The big qualifying surprises are Rins and Diogo Moreira through to Q2. One rider who has never seen a resurgence after his tib fib break and being saddled on the Yamaha, and the other a GP class rookie. Kudos to Moreira for being pretty consistent and clearly more deserving of the seat than Somkiat Chantra.
Bez secured pole position with Raul Fernandez in second, Martin from third, a newly returned Marc Marquez in fourth, Aldeguer 5th, Bagnaia a relatively high 6th, and Digiantonnio down in 7th.
At the start of the sprint the #93 Marquez nailed the launch and briefly held first place into turn one. However, he gets beat up swinging through the next few turns and is pushed all the way back to 4th. Bez is swallowed up and now has to fight through the pack. Fernandez secured the front running position and immediately begins opening a gap. Jorge Martin sits in second and experiences no pressure from those back of him.
Digi also has a good start and briefly engages with Marquez before passing him and attempting to run down Martin.
Bez quickly works his way from 7th back to 4th but then lacks the pace to close on Digi.
In the latter stages it looks as if Martin may be able to get Fernandez but fading front grip leads him to settle for second.
Raul Fernandez takes the sprint victory, Martin second, Digi 3rd, Bez a disappointing 4th at his home sprint, and Marc a respectable 5th given that he was two weeks out from surgery on his right foot and right arm.
At the start of the race Bez isn't caught asleep and leads the way through lap one with Martin close behind. Raul Fernandez completely blew turn one and threw away any hope of a double podium weekend. Marquez and Bagnaia are in 3-4 and Digiantonnio is swallowed up by the pack after a poor start. Acosta gets away well and is 6th behind Fermin Aldeguer.
Acosta begins moving up through the field and quickly passes Aldeguer; Jorge makes a turn one mistake trying to take first position from Bez and runs wide, being pushed behind Bagnaia and ahead of Marquez. In the next lap Bagnaia's hot early pace and familiarity with Mugello let him overtake Bez successfully and begin leading the race.
Marquez, meanwhile, is under assault from Acosta, a man still desperate for his first MotoGP race win. The race up front settles as 37 and 93 go toe to toe. Acosta gets Marc after a few laps which lets Aldeguer slide past as well, but the wily old man on the paddock sets up for the double draft down the main straight. He hauls past the both of them and gets the bike slowed in time to keep P4 for a while longer. Aldeguer and Acosta tangling are a big help to Marc in front and Ai Ogura closing behind. Aldeguer overcooks a turn and Acosta passes for P5.
At the same time Bagnaia's pace up front is beginning to fade. Bez closes down on the race leader at lap 13 and attempts, but does not succeed, in passing the #63. The next lap, though, and he nails the T1 move from the draft into the braking zone.
Ai Ogura overtakes Fermin Aldeguer and showcases his race pace (if only he could qualify) to take 6th. Acosta and Marquez up ahead are still fighting for position and trading passes back and forth.
Jorge Martin eases by Bagnaia with 7 laps to go as the Ducati rider looks to be suffering.
Ai Ogura then takes Marquez and Acosta with Digi, of all riders, making his return from the back of the field. Digi overtakes Marquez, then Acosta with four to go to rub salt in the 37's wounds.
The gap to Bagnaia is closing quickly for Ai Ogura, but he is one lap short of a sure move to make an all Aprilia podium.
Simply the Bez in 1st, Jorge Martin a comfortable 2nd, and Bagnaia 3rd place with his best race result of the season.
Bez puts more points on Martin, but not a comfortable margin, Digi and Acosta battle for 3rd-4th in the standings.
If Marquez recovers quickly he may secure third in the championship, but with a third of the season over I can't see him repeating his title this year.
Good for the sport; less aero shenanigans and ride height device elimination should put more emphasis on rider ability.
More importantly is the rules change is significant enough it essentially resets the technology development field. The 1000cc era has gone for over a decade.
I was astonished at the ending of Euphoria. Not necessarily the actual plot, which I was largely able to predict, but that the almost-inevitable-in-2026 anti-Christianity shoe never dropped. Kept waiting for it(since the episode always seemed to have another 10 minutes) and it just never materialized. I don't know if I can read into that positively in a cultural sense, but at least it isn't negative.
I wish PRS got a cease and desist to...cease not making the nebula SS so I can buy one instead of having to choose between it and my son's first car.
My failure to buy a Nebula at retail will haunt me until i die. I also didn't buy the Dead Spec but then I didn’t LIKE the Dead Spec. I liked the Nebula quite a bit.
In defense of Ferrari, the only defense possible is that this might be a compliance vehicle, not really intended for sale, but to satisfy European regulators, and in any event, Porsche made a better looking and likely better performing ev, just don’t ask about resale…
They say they want new customers who have never bought a Ferrari before.
That’s nice, but there’s many ways to do that without alienating your regular buyers. Seems like they think their regular buyers will stick around, which is probably true, but that’s an awful strategy.
It’s easy to lose customers but it’s awfully hard to get them back no matter what the product is. That’s basic brand management.
Anthropic and OpenAI IPOs this year will unlock an unprecedented torrent of tech wealth; think how many people at OpenAI alone - where Jony and co. have a $15BN+ stake - will want to own one.
Seems like they're pulling a Jaguar here. But destroying tradition and legacy is very much a part of this Era of Inversion we have been witnessing in FFWD the last 5-10 years.
I recently came across this explanation (Alex Martini YT video) and it does seem to make some sense. It could be argued that we've seen plenty of companies make penalty boxes to help with CAFE standards, and we don't complain that those loss leader CAFE vehicles discredit the brand. This argument falls apart because Ford or GM (to use examples) etc are full line manufacturers, and thus efficient (or more efficient) cars are still part of their ethos. Ferrari is only upper crust. I think we can point to Aston Martin and the Signet as a better comparison, done for the same reasons, if I remember correctly. Thankfully, that seems that we've long forgotten about that car...
...which could hopefully be said for the Luce, but at $650k (!!!!) that is either Current Year Delusion further shoved in our faces by ruling-but-outnumbered class, aided by Jony Ive who is a *product designer* (Apple) and NOT an automotive designer.
[An official, long aside here: there is a fundamental difference in form thought and functional interest between product designers (now "industrial designers" due to "product" being co-opted for the UX/UI space) and automotive designers. I saw this plenty as an automotive design student at Art Center and it continues to be reinforced in the years since. Industrial designers are happy to design static products, whether minimal in function or highly gadgety/fiddly. Automotive designers like and understand that yes, a car sits still plenty, but it also moves, and thus its design should given an indication of this very essential function. An industrial designer that tries to draw or design a car or bicycle creates a very static, gesture-less sketch. Conversely, an automotive designer inherently is putting motion, gestures of movement, some sort of dynamic into said static product. Good industrial and product designers can be decent chameleons in other design spaces, but there will always be virtue in doing what one is best at rather than capitulating to today's subversive equalizing and muddying of humanity's inclinations.]
