Darana hybrid 50’ mystic, the former spirit of Qatar showed up by surprise of a last minute announcement within a week of the shootout. 2x the latest and greatest T55 turbines with 3800-5000hp per side depending on sources. Ran one and done Sunday, 242mph. Nearly hit the shoreline in the shutdown. New 3/4 mile course record by approximately 20! Mph. Frustratingly 2mph short of its previous 244mph run on the 1 mile format 11 years ago. Utterly confusing all of the YouTube and IG casual observers and commentors. It was made 500lbs lighter, got better inlets for more HP and a new air brake for the shut down. No chutes.
American Ethanol, 50 mystic, 9x shootout champ in the post Qatar retirement era disappointed at 179mph. It’s run 220 previously. This was its first year fully running its 4x Mercury QCV4 power with centrifugal superchargers. So it brought as much power at Darana. 700hp more than last year. But they couldn’t get the bugs worked out and only ran 2x.
Dirty duck 43 skater, 2x twin turbo big block chevys with nitrous shocked early Saturday by running 215 and getting light at the end. It still runs a Merc 6 style drive.
Wahoo 368 skater , 2x twin turbo big blocks ran 185. They were hoping for 200.
New contender, freedom one, a 388 skater with blown alcohol drag style motors and multi speed transmissions, arrived for the street show but didn’t run. It went airborne and flipped spectacularly at 200mph earlier this year at a shootout at lake havasu.
A number of DCB and MTI cats with Merc QCV4s ran around 160-165.
This was the first year competitors had their hands on the new Motec ECMs for Merc 450/500 outboards.
Warren Duke of Florida crushed all comers with a shocking 151mph run in a 28’ open top skater with twin Merc 450s tuned up to 605hp each. This boat went viral when it ran in upper 130s over a year ago in a Florida ditch.
Nearest OB competitors were some 36 and 39’ Doug wrights. One ran 147. Apparently one of these boats had been sprayed with 50 shots of nitrous previous years. Not sure if they tried that again as it spit it rods out a previous year.
They Parveys retired their 170mph 43’ black thunder V bottom and didn’t run this year. Factory Billet, Outerlimits, with twin turbo big blocks and multi speed transmissions, the world’s fastest V bottom also did show up. They were previously talking about attempting to hit 180mph.
Local acquaintance Will Smith, owner of Phantom powerboats, showed up with a 32’ V bottom with twin tuned Merc 450s and ran 128mph!
An old school straight bottom V hull 35’ sonic with 2x 5.0 coyotes built with twin turbos and about 1200hp ran 115mph. This boat was somewhat infamous online this year.
A pontoon ran 115 with trip Merc 300X 2 strokes. A jet ski ran over 120. An 51’ Outerlimits V with trip 1300s ran 130.
Great year overall. Some disappointment about American ethanol and freedom one not being ready for a 3 way shootout for top gun. But it’s unlikely anyone had anything for Darannas 242mph run. I was really sad we didn’t get a Factory Billet vs Parvery V bottom shootout again.
If anyone hit the lotto, there’s a brand new never rigged 50’ mystic available for only 200k bare. Probably snapped up by now. But truly the only to do 200mph on the water somewhat safely, if that’s your bag.
What’s the hull horsepower limit on a Boston Whaler center console of maybe 21 feet? Take that and put two counter-rotating outboards with half that each. Probably enough for me if I wasn’t such a cheap bastard! (The boat club my parents belonged to always has openings, ten minutes from my driveway.)
These speeds are all a bit nutty over the water, but a pontoon doing 115 takes the cake for me, was it badly listing over starboard from the weight of the captains balls?
Generally yes. They are on their own running this setup. But they’ve been doing it for years on 4x big block chevys. Last year they ran 2x big Chevys and 2x QCVs. This was their first year with all 4.
588s with big chief heads and Merc racing #5 drives. Larry Smiths are high quality race layups of scarab hulls. Akin to an Apache. Downsides are it’s a straight bottom, and not staggered. Big chief heads and 5s are outdated too. Pretty much a state of the art rig circa 1990-95
There was no King of the Baggers this week which means we'll all have to settle for the distant second place action of MotoGP. I know all of you are disappointed, but none moreso than myself.
At Balaton Park in a hungry country named Hungary we ask ourselves the important questions: will Marc Marquez further extend his lead (yes), will Bagnaia begin a recovery (no), will Yamaha perform after the embarrassment at the Red Bull Ring (kinda), and how much ground can Jorge Martin gain (wait to find out)?
Marc Marquez once again sets the pole pace for the MotoGP race weekend with Bezecchi's hot streak continuing and seating him 2nd, Digiantonnio overcame his difficulty with the GP25 to start 3rd, Enea Bastianini with a great qualifying in 4th, then Morbidelli, and Quartararo would wrap up the second row. Alex Marquez was penalized for cruising on the racing during qualifying and was all the way down in 14th with Bagnaia just ahead of him starting from 13th. Jorge Martin makes the start from 16th, way down there, so remember that.
At the beginning of the sprint is chaos as Quartararo just blows into turn one and narrowly avoids Marc Marquez, but crashes into Enea Bastianini which takes 20 (Quartararo) out of the race and sets Enea down at the back of the field. This was not nearly so bad as the wreck which took place at turn 2 in the opener for WSBK prior, but shows again how tight things are at the start of the lap in Hungary. Luca Marini on the Repsol Honda came out ahead slotting into 4th place behind Digiantonnio in 3rd and Morbidelli in 2nd. Marc Marquez would open a second gap in the first lap and manage the race from there with no drama. Further back in the field an impatient Bastianini crashed into Johann Zarco and removed both of them from competition. Digiantonnio cleanly overtakes Morbidelli and that would be the finishing line up for the sprint.
The only notable finishes from the sprint are Fermin Aldeguer finishing in 5th who finished behind Luca Marini and ahead of Joan Mir on the Hondas. Incredible finishes for the Hondas whose last highlight may well have been Alex Rins around COTA in 2023. Jorge Martin charged from 16th all the way to a points finish in 9th place after being beat up and passed consistently at the Red Bull Ring.
In the race proper Digiantonnio is forced to start from pit lane with a technical issue on his primary motorcycle. He would be unable to make up such a large gap and finished out of the points. Marc Marquez loses out to Bezecchi into turn two and almost take himself out of the race when he put his front wheel into Bez' rear wheel. This mistake put him down into third place behind Morbidelli. Bastianini came through clean at the start of the race this time, but by the time they hit the left-right of 12-13 he would lose the front in the transition and scraping and sliding through the field in a harrowing trip across the racetrack. Jorge Martin managed an aggressive start and moved up 8 places within lap 1 and would improve further. The jumble of the crash would benefit Pedro Acosta as well who moves into 4th behind Marc.
Marc could see Bez beginning to slip away at the start of lap 3 and, with his medium rear tire under him, passed Morbidelli in lap 4 with a one second gap to make up to Bez. Two laps later he is on Bez' rear tire. Unlike at other times, instead of waiting late in the race to take the lead, Marc would begin overtake attempts right away and be rebuffed for the first pair. However, he made it stick with the third and promptly put Bez well behind him. Acosta, meanwhile, quickly caught Morbidelli and passed him to take 3rd place. Pedro would then slowly reel in Bez and pass him at about the 2/3rds race mark to secure 2nd place for the race. Pedro had no hope of catching Marc who was 3 seconds up the road.
