, microphones can hear things in the next room. On most plasticky PC laptops, you can pry the bezel back with your fingernails or a nail file and unplug the cable.
I personally found the NASCAR trucks bashing around the St. Pete course hilarious. Didn't watch much of it, but it was fun while I did. And what the hell did Alex Palou eat for breakfast before that race? I didn't analyze his progression, but the win was his from half distance.
Palou is a legitimate F1 podium level driver with some bad business associates and advisors that got him stuck in a three year lawsuit that nuked his F1 career and cost him $12mm. The rest of the Indycar grid is F1/2 washouts and 45 year olds. No one is even remotely in his league and he's showcasing it.
Dario and Hinch looked like they were having a great time out there, didn't they? I like Palou, but I was hoping somebody else would have an answer for him this season. Guess not. Maybe Phoenix will shake things up a little.
The idea of a NASCAR road race gets me going, but watching it is a bit like being forced to suffer through women’s basketball. Remember when OEM’s refused to bend the knee to superior UX and charged forward with their own nav systems?
In other news, who is excited about Spring and wrenching season??? I have a solid 60 hours of projects waiting
The sad reality is that in making a "better" road course car with the next gen, they've made the road courses boring. Too much brake, too much tire, sequential shifters and IRS means they don't wheel hop. They gave them an extra 75 hp this year to burn stuff off faster, but they're still too easy to hustle.
The fucking soft touch turn signal doesn't cancel properly. So if you miss the tap for a triple flash, you wind up triggering it the other way back and forth several times.
In the W212 E350, Mercedes placed the cruise control stalk on the left side above the turn signal stalk, unlike every other car on the planet, so when I drive my E350 after driving my other cars, all turns start with me triggering the cruise control. Maddening. It probably took 10,000 hours of meetings in Germany to approve that misplaced stalk.
In one of the recent loaners I was given by my Mercedes dealer, they switched the position of the turn signal and cruise stalks compared to my 2012. I was even more confused; maybe it is time for the smart glasses.
If memory serves, my 2007 300C had that same stalk. It looked flimsy as hell but I didn't mind it there. Even though it's intuitive, Toyota stalks on the right side of the wheel give me fits.
Weird thing is that the turn signal stalks on the previous gens were made out of special magic. I don't think I've ever been so impressed by a turn signal stalk...
The 135i experience sounds a lot like my experience with my ‘86 Carrera a few years back. Loved the car, did some of my own maintenance but in general spent a lot more time driving my pickup as my DD than I wanted while it was in the shop.
I think of those folks in the Philippines every time I see a Waymo now.
Interesting experience with AI yesterday - a historian in my hometown posted an alleged photo from a place on his FB page. I knew it was incorrect so I responded with some details on why it was. He responded with a screen shot from AI to back up his point. When I looked closer, I realized the original source of the photo had it misidentified and AI has misinterpreted another website’s listing to come to its conclusions. Garbage In = Garbage Out as we used to say……
Always has been. Always will be. This is why the right needs to understand their place in the West. 100 years of losing the culture. Don't be crying about someone doing something minor to win. Just win. It's the only way to be part of that history writing.
The Jasmine Crockett commentary doesn't make a lot of sense. She is 100% pro-Israel, expanded voting "rights", and unlimited immigration/abortions/supreme court justices. So what spice flow was she potentially going to stop?
Has anyone ever listened to her speak? She is D-U-M-B.
That's not exactly what I meant. I mean, for real, America can't indefinitely support those luxury beliefs, to steal more from Rob Henderson. Not that a white guy doing the same thing is better. Although, you are probably right. It's just not where I was going.
hell yeah the original is one of my favourite bikes ever
"the auction results have been strong at “ModaMiami”"
read this about four times but is that not the mayor destroying nyc? also 7mm for a 250 california sounds low for some reason
"talking incessantly, in his outdoor voice, about himself for nearly a week straight"
i already knew he was insufferable but my heart goes out to the acf members that had to struggle through it irl
"All I ask is that I be paid one dollar more than they paid Jonny, and that the entire hotel room be bleached, sterilized, and lightly irradiated before I get there"
congrats on making $11 then. also they can just set the room on fire to save some time
"I assume you, Dear Reader, don’t have a pair, because it would take a genuine idiot to send every single thing you see and do to “the cloud”"
i was only interested in them for taking helmetcam footage for evaluation and nothing else
"Imagine having to watch the sex lives of Meta Ray-Ban owners"
theyve invented amateur porn but worse in every way for everyone. congrats guys
"“The Chad ES300 Enjoyer”"
how many prompts did it take to get the jacket exactly how you wanted it
"Zilisch made a total of seventy passes for position during the race"
now thats absolutely outstanding. hes gotta win some kind of award at the end of the season for that
"Asian women are the most feminine, Black women least so"
couldnt it also be said that asians have a lower level of testosterone than blacks with black women looking similar to men and asain men looking similar to women? seems to be a lower level of sexual dimorphism than in other races for some reason
I'm sorry, but did you just open up with a "Swedish investigative journalists" and conclude with a ~Chris~ Jim Farley piece AND NOT LINK TO SCHILLERVISION???
