I'm not convinced that Daniel is that bad. If he's actually said or acted with indifference towards understanding a car's technical aspects then he doesn't deserve to be anywhere near top tier racing.
But on his day he can race, he can drive, and he's not as full of himself as the Mercedes duo. He's sort of grown (while in F1) in Lewi's shadow and likely wanting to present himself in a similar image at some point, and while 'I' find that repugnant, I can't fault him for that approach.
He's not the only one to have made a series of bad calls when it comes to moving between teams. Its nice and easy to make such comments from a distance with the benefit of never having to drive said machinery or make such calls, but his data shows he is competitive. I'm not getting sucked into the 'OMG Yuki whooped his ass' baseless fanboy-ism.
Honestly no one makes it to F1 without having demonstrated the pace to beat everyone on their day, and that includes Yuki. He had some phenomenal performances in F2 before he was promoted to appease Honda. BUT he is way to raw, way to erratic, and loses his cool very easily, and the 'Ayrton Senna - fast modulation of the controls' style he has doesn't lend itself to the faster (edgier) F1 cars in this era. He has to mature a lot to earn MY respect (as a potato sitting in a chair, who has never driven an open wheel car in anger.
This. DR is a multiple race winner. Any driver who can pull that off in F1 has more than just go fast talent. Unfortunately his court jester act became too much drain on his mental game. Now clowning is his greatest skillset.
'I can't stand him because he is so emblematic of various charlatans that exist today: incompetent, venal, endlessly self-promoting with little in the way of accomplishments or results"
That increasingly seems to be the only way to get ahead in the seven-figure world or even the mid six-figure world. More than almost any other single indicator, it suggests the death of our current society.
What was the last truly beautiful exotic car built? For me, it was the original Murcielago, which has simple, purposeful lines. Look what they eventually did to it. Look at the Aventador. No elegance or sense of style.
Hell, how about REGULAR car design? The pre-facelift (notice a theme?) S550 Mustang looks great, until you get down below the wheel centers and it becomes a visual mess.
I saw a 1960s white chrysler imperial convertible parked on the street the other day and immediately thought "wow, that's the coolest car I have seen all year". And I live in a place where I see so-called supercars every other day.
Huracan (focus on the silhouette and proportions, not the silk shirt-Miami Nightclub-crypto scam-mumble rap clientele)
F8 Tributo (it is bite the back of your hand beautiful; it’s busy, and one additional fillip or feature would detract, but as it sits, it is tremendous)
296 GTB (Ferrari is the only brand that has such a rich vein of aesthetic history; they have numerous house signatures that they can mix and match; they are a bit like U2 between Joshua Tree and Achtung Baby - they started with a clean sheet for the 296 and developed another all-new, yet unmistakably Ferrari car that follows on nicely from the F8)
The Huracan DOES have a good silhouette, as do the F8 and 296, but the details are what make them Modern to my eyes - and I don't mean that as a compliment.
I think Italian car design went into the pooper once the manufacturers started designing in house vs. having Pininfarina/Bertone/ItalDesign do the work.
Laugh if you will, but today I saw a C8 on the street in an absolutely GORGEOUS candyapple red!
I don't necessarily agree with what they did to finally achieve the mythical mid-engine 'Vette (they could have also done another model with the long deck and the front-engine capping-out at, say, $60K), but on the whole, it's not a bad looking piece. And when I saw that one today, I had to catch my breath!
I have noticed that the fiberglass under and around the lateral intake area on the C8s sometimes looks to have a “ripple” under certain light.
It’s commendable to offer a high performing mid-engine car at such a compelling price point, especially for a brand that has no experience building such a car - save for the Fiero two generations ago. I do not find the car beautiful by any means; a big part of this is the requirement to fit two golf bags in the back, I believe.
My next statement will confirm many of the unfortunate stigmas associated with my internet persona, but here goes: I look at the C8 the same way I look at all of the DTC internet brands that make fake Gucci bit loafers. They may look like a passable imitation to those with less discerning eyes, but they do not fool the cognoscenti. That said, Carmina - a Spanish shoemaker - makes a better Gucci loafer than does the Florentine house, at least at the moment; I am hopeful that the arrival of a new creative director’s collection in September rectifies this sorry state of affairs!
Derek's "...now it favors the loudest" statement followed by your "You can see it in car design" line is, to me, 100% spot on. It's been something I've observed over the last several years, and, after factoring in societal and political trends during this same period, all of it matches. The truck market is probably the most obvious, particularly full-size offerings. Mid-90's OBS Fords, 2nd gen Rams, and GMT400s are 80" wide like their modern successors, but their designs were clean and understated. Long body lines and forms carried along the horizontal have resulted in a timeless look.
We saw in the 2000s the inflated and "aggro" aesthetic emerge and that has only increased since. Newer generations' wheels and tires--to say nothing of aftermarket offerings or the bro dozer builds--look varying degrees of out of place on older rigs. The current Ram 1500 and '20-22 Super Duties are the exception for me. Both are very well designed, with great lines, proportions, and design features scaled well among their overall forms.
"Last truly beautiful exotic car built?" I concur with Ice Age, the R8 in its original form. LaFerrari has always had an elegance. Ferrari's current Roma is gorgeous. Pre-facelift Aston DBS and DB9 (alright, not exotic..).
Last beautiful regular car? Current (2nd generation) Toyota Venza. Yes it does have the Toyota Large Grille but all of it is done very well.
I refrained from including the front-engined stuff, but the F12, F12 TdF, and 812 are all beautiful in my eyes (the 812 less so than the others). The 812 Competizione is not beautiful.
The Roma IS beautiful. Imagine the 812 Superfast successor - F167 is the code name - with a Roma-inspired exterior (which is what the mules indicate) and a timeless interior (like the 550 Maranello), which is not what they will produce. Give it a click clack manual (never gonna happen) and it would be achingly desirable.
My theory on this is that in order to appeal to the new generation of douchebags, rather than the prior one, car design has changed from organic to what I call animé. It is all straight lines, planes and sharp angles.
Funny you should say that. I've always thought the Murcielago looked like a Lamborghini that someone designed for a sci-fi anime movie in the early 90s.
>What was the last truly beautiful exotic car built?
Most recently introduced: 5th-gen Dodge Viper, or maybe Lexus LC500.
Most recently produced: It's not really "exotic" (at least in non-Hellcat form) but IMO the Dodge Challenger is beautiful.
>Hell, how about REGULAR car design?
I really like the 2-series coupe in non-M2 form, the ND Miata, the new Bronco, and most Audi (although they peaked in the 2000s), Jeep, Genesis and Kia products. But it is getting increasingly dismal for sure.
Back in the cherished Seventies, the domestics designed all the styling looks at the same time and swapped them as the years went past, so they all looked more or less "Right".
Now they design the original car, put it into production, and start the LifeCycle Impulse planning THEN.