As others have posted, Porsche did this EV compliance vehicle thing better. Even the AMG GT EV sedan, in an unflattering color no less (par for the 2025+ course though!), was better executed. There are graphic elements on the Luce that are not bad *IF* they are reproportioned, and/or reproportioned along with the overall car. A little bit of Google Image Searching "Ferrari Luce concept sketches" will reveal those as well as design student concepts with the Luce name. We can weep for what could have been to the degree we feel appropriate. In the mean time, we weep and perhaps rage at the devilish use of neo and classical Ferrari elements mashed together in a worse-than-uncanny-valley result in the Luce. Smooth all-black greenhouse? Check. Bold, solid (not metallic) color, including red? Check. Black headlamp/grill one-graphic front element? Check. Same thing, but for the rear taillights and valance? Check. Leggy, tapering 5-spoke wheels with contrasting lip? Check. Side vents? Check.
Why did Ferrari not simply chuck this whole powertrain underneath the Purosangue? It's already a tall crossover-y thing, and none of the purists and enthusiasts like it already, so it's perfect. But, you know, logic. What's that?
We also don't complain about the "CAFE penalty boxes," and in fact long for them, because many of them had potential for economical racing/rallying (Falcon/Mustang, Pinto, Civic, Chevette, Golf, Neon, Fiesta, Focus).
And why does Lewis Hamilton even HAVE a foundation? Why can't he just thank whatever higher power he believes in for his great good fortune at being paid millions to drive a race car and SHUT THE FUCK UP.
Lewis has a perpetual victim narrative that has magically survived the most charmed and lucky career of any F1 driver in history. He matched Schumacher for championships without building a single thing or demonstrating one ounce of leadership. He has been beaten by every teammate he has ever had and he destroys team morale.
Good question because they haven’t been able to sell a single one without at least $15k + on the hood. Before the incentive went away you could lease them for well under $200/mo. I don’t expect that that has changed too much today.
Maybe they are trying to show the Stellantis bosses that there is no business case when they move all of 200 of them in 2027 and they are just trying to get it canceled?
0-“ It is important to remember that we increasingly occupy a world where display of the brand is more important than any particular virtue of said brand.”
I see you have been paying attention to Paul Graham.
1-“By any measure one could reasonably conjure, the new Luce is not a good product.”
I have a measure for you: If Ferrari can sell every single one they produce at full MSRP, an MSRP that will price the vehicle at ~10X a quotidian quasi-competitor, then the Luce will not be a merely good product. It will, demonstrably, be an extraordinarily, staggeringly good product.
And we all know that Ferrari will sell all of them with ease. Even if the peanut gallery whines about it.
2-BusinessF1 reported the Williams stuff years ago; Joe Saward also confirmed years ago the ultimate ownership of the team, which is certainly the case: I used to work with a guy who later worked at Dorilton, and he told me himself who actually owns the team.
Everyone knows it's the gateway vehicle to get a real Ferrari while satisfying whatever EU EV sales quota they have. It's a win win for Ferrari and the shareholders. Not so much for the rich schmuck who has to pay $640K to get on the list to buy what he really wants.
I do admire your commitment to the market schtick; I’m sure the Sacklers could have sold at msrp any amount of Oxy 80’s they produced, but I’ll go out on a limb with this one and saw that “fragile feelings” got the better of that argument
Selling something can be very validating and turning a profit feels about as good as something can feel with your clothes on. I suppose it can be like a drug.
The Beanie Babies story as a modern America mass hysteria is absolutely fascinating. There’s a great book about it, too. I need to re-read it, as it was probably the first online product mania to happen. The mania started when two suburban moms in Naperville, IL started tracking Beanie Babies prices on line, and the female suburban lust to make money and outdo the other suburban moms took over and snowballed. https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/313121/the-great-beanie-baby-bubble-by-zac-bissonnette/
Ty Warner, the man who became a billionaire from the cheap toys, is a genius. Weird, but a genius. He didn’t even know what the Internet was before the craze started until one of his employees showed it to him. I used to see him in my local upscale supermarket in the western suburbs of Chicago. Tall and always well dressed, but one of those old guys who doesn’t quite look right because of the dyed hair when it should be gray. Very eccentric looking.
My favorite line in the book was when one of his staff challenged him in a meeting, and his response was “Who’s the billionaire here? I am!!!” I just love that line.
He also built a spectacular park in Westmont, IL, which was nice of him, even though the cost was probably a rounding error in his investment account.
My wife is gearing up for this summer's garage sale with 200 Beanie Babies still available, left over from last year's sales. We also have a shit ton of Longaberger baskets, but those she won't sell.
Speaking of Longaberger it's HQ building is back up for sale if anyone needs an incredibly odd office structure.
0: Yes, he has. Hopefully because he also recognizes it's the most interesting article PG's written in a few years. I didn't know you were a fellow techbro, Sherman!
"I see you have been paying attention to Paul Graham"
Don't need to. I have the ability to go outside and observe life without the aid of podcasters.
"I have a measure for you: If Ferrari can sell every single one they produce at full MSRP, an MSRP that will price the vehicle at ~10X a quotidian quasi-competitor, then the Luce will not be a merely good product. It will, demonstrably, be an extraordinarily, staggeringly good product."
To the contrary, i can create a better product than the Luce right now, right here:
A $640,000 coupon that allows the buyer to join a priority queue for Icona and XX cars.
That product would outearn the Luce immediately, since it has no development cost. It might also outsell the Luce, because it doesn't take up a Malibu garage slot and need not be insured for $36,000 a year.
Paul Graham is not, as far as I know, a podcaster.
He did, however, pen a delightful essay on watches and branding a few months ago; I enjoyed reading it, as did many of my friends. You thumbed your nose at it a month or so ago when I shared it here, only to parrot part of it today.
Your argument about the coupon is rather facile:
-First, $640K is woefully insufficient to join the Icona queue; if you want to get an SP4, you’d better have an SP3. And it’s damn hard to get an SP3 in America for less than $10MM.
-XX is different because Ferrari almost completely controls the secondary market; they literally have custody of the cars most of the time. Being willing to fly all over the world to do track days in the cars is the fastest way to climb the Ferrari ladder. But the reward for that is not getting another race car (that’s just a hobby, recall); it’s getting access to the F80 and potentially Icona car waitlist if someone else drops out.
-Crassly holding an auction for new car slots would reduce the mystique of the brand and devalue it by reducing quality of revenue; moreover, Ferrari does not care about dealer owners or RACE owners, unless they are very significant customers, simultaneously. Those are not needle movers for Maranello; I know this because one of my friends wanted to climb the ladder as quickly as possible, and Enrico Galliera told him to spend his money on racing. My friend sold his minority dealer stakes and did just that.
Even better, also buy several T-38s and/or F-5s and spend your days hanging out with your rich buddies by flying to the bombing range and dropping bombs for quarters.
That's the real sport of kings.
There's even a way in which you can be paid to drop bombs:
The difference between you and the average Ferrari owner/queue-holder is that you wouldn't blow another dude in front of your wife and kids. There is no chance that the average "Icona" customer would do so much as take the secondary controls of an Extra 330.
That being said, anyone who buys a P-51 will be snubbed by me when I have my Fw190 project finished.
I've flown an Extra 300 (from the front seat), though not a 330. After I spun us a bunch of times, and did all manner of other aerobatics to include an outside Immelman (-4.5Gs), the instructor demonstrated a lomcevak (https://youtu.be/HpIjNDP3EaU?si=9X4PjTYQkApZAwJX). Ludicrous.
