MotoGP the past weekend was in HERETH, ESPANA (Jerez, Spain).
Qualifying was surprising with Fabio Quartararo not only making it to Q2 handily, but setting pole pace with a few hundredths ahead of Marc Marquez! This was a) wild b) shows how much Yamaha has been improving c) played into the strengths of the Yamaha with no huge straights or places where the straight line Ducati performance can overshadow the Yamaha. Honda put a pair of bikes into Q2 with Zarco (truly Honda's shining star at this moment) and Joan Mir. Marc Marquez in 2nd, Bagnaia in third, Alex Marquez finally on the second row in 4th, with Morbidelli 5th, and Vinales riding high on the KTM with a 6th place start position.
In the sprint Quartararo hung on to the lead for the first lap after a decent start and cunning undercut on Marquez into turn 1. Marc Marquez played dare on the brakes in lap two which pushed Quartararo a little off the racing line and led to the Frenchman locking up the front and crashing out of the sprint. A rather humdrum rest of the sprint saw the finishing order of 93, 73, and 63, yet again, with a healthy space between each competitor.
The race proper would prove more interesting. Quartaro did a better job holding on to the lead position while Bagnaia and Marc Marquez went at it trading paint and positions in a vicious first few laps. Marquez, however, would BLOW IT under braking and lowside off the track rather than reserve his race pace and be the wizened old racer that he can be. He remounted and proceeded to put in lap times equivalent to the front runners - enough to put him back into several points from dead last. What this race does, once again, showcase is Marc's tenacity in working back to the points. Rather than drop 25 points he picks up 4.
Quartararo had his hands full up at the front with Alex Marquez dogging him until lap 11 when he made a clean pass. #73 then proceeded to break away with incredible pace - to the tune of +.5s/lap - until he switched into managing the gap. A commanding race performance and Alex Marquez' first MotoGP victory in his career! Although perhaps only possible because his brother made a mistake it was good to see him step out from his brother's shadow a bit. I should also mention that the reflective strips on his suit look wonderful in turns when the curbing paint is flashing off it.
Fabio Quartararo now had to maintain pace to keep Bagnaia at bay and he did so admirably. Quartararo finishes 2nd, and the first podium for a Yamaha in about 3 years.
Bagnaia had a lonely ride in third where he just couldn't bring the pace to close the gap to Quartararo, but neither did he have to worry about competition catching him from behind.
The rookies:
Aldeguer continues his recent run of form on the Ducati and finished 5th in the sprint. He was on pace for a similar finish in the race until he, too, lowsided and threw away a points finish.
Ogura has yet to recover his early brilliance but continues points finishes consistently which is much better than can be said for Chantra.
What is Chantra doing in MotoGP - was he ready for prime time? He and Martin are the only two riders (regular riders, not test or backfills) to be pointsless this season. Jorge Martin at least has the excuse of being so badly injured so often that it might be a minor miracle if he races an entire weekend this season!
WorldSBK will be at Cremona, Italy this weekend and MotoAmerica SBK will be running at Road Atlanta. I still don't really get WSBK's rules, BOP, and players but have been keeping tabs on it. Thankfully, MotoA will see the premiere Baggers class back in action this weekend after a drought for the greatest show on earth.
Cool to see Quartararo taking different lines from the Ducatis and carrying more corner speed.
We usually only see the Ducati’s under heavy braking and it was interesting to see the how unsorted the rear of the Yamaha got in the crash during the sprint
Quartararo was pushed off the racing line which didn't help his traction before the crash. The Ducatis in... practice(? I think) exhibited some similar issues in certain parts of the track but dialed it out or ran different lines. I'd have to go back and watch but I remember thinking there must be bumps in some spots.
The announcers were talking about vibration or shaking and bumpiness. You could definitely see it in the front fairings on the Ducatis in certain spots on the track
Last week they were talking about how Marc wasn’t comfortable on the tyres until several laps because they were causing the bike to vibrate.
I love Motorsport from the outside but those insights are impossible to square from my comfy sofa
Baggers the greatest show on earth?! Gimmee a break.
And from a MotoGP and WSB fan.. I'm gabberflasted.
For a century or more "The Greatest Show On Earth" was the Barnum and Bailey Circus, as in PT Barnum, who coined the phrase "there's a sucker born every minute"
Clowns. bears riding bicycles, high dives into kiddy pools, circus stunts made for great entertainment.
MotoAmerca superbikes are serious stuff. Baggers, while entertaining, are fluff.
Baggers don't use no pussy ass lectronics like them Stuporbikes! Why Kyle Wyman slangin aroun a six hunna fitty pound machine the only thing MotoA got going for them. Heck, even Marky Marc Marquez can't hold no candle to that raw American talent on display!
Open thread question: my step-daughter has a 2019 Tucson currently at the dealership for going into limp-home mode, most likely from the Hyundai 2.0l engine self-destruct problem. Am considering replacing it, whether Hyundai ignores the problem or actually fixes it.
Recommendations? Would like to spend as little as possible to meet the following requirements:
All wheel drive, decent gas mileage, good headlights, resistant to rust here in the salted-and-brined northeast, adequate ground clearance for snow, not tiny because she need to put stuff in it for work, low cost of ownership, can be driven by someone 5'1". I am aghast at new car prices but will do what is necessary. Am thinking of a RAV4 or CRV, will check to see if the size of an HRV or Corolla Cross is adequate. Concerned about rust for all of those.
You nailed the obvious choices. If peak reliability is your main concern, go RAV over the CR-V. The 2.5 will run until the universe stops breathing, whereas the 1.5t in the Honda has some well-known oil starvation issues.
Mitsubishi Outlander (a shockingly decent car for the money) and the Mazda CX5/CX-30 should be on your list too if you want to get a little wacky with it.
RE: rust... throw fluid film on it every year? Most manufacturers are least semi-competent at rust proofing these days, in the sense that it isn't something you'll really have to worry about over the span of a typical loan term.
IMO a lot of undercarriage rust can be mitigated with regular underbody car washes, no matter the climate. I used to be a big fluid film guy, and still am to a certainy degree, but both of our daily drivers have unlimited car wash subscriptions, granted I'm in Central IN and not in the thick of the road salt belt any more.
EDIT: agreed on the outlander. Decent "hit em where they ain't" option if you can find one with some semblance of decent ownership history.
As a passenger in a rental Outlander last weekend I found the interior to be decent. Heated seats, twin USB ports in front. No complaints about the seats. Worth looking at for daily duties. For reference I'm a foot taller.
Re-upping the Mitsubishi Outlander. Test drove a 30k mile PHEV outlander which was a surprisingly, very good car for what it is. It stays on electric until the throttle is more than 7/8 depressed, or you go over some substantial speed. Low key excellent car and great value. My buddy has one and only ever pays for gas on road trips
Thanks - nice car. Do they have low cost of ownership? I've owned Audis and am afraid of VAG products. I would guess it is less prone to rust than the Japanese choices.
I own a 2019. It’s base spec but still has all the necessary creature comforts like heated seats and CarPlay. No radar cruise controls, or Haptic Touch controls to go wrong. Im the second owner and the car currently has 72k. I bought it with 69k. In the past 6 months it’s lived 100% outside in chicago in a neighborhood that isn’t the safest. Only thing I’ve had to do is an oil change so far.
Albany Park. Been there 3 years, had a 2011 Jetta Sportwagen TDI with 150k that got vandalized twice. Then the entire exhaust was hacked off and stolen. Insurance pay out, since the car was worth less the $7000 to $9000 I was quoted by both a VW dealer and independent shop to replace.
VW wagons are legit, the best city vehicle. Small, maneuverable, and can haul a ton of stuff… seriously, almost as much cargo space as generation equivalent Tiguan. And VW tends to put the most bulletproof engine/transmission combos in them. Like the 2.5 five cylinder and diesel. Just don’t buy one with a sunroof or a bunch of fancy gadgets and they last forever with basic maintenance.
Here in the UP my fleet consists of a '21 CX-9 which is comfortable and nice, and a '13 CX-5 which is still in reasonably good shape but noisy and bouncy. There are some small signs of rust on the tailgate, which in a 12-year-old car in the rust belt I'd say is a win. I'd get a newer CX-5 or CX-50, as they became much, MUCH more comfortable as the years passed.
My thought was CX-5, too. It has to be less expensive used than the CR-V or RAV4, right? Cheaper initially and less treasured brand name. My impression from Cleveland streets is that they've been holding up well over the last decade plus.
Agreed with the "hit 'em where they ain't" approach with an Outlander or Mazda.
The Honda and Toyota tax is too high. I didn't doubt that your odds of a more durable car are higher with those brands, but when you buy used it's all about the specific example and some luck. Some of my most troublesome cars have come from Honda and Toyota. They are often bought by people who don't believe in maintenance.
For used, I agree. The only reason I was considering new is to avoid the Toyota/Honda tax.
Update on the Hyundai: the dealer says they have to replace the knock sensor first, and if it goes into limp mode a couple more times after that Hyundai will consider replacing the engine. They do not have the knock sensor in stock. They say that measurements do not yet indicate a bearing problem. I suspect that, to some extent, the motions before engine replacement are performative, but at least the dealer is playing along.
I recently replaced my youngest daughter’s 2001 Camry with a 2011 RAV4. It was clearly owned by an older person and garaged, given the relatively low mileage and the excellent condition. She is of similar height and has a similar use case. So far, I’ve been very happy with the purchase decision.
budget? always a good place to start. RAV4s feel like a kiddie kar next to a CRV which feels like a playskool yard toy next to a used RX. despite our hosts recent financial filleting at the hands of used lexus, i'd still trust a decade old RX over a new hyundai assuming the buyer has done his diligence and isnt buying an obvious lemon.
as with many of these recent vintage, appliance grade, "you dont GET IT!!! i NEED!!!! an SUV!!!"-wammanz friendly cute-UVs, you end up getting eaten alive on the easy stuff if you arent careful. new, name brand tires? brakes done? regular oil changes? no accidents or prolific rust? clear coat is in tact? rims dont look curbed (lol)?
my honest advice? get the nicest, newest TLX/TSX you can afford with all of the above plus a spare set of rims off acurazine or whatever for some winter tires. i tell this story all the time but we had a little mk7.5 jetta that went 100k miles in 4 years with literally ZERO issues besides rear brakes and a few flats on a set of winter tires in the land of snow and salt, all year long, zero issues.
the "gotta have an SUV!!" shit really pigeonholes people into poor/limited options that are far more expensive than their sedan counterparts. theres truly few daily cases that demand it.
When I bought my F-250, the old friend of mine who sold it to me was very upset that I wasn't getting an F-350. Had to explain that I didn't want to tattoo my skull on the headliner for the next ten years.
Maximum budget, caused by pain when opening my wallet, is $30K. Much less would be better. Unfortunately a hobby car is out of the question, this needs to work all the time, for a long time. That was the point of the Tucson purchase, I did not know about the 2.0l Hyundai engine problems at the time.
Let's see how Hyundai treats her. We've already abandoned the local dealer for one 40 miles away; it seems to be an improvement. The first one, when the car first went into limp mode, blamed the non-OEM (Wix) oil filter we used.
i hear you, but most people don't venture out in weather beyond the capabilities of a FWD car with good snow tires on them, anyway. if shes an ER/NICU nurse, or a welder, feel free to disregard
She has a job she has to get to, with very few allowed days off. And the roads here get pretty bad. They are worse where she lives and that's saying a lot.
Meanwhile, I work from home most of the time and if I don't care for the weather, I stay home those days too. I remember driving my FWD SHO up here and it did quite well, OK on snow and like a paddleboat in deep mud. But who wants to work harder than they have to, just to get to their job?
Swapping tires is such a pain in the ass when you live in, idk, an apartment. Nowhere to store them, nowhere to swap them, and spending ~$2k+ on an extra set of wheels is a big ask.
I picked a budget of around 20k since that seems to be what a 2019 Tucson is going for nowadays. Tried to keep it somewhat interesting with something other than Honda/Toyota. *These are all Carmax listings--might have better pricing at traditional dealers.
1. Cross shopped before we purchased my wife's Outback. Smooth engine and powertrain, seemed well-screwed together. I liked it, wife liked more space in the Outback.
2. We have several in use at the City I work in. Seem reliable as they aren't in the City shop very much. No first hand driving knowledge.
3. Same engine/drivetrain as our Outback. Engine is loud and feels unrefined but I'll be damned if the thing hasn't been anvil-reliable for the past 5 years and 100k miles. Our Outback on Toyo Celsius All-Weather Tires is amazing on snow/ice/muddy roads. I don't imagine the Crosstrek is much different. It's not exciting, but it is safe and so far, well-made.
4. Neighbor's wife has one. Rides firm, definitely the most driver focused. Engine is punchy. Interior is cramped for me, but I'm 6-00 245--5-01 will be very happy inside. Get you an independent BMW or German car mechanic.
5 and 6. My uncle has both. His children/my cousins all have Mazda CUVs. He's notoriously stingy with his money. Loves them.
7. Got upgraded at the Houston Airport one time in 2019 to one of these due to a flight being cancelled. It wasn't a Titanium Trim. Promptly had to drive it overnight through non-stop thunderstorms to Birmingham, AL. Very sure-footed in bad weather, plenty of storage. Fuel Economy was ok but that was on me. I think I got like 25 mpg on the way back over 650 miles--I wasn't being easy on it.
You can get Foresters in this age/cost range as well. Not my first voice for a road trip due to nvh, but lots of space, incredible visibility, great AWD.
How big is the "stuff" in question? Is it just too large to fit under the rear deck of a sedan with the seat folded, or an all-over LxWxH thing? If the former than the junior-compact Corolla Cross/HR-V would be fine. Upside with those two are that you've got uncomplicated NA 4-cylinders (even moreso with the HR-V and a K20 still with PGM-FI). HR-V is made in Mexico while the Corolla Cross is made at the new Toyota/Mazda plant in Alabama (counts for something in my book).
The answer is, as much as i hate not recommending an American car, the prior generation 20xx -2022) CRV AWD. I purchased one for Helen three years ago and it has been a real trooper. Only oil and fluid chsnges, almost 60,000 miles of urban commuting and no issues. Just now replacing the original tyres.her prior Jeep Liberty (2005) went 247,000 miles but started to us a quart of oils every 250 miles so we gave it to charity, to sell. But this hard to find a Liberty with low miles now that they are no longer made. So I highly recommend you look at a CRV.