23andMe said, until I removed my data, that I have a higher percentage of Neanderthal genes than average. I have been quite successful with women over the years. That is until I got married thirty-five years ago which was my ultimate success with a woman I don’t deserve. I prefer to think my success was due to my stunning good looks and humble personality rather than my Neanderthal genes.
They also said that people with higher percentages of Neanderthal genes tend to sweat more under physical exertion. I can attest to that. I play a lot of tennis and I tell people the only thing I do as well as Rafa Nadal is sweat. Maybe some women like sweaty sex.
MotoGP takes off with a tumultuous time in Thailand.
In qualifying the Aprilias display their prowess and must have Ducati alert to a real threat this year. Bez continues his hot streak from last season to take the first pole of the season. Raul Fernandez continues his streak for 3rd, Jorge Martin finishes 5th, and Ai Ogura in 8th for all four riders and machines in the top ten. Quite an accomplishment after such a long streak of Ducati dominance. Marc Marquez, while still not physically 100%, pulled a rabbit out of his hat for the 2nd best time with Digi in 4th. Alex Marquez well down in 7th. Bagnaia missed out on Q2 entirely and starts from 13th (!).
Pedro Acosta is top KTM starting from 6th with Binder in 11th, and a pair of Hondas joined Q2 as well.
Yamaha is out to sea and occupying the bottom end of the timing tower.
In the sprint Bez and Marc get off to a good start with Marquez taking first. Bez and Marc exchange places and Marc pressures for a just two laps before Bez loses the front and wrecks out of the sprint. Due to a new rule around restarts riders are now much less likely to rejoin a race as they must keep the bike lit to rejoin from trackside. Otherwise, bike starts must take place behind a barrier (presumably for track personnel safety as they often push the bike for the restart).
Early contact between Alex Marquez, running in hot to a turn, and Digi take both of them into the back field. Digi was able to claw his way back into the points.
Pedro Acosta worked his way to 2nd behind Marc and the two passed back and forth time and again in turn 12 (last turn, slow right hander before main straight). That is until Marc made a very aggressive move which caused Pedro to stand up and go wide. The move was borderline and Marc was penalized one position. Acosta wins his first sprint in MotoGP in his third year in the class. Marc finishes second. Raul Fernandez takes third, with Ai in 4th (his best finish, I believe) Jorge Martin 5th.
In the race proper it is once again Bez out front, this time with a stronger start. Marc doesn't look as strong and fades all the way to 5th at one point. Raul Fernandez bolts away behind Bez who is well ahead. Marc bides his time and watches Acosta and Martin duke it out for third, and then cleanly overtakes both during lap 10. Unfortunately, Marc's sharp racecraft is all for naught as Acosta retakes and then finds a second wind a few laps later. Fernandez begins flagging due to injury around lap 20, and his large gap to 3rd is not enough to keep Acosta behind. Marc goes wide in a turn and hits a curb hard enough that his wheel deforms severely and he loses all the pressure out of the tire. No points for 93, but on the bright side he wasn't slammed to the earth and hurt with a long season ahead. Alex Marquez lost the front and exited race within a lap of this incident.
Joan Mir also had poor luck with his tire partly delaminating toward the end of the race after a very promising looking run in the top 10.
Rookie wise: Diogo Moreira, replacing Somkiat Chantra at LCR Honda, looks strong with a points finish in the race. Toprak finished ahead of Jack Miller and the Ducati test rider (filling in for an injured Fermin Aldeguer). Yamaha looks adrift and struggling on their new V4 platform. With the displacement change next year I actually don't know right now how many allowances they have for engine development this year. Supposedly they're well down on power and they look worse than they did with the venerable inline 4.
Acosta leads the championship going into Brazil in two weeks' time.
EDITED TO ADD:
MotoAmerica runs the Daytoner Two hundie this weekend. Of utmost importance is that the premiere series, King of the Baggers, does have points races this week. Apparently so is the supersport category? That is a change this year.
Also; MotoA must be hurting for subscriptions because their splashpage is advertising 2 seasons of live for $150 which is a lot of racing for the money and like buying season tickets to your local minor league team.
Aprilia have a fascinating aero update - an "F duct" running from the front of the fairing, dumping about where the riders' elbows are. It apparently improves ground effect at extreme lean angles, and the riders' forearms block the exit when they're tucked in, minimizing the drag on the straights.
Brilliant, as it works as active aero without any moving parts. Explainer here: https://youtu.be/jAg4TgvEQCY?si=FNZhWuQeA1DowzNr
Motorbike aero has seemed so primitive compared to car racing. These wings or winglets that change angle to the ground as the bike leans, how were they compensating for that in past years? There were also a few years when I felt that front end washouts were way more common because the disruption of having a bike in front of you made the grip level change a lot going into a corner. Way more impactful than some understeer in a car.
Somebody was definitely due for a breakthrough.
Motorcycle aero is a whole other level, because cars don't LEAN.
I know, but these manufacturers do the most primitive stuff then brag about 14 grams of downforce at 300 km/h. The Aprilia RS660 street bike comes with winglets. WHY????
To look cool
But it doesn't look cool. The cleaner base versions look better. Panagale V2 vs V4 R Supreme Pecco Sticker Edition
The Aprilia aero is very clever using the rider as part of the system.