Now, supposedly AT next year will be taking RB parts to the limit of the rules. Considering he did well in his RB test drive, that's the only thing that might save him if offered a ride for next year.
But, if he can't explain why, he's not going to get catered to. "Hey Lando, does this help?" Yes, pretty good guys. "Thanks. Anything else you'd like to have?"
I’m with ‘ya. I used to like him when he was “The King of the Late Brakers”, but he has become increasingly irritating to me over the last several years with his poor excuses and quick abandonment of every team he drives for. I suspect he is also poorly managed which just exacerbates an already deteriorating situation.
Very well put. He's an affable air head. He makes me appreciate guys like Albon even more who seem to take their craft seriously and have a hardness in their eyes.
"hippy chick driving a 3.0 carrera" reminds me of the Bob Jones story where he rides into San Francisco on his XS750 and goes to a massage parlor and is, *ahem* serviced by some college chick who apparently drove a 911.
Does Germany have palm trees? Always seems like they want it to be SoCal but then the cars have German plates. Not sure what they intend it to be.
Give me the hippy chick out of all of them, implausibility aside she’d be the one who gets the weirdest. Except maybe the mustachio’d dudes, but not my thing thanks.
California is a very important market for Porsche; Wolfgang Porsche said in 2018 at Rennsport Reunion - held at Laguna Seca - that “California is truly Porsche’s second home.”
I thought that was odd, as I was standing next to a friend who worked for Porsche Cars North America, which is headquartered in Atlanta.
I found it NAUSEATING; I clowned the car on Instagram and Rennlist where I heard from other commentators. The Instagram feedback came from 20-something car spotters with caterpillar mustaches who worship everything Porsche does but have never even driven one. The Rennlist feedback came from Boomers who are ordering one and assured me that the car actually *is* cool. Like Steve McQueen and Gulf colors!
[disclaimer: I've had three 911s, the current one's a 996, I like it a lot, so does my daughter.]
All 'brands' are terrible. Brands are what companies become when they've built a reputation *by effing Making Something well*, and turn that reputation out. Porsche hotels are vertical integration of the referenced whoring, not a pathetic denouement for a storied automaker like you thought.
On a somewhat related note : I've grown tired of being rear ended or nearly so so many times so now I make sure my car has not only *perfect* taillights but also the license tag lamp is extra bright so it creates a 'halo' of light on the ground just under the rear bumper without being blinding to those who continue to follow too closely or come up too fast .
At speed the small taillights of older cars are not always well visible from a distance so every bit helps .
I think the shown ground light is dorky but I -do- like _some_ ground effect lighting on a few cars .
My cousin lives in LA. Her husband is a successful attorney (who inherited his father's partnership) so she plays at being a social worker. I'm sure they both love Gavin Newsom. At a family event she mentioned, "I just got a new Porsh." "Oh, which one?" I queried. "A Macan," she answered. "That's the Porsche version of the Audi Q5 that I reviewed. Nice car." "No, it's a Porsh, not an Audi." I didn't have the heart to show her the Audi rings on the control arms.
Not related to this, but the next time we meet we will have to talked about resonant frequencies in cars instrument's and bridges as that is my business
Have you gotten tired of people mentioning the Tacoma Narrows bridge when you say what your business is?
Did you see my article about the Camaro "cocktail shakers"?
The first major redesign of my electric harmonica was due to issues with Helmholtz resonances introduced by adding a mouthpiece. I learned that there's a reason why the chambers in harmonica combs are sized the way they are.
Lately due to feedback from advanced players I've been working on reducing my gizmo's sustain by putting little pieces of adhesive EVA foam across the base of the reeds. Just enough dampening to keep the reeds from ringing but not so much that action is slowed down too far or that the fundamental pitch is affected. The foam pads have to fit inside the comb so they end up being about 5mm x 3mm. Good thing God made people smart enough to make lasers.
Sorry so long to respond. Actually, I use the Tacoma Bridge as an example of how damaging vibration can be if a structures natural frequency gets excited. On smaller equipment an structures I have used a strobe light tuned to slightly off frequency. The look on their faces when they see a steel beam moving like a wet noodle is the best. Works much better than showing the computer generated operating deflection analysis. Your article on the Camaro was excellent. It's funny how many different types of dampeners and absorbers can be found on cars. Have done analysis on a lot of vintage cars. Most people don't understand, on vintage manual transmissions the shifter is directly connected with no isolation. When I tell them can design and attach a dampener they usually don't want to because it won't be original.
FWIW I’ve never seen more 911’s, GT cars especially, than in LA. I suspect it’s because it appeals to the LA ego that wants to own the thing that “Those in the know” own, without ever actually having any experiences or developing any taste of their own. Given the 911 circle jerking by journalists and media personalities since the 997 GT3 came out, combined with the over romanticization of the cars once values skyrocketed, it makes sense to me that LA is Porsche HQ.
" . . . North America, which is headquartered in Atlanta."
Something to do with taxes maybe? Soon the only people left in California will be the Tech Nerds who can afford a Porsche and the people who wash them.
Reminds me of all the Detroit ads when they'd show a 50's or 60's car next to the newest iteration, which they did with Caddies, Challengers, Chargers, Mustangs, even Pickups to some extent. And all of the flyover country viewers were like "damn, for the same money I'd take the old one".
Also, if that's supposed to represent a 60 year span, the man in the last shot isn't near old enough to be the kid from the first shot, which obviously they're trying to imply.
It's hard to say that Porsche is a dying brand though. This stuff is resonating hard with the younger well-off group of slightly chubby tech dudes (or trust fundies) who are obsessed with posting instagram photos of their watches in front of a steering wheel.
They abandoned their core business of making fast road cars for serious men and now chase the twin markets of minivan/shopping-cart and garage-paperweight.
Maybe, but I'm honestly not sure what the H-D core product or demo ever was. As far as I can tell, they always sold a few big bikes and a lot of sportsters. I suppose the full-on push into tourers and baggers is their Cayenne/Macan equivalent.
I know lots of motorcycle manufacturers have an entry into every field and is this necessary? I say no, the bean counters say yes it seems.
Why would you leave money on the table?
Why does a touring/sports car company make EVs and SUVs? Sullied the brand but people don't care. Harley hasn't stooped to quite that level but they do have a billion variants and special issues which is fake as f.
Harley's not alone. Do you remember "No Fear"? It was literally JUST a logo that two brothers concocted a few decades ago and sold on merchandise like decals and t-shirts to underwrite their racing efforts, in Trans Am as I recall.
Around here there's a ton of guys in their 30s-50s in the trades that have brand new financed $30-40k Street/Road Glides with upgraded stereos etc. Sportsters have been "girl bikes" for a number of decades now it seems. Though if I fit on one better, I'd love a 98-03ish Sporster 1200S. And/or if I dip my feet back into the Harley world I'd love a $2000-2500ish Ironhead sportster. I don't mind having that much tied up in a bar hopper. I didn't like having $6-7k into that Shovelhead that I didn't trust to take farther than the county line.