When your Fw190 is ready, I will be happy to dogfight you, or the Commander, in my P-51. After which I will print, and give away for free on ACF because I am both a (retired) officer and a gentleman, t-shirts with a still image from the Mustang's gun camera of my gunsight (reticle) placed on the back of your helmet.
I think the Lomcevak was the one thing my kid did NOT do in an Extra.
"After which I will print, and give away for free on ACF because I am both a (retired) officer and a gentleman, t-shirts with a still image from the Mustang's gun camera of my gunsight (reticle) placed on the back of your helmet."
I just have to live long enough for the Commander to get his restored Me262 into the area, I think.
It's a personal problem for me, but I cannot stand the P-51. I don't think it is beautiful, I don't want to own one. I would much rather have a P-47, even though that is ALSO unlovely.
this is the plane I want. Even though it's far from the best Fw190,
My dumb opinion: Any airplane project that isn't a 50%-QuickBuild kit that you finish in their factory setting in three weeks is going to rot in your garage until your estate sells it for scrap.
' You thumbed your nose at it a month or so ago when I shared it here, only to parrot part of it today.'
I read the first part of it, which was a deranged fantasy about the "quartz market", and decided I would do something else with my time. If Graham and I agree, maybe he is stealing from me:
"We insist on the prophylactic application of meaningless upscale brands to everything we see, taste, or touch, lest we be mistaken for someone slightly poorer than ourselves."
Like I said, not everyone needs a podcast to have their next idea.
"Your argument about the coupon is rather facile:
-First, $640K is woefully insufficient to join the Icona queue... -Crassly holding an auction for new car slots would reduce the mystique of the brand and devalue it by reducing quality of revenue; "
You should let the market decide that, instead of having your own fantasies about it. But it's obvious to anyone but an actual retard that the $640k queue spot would have some window dressing to it. Any customer benefit that Ferrari provided short of a total $640k value would be better business than the Luce. They could give people priority access to the F1 race of their choice, they could give them a coached weekend in a Challenge car. Anything would be cheaper than selling them a $640k car that, when all the sums are done, will end up losing money each and every unit.
Ferrari does NOT rely on auction market dynamics to allocate new vehicles.
They deliberately leave value on the table today to burnish the long term value of the brand / company.
Ferrari invites customers who want to climb the greasy pole to attend races, and they charge them through the nose for the pleasure of it (the packages are multiples of what the ‘regular’ Paddock Club tickets cost).
Casa Ferrari for Le Mans in 2023 - the centenary Le Mans, which Ferrari ultimately won - carried a six figure cost. It was in a temporary building across the way from Porsche’s permanent building at Le Mans. The Ferrari invitees got plenty of face time with Elkann, Vigna, Galliera, etc. for their outlay.
PG ain't perfect, but he's grounded me a few times from high-flying bullshit. Put it this way... he only went 5% DEI while the rest of his SF/CA cohort went nuts.
OTCountingChickensBeforeTheyHatchTalk: I've (finally) got my foot in the door at two job opportunities.
0) Chauffeur for a small locally owned livery company, mostly shuttling people to airports in big black sedans who don't wanna Uber or whatever. Part-time, could become full-time but they offer zero benefits (non negotiable). Chill vibes from the company...seems like it would be a simple, low-ish stress gig but not a huge money maker. No health insurance is a real turn off.
1) Delivery driver for one of the big shipping companies, doing the whole drive-truck-drop-stuff-on-doorstep thing. Full-time, so definitely more money than the chauffuer gig, plus health benefits, but sounds like more of a meat grinder if the delivery volume is high. More money/bennies is a no-brainer for keeping family/kids off the street & healthy, but I'm over 50 (and pretty healthy) so I wonder what that gig would do to me. If they truly want to hire me anyway.
I recently started playing music again with other people in the same room to gig (covers) as some sort of small hedge for the continued unemployment, and that is actually going well. I admit that I would be a little disappointed to cut music loose if going back to work made it a bridge to far. This is all major league spitballin'....I go back to do a driving test for the livery company tomorrow, and I'm in the waiting-for-next-steps purgatory from the shipping company. Let me have it.
I'm 50+, and I climb mountains and then ski down them. Still needed health insurance. Body does weid shit yo.
I don't need the money, but when I got wheeled into the ER, I was damn happy that the vibe was "Insurance++ Get him everything" vs "Stabilize him.... he's private pay... and put him in a corner."
I don't see Fender winning in court. This whole affair was settled, in court, many decades ago. You can't turn back the clock.
I find it interesting that the new CEO, who best I can tell has spent his entire life just being given jobs without any real accomplishments, immediately decides that the first thing he's going to do is kill the brand by making everyone hate Fender.
Mr Zitron seems a typical worshipper of state benefits programs, if no other higher power. Jack's worst thought out ideas should be easily more entertaining. That aside, I could hope the Washington Examiner would pay for that work.
Personally, I’d give that Ferrari a fair trial, followed by a first class hanging….because that’s the American way. Otherwise I’d take it out back behind the barn and shoot it.
I’m more of a “put your money where your mouth is” type of person. I’ll die on the hill that proportion is everything.
Don’t judge too harshly as I’m not dedicating more than 20 min or so to this, but I really do believe the Luce is a dropped ball that could’ve been a hit - exterior wise anyhow.
It’s the placement of the inner colored rings. If you brought them out towards the lip It would change the entire look without changing scale. It’s a forced optical illusion they already used to get away from the tall arches.
I brought those downward and shrank them slightly, but I didn’t change any relationship within the wheels aside from overall scale.
I really do think it’s cool as a low and wide sedan. As mentioned by Sherman it’s a guaranteed success as a product as it’s a forced stepping stone. Having the ability to create an “essential” product sales wise subjectively without objective judging is a pretty crazy feat.
Compared to their current designs anyhow, I can’t seem to hate what was delivered as much as I should. I just “wish” it got released as a fat and lower slung sedan. The lines are definitely there for it.
That’s pretty neat. I still don’t like the ginormous 5 spokes he left on. When the spokes come to the edge it makes the wheels look even bigger than they are and it loses that balance.
All the current elements are there for tradional Italian design - they just got disproportionately exaggerated in the worst ways possible. The fan wheels are extra cool too.
Most things polarizing you get used to after awhile.*shrugs*
If a random guy on YouTube can make the Luce good looking, I can only think that it was “disproportionately exaggerated in the worst ways possible” on purpose. Totally on purpose.
Get used to = desensitized. I think that means that our brains just give up and move on, as in, “Oh look, there’s that ugly thing again”, but the ugly thing doesn’t produce an emotional reaction like it did initially.
That man spent a lot more than 20 minutes lol. Very nicely done. I’m still pro turbo fan and more traditional sedan scaling. Between ai and alot of photoshop you can really create some wild stuff. Pity I’m so fickle with the design world anymore.
Since school let out for the summer, there has been a young teen aged black kid playing an electric guitar with a wireless amplifier on the corner a few blocks down. I saw him out there three days last week and while I couldnt make out what he was playing as I drove by, it sounded like rock and roll. So all is not lost.