I started reading Jack's Road and Track articles in 2016 when I was a student at UNOH. I worked my way back through the archives as far as I could to see what I had missed up to that point (I also did so for Sam Smith and Peter Egan). I then followed Jack over to the "insurance company" because I wanted to keep reading his work, and that led to R/T being replaced as my primary online reading. I was enamored by colorful descriptions of vehicle dynamics, I laughed and laughed at savage take-downs of the crossover SUV as a concept, and thought deeply about why men behave the way we do. I knew Riverside Green and TTAC existed, but never dove down into them. Eventually of course, we ended up here on Substack. I read all the free stuff I could, and eventually laid my card down. To be honest, the reason I made that decision was actually the commenting community and how many other interesting and thoughtful discussions take place and spin off each other. We don't get many new car reviews on AFC these days -and I know why- but I have to say I do miss the Great Baruthian Car Review. I bet a non-zero amount of other ACFers do as well.
So Jack, here is my formal request to review the Nissan Z in your driveway. We don't really care if it's not yours (at least I don't). I saw you mention in a comment possibly doing a comparison between it and the 300c; I would love that! I want to read the best reviewer in the industry write a new review again! That being said, I do understand it cannot be a regular thing; but we all see the opportunity right now.
To the rest of my fellow commentariat: What brought you here?
1) They are somewhat low production, exacerbated by transmission and paint issues during the first year that halted sales for a while if I remember right
2) It's a two seater in a world that hates two seaters
3) It's a Nissan in a world that hates Nissans
4) It's very expensive to the "average" person, made worse by dealers initially asking crazy ADM for one. They can now be found under sticker, of course.
5) There has been just about zero advertising for them
I'm going with lack of marketing. I'm learning the thing exists through this thread.
That said, I have no idea what nissan could do that I would notice. TV spot during the morning local news is probably the best bet.
Automotive journalism is dead, so I no longer frequent any sites with industry news. 98% of my TV time is intentional with ads skipped. Maybe ads on Facebook marketplace?
i read the articles here for a few months then asked jack if i could come to the acf meet despite not having an account (yes i paid my dues) and after he allowed it i got home and bought a yearly subscription that same day
strong sentiments of "holy shit how are you people this fucking stupid" and many people wanting to leave including yours truly
trump threw a huge wrench into the equation and if trump really was looking for a prime minister that would be much easier to deal with regarding trade then he made an extremely retarded move and handed the libs the win
canadians now have more immigration and even more lowering of living standards to look forward to as mark carney is similar to justin trudeau but smarter which is terrifying
Absolutely crazy how much Trump’s brash stupidity re: the sociopolitical ramifications of taking a torch to the global economy has affected you specifically.
the canadian election went from who can plot the best course for canada to who can fight trump the best (why canadians are only just now pretending to care about canada and choosing to boycott america is like most things beyond me) and the liberals positioning pierre poilievre as being like trump sunk his chances.
i have seen graphs showing the concerns of canadians organized by age groups and the 60+ cohort was overwhelmingly voting for someone to fight trump and had little interest in the future of canada. ill link it if i can find it
I was a TTAC reader back in the Robert Farago days, even before Jack started writing there. I noticed the quality of his writing and started seeking out his articles.
One of the most chilling developments of the last 20-30 years has been the end of accountability. I think this is really a boomer thing (present company excluded, I hope) rather than a Democrat/Republican thing. To whit-other than the "Flying Vagina" one of Farago's Crown Jewels on TTAC was the GM Death Watch, and GM DIED. The GM that slaps a Buick label on crap from China and ruins the successor to the small block IS NOT THE SAME COMPANY. Sorry about all the shouting but the sleazy way it went down went a long way towards obfuscating the fact that he was right. I don't think a single person responsible did anything other than fail upward and make millions in the process.
To clarify for the young folk other than Sherman who probably can explain it better than I can: GM went bankrupt. ipso facto shareholder value went to zee-roh. It was no longer a going concern. It is no more, it ceased to be, it was bereft of life, rests in peace, it was an ex-[corporation]. The government even wiped out secured debt through some magical hand-waving that although at the time it was cast as those people getting screwed, considering the players involved their payoffs were likely 18 karat if not 24. The denizens of GMI (Kettering my ass. A turd by any other name would smell as foul) ran one of the greatest corporations, nay, greatest collective human endeavors, into the ground.
yeah, I was less mad about the bailout than I was with execs etc still somehow getting paid big $ and not losing their pensions, etc. and the financiers stilll getting their exorbitant fees and commissions and insider trading scam profits.
It’s funny (arrested development narrator voice: it was not funny) but lacking accountability is the number one commonality I see in elite corporate life. I’ve noticed it across industries. It seems the hardest thing to find in life is an organization of intelligent, accountable people pursuing a goal worth pursuing.
Like the engineers say about fast, cheap and durable: pick any two (these days, one) of the above
Same as Jeff - I noticed Jack's writing on TTAC in the Farago era. Jack's writing was and is excellent, but also consistently drove a level of engagement that other good writers there didn't manage. I continued reading at r&t and the insurance company, then Riverside Green and eventually here.
R&T and the insurance company were fun, but the community wasn't really there.
Riverside Green was able to cover more cultural and political ground without being explicitly tied to cars - that's were I felt Jack's writing jumped from entertaining to thought provoking. With the move to substack, I knew there was a good chance at worthwhile comments in addition to Jack's writing.
As a bonus, reading here improves my own writing. Or at least prevents me from descending into illiteracy. I'm negligent in reading books!
I recall going to the R&T website at some point and being surprised that it got updated to look like it was meant for this century, and reading a column by some JB writer. Read a bunch of what was available on the site. Not sure if the impetus was motivated by TTAC or vice versa. Ultimately it led to frequenting Riverside Green where I came across the ACF announcement.
The real reason I'm here is to play the role of the grammar police. For example, in this article the section entitled "Giving fiancees a bad name" is hard to accuse of misspelling as it can go either way. It could be intentional. In this case I'm OK not knowing.
Jack's articles on TTAC were one of the very few bright spots for me while I was waiting for my visa to move back to Japan at the beginning of 2011. My wife had already left with our 1-year-old son to spend extra time with her parents. Her mother was dying of cancer, so it was the right thing to do, although it was sort of crappy to live with. The morning of March 11th was terrifying, but their home is pretty far inland in a landlocked prefecture so they were okay.
Personally found TTAC when looking for not-total-crap reviews of cars. Consumer reports in the early 2000s was useless, "we recommend a toyota camry with the smallest possible engine and fewest options," and on the other end were the PR Rags which were already headed in the wrong direction (to whit: Automobile magazine (or similar) awarded the BMW M62TUB an "engine of the year" award in the late 90s/early 2000s. In retrospect one of the more "diametrically opposed to the truth" things one might read, and even funnier in the context of how BMW's current slate of turbo-8s continue to have some of the same issues that were problems over 20 years ago when the M62 was introduced.)
Few people, period point blank, are able to go on a 5 star press junket and turn down future such luxuries by reviewing the car truly & honestly. If you read the Greve piece, a Porsche flack says that they consider "whether a reviewer writes for a demographic that can afford a Porsche," before inviting them on press trips, hilarious when one is empowered with the context that Porsche probably invites Kevin Williams (who has zero audience, much less one that can afford a porsche) on $30,000 junkets, while in contrast, ACF subscribers own loads of Porsches, many of them bought new.
You mean it's not normal to keep coolant in the trunk to top off at every other gas refill? Here I thought the sweet smell of burning coolant was a feature, not a bug. More pleasant than some perfumes I've been exposed to!
I don't know about the B58, but BMW didn't seem interested in addressing the seals on their I6s either. Specifically the oil filter housing gasket and the oil pan. It's clear that enabling DIY is not a top design priority, do I'm not sure why they continue with the oil filter housing design.
I don’t remember the year, but Jack bought a Neon race car from Neons.org back in the day.
The car was an ACR sedan that was painted Nitro Yellow Green (of course). IIRC, that car was replaced by the Lapis Blue one that he has now.
Anyways, the car had a pretty in-depth build thread. When Jack bought it he replied to that thread and linked to SSL. I’ve been reading his work since. If I had to guess, this was 08/09?
EDIT - I want to echo what others have said. I came here for the writing, but stayed for the community. Honestly, I get more entertainment from my membership here than I have streaming service or magazine subscription.
I read everything here but I would also like to up the ratio of car anything, especially new cars, vs current political commentary.
I'd also like a piece focused on the Z. I strongly considered one a few months ago.
Believe it or not, I first heard of Jack on The Smoking Tire podcast. Initially, in passing mention as an excellent writer then on the one episode in which he ever was present. Then I read everything on TTAC, Speed Sport Life, R&T, Hagerty, RG, and here just like everyone else.
There is actually 2 such episodes! Both are good, but the first one with Bark is more entertaining.*
*Not specifically because of Bark, but because in that year all 3 men didn't need to have such strong vocal filters. By the time Jack appeared the second time, I could tell he was thinking a little bit more about what he was saying. Still a great listen of course, but not the pure gold of the earlier one.
Oh and I also fully co-sign (to steal a phrase from DK'er) the content ratio change.
Doesn't need to be cars specifically though. Could be motorcycles, planes, farm equipment, hand tools, anything that involves a person interacting with physics. Jack has a way of making all those things come back to human spirit, behavior, and emotion.
My best recollection is that I started reading following a link from Instapundit to a piece in R/T. The rest is delightful memories of great reads, including the comments.
I found my way here in a similar manner. I was in high school during the mess of COVID aftermath and found myself with a lot of downtime. Pretty much everyone sat on their phones during class and did nothing so I read everything uploaded at the insurance company and found my way into the R/T archives once when I worked through all the new articles. That pretty much convinced me to study automotive engineering. Now that I'm at university I don't have nearly as much time to kill, but the Wednesday threads and Sam Smith's podcast are nice pick ups in the middle of the week.
WOW, you mean I'm not the youngest one here?? Best of luck to you man! To be honest I'm trying to find a way out of automotive, and that may well be via an engineering degree of some kind, because my company will pay for it. Just need to find the time, and I'll need to accept being stuck there for at least 2 years after completing the degree. If I don't I have to pay it all back.
A: BMX racing. Jack had a bmx site back in the day when I was a 13 year old BMX racer. Somewhere down the line I grew up and I came across his auto writing.
The cogency of the arguments and acidity of the sneers made an immediate impression, so I stuck around. The obscure references added to curiosity that touch of annoyance that's keeps you coming back. I also cottoned to the more substantive links and sources: I can't find it at the moment, but I have a strong memory of a deep-dive into mid-20th-century efforts to make supersonic airliners economically viable in the US, and the poor bastards in the Midwest who had to endure constant sonic booms overhead before the projects were abandoned.
I was a lurker for several years before bringing out old Uncle Gally.
So, I was at a Session with Empress Ming. That's my pet name for my Therapist. She's an angry control freak.
As per the norm, she was ranking me out over my alleged lacks of:
Commitment
Effort, and
Results.
She had raised her voice, so I raised mine. I told her that, especially in view of the shape I was in when I started, I think I have been doing very well, thank you just the same.
She then flat-out yelled at me:
"JOHN! DO YOU SUFFER FROM MEGALOMANIA???"
I yelled back:
"I DO NOT 'SUFFER' FROM MEGALOMANIA! I ENJOY IT! I LOVE EVERY EFFIN' MINUTE OF IT!!!"
"Yes! It's great! I mean, love means never having to say you're sorry, but being sociopathic means you don't even have to feel bad in the first place!"
I remember a scene from a 70's sit-com where an older man and his wife are in an argument and she tells him to stop yelling, to which he replies, "I'm not yelling, I'm talking loudly!"
I tried that line on my wife once and she didn't find it nearly as funny as I did.
In my non-existent spare time, I research and write jokes for my possible début in Stand-Up Comedy.
The above was a joke I wrote.
At present, I am not being "Shrunk."
all my best,
john
PS: From a young trial lawyer helping Alan Dershowitz get a new trial for Claus von Bülow, to an old guy searching through Aristotle's "Poetics" for help in writing stand-up.
2 years ago I was 190 lbs for the first time since college. I spent last year injured, sick, and depressed and have rebounded to north of 210. At least I haven't ballooned to the 235 I was before I hurt my back and went to PT for it. Weight is a lot harder to lose in your 40s, but I haven't given up.
I fell off my last 1,000-1,500 calorie/day diet because I just got bored of not being able to eat at my favorite restaurants.
When dieting I'll still eat a small breakfast (yogurt or leben to keep my potassium levels up) and lunch (often leftovers from dinner). Otherwise, on an empty stomach CHS will sometimes kick in.
It gets seriously boring. Fortunately, or unfortunately depending on how you look at it, we don't have time to go to restaurants at least not for a few more months.
I just started riding my bike again. After two pinch flats in two days, I decided to change the rear tire to 28mm from 25. I also had to pick up a pair of bib bike shorts because at this weight my regular shorts were riding down below my jersey's tail.
Are you less likely to get a pinch flat on a 25? I had a summer where I had 4 different flat tires in a week on a new bike. Figured something must have been wrong with the wheel/tire but none since. Just bad luck.
Less likely with the fatter 28mm tire. 3mm doesn't seem like much but it can make the difference between riding home or walking.
I'm not sure the second one was a pinch flat, since there was only one hole, not a "snake bite". A brand new tube lost pressure maybe a mile into my ride. I checked the tire for something sharp that still might be lodged in the tire near where the hole in the tube was but couldn't find anything so I decided to just go with a bigger tire.
For some reason, the Campy rims I currently have do not allow for easily mounting tires. I have to use a tire bead jack, which I can't really carry in the little pouch under my seat so even if I carry a spare tube, tire irons, and my CO2 inflator, I'm still probably going to walk home if I get a flat.
I gained some weight after the birth of our third child so I spent last year trying to lose it. Which I did. Then I also got injured, sick, and stressed out and gained it all back. I have spent the first 4 months of this year losing it again. I'm I'm trying to use the next 3 to get back to my fighting weight.
During tax season, I just fasted. When you work all the time, not eating isn't that hard. Now that I have free time* again, I am counting calories, tracking macros, and exercising. It is awful.