Neither do I. However, one of my best friends just picked up his new daily he ordered, a Cayman GTS 4.0. He's already put about 3k miles on it in the past month or so. So there are SOME of the younger generation who are excited about these cars and aren't keeping them just as garage queens.
Unfortunately you need to be wealthy to afford them (always have?) and suck off a dealer. Plus, you won't even be able to recreate what he did in 18 months when that car is turned into a microwave.
The Cayman is what the 911 should've evolved into, but it has the same problem the Buick Grand National did: It can't be seen as showing up the company's halo car.
I'd argue the Grand National and GNX had some other political issues, within GM.
In addition to threatening the hallowed institution that is the Corvette, it upset GM management that Buick's image was being altered by a crude, fast, garish hot rod. They were worried their staid, conservative brand was going to lose its traditional customers if the Grand National really took off. So, GM management put the kibosh on Buick's sporting aspirations.
On top of that, GM probably figured that if anything was going to be that fast, it ought to be a Cadillac. Cadillac, they thought, had the best chance of competing against the onslaught of European and Japanese prestige performance cars that were hitting our shores.
Either way, I think it was a mistake. Buick itself has never had anything so relevant (to anyone who wasn't already an octogenarian) as the Grand National. They had a few sparks of brightness with the later supercharged 3800 cars, and the rebadged Opel performance models that came a decade after those (Regal Turbo, Verano Turbo)...but nothing like the Grand National.
Also, really, the Grand National wasn't that garish. it was fairly subtle for what it was. A literal Dark Horse. In fact, in another generation or two of improved build quality (and GM not nuking its RWD platforms), it could legitimately have competed with the Europeans. Yes, better than Cadillac. Better than the -V cars, even. It could have been the subtlety to Cadillac's ostentatiousness.
It is worth noting that the team that worked on the Grand National and GNX later ended up doing the famous GMC Syclone and Typhoon siblings, so they weren't put out to pasture, at least.
I think you're correct. The ironic thing is that the Grand National and GNX were the most sophisticated cars Buick made at the time - but in a Sophisticated As Hell way, like my dad, who listens to Bach while drinking Beast Ice.
The GN & GNX certainly didn't fit the Middle Class Mercedes image Buick wanted to cultivate and since there wasn't enough distance between them and the C4, into the dumpster they went.
Same problem with the SyTy. They didn't fit into GMC's image.
They were just too cool. Not sure if a 5.0 Fox coupe or a GN was the faster ride on the streets though. All bets are off if you tweak them enough I guess.
The Grand National died because the platform died and there was nothing comparable to replace it. Buick did continue with forced induction V6 and V8 performance cars, but the FWD applications of course never had the presence of the G body GNX.
Good comment. I got a Cayman GTS 4.0 when they first came out. It reminded me so much of my 97 Carrera, without the bad parts. My last 911 was a 2012 991. It was too large and soulless. Plus the seven speed manual was nowhere as good as the six speed in the Boxster/Cayman variants.
I wonder what the overlap is between new 911 drivers and people who’ve stood in line with 300 others for a chance at five minutes on top of Mt. Everest.
They just can’t buy what it is they are looking to have.
I think I got there subconsciously. This is the first time in 38 years I have not had a Porsche sports car. I actually have the Macan T. I finally said fuck it. I picked it up new off the lot for 10% off MSRP which made it cheaper than a new Bronco. The maintenance costs will be more but a I have a good indie shop locally that is reasonable. It certainly is not an icon of cool. I treat it like what it is, an appliance. Of course all of mine were daily drivers with mileage, door dings, and rock chips. I actually had a Porsche guy ask me if I was going to track my Macan. I said, “Are you fucking nuts? It’s 4200 pounds with average brakes and 260 HP.” What’s sad is that I can afford most of their new cars but just don’t want them. When you have to tell people you are are cool, you are not.
When I reviewed the Audi SQ5, the Macan's platform mate, I thought it handled much better than a vehicle that heavy and that far off the ground should be able to handle.
I'm the guy who when I saw one of those new Brinks trucks that literally looks like an armored military vehicle (https://images.wsj.net/im-585688) and has to weigh at least 10 tons unloaded, I said to myself, "I wonder what it'd do in the quarter mile and what it'd pull on the skid pad."
Odd thing here is that the Cayenne is actually a solid vehicle and better than anything else. I've even started to look at one since I do go skiing quite a bit and yes you need the ground clearance out west and the Cayenne is rather capable. Makes me sad.
And notice another modern Thing: from the looks of the daughter, the unseen wife is likely of color. Every couple depicted in commercials lately is biracial.
Saw the driving video. Nice threading the needle and slowing up enough to keep traction but not spinning like the others in a hurry to get to the crash/spin.
Pure tradecraft. Even knowing the rain was there because of the caption still made me pucker a little.
Still like the older Porsches, but still have no desire to be around the people or company.
No trust your gut. Whether you realize it or not, you were holding back a little for a reason. May not have been able to articulate it in the moment, but it proved to be the right call. Like you knew the train wreck/yard sale was coming and going to happen.
Again, even though you wrote the caption which was foreshadowing when it happened, it still made me pucker. You just knew the car off track was going to pull out. Just like a kid at a go karting event for the first time. Full broadside.
Made the previous articles about racing with people who should know better all the more real. They get out there and then forget every ounce of training.
Congratulations to your son. That is absolutely awesome. If he’s getting promoted, he’s earned it. Nothing feels better than getting the recognition after putting in the work.
The difference between the call the cops make to you is that when it's about your son, it's what he did to someone but when the call is about your daughter, it's what someone did to her.
I wonder if all this unnecessary social strife will be mitigated to some degree when mankind finally develops the technology to scatter across the galaxy and reassert the nomadic tribes societal model that served us pretty well for a quarter-million years.
The problem with most of them is the pacing - the worldbuilding falls off a bit so you're stuck with lots of politicking, philosophizing, and setup for some rushed action near the end of the books. The politicking and philosophizing varies in quality from book to book.
Messiah is solid. It gets (got?) a lot of shit, but is generally enjoyable. It has some really great characters and fun moments. I don't want to spoil it too much, but it's a great counterweight to what Dune was.
Children is good, but overrated in my book. Frank's dialogue becomes excessively dense to the point where I always felt like I was missing something in the conversations, even if I seemingly understood the plot points. Frank starts to really get on the nose with the political views he wants to share. Once the book takes off near the end though, it gets WILD real quick.
God Emperor is phenomenal in my opinion, but I can see why others hate it. Frank starts to tighten up his writing here and there is a noticeable difference in the language. The book is slow and mostly focuses on more philosophical ideas, but does this without the unnecessary fluff found in the previous book. I will say that Frank clearly had some amazing ideas in this book that he didn't quite get to flesh out. The next two books (especially Heretics) go a LONG way in appreciating God Emperor.