I'm jealous. The 'teens' in my town are NOT being arrested for 'teen takeovers,' unless they happen to be the one white kid who gets caught up in the coordinated riot. Then, his mugshot is shown under a headline stating, 'Virginia Beach Teen Arrested During Teen Takeover Involving Arson and Destruction of Property.'
This was a few weeks after they accompanied the stories covering a shooting of eight people at the waterfront that was the result of three armed black teens robbing an armed white teen with a photo of the white victim being arrested.
With all of the havoc being caused by arrest-immune teens, local government decided to punish local businesses by enforcing a curfew in the resort area. On one such night, a member of the protected class decided she didn't need to pay for parking in a garage, so she left with such haste that she drove into the patio of a restaurant and maimed at least one diner for life. Her identity was protected as if she were a victim. Just kidding. Victims' identities aren't protected. The cause of the crash was covered up, and her identity was protected like that of someone whose crimes don't fit the narrative for as long as was practical.
we ought to double the number of prisons or start executing the worst ones or something becuase letting them run amok is doing nothing positive and is just terrorizing the populace
Anarcho-tyranny is the Democrats' platform. They keep as many violent criminals on the street as possible while prosecuting people who defend themselves. You can serve more time for moving a bird's nest on your property than a career criminal will for executing a robbery victim in front of a security camera.
I'm not on nextdoor but the e-bikes are starting to piss me off. The kids, not to be confused with the teens, ride them all over the public roads and they're basically dirt bikes. These things need license plates.
I’m not either, my wife gives me reports. “Lost cats, what is this snake? Damn kids on e-bikes”.
Not sure what a license plate would accomplish. I remember getting stopped by a cop when I was a kid because I didn’t have a bicycle registration sticker. Like what’s that supposed to do? He said it’s in case it gets stolen. Got the sticker and it was stolen soon after. Never saw it again. Probably later sold at the police bicycle auction.
a license plate would accomplish the kids on them have to have their license. I don't actually care if legal aged people ride motorcycles but pretending it's an ebike and having 12 year olds fly around the neighborhoods without an m-class license is a recipe for disaster
I got a Schwinn Varsity bicycle for my 12th or 13th birthday. In St. Clair Shores, MI, it was optional to get a license sticker, and I kept the bike like I keep my cars now.
When we moved to Perrysburg, OH, in the summer of 1984, it was my folks’ first time with a garage at the front of the house, adjacent to the street, instead of in the backyard behind a fence. The garage was always open.
I don’t recall if I was in school by this point, or if this happened during the summer, but my parents got a call from the Perrysburg Police stating that they had my bike! Apparently a random ne’er-do-well was walking through my subdivision and noticed my bike sitting in the garage next to my Mom’s 1980 Cutlass Sedan (while my Dad’s car, a virtual twin, 1983 Regal Sedan, was out of the garage). Aforementioned POS made it maybe a half-mile before a patrolman noticed the guy riding a bike that seemed “too nice!” IDK if they had to contact SCS police for the owner information for that license, or if aforementioned grand-theft-bicycle thief showed where the bike was stolen, but my parents got a call to come pick up the bike! (I don’t remember if I went with them, or I learned about it later that day, as I said!) This happened while my Mom, at least was home, and the garage access door probably unlocked!
The police told my parents to keep the garage closed!
MotoGP mugged Mugello.
The big qualifying surprises are Rins and Diogo Moreira through to Q2. One rider who has never seen a resurgence after his tib fib break and being saddled on the Yamaha, and the other a GP class rookie. Kudos to Moreira for being pretty consistent and clearly more deserving of the seat than Somkiat Chantra.
Bez secured pole position with Raul Fernandez in second, Martin from third, a newly returned Marc Marquez in fourth, Aldeguer 5th, Bagnaia a relatively high 6th, and Digiantonnio down in 7th.
At the start of the sprint the #93 Marquez nailed the launch and briefly held first place into turn one. However, he gets beat up swinging through the next few turns and is pushed all the way back to 4th. Bez is swallowed up and now has to fight through the pack. Fernandez secured the front running position and immediately begins opening a gap. Jorge Martin sits in second and experiences no pressure from those back of him.
Digi also has a good start and briefly engages with Marquez before passing him and attempting to run down Martin.
Bez quickly works his way from 7th back to 4th but then lacks the pace to close on Digi.
In the latter stages it looks as if Martin may be able to get Fernandez but fading front grip leads him to settle for second.
Raul Fernandez takes the sprint victory, Martin second, Digi 3rd, Bez a disappointing 4th at his home sprint, and Marc a respectable 5th given that he was two weeks out from surgery on his right foot and right arm.
At the start of the race Bez isn't caught asleep and leads the way through lap one with Martin close behind. Raul Fernandez completely blew turn one and threw away any hope of a double podium weekend. Marquez and Bagnaia are in 3-4 and Digiantonnio is swallowed up by the pack after a poor start. Acosta gets away well and is 6th behind Fermin Aldeguer.
Acosta begins moving up through the field and quickly passes Aldeguer; Jorge makes a turn one mistake trying to take first position from Bez and runs wide, being pushed behind Bagnaia and ahead of Marquez. In the next lap Bagnaia's hot early pace and familiarity with Mugello let him overtake Bez successfully and begin leading the race.
Marquez, meanwhile, is under assault from Acosta, a man still desperate for his first MotoGP race win. The race up front settles as 37 and 93 go toe to toe. Acosta gets Marc after a few laps which lets Aldeguer slide past as well, but the wily old man on the paddock sets up for the double draft down the main straight. He hauls past the both of them and gets the bike slowed in time to keep P4 for a while longer. Aldeguer and Acosta tangling are a big help to Marc in front and Ai Ogura closing behind. Aldeguer overcooks a turn and Acosta passes for P5.
At the same time Bagnaia's pace up front is beginning to fade. Bez closes down on the race leader at lap 13 and attempts, but does not succeed, in passing the #63. The next lap, though, and he nails the T1 move from the draft into the braking zone.
Ai Ogura overtakes Fermin Aldeguer and showcases his race pace (if only he could qualify) to take 6th. Acosta and Marquez up ahead are still fighting for position and trading passes back and forth.
Jorge Martin eases by Bagnaia with 7 laps to go as the Ducati rider looks to be suffering.
Ai Ogura then takes Marquez and Acosta with Digi, of all riders, making his return from the back of the field. Digi overtakes Marquez, then Acosta with four to go to rub salt in the 37's wounds.
The gap to Bagnaia is closing quickly for Ai Ogura, but he is one lap short of a sure move to make an all Aprilia podium.
Simply the Bez in 1st, Jorge Martin a comfortable 2nd, and Bagnaia 3rd place with his best race result of the season.
Bez puts more points on Martin, but not a comfortable margin, Digi and Acosta battle for 3rd-4th in the standings.
If Marquez recovers quickly he may secure third in the championship, but with a third of the season over I can't see him repeating his title this year.
MotoGP runs in Hungary this weekend.
What do you think of the 2027 reg changes
Good for the sport; less aero shenanigans and ride height device elimination should put more emphasis on rider ability.
More importantly is the rules change is significant enough it essentially resets the technology development field. The 1000cc era has gone for over a decade.