And active aero is banned so that's the only way to legally do it. Also, the other factories get one shot to copy it this year and get it right due to homoligation rules.
Definitely a stolen march by Aprilia. Good for them, I say.
Crafar’s penalty on MM in the Sprint was complete BS! If you can’t do that, it’s not racing anymore. Acosta didn’t think it deserved a penalty— that tells you everything you need to know.
I agree as Marc didn't punt Acosta nor did he leave track himself.
Classic block pass. Acosta should have let him through and cut back underneath him (and he knows it). If that would have happened there would not have been a penalty.
I wonder what the new owners of Indian will do with KotB. As for the low subscription numbers to Live +. "Sell your soul to the Devil and the balance comes due one day". I believe the initial rush of bagger owners to MotoAm is receding and with Indian participation a question it may continue to decrease. What fun is it if you can only root for your brand to beat your brand. KotB is Nascar on 2 wheels. Also could be that Superbike/Sportbike fans kind of see the balance of promotion for the series going to the baggers. Wouldn't be the first time a fan base was made second fiddle for some new shiny thing. Kind of hurts. Harleys are dinosaurs and Indians are copies of Harleys. They're bought for the image which is really just a marketing plan. Anyway purchasers are dying off so there's that too.
You gotta race what people are buying. That means baggers, for now.
Similarly, NASCAR should be racing trucks as the top series.
Yep. Agree. From a business and marketing perspective. I'm thinking it's like a Tran's blindness to the reality of who they, them, it really are. The genuine enthusiasts, drivers and spectators, may only still exist in the amateur program's. Driving as a Pro certainly has its benefits but it comes with much baggage that doesn't have anything to do with the drive.
(I made that last sentence up, but you get the idea.) <-- poetry
Crockett wasn't primaried for her house seat; she lost the Senate primary.
Right, I didnt mean to imply that
The guy that primaried her is a progressive theater kid that wears a biblical scholar skin suit
https://chrisbray.substack.com/p/pivoting-to-the-god-thing
Which is still more authentic than Crockett's "girl from the street" who went to fancy prep schools and private undergrad college.
The biblical scholar has a bachelor’s degree in government from the University of Texas and a master’s degree in education policy from Harvard.
"degree in education policy" taught by people who have never spent a single day in an elementary/middle/high school classroom as an adult. and we wonder why certain things are f'd up?
He’s creepy. I think we are going to find out he is the offspring of Jim and Tammy Fae Baker.
rumor is that she ran a completely terrible campaign
Yep. Concerned about trans access to abortion and claims a non-binary God gave Mary a choice to abort Jesus so it's Biblically endorsed.
Long time preacher and biblical scholar. He got his Masters in Divinity last fall from Austin Presbytery.
🤢🤢🤮
She didn't run for reelection to her house seat so she's out of Congress as of next January.
So the dude bought a 15 year old 160k mile n55 car at the absolute height of its depreciation due to a decade's worth of deferred maintenance and then complained about the costs of taking it to a shop to perform well known service on BMW weak points?
there's a sucker born every minute
BMW's "expensive to maintain" reputation is 100% based on their third "enthusiast" owner's buying strategy consisting of "sort>price>low to high".
I almost felt bad for the life lesson the kid who purchased my 2007 335 was going to learn
he will have his canon event soon enough
Hopefully he used it to get laid before the clutch dies. It was close to end of life and he was definitely burning through it on his test drive. Hopefully he figured out how to slip it a bit better after purchase.
There’s a nice kid at a local oil change place near me that bought a 3rd Gen BMW 760Li with the V12.
Sad but true story of the guy who bought my brother's 2010 335i a while back ago:
1. Paid $10k for a chipped 335i with 115k miles.
2. Turbo wastegates started sticking. I hooked him up with a friend that would just fix the gates and not replace the whole thing. Still cost a few grand
3. Transmission solenoids started going bad. Changed fluids then changed the solenoids. Seemed to improve.
4. Transmission completely died. Replaced transmission with another used one.
5. Injectors started running rough. Again, hooked up with my bmw out of his garage buddy. Still cost quite a bit.
6. Engine started smoking. 3rd valve cover went bad.
7. I hear that this guy killed himself. His friend claims he wasn't happy with his marrige...
If you go over to that other substack, this was not a bottom barrel car. High mileage but not full of deferred maintenance. They ALL need this much at this age.
Not in my experience.
I'm not saying what you described doesn't happen. And probably A LOT. But as an "original owner", I spent way too much on repairs hoping to keep the car, before I finally gave up.
Having said that, this guy is CLEARLY an amateur. He was *afraid* of spending ten grand on a used BMW? Ha!
🤣
I still miss my 335
I like the idea of having a German car, but the reality is that the UP simply has nowhere to go to maintain it. And if it breaks I don't want to have it towed to frickin' Toledo.
or Minneapolis or Milwaukee!
My parents live near Toledo so at least I wouldn't need a hotel room.
And after 3 months your parents would ask "why are you still here?" and your reply would be "well, the Bimmer needs a LOT of work ...."
"...and also I had to sell my house, wife, and kids to pay for it..."