Marc now has just under five complete weekends worth of points which he has to lose before the next best rider in the championship, his brother Alex, can overtake him. There are 8 weekends left.
Fermin Aldeguer, star rookie of the year, crashed out while attempting to make a charge from 5th place. Jorge Martin, from 16th place, finished 4th behind his teammate Bezecchi in a phenomenal race for him. Honda's Luca Marini made another top 5 finish. More than one Yamaha finished in the points which was a big improvement after the last round.
MotoGP's next race is in Catalonia on the 5th-7th.
I wake up and make pancakes (usually, sometimes eggs and sausage/bacon) for the family and let them kids watch the sprint race. The full length GP they do not have the attention spans for as of yet.
My oldest refers to them as the "pointy nose cars" and we only ever watch the highlights because dad is a cheapskate and already subscribed to three motorsports what am I made of money? (May drop MotoA it's the lowest production values and the worst racing generally)
I call this type of poor translation “Germenglish”. It’s like Spanglish but written by committee in frameless sunglasses making half as much as their American counterparts.
On the refueling. One of my favorite car memories was a road trip to Pittsburgh when I was maybe 19. My friend and I drove back for my cousin’s wedding in my 96 Neon Sedan (SOHC with the 3.55 MTX, slow but 40+ MPG).
On the way home, we stopped by the Sewickley Car Store. There sat many track-ready Porsches, including a then-new black and red 997 GT3. All of them had some sort of track rash. The GT3 in particular had evidence of what I’d call “careless refueling” on the fender. These guys obviously used their cars as intended. A far cry from these C8 guys or I assume most current 997 GT3 owners.
Also, the MSWs I knew were in the $60k range. This was public and non-profit work. I assume this woman’s husband came up with a lot of the money to pay off said Pilot.
Small world. My grandmother was from Ambridge. My grandfather, a mining town in Indiana County. After the war, he took a job at J&L after living through a mine collapse. He lost his dad to that same mine some 10 years prior.
I have a real soft spot for that area, Indiana County specifically.
We were talking about premium vs regular gas here the other day. I filled up the bike yesterday at costco. 1.1 a gallon more for premium! At least the bike only holds 3-4 gallons.
Yes. Fortunately I put about 5 tanks into the S2000 a year, so it’s pretty negligible for me. The Jeep is happy to take the cheap swill, and I force it on my wife’s Acura out of general principle (why does a same-engine Odyssey need 87 but the Acura is “fancy” so premium is recommended? BS.)
Manual recommends 91 but if I’m filling up often I don’t worry about. No issues. If not riding it a lot I use 91 and Seafoam. Compression is 9:1- It’s a Twin Cam 88.
I prefer to use premium on the carb bikes because it gets better mileage. On the fuel injected bikes I never bothered to find out if the same thing holds true.
Given that the amount of fuel delivered is agnostic to octane rating curious as to what mechanism could possibly account for a delta in fuel utilization on a carbureted motorcycle.
In Ohio premium is at least $1 up charge over regular, and some stations are at $1.25, so when I am not using my regular place I double check before I get to involved in my, uh, filling procedure.
Looking at the only price posted on the big sign on a couple of Shell stations at a smaller town nearby. $3.89 at one but kept going. $3.88 at the other one. Score!
As I’m filling up I realize both stations posted the 93 octane price, NOT the price of “regular.” What’s up with that and when did stations start doing that?
Never. But when I was a kid, I rode my bike past the house of the girl I had a crush on 1,000 times a day. She lived on the side of a very large hill, which put me in fantastic shape, and gave me, a former asthmatic, a pretty successful middle and high school cross country career. So it’s learned behavior. And if you have to drive somewhere, it might as well be past hot mom’s house.
- Go to the gas station 1/2 mile from my house on the left side, because that's the one with the hot Indian girl.
- Open the fuel door and remember I still haven't bought a replacement gas cap after mine was stolen. Seriously who steals a gas cap? The also took my wife's MDX and the gas cap from each of the other cars.
- remember how dripping gas on the ceramic paint treatment or whatever its called that the previous owner put on it is no big deal compared to my old Tr6, which basically melted like a wet witch if you got gas on what was left of the single stage paint.
- Watch gas run down the side of the car like idgaf
- Throw away the Grizzlies parking passes and water bottles accumulating in the back "seat" and sand off the rough edge of my windshield wipers with a paper towel
- Go inside if nobody else is in there because I don't want them to see my shame
- Get asked by hot Indian girl why I am back so soon.
- Remind her that every white dad in our suburb looks the same, break the news that I still don't have an IT job for her, and sheepishly ask for a pack of marly ultra lights and some delta 8's, which will last the Mrs. and I a full 30 days.
- Walk outside, look at the total and wonder at how cheap it is to fill up vs the damn near 30 gallon capacity of my 96 Bronco
- Marvel at the fist-sized dent in the right rear quarter panel done by either a step-child or a mover
- Sit down, wiggle the stick to make sure its in neutral, then look up and realize I take the pump out of the car.
- Dad groan as I get back out of the car. Replace fuel pump, make a mental plan to get a gas cap. Get back in the car.
- Start it up and laugh at the slappy farty growly sound it makes when you ease in to first without much throttle
- Remember that there are cops everywhere and resist the urge to give it the beans on my exit
The other day I forgot to mention that I live in such a high trust area, and I care so little about the rules and have full faith in my understanding of how static electricity works, that my protocol often includes leaving the engine running when I go inside for ma' big gulp. Clearly I am not cut out for C8 ownership.
I have to remind myself to lock the car because i dont need to college students next store getting drunk and shooting cans with them at 2am. I didnt lock the house doors till i had kids
“Another thing that Bloomberg didn’t discuss: I suspect we will see some inflation taming under the current administration, like Trump or loathe him, but had the election gone another way we could have had another eight years of Biden-style increases.”
This is the same President Trump who is haranguing the Federal Reserve to lower rates, right?
This is the same President Trump whose OBBB raised the debt ceiling by $5TN, right?
Yeah, I too am looking forward to his installed lackeys at the Fed taking inflation to Turkey levels. I mean, our debt to GDP ratio is pretty much there, right?
Well the OBVIOUS implication is that President Trump’s AGI timeline is relatively near-term, particularly in comparison to that of Elon Musk (!!!), so Captain Cantaloupe knows that the best thing to do is lower rates to the floor (MOAR funding for AI) and let AGI and then ASI solve all of our problems.
The interest rate debate is…interesting. I believe there is some sort of debt coming due, in the trillions, that Trump wants to refinance at lowest rates possible. You might think that is obvious but Biden didn’t do it when rates were lower, and now that it is coming due I guess it gets refinanced at prevailing rates.
Generally speaking I think interest rates should be tied to government money printing. I find the Fed to be grossly negligent that the US government spent $7-10T during/after COVID and did not immediately raise interest rates when that began. Had the Fed done that, I believe we would have avoided a lot of the inflation, but there would have certainly been other side effects.