I was astonished at the ending of Euphoria. Not necessarily the actual plot, which I was largely able to predict, but that the almost-inevitable-in-2026 anti-Christianity shoe never dropped. Kept waiting for it(since the episode always seemed to have another 10 minutes) and it just never materialized. I don't know if I can read into that positively in a cultural sense, but at least it isn't negative.
I wish PRS got a cease and desist to...cease not making the nebula SS so I can buy one instead of having to choose between it and my son's first car.
My failure to buy a Nebula at retail will haunt me until i die. I also didn't buy the Dead Spec but then I didn’t LIKE the Dead Spec. I liked the Nebula quite a bit.
In defense of Ferrari, the only defense possible is that this might be a compliance vehicle, not really intended for sale, but to satisfy European regulators, and in any event, Porsche made a better looking and likely better performing ev, just don’t ask about resale…
okay but if they had to make it why not make it look cool if its only purpose is compliance
Because they don’t want to sell it.
They have way too much money in the Luce to not want to sell it. They even built a new factory. They are all-in on this pig.
Then they misjudged their customer base.
They say they want new customers who have never bought a Ferrari before.
That’s nice, but there’s many ways to do that without alienating your regular buyers. Seems like they think their regular buyers will stick around, which is probably true, but that’s an awful strategy.
It’s easy to lose customers but it’s awfully hard to get them back no matter what the product is. That’s basic brand management.
Anthropic and OpenAI IPOs this year will unlock an unprecedented torrent of tech wealth; think how many people at OpenAI alone - where Jony and co. have a $15BN+ stake - will want to own one.
Seems like they're pulling a Jaguar here. But destroying tradition and legacy is very much a part of this Era of Inversion we have been witnessing in FFWD the last 5-10 years.
New factory is flexible across all powertrains configurations.
Previous guidance was 40% electric; 40% hybrid; 20% ICE in the future.
Updated guidance is 20% electric; 40% hybrid; 40% ICE in the future.
I recently came across this explanation (Alex Martini YT video) and it does seem to make some sense. It could be argued that we've seen plenty of companies make penalty boxes to help with CAFE standards, and we don't complain that those loss leader CAFE vehicles discredit the brand. This argument falls apart because Ford or GM (to use examples) etc are full line manufacturers, and thus efficient (or more efficient) cars are still part of their ethos. Ferrari is only upper crust. I think we can point to Aston Martin and the Signet as a better comparison, done for the same reasons, if I remember correctly. Thankfully, that seems that we've long forgotten about that car...
...which could hopefully be said for the Luce, but at $650k (!!!!) that is either Current Year Delusion further shoved in our faces by ruling-but-outnumbered class, aided by Jony Ive who is a *product designer* (Apple) and NOT an automotive designer.
[An official, long aside here: there is a fundamental difference in form thought and functional interest between product designers (now "industrial designers" due to "product" being co-opted for the UX/UI space) and automotive designers. I saw this plenty as an automotive design student at Art Center and it continues to be reinforced in the years since. Industrial designers are happy to design static products, whether minimal in function or highly gadgety/fiddly. Automotive designers like and understand that yes, a car sits still plenty, but it also moves, and thus its design should given an indication of this very essential function. An industrial designer that tries to draw or design a car or bicycle creates a very static, gesture-less sketch. Conversely, an automotive designer inherently is putting motion, gestures of movement, some sort of dynamic into said static product. Good industrial and product designers can be decent chameleons in other design spaces, but there will always be virtue in doing what one is best at rather than capitulating to today's subversive equalizing and muddying of humanity's inclinations.]
As others have posted, Porsche did this EV compliance vehicle thing better. Even the AMG GT EV sedan, in an unflattering color no less (par for the 2025+ course though!), was better executed. There are graphic elements on the Luce that are not bad *IF* they are reproportioned, and/or reproportioned along with the overall car. A little bit of Google Image Searching "Ferrari Luce concept sketches" will reveal those as well as design student concepts with the Luce name. We can weep for what could have been to the degree we feel appropriate. In the mean time, we weep and perhaps rage at the devilish use of neo and classical Ferrari elements mashed together in a worse-than-uncanny-valley result in the Luce. Smooth all-black greenhouse? Check. Bold, solid (not metallic) color, including red? Check. Black headlamp/grill one-graphic front element? Check. Same thing, but for the rear taillights and valance? Check. Leggy, tapering 5-spoke wheels with contrasting lip? Check. Side vents? Check.
Why did Ferrari not simply chuck this whole powertrain underneath the Purosangue? It's already a tall crossover-y thing, and none of the purists and enthusiasts like it already, so it's perfect. But, you know, logic. What's that?
We also don't complain about the "CAFE penalty boxes," and in fact long for them, because many of them had potential for economical racing/rallying (Falcon/Mustang, Pinto, Civic, Chevette, Golf, Neon, Fiesta, Focus).
Agreed
Exactly!
"everyone knows what a Cartier Tank looks like" - ah, nope, I have NO clue. nor do I care.
Glad it's not just me
I should say EVERY WOMAN
Ouch!
Me either, and I plan to die that way.
it looks like a rectangle and its just as clean now as when it came out
I have a Baume Mercier tank. It’s the opposite of a Rolex.
My 25th anniversary watch from work.
Wait, Shaggy's still a thing?
And why does Lewis Hamilton even HAVE a foundation? Why can't he just thank whatever higher power he believes in for his great good fortune at being paid millions to drive a race car and SHUT THE FUCK UP.
Lewis has a perpetual victim narrative that has magically survived the most charmed and lucky career of any F1 driver in history. He matched Schumacher for championships without building a single thing or demonstrating one ounce of leadership. He has been beaten by every teammate he has ever had and he destroys team morale.
When wormtongue is whispering in your esr sometimes it’s hard not to listen. I still cant stand him
Oh.
Nobody will say it, but he's the coworker everybody hates.
I saw today where Dodge RAISED the price of the Charger Daytona EV by ~ $12k. Can one of you all in MI figure out what they are smoking?
Good question because they haven’t been able to sell a single one without at least $15k + on the hood. Before the incentive went away you could lease them for well under $200/mo. I don’t expect that that has changed too much today.
Maybe they are trying to show the Stellantis bosses that there is no business case when they move all of 200 of them in 2027 and they are just trying to get it canceled?
It really is confounding.
They weren’t selling anyway, what difference does the price make?
I've heard that cocaine makes people feel extra confident...
Basic psychology? “I’d never buy X at list price BUT I got 30% off so I bought it.”
0-“ It is important to remember that we increasingly occupy a world where display of the brand is more important than any particular virtue of said brand.”
I see you have been paying attention to Paul Graham.
1-“By any measure one could reasonably conjure, the new Luce is not a good product.”
I have a measure for you: If Ferrari can sell every single one they produce at full MSRP, an MSRP that will price the vehicle at ~10X a quotidian quasi-competitor, then the Luce will not be a merely good product. It will, demonstrably, be an extraordinarily, staggeringly good product.
And we all know that Ferrari will sell all of them with ease. Even if the peanut gallery whines about it.
2-BusinessF1 reported the Williams stuff years ago; Joe Saward also confirmed years ago the ultimate ownership of the team, which is certainly the case: I used to work with a guy who later worked at Dorilton, and he told me himself who actually owns the team.
Your definition of a good product could use some work.