Heretics is fun. More action packed, great characters (Miles Teg is a gigachad), and as mentioned previously, fleshes out what God Emperor failed to say.
Chapterhouse is uhh...honestly the worst and could probably be skipped. By the time you get to it though, you're too deep to quit.
If you mean the books done by his kid... don't even use them to hold up furniture, they don't deserve to be seen in public.
As far as Frank's original six: if you have the time to read them all in order, it's worth doing. The older I get, the more I enjoy Messiah and Children. God Emperor is the masterpiece. Heretics and Chapterhouse are basically capeshit books set in the Dune universe, but they're not TERRIBLE.
We will scatter then come back together years later to fight over our new difference. Possible we don’t remember we are related, but even if we do one group will try to get the better of the other. It’s what we do.
Vegas has the odds of us destroying ourselves before we get that far. Don’t bet against the house.
Just feeling like Debbie Downer today and have little faith in humanity collectively. We are assholes. We are the “insert place you mention because they are an embarrassment” of the universe. If The Hitchhikers Guide was correct would have left with my towel a long time ago.
Individually great. As a group not so much. Our collective IQ goes down as a large mass. Politicians please step forward as exhibit A.
I wonder about that. Prior to Christianity pretty much all men were at least a little bisexual. They were out there banging women, men, boys, animals, you name it.
Maybe we've just been socialized into "straightness". But that socialization, and a general philosophy of DE-emphasizing sexuality, is what got you the airplane and the light bulb.
And even in primitive cultures, I don't personally think it's a natural thing at all, despite the INCESSANT AND VOLUMINOUS propaganda (if it were natural and common, there would be no need for propaganda).
Well, I think Judaism is literally the first social or religious code to ban male-on-male sexual contact. I'm not saying that the ancient Greeks were like a pride parade in the Castro, but I am saying that it wasn't necessarily a SIN.
Not sure about Greeks, but Romans certainly had normalized homosexual relationships. Typically between grown man and VERY young man. It also was, naturally, one-sided (the older guy being the "active" one).
As for Greeks, I think that some city state supported gay relations in their army, because you were more likely to be willing to die for people you fuck with.
It occurs to me that I own (lease) one of the few vehicles that actually has the cross-demographic appeal to star in that Porsche commercial, a Wrangler. Chicks, gays, strait laced dudes, granolas, etc, they all love it.
On the other hand, my other car has a highly specific demographic, first-generation American sons of successful dry cleaners. I know at least three people who meet this demographic (though I am not among them).
On the subject of my having two daughters, you suddenly have me wanting to get my T levels checked, but I am eating for lunch the meat of an animal I killed so that has to be worth something.
I’ve spoken to multiple doctors about gender selection in conception, and I’m repeatably told that sperm y/x dispersion is 50/50 and that the guy that has 6 daughters just lost 6 coin flips in a row.
Which is possible, there's a 1.56% chance so if you have enough people it will happen. But I also think that doctors say that AND MANY OTHER THINGS because they don't want to encourage certain behaviors.
It’s possible. I wish I had access to some big medical databases, and money to pay for all the jerking off and testing, it would be a fun thing to find out.
I was waiting for your reply to this. "Wait, doesn't Scott A and a few other readers only have daughters and BARUTH JUST SAID that absurdity about 'well, your wife probably just has eggs with the hardness of some WWII battleship'?"
Scott: 4 sons. 1 daughter. Come at me. And my 5th kid was a boy, so even in my old age I'm still cranking that higher offspring sex ratio. I should measure my wife's 2nd and 4th digits to see how much testosterone she bathed in in utero. What a bizarre paper. Researchers have no end to the things they measure to hunt for strange correlations.
I think me getting all daughters and my sister getting all sons was Gods way to teach us humility. I'd love to try again for a son but at this point, I'd love to try again and be happy with another little girl. I started late and I am lucky to have any. After the last 18 months, my testosterone is probably negative.
They don't know the why, but the more of one sex you have the more likely you'll keep getting more each time. IOW, if you already have 3 boys the odds of a fourth are much higher than 50-50.
MotoAmerica was back at Brainerd raceway and continues to provide first rate entertainment. Thankfully, there were no fatalities this year, whereas last year Scott Briody passed away during a qualifying session.
In Supersport we FINALLY see someone other than Xavi Flores at the top spot with Xavi having difficulty finding pace through the races. Josh Hayes, at 48, became the winningest MA racer across all classes with his top podium spot in race 1. This guy is a machine, and he also spends a lot of time training younger riders, so he's giving back to the sport in a significant manner. Xavi is still dominating in points and provided he finds his pace again in the latter half of the season he should have the class win locked up. We saw a number of wrecks, including one where a rider was collected by the first bike to crash and seriously shaken up. Ty Scott would take first in the second race and it's good to see the young rider remain competitive. Rocco Landers also competed and he is somewhat more humble in this class than in the twins cup that he is competing in for the season.
Stock 1000 sees Hayden Gillum, who ran three classes and six races, take first place by enormous margins and close down the points gap significantly. He is now sitting in second and is only 8 points away from Ezra Beaubier in the top spot. Hayden is a likable personality who is displaying serious skill in King of the Baggers and Stock 1000. The bike is simply not competitive in Superbike as a hybrid package, but he still places top 10 with regularity. Frankly, Stock 1000 saw more interesting battles for spots lower down the running order because Hayden was so far clear of the field he looked like Gagne in Superbike last year.
Superbike saw big wrecks and mechanical troubles shaking things up. Cameron Petersen is out for the season trying to rehabilitate his wrist injury and get back into form. His season was cursed with mechanicals and wrecks and I imagine taking a break and resetting will be good for him. In the meantime - race 1 saw PJ Jacobsen punch a whole in Scholtz' R1 and put Scholtz out of the running due to a maneuver where he avoided teammate Cameron Beaubier who went in entirely too hot into turn 3. He also clipped the rear of Jake Gagne but all riders managed to stay up. In the restart, however, Cameron Beaubier would high side and slam into the ground in a gnarly wreck where he was fortunate neither the bike nor he was hit by incoming traffic. Jake Gagne would successfully defend 1st place from PJ Jacobson for the entirety of the race and secure first. Herrin would come in third place for yet another consistent points gain.
Race 2 saw Gagne and Jacobson duke it out at the front once more, with Cameron Beaubier deemed unfit to ride due to a concussion. Jacobson managed to find a place to pass and put a half second gap on Gagne which he managed to maintain for his FIRST SUPERBIKE WIN. It's really wonderful to see such a competitive group of riders and bikes this year. Herrin would go out with a mechanical this time which ended his consistent podium streak. However, Matt Scholtz saw redemption with a third place ride wherein he had to stave off a hard charging Bobby Fong, riding Gagne's 2022 bike, as Fong was clearing .75-1s a LAP on Scholtz toward the end of the race.