I've watched the Carnivore diet strip 30-50 pounds off of a number of friends and acquaintances in the last couple of years, most in their 40's plus. I'm going to have to give it a go myself.
I typically do keto mixed with OMAD when I want to drop the weight. It works. It works especially well when one is significantly overweight. Those last 10-20 lbs are still a struggle which I am currently in. After about 60 days, you get pretty darn sick of steak.
"Unfortunately for everyone who isn’t being treated to five-star travel in service of the Narrative, however, a fancy interior doesn’t get you through a winter driving to the airport or to your job at Dollar General."
I generally agree, but I think (a) most people younger than 50 are more comfortable with thinking of a car as a "mobility iPad" than we are, and (b) the real issue will probably be with these on the used car market, long after the subsidized leases are chewed up.
The cars probably won't make it here anyway - at least not in the current packaging and branding - but the little I've heard from friends who've experienced these 1st-hand tells me they're more impressive than we might think.
This latter point gestures more towards the gap between what we think of China mfg (Temu, penny-priced crap widgets, etc) and what their higher-value mfg sector has really achieved, esp in areas where there are very tight constant product refresh cycles.
My limited experience interacting with Chinese contract manufacturers at a previous job showed that they will provide exactly the level of precision and quality that you're willing to pay for.
I’ve looked into this a while back for a client and basically told them three things; you’ll have to open up a QC office, next to or possibly on the factory grounds and make sure you have people present all the time. And you’ll have to uhhh… provide gifts, including, but not limited to money to the important contacts you deal with on important calendar days. And before all of that, you’ll have to physically go there and inspect the facility and make sure your stuff is actually going to be made there. I explained I could arrange for a fixer here and one there and get the process underway immediately.
I was paid my fee and thanked for my services and then they tried to arrange production via the Internet and it went about as well as you’d imagine.
I know people who have done it properly and it’s a serious amount of work and expensive. But can’t be done anywhere else and fit the business model
A partnership situation sort of like Apple and Foxconn if you want the most control possible.
Obviously it doesn’t have to be at that scale.
The other option is you do what the luxury brands do and use domestic finishing.
I think Shinola does something similar.
The big mistakes I learned people make (by asking) is that pe
ople over here don’t view the relationship as a partnership, they don’t bother to understand the difference in business culture between countries, and they conflate prototyping and production and everyone get confused and pissed off.
I rode in some sort of generic CRV sized Chinese crossover (gas engine, small displacement turbo mill?) in the Dominican Republic. I would describe it roughly as a "cheaper feeling, worse built Korean car" It's about what I expected from what I've seen and read from various Russian resources (they've had Chinese cars for a long time, and in rapidly increasing numbers since the war started).
The number of people I’ve seen lined up to defend the infamous Chinese tiny brake pad in an enormous “Brembo” housing on various forums is stupefying to me. Like it had to be ideological, or bots, or a bit or something.
Im about to do a review of a brilliant Chinese watch. They can do whatever they want, but the culture and expectations are different. More like cars were in the USA in 1975. Three years and out.
Yeah, the limited personal experience I have is when I'm in Europe for work. The MGs, BYDs, etc. all seem "fine" in a "I had a 10yr old Prius or Jazz and this EV will save me even more Euros" kind of way.
In the UK, it def seems like they've got a decent entre in the pensioner and youth mkts.
That shows that maybe tariffs aren't about employment, but about having the factories, the robots, and the knowledge base to design, install, and operate them.
Basically the same way that "having muskets" was better for a society's survival "no muskets."
You'd think one of these auto journo-sauruses would remember all the crappy Chinese scooters that seemed to be everywhere about 10 years ago. The shady dealers who were selling them knew they were crap and probably even the buyers knew they were crap too.
That’s why the actual users of those scooters — drunk people stumbling around cities they’ve never been to — bravely, hilariously took to throwing them in rivers.
This unlocked a memory. A few of my friends growing up had USA-made Gopeds. In the mid-00s, the market got flooded with cheap 49cc scooters and everyone had one. First, they were stands at the local flea market. Later, shop opened up nearby that was selling these and later Chinese XR50 knock-offs. He charged more, but would disassemble them, properly grease, and torque them.
Everyone and their brother had one and seemingly got to blast around the neighborhood.
Of course, I wasn’t allowed to have one. My parents claimed that pit bikes were stupid and I was riding a KDX200 by then. While true, it’s not like I had friends to ride with and couldn’t just go riding every day of the week.
Had a couple male teachers in elementary school that were great guys, and glad they were there. Mr. Hambright was a sixth grade teacher, and also the playground enforcer. If someone f'd up, and Mr. Hambright was called outside, then everyone knew that shit was about to get real. As a consequence, people tended to behave themselves on the playground.
Figured out much later that he had to have been in his early 20's at the time, he later became part-owner of a local boating store, and I'd see him in there. As a late 40's adult male, I still called him Mr. Hambright, to the great amusement of his employees.
Him: "You know, you can call me Scott now".
Me: "Ahh, nope, can't do that Mr. Hambright".
To which the parts guy would laugh and say "Everyone comes in here and says the exact same thing".
Me: "Yeah, cuz we are all still afraid of getting beat with a yardstick".
I had a sub named Michael Hunt, the nuns called him to the office all the time. Some of that was being a roaming sub... They always used his full name.
I was so oblivious to everything I didn't even get the joke.
I had a long-term band sub (who was also alumni to my high school) named Mr. Brouhard. He was actually super cool, and I took to calling him "BroBeans."
my 6th grade teacher was an ex-Marine. I can still remember him lifting one endlessly troublesome boy up by the collars 3+ feet off the ground and slamming him against the blackboard. these days there would be a line of lawyers waiting to file lawsuits for abuse.
Am currently in semi-progressive British Columbia, and I actually saw a Cadillac Lyric in the wild! That someone apparently paid for with their own money!! Had license plates on it, no dealer tag and it was smugly cruising down the street.
To show that everything is still right in the world, he did turn off onto a street that I know leads to a huge subdivision of McMansions, and as I went by him, the driver looked like a douchnozzle of the first order.
And as further proof that stereotypes exist for a reason, the car in front of the Lyric was a late model orange Golf GTI driven by a yoouuth (said in a Clarkson voice) wearing a hoodie with the hood up, and clouds of vape smoke pouring out the open driver's window.
I have something between an acquaintance and a friend who has a Lyriq with the license plate, imaginatively, “LYRIQ”. I haven’t come up with a non-patronizing way to ask him about it. Pleasant enough guy but not what Logan Roy would call a Serious Person.
I never understood getting the model name of your car on the license plate, but these two examples are fantastic.
Nobody remembers the last Mercury Montego from 2007, which was the counterpart to the Ford Five Hundred, another car which nobody remembers. But I saw a Montego with MONTEGO plates. Either the owner was really proud of his Montego, or he got tired of telling people what it was.
Even better, I saw a beat up rusty brown Camry LE with CAMRY LE plates.
Both of these sightings were in Illinois where vanity plates are not cheap.
The Taurus and Sable became the 500 and Montego for 3 years, then they became the Taurus and Sable again. They were really ugly cars for those 3 years.
Weird: I noticed an unusually large amount of vanity plates in Illinois many years ago and was told that personalized plates were free as long as they contained a digit. Maybe it changed?
It’s complicated. Vanity plates started in Illinois when they first allowed 3 letters in a row. There was no charge for this. I got a plate like this with 3 letters and 2 numbers and had it for 40+ years.
Then the state decided to go full vanity plate up to 7 spaces, either all letters or letters preceded by numbers. These plates were expensive up front, and had a higher yearly renewal fee. Over times, these fees kept escalating to the point where they’re really expensive.
Then the state decided that my plate with 3 letters and 2 numbers was a semi-vanity plate, and started charging me more for my yearly renewal fee, just not as much as a full vanity plate. Illinois is all about fleecing its residents.
Now that I’m in NC vanity plates are really cheap, and I was finally able to get the 3 letters only plate I could never get in Illinois because it was taken. But there’s not many vanity plates here like there were in Illinois.
The unique thing about NC plates is that you can get the following characters on a plate by request: & # ? $ / = * + @
The characters only count as a space and not as your official plate number, so plate A&3@C is really A3C.
Re: "mixed" valvetrains. 90s Toyotas commonly used a timing belt off the crankshaft to get up to a single pulley up at the head, which in turn has twin gear driven cams. I want to say the Audi 2.8 had something similar except a belt driving up to short chains between the cam gears?
As a bike rider of over 5 decades, and a former Harley owner (if they weren't so stupidly priced I'd have another one instead of the metric cruiser) I can tell you that a LOT of gay motorcyclists own/ride Harleys. When I lived in Sacramento there was a rather large Gay Motorcycle Club, where they all rode Harleys.
Same for Lesbians.
People like Harleys for a number of reasons. If I got out and rode more I'd probably have gotten another one by now, but the last few years I haven't been able to get out more than a couple of times a month on one of my bikes, which sucks.
I watched his regular car reviews on youtube a long while back, I guess when he was just starting out....for a sec I couldn't beliveve it was the same guy, go figure. Wonder what made the guy go mental. Also, the hiding behind a mask thing smells of...chicken shit.
Uneducated guess, but "what made him go mental" is likely an overcorrection from his previous life of being stuck in a very conservative closet.
I've met Brian a couple times. I'm, frankly, always gonna be weirded out by the furry stuff, but he always came across as a kind, well-intentioned guy who had respect for the medium he worked in, albeit one that also was still trying to figure out how to live life as he wanted. Interesting dude all around.
Not sure why he did that topic in particular (among others) in the suit the other day, but he usually does not wear it. I hope it doesn't become more "regular."
A good buddy of mine is a member of the Combat Vets Motorcycle Association. It's a group of combat veterans who have essentially formed a mutual support and aid group for veterans that happens to involve riding motorcycles. They raise money for vets and their families in need. If there's a vet dying, they make sure he doesn't die alone. That sort of thing.
Most ride Harleys. My buddy rides a BMW, whichever one from a couple of years ago that has the biggest motor.
I'm guessing Mr. Regular never met a group of guys who dropped their lives and got on their Harleys (and the one BMW) driving seven hours in the rain one way just to make sure a dying man had someone to hold his hand as he passed from this world into the next.
That's the grating thing about Mr. Regular. He's a wierdo who has not always been treated well by others. And he's angry at it. I can get that. The problem is that he seems to think he is unique in his experience of suffering. That somehow those guys he sees riding by on Harleys are going through life without a ripple on their pond.
That's not how life works.
That's not how life works for *any* of us.
Those CVMA guys are in touch with their emotions...in the same way you are "in touch" with an MMA champion as he has you in a rear naked choke. And at least a couple of times a year, the MMA champ wins and one of them suck starts a pistol and a somber line of guys in the CVMA vests are on the interstate again heading in to provide whatever comfort they can.
I've never understood the attraction to motorcycling. It's one of the most dangerous things you can do and I have yet to know anyone who has done it for a while who doesn't have a story about laying the motorcycle down and the injuries that resulted. It sounds absolutely horrid to me...and I spend a significant chunk of my time teaching strangers how to use deadly weapons.
I refer to my buddy as "The Belgian Mal". He has an IQ at least three standard deviations above the mean, if not higher. He's in that incredibly unfortunate cohort that is likely the smartest person in most rooms he walks into, yet because of that he is regularly in rooms with people an SD or two above him. I call him the Mal because like a Mal, if he doesn't have something to chew on he'll "eat the furniture."
Riding a motorcycle and essentially trying to not die is one of precious few activities that can actually fully command his attention and occupy his mind to the point where he can relax. It means he isn't thinking about the pressure of his job (where the safety and property of tens of thousands of innocent people is on the line every day) or the pressure of dealing with his wife's chronic and increasingly terminal-looking illness. It means he isn't thinking about his son jumping out of helicopters to fight wildfires. It means he isn't thinking about the abuse he suffered as a child, how his mother abandoned him, how the hell he's going to pay for his daughter's wedding, how he missed that call from his cousin a couple of hours before his cousin committed suicide, how one of his friends went on that domestic violence call and never came back...
"Go to therapy!"
Ok, sport. Easy to say from inside your fucking fur suit. You know why? Because nobody depends on you. You have no duty to fulfill. No oath you have to honor. Nobody else's burdens to bear. You're not the support structure for a bunch of other human beings whom you value more than yourself.
You can't manage *you*. Yet you're full of certainty about what's wrong with others and what they need to do.
That's what is so fucking grating about Mr. Regular's bullshit. He has a patent on suffering and sitting in a fucking bird costume he presumes to offer up the answers to people whose problems he cannot even begin to comprehend because he's not yet managed to fix his gaze past his own fucking navel.
You have experienced mistreatment at the hands of others? I can sympathize. So have I. So have lots of people. So will everyone in this life sooner or later. You know what's not useful? Stopping all progress as a human being and building a monument to your trauma, genuflecting before it on a daily goddamn basis. At a certain point it goes past being trauma and becomes a profound narcissism. One that excuses you from all accountability.
Ain't it always the way that the people who scream the most about how much sympathy and understanding they should be given are nearly bereft of it in their dealings with others. Until you can deal with the world without being dressed as a fucking bird, maybe shut the fuck up about what other people need to do and unfuck yourself.
"Where's your compassion?"
That *is* compassion. Think of a young man in your life that you care for. Can you honestly say you want him sitting in that fucking fur suit? No, because you know that shit is fucking tragic. That shit isn't normal, it isn't cool, and most importantly it isn't a path towards a rewarding fulfilling life where you accomplish something worthwhile for yourself or others and everybody knows it.
The echo chamber of similarly stunted internet weirdos aren't going to help you become a better man and have the life you are capable of, whether it's the red pill tards or the fucking furry pronoun brigade.
We've all been hurt, and some of us have been hurt pretty bad - but wallowing in your misery is never going to make it better. You got to get back up on that horse and get going. This guy is just to happy to wallow in his own misery and not move on from it.
His therapist probably doesn't want to fix him either, after all - paycheck.
As for motorcycles? I've been riding since... Well I think I was in junior high when my older brother taught me. It was a long long time ago. But I do love it so.