As I have relayed to Jack ad infinitum:
Markets determine, not fragile feelings.
Everyone knows it's the gateway vehicle to get a real Ferrari while satisfying whatever EU EV sales quota they have. It's a win win for Ferrari and the shareholders. Not so much for the rich schmuck who has to pay $640K to get on the list to buy what he really wants.
When has it ever been any different at Ferrari or Rolex or Patek or AP or Hermes?
w hen i owned a ferrari dealership in the '70s BOY was it different!
I do admire your commitment to the market schtick; I’m sure the Sacklers could have sold at msrp any amount of Oxy 80’s they produced, but I’ll go out on a limb with this one and saw that “fragile feelings” got the better of that argument
"The market" has fixated on tulips and orchids and EST and Beanie Babies and VALinux and pets.com and NFTs. It is comical how stupid the market is.
EMH is the only true religion.
Selling something can be very validating and turning a profit feels about as good as something can feel with your clothes on. I suppose it can be like a drug.
The Beanie Babies story as a modern America mass hysteria is absolutely fascinating. There’s a great book about it, too. I need to re-read it, as it was probably the first online product mania to happen. The mania started when two suburban moms in Naperville, IL started tracking Beanie Babies prices on line, and the female suburban lust to make money and outdo the other suburban moms took over and snowballed. https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/313121/the-great-beanie-baby-bubble-by-zac-bissonnette/
Ty Warner, the man who became a billionaire from the cheap toys, is a genius. Weird, but a genius. He didn’t even know what the Internet was before the craze started until one of his employees showed it to him. I used to see him in my local upscale supermarket in the western suburbs of Chicago. Tall and always well dressed, but one of those old guys who doesn’t quite look right because of the dyed hair when it should be gray. Very eccentric looking.
My favorite line in the book was when one of his staff challenged him in a meeting, and his response was “Who’s the billionaire here? I am!!!” I just love that line.
He also built a spectacular park in Westmont, IL, which was nice of him, even though the cost was probably a rounding error in his investment account.
My wife is gearing up for this summer's garage sale with 200 Beanie Babies still available, left over from last year's sales. We also have a shit ton of Longaberger baskets, but those she won't sell.
Speaking of Longaberger it's HQ building is back up for sale if anyone needs an incredibly odd office structure.
https://www.shai-hess.com/Property-Listings/?propertyId=820577-sale
I'm not sure about the markets always determining the quality of the product. You do know that people manipulate and cheat, right?
Plus good sales do not necessarily mean that any product is good. Far from it.
Would you rather eat a Quarter Pounder with sales in the billions or a dry aged steak?
Many more people choose a QP than do dry aged steak every single day!
I never knew Quattroporte sales were that good!
Are you saying that VHS is superior to Betamax?
I>>Markets determine, not fragile feelings.
I hate this reality, but it's still reality. I raised my rates because customers kept paying them. I now have the money.
0: Yes, he has. Hopefully because he also recognizes it's the most interesting article PG's written in a few years. I didn't know you were a fellow techbro, Sherman!
I am now. Easy transition.
As Brick Top once said regarding dogs and loyalty, you do have all the characteristics of a techbro, except for technical knowledge.
A podcast PhD.
Demonstrably unnecessary.
A techbro with no education on the subject is just Jim Cramer with a smaller dick.
Let’s make the ACF ALPHA MALE BIG COCK LEADERBOARD a reality.
We have really good community college here in Hooterville.
I should check to see if I can get a techbro certificate. Maybe they throw in a black turtleneck.
Brick Top had much wisdom.
"I see you have been paying attention to Paul Graham"
Don't need to. I have the ability to go outside and observe life without the aid of podcasters.
"I have a measure for you: If Ferrari can sell every single one they produce at full MSRP, an MSRP that will price the vehicle at ~10X a quotidian quasi-competitor, then the Luce will not be a merely good product. It will, demonstrably, be an extraordinarily, staggeringly good product."
To the contrary, i can create a better product than the Luce right now, right here:
A $640,000 coupon that allows the buyer to join a priority queue for Icona and XX cars.
That product would outearn the Luce immediately, since it has no development cost. It might also outsell the Luce, because it doesn't take up a Malibu garage slot and need not be insured for $36,000 a year.
Paul Graham is not, as far as I know, a podcaster.
He did, however, pen a delightful essay on watches and branding a few months ago; I enjoyed reading it, as did many of my friends. You thumbed your nose at it a month or so ago when I shared it here, only to parrot part of it today.
Your argument about the coupon is rather facile:
-First, $640K is woefully insufficient to join the Icona queue; if you want to get an SP4, you’d better have an SP3. And it’s damn hard to get an SP3 in America for less than $10MM.
-XX is different because Ferrari almost completely controls the secondary market; they literally have custody of the cars most of the time. Being willing to fly all over the world to do track days in the cars is the fastest way to climb the Ferrari ladder. But the reward for that is not getting another race car (that’s just a hobby, recall); it’s getting access to the F80 and potentially Icona car waitlist if someone else drops out.
-Crassly holding an auction for new car slots would reduce the mystique of the brand and devalue it by reducing quality of revenue; moreover, Ferrari does not care about dealer owners or RACE owners, unless they are very significant customers, simultaneously. Those are not needle movers for Maranello; I know this because one of my friends wanted to climb the ladder as quickly as possible, and Enrico Galliera told him to spend his money on racing. My friend sold his minority dealer stakes and did just that.
I would much rather buy this than any Ferrari:
https://www.platinumfighters.com/inventory/1944-north-american-aviation-p-51d-mustang-cripes-a-mighty/
Even better, also buy several T-38s and/or F-5s and spend your days hanging out with your rich buddies by flying to the bombing range and dropping bombs for quarters.
That's the real sport of kings.
There's even a way in which you can be paid to drop bombs:
https://www.airforce.com/careers/aviation-and-flight/pilot/fighter-pilot
The difference between you and the average Ferrari owner/queue-holder is that you wouldn't blow another dude in front of your wife and kids. There is no chance that the average "Icona" customer would do so much as take the secondary controls of an Extra 330.
That being said, anyone who buys a P-51 will be snubbed by me when I have my Fw190 project finished.
I've flown an Extra 300 (from the front seat), though not a 330. After I spun us a bunch of times, and did all manner of other aerobatics to include an outside Immelman (-4.5Gs), the instructor demonstrated a lomcevak (https://youtu.be/HpIjNDP3EaU?si=9X4PjTYQkApZAwJX). Ludicrous.
When your Fw190 is ready, I will be happy to dogfight you, or the Commander, in my P-51. After which I will print, and give away for free on ACF because I am both a (retired) officer and a gentleman, t-shirts with a still image from the Mustang's gun camera of my gunsight (reticle) placed on the back of your helmet.
I think the Lomcevak was the one thing my kid did NOT do in an Extra.
"After which I will print, and give away for free on ACF because I am both a (retired) officer and a gentleman, t-shirts with a still image from the Mustang's gun camera of my gunsight (reticle) placed on the back of your helmet."
I just have to live long enough for the Commander to get his restored Me262 into the area, I think.