COME DOWN TO YARK ON THE GLORIOUS CENTRAL AVENUE STRIP
Haha, I worked there 25 years ago!
If anyone ever wondered why the gas door was left open on a yellow Viper GTS at Yark BMW, it’s because pre-teen me touched it. I am deeply sorry.
My dad and I often used to go down there on Sunday mornings and look at cars. They always had cool cars on the lot. I remember being in awe of how fancy Taylor Cadillac was.
I can remember Taylor Kia, but my memory is hazy on where Taylor Cadillac was...
I worked in the detail barn when it was still a brown garage behind the Jeep/Olds/whatever showroom. It was a rare opportunity to touch anything really cool. The other detailers were all sort of jealous of the porters who worked in the BMW/Porsche building and had to wear khakis and never got their hands dirty.
When I started in the oil biz I drove my Saab 900 to North Dakota every month and worried about this often.
My heart rate increased just thinking about that.
Ever have an issue with the 900?
It was relatively reliable but there were surprise serpentine belt failures which were inconvenient. The oil pump went at 199,000 miles and the cost was more than the car was worth.
Thank you for letting me know.
Trying to get my 900 rock solid and love it.
Still keeps up with the traffic today.
If German cars don't all suck when the Audi is at end of life at 45k miles, I'll highly consider getting another one. There's nothing I like right now but hopefully that changes in 5 years.
What I should get? A Lexus
obviously another triumph street triple, so you can say "I have triple street triples"
The goal is to list it in the next 3 weeks after I fix the brakes. Nothing serious besides me figure out to get new brake fluid in the fronts.
Some really difficult brake jobs one injects the new brake fluid via a hand pump oiler and robber hose connected to the bleeder valve.....
Yes, it works a treat and no bleeding necessary .
-Nate
I'm saving up for a Lexus LC500. I will drive my CX-9 until it falls apart.
See you there.
LC500 is pretty cool in terms of styling inside and out and yes I would like to have one some day, but what do you think about the RC Fs? Lately I've actually come around on them...
I may actually prefer them to the IS500.
The RC F is a nice car, and it would be smarter to buy that one and pay less for insurance and safer to park at Walmart, but if I was going to do something more conventional I'd look at Mustangs and Challengers.
In a week I'm 45 and my kids are all teenagers and I've never had a really cool, unique car ever, so I want the concept-car looks and Yamaha-tuned exhaust cost be damned (in Nori Green Pearl, if I can find it). Things I've read say the LC500 is smoother to drive, too, which as I age, sounds better to my bones.
I can't get over the bottom-tier styling of the RC F.
Alfa Romeo.
I was so tempted by the QUADRIFOGLIO but it was about 20k more than I wanted to spent.
You can get them well under $40k now.
If they brought the manual stateside, I would have pulled the trigger the second I found one in Montreal Green.
70k '14 rs7 with very minor problems; leaky waterpump fixed under warranty.
There’s a couple at my church who has bought several Audis in their family over the last fifteen years, keeping them past the warranty period, and they have only had a control arm bushing as a repair outside of maintenance and wear items.
I don’t think I’d have that kind of luck, so I’ll stick to my Hondas!
Keep it. Mine's a 2017 at 80k with a big turbo. (Touches wood)
My 2007 328 wagon is needy and I’m definitely putting my mechanic’s kids through a nice school, but at least it usually breaks down in my driveway. BMW Stockholm Syndrome.
Its last favor to me was making really bad noises on start up, like something was caught in the radiator fan. It then drove fine so I ran a bunch of local errands but didn’t shut the car off. My last stop was at my mechanic’s where it would not start after I shut it off. (it was the starter)
See why I’m in love with the car? It warned me of the pending disaster, then saved me the money for a tow. I wish I could find a woman that reliable.
Towards the end of my 328ix wagon day I discovered that the scuffed interior pieces in the hatch in sand beige were NLA. So mismatched black was the way to go unless I scoured eBay for non-scuffed beige trim pieces which was obv a fool's errand because why would a wrecker part out a non-scuffed 17 yo piece?
And have I mentioned that each new trim piece of black plastic cost over $100?
Or the time I hit a pothole at night so hard the xenon, adjustable headlamps bounced out of their sockets. Replacement cost $3000, no way to fix. My insurer said no, I had to get lawyer feisty and eventually they paid up, but still, $3000 for headlamps?
Well the headlights that move with the steering are always expensive. Mine didn’t come with the internal cargo cover and boy were those things expensive. But I didn’t care about it so never bought one.
The 1989-1995 Taurus SHO had a better solution, cornering lights that were activated with the turn signal. So simple they did not break, even on a Ford. Perfect for dark Vermont dirt roads.
Get this - the previous (and now current) owner of my 135i paid to have both of the turning headlights on the car replaced TWICE. Not under warranty, and with his own money AT A BMW DEALERSHIP.
I cannot fathom the depth of love he has for that car. I always just thought I'd install the basic lights from a 128i if they went wrong.
My son and I have a 2008 135i first edition with the Dinan intake and software, which at the time was a factory warranted option. The car was also the test bed for the original Corsa exhaust which it still has. It's got about 45,000 miles and has been pretty good except for a very expensive ABS sensor. It's a keeper.