Unfortunately, Richie Escalante fell off somewhat at Brainerd and I'm hoping he finds himself again in upcoming races.
King of the Baggers race 1 saw Gillum take first and Wyman make a poor showing. Bobby Fong botched his start from pole and lost too much time to be able to win. O'Hara and others went out with mechanical troubles. Good clean racing outside of that.
Race 2 had Fong make a much stronger start and control the race from the get go. Hayden Gillum would work his way to second place on the podium, and O'Hara managed to get a second Indian up there at Indian's "home race."
Excellent racing all around, it's just a shame that Gagne's lead was extended through an injury to Beaubier as seeing those two compete has been a treat for the entire season to date.
since we're a close-knit cadre of friends here who can give and take criticism...please stop using "would win", "would finish," etc. that's ancient oilrag-sniffing jargon that says: i'm telling you something important because i'm important. it's pompous-history stuff, the polar opposite of "made contact" on a very tiny orb. thank you.
Obviously, it takes a real lack of actual life to make up that sort of stuff.
If any of us did a fraction of the things we'd been accused of, or heard whispers or rumors about, we'd all be famous movie stars, or infamous, or dead by now.
Or, on the other hand, if they knew about all the actual secrets ... now, that would indeed be scandalous!
I am mulling over if he has a point, certainly the language is warmed over and repetitive and I would also never admit to writing while half paying attention to a meeting and running on four hours of sleep.
I gave up on F1 years ago. MotoAmerica brought me back to racing. Hope to see Herrin and Gagne on equally competitive bikes at any track. Rainey & Co. seem to have the marketing figured out. There are more fans at the track every year over the past 5 years I've been going. Only issue I have is the pandering to the Harley/Indian owners with The King of the Baggers stuff. Again smart marketing but totally fake machines. Like a Nascar Camry. But, brings in more money that appears is being used to improve the venues and incentivize the Riders. Stefano Mesa finally got a sponsored Super Sport ride this year. You can bet he didn't buy that seat. He earned that. Downside with the Bagger series is more Harley riders showing up with their typical BS.
I think Herrin's bike is Petrucci's from last year (maybe not might be all new for him) which was more than competitive in Danilo's hands and is the dominating bike in WSBK (more or less I don't actually know all the differences between the series).
The KotBs is dragging in a new demo and I think it's a mixed bag like you say. I don't know how much everyone understands the bikes are essentially rolling prototypes of which not much is stock. Indian (? I think) announced they would be making replicas which should help them keep their program going by ameliorating the cost.
Mesa's a good rider all around from what I've seen - I do find it strange he's on the ebike for Super Hooligans but mostly because I find it strange an ebike is in the running.
Have a look at Kevin Cameron’s articles on KOTB over at Cycle World’s website. There’s some pretty interesting engineering and development going on in that series.
GP bikes are just as artificially constrained by a rule book. Otherwise, racing motorcycles would all have a full dustbin fairing like the Moto Guzzi from the fifties.
Apparently the KOTB bikes are lapping Laguna-Seca faster than the two-stroke GP bikes did back in the eighties. That’s just incredible to me.
No argument that the Kotb bikes are not marvelously engineered machines. Bur they don't bare any resemblance to a street bike except for paint, logos and plastic "bags" Actually saw a "bag" blow off a bike during a race. Corner worker tossed it against the fence with a couple of fingers. Checked it out. Thinnest fiberglass I have seen. I get it. The demographic wants to buy into a "Harley " beating old sportbile records around Laguana.The only part of the kotb bikes that resemble the street bike is some of the engine exterior. Internals don't and can't be used on street.
F1 and MotoGP are branding for the mfg and billboards for the dollars. Fans know this.
I doubt the “Demo” knows where Laguna Seca is or that lunatics rode those two strokes there forty years ago leaving lurid strips of rubber as they drifted both ends through the corners. I just find it amazing that the KOTB bikes are that fast.
GP bikes once bore zero resemblance to street bikes. Then Honda with the Interceptor and Kawi with the GPz and Ninja made it de rigeur that street bikes look like racing bikes.
I am surprised to hear MotoAmerica supposedly ranks as the third most popular motorsport globally and #1 in the US and is ahead of NASCAR which I think of as quintessential American motorsport (and don't watch).
I realize the following may lower my social credit score to near zero, but I’m 70 so fuck it. If you hear somebody say patriarchy, racism or sexism there are only 3 possibilities: 1. They’re a personal failure and looking for someone to blame. 2. They’re part of an institution that’s failing. 3. It’s a fiat money grab. I might note that the most predictable thing has occurred, HS boys are trending conservative.
I spied Officer Brandon Tatum and the Hodge Twins on my son's youtube feed. Very glad to not see anyone like that bedwetter (Evan something?) who tried to start an online feud with Steven Crowder a few years ago, or the Young Turks...
When people wonder who has the power in media, consider the fact that you can't sing about stopping crime in a small town but you can have a whole TV show named in homage to the people who did this:
you're assuming in #1 that they can think instead of just parrot. you're right about the rest. i reacted years ago to "disrespect." what tranquil days they seem now!
The stuff Winwood did during the "Higher Love" and "Back In The High Life" period is about the only music with electronic drums that I can tolerate, well, that and Zappa's "G-Spot Tornado": https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XvpdiIaZZLg
Does the Radical have fairly long gear ratios? I noticed in that video that you don't do much shifting. I've raced Mid O in our Civic SI and I feel like I'm always rowing gears. Yesterday I emailed my regional license admin for the SCCA, to see whether any of my racing experience will count toward getting an SCCA competition license. I've already told you this, Jack, but we don't race as often as I'd like in Champcar, and I'd like to get into some non endurance racing with cars that are more evenly classed. I've sold one of my street cars today, am selling another in the next couple of weeks, and I currently have a line on an ITS prepped RX-7..
So, I'm both geared incorrectly for Mid-O, basically stalling in 6th gear, PLUS my 2nd and 3rd gears are hors de combat from the previous owner. I race in 4 and 5 for the most part.
Over the winter I will re-gear the rear end and rebuild the transmission which will make my life a LOT easier and maybe give me 2 seconds a lap.
I have two daughters now, and my oldest son. I admit I am much more concerned about protecting my son from being crushed by society than my daughters (who I still am worried about just less so!). The daughters, if nothing else, will be able to leverage their prime beauty years. A son in a society that doesn't deem him as valuable and doesn't see masculinity as valuable? Going to be a rougher time.
I joked the other day to my wife that when my daughters are in their mid-20s I’ll be calling up every trade I can to come work on my house and beg them to send their youngest employee in hopes one of my daughters catches his eye.