It's a personal problem for me, but I cannot stand the P-51. I don't think it is beautiful, I don't want to own one. I would much rather have a P-47, even though that is ALSO unlovely.
this is the plane I want. Even though it's far from the best Fw190,
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XctfCw4fKUg
i plan to build a blohm & voss asymmetrical scout plane using a nice jacobs radial engine.
My dumb opinion: Any airplane project that isn't a 50%-QuickBuild kit that you finish in their factory setting in three weeks is going to rot in your garage until your estate sells it for scrap.
if i knew i could hack it as a pilot id do just that
' You thumbed your nose at it a month or so ago when I shared it here, only to parrot part of it today.'
I read the first part of it, which was a deranged fantasy about the "quartz market", and decided I would do something else with my time. If Graham and I agree, maybe he is stealing from me:
https://www.hagerty.com/media/opinion/avoidable-contact/avoidable-contact-77-a-simple-twist-of-phaet/
"We insist on the prophylactic application of meaningless upscale brands to everything we see, taste, or touch, lest we be mistaken for someone slightly poorer than ourselves."
September 30, 2020.
https://paulgraham.com/brandage.html
March 2026.
Oops.
Like I said, not everyone needs a podcast to have their next idea.
"Your argument about the coupon is rather facile:
-First, $640K is woefully insufficient to join the Icona queue... -Crassly holding an auction for new car slots would reduce the mystique of the brand and devalue it by reducing quality of revenue; "
You should let the market decide that, instead of having your own fantasies about it. But it's obvious to anyone but an actual retard that the $640k queue spot would have some window dressing to it. Any customer benefit that Ferrari provided short of a total $640k value would be better business than the Luce. They could give people priority access to the F1 race of their choice, they could give them a coached weekend in a Challenge car. Anything would be cheaper than selling them a $640k car that, when all the sums are done, will end up losing money each and every unit.
Ferrari does NOT rely on auction market dynamics to allocate new vehicles.
They deliberately leave value on the table today to burnish the long term value of the brand / company.
Ferrari invites customers who want to climb the greasy pole to attend races, and they charge them through the nose for the pleasure of it (the packages are multiples of what the ‘regular’ Paddock Club tickets cost).
Casa Ferrari for Le Mans in 2023 - the centenary Le Mans, which Ferrari ultimately won - carried a six figure cost. It was in a temporary building across the way from Porsche’s permanent building at Le Mans. The Ferrari invitees got plenty of face time with Elkann, Vigna, Galliera, etc. for their outlay.
PG ain't perfect, but he's grounded me a few times from high-flying bullshit. Put it this way... he only went 5% DEI while the rest of his SF/CA cohort went nuts.
"one of my friends wanted to climb the ladder as quickly as possible, and Enrico Galliera told him to spend his money on racing"
like race gt4 cars or something?
Ferrari Challenge. GT4 is too déclassé for Ferrari (and McLaren, for that matter - they are abandoning GT4).
OTCountingChickensBeforeTheyHatchTalk: I've (finally) got my foot in the door at two job opportunities.
0) Chauffeur for a small locally owned livery company, mostly shuttling people to airports in big black sedans who don't wanna Uber or whatever. Part-time, could become full-time but they offer zero benefits (non negotiable). Chill vibes from the company...seems like it would be a simple, low-ish stress gig but not a huge money maker. No health insurance is a real turn off.
1) Delivery driver for one of the big shipping companies, doing the whole drive-truck-drop-stuff-on-doorstep thing. Full-time, so definitely more money than the chauffuer gig, plus health benefits, but sounds like more of a meat grinder if the delivery volume is high. More money/bennies is a no-brainer for keeping family/kids off the street & healthy, but I'm over 50 (and pretty healthy) so I wonder what that gig would do to me. If they truly want to hire me anyway.
I recently started playing music again with other people in the same room to gig (covers) as some sort of small hedge for the continued unemployment, and that is actually going well. I admit that I would be a little disappointed to cut music loose if going back to work made it a bridge to far. This is all major league spitballin'....I go back to do a driving test for the livery company tomorrow, and I'm in the waiting-for-next-steps purgatory from the shipping company. Let me have it.
I hope that, whatever happens in the short term, you will soon get an opportunity to use your gifts in full as a professional.
Keep playing tunes
Nothing but good news!!!!!
I hope you make it okay in the end, I hated the worry for many years .
No health coverage is a hard pass once you're 60 + .
-Nate
I’m an insurance whore
? Please elucidate Sir .
-Nate
I’d quit my job but for the insurance. And money.
I'm 50+, and I climb mountains and then ski down them. Still needed health insurance. Body does weid shit yo.
I don't need the money, but when I got wheeled into the ER, I was damn happy that the vibe was "Insurance++ Get him everything" vs "Stabilize him.... he's private pay... and put him in a corner."
I can dig that, why I have KAISER ~ they do pretty much everything in house .
Saved my life twice .
They also flat KILLED two of my work mates wives through gross incompetence .
-Nate
Potential cheat code for all hospital and serious doctor encounters: Take someone in the industry with you and have them hold a clipboard.
Service gets really good, really quickly.
Sounds good but whenever I wind up in the E.R.I have no chance to take anyone else .
Overall I'm very happy with KAISER .
Ask me again after they make another serious blunder,as they've done many times, I may change my mind =8-) .
-Nate
If you are a good chauffeur, people here will help you amass capital required to build your own company and fleet. Soon you would run your city.
I don't see Fender winning in court. This whole affair was settled, in court, many decades ago. You can't turn back the clock.
I find it interesting that the new CEO, who best I can tell has spent his entire life just being given jobs without any real accomplishments, immediately decides that the first thing he's going to do is kill the brand by making everyone hate Fender.
STILL employed: https://www.sagemount.com/team/chirayu-rana/
https://www.wheresyoured.at/the-era-of-the-business-idiot
I think Ed Zitron is a giant bundle of sticks but I cannot see where he is wrong here.
"I think Ed Zitron is a giant bundle of sticks"
Looking forward to reading about this in more detail when you have time.
Mr Zitron seems a typical worshipper of state benefits programs, if no other higher power. Jack's worst thought out ideas should be easily more entertaining. That aside, I could hope the Washington Examiner would pay for that work.
I guess Nadella’s got to demonstrate he eats his own dog food somehow.
Personally, I’d give that Ferrari a fair trial, followed by a first class hanging….because that’s the American way. Otherwise I’d take it out back behind the barn and shoot it.
I didn't express and opinion about the Luce before, as I genuinely like the Mondial.
It's probably fine.
Dog in a room on fire fine or just plain fine? Personally for that money I’d like a little more than fine but de gustibus and all that.
The Mondial was the least beautiful car in a lineup of them. In the modern context it is damn near an E-Type.
"Actually I think the Ferrari Luce looks awesome!"
*stuffs 46 cocktail shrimp in mouth*
I’m more of a “put your money where your mouth is” type of person. I’ll die on the hill that proportion is everything.
Don’t judge too harshly as I’m not dedicating more than 20 min or so to this, but I really do believe the Luce is a dropped ball that could’ve been a hit - exterior wise anyhow.
https://1drv.ms/i/c/2c3031bcede5d54b/IQAUaqpFUE0jSKWOJ-casp7WAes5lBKRhnNNhRfiXWe9VfM
“Hankafarina Design Studio”
obviously a better design but man those rear wheels look tiny despite being 23s or so
It’s the placement of the inner colored rings. If you brought them out towards the lip It would change the entire look without changing scale. It’s a forced optical illusion they already used to get away from the tall arches.