Question, how do those E36 M3 wheels on some of the pictures fit the 1 series? That's an issue, not too many wheel options.
Heaven knows that, with the general gentrification of the Traverse City area, along with Charlevoix/Harbor Springs, there’s got to be a Benz/BMW/Audi SOMETHING in that area. (I mean, TC has TWO Culver’s, FFS! 😂😂) Yes, still, what, three hours versus, what, eight?
It's four or more depending on traffic. Still a heck of a tow! It cost nearly $500 to have our Mazda5 towed to the Escanaba Mazda dealership (that is no longer there) to have the key replaced many years ago.
Counterpoint: Big Rapids also has a Culver’s. So does my least favorite town of Cadillac.
TC does have a BMW, Audi, and Mercedes dealer. No Porsche though.
I would say just tow it to my house but by then you might as well make the last 75min to Toledo lol
(whispers in VANOS)
I think Jack is making fun of him in a good natured way. The former BMW owner was not surprised or complaining about the cost.
Paying other people to work on cars like this always blows my mind. It's a 15 year old high mileage entry level BMW. It's going to be rough. It's a project car. It's implied you're doing the work. If you buy a project car to pay shop labor rates and parts markup, you've lost the plot.
Why does it matter if somebody else is willing to pay for repair work on his car? I wouldn't describe this a project car. Seems like it was used as a daily driver as much as possible during the short ownership period.
It's a 1 series with 160k on it. It's a project car.
You and a few other commenters here make several incorrect assumptions about my time with the 135i. Since I was the one paying the bills, I don't feel the need to defend my use of a shop owned by a friend to complete the big jobs. I'll also be clear that this car was the absolute best 1 Series that I could find within about 200 miles of my home, and I looked at a lot of them.
If you read my write ups you'll understand the car was an experiment, and not the first of it's kind that I've run. Enthusiasts love to imply "those other German cars are bad, but this model/engine/brand is reliable." Then they hand over their collected stack of appalling maintenance receipts as if they are an included accessory. It is a psychological disease, but having fun with cars is worth it.
My experience with older German cars, regardless of the badge on the hood, has been quite consistent. Some were financially ruinous even with yours truly and a cadre of buddies turning the wrenches. Others added a bizarre emotional trauma to the mix. I will never own another Porsche, for example, but that's another story.
Jack is very much being good-natured here, and I think we both felt it would be fun to compare a goofball German car against the granite-like Lexus. I invited Jack and you all to take pleasure from my "pain" over the car. It's a pain that most car enthusiasts share and can relate to.
However, if your comments are an attempt to paint me as arrogant, unintelligent, unable to turn a wrench, or something else negative I'd ask you to consider what's behind it. Do you have a high mileage E60 M5 in your garage that "just needs an SMG wiring harness?" You're among friends here.
Nah. My Roundel projects have carburetors or a handmade C101 wiring harness.
I do same thing about people blowing wads on BMWs and Audis, as it's always a good joke.
However, when I used to get ribbed about my Land Rover tax, I would remind my friends about my parent's Lexus LX470. My parents spent more maintaining their LX than I did my 1998 Discovery. Other than a death wobble that took a while to fix, my Disco was suprisingly solid. I also screwed up my steering box by pouring too much fluid...but that's a different story.
Because few Mechanics or other Tradespeople are trustworthy, honest or even competent .
-Nate
Dang. Present company excepted, of course.
Thanx but it's a well documented fact .
My buddy the custom carpenter (cabinets, etc.) up North retired and moved closer to his children and grand children, bought a nice lot and is having a small house and shop built .
Because he knows how fiddly I am he's been keeping me in the loop about the endless screw ups and back tracking the contractor has do do .
At this point he figures the contractor will lose $80K on the job due to his sub - contractors continually making mistakes, even when they're pointed out before they begin .
What a cluster show, I'll never buy a new house and wonder if I ever got the $ to do my own falling down termite farm, if anything would be done properly .
-Nate
You* can make very good money as a carpenter or tradesperson by being honest, doing what you say you'll do, and showing up on time. I had a former friend who was a contractor who was very good at what he did but was always broke because he was always stiffing one person or another. I say former friend because he moved overnight without telling me and stiffed me for about a grand. Last I heard he was whining about being homeless on Christmas. Someone elses fault of course. I didn't really care about the grand but how he handled it left a bad taste in my mouth.
*the royal you, I'm sure you, the non royal version, do fine
Loved my E90 (bought new, manual transmission); but I got rid of it in 2019 when it started to cost real money. Every fix was $3000.
Sounds like the Volvo 850 I was swapping an S60R engine into.
That car ate cash in multiples of $300.
Didn't they tell you about German currency? I think they count in $1000 bills.
Technically Volvo's are Swedish but your point is well made and taken .
-Nate
awww, i was replying Dave. He noticed every fix was $3000 on his E90.
I went through a period where I only had Germs and so when I took them to the shop, the minimum was a grand, it seemed. I think when I got my last C5 Z06 and took it to the dealer for some service I realized how awesome American cars can be for their cost to maintain. There is a pretty decent chance that I'm out of the Germ game for good...we shall see.