Provided I am interpreting you correctly, I disagree to an extent:
-The Fed is independent of the government, more or less; this is an important component of USD primacy and credibility
-It’s not the Fed’s job to set rates to accommodate whatever the government wants to do; this means that we have two independent tools to stimulate / manipulate the economy - fiscal and monetary policies. Sometimes they work in tandem.
-The Fed controls short rates, not long rates; the market sets long(er) rates
-The most important thing is that the OBBB increased the debt ceiling by $5TN. Government spending is a bipartisan passion, and this money will absolutely be spent, and rapidly so. This means that rates will need to be low essentially forever so that the US can service debt affordably. The problem is that this will exacerbate wealth inequality and hurt many of Trump’s voters.
-So per my argument above, fiscal largesse MUST be accompanied by accommodative monetary policy: otherwise it’s unaffordable.
“Tied” may be the wrong word. I simply suggest that the Fed wizards should be smart enough to know that the government increasing in spending and printing money is inflationary and they should preemptively act instead of waiting years for inflation to hit and then crush the economy with higher rates.
im ready to be roasted for this take but- i had an M235 as a loaner (because they LITERALLY had no other new BMW on the lot like ~6 months ago, i kid you not, it was 90 2 series "gran" ""coupes"" and a few used X3s) - and then proceeded to beat it within an inch of its life on some of the sketchiest backroads my area has to offer. honestly? not bad! reminded me why i really like small cars around here. the interior is playskool and the styling sucks but it reminded me of the good parts of driving an S3 without as much of the bad stuff like awful steering and vociferous understeer. front end was quick to change directions, transmission did a good job in sport mode, sizing worked well for those "oh shit im taking a 25 corner at 50 and now theres oncoming traffic fuckfuckfuck" moments where you have to tighten your radius and suck in to not take off a mirror.
i dunno folks. i also had fun driving an M3xc, which is what the M5 should be, and if they sold the M2 as a 4 door with a 6 speed (which is what the M3 should be) i'd own one of those.
also jack, im shocked you havent written about the infiniti news yet, which is that the Q50 is coming back with the "Z" motor (aka the old redsport motor) and a 6 speed. execution is everything, but is it just me or is nissan trying to stage a half assed comeback?
its proven to be a reliable, robust platform so far. ive warmed to the looks in person but its hard to knock the reality that the G chassis cars have sorted out near to medium term reliability in a high performance platform. its still fat, too physically large, odd looking, and has a horrendous owner base - but thats a symptom of its engineering success, not a root cause. you can hate the folks it attracts and you can hate the current interpretation of what a high-po M3 is - but the M3 has been one of the most malleable to its times marquees in performance cars. 4 cyl, 6 cyl, 8 cyl, turbo, N/A, 2 door, 4 door, now 4wd... hard to point to one specific thing that "makes" an M3.
Just make it handsome again. Of course, by the time they do that it'll be 120k and I won't spend 120k on a car. If I loved the looks of the M3, I'd have drove my old car for 2 more years then bought one.
I think, at this point, the best value is in the M Performance cars...the M240i, the M340i, the (G30) M550i. That they usually have more-palatable styling is a bonus.
best value new, sure. i'm not so sure what was wrong with the old dichotomy, where there were M cars for performance buyers and larger-motor base models (540, 550, 340, 335 et al.) for folks who wants a tweener. M-lite cars to me give you the worst of both worlds, a less comfortable daily thats not arrive and drive track capable with zero of the street cred people crave. but thats IMHO.
Probably that the majority of people who wanted the larger motor also wanted the sportier handling and appearance packages.
But in my experience, the M Performance cars tend to be pretty-sorted jack-of-all-trades propositions. Whereas the M cars are more singularly focused and often have punishing suspension. The X3 M and M2 I drove certainly did.
ill disagree with most of this. most people just want the motor, the badge, and to some extent, the appearance. ZHP models did this successfully for a while. people "want" the handling until they realize they have destroyed their highway ride for 21 inch wheels and to jack's point, most people are so uninformed they dont know that/dont realize -1 or -2 wheels and normal sidewall tires would fix a lot of that.
further, the G chassis M2/3/4s ARE jack of all trades with that magical ride balance that everyone loves to masterbate to about M cars of yore. ill agree that the F chassis cars (of which the X3M is one) did have pretty wretched ride quality. F chassis was clowned for being too hardcore, G chassis is demeaned for being too isolated.... even M car buyers dont know what the hell they want anymore.
Loving your M235 is not a “hot take”. Loving the little monstrosity in public I mentioned takes courage. It’s like dating a fat chick but she’s like, just great to be around.
It's all about the interest rate! If my audi interest rate was 3.5% I probably wouldn't have paid it off in 20ish months, the vast majority of that in the first 3 months, because I can get better than 3.5%. I could not get better than 7% in the market, at least after taxes.
I’m the same way. I financed my Bronco last year because I had to to get the 10% off MSRP. I made three payments of one third each to hit the three payment minimum. It was 7.86% with an 800+ credit score, robbery. My wife’s Mini on the other hand was 1.9% for up to five years. I took it since I get over 4% on my high-yield savings account. If you can get long term loans at low rates it’s shorting the dollar in a sustained inflationary period.
Corvette faggotry is astounding. This summer I went to the Corvette museum in Bowling Green-what a disgrace. I wore my temple garments (jorts and New Balances) and hoped to see some cool stuff. Wrong! It’s minuscule and displays cars nobody cares about. It seems to exists solely to fleece new owners of more dough so they get the privilege of an employee driving their new vette out of the building. It’s a weird vibe, sort of a combo of small town museum, generic office park, and Chuck E Cheese.
You ought to see a Vette convention. They have one every year at Old Orchard Beach in Maine, near where we hang out in the summer. Half these guys can barely get out of their cars. Their granddaughters aren't even hot.
"Ten years ago, the average Corvette spent Saturday morning with its hood open, being tuned up for the street racing that would inevitably follow that night. Now, the average Corvette spends Saturday morning being driven up to a country club by a man in white shoes and a white belt."
Matthew what were you expecting The Petersen???? The Corvette Museum was built by the Corvette Club with no support from GM approximately 40 years ago. Yes it’s a little touristy but they are making the effort. What is really insulting is GM no longer gives public tours of the plant which was a priceless act of community service and made for future customers.
I've been to the Peterson a number of times when I was at Art Center. I don't know if it's my own value system or the overly-polished nature of it plus the rubbish "modern architecture" exterior design, but I never really "got it." The Nethercutt Museum not too far away from there was epic. Far more impactful and an absolute treasure of a collection, both cars and otherwise.
To your point though, at least the CM is trying. They didn't have Hawaiian shirts and New Balances in mind, so it's not their fault (I think).
Saw the Savoy on my morning perusal of BAT. Read the 10 Questions. Wow!
My C4 protocol is make sure the hose will reach, put the nozzle in the bung and don’t drip on the paint.
I got a stupid cheap short term high mile lease on a Tesla Model 3 for commuting. Less than what I was paying for my Saab 900 subsidized lease in the 90s!