I brought those downward and shrank them slightly, but I didn’t change any relationship within the wheels aside from overall scale.
I really do think it’s cool as a low and wide sedan. As mentioned by Sherman it’s a guaranteed success as a product as it’s a forced stepping stone. Having the ability to create an “essential” product sales wise subjectively without objective judging is a pretty crazy feat.
Compared to their current designs anyhow, I can’t seem to hate what was delivered as much as I should. I just “wish” it got released as a fat and lower slung sedan. The lines are definitely there for it.
I can see revising it some, moving those outward and possibly raising the rear arch a touch but again it was a quick and dirty exercise.
Looks more like a Lucid which is a good thing.
Bingo
Check this out. This guy did a great job. If Ferrari released this version they wouldn’t have got much criticism.
Skip ahead to 8:45 for the finished product. https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=vbj-VsA5uZw&ra=m
That’s pretty neat. I still don’t like the ginormous 5 spokes he left on. When the spokes come to the edge it makes the wheels look even bigger than they are and it loses that balance.
All the current elements are there for tradional Italian design - they just got disproportionately exaggerated in the worst ways possible. The fan wheels are extra cool too.
Most things polarizing you get used to after awhile.*shrugs*
Spot on. I like the fan wheels much better, too.
If a random guy on YouTube can make the Luce good looking, I can only think that it was “disproportionately exaggerated in the worst ways possible” on purpose. Totally on purpose.
Get used to = desensitized. I think that means that our brains just give up and move on, as in, “Oh look, there’s that ugly thing again”, but the ugly thing doesn’t produce an emotional reaction like it did initially.
https://www.instagram.com/p/DY1DyD4GekN/
God bless this man and his use of a Photoshop and/or AI.
That man spent a lot more than 20 minutes lol. Very nicely done. I’m still pro turbo fan and more traditional sedan scaling. Between ai and alot of photoshop you can really create some wild stuff. Pity I’m so fickle with the design world anymore.
I thought his name was John Puffy Heffalump.
I also like that.
You should, you came up with that name years ago over at TTAC and I've called him that ever since.
Holy Mackerel - that was you on rec.guns? Now I'm depressed at how long ago that was.
My other suggestion was
"SMITH IMITATES GLOCK, MAKES AMENDS"
The recent jump in prices for the gated 360/430/355? cars is another data point in support of the argument
Since school let out for the summer, there has been a young teen aged black kid playing an electric guitar with a wireless amplifier on the corner a few blocks down. I saw him out there three days last week and while I couldnt make out what he was playing as I drove by, it sounded like rock and roll. So all is not lost.
The teens in my town are mostly being arrested for teen takeovers so good on that kid
ANY kids doing anything legit to get ahead should be praised .
-Nate
I'm jealous. The 'teens' in my town are NOT being arrested for 'teen takeovers,' unless they happen to be the one white kid who gets caught up in the coordinated riot. Then, his mugshot is shown under a headline stating, 'Virginia Beach Teen Arrested During Teen Takeover Involving Arson and Destruction of Property.'
This was a few weeks after they accompanied the stories covering a shooting of eight people at the waterfront that was the result of three armed black teens robbing an armed white teen with a photo of the white victim being arrested.
With all of the havoc being caused by arrest-immune teens, local government decided to punish local businesses by enforcing a curfew in the resort area. On one such night, a member of the protected class decided she didn't need to pay for parking in a garage, so she left with such haste that she drove into the patio of a restaurant and maimed at least one diner for life. Her identity was protected as if she were a victim. Just kidding. Victims' identities aren't protected. The cause of the crash was covered up, and her identity was protected like that of someone whose crimes don't fit the narrative for as long as was practical.
Fortunately all the rich democrat Karens here are hypocrites
But you repeat yourself!
Henry Nowak arrest footage:
https://xcancel.com/GBPolitcs/status/2061551845969895883
https://www.dailymail.com/news/article-15870543/Pakistanis-gang-raped-French-tourist-three-children-executed-court-rules.html
How you deal with this, but oops, that's in Pakistan.
life would be so much better if we never had to interact with people like that
They tore down Chesterton's Fence to get here:
Continuous Journey Regulation: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Continuous_journey_regulation (Enforcement: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Komagata_Maru_incident )
"Asiatic Barred Zone": https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/0f/Map_showing_Asiatic_zone_prescribed_in_section_three_of_Immigration_Act%2C_the_natives_of_which_are_excluded_from_the_United_State%2C_with_certain_exceptions.jpg
we ought to double the number of prisons or start executing the worst ones or something becuase letting them run amok is doing nothing positive and is just terrorizing the populace
Anarcho-tyranny is the Democrats' platform. They keep as many violent criminals on the street as possible while prosecuting people who defend themselves. You can serve more time for moving a bird's nest on your property than a career criminal will for executing a robbery victim in front of a security camera.
The alternate universe we’re in started January 20, 2009.
The teens in my town are getting yelled at on Nextdoor because e-bikes
I'm not on nextdoor but the e-bikes are starting to piss me off. The kids, not to be confused with the teens, ride them all over the public roads and they're basically dirt bikes. These things need license plates.
I’m not either, my wife gives me reports. “Lost cats, what is this snake? Damn kids on e-bikes”.
Not sure what a license plate would accomplish. I remember getting stopped by a cop when I was a kid because I didn’t have a bicycle registration sticker. Like what’s that supposed to do? He said it’s in case it gets stolen. Got the sticker and it was stolen soon after. Never saw it again. Probably later sold at the police bicycle auction.
a license plate would accomplish the kids on them have to have their license. I don't actually care if legal aged people ride motorcycles but pretending it's an ebike and having 12 year olds fly around the neighborhoods without an m-class license is a recipe for disaster
I got a Schwinn Varsity bicycle for my 12th or 13th birthday. In St. Clair Shores, MI, it was optional to get a license sticker, and I kept the bike like I keep my cars now.
When we moved to Perrysburg, OH, in the summer of 1984, it was my folks’ first time with a garage at the front of the house, adjacent to the street, instead of in the backyard behind a fence. The garage was always open.
I don’t recall if I was in school by this point, or if this happened during the summer, but my parents got a call from the Perrysburg Police stating that they had my bike! Apparently a random ne’er-do-well was walking through my subdivision and noticed my bike sitting in the garage next to my Mom’s 1980 Cutlass Sedan (while my Dad’s car, a virtual twin, 1983 Regal Sedan, was out of the garage). Aforementioned POS made it maybe a half-mile before a patrolman noticed the guy riding a bike that seemed “too nice!” IDK if they had to contact SCS police for the owner information for that license, or if aforementioned grand-theft-bicycle thief showed where the bike was stolen, but my parents got a call to come pick up the bike! (I don’t remember if I went with them, or I learned about it later that day, as I said!) This happened while my Mom, at least was home, and the garage access door probably unlocked!
The police told my parents to keep the garage closed!
Amazing you got it back!
Didn't forget dog defecation disputes.
His Life Matters more than all the cardboard-sign offramp bums combined.