Yep ;
Many see me out and about, far from home in some 50 + year old Mercedes W123 and say 'man ! I _gotta_ get me one of those !" .
My advice never varies : if you simply _must_ have a Mercedes, buy the newest off lease one you can find and take care of it, within 4 years it'll have a $1,500 (minimum) repair bill that doesn't effect it starting and going to work, at that time say 'No thank you " and take it home , $pend $150 on detailing and sell it to the first fool who shows you ca$h .
The few that follow this advice tell me it was good and they liked it .
Those others, they all tell me how much they grew to hate their beloved Mercedes .
-Nate
Couldn't be me; I'm allergic to German cars, but I admire the guy for taking a crack at it nonetheless. To my mind, he went wrong by buying a 1-series; if you're gonna buy something stupid, buy something REALLY REALLY stupid, like an E60 M5.
REALLY REALLY REALLY stupid would be a Maserati with Cambiocorsa and Skyhook.
The base model, with the standard six-speed, would be a (REALLY)^2 stupid rather than a (REALLY)^3 stupid, and at the right price I'd be very tempted indeed.
I'm ashamed by the number of Maseratis I've looked at in the past year.
Have you ever driven a Quattroporte that works? Neither have I, but they look glorious on YouTube.
A friend of a friend has one; he's tried to get me to work on it a dozen times.
A family friend accepted a Quattroporte in settlement of a debt. 14 months later he started saying ‘now that s.o.b. owes me twice as much.'
The post-08 facelift V's with ZF 6sp and no Skyhook aren't bad! Maybe eve better than a comparable German of the era.
I'd LOVE a Sport GT S in Quartzo Fuso.
So where do we stand on the Ghibli?
The hot V turbo V8 motor from the 2010 era is the real lemon. And yet they hooked them to manuals, so I want one.
You guys ~
I'll hop on my scrap 1971 BMW "Toaster Tank" R75/5 Motocycle and blister it across the Mojave Desert without concern .
Maybe try a Beemer instead of a Bimmer and you'll be happy .
Of course, the intelligence of those who choose to ride is suspect too.....
-Nate
(Jumping Jesus Christ ~ I can't believe how many words I misspell)
Yep. The airhead life is the least petulant and expensive of roundel vehicles. I was a k-bike guy for a long time, but that's basically a 3 series on two wheels, so you get a weird engine, the same fuel injection as the 80s cars/Ford trucks, and it handles like a tea trolley if you don't replace all the things that go in/out on each end. The frame is still al-dente pasta and you can get waggles at high speeds if you don't keep it tuned- and sometimes even if you do. But in BM's defense, even the mighty 750 Honda would waggle if you got it up to top speed. Materials and tech limits of the time.
I have a K75 sitting around I'm parting out because I'm tired of working on it and trying to sell it.
I worked at an indie shop for a while and did lots of airhead and K- maintenance/rescues. I like airhead people, and I like airheads, but I don't enjoy working on them at any price except Jay Leno levels of money and rarity. But I love to see them out and about and chat with owners.
You have the proper attitude Sir .
I no longer work on others machines being to old and broken to have that much energy .
-Nate
Ooo, that hits close to home. And I knew better so I have no business complaining. See my comment somewhere above.
"I will probably sell a few bikes and cars of my own in the near future" and you should first post them on the ACF Classified ads page you promised us long ago. :)
You now something jack wouldn't regret?
PURCHASING a 2013 Triumph Street triple!
he will try to trade you a beater Lexus, an old KTM, and a raggedy Honda bike for it.
an old KTM, and a raggedy Honda bike for it
I'm listening
Plus some old Ford iron that lives alongside the barn that he doesn't discuss.
I would sell the 5.0-swapped LTD or the 5.0FI Grand Marquis coupe in a heartbeat. I just don't have the time to prep or enjoy them.
Do they run, or will they need to be trailered?
Jack, are you still looking to sell that black CB1100?
5.0 swapped LTD sounds like an absolute treat.
Still trying to hawk that thing eh
I've been trying to hawk a house for the last 5 months that's worth approximately 126x more money
Have you tried offering the house *with* the bike? Work smarter, not harder!
The house is under contract and the bike is still sitting in the garage. Maybe I'll just leave the title on it as a house warming gift*
*I will not
Under contract? When does it close? Congrats!
Johnny Hamcheck, is that you?
There's a whoosh as this reference passes me by
He’s a dude in Columbus that initiates conversations with strangers and posts them on Instagram. Usually his opener is something like, “Still doing X, eh?”
Please don’t sell that sv1000. I’ve been envious of the working man’s Ducati since you bought it.
No chance of that! I will not let that bike go.
On Crenshaw.
Everyone on the right pretty much hated him. A lot of people in Texas hated him. He's anti-gun and very much a rino. As a Texan, I'm glad he's gone, just wish he'd been gone sooner. The more we learned about him, the more we all wanted him gone.
On the glasses - a lot of those glasses are prescription to boot, so they'll always be worn.
Everyone with a brain KNOWS that human beings would be looking at those feeds, especially if anything good or criminal came along.
If it was up to me, everyone who bought a pair would be ruled incapably of handling their own affairs for extreme stupidity. As well as barred from voting or engaging in any other important decision making.