Trying to keep the miles off my seventeen year old F-150 so I can run it for a few more years. New ones are ridiculously priced and as Jeremy Clarkson said (to paraphrase) “You don’t want to be loading hay into an SUV, it gets everywhere and you won’t get it out”
Once the incentives are over I think we’ll see what the true demand for EVs will be. It won’t be pretty.
I agree a lot of money was spent by car companies that could have been better used elsewhere.
You can lease a Model 3 in the UK now for £270/ month for 10k miles a year. I was almost tempted, but remembered that 3 months even at that rate equals what I paid for my 25 year old Lexus 4 years ago and which still works perfectly. I am going to simply keep on keeping on!
When I purchased my seven year-old Audi earlier this year, I was astounded to be offered financing on a 7 year term, I did not take it. The Audi was worth a fair bit less than half of original MSRP at the time of purchase, by the way.
Styling of new BMWs remind me of the "to the pain" threat lobbed Prince Humperdink's way in The Princess Bride. Every cry of "Dear God, what is that!" echoes in its perfect side view mirrors.
I can criticize since I own an example of Chris Bangle's apology for the 7 series, namely the E92 3 Series Coupe. Which has a fun refueling procedure consisting of gently squeezing the nozzle to just about half speed due to (probably) a clogged return line. I'll probably address it after I finish installing a new drivers side axle to fix an ABS sensor issue. I know it will fix it because I did the passenger side last year. But I should have done it when I had to drop and swap the rear subframe that rusted out. Don't care, still love it. What would I replace it with?
Actually I would love a low mileage, manual transmission, base spec but with magnaride C7 stingray with an full tan leather interior, but I've been reminded by my wife that I'm gen X and that's a boomer car.
It's a STREET triple. 675 not 1075
Shhh, he's helping you sell it!
Thinking about it, i think the speed of that era is a1050
Yeah, I wanted to say something, but no one likes 'that guy' ofc
Lake of the ozarks shootout results (boats)
Darana hybrid 50’ mystic, the former spirit of Qatar showed up by surprise of a last minute announcement within a week of the shootout. 2x the latest and greatest T55 turbines with 3800-5000hp per side depending on sources. Ran one and done Sunday, 242mph. Nearly hit the shoreline in the shutdown. New 3/4 mile course record by approximately 20! Mph. Frustratingly 2mph short of its previous 244mph run on the 1 mile format 11 years ago. Utterly confusing all of the YouTube and IG casual observers and commentors. It was made 500lbs lighter, got better inlets for more HP and a new air brake for the shut down. No chutes.
American Ethanol, 50 mystic, 9x shootout champ in the post Qatar retirement era disappointed at 179mph. It’s run 220 previously. This was its first year fully running its 4x Mercury QCV4 power with centrifugal superchargers. So it brought as much power at Darana. 700hp more than last year. But they couldn’t get the bugs worked out and only ran 2x.
Dirty duck 43 skater, 2x twin turbo big block chevys with nitrous shocked early Saturday by running 215 and getting light at the end. It still runs a Merc 6 style drive.
Wahoo 368 skater , 2x twin turbo big blocks ran 185. They were hoping for 200.
New contender, freedom one, a 388 skater with blown alcohol drag style motors and multi speed transmissions, arrived for the street show but didn’t run. It went airborne and flipped spectacularly at 200mph earlier this year at a shootout at lake havasu.
A number of DCB and MTI cats with Merc QCV4s ran around 160-165.
This was the first year competitors had their hands on the new Motec ECMs for Merc 450/500 outboards.
Warren Duke of Florida crushed all comers with a shocking 151mph run in a 28’ open top skater with twin Merc 450s tuned up to 605hp each. This boat went viral when it ran in upper 130s over a year ago in a Florida ditch.
Nearest OB competitors were some 36 and 39’ Doug wrights. One ran 147. Apparently one of these boats had been sprayed with 50 shots of nitrous previous years. Not sure if they tried that again as it spit it rods out a previous year.
They Parveys retired their 170mph 43’ black thunder V bottom and didn’t run this year. Factory Billet, Outerlimits, with twin turbo big blocks and multi speed transmissions, the world’s fastest V bottom also did show up. They were previously talking about attempting to hit 180mph.
Local acquaintance Will Smith, owner of Phantom powerboats, showed up with a 32’ V bottom with twin tuned Merc 450s and ran 128mph!
An old school straight bottom V hull 35’ sonic with 2x 5.0 coyotes built with twin turbos and about 1200hp ran 115mph. This boat was somewhat infamous online this year.
A pontoon ran 115 with trip Merc 300X 2 strokes. A jet ski ran over 120. An 51’ Outerlimits V with trip 1300s ran 130.
Great year overall. Some disappointment about American ethanol and freedom one not being ready for a 3 way shootout for top gun. But it’s unlikely anyone had anything for Darannas 242mph run. I was really sad we didn’t get a Factory Billet vs Parvery V bottom shootout again.
If anyone hit the lotto, there’s a brand new never rigged 50’ mystic available for only 200k bare. Probably snapped up by now. But truly the only to do 200mph on the water somewhat safely, if that’s your bag.
One of our clients has a go fast boat down in the ozarks he says goes 105. I will pass on going 105 on water let alone 147
Could be fun. And not too dangerous depending on what it is. Hell giant center consoles run that now.
Go fast boats are too rich for my blood and too fast for my courage
Hey if the boat flies apart or you get dropped off it'll be like skipping across concrete until you slow down.
Ive fallen skiing at 35ish. And it’s like a 220 lb, i was skinny then, skipping rock until it isnt.
What’s the hull horsepower limit on a Boston Whaler center console of maybe 21 feet? Take that and put two counter-rotating outboards with half that each. Probably enough for me if I wasn’t such a cheap bastard! (The boat club my parents belonged to always has openings, ten minutes from my driveway.)
horsepower limit is the number of engines you can shove in it
These speeds are all a bit nutty over the water, but a pontoon doing 115 takes the cake for me, was it badly listing over starboard from the weight of the captains balls?
The fast toons aren’t bad. One guy did fall off his a year or two ago and didn’t have a kill switch.
In terms of danger:
1. Top gun contenders, especially in skaters.
2. Fastest single engine cats and Vees.
These endeavors require something near a death wish. Everything else is pretty chill
I've seen a tri-hulled pontoon with a 300 Hp outboard. Crazy!
"4x Mercury QCV4 power with centrifugal superchargers"
interesting as i thought most boat engines were screw blown or twin turbo for the low end torque
either way i still want an old 42' apache or similar becuase those are super cool even if they arent that fast nowadays
Generally yes. They are on their own running this setup. But they’ve been doing it for years on 4x big block chevys. Last year they ran 2x big Chevys and 2x QCVs. This was their first year with all 4.
I’m currently being peer pressured to buy a 38’ Larry smith scarab with big power. Not many buyers left for that sort of thing
oh hell yeah you should give into the peer pressure
the best offshore boats are the ones that look like you maybe ran coke in them possibly one time back then
twin big blocks?
588s with big chief heads and Merc racing #5 drives. Larry Smiths are high quality race layups of scarab hulls. Akin to an Apache. Downsides are it’s a straight bottom, and not staggered. Big chief heads and 5s are outdated too. Pretty much a state of the art rig circa 1990-95
sounds like it would be more than enough for me
and even if you wanted a new pair of 632s or similar i cant imagine youd be going all that much faster relative to how much that would cost
Youll need a new pair of pants
Bay watch theme
There was no King of the Baggers this week which means we'll all have to settle for the distant second place action of MotoGP. I know all of you are disappointed, but none moreso than myself.