Understand I used to fly high performance jets. Riding a motorcycle is about as close as I can afford to get to that these days. Also, I've got ADD pretty bad, but when I'm riding, because I have to pay attention to everything all at once, it gives me a feeling of calm. I enjoy it a lot. I especially enjoy it over 100mph, though I don't do THAT much anymore ;-)
As for accidents?
I'm just now getting back to typing with both hands. 11 days ago I had my right shoulder joint fully replaced. The root cause is a motorcycle accident that almost killed me back in '99. This is the second operation on this shoulder (the first was when they realized that the joint needed to go). For the last 25 years I thought I was getting bursitis, instead it was just an injury grinding away and getting worse and worse every year.
But you know what? Can't wait to go back out riding. I wish I could do more of it these days (But I'm old and I work a lot because I'm doing something I love). It's not something I can really explain to the people who don't get it. It's like Jack's love of racing cars on the track - I don't quite get it, but I know he enjoys it, so it's not something I'd ever question.
Life is just like that, and it's all of us being different that makes it worth living.
I have never found it frightening. It takes time to learn to do it well, and it takes some time to learn to spot the assholes in cars that will kill you. Of course even then if a 16 yo girl who JUST got her license pulls out in front of you on the highway and stops because she's running her mouth with her friends in the car, you're gonna hit it (and I totaled it, bike too). But even in those situations theres a lot you can do to try and keep from getting killed.
In the 50+ years of riding, that's really the only time I came close to buying it. And I've ridden a lot.
My college roommate spent a year in the hospital being reassembled after a lady with no insurance ran a stop light and hit him, killing his girlfriend riding behind him. Pretty much set my opinion right then. Just about everyone knows someone with a story like that, too.
I get the attraction, I really do. It just doesn't motivate me enough given what I've seen. Notwithstanding all that, I wish you and all the other riders here the best.
i keep telling myself the only time id ever ride is off peak hours on nice days but even then there a whole heap of retards out there and whats worse is that a lot of them are driving
So many topics being addressed here, I almost forgot the one I mean to address, which is: All motorcycle ownership stereotypes are true and many are hilarious.
Twenty five years I made a first pass through the second MSF RiderCourse> You know, the one where you bring your own scoot and do stupid parking lot tricks? Well, the students all touched a knuckle to their foreheads when greeting the GOLDWING riders. They had the largest number of visible tats.
One of the instructors was riding to class on his Valkyrie Interstate, and demo'd his Gymkhana-winning foot braking.
Dude. Your work is done here. Take the rest of the week off. You've EARNED it. As a fan of your writing, this was a tour de fucking force. [insert grauitious reference to Willie Dee's "Controversy" here]
If a 5'6" guy with a squeaky voice buys a motorcycle or a Cartier watch or a fancy smoker or lifts weights because those things help his personal confidence and get him some friends and a new hobby then what's the big deal?
Ed Coan is 5'6" and if you haven't heard of him, he's why guys of that stature lift weights. Benched 550 without a shirt at 219 lbs. He should've had Brian Shaw's marketing acumen.
In other words- who would make a big deal out of telling a dude not to do anything he's put his mind to? Dudes in bird suits, I guess.
He was jacked, and looks like he’s still kicking too. Bodybuilding is not powerlifting, however. Ever heard of Süleymanoğlu? He lifted 187kg and change in ‘96 to win gold, in the 64kg class and a height of 4’10”.
That reminds me, I should check in with the buddy who was paying for the installation of an LS3 in his Saturn Sky. Happily bald already, so he’s probably doing great!
I initially resisted the idea that women are primarily solipsistic, but once I understood and internalized it I now see it everywhere, it explains a lot. Instead of leading to misogyny I think it makes for better relationships and interactions with the fairer sex to deal with them as they are.
As to Mr. Regular, as an early viewer and fan of his review style, he had a tinge of 'this guy can get a bit dark, something is probably going on there, but oh well we all have our demons' but I did not anticipate a pivot to '... a BIRD FEATHERSONA, SERIOUSLY?!?'.
Exactly, and it works both ways... the mid thirties "I'm a highly-driven successful woman with my own condo and a BMW that loves to travel and spend time in the gym looking to share my life with someone special but I can't find ANY MEN!! Are they just intimidated by how awesome I am?" No, you just assumed that what you are attracted to is the same as what the opposite sex will be attracted to, and it's not.
It serves one purpose: a woman with the executive functioning to get through college and at least start a career won't be a total basket case. Past that point, it's a yuge negative. Better to see what her kitchen sink or bathroom/bedroom look like.
When I met her that was my wife, down to the BMW and condo at Easton when it was nice.
I think it can be very intimidating to men who share the same goals but are significantly less successful. That limits the dating pool.
I think she might be facing a similar problem to a lot of guys. I am sure something is wrong with her, just as there is with anyone, that puts a certain amount of people off. And if she has spent the time to achieve that success in her mid 30's, what is she doing where she is going to meet anyone? How can she have hobbies involving singletons that she finds attractive? Even if she goes the route of dating guys outside of her regular social sphere, in the trades or something, where does her life intersect theirs to meet them?
The professional woman with the BMW and condo is usually the one limiting the dating pool. If she’s not a looker, she still thinks she deserves the perfect man because of her success.
Its a deeper topic than I care to go into here, anyone interested in learning more can check out the Sigma Game substack, the socio-sexual hierarchy applies to male relationships but the stack touches on the reality of female thinking as well.
But in brief, woman tend to view everything from a lens of 'how does this personally impact me', which among other things lends to a lack of empathy/sympathy that runs counter to what we are taught about the weaker sex. As a practical example, men that are waiting for gratitude from their partner should realize it's not forthcoming; not because their partner is not appreciative, but because it's not how their brain is wired. So instead of bitterly complaining about the lack of appreciation for 'everything I do for her' or lack of sympathy for what you may be going through, realize it is not part of their toolkit, accept it, and move on.
MotoGP the past weekend was in HERETH, ESPANA (Jerez, Spain).
Qualifying was surprising with Fabio Quartararo not only making it to Q2 handily, but setting pole pace with a few hundredths ahead of Marc Marquez! This was a) wild b) shows how much Yamaha has been improving c) played into the strengths of the Yamaha with no huge straights or places where the straight line Ducati performance can overshadow the Yamaha. Honda put a pair of bikes into Q2 with Zarco (truly Honda's shining star at this moment) and Joan Mir. Marc Marquez in 2nd, Bagnaia in third, Alex Marquez finally on the second row in 4th, with Morbidelli 5th, and Vinales riding high on the KTM with a 6th place start position.
In the sprint Quartararo hung on to the lead for the first lap after a decent start and cunning undercut on Marquez into turn 1. Marc Marquez played dare on the brakes in lap two which pushed Quartararo a little off the racing line and led to the Frenchman locking up the front and crashing out of the sprint. A rather humdrum rest of the sprint saw the finishing order of 93, 73, and 63, yet again, with a healthy space between each competitor.
The race proper would prove more interesting. Quartaro did a better job holding on to the lead position while Bagnaia and Marc Marquez went at it trading paint and positions in a vicious first few laps. Marquez, however, would BLOW IT under braking and lowside off the track rather than reserve his race pace and be the wizened old racer that he can be. He remounted and proceeded to put in lap times equivalent to the front runners - enough to put him back into several points from dead last. What this race does, once again, showcase is Marc's tenacity in working back to the points. Rather than drop 25 points he picks up 4.
Quartararo had his hands full up at the front with Alex Marquez dogging him until lap 11 when he made a clean pass. #73 then proceeded to break away with incredible pace - to the tune of +.5s/lap - until he switched into managing the gap. A commanding race performance and Alex Marquez' first MotoGP victory in his career! Although perhaps only possible because his brother made a mistake it was good to see him step out from his brother's shadow a bit. I should also mention that the reflective strips on his suit look wonderful in turns when the curbing paint is flashing off it.
Fabio Quartararo now had to maintain pace to keep Bagnaia at bay and he did so admirably. Quartararo finishes 2nd, and the first podium for a Yamaha in about 3 years.
Bagnaia had a lonely ride in third where he just couldn't bring the pace to close the gap to Quartararo, but neither did he have to worry about competition catching him from behind.
The rookies:
Aldeguer continues his recent run of form on the Ducati and finished 5th in the sprint. He was on pace for a similar finish in the race until he, too, lowsided and threw away a points finish.
Ogura has yet to recover his early brilliance but continues points finishes consistently which is much better than can be said for Chantra.
What is Chantra doing in MotoGP - was he ready for prime time? He and Martin are the only two riders (regular riders, not test or backfills) to be pointsless this season. Jorge Martin at least has the excuse of being so badly injured so often that it might be a minor miracle if he races an entire weekend this season!
WorldSBK will be at Cremona, Italy this weekend and MotoAmerica SBK will be running at Road Atlanta. I still don't really get WSBK's rules, BOP, and players but have been keeping tabs on it. Thankfully, MotoA will see the premiere Baggers class back in action this weekend after a drought for the greatest show on earth.
WorldSBK will be at
I bet that race was .....drumroll.... lights out
This was a great race.
Cool to see Quartararo taking different lines from the Ducatis and carrying more corner speed.
We usually only see the Ducati’s under heavy braking and it was interesting to see the how unsorted the rear of the Yamaha got in the crash during the sprint
Quartararo was pushed off the racing line which didn't help his traction before the crash. The Ducatis in... practice(? I think) exhibited some similar issues in certain parts of the track but dialed it out or ran different lines. I'd have to go back and watch but I remember thinking there must be bumps in some spots.
The announcers were talking about vibration or shaking and bumpiness. You could definitely see it in the front fairings on the Ducatis in certain spots on the track
Last week they were talking about how Marc wasn’t comfortable on the tyres until several laps because they were causing the bike to vibrate.
I love Motorsport from the outside but those insights are impossible to square from my comfy sofa
Baggers the greatest show on earth?! Gimmee a break.
And from a MotoGP and WSB fan.. I'm gabberflasted.
For a century or more "The Greatest Show On Earth" was the Barnum and Bailey Circus, as in PT Barnum, who coined the phrase "there's a sucker born every minute"
Clowns. bears riding bicycles, high dives into kiddy pools, circus stunts made for great entertainment.
MotoAmerca superbikes are serious stuff. Baggers, while entertaining, are fluff.
*ahem* in my best stereotypical NASCAR fan voice:
Baggers don't use no pussy ass lectronics like them Stuporbikes! Why Kyle Wyman slangin aroun a six hunna fitty pound machine the only thing MotoA got going for them. Heck, even Marky Marc Marquez can't hold no candle to that raw American talent on display!
Well Dang, Cletus! Ah dint figgur out you was blowing smoke up my pushrods
til ya brought up Marky Marc , sum kinda Spanish rapper.
Open thread question: my step-daughter has a 2019 Tucson currently at the dealership for going into limp-home mode, most likely from the Hyundai 2.0l engine self-destruct problem. Am considering replacing it, whether Hyundai ignores the problem or actually fixes it.
Recommendations? Would like to spend as little as possible to meet the following requirements:
All wheel drive, decent gas mileage, good headlights, resistant to rust here in the salted-and-brined northeast, adequate ground clearance for snow, not tiny because she need to put stuff in it for work, low cost of ownership, can be driven by someone 5'1". I am aghast at new car prices but will do what is necessary. Am thinking of a RAV4 or CRV, will check to see if the size of an HRV or Corolla Cross is adequate. Concerned about rust for all of those.
You nailed the obvious choices. If peak reliability is your main concern, go RAV over the CR-V. The 2.5 will run until the universe stops breathing, whereas the 1.5t in the Honda has some well-known oil starvation issues.
Mitsubishi Outlander (a shockingly decent car for the money) and the Mazda CX5/CX-30 should be on your list too if you want to get a little wacky with it.
RE: rust... throw fluid film on it every year? Most manufacturers are least semi-competent at rust proofing these days, in the sense that it isn't something you'll really have to worry about over the span of a typical loan term.
IMO a lot of undercarriage rust can be mitigated with regular underbody car washes, no matter the climate. I used to be a big fluid film guy, and still am to a certainy degree, but both of our daily drivers have unlimited car wash subscriptions, granted I'm in Central IN and not in the thick of the road salt belt any more.
EDIT: agreed on the outlander. Decent "hit em where they ain't" option if you can find one with some semblance of decent ownership history.
As a passenger in a rental Outlander last weekend I found the interior to be decent. Heated seats, twin USB ports in front. No complaints about the seats. Worth looking at for daily duties. For reference I'm a foot taller.
Re-upping the Mitsubishi Outlander. Test drove a 30k mile PHEV outlander which was a surprisingly, very good car for what it is. It stays on electric until the throttle is more than 7/8 depressed, or you go over some substantial speed. Low key excellent car and great value. My buddy has one and only ever pays for gas on road trips
Same here. It's a Rogue with a more reliable engine.
VW Golf Sportwagen S 4motion.
Thanks - nice car. Do they have low cost of ownership? I've owned Audis and am afraid of VAG products. I would guess it is less prone to rust than the Japanese choices.
I own a 2019. It’s base spec but still has all the necessary creature comforts like heated seats and CarPlay. No radar cruise controls, or Haptic Touch controls to go wrong. Im the second owner and the car currently has 72k. I bought it with 69k. In the past 6 months it’s lived 100% outside in chicago in a neighborhood that isn’t the safest. Only thing I’ve had to do is an oil change so far.
Wagons are invisible to everyone except to the few people who like wagons.
Which neighborhood?
Albany Park. Been there 3 years, had a 2011 Jetta Sportwagen TDI with 150k that got vandalized twice. Then the entire exhaust was hacked off and stolen. Insurance pay out, since the car was worth less the $7000 to $9000 I was quoted by both a VW dealer and independent shop to replace.
VW wagons are legit, the best city vehicle. Small, maneuverable, and can haul a ton of stuff… seriously, almost as much cargo space as generation equivalent Tiguan. And VW tends to put the most bulletproof engine/transmission combos in them. Like the 2.5 five cylinder and diesel. Just don’t buy one with a sunroof or a bunch of fancy gadgets and they last forever with basic maintenance.
I love wagons, they’re just so practical. Too bad they’re going extinct.
That sucks that crime like that is happening in a nice neighborhood like Albany Park. I used to live in Ukrainian Village.