I'm starting to think that one of the best things you can do as a parent is to mentally inoculate your children against this prestige / lifestyle marketing. These ads are honestly pretty insulting when you start to see them for what they are - the product of some marketing agency that believes that it can short-circuit any discussion of technical specs, product comparisons, total cost of ownership, etc by just saying "social acceptance" and "status anxiety" a bunch of times in a row.
Spot on. You also need to show kids (at a proper age) that there’s an agenda behind 99% of what the culture spews out. Also teach them about the power of mimetic behavior. We as adults can easily see all these perverse influences, but kids need to be taught to identify them for what they are.
Ah, probably whatever the top Cayenne is. I could always use another tow vehicle.
To be forthright, I don't drive quickly enough to need a fast car. I bet my 300C never sees the high side of 120 on a public road and will probably be 5 under the limit everywhere in my county.
For sports cars, I like what you did. I'd want a stick-shift 911 with every luxury feature, no stress about "performance".
In my mind a Porsche, especially a 911, is a sports car that can give near top-level performance and still used daily. I wouldn’t drive a Corvette in a snowstorm, and I can’t put two kids in my S2000 or a Supra, but I would expect to do both quite easily in a 911 (baring the exotic versions). But I haven’t driven a 911 in a decade and I haven’t driven a Porsche other than a Panamera Turbo in several years. Plus it’s one of the only mainstream carmaker willing to put a stick shift in a top level performance car (Lotus excepted but their production is a rounding error even though I’d do terrible things for an Emira).
Source: drove a 911SC on Blizzaks as it was my only car for a while. Ran some 944 cookie cutters instead of the stock Fuchs as a just in case.
Drove a 2003 996 year round as well on all seasons and those weren't hot after year one (DWS06s) but I had winter tires mounted on the other (other) car as a just in case.
The sheer mass over the drive wheels helps you to go, but obviously there can be problems if it lets go and you don't get grip in time.
They also don't produce traction breaking grunt at 2k RPM vs the 6+L displacement V8s.
The 911 is THE Porsche. It’s the halo under which the entire brand exists. It is many things to many people - there are nearly 30 versions of it, after all - but it is fundamentally an iconic (apt use of the most overused word circa 2023) sports car with a unique layout that has gotten better and better, by and large, since 1963 (for those who disagree, there’s always a station to get off the train - impact bumpers, torsion bars, pontoon fenders, air cooling, PDK, turbos, etc.) It is immensely capable, and becomes more so with every generation, although the owners become less likely to use them for extreme tasks as the cars get more expensive. In that way, it’s like a Rolex Submariner or a Range Rover or a Mercedes G Wagen. The 911 - at least in most guises - is the sportiest, most outre vehicle that a white collar boss (or worker) can drive to work. Brand new $300K+ 911 S/T (without the graphics backage) looks just like a $115K Carrera to virtually everyone. The same guy cannot roll up to work in, say, a 2004 Gallardo. As a final note, surely you can’t fault Porsche for offering a manual throughout most of the 911 range; who else is doing that sort of thing now?
The passenger cars - Cayenne, Macan, Panamera - extend from the aura of the 911. They are the sportiest, most premium cars in their class that a “respectable” corporate employee (or anyone who is sufficiently self-aware) can drive to work, to pick up the kids at school, to church, etc. You cannot do that with a Urus or Cullinan or … etc. These vehicles make liberal use of the VAG parts bin, although in some cases Porsche designs and specs the component (or even platform) and the others live with it - e.g., the Bentley Conti GT is essentially a modern 928, in the sense that it is a two-door Panamera. In other cases, Porsche works with what the rest of the VAG bureaucracy provides for them - e.g., the Macan is a heavily re-worked Audi Q5, and the Cayenne - ostensibly a premium German product - is produced in Bratislava, Slovakia. Porsche is now the master of the house for the entire constellation of brands under the VAG and ultimately Porsche S.E. corporate interests. Oliver Blume defenestrated Markus Duesmann - his old rival - from Audi is the CEO, separately, of both VAG and Porsche.
The Taycan - and the other forthcoming electric cars - are emblematic of the brand’s new obsession (guilt?) over emissions, fuel consumption figures, etc. The next gen Boxster and Cayman will be EV only since (0) they are not terribly important from a sales perspective, (1) they afford an opportunity to experiment before an EV variant of the 911 arrives (lower stakes), and (2) they can persuade many of the Boomer 911 types to add a Boxster / Cayman as a complement to their 911.
If you’d like a brand that ONLY builds performance cars, McLaren is for you. At least for now.
> but the product is usually pretty good, for what it is
This was IBM's strategy in the late 1980s - put $2000 worth of high quality computer components sourced from third party suppliers in a box, stamp their billion-dollar brand's logo on it, and sell it for $7500, twice the price of a Tandy, Apple, Kaypro, etc. And it worked so well that IBM sold every single XT and AT it could produce.
Were IBM's computers good? No question they were - you really couldn't buy a better computer at the time. Were they also obscene ripoffs? Yes, obviously.
I don't know enough about the auto supply chain to know if Porsche is using the same "$2000 of parts in a box for $7500" strategy that IBM used - others can speak to that. But in IBM's case it didn't last - by 1994 they were sitting on $600m of inventory they couldn't sell because it was common knowledge a customer could get a computer that was just as good from Compaq, Dell, etc at a much lower price and the industry was happy to see the giant fall. So maybe Porsche's hold is more tenuous than it looks.
Your analogy very much applies to Porsche. From an engineering perspective it IS near the best, but doesn't justify the pricing premium applied to the finished product.
I’d take a higher HP stick, but the economics get out of wack quickly for the special models. Like you said, airplane, race car, boat, house type of money. At least an argument can be made that the value will probably hold up.
Not a hippie, but the "One For The Road" / "You Don't Have to be Crazy but it Helps" promotional film mentions skater Peggy Fleming, who was at least a chick:
Another grifter.
I'm not convinced that Daniel is that bad. If he's actually said or acted with indifference towards understanding a car's technical aspects then he doesn't deserve to be anywhere near top tier racing.
But on his day he can race, he can drive, and he's not as full of himself as the Mercedes duo. He's sort of grown (while in F1) in Lewi's shadow and likely wanting to present himself in a similar image at some point, and while 'I' find that repugnant, I can't fault him for that approach.
He's not the only one to have made a series of bad calls when it comes to moving between teams. Its nice and easy to make such comments from a distance with the benefit of never having to drive said machinery or make such calls, but his data shows he is competitive. I'm not getting sucked into the 'OMG Yuki whooped his ass' baseless fanboy-ism.
"I'm not getting sucked into the 'OMG Yuki whooped his ass' baseless fanboy-ism."
For every time you don't do that, I'll do it TWICE
Thats what makes this fun.