At Balaton Park in a hungry country named Hungary we ask ourselves the important questions: will Marc Marquez further extend his lead (yes), will Bagnaia begin a recovery (no), will Yamaha perform after the embarrassment at the Red Bull Ring (kinda), and how much ground can Jorge Martin gain (wait to find out)?
Marc Marquez once again sets the pole pace for the MotoGP race weekend with Bezecchi's hot streak continuing and seating him 2nd, Digiantonnio overcame his difficulty with the GP25 to start 3rd, Enea Bastianini with a great qualifying in 4th, then Morbidelli, and Quartararo would wrap up the second row. Alex Marquez was penalized for cruising on the racing during qualifying and was all the way down in 14th with Bagnaia just ahead of him starting from 13th. Jorge Martin makes the start from 16th, way down there, so remember that.
At the beginning of the sprint is chaos as Quartararo just blows into turn one and narrowly avoids Marc Marquez, but crashes into Enea Bastianini which takes 20 (Quartararo) out of the race and sets Enea down at the back of the field. This was not nearly so bad as the wreck which took place at turn 2 in the opener for WSBK prior, but shows again how tight things are at the start of the lap in Hungary. Luca Marini on the Repsol Honda came out ahead slotting into 4th place behind Digiantonnio in 3rd and Morbidelli in 2nd. Marc Marquez would open a second gap in the first lap and manage the race from there with no drama. Further back in the field an impatient Bastianini crashed into Johann Zarco and removed both of them from competition. Digiantonnio cleanly overtakes Morbidelli and that would be the finishing line up for the sprint.
The only notable finishes from the sprint are Fermin Aldeguer finishing in 5th who finished behind Luca Marini and ahead of Joan Mir on the Hondas. Incredible finishes for the Hondas whose last highlight may well have been Alex Rins around COTA in 2023. Jorge Martin charged from 16th all the way to a points finish in 9th place after being beat up and passed consistently at the Red Bull Ring.
In the race proper Digiantonnio is forced to start from pit lane with a technical issue on his primary motorcycle. He would be unable to make up such a large gap and finished out of the points. Marc Marquez loses out to Bezecchi into turn two and almost take himself out of the race when he put his front wheel into Bez' rear wheel. This mistake put him down into third place behind Morbidelli. Bastianini came through clean at the start of the race this time, but by the time they hit the left-right of 12-13 he would lose the front in the transition and scraping and sliding through the field in a harrowing trip across the racetrack. Jorge Martin managed an aggressive start and moved up 8 places within lap 1 and would improve further. The jumble of the crash would benefit Pedro Acosta as well who moves into 4th behind Marc.
Marc could see Bez beginning to slip away at the start of lap 3 and, with his medium rear tire under him, passed Morbidelli in lap 4 with a one second gap to make up to Bez. Two laps later he is on Bez' rear tire. Unlike at other times, instead of waiting late in the race to take the lead, Marc would begin overtake attempts right away and be rebuffed for the first pair. However, he made it stick with the third and promptly put Bez well behind him. Acosta, meanwhile, quickly caught Morbidelli and passed him to take 3rd place. Pedro would then slowly reel in Bez and pass him at about the 2/3rds race mark to secure 2nd place for the race. Pedro had no hope of catching Marc who was 3 seconds up the road.
Marc now has just under five complete weekends worth of points which he has to lose before the next best rider in the championship, his brother Alex, can overtake him. There are 8 weekends left.
Fermin Aldeguer, star rookie of the year, crashed out while attempting to make a charge from 5th place. Jorge Martin, from 16th place, finished 4th behind his teammate Bezecchi in a phenomenal race for him. Honda's Luca Marini made another top 5 finish. More than one Yamaha finished in the points which was a big improvement after the last round.
MotoGP's next race is in Catalonia on the 5th-7th.
I watched too. What he said!
I wake up and make pancakes (usually, sometimes eggs and sausage/bacon) for the family and let them kids watch the sprint race. The full length GP they do not have the attention spans for as of yet.
I watch f1 with the oldest. Ahe wants the orange car to win. It’s her favorite color
My oldest refers to them as the "pointy nose cars" and we only ever watch the highlights because dad is a cheapskate and already subscribed to three motorsports what am I made of money? (May drop MotoA it's the lowest production values and the worst racing generally)
I pay for hulu live tv and get f1 and motogp out of it
I call this type of poor translation “Germenglish”. It’s like Spanglish but written by committee in frameless sunglasses making half as much as their American counterparts.
On the refueling. One of my favorite car memories was a road trip to Pittsburgh when I was maybe 19. My friend and I drove back for my cousin’s wedding in my 96 Neon Sedan (SOHC with the 3.55 MTX, slow but 40+ MPG).
On the way home, we stopped by the Sewickley Car Store. There sat many track-ready Porsches, including a then-new black and red 997 GT3. All of them had some sort of track rash. The GT3 in particular had evidence of what I’d call “careless refueling” on the fender. These guys obviously used their cars as intended. A far cry from these C8 guys or I assume most current 997 GT3 owners.
Also, the MSWs I knew were in the $60k range. This was public and non-profit work. I assume this woman’s husband came up with a lot of the money to pay off said Pilot.
Sewickley.
Sounds like a disease hogs get.
That’s a good summarization of Western PA.
The fracking movie with Matt Damon, Promised Land, was filmed where my family is from.
Yeah, Sewickley's right near all the best parts of Pittsburgh.
Emsworth, Neville Island, Coraopolis...
Ha, my dad was born in Aliquippa.
Near the gypsum plant?
No idea honestly. I’ve driven through it exactly twice with him. Not much there unfortunately.
Have some family in Ambridge (named for the American Bridge Company) and Economy, PA.
I have vague memories of twisting and turning - and endlessly crossing the Ohio - and the mile long J&L building stretching off into the distance
Small world. My grandmother was from Ambridge. My grandfather, a mining town in Indiana County. After the war, he took a job at J&L after living through a mine collapse. He lost his dad to that same mine some 10 years prior.
I have a real soft spot for that area, Indiana County specifically.
“Sewickley, which is a nice suburb of Pittsburgh.”
https://youtu.be/MEjdt_n1l-4?si=q1vcex4Eru2M7BCd
It was. Once.
Don’t really know anything about it other than the reference to it in the Count Floyd bit. I’m a west coast kid.
track rat gt3s are cool as hell
My refueling protocol for the S2000:
-head to the Thornton’s, chosen because to get there and/or back I have to drive by the house of the hottest local mom
-grab whatever pump is convenient
-unfold my fat ass from the car, making sure to crush the driver’s side bolster which no longer bolsters anything after 18 years of this treatment
-chose the $$$ gas
-start pumping
-fire up the TikTok/try to side eye the hotter high school girls who seem to hang out there for whatever reason
-pump clicks, let’s run it again until it clicks again
-spill gas on car/ground/my shoes removing handle
-wipe up spilled gas, sometimes
-drive home hitting VTEC past hot mom’s house because I know that’s the key to her heart
-remember to reset trip meter after I made the 2 mile drive home to confirm I am once again getting a solid 19mpg out of a 2.0L I4
I like the cut of your jib.