I get odd looks all the time because the front and back of my phone lenses are covered. Doesn't seem so crazy now.
I don't go that far but I unplug my webcam after every zoom/teams meeting and all they'd see is a tired old man sitting at a desk. I assume my phone microphone is on all the time even if siri can't understand a word I say
I listened to him a few times on his podcast and was like, why does everyone hate this guy and then two minutes later I'd go and see something he posted on Twitter and I was like...ohhh.
Wondering who wears glasses during sex.
Really blind people :-)
I want to see you work that into your next novel.
Really blind people with good-looking partners.
Legally blind!
Guy I shoot with wore Meta glasses to the club one day and was told as soon as he walked into the trailer “take that shit off and never bring it back here ever.”
I could see using a product like that someday when my mind is half gone and I need it to track WTF is going on around me. From Meta? Never.
Pull up a Hamas flag on your phone and put it right in his face.
It'd probably lock his account right quick.
If that doesn't work, try the Israeli flag. One or the other will work.
Glad the range told him to remove them. Leave me out of your videos and taking photos of my weapons. Wish we had the right to disappear from the web like Europe even though their data privacy laws are not perfect I would prefer that we could opt out of crap rather than take boiler plate language.
It's interesting you say that. When I saw that they made these, I thought that the only real use case was public perversion or to record fucking.
Johnny Lieberman. Of course he's alone while he's doing it...
And my family wonders why there's a Chiquita Banana sticker over the lens of my computer .
Those glasses make me shudder .
-Nate
The sticker might stop them from watching you but it won't stop them from listening. The little holes next to the camera are the microphones. Cameras can only record what's immediately in front of them, microphones can hear things in the next room. On most plasticky PC laptops, you can pry the bezel back with your fingernails or a nail file and unplug the cable.
Appreciate the heads up, I'll think about covering the microphone holes .
-Nate
I use a piece of masking tape.
I was eating one and there was this sticker.....
-Nate
I personally found the NASCAR trucks bashing around the St. Pete course hilarious. Didn't watch much of it, but it was fun while I did. And what the hell did Alex Palou eat for breakfast before that race? I didn't analyze his progression, but the win was his from half distance.
Palou is a legitimate F1 podium level driver with some bad business associates and advisors that got him stuck in a three year lawsuit that nuked his F1 career and cost him $12mm. The rest of the Indycar grid is F1/2 washouts and 45 year olds. No one is even remotely in his league and he's showcasing it.
I saw that race.
Virtually the only time I ever thought pickups looked cool.
There’s an old Nascar race at Watkins Glen from the Jeff Gordon era that’s fantastic. Lots of driving through grass to cut corners.
Dario and Hinch looked like they were having a great time out there, didn't they? I like Palou, but I was hoping somebody else would have an answer for him this season. Guess not. Maybe Phoenix will shake things up a little.
The idea of a NASCAR road race gets me going, but watching it is a bit like being forced to suffer through women’s basketball. Remember when OEM’s refused to bend the knee to superior UX and charged forward with their own nav systems?
In other news, who is excited about Spring and wrenching season??? I have a solid 60 hours of projects waiting
The sad reality is that in making a "better" road course car with the next gen, they've made the road courses boring. Too much brake, too much tire, sequential shifters and IRS means they don't wheel hop. They gave them an extra 75 hp this year to burn stuff off faster, but they're still too easy to hustle.
I HAVE to get the A/C installed in the garage before it gets hot.
pray tell what "police paking" is. Do I look it up in the statute or urban dictionary? Joking of course.
Wait, where did i say that? I'm tired from the flight but maybe I dont realize how tired I am.
It's in the image macro, chad Lexus owner vs lame-ass german car owner.
Ah
Your AI cartoon had a bunch of typos and duplicated words, perhaps, as expected.
It's not a real meme otherwise.
+1 on the Chad ES300 cargo shorts with the blazer!
I looked right past them... because I wasn't expecting them!
It's the asphalt lot next to the Somali learing center.
"that plays a Lizzo song every time you flick the turn signal" --> this alone would cause massive road rage and the suicide rate to skyrocket.
and then everyone became a bmw driver overnight
I didn't understand this until I bought the e60
The fucking soft touch turn signal doesn't cancel properly. So if you miss the tap for a triple flash, you wind up triggering it the other way back and forth several times.
I understand why people just stopped using it
I didn't use the turn signal in my E46 because I was making moves and didn't need everyone else to know about them.
I didn't use the turn signal in my dad's 733i because I was afraid it would snap off in my hand.
In the W212 E350, Mercedes placed the cruise control stalk on the left side above the turn signal stalk, unlike every other car on the planet, so when I drive my E350 after driving my other cars, all turns start with me triggering the cruise control. Maddening. It probably took 10,000 hours of meetings in Germany to approve that misplaced stalk.
Tell me about it! At least the stalks don't break. The headlight /wiper switch in our W124 is becoming intermittent. It is only 33 years old!
... a "feature" that migrated to the Sprinter. Took me an hour to figure out what to do to get he stupid van in CC.