Honestly no one makes it to F1 without having demonstrated the pace to beat everyone on their day, and that includes Yuki. He had some phenomenal performances in F2 before he was promoted to appease Honda. BUT he is way to raw, way to erratic, and loses his cool very easily, and the 'Ayrton Senna - fast modulation of the controls' style he has doesn't lend itself to the faster (edgier) F1 cars in this era. He has to mature a lot to earn MY respect (as a potato sitting in a chair, who has never driven an open wheel car in anger.
For sure he will never be numbered among the greats, but then again neither will Danny Ric., who probably owes his continued employment to Netflix.
I don't buy the Netflix argument although it could be a small factor.
This. DR is a multiple race winner. Any driver who can pull that off in F1 has more than just go fast talent. Unfortunately his court jester act became too much drain on his mental game. Now clowning is his greatest skillset.
'I can't stand him because he is so emblematic of various charlatans that exist today: incompetent, venal, endlessly self-promoting with little in the way of accomplishments or results"
That increasingly seems to be the only way to get ahead in the seven-figure world or even the mid six-figure world. More than almost any other single indicator, it suggests the death of our current society.
You can see it in car design.
What was the last truly beautiful exotic car built? For me, it was the original Murcielago, which has simple, purposeful lines. Look what they eventually did to it. Look at the Aventador. No elegance or sense of style.
Hell, how about REGULAR car design? The pre-facelift (notice a theme?) S550 Mustang looks great, until you get down below the wheel centers and it becomes a visual mess.
Pre-facelift W212 E63 AMG, same.
"What was the last truly beautiful exotic car built?"
Does the R8 count?
In its original form, I think it does.
If only they'd done it with more of the Gallardo roofline, it would be PERFECT.
Huracan?
I saw a 1960s white chrysler imperial convertible parked on the street the other day and immediately thought "wow, that's the coolest car I have seen all year". And I live in a place where I see so-called supercars every other day.
Truly beautiful exotic cars, of late?
Huracan (focus on the silhouette and proportions, not the silk shirt-Miami Nightclub-crypto scam-mumble rap clientele)
F8 Tributo (it is bite the back of your hand beautiful; it’s busy, and one additional fillip or feature would detract, but as it sits, it is tremendous)
296 GTB (Ferrari is the only brand that has such a rich vein of aesthetic history; they have numerous house signatures that they can mix and match; they are a bit like U2 between Joshua Tree and Achtung Baby - they started with a clean sheet for the 296 and developed another all-new, yet unmistakably Ferrari car that follows on nicely from the F8)
Artura (best looking McLaren since the 12C)
Emira (fantastic design; a shrunken McLaren)
Evija (this may be the best one on the list)
The Huracan DOES have a good silhouette, as do the F8 and 296, but the details are what make them Modern to my eyes - and I don't mean that as a compliment.
I think Italian car design went into the pooper once the manufacturers started designing in house vs. having Pininfarina/Bertone/ItalDesign do the work.
I like the Emira a lot, but after I saw Frank Stephenson correct all the small design flaws I can’t unsee them.
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=YTYYfG3FdDA
Laugh if you will, but today I saw a C8 on the street in an absolutely GORGEOUS candyapple red!
I don't necessarily agree with what they did to finally achieve the mythical mid-engine 'Vette (they could have also done another model with the long deck and the front-engine capping-out at, say, $60K), but on the whole, it's not a bad looking piece. And when I saw that one today, I had to catch my breath!
I have noticed that the fiberglass under and around the lateral intake area on the C8s sometimes looks to have a “ripple” under certain light.
It’s commendable to offer a high performing mid-engine car at such a compelling price point, especially for a brand that has no experience building such a car - save for the Fiero two generations ago. I do not find the car beautiful by any means; a big part of this is the requirement to fit two golf bags in the back, I believe.
My next statement will confirm many of the unfortunate stigmas associated with my internet persona, but here goes: I look at the C8 the same way I look at all of the DTC internet brands that make fake Gucci bit loafers. They may look like a passable imitation to those with less discerning eyes, but they do not fool the cognoscenti. That said, Carmina - a Spanish shoemaker - makes a better Gucci loafer than does the Florentine house, at least at the moment; I am hopeful that the arrival of a new creative director’s collection in September rectifies this sorry state of affairs!
Derek's "...now it favors the loudest" statement followed by your "You can see it in car design" line is, to me, 100% spot on. It's been something I've observed over the last several years, and, after factoring in societal and political trends during this same period, all of it matches. The truck market is probably the most obvious, particularly full-size offerings. Mid-90's OBS Fords, 2nd gen Rams, and GMT400s are 80" wide like their modern successors, but their designs were clean and understated. Long body lines and forms carried along the horizontal have resulted in a timeless look.
We saw in the 2000s the inflated and "aggro" aesthetic emerge and that has only increased since. Newer generations' wheels and tires--to say nothing of aftermarket offerings or the bro dozer builds--look varying degrees of out of place on older rigs. The current Ram 1500 and '20-22 Super Duties are the exception for me. Both are very well designed, with great lines, proportions, and design features scaled well among their overall forms.
"Last truly beautiful exotic car built?" I concur with Ice Age, the R8 in its original form. LaFerrari has always had an elegance. Ferrari's current Roma is gorgeous. Pre-facelift Aston DBS and DB9 (alright, not exotic..).
Last beautiful regular car? Current (2nd generation) Toyota Venza. Yes it does have the Toyota Large Grille but all of it is done very well.
I refrained from including the front-engined stuff, but the F12, F12 TdF, and 812 are all beautiful in my eyes (the 812 less so than the others). The 812 Competizione is not beautiful.
The Roma IS beautiful. Imagine the 812 Superfast successor - F167 is the code name - with a Roma-inspired exterior (which is what the mules indicate) and a timeless interior (like the 550 Maranello), which is not what they will produce. Give it a click clack manual (never gonna happen) and it would be achingly desirable.
The Roma is the only car that has turned my head in years. They are lovely.
roma is pretty gorgeous but that interior (especially for a GT car) is a big turnoff for me
My theory on this is that in order to appeal to the new generation of douchebags, rather than the prior one, car design has changed from organic to what I call animé. It is all straight lines, planes and sharp angles.
Funny you should say that. I've always thought the Murcielago looked like a Lamborghini that someone designed for a sci-fi anime movie in the early 90s.
>What was the last truly beautiful exotic car built?
Most recently introduced: 5th-gen Dodge Viper, or maybe Lexus LC500.
Most recently produced: It's not really "exotic" (at least in non-Hellcat form) but IMO the Dodge Challenger is beautiful.
>Hell, how about REGULAR car design?
I really like the 2-series coupe in non-M2 form, the ND Miata, the new Bronco, and most Audi (although they peaked in the 2000s), Jeep, Genesis and Kia products. But it is getting increasingly dismal for sure.
I think Mazda's designs are good, but they're not exotic by any stretch of the imagination.