We were talking about premium vs regular gas here the other day. I filled up the bike yesterday at costco. 1.1 a gallon more for premium! At least the bike only holds 3-4 gallons.
and 90% of that 1.1 is pure profit.
Yes. Fortunately I put about 5 tanks into the S2000 a year, so it’s pretty negligible for me. The Jeep is happy to take the cheap swill, and I force it on my wife’s Acura out of general principle (why does a same-engine Odyssey need 87 but the Acura is “fancy” so premium is recommended? BS.)
My wife calls it "snooty gas".
I fill the car about once a month and I expense my gas. Saves me 29%
I also feed my wife's Acura ghetto gas. You can have both horsepowers back that I lose. She uses ALL the rest of them.
My friends are aghast that I run regular in my Harley. But they send oil samples in for analysis.
Does Harley a) not specify the octane requirements b) have high compression motors?
I use 87 too, but internet says 91 recommended. I guess I have to adjust my fueling protocol
Unless it's knocking why bother running a higher octane?
This is a serious question as I understood the primary difference in fuel grades is octane to prevent premature detonation.
It is. The M8 run 10:1, which I don't think is particularly high. I'll see if I can detect a difference next fill up
Manual recommends 91 but if I’m filling up often I don’t worry about. No issues. If not riding it a lot I use 91 and Seafoam. Compression is 9:1- It’s a Twin Cam 88.
I prefer to use premium on the carb bikes because it gets better mileage. On the fuel injected bikes I never bothered to find out if the same thing holds true.
Given that the amount of fuel delivered is agnostic to octane rating curious as to what mechanism could possibly account for a delta in fuel utilization on a carbureted motorcycle.
Higher octane gas has more energy in it.
You are confusing two things and one is ethanol vs clear gas. Ethanol is less energy dense, octane is a knock retardation rating.
Fuel flow rate will be the same as it's determined by volume of air and how far out the slider is in the fuel passage.
so you're saying Harley guys are crazier than Corvette guys? :P
That's wild. All my cars take premium and the delta at Costco is only ever $0.30 or so.
Illinois is stupid.
100%. Peoria area here. Where are you, Scott?
Naperville. Interested in the lovely street triple for sale?
Why yes -- yes, I am. Not enough to buy it, of course -- but it seems attractively priced and really cool.
I am firmly in the HD Road King demographic at this juncture, however.
In Ohio premium is at least $1 up charge over regular, and some stations are at $1.25, so when I am not using my regular place I double check before I get to involved in my, uh, filling procedure.
It really stings when you look at the cost markup of 93 as a percentage of 87.
I try no to think about it.
Another great advantage of the ST1100 is running on regular gas.
it's the perfect bike and everyone named Jack Baruth should own one.
This is a weird way to spell xb12x. It's more nimble, more comfortable AND even uglier
The cetacean curves and mass of the ST1100 belie it's willingness to turn.
the same is true of Jack!
HEY-OH!
kidding... Jack has really slimmed down.
Looking at the only price posted on the big sign on a couple of Shell stations at a smaller town nearby. $3.89 at one but kept going. $3.88 at the other one. Score!
As I’m filling up I realize both stations posted the 93 octane price, NOT the price of “regular.” What’s up with that and when did stations start doing that?
so does this hot mom really sun bathe in her front yard?
Never. But when I was a kid, I rode my bike past the house of the girl I had a crush on 1,000 times a day. She lived on the side of a very large hill, which put me in fantastic shape, and gave me, a former asthmatic, a pretty successful middle and high school cross country career. So it’s learned behavior. And if you have to drive somewhere, it might as well be past hot mom’s house.
Did you do wheelies?
My hero!
This is fun!
Refueling protocol for my 911:
- Go to the gas station 1/2 mile from my house on the left side, because that's the one with the hot Indian girl.
- Open the fuel door and remember I still haven't bought a replacement gas cap after mine was stolen. Seriously who steals a gas cap? The also took my wife's MDX and the gas cap from each of the other cars.
- remember how dripping gas on the ceramic paint treatment or whatever its called that the previous owner put on it is no big deal compared to my old Tr6, which basically melted like a wet witch if you got gas on what was left of the single stage paint.
- Watch gas run down the side of the car like idgaf
- Throw away the Grizzlies parking passes and water bottles accumulating in the back "seat" and sand off the rough edge of my windshield wipers with a paper towel
- Go inside if nobody else is in there because I don't want them to see my shame
- Get asked by hot Indian girl why I am back so soon.
- Remind her that every white dad in our suburb looks the same, break the news that I still don't have an IT job for her, and sheepishly ask for a pack of marly ultra lights and some delta 8's, which will last the Mrs. and I a full 30 days.
- Walk outside, look at the total and wonder at how cheap it is to fill up vs the damn near 30 gallon capacity of my 96 Bronco
- Marvel at the fist-sized dent in the right rear quarter panel done by either a step-child or a mover
- Sit down, wiggle the stick to make sure its in neutral, then look up and realize I take the pump out of the car.
- Dad groan as I get back out of the car. Replace fuel pump, make a mental plan to get a gas cap. Get back in the car.
- Start it up and laugh at the slappy farty growly sound it makes when you ease in to first without much throttle
- Remember that there are cops everywhere and resist the urge to give it the beans on my exit
Really wish the sold cigarettes in packs of 4. That would last me a month. Probably better they don't so I just don't buy them.
“Hot Indian girl” sir I don’t believe you.
Hot *for an* Indian girl *working at a gas station*
So she had all her teeth and wasn't fat
jackpot
i went to college in canada so this line tripped me up
Hey now, there are some very lovely looking Indian women, they just aren't *here* (much), only in Punjabi music videos..
A man after my own heart.
All cool as long as you didn’t forget the milk!
based
The other day I forgot to mention that I live in such a high trust area, and I care so little about the rules and have full faith in my understanding of how static electricity works, that my protocol often includes leaving the engine running when I go inside for ma' big gulp. Clearly I am not cut out for C8 ownership.
My keys and wallet are in the unlocked armrest of my Jeep about 80% of the time in the summer.
I have to remind myself to lock the car because i dont need to college students next store getting drunk and shooting cans with them at 2am. I didnt lock the house doors till i had kids
This 19 mpg is going to get you 100 mpg of grins and giggles!
please please please join a corvette forum JUST TO POST THIS
“Another thing that Bloomberg didn’t discuss: I suspect we will see some inflation taming under the current administration, like Trump or loathe him, but had the election gone another way we could have had another eight years of Biden-style increases.”
This is the same President Trump who is haranguing the Federal Reserve to lower rates, right?
This is the same President Trump whose OBBB raised the debt ceiling by $5TN, right?
Yeah, I too am looking forward to his installed lackeys at the Fed taking inflation to Turkey levels. I mean, our debt to GDP ratio is pretty much there, right?
Well the OBVIOUS implication is that President Trump’s AGI timeline is relatively near-term, particularly in comparison to that of Elon Musk (!!!), so Captain Cantaloupe knows that the best thing to do is lower rates to the floor (MOAR funding for AI) and let AGI and then ASI solve all of our problems.