In one of the recent loaners I was given by my Mercedes dealer, they switched the position of the turn signal and cruise stalks compared to my 2012. I was even more confused; maybe it is time for the smart glasses.
If memory serves, my 2007 300C had that same stalk. It looked flimsy as hell but I didn't mind it there. Even though it's intuitive, Toyota stalks on the right side of the wheel give me fits.
Heck the W123 and W116 also had the same turn signal.
Gotta hand it to old school Daimler Benz: the user interface was consistent across decades of their products.
Weird thing is that the turn signal stalks on the previous gens were made out of special magic. I don't think I've ever been so impressed by a turn signal stalk...
The 135i experience sounds a lot like my experience with my ‘86 Carrera a few years back. Loved the car, did some of my own maintenance but in general spent a lot more time driving my pickup as my DD than I wanted while it was in the shop.
I think of those folks in the Philippines every time I see a Waymo now.
Interesting experience with AI yesterday - a historian in my hometown posted an alleged photo from a place on his FB page. I knew it was incorrect so I responded with some details on why it was. He responded with a screen shot from AI to back up his point. When I looked closer, I realized the original source of the photo had it misidentified and AI has misinterpreted another website’s listing to come to its conclusions. Garbage In = Garbage Out as we used to say……
when did historians get that lazy?
um, maybe 2500 years ago?
when ancient history was just last tuesday
About the time the library of Alexandria burned to the ground.
Never forget that history is written by the _winners_ .
-Nate
Always has been. Always will be. This is why the right needs to understand their place in the West. 100 years of losing the culture. Don't be crying about someone doing something minor to win. Just win. It's the only way to be part of that history writing.
Jack, per Ronnie’s recent post (https://substack.com/@carsandculture/note/p-189504930?r=48qsss&utm_medium=ios&utm_source=notes-share-action), how does Farley still have a job? Seriously, what would the yuck-a-puck have to do to get fired?
well obviously its not "lose multiple Billions of dollars".
maybe he told the BoD, "we didn't lose as much as Stellantis"
I’ll bet Ford’s wiring harnesses weigh the same right now.
100%.
"Look at this! It's fantastic! It's too bad we can't (ever) do something like that."
The Jasmine Crockett commentary doesn't make a lot of sense. She is 100% pro-Israel, expanded voting "rights", and unlimited immigration/abortions/supreme court justices. So what spice flow was she potentially going to stop?
Has anyone ever listened to her speak? She is D-U-M-B.
a republic if you can keep it
she sure sounds like what the fathers had in mind
A daughter of a reverend. She has only attended fancy private schools.
sure looks like that money went to good use
On paper, she is a huge success. In reality, we can't afford to have too many people like her in powerful positions.
And thats the argument for Talarico. He is a better face with which to represent the ideology.
That's not exactly what I meant. I mean, for real, America can't indefinitely support those luxury beliefs, to steal more from Rob Henderson. Not that a white guy doing the same thing is better. Although, you are probably right. It's just not where I was going.
"an up-close look at the Norton Manx and Manx R"
hell yeah the original is one of my favourite bikes ever
"the auction results have been strong at “ModaMiami”"
read this about four times but is that not the mayor destroying nyc? also 7mm for a 250 california sounds low for some reason
"talking incessantly, in his outdoor voice, about himself for nearly a week straight"
i already knew he was insufferable but my heart goes out to the acf members that had to struggle through it irl
"All I ask is that I be paid one dollar more than they paid Jonny, and that the entire hotel room be bleached, sterilized, and lightly irradiated before I get there"
congrats on making $11 then. also they can just set the room on fire to save some time
"I assume you, Dear Reader, don’t have a pair, because it would take a genuine idiot to send every single thing you see and do to “the cloud”"
i was only interested in them for taking helmetcam footage for evaluation and nothing else
"Imagine having to watch the sex lives of Meta Ray-Ban owners"
theyve invented amateur porn but worse in every way for everyone. congrats guys
"“The Chad ES300 Enjoyer”"
how many prompts did it take to get the jacket exactly how you wanted it
"Zilisch made a total of seventy passes for position during the race"
now thats absolutely outstanding. hes gotta win some kind of award at the end of the season for that
"Asian women are the most feminine, Black women least so"
couldnt it also be said that asians have a lower level of testosterone than blacks with black women looking similar to men and asain men looking similar to women? seems to be a lower level of sexual dimorphism than in other races for some reason
I love me some amateur porn but certainly not those amateurs.
I'm sorry, but did you just open up with a "Swedish investigative journalists" and conclude with a ~Chris~ Jim Farley piece AND NOT LINK TO SCHILLERVISION???
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VdQKVDUBu2g
I never saw that!
23andMe said, until I removed my data, that I have a higher percentage of Neanderthal genes than average. I have been quite successful with women over the years. That is until I got married thirty-five years ago which was my ultimate success with a woman I don’t deserve. I prefer to think my success was due to my stunning good looks and humble personality rather than my Neanderthal genes.
They also said that people with higher percentages of Neanderthal genes tend to sweat more under physical exertion. I can attest to that. I play a lot of tennis and I tell people the only thing I do as well as Rafa Nadal is sweat. Maybe some women like sweaty sex.
Ugh. Look what Thak do.