Here in the UP my fleet consists of a '21 CX-9 which is comfortable and nice, and a '13 CX-5 which is still in reasonably good shape but noisy and bouncy. There are some small signs of rust on the tailgate, which in a 12-year-old car in the rust belt I'd say is a win. I'd get a newer CX-5 or CX-50, as they became much, MUCH more comfortable as the years passed.
My thought was CX-5, too. It has to be less expensive used than the CR-V or RAV4, right? Cheaper initially and less treasured brand name. My impression from Cleveland streets is that they've been holding up well over the last decade plus.
Agreed with the "hit 'em where they ain't" approach with an Outlander or Mazda.
The Honda and Toyota tax is too high. I didn't doubt that your odds of a more durable car are higher with those brands, but when you buy used it's all about the specific example and some luck. Some of my most troublesome cars have come from Honda and Toyota. They are often bought by people who don't believe in maintenance.
For used, I agree. The only reason I was considering new is to avoid the Toyota/Honda tax.
Update on the Hyundai: the dealer says they have to replace the knock sensor first, and if it goes into limp mode a couple more times after that Hyundai will consider replacing the engine. They do not have the knock sensor in stock. They say that measurements do not yet indicate a bearing problem. I suspect that, to some extent, the motions before engine replacement are performative, but at least the dealer is playing along.
I recently replaced my youngest daughter’s 2001 Camry with a 2011 RAV4. It was clearly owned by an older person and garaged, given the relatively low mileage and the excellent condition. She is of similar height and has a similar use case. So far, I’ve been very happy with the purchase decision.
budget? always a good place to start. RAV4s feel like a kiddie kar next to a CRV which feels like a playskool yard toy next to a used RX. despite our hosts recent financial filleting at the hands of used lexus, i'd still trust a decade old RX over a new hyundai assuming the buyer has done his diligence and isnt buying an obvious lemon.
as with many of these recent vintage, appliance grade, "you dont GET IT!!! i NEED!!!! an SUV!!!"-wammanz friendly cute-UVs, you end up getting eaten alive on the easy stuff if you arent careful. new, name brand tires? brakes done? regular oil changes? no accidents or prolific rust? clear coat is in tact? rims dont look curbed (lol)?
my honest advice? get the nicest, newest TLX/TSX you can afford with all of the above plus a spare set of rims off acurazine or whatever for some winter tires. i tell this story all the time but we had a little mk7.5 jetta that went 100k miles in 4 years with literally ZERO issues besides rear brakes and a few flats on a set of winter tires in the land of snow and salt, all year long, zero issues.
the "gotta have an SUV!!" shit really pigeonholes people into poor/limited options that are far more expensive than their sedan counterparts. theres truly few daily cases that demand it.
Yes, this. Basic maintenance/consumables like tires/brakes also worse for SUV/CUV.
At the end of the day this is was really crushes people making a directionally intelligent used car decision...
Unfortunately i can only recommend she get a lifted f150 now. Thems the needs it rules
Not enough towing capacity..F250 or bust.
Bold of you to not recommend an F-450! Get a bed in the aftermarket.
Need a ton of bricks to make the ride compliant.
When I bought my F-250, the old friend of mine who sold it to me was very upset that I wasn't getting an F-350. Had to explain that I didn't want to tattoo my skull on the headliner for the next ten years.
smoke em if you got em
Maximum budget, caused by pain when opening my wallet, is $30K. Much less would be better. Unfortunately a hobby car is out of the question, this needs to work all the time, for a long time. That was the point of the Tucson purchase, I did not know about the 2.0l Hyundai engine problems at the time.
Let's see how Hyundai treats her. We've already abandoned the local dealer for one 40 miles away; it seems to be an improvement. The first one, when the car first went into limp mode, blamed the non-OEM (Wix) oil filter we used.
sub 50k mile, $15k K24 accord. next question
I won't say all wheel drive is necessary here but it makes driving much easier for half the year.
i hear you, but most people don't venture out in weather beyond the capabilities of a FWD car with good snow tires on them, anyway. if shes an ER/NICU nurse, or a welder, feel free to disregard
She has a job she has to get to, with very few allowed days off. And the roads here get pretty bad. They are worse where she lives and that's saying a lot.
Meanwhile, I work from home most of the time and if I don't care for the weather, I stay home those days too. I remember driving my FWD SHO up here and it did quite well, OK on snow and like a paddleboat in deep mud. But who wants to work harder than they have to, just to get to their job?
Swapping tires is such a pain in the ass when you live in, idk, an apartment. Nowhere to store them, nowhere to swap them, and spending ~$2k+ on an extra set of wheels is a big ask.
where is here?
fwd with decent winter tires will be as good as awd with all seasons.
I grew up in MI with rwd, no limit slip, no abs, nada. we got around ok, with power slides for fun.
had fwd when used to go up into the Cascades a lot to go skiing, never had an issue.
Sugarbush area, VT.
AWD+ all seasons vs FWD with snows is always how this gets framed, but you can put snows on an AWD vehicle.
I would put her in an AWD vehicle with Michelin CrossClimate2s and skip the seasonal tire change.
I'm seeing a pile of AWD RX-350's for under $25k and less than 90k miles in the NE.
I picked a budget of around 20k since that seems to be what a 2019 Tucson is going for nowadays. Tried to keep it somewhat interesting with something other than Honda/Toyota. *These are all Carmax listings--might have better pricing at traditional dealers.
1. 2018 VW Golf Alltrack, $20998, 46k. https://www.carmax.com/car/27126183
2. 2020 Ford Escape Hybrid, $19998, 46k. https://www.carmax.com/car/26482326
3. 2021 Subaru Crosstrek $21998, 58K, Manual. https://www.carmax.com/car/26737510
4. 2019 MINI Countryman ALL 4, $20998,43k Manual. https://www.carmax.com/car/27242338
5. 2021 Mazda CX-30, $21998, 53k. https://www.carmax.com/car/26698912
6. 2019 Mazda CX-5, $20,998, 49k. https://www.carmax.com/car/25445326
7. 2019 Ford Edge Titanium, $21998, 54k. https://www.carmax.com/car/26915376
Free anecdotal review of each:
1. Cross shopped before we purchased my wife's Outback. Smooth engine and powertrain, seemed well-screwed together. I liked it, wife liked more space in the Outback.
2. We have several in use at the City I work in. Seem reliable as they aren't in the City shop very much. No first hand driving knowledge.
3. Same engine/drivetrain as our Outback. Engine is loud and feels unrefined but I'll be damned if the thing hasn't been anvil-reliable for the past 5 years and 100k miles. Our Outback on Toyo Celsius All-Weather Tires is amazing on snow/ice/muddy roads. I don't imagine the Crosstrek is much different. It's not exciting, but it is safe and so far, well-made.
4. Neighbor's wife has one. Rides firm, definitely the most driver focused. Engine is punchy. Interior is cramped for me, but I'm 6-00 245--5-01 will be very happy inside. Get you an independent BMW or German car mechanic.
5 and 6. My uncle has both. His children/my cousins all have Mazda CUVs. He's notoriously stingy with his money. Loves them.
7. Got upgraded at the Houston Airport one time in 2019 to one of these due to a flight being cancelled. It wasn't a Titanium Trim. Promptly had to drive it overnight through non-stop thunderstorms to Birmingham, AL. Very sure-footed in bad weather, plenty of storage. Fuel Economy was ok but that was on me. I think I got like 25 mpg on the way back over 650 miles--I wasn't being easy on it.
7.
You can get Foresters in this age/cost range as well. Not my first voice for a road trip due to nvh, but lots of space, incredible visibility, great AWD.
How big is the "stuff" in question? Is it just too large to fit under the rear deck of a sedan with the seat folded, or an all-over LxWxH thing? If the former than the junior-compact Corolla Cross/HR-V would be fine. Upside with those two are that you've got uncomplicated NA 4-cylinders (even moreso with the HR-V and a K20 still with PGM-FI). HR-V is made in Mexico while the Corolla Cross is made at the new Toyota/Mazda plant in Alabama (counts for something in my book).
The answer is, as much as i hate not recommending an American car, the prior generation 20xx -2022) CRV AWD. I purchased one for Helen three years ago and it has been a real trooper. Only oil and fluid chsnges, almost 60,000 miles of urban commuting and no issues. Just now replacing the original tyres.her prior Jeep Liberty (2005) went 247,000 miles but started to us a quart of oils every 250 miles so we gave it to charity, to sell. But this hard to find a Liberty with low miles now that they are no longer made. So I highly recommend you look at a CRV.
Open Thread: Why we're here
I started reading Jack's Road and Track articles in 2016 when I was a student at UNOH. I worked my way back through the archives as far as I could to see what I had missed up to that point (I also did so for Sam Smith and Peter Egan). I then followed Jack over to the "insurance company" because I wanted to keep reading his work, and that led to R/T being replaced as my primary online reading. I was enamored by colorful descriptions of vehicle dynamics, I laughed and laughed at savage take-downs of the crossover SUV as a concept, and thought deeply about why men behave the way we do. I knew Riverside Green and TTAC existed, but never dove down into them. Eventually of course, we ended up here on Substack. I read all the free stuff I could, and eventually laid my card down. To be honest, the reason I made that decision was actually the commenting community and how many other interesting and thoughtful discussions take place and spin off each other. We don't get many new car reviews on AFC these days -and I know why- but I have to say I do miss the Great Baruthian Car Review. I bet a non-zero amount of other ACFers do as well.
So Jack, here is my formal request to review the Nissan Z in your driveway. We don't really care if it's not yours (at least I don't). I saw you mention in a comment possibly doing a comparison between it and the 300c; I would love that! I want to read the best reviewer in the industry write a new review again! That being said, I do understand it cannot be a regular thing; but we all see the opportunity right now.
To the rest of my fellow commentariat: What brought you here?
https://www.thetruthaboutcars.com/2009/05/editorial-maximum-street-speed-explained/
Certified hood classic
Started with TTAC and stuck with it mainly for the quality of Jack's writing.
I’m here for the swag
wait, what??? where is my swag? don't tell me another shipment got lost in customs.
Jack needs to bring back the driveshaft through skull shirt so when my current one wears out, I can keep one in the rotation.
I worry about effectively stealing Walker Canada's work, but I can't reach him to discuss the rights.
As I've said before, I come here for the lurid prose.
'ridiculous jargon,
Shocking sexual audacity and
Repulsive images of the ghetto.'
dopest, flyest, O.G., pimp, hustler, gangster, player, hardcore motherfucking substack today
YOU SHOULD HAVE KILLED ME LAST YEAR!
For some reason, this reminds me of a comment Sir Mixalot made about "orchestral movements from the hood."
It's the beginning of an ICE-T album, so there's likely some crossover there!
That and the Phaeton zipping around a traffic jam in triple digits!
@JackBaruth STILL needs to revisit this series as he promised to
Affirmative.
Z review in ten days, give or take. Have a bit of travel I need to do.
Short version: it's fast and smooth.
a few days ago you called it "neat" and was wondering if that meant "I hate the miserable thing, but don't dare say it out loud" :)
Not at all. I can't believe how decent it is.
Be sure to opine on why they absolutely do not sell. I have now seen TWO in real life.
I have seen as many Ariel Atoms on the road this year as I have Z cars.
That one is kinda easy:
1) They are somewhat low production, exacerbated by transmission and paint issues during the first year that halted sales for a while if I remember right
2) It's a two seater in a world that hates two seaters
3) It's a Nissan in a world that hates Nissans
4) It's very expensive to the "average" person, made worse by dealers initially asking crazy ADM for one. They can now be found under sticker, of course.
5) There has been just about zero advertising for them
It's 95% #3
I'm going with lack of marketing. I'm learning the thing exists through this thread.
That said, I have no idea what nissan could do that I would notice. TV spot during the morning local news is probably the best bet.
Automotive journalism is dead, so I no longer frequent any sites with industry news. 98% of my TV time is intentional with ads skipped. Maybe ads on Facebook marketplace?
You're behind the times. Nissan moved more than 3,000 of them in Q1. It outsold the Supra and GT86 combined.
Great news!
https://newsroom.porsche.com/en_US/2025/company/Q1-PCNA-Sales-39125.html
So they sold ~1,000 cars more than PCNA sold 911s in Q1? ASP of a 911 is probably … 4X the Nissan price?
Where the heck are they? I’ve seen two in person in what, two, three years somce they’ve been out.
I’ve seen more Porsche Carrera GTs in the wild than that in same time frame.
i have no idea how i got here
i read the articles here for a few months then asked jack if i could come to the acf meet despite not having an account (yes i paid my dues) and after he allowed it i got home and bought a yearly subscription that same day
i havent been banned yet
How are the vibes in Canadaland immediately after the election?
not great
strong sentiments of "holy shit how are you people this fucking stupid" and many people wanting to leave including yours truly
trump threw a huge wrench into the equation and if trump really was looking for a prime minister that would be much easier to deal with regarding trade then he made an extremely retarded move and handed the libs the win
canadians now have more immigration and even more lowering of living standards to look forward to as mark carney is similar to justin trudeau but smarter which is terrifying
tldr: were toast
Absolutely crazy how much Trump’s brash stupidity re: the sociopolitical ramifications of taking a torch to the global economy has affected you specifically.
Good grief.
yeah its insane
the canadian election went from who can plot the best course for canada to who can fight trump the best (why canadians are only just now pretending to care about canada and choosing to boycott america is like most things beyond me) and the liberals positioning pierre poilievre as being like trump sunk his chances.
i have seen graphs showing the concerns of canadians organized by age groups and the 60+ cohort was overwhelmingly voting for someone to fight trump and had little interest in the future of canada. ill link it if i can find it
Here it is. https://xcancel.com/KanekoaTheGreat/status/1917367433096225165#m
I watched an interview with Ezra Levant from Rebel News today, and he thinks there’s another election within a year and Polievre gets elected.
typical FUGM mentality
A C C E L E R A T E
Yeah: this outcome required record-breaking stupidity from both Trump AND voters to make it happen. TEAMWORK!, I guess.
if the election was a few months prior it would have been a conservative majority easily
... he made yet another extremely retarded move ... there I fixed it.
I was a TTAC reader back in the Robert Farago days, even before Jack started writing there. I noticed the quality of his writing and started seeking out his articles.