Then we’ll be living like John Lennon imagined:
Imagine no possessions
I wonder if you can
No need for greed or hunger
A brotherhood of man
I will definitely still have possessions. No one wants super tall vintage bicycles, so I am sure as s#*t stuck with them. ;)
The interest rate debate is…interesting. I believe there is some sort of debt coming due, in the trillions, that Trump wants to refinance at lowest rates possible. You might think that is obvious but Biden didn’t do it when rates were lower, and now that it is coming due I guess it gets refinanced at prevailing rates.
Generally speaking I think interest rates should be tied to government money printing. I find the Fed to be grossly negligent that the US government spent $7-10T during/after COVID and did not immediately raise interest rates when that began. Had the Fed done that, I believe we would have avoided a lot of the inflation, but there would have certainly been other side effects.
Provided I am interpreting you correctly, I disagree to an extent:
-The Fed is independent of the government, more or less; this is an important component of USD primacy and credibility
-It’s not the Fed’s job to set rates to accommodate whatever the government wants to do; this means that we have two independent tools to stimulate / manipulate the economy - fiscal and monetary policies. Sometimes they work in tandem.
-The Fed controls short rates, not long rates; the market sets long(er) rates
-The most important thing is that the OBBB increased the debt ceiling by $5TN. Government spending is a bipartisan passion, and this money will absolutely be spent, and rapidly so. This means that rates will need to be low essentially forever so that the US can service debt affordably. The problem is that this will exacerbate wealth inequality and hurt many of Trump’s voters.
-So per my argument above, fiscal largesse MUST be accompanied by accommodative monetary policy: otherwise it’s unaffordable.
“Tied” may be the wrong word. I simply suggest that the Fed wizards should be smart enough to know that the government increasing in spending and printing money is inflationary and they should preemptively act instead of waiting years for inflation to hit and then crush the economy with higher rates.
The Fed has a dual mandate:
-Price stability
-Full employment
Full employment is more important than price stability when things get hairy (look back to early COVID).
Again, knowing that Congress has a $5TN spending spree ahead of them, you can intuit that rates must remain low in the future.
im ready to be roasted for this take but- i had an M235 as a loaner (because they LITERALLY had no other new BMW on the lot like ~6 months ago, i kid you not, it was 90 2 series "gran" ""coupes"" and a few used X3s) - and then proceeded to beat it within an inch of its life on some of the sketchiest backroads my area has to offer. honestly? not bad! reminded me why i really like small cars around here. the interior is playskool and the styling sucks but it reminded me of the good parts of driving an S3 without as much of the bad stuff like awful steering and vociferous understeer. front end was quick to change directions, transmission did a good job in sport mode, sizing worked well for those "oh shit im taking a 25 corner at 50 and now theres oncoming traffic fuckfuckfuck" moments where you have to tighten your radius and suck in to not take off a mirror.
i dunno folks. i also had fun driving an M3xc, which is what the M5 should be, and if they sold the M2 as a 4 door with a 6 speed (which is what the M3 should be) i'd own one of those.
also jack, im shocked you havent written about the infiniti news yet, which is that the Q50 is coming back with the "Z" motor (aka the old redsport motor) and a 6 speed. execution is everything, but is it just me or is nissan trying to stage a half assed comeback?
I really didn't want to spend 80-90k on an M3. Fortunately BMW made me not even think about it cause they're hideous.
its proven to be a reliable, robust platform so far. ive warmed to the looks in person but its hard to knock the reality that the G chassis cars have sorted out near to medium term reliability in a high performance platform. its still fat, too physically large, odd looking, and has a horrendous owner base - but thats a symptom of its engineering success, not a root cause. you can hate the folks it attracts and you can hate the current interpretation of what a high-po M3 is - but the M3 has been one of the most malleable to its times marquees in performance cars. 4 cyl, 6 cyl, 8 cyl, turbo, N/A, 2 door, 4 door, now 4wd... hard to point to one specific thing that "makes" an M3.
Just make it handsome again. Of course, by the time they do that it'll be 120k and I won't spend 120k on a car. If I loved the looks of the M3, I'd have drove my old car for 2 more years then bought one.
I think, at this point, the best value is in the M Performance cars...the M240i, the M340i, the (G30) M550i. That they usually have more-palatable styling is a bonus.
best value new, sure. i'm not so sure what was wrong with the old dichotomy, where there were M cars for performance buyers and larger-motor base models (540, 550, 340, 335 et al.) for folks who wants a tweener. M-lite cars to me give you the worst of both worlds, a less comfortable daily thats not arrive and drive track capable with zero of the street cred people crave. but thats IMHO.
Probably that the majority of people who wanted the larger motor also wanted the sportier handling and appearance packages.
But in my experience, the M Performance cars tend to be pretty-sorted jack-of-all-trades propositions. Whereas the M cars are more singularly focused and often have punishing suspension. The X3 M and M2 I drove certainly did.
ill disagree with most of this. most people just want the motor, the badge, and to some extent, the appearance. ZHP models did this successfully for a while. people "want" the handling until they realize they have destroyed their highway ride for 21 inch wheels and to jack's point, most people are so uninformed they dont know that/dont realize -1 or -2 wheels and normal sidewall tires would fix a lot of that.
further, the G chassis M2/3/4s ARE jack of all trades with that magical ride balance that everyone loves to masterbate to about M cars of yore. ill agree that the F chassis cars (of which the X3M is one) did have pretty wretched ride quality. F chassis was clowned for being too hardcore, G chassis is demeaned for being too isolated.... even M car buyers dont know what the hell they want anymore.
They really are!
I’m quite charmed with my M235i on track.
Granted, you have the RWD, real M235. I’m talking about the FWD current model.
Oh. OHHHHHH.
I wish they wouldn’t mash up the model names so badly.
Loving your M235 is not a “hot take”. Loving the little monstrosity in public I mentioned takes courage. It’s like dating a fat chick but she’s like, just great to be around.
Facts! 📠
It's all about the interest rate! If my audi interest rate was 3.5% I probably wouldn't have paid it off in 20ish months, the vast majority of that in the first 3 months, because I can get better than 3.5%. I could not get better than 7% in the market, at least after taxes.
I’m the same way. I financed my Bronco last year because I had to to get the 10% off MSRP. I made three payments of one third each to hit the three payment minimum. It was 7.86% with an 800+ credit score, robbery. My wife’s Mini on the other hand was 1.9% for up to five years. I took it since I get over 4% on my high-yield savings account. If you can get long term loans at low rates it’s shorting the dollar in a sustained inflationary period.
I follow a very similar method for purchasing/financing vehicles.
I did the same thing on my F350 King Ranch…but I wish it was for 10% of MSRP—I did it for a *mere* two grand!
Yea, if the interest rate is lower than whatever you earn having that money in your pocket then stretching out the payments seems fine***.
*** As long as you aren't going to trade it in in 20 months with a boatload of negative equity
you are going to pay for that depreciation no matter what loan you get or none
We just picked up a 16k mile '24 Civic HB Sport 6MT that Honda Finance had 0.99% on for CPO cars, buuut you could only go out 36 months.