Back in the cherished Seventies, the domestics designed all the styling looks at the same time and swapped them as the years went past, so they all looked more or less "Right".
Now they design the original car, put it into production, and start the LifeCycle Impulse planning THEN.
The new Gordon Murray cars
The one Shakespeare quote I know:
“Reputation is an idle and most false imposition, oft got without merit, and lost without deserving”
So what's wrong with the AT? I don't know.
What was wrong with the Mclaren? I don't know.
Now, supposedly AT next year will be taking RB parts to the limit of the rules. Considering he did well in his RB test drive, that's the only thing that might save him if offered a ride for next year.
But, if he can't explain why, he's not going to get catered to. "Hey Lando, does this help?" Yes, pretty good guys. "Thanks. Anything else you'd like to have?"
I’m with ‘ya. I used to like him when he was “The King of the Late Brakers”, but he has become increasingly irritating to me over the last several years with his poor excuses and quick abandonment of every team he drives for. I suspect he is also poorly managed which just exacerbates an already deteriorating situation.
Very well put. He's an affable air head. He makes me appreciate guys like Albon even more who seem to take their craft seriously and have a hardness in their eyes.
"hippy chick driving a 3.0 carrera" reminds me of the Bob Jones story where he rides into San Francisco on his XS750 and goes to a massage parlor and is, *ahem* serviced by some college chick who apparently drove a 911.
There's also a girl in Updike's "Rabbit Redux" who abandons a 356 on the street because it won't start.
I know Rabbit wasn't technically a boomer, but that book encapsulates boomer-dom more than anything else ever put on paper.
Jill and Skeeter are Boomers, though -- and you can see so much of the future in it.
I hate to ask, but which Updike should I read first?
Couples. It's the best introduction and a wickedly clever book.
Based off of my dad's teenage hometown of Ipswich, MA!
Apparently if you knew the town you could pinpoint who was whom.
"You could read your essay!"
"The one that compares the sophomore class to barnyard animals? I'd better not - it names names."
old 6 volt German cars that won't start is true .
Luckily it's an easily fixed malady .
-Nate
Does Germany have palm trees? Always seems like they want it to be SoCal but then the cars have German plates. Not sure what they intend it to be.
Give me the hippy chick out of all of them, implausibility aside she’d be the one who gets the weirdest. Except maybe the mustachio’d dudes, but not my thing thanks.
Oh look! The car in this new commercial is driving across that bridge in Los Angeles! Isn't that original?
Ha! I thought they tore that down!
So did I...
California is a very important market for Porsche; Wolfgang Porsche said in 2018 at Rennsport Reunion - held at Laguna Seca - that “California is truly Porsche’s second home.”
I thought that was odd, as I was standing next to a friend who worked for Porsche Cars North America, which is headquartered in Atlanta.
Perhaps there's an understanding that if Porsche stops being cool in Cali, that the rest of the country could quickly follow suit.
I sent Jack that “Icons of Cool” pic.
I found it NAUSEATING; I clowned the car on Instagram and Rennlist where I heard from other commentators. The Instagram feedback came from 20-something car spotters with caterpillar mustaches who worship everything Porsche does but have never even driven one. The Rennlist feedback came from Boomers who are ordering one and assured me that the car actually *is* cool. Like Steve McQueen and Gulf colors!
The brand is terrible now…
[disclaimer: I've had three 911s, the current one's a 996, I like it a lot, so does my daughter.]
All 'brands' are terrible. Brands are what companies become when they've built a reputation *by effing Making Something well*, and turn that reputation out. Porsche hotels are vertical integration of the referenced whoring, not a pathetic denouement for a storied automaker like you thought.
I have stayed at the Porsche hotel next to Hartsfield. It was awful.
The same fanbois who’ll drive the next 42-page rennthread on deviated stitching will ensure the hotels’ success.
But why ask a tailor to fix your teeth?
If you have to SAY something is cool...
Gulf colors are cool! At least it's not white or black
On a somewhat related note : I've grown tired of being rear ended or nearly so so many times so now I make sure my car has not only *perfect* taillights but also the license tag lamp is extra bright so it creates a 'halo' of light on the ground just under the rear bumper without being blinding to those who continue to follow too closely or come up too fast .
At speed the small taillights of older cars are not always well visible from a distance so every bit helps .
I think the shown ground light is dorky but I -do- like _some_ ground effect lighting on a few cars .
-Nate
My cousin lives in LA. Her husband is a successful attorney (who inherited his father's partnership) so she plays at being a social worker. I'm sure they both love Gavin Newsom. At a family event she mentioned, "I just got a new Porsh." "Oh, which one?" I queried. "A Macan," she answered. "That's the Porsche version of the Audi Q5 that I reviewed. Nice car." "No, it's a Porsh, not an Audi." I didn't have the heart to show her the Audi rings on the control arms.
Same with the dickheads that hated the VW tags on some of the older Porsche parts .
If you're buying your transportation to impress others you're a de facto looser .
-Nate
Not related to this, but the next time we meet we will have to talked about resonant frequencies in cars instrument's and bridges as that is my business
Have you gotten tired of people mentioning the Tacoma Narrows bridge when you say what your business is?
Did you see my article about the Camaro "cocktail shakers"?
The first major redesign of my electric harmonica was due to issues with Helmholtz resonances introduced by adding a mouthpiece. I learned that there's a reason why the chambers in harmonica combs are sized the way they are.
Lately due to feedback from advanced players I've been working on reducing my gizmo's sustain by putting little pieces of adhesive EVA foam across the base of the reeds. Just enough dampening to keep the reeds from ringing but not so much that action is slowed down too far or that the fundamental pitch is affected. The foam pads have to fit inside the comb so they end up being about 5mm x 3mm. Good thing God made people smart enough to make lasers.
Sorry so long to respond. Actually, I use the Tacoma Bridge as an example of how damaging vibration can be if a structures natural frequency gets excited. On smaller equipment an structures I have used a strobe light tuned to slightly off frequency. The look on their faces when they see a steel beam moving like a wet noodle is the best. Works much better than showing the computer generated operating deflection analysis. Your article on the Camaro was excellent. It's funny how many different types of dampeners and absorbers can be found on cars. Have done analysis on a lot of vintage cars. Most people don't understand, on vintage manual transmissions the shifter is directly connected with no isolation. When I tell them can design and attach a dampener they usually don't want to because it won't be original.
FWIW I’ve never seen more 911’s, GT cars especially, than in LA. I suspect it’s because it appeals to the LA ego that wants to own the thing that “Those in the know” own, without ever actually having any experiences or developing any taste of their own. Given the 911 circle jerking by journalists and media personalities since the 997 GT3 came out, combined with the over romanticization of the cars once values skyrocketed, it makes sense to me that LA is Porsche HQ.
" . . . North America, which is headquartered in Atlanta."
Something to do with taxes maybe? Soon the