One of the most chilling developments of the last 20-30 years has been the end of accountability. I think this is really a boomer thing (present company excluded, I hope) rather than a Democrat/Republican thing. To whit-other than the "Flying Vagina" one of Farago's Crown Jewels on TTAC was the GM Death Watch, and GM DIED. The GM that slaps a Buick label on crap from China and ruins the successor to the small block IS NOT THE SAME COMPANY. Sorry about all the shouting but the sleazy way it went down went a long way towards obfuscating the fact that he was right. I don't think a single person responsible did anything other than fail upward and make millions in the process.
To clarify for the young folk other than Sherman who probably can explain it better than I can: GM went bankrupt. ipso facto shareholder value went to zee-roh. It was no longer a going concern. It is no more, it ceased to be, it was bereft of life, rests in peace, it was an ex-[corporation]. The government even wiped out secured debt through some magical hand-waving that although at the time it was cast as those people getting screwed, considering the players involved their payoffs were likely 18 karat if not 24. The denizens of GMI (Kettering my ass. A turd by any other name would smell as foul) ran one of the greatest corporations, nay, greatest collective human endeavors, into the ground.
yeah, I was less mad about the bailout than I was with execs etc still somehow getting paid big $ and not losing their pensions, etc. and the financiers stilll getting their exorbitant fees and commissions and insider trading scam profits.
but I'm still pissed they killed off Pontiac.
It’s funny (arrested development narrator voice: it was not funny) but lacking accountability is the number one commonality I see in elite corporate life. I’ve noticed it across industries. It seems the hardest thing to find in life is an organization of intelligent, accountable people pursuing a goal worth pursuing.
Like the engineers say about fast, cheap and durable: pick any two (these days, one) of the above
Same here.
Same as Jeff - I noticed Jack's writing on TTAC in the Farago era. Jack's writing was and is excellent, but also consistently drove a level of engagement that other good writers there didn't manage. I continued reading at r&t and the insurance company, then Riverside Green and eventually here.
R&T and the insurance company were fun, but the community wasn't really there.
Riverside Green was able to cover more cultural and political ground without being explicitly tied to cars - that's were I felt Jack's writing jumped from entertaining to thought provoking. With the move to substack, I knew there was a good chance at worthwhile comments in addition to Jack's writing.
As a bonus, reading here improves my own writing. Or at least prevents me from descending into illiteracy. I'm negligent in reading books!
Glad you're here.
Thanks for sharing!
Wholeheartedly agree with your last point!
I recall going to the R&T website at some point and being surprised that it got updated to look like it was meant for this century, and reading a column by some JB writer. Read a bunch of what was available on the site. Not sure if the impetus was motivated by TTAC or vice versa. Ultimately it led to frequenting Riverside Green where I came across the ACF announcement.
The real reason I'm here is to play the role of the grammar police. For example, in this article the section entitled "Giving fiancees a bad name" is hard to accuse of misspelling as it can go either way. It could be intentional. In this case I'm OK not knowing.
The ambiguity here is helping me, I think!
bitcoin remains a scam .
-Nate
I'd love to read a comparison between the Z and, say, Mazda MX530AE.
If only we had both!*
* we have both
Jack's articles on TTAC were one of the very few bright spots for me while I was waiting for my visa to move back to Japan at the beginning of 2011. My wife had already left with our 1-year-old son to spend extra time with her parents. Her mother was dying of cancer, so it was the right thing to do, although it was sort of crappy to live with. The morning of March 11th was terrifying, but their home is pretty far inland in a landlocked prefecture so they were okay.
This cheers me up to read on a day where I could use some cheer. Thank you.
Your posts remain one of the bright spots in my day right now. Cheers!
Personally found TTAC when looking for not-total-crap reviews of cars. Consumer reports in the early 2000s was useless, "we recommend a toyota camry with the smallest possible engine and fewest options," and on the other end were the PR Rags which were already headed in the wrong direction (to whit: Automobile magazine (or similar) awarded the BMW M62TUB an "engine of the year" award in the late 90s/early 2000s. In retrospect one of the more "diametrically opposed to the truth" things one might read, and even funnier in the context of how BMW's current slate of turbo-8s continue to have some of the same issues that were problems over 20 years ago when the M62 was introduced.)
After finding jack on TTAC, I was locked in by reading either one of the No Fixed Abodes where he races around the country clapping other men's wives, or the piece on which he collaborated with Frank Greve, formerly available here: https://ajr.org/Article.asp?id=5141, currently available here: https://web.archive.org/web/20160404143423/http://ajrarchive.org/Article.asp?id=5141
Few people, period point blank, are able to go on a 5 star press junket and turn down future such luxuries by reviewing the car truly & honestly. If you read the Greve piece, a Porsche flack says that they consider "whether a reviewer writes for a demographic that can afford a Porsche," before inviting them on press trips, hilarious when one is empowered with the context that Porsche probably invites Kevin Williams (who has zero audience, much less one that can afford a porsche) on $30,000 junkets, while in contrast, ACF subscribers own loads of Porsches, many of them bought new.
Thanks for the link DK, I'll have a read of that today
You mean it's not normal to keep coolant in the trunk to top off at every other gas refill? Here I thought the sweet smell of burning coolant was a feature, not a bug. More pleasant than some perfumes I've been exposed to!
I don't know about the B58, but BMW didn't seem interested in addressing the seals on their I6s either. Specifically the oil filter housing gasket and the oil pan. It's clear that enabling DIY is not a top design priority, do I'm not sure why they continue with the oil filter housing design.
I don’t remember the year, but Jack bought a Neon race car from Neons.org back in the day.
The car was an ACR sedan that was painted Nitro Yellow Green (of course). IIRC, that car was replaced by the Lapis Blue one that he has now.
Anyways, the car had a pretty in-depth build thread. When Jack bought it he replied to that thread and linked to SSL. I’ve been reading his work since. If I had to guess, this was 08/09?
EDIT - I want to echo what others have said. I came here for the writing, but stayed for the community. Honestly, I get more entertainment from my membership here than I have streaming service or magazine subscription.
Damn, a true OG! Agree with your last point for sure, too
I read everything here but I would also like to up the ratio of car anything, especially new cars, vs current political commentary.
I'd also like a piece focused on the Z. I strongly considered one a few months ago.
Believe it or not, I first heard of Jack on The Smoking Tire podcast. Initially, in passing mention as an excellent writer then on the one episode in which he ever was present. Then I read everything on TTAC, Speed Sport Life, R&T, Hagerty, RG, and here just like everyone else.
That TST podcast is goated.
There is actually 2 such episodes! Both are good, but the first one with Bark is more entertaining.*
*Not specifically because of Bark, but because in that year all 3 men didn't need to have such strong vocal filters. By the time Jack appeared the second time, I could tell he was thinking a little bit more about what he was saying. Still a great listen of course, but not the pure gold of the earlier one.
Oh and I also fully co-sign (to steal a phrase from DK'er) the content ratio change.
Doesn't need to be cars specifically though. Could be motorcycles, planes, farm equipment, hand tools, anything that involves a person interacting with physics. Jack has a way of making all those things come back to human spirit, behavior, and emotion.
My best recollection is that I started reading following a link from Instapundit to a piece in R/T. The rest is delightful memories of great reads, including the comments.
I found my way here in a similar manner. I was in high school during the mess of COVID aftermath and found myself with a lot of downtime. Pretty much everyone sat on their phones during class and did nothing so I read everything uploaded at the insurance company and found my way into the R/T archives once when I worked through all the new articles. That pretty much convinced me to study automotive engineering. Now that I'm at university I don't have nearly as much time to kill, but the Wednesday threads and Sam Smith's podcast are nice pick ups in the middle of the week.
WOW, you mean I'm not the youngest one here?? Best of luck to you man! To be honest I'm trying to find a way out of automotive, and that may well be via an engineering degree of some kind, because my company will pay for it. Just need to find the time, and I'll need to accept being stuck there for at least 2 years after completing the degree. If I don't I have to pay it all back.
Q: What brought you here?
A: BMX racing. Jack had a bmx site back in the day when I was a 13 year old BMX racer. Somewhere down the line I grew up and I came across his auto writing.
I came via a link on some Dissident Right site to this essay: https://www.avoidablecontact.com/p/weekly-roundup-the-passion-of-saint-ignucius-edition?utm_source=publication-search
The cogency of the arguments and acidity of the sneers made an immediate impression, so I stuck around. The obscure references added to curiosity that touch of annoyance that's keeps you coming back. I also cottoned to the more substantive links and sources: I can't find it at the moment, but I have a strong memory of a deep-dive into mid-20th-century efforts to make supersonic airliners economically viable in the US, and the poor bastards in the Midwest who had to endure constant sonic booms overhead before the projects were abandoned.
I was a lurker for several years before bringing out old Uncle Gally.
So, I was at a Session with Empress Ming. That's my pet name for my Therapist. She's an angry control freak.
As per the norm, she was ranking me out over my alleged lacks of:
Commitment
Effort, and
Results.
She had raised her voice, so I raised mine. I told her that, especially in view of the shape I was in when I started, I think I have been doing very well, thank you just the same.
She then flat-out yelled at me:
"JOHN! DO YOU SUFFER FROM MEGALOMANIA???"
I yelled back:
"I DO NOT 'SUFFER' FROM MEGALOMANIA! I ENJOY IT! I LOVE EVERY EFFIN' MINUTE OF IT!!!"
"Sociopathic Personality Disorder?"
"Yes! It's great! I mean, love means never having to say you're sorry, but being sociopathic means you don't even have to feel bad in the first place!"
I just had AI explain to me what the "love means never having to say you're sorry" line means, from that dopey movie. I feel better now.
If you're a woman, and you want to yell at me, you'd better have explicitly serviced me in recent memory.
Come to think of it, that's my rule for dudes too.
When my ex would tell me to stop yelling, I would say, "Youve never heard me actually yell. Want a demonstration?"
I remember a scene from a 70's sit-com where an older man and his wife are in an argument and she tells him to stop yelling, to which he replies, "I'm not yelling, I'm talking loudly!"
I tried that line on my wife once and she didn't find it nearly as funny as I did.
“All In The Family?”
No it definitely wasn’t that one, I think it might have been Doc.
I just walk away and turn the credit card off for a week. See who is laughing now. Half if this is a joke
I have used this in real life and she really doesn't think it is increased volume and not yelling.
Trust me, if I were yelling, you would know!
It isn't in a lot of parenting books, but command voice is a highly effective potty training tool.
I joke with my wife we’re going to do clicker training with the kids. She doesnt find it nearly as funny as i do
My friend Laurie refers to it as her law enforcement voice.
In my non-existent spare time, I research and write jokes for my possible début in Stand-Up Comedy.
The above was a joke I wrote.
At present, I am not being "Shrunk."
all my best,
john
PS: From a young trial lawyer helping Alan Dershowitz get a new trial for Claus von Bülow, to an old guy searching through Aristotle's "Poetics" for help in writing stand-up.
O, how the mighty are fallen!
I liked it. Empress Ming is a fantastic name.
"JOHN! DO YOU SUFFER FROM MEGALOMANIA???"
Strong words from someone hired to fix your shoulder :)
Cute!
“Fix your shoulder” needs to be in air quotes since there is an Asian woman involved.
I will absolutely support your son if I get a right seat ride in that plane!
Therapy:https://i.kym-cdn.com/photos/images/original/001/977/345/cab
Stop fat shaming me.
NO. HIT THE WEIGHTS LARDASS.
Lifting weights will help you get strong. Not lifting a fork will help you get lean
2 years ago I was 190 lbs for the first time since college. I spent last year injured, sick, and depressed and have rebounded to north of 210. At least I haven't ballooned to the 235 I was before I hurt my back and went to PT for it. Weight is a lot harder to lose in your 40s, but I haven't given up.
Just skip breakfast, lunch, and being happy. It worked for me!
I was thinking to try tapeworms. I heard they cure allergies, too.
Unfortunately the tape worms I usually buy from China have been hit with a 110% tariff.
I fell off my last 1,000-1,500 calorie/day diet because I just got bored of not being able to eat at my favorite restaurants.
When dieting I'll still eat a small breakfast (yogurt or leben to keep my potassium levels up) and lunch (often leftovers from dinner). Otherwise, on an empty stomach CHS will sometimes kick in.
It gets seriously boring. Fortunately, or unfortunately depending on how you look at it, we don't have time to go to restaurants at least not for a few more months.
I just started riding my bike again. After two pinch flats in two days, I decided to change the rear tire to 28mm from 25. I also had to pick up a pair of bib bike shorts because at this weight my regular shorts were riding down below my jersey's tail.
Are you less likely to get a pinch flat on a 25? I had a summer where I had 4 different flat tires in a week on a new bike. Figured something must have been wrong with the wheel/tire but none since. Just bad luck.
Less likely with the fatter 28mm tire. 3mm doesn't seem like much but it can make the difference between riding home or walking.
I'm not sure the second one was a pinch flat, since there was only one hole, not a "snake bite". A brand new tube lost pressure maybe a mile into my ride. I checked the tire for something sharp that still might be lodged in the tire near where the hole in the tube was but couldn't find anything so I decided to just go with a bigger tire.
For some reason, the Campy rims I currently have do not allow for easily mounting tires. I have to use a tire bead jack, which I can't really carry in the little pouch under my seat so even if I carry a spare tube, tire irons, and my CO2 inflator, I'm still probably going to walk home if I get a flat.
pinch flats are typically from too low pressure in the tires. and some rims are more prone to them than others.
I typically inflate to 110 lbs.
I have a road bike with 23s! I always kind of thought that was a diabolical size. They took narrow too far in that era.
I gained some weight after the birth of our third child so I spent last year trying to lose it. Which I did. Then I also got injured, sick, and stressed out and gained it all back. I have spent the first 4 months of this year losing it again. I'm I'm trying to use the next 3 to get back to my fighting weight.
During tax season, I just fasted. When you work all the time, not eating isn't that hard. Now that I have free time* again, I am counting calories, tracking macros, and exercising. It is awful.
*I do not
Shit, I've been living on protein shakes during my 10-hour workdays, then eating an actual meal when I get home.
Lost 25 lbs this year that way. Well, and going to the gym all week.
Nice. I lost 25 starving myself. Now that i have some time it’s gymand sensible diet. It is almost harder than just being hungry
I've watched the Carnivore diet strip 30-50 pounds off of a number of friends and acquaintances in the last couple of years, most in their 40's plus. I'm going to have to give it a go myself.
I typically do keto mixed with OMAD when I want to drop the weight. It works. It works especially well when one is significantly overweight. Those last 10-20 lbs are still a struggle which I am currently in. After about 60 days, you get pretty darn sick of steak.
And yearn for a piece of bread or a bowl of spaghetti
i did it and the pounds flew off
i wasnt even particularly fat at the time having just done a few months of keto
My problem with the carnivore diet is that so much very healthy food exists outside of the Just Steak and Fat spectrum that is also quite tasty.
It's that whole "quite tasty" thing that is the demon to slay. Potatoes are either divine or the work of satan. I can't tell which.
I wouldn’t recommend it unless you need to lose the weight. There are other good ways to lose weight but simple has it’s own effectiveness
and i've said this before - its harder still in your 50's, and harder than that in your 60's.
stonetoss forever hitting bullseyes
"Unfortunately for everyone who isn’t being treated to five-star travel in service of the Narrative, however, a fancy interior doesn’t get you through a winter driving to the airport or to your job at Dollar General."
I generally agree, but I think (a) most people younger than 50 are more comfortable with thinking of a car as a "mobility iPad" than we are, and (b) the real issue will probably be with these on the used car market, long after the subsidized leases are chewed up.
The cars probably won't make it here anyway - at least not in the current packaging and branding - but the little I've heard from friends who've experienced these 1st-hand tells me they're more impressive than we might think.
This latter point gestures more towards the gap between what we think of China mfg (Temu, penny-priced crap widgets, etc) and what their higher-value mfg sector has really achieved, esp in areas where there are very tight constant product refresh cycles.
My limited experience interacting with Chinese contract manufacturers at a previous job showed that they will provide exactly the level of precision and quality that you're willing to pay for.
…until you stop observing and then they will ratchet down quality until you force them to move it back up again. Rinse, repeat, in perpetuity.
Paul Midler's Poorly Made in China: An Insider's Account of the China Production Game is about 15 years old but still applicable.
Yep, I can attest to this. As soon as you are not on site the "quality" plumets
Quality is Job 六十九.
I’ve looked into this a while back for a client and basically told them three things; you’ll have to open up a QC office, next to or possibly on the factory grounds and make sure you have people present all the time. And you’ll have to uhhh… provide gifts, including, but not limited to money to the important contacts you deal with on important calendar days. And before all of that, you’ll have to physically go there and inspect the facility and make sure your stuff is actually going to be made there. I explained I could arrange for a fixer here and one there and get the process underway immediately.
I was paid my fee and thanked for my services and then they tried to arrange production via the Internet and it went about as well as you’d imagine.
I know people who have done it properly and it’s a serious amount of work and expensive. But can’t be done anywhere else and fit the business model
Is there any way to keep them from using the same line to make the same product and undercut you?
A partnership situation sort of like Apple and Foxconn if you want the most control possible.
Obviously it doesn’t have to be at that scale.
The other option is you do what the luxury brands do and use domestic finishing.
I think Shinola does something similar.
The big mistakes I learned people make (by asking) is that pe
ople over here don’t view the relationship as a partnership, they don’t bother to understand the difference in business culture between countries, and they conflate prototyping and production and everyone get confused and pissed off.
Chinese suppliers out of China will sign your GTC’s with no questions, but good luck suing them.
I rode in some sort of generic CRV sized Chinese crossover (gas engine, small displacement turbo mill?) in the Dominican Republic. I would describe it roughly as a "cheaper feeling, worse built Korean car" It's about what I expected from what I've seen and read from various Russian resources (they've had Chinese cars for a long time, and in rapidly increasing numbers since the war started).
The number of people I’ve seen lined up to defend the infamous Chinese tiny brake pad in an enormous “Brembo” housing on various forums is stupefying to me. Like it had to be ideological, or bots, or a bit or something.
Wumao for sure.
Im about to do a review of a brilliant Chinese watch. They can do whatever they want, but the culture and expectations are different. More like cars were in the USA in 1975. Three years and out.
Yeah, the limited personal experience I have is when I'm in Europe for work. The MGs, BYDs, etc. all seem "fine" in a "I had a 10yr old Prius or Jazz and this EV will save me even more Euros" kind of way.
In the UK, it def seems like they've got a decent entre in the pensioner and youth mkts.
<tears>
It's hard to reconcile poorly made crap with this short video. Only two pairs of human hands visible anywhere.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yezR-mH12xs
That shows that maybe tariffs aren't about employment, but about having the factories, the robots, and the knowledge base to design, install, and operate them.
Basically the same way that "having muskets" was better for a society's survival "no muskets."
You'd think one of these auto journo-sauruses would remember all the crappy Chinese scooters that seemed to be everywhere about 10 years ago. The shady dealers who were selling them knew they were crap and probably even the buyers knew they were crap too.
everyone got used to lithium battery fires when tesla started doing it so its okay when everything else burns up
They’re not fires, they’re thermal events.
That’s why the actual users of those scooters — drunk people stumbling around cities they’ve never been to — bravely, hilariously took to throwing them in rivers.
"throwing them in rivers"
Because electric scooters are good for the enviornment
This unlocked a memory. A few of my friends growing up had USA-made Gopeds. In the mid-00s, the market got flooded with cheap 49cc scooters and everyone had one. First, they were stands at the local flea market. Later, shop opened up nearby that was selling these and later Chinese XR50 knock-offs. He charged more, but would disassemble them, properly grease, and torque them.
Everyone and their brother had one and seemingly got to blast around the neighborhood.
Of course, I wasn’t allowed to have one. My parents claimed that pit bikes were stupid and I was riding a KDX200 by then. While true, it’s not like I had friends to ride with and couldn’t just go riding every day of the week.
It would have been less distasteful if she had done the current year wahmen thing and paid to scream in the woods butt nekkid.
Also, 'women taking a picture of something' meme.
Is the truest meme ever.
At least her selfies are better than the zaftig one you normally berate.
Had a couple male teachers in elementary school that were great guys, and glad they were there. Mr. Hambright was a sixth grade teacher, and also the playground enforcer. If someone f'd up, and Mr. Hambright was called outside, then everyone knew that shit was about to get real. As a consequence, people tended to behave themselves on the playground.
Figured out much later that he had to have been in his early 20's at the time, he later became part-owner of a local boating store, and I'd see him in there. As a late 40's adult male, I still called him Mr. Hambright, to the great amusement of his employees.
Him: "You know, you can call me Scott now".
Me: "Ahh, nope, can't do that Mr. Hambright".
To which the parts guy would laugh and say "Everyone comes in here and says the exact same thing".
Me: "Yeah, cuz we are all still afraid of getting beat with a yardstick".
I had a sociology teacher in high school named Mr. Malarkey.
Reader's Digest told of a substitute German teacher who began class with "You may address me by my English name, Mr. Ball."
I had a sub named Michael Hunt, the nuns called him to the office all the time. Some of that was being a roaming sub... They always used his full name.
I was so oblivious to everything I didn't even get the joke.
I had a professor in college whose last name was...I kid you not...Snowball.
Was a really nice guy. Just an unusual last name.
Here's a touching graduation tribute for you (28 seconds):
http://youtu.be/J3qj4KX6yXw
I had a long-term band sub (who was also alumni to my high school) named Mr. Brouhard. He was actually super cool, and I took to calling him "BroBeans."
All gone now but I was never able to call any friends' parents or any other adult from my childhood by their first names. Just couldn't do it.
same
it just feels weird
One of my daughters friend's uses my first name. She gets no response.
my 6th grade teacher was an ex-Marine. I can still remember him lifting one endlessly troublesome boy up by the collars 3+ feet off the ground and slamming him against the blackboard. these days there would be a line of lawyers waiting to file lawsuits for abuse.
My own personal mandella effect is no one was named Scott 5 years ago. Now it’s everywhere!
I just had to deal with some a-hole whose name is Rory but he goes by Scott.
Very O/T:
Am currently in semi-progressive British Columbia, and I actually saw a Cadillac Lyric in the wild! That someone apparently paid for with their own money!! Had license plates on it, no dealer tag and it was smugly cruising down the street.
To show that everything is still right in the world, he did turn off onto a street that I know leads to a huge subdivision of McMansions, and as I went by him, the driver looked like a douchnozzle of the first order.
And as further proof that stereotypes exist for a reason, the car in front of the Lyric was a late model orange Golf GTI driven by a yoouuth (said in a Clarkson voice) wearing a hoodie with the hood up, and clouds of vape smoke pouring out the open driver's window.
I have something between an acquaintance and a friend who has a Lyriq with the license plate, imaginatively, “LYRIQ”. I haven’t come up with a non-patronizing way to ask him about it. Pleasant enough guy but not what Logan Roy would call a Serious Person.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UiIKA7ht5EQ
DAVE THOMAS AT SCIOTO COUNTRY CLUB
One of the best movies of all time!
I just picked up my Freaky Fast lunch and there was another Lyriq parked nearby. How bizarre. Also an F8 Spyder, that was surprising.
Same guy. Because only one of them runs at any given time.
Maybe he has two of them
I never understood getting the model name of your car on the license plate, but these two examples are fantastic.
Nobody remembers the last Mercury Montego from 2007, which was the counterpart to the Ford Five Hundred, another car which nobody remembers. But I saw a Montego with MONTEGO plates. Either the owner was really proud of his Montego, or he got tired of telling people what it was.
Even better, I saw a beat up rusty brown Camry LE with CAMRY LE plates.
Both of these sightings were in Illinois where vanity plates are not cheap.
It would have been better with Sable plates instead.
The predecessor and successor to the 2005-7 Mercury Montego was the Sable! Brilliant Ford marketing.
Wasn't the last year or two 500 called a Taurus too? Never understood the marketing.
The Taurus and Sable became the 500 and Montego for 3 years, then they became the Taurus and Sable again. They were really ugly cars for those 3 years.
Weird: I noticed an unusually large amount of vanity plates in Illinois many years ago and was told that personalized plates were free as long as they contained a digit. Maybe it changed?
It’s complicated. Vanity plates started in Illinois when they first allowed 3 letters in a row. There was no charge for this. I got a plate like this with 3 letters and 2 numbers and had it for 40+ years.
Then the state decided to go full vanity plate up to 7 spaces, either all letters or letters preceded by numbers. These plates were expensive up front, and had a higher yearly renewal fee. Over times, these fees kept escalating to the point where they’re really expensive.
Then the state decided that my plate with 3 letters and 2 numbers was a semi-vanity plate, and started charging me more for my yearly renewal fee, just not as much as a full vanity plate. Illinois is all about fleecing its residents.
Now that I’m in NC vanity plates are really cheap, and I was finally able to get the 3 letters only plate I could never get in Illinois because it was taken. But there’s not many vanity plates here like there were in Illinois.
The unique thing about NC plates is that you can get the following characters on a plate by request: & # ? $ / = * + @
The characters only count as a space and not as your official plate number, so plate A&3@C is really A3C.
Mine: ACHORD.
I’ve sung in my church’s choir since 1996. And I’ve been driving Accords since 1999.
i have seen one as well despite being in a worse city on the other side of the country
pretty ugly irl
Has anyone seen a Celestiq, the $300K abomina..VEHICLE..from Cadillaq, in the wild?
I bet ten dollars that not one production version has yet been built, despite being extolled going on four years...
They've produced a few but you'd have better odds of seeing a Veyron or R55 AMG in the wild
Keeping my eyes peeled for one but nothing but Lyrics.
I hope to never see one!
Last I heard, the first year of them is sold out.
Also last I heard, they aren't making more than a couple hundred a year anyway, so the chances of any being seen outside of, idk , LA are about nil.
Lots of these in the Victoria area nowadays
Re: "mixed" valvetrains. 90s Toyotas commonly used a timing belt off the crankshaft to get up to a single pulley up at the head, which in turn has twin gear driven cams. I want to say the Audi 2.8 had something similar except a belt driving up to short chains between the cam gears?
As a bike rider of over 5 decades, and a former Harley owner (if they weren't so stupidly priced I'd have another one instead of the metric cruiser) I can tell you that a LOT of gay motorcyclists own/ride Harleys. When I lived in Sacramento there was a rather large Gay Motorcycle Club, where they all rode Harleys.
Same for Lesbians.
People like Harleys for a number of reasons. If I got out and rode more I'd probably have gotten another one by now, but the last few years I haven't been able to get out more than a couple of times a month on one of my bikes, which sucks.
Oh, and not all furries are crazy, but that one definitely is. They overwhelmingly lean left (and I mean like 95 percent of them)
I watched his regular car reviews on youtube a long while back, I guess when he was just starting out....for a sec I couldn't beliveve it was the same guy, go figure. Wonder what made the guy go mental. Also, the hiding behind a mask thing smells of...chicken shit.
Uneducated guess, but "what made him go mental" is likely an overcorrection from his previous life of being stuck in a very conservative closet.
I've met Brian a couple times. I'm, frankly, always gonna be weirded out by the furry stuff, but he always came across as a kind, well-intentioned guy who had respect for the medium he worked in, albeit one that also was still trying to figure out how to live life as he wanted. Interesting dude all around.
I'd guess pornography at way too early an age. Chasing the dragon.
funny you mention the dragon because he was found out to be a dragon furry years ago before people knew what he looked like
he probably got molested or something but i have no idea why hes into dragons or birds
We probably don’t want to know that story.
Not sure why he did that topic in particular (among others) in the suit the other day, but he usually does not wear it. I hope it doesn't become more "regular."
maybe he was always mental and the regular car reviews was his was a meting out weirdness to see if his true self and opinions could be tolerated
“Thats not chicken”
pretty hard to be a traditionalist in a wolf costume i guess
the optics are hilarious however
"GET THOSE DAMN IMMIGRANTS OUT OF MY COUNTRY *awooo*"
https://motorcityfurrycon.org/news/dear-mcfc-2022-attendees-an-open-letter/
yup.
To be fair, who hasn’t thrown up/had sex/slept in public?
Two out of three ain't bad
A good buddy of mine is a member of the Combat Vets Motorcycle Association. It's a group of combat veterans who have essentially formed a mutual support and aid group for veterans that happens to involve riding motorcycles. They raise money for vets and their families in need. If there's a vet dying, they make sure he doesn't die alone. That sort of thing.
Most ride Harleys. My buddy rides a BMW, whichever one from a couple of years ago that has the biggest motor.
I'm guessing Mr. Regular never met a group of guys who dropped their lives and got on their Harleys (and the one BMW) driving seven hours in the rain one way just to make sure a dying man had someone to hold his hand as he passed from this world into the next.
That's the grating thing about Mr. Regular. He's a wierdo who has not always been treated well by others. And he's angry at it. I can get that. The problem is that he seems to think he is unique in his experience of suffering. That somehow those guys he sees riding by on Harleys are going through life without a ripple on their pond.
That's not how life works.
That's not how life works for *any* of us.
Those CVMA guys are in touch with their emotions...in the same way you are "in touch" with an MMA champion as he has you in a rear naked choke. And at least a couple of times a year, the MMA champ wins and one of them suck starts a pistol and a somber line of guys in the CVMA vests are on the interstate again heading in to provide whatever comfort they can.
I've never understood the attraction to motorcycling. It's one of the most dangerous things you can do and I have yet to know anyone who has done it for a while who doesn't have a story about laying the motorcycle down and the injuries that resulted. It sounds absolutely horrid to me...and I spend a significant chunk of my time teaching strangers how to use deadly weapons.
I refer to my buddy as "The Belgian Mal". He has an IQ at least three standard deviations above the mean, if not higher. He's in that incredibly unfortunate cohort that is likely the smartest person in most rooms he walks into, yet because of that he is regularly in rooms with people an SD or two above him. I call him the Mal because like a Mal, if he doesn't have something to chew on he'll "eat the furniture."
Riding a motorcycle and essentially trying to not die is one of precious few activities that can actually fully command his attention and occupy his mind to the point where he can relax. It means he isn't thinking about the pressure of his job (where the safety and property of tens of thousands of innocent people is on the line every day) or the pressure of dealing with his wife's chronic and increasingly terminal-looking illness. It means he isn't thinking about his son jumping out of helicopters to fight wildfires. It means he isn't thinking about the abuse he suffered as a child, how his mother abandoned him, how the hell he's going to pay for his daughter's wedding, how he missed that call from his cousin a couple of hours before his cousin committed suicide, how one of his friends went on that domestic violence call and never came back...
"Go to therapy!"
Ok, sport. Easy to say from inside your fucking fur suit. You know why? Because nobody depends on you. You have no duty to fulfill. No oath you have to honor. Nobody else's burdens to bear. You're not the support structure for a bunch of other human beings whom you value more than yourself.
You can't manage *you*. Yet you're full of certainty about what's wrong with others and what they need to do.
That's what is so fucking grating about Mr. Regular's bullshit. He has a patent on suffering and sitting in a fucking bird costume he presumes to offer up the answers to people whose problems he cannot even begin to comprehend because he's not yet managed to fix his gaze past his own fucking navel.
You have experienced mistreatment at the hands of others? I can sympathize. So have I. So have lots of people. So will everyone in this life sooner or later. You know what's not useful? Stopping all progress as a human being and building a monument to your trauma, genuflecting before it on a daily goddamn basis. At a certain point it goes past being trauma and becomes a profound narcissism. One that excuses you from all accountability.
Ain't it always the way that the people who scream the most about how much sympathy and understanding they should be given are nearly bereft of it in their dealings with others. Until you can deal with the world without being dressed as a fucking bird, maybe shut the fuck up about what other people need to do and unfuck yourself.
"Where's your compassion?"
That *is* compassion. Think of a young man in your life that you care for. Can you honestly say you want him sitting in that fucking fur suit? No, because you know that shit is fucking tragic. That shit isn't normal, it isn't cool, and most importantly it isn't a path towards a rewarding fulfilling life where you accomplish something worthwhile for yourself or others and everybody knows it.
The echo chamber of similarly stunted internet weirdos aren't going to help you become a better man and have the life you are capable of, whether it's the red pill tards or the fucking furry pronoun brigade.
Ah, if only I could pin this one too. Can't pin responses.
Thank you for all of it.
Paste it in as an unscheduled article and comment on it (assuming permission granted)?
I'll retain it for future quoting, absolutely.
Thank you for this, Tim.
brilliant
unsurprising that birdbrain has shit opinions though
Preach it. I agree with a lot of it.
We've all been hurt, and some of us have been hurt pretty bad - but wallowing in your misery is never going to make it better. You got to get back up on that horse and get going. This guy is just to happy to wallow in his own misery and not move on from it.
His therapist probably doesn't want to fix him either, after all - paycheck.
As for motorcycles? I've been riding since... Well I think I was in junior high when my older brother taught me. It was a long long time ago. But I do love it so.
Understand I used to fly high performance jets. Riding a motorcycle is about as close as I can afford to get to that these days. Also, I've got ADD pretty bad, but when I'm riding, because I have to pay attention to everything all at once, it gives me a feeling of calm. I enjoy it a lot. I especially enjoy it over 100mph, though I don't do THAT much anymore ;-)
As for accidents?
I'm just now getting back to typing with both hands. 11 days ago I had my right shoulder joint fully replaced. The root cause is a motorcycle accident that almost killed me back in '99. This is the second operation on this shoulder (the first was when they realized that the joint needed to go). For the last 25 years I thought I was getting bursitis, instead it was just an injury grinding away and getting worse and worse every year.
But you know what? Can't wait to go back out riding. I wish I could do more of it these days (But I'm old and I work a lot because I'm doing something I love). It's not something I can really explain to the people who don't get it. It's like Jack's love of racing cars on the track - I don't quite get it, but I know he enjoys it, so it's not something I'd ever question.
Life is just like that, and it's all of us being different that makes it worth living.
I've always thought the time to take up motorcycle riding will be when I turn 75. As I get closer I'm thinking of pushing the date out some more.
My son rides a motorcycle. That's frightening enough.
Chicks dig danger. It helps get a gf
I have never found it frightening. It takes time to learn to do it well, and it takes some time to learn to spot the assholes in cars that will kill you. Of course even then if a 16 yo girl who JUST got her license pulls out in front of you on the highway and stops because she's running her mouth with her friends in the car, you're gonna hit it (and I totaled it, bike too). But even in those situations theres a lot you can do to try and keep from getting killed.
In the 50+ years of riding, that's really the only time I came close to buying it. And I've ridden a lot.
My college roommate spent a year in the hospital being reassembled after a lady with no insurance ran a stop light and hit him, killing his girlfriend riding behind him. Pretty much set my opinion right then. Just about everyone knows someone with a story like that, too.
I get the attraction, I really do. It just doesn't motivate me enough given what I've seen. Notwithstanding all that, I wish you and all the other riders here the best.
I almost bit it once. Never scared me till i had kids
i keep telling myself the only time id ever ride is off peak hours on nice days but even then there a whole heap of retards out there and whats worse is that a lot of them are driving
The only way out is through. Unless you have some serious trama I suspect therapy is more of a hindrance than help and then i still suspect it
Does dirt bike riding compare?
Seems safer away from unpredictable traffic.
Dirt biking will hurt you badly. Street biking will kill you.
Not exactly. Personally I think you're more likely to get hurt dirt biking. But that's just me...
So many topics being addressed here, I almost forgot the one I mean to address, which is: All motorcycle ownership stereotypes are true and many are hilarious.
Twenty five years I made a first pass through the second MSF RiderCourse> You know, the one where you bring your own scoot and do stupid parking lot tricks? Well, the students all touched a knuckle to their foreheads when greeting the GOLDWING riders. They had the largest number of visible tats.
One of the instructors was riding to class on his Valkyrie Interstate, and demo'd his Gymkhana-winning foot braking.
stereotypes are earned as they say
"Stereotype" is the word modern people use. Older generations would say "reputation."
Dude. Your work is done here. Take the rest of the week off. You've EARNED it. As a fan of your writing, this was a tour de fucking force. [insert grauitious reference to Willie Dee's "Controversy" here]
*Gratuitous. Christ.
Wasn’t Grauitious a Roman general or something???
No, he was a four armed drone General.
thought that was general grievous
He had a brother, General Gratuitous, who liked to walk around with his robot dick out.
sergeant hitachi
makin em howl
I remember him! He was on the cover of Beck's "Mellow Gold" album.
I thought he was a rapper. Or that guy who burned down all those liquor stores in honor of George Floyd.
TRIP ACROSS TO MEXICO!
For everyone who isn't read up on willie:
https://cosmichearse.blogspot.com/2008/11/explicit-lyricsstreet-raps.html?m=1
If a 5'6" guy with a squeaky voice buys a motorcycle or a Cartier watch or a fancy smoker or lifts weights because those things help his personal confidence and get him some friends and a new hobby then what's the big deal?
Your toxic masculinity is showing.
Did you just misgender his climate change?
THEYRE SEEDING THE CLOUDS AND TURNING THEM TRANS
Can a cumulus cloud identify as a tornado, or vice versa?
No he has a GT3 and likes cigars.
Like he said, showing toxic masculinity….. that is the only reason someone has a GT3 😉😉
Or he's showing off that he had the money to buy three other Porsches before being permitted to buy the GT3
I only bought the current GT3 because I made money on the earlier Porsches!
Hey I'm a 6'2" man with a squeaky voice and I wear a Seiko Alpinist for pull ups!
Im impressed you can do pulluos. Im 3/4 of a way to one or 15lbs away depending on how you look at it
Ed Coan is 5'6" and if you haven't heard of him, he's why guys of that stature lift weights. Benched 550 without a shirt at 219 lbs. He should've had Brian Shaw's marketing acumen.
In other words- who would make a big deal out of telling a dude not to do anything he's put his mind to? Dudes in bird suits, I guess.
lee priest might have been the apex of short jacked dude
gotta be one of the most insane physiques of all time
He was jacked, and looks like he’s still kicking too. Bodybuilding is not powerlifting, however. Ever heard of Süleymanoğlu? He lifted 187kg and change in ‘96 to win gold, in the 64kg class and a height of 4’10”.
I would simply recommend being 6'2" I have a friend who is 6'2" so why can't you be?
Personally, I made DECISIONS early in life to become almost 6'3": why didn't Sherman?
i chose to be a manlet so i could fit comfortably in a miata
i mean i didnt but it makes me feel better
Why are you so short?
Have you ever had an 89 bhp miata?
well if i was taller and the miata had more power my scalp would be blown off from the sheer velocity
That reminds me, I should check in with the buddy who was paying for the installation of an LS3 in his Saturn Sky. Happily bald already, so he’s probably doing great!
I took HGH as a teenager, in fact!
Maybe they made you smarter and you really didnt earn all that stuff after taking performance enhancing drugs
Nah, I was reading at a collegiate level in Kindergarten, dawg.
You dont think being 5’8” instead of 5’3” helped you? Youd be the smartest cashier at whole foods.
This is America. If you aren't six-foot-two it's because you don't want it badly enough.
I wanted to be 6’4” but had to settle for 6’2”.
the big deal is that hes not tall
source: im short
I initially resisted the idea that women are primarily solipsistic, but once I understood and internalized it I now see it everywhere, it explains a lot. Instead of leading to misogyny I think it makes for better relationships and interactions with the fairer sex to deal with them as they are.
As to Mr. Regular, as an early viewer and fan of his review style, he had a tinge of 'this guy can get a bit dark, something is probably going on there, but oh well we all have our demons' but I did not anticipate a pivot to '... a BIRD FEATHERSONA, SERIOUSLY?!?'.
It always humors me when men realize women are women and not just little men and the men go through the stages of grief before accepting it.
Exactly, and it works both ways... the mid thirties "I'm a highly-driven successful woman with my own condo and a BMW that loves to travel and spend time in the gym looking to share my life with someone special but I can't find ANY MEN!! Are they just intimidated by how awesome I am?" No, you just assumed that what you are attracted to is the same as what the opposite sex will be attracted to, and it's not.
Example: I have never known a man worth his salt who cares what a woman does for a living.
Some of these kids like their sugar mommas, but I have never wanted to see a woman's P&L.
I see a lot of power couples tax returns. Someone seems to care.
It serves one purpose: a woman with the executive functioning to get through college and at least start a career won't be a total basket case. Past that point, it's a yuge negative. Better to see what her kitchen sink or bathroom/bedroom look like.
Youve never dated a lawyer have you?
Hell no. I actively stayed away from those and still do.
i care that theyre not being online (or offline) whores or have insane debt but other than that it matters little
When I met her that was my wife, down to the BMW and condo at Easton when it was nice.
I think it can be very intimidating to men who share the same goals but are significantly less successful. That limits the dating pool.
I think she might be facing a similar problem to a lot of guys. I am sure something is wrong with her, just as there is with anyone, that puts a certain amount of people off. And if she has spent the time to achieve that success in her mid 30's, what is she doing where she is going to meet anyone? How can she have hobbies involving singletons that she finds attractive? Even if she goes the route of dating guys outside of her regular social sphere, in the trades or something, where does her life intersect theirs to meet them?
I figure if a woman is heading for 40 with no husband in sight, she either doesn't take love seriously or she has a head full of snakes.
The professional woman with the BMW and condo is usually the one limiting the dating pool. If she’s not a looker, she still thinks she deserves the perfect man because of her success.
"I have high standards."
No you don't. You're just saying that so people don't think you're a 36-year-old slut with 17 ex-boyfriends and no husband on the horizon.
High standards as in you must be high to think those are realistic.
+1 on solipsistic! It's nice to learn a new word.
The word is good, but for the benefit of other readers, feel free to give examples of how it manifests and how this understanding can be applied.
Its a deeper topic than I care to go into here, anyone interested in learning more can check out the Sigma Game substack, the socio-sexual hierarchy applies to male relationships but the stack touches on the reality of female thinking as well.
But in brief, woman tend to view everything from a lens of 'how does this personally impact me', which among other things lends to a lack of empathy/sympathy that runs counter to what we are taught about the weaker sex. As a practical example, men that are waiting for gratitude from their partner should realize it's not forthcoming; not because their partner is not appreciative, but because it's not how their brain is wired. So instead of bitterly complaining about the lack of appreciation for 'everything I do for her' or lack of sympathy for what you may be going through, realize it is not part of their toolkit, accept it, and move on.
I like Vox, I read sigma game, but start with the original
https://heartiste.org/
RIP. Never forget what they took from us.
"oh those gay jokes werent really jokes at all"