You'd be foolish not to take it
2.9% for 3 years on a Silverado 1500. I had the cash, but climbed all over it.
How bad can EV sales get after the incentives go away? - er, remember the cliff that Wily falls down in the RoadRunner cartoons?
That feels accurate to me.
"in this case, the 'rain' is the 'make it rain' you get when you throw money at whores, or EVs."
You doin EV activities with EV tendencies.
EVs are your friends!
EVs are your enemies!
Corvette faggotry is astounding. This summer I went to the Corvette museum in Bowling Green-what a disgrace. I wore my temple garments (jorts and New Balances) and hoped to see some cool stuff. Wrong! It’s minuscule and displays cars nobody cares about. It seems to exists solely to fleece new owners of more dough so they get the privilege of an employee driving their new vette out of the building. It’s a weird vibe, sort of a combo of small town museum, generic office park, and Chuck E Cheese.
We were going to make the trip last time we were in Tennessee but I had toured it on Google Earth, so that saved me the disappointment.
You ought to see a Vette convention. They have one every year at Old Orchard Beach in Maine, near where we hang out in the summer. Half these guys can barely get out of their cars. Their granddaughters aren't even hot.
"Their granddaughters aren't even hot."
The real travesty
That would be the C8 but I get your point.
In 1980, Patrick Bedard wrote the following:
"Ten years ago, the average Corvette spent Saturday morning with its hood open, being tuned up for the street racing that would inevitably follow that night. Now, the average Corvette spends Saturday morning being driven up to a country club by a man in white shoes and a white belt."
same guy that streetraced back then wants loud exhausts to be illegal now
Unfortunately the loud, obnoxious clothing isn’t! 🙄
we cant legislate them into looking decent
"Half these guys can barely get out of their cars"
tracks perfectly
I wouldn't make a specific trip for it but I liked it well enough when I went in 2024 and it seemed to have a decent variety on display at the time.
"I wore my temple garments (jorts and New Balances)"
alright i loled
Matthew what were you expecting The Petersen???? The Corvette Museum was built by the Corvette Club with no support from GM approximately 40 years ago. Yes it’s a little touristy but they are making the effort. What is really insulting is GM no longer gives public tours of the plant which was a priceless act of community service and made for future customers.
I thought that was part of the museum tour! I didn’t know it was created by the corvette club, that explains the all the plaques
I've been to the Peterson a number of times when I was at Art Center. I don't know if it's my own value system or the overly-polished nature of it plus the rubbish "modern architecture" exterior design, but I never really "got it." The Nethercutt Museum not too far away from there was epic. Far more impactful and an absolute treasure of a collection, both cars and otherwise.
To your point though, at least the CM is trying. They didn't have Hawaiian shirts and New Balances in mind, so it's not their fault (I think).
It's not beneath me to make a Boomer joke suggesting that the typical Vette owner also needs a checklist like that to take a piss. Because prostates.
just wait until you get to that age, there will probably be AI enabled screens above every urinal giving personal step by step instructions.
One of Billy Crystal’s funniest jokes was that after turning 50, you pee in Morse code.
The 3 rules on turning 60:
0. never pass a men's room
1. never waste an erection
2. never trust a fart
you forgot "never pass up a nap"
I think I remember sleeping through the night.
What was it like?
They make adult diapers you could just stay in bed.
Your time is coming pal.
it comes for us all. at least I've still got 90 percent of my hair
Saw the Savoy on my morning perusal of BAT. Read the 10 Questions. Wow!
My C4 protocol is make sure the hose will reach, put the nozzle in the bung and don’t drip on the paint.
I got a stupid cheap short term high mile lease on a Tesla Model 3 for commuting. Less than what I was paying for my Saab 900 subsidized lease in the 90s!
Trying to keep the miles off my seventeen year old F-150 so I can run it for a few more years. New ones are ridiculously priced and as Jeremy Clarkson said (to paraphrase) “You don’t want to be loading hay into an SUV, it gets everywhere and you won’t get it out”
Once the incentives are over I think we’ll see what the true demand for EVs will be. It won’t be pretty.
I agree a lot of money was spent by car companies that could have been better used elsewhere.
You can lease a Model 3 in the UK now for £270/ month for 10k miles a year. I was almost tempted, but remembered that 3 months even at that rate equals what I paid for my 25 year old Lexus 4 years ago and which still works perfectly. I am going to simply keep on keeping on!
I think this encapsulates the differences between BaT vs Cars And Bids pretty well.
Here's the "art" car that recently sold on C&B:
https://carsandbids.com/auctions/rEG22V4b/1997-mercedes-benz-sl500-art-car?ss_id=159066c3-0094-4dd9-ab1d-f9b45317f987&ref=pr_1_1
absolutely horrible trend
Well the good news is that it looks like you can peel all that crap off and have a decent looking SL.
Wish I hadn't seen that.
When I purchased my seven year-old Audi earlier this year, I was astounded to be offered financing on a 7 year term, I did not take it. The Audi was worth a fair bit less than half of original MSRP at the time of purchase, by the way.
7 year old Audi. You have ball’s
Not so much ballsy as I'm in a position of privilege that allows me to do it.
My wife works from home and has a reliable car should we/I ever need one. I own a couple other fun cars and a truck I can use as backups.
My boss is also a car guy that "gets it" when it comes to shit boxes behaving like shit boxes. He's also my kid's grandpa, which likely helps.
If I had to answer to a corporate overlord on account of my daily driver being unreliable,I think the math would be different.
That said, the Audi has been downright boring compared to my long history of Saabs over the 10k miles I've put on it.
I also work with my kid’s grandad
Styling of new BMWs remind me of the "to the pain" threat lobbed Prince Humperdink's way in The Princess Bride. Every cry of "Dear God, what is that!" echoes in its perfect side view mirrors.
I can criticize since I own an example of Chris Bangle's apology for the 7 series, namely the E92 3 Series Coupe. Which has a fun refueling procedure consisting of gently squeezing the nozzle to just about half speed due to (probably) a clogged return line. I'll probably address it after I finish installing a new drivers side axle to fix an ABS sensor issue. I know it will fix it because I did the passenger side last year. But I should have done it when I had to drop and swap the rear subframe that rusted out. Don't care, still love it. What would I replace it with?
Actually I would love a low mileage, manual transmission, base spec but with magnaride C7 stingray with an full tan leather interior, but I've been reminded by my wife that I'm gen X and that's a boomer car.
Eh, if you want it, get it. I bought a Town Car when I was 33.
I’m sure it will happen, just a matter of time. Still have a Miata itch from a test drive in 96 that needs scratching that will probably happen first!
GO BUY ONE
Insert my internal Smeagol / Gollum monologue regarding buy/not buy [right now]
theyre cheap enough that you can sell them for what you paid for
pretty low risk in that regard
you say that like it is a bad thing...
Why can I still not get past the chinzy sound the doors make on these newer Panthers when I shut them? It makes me sad. I do like them!
Lime Rock Green over Tan is one of the best C7 color combos.
wow:
https://www.corvetteforum.com/articles/chase-away-the-gray-in-a-lime-rock-green-c7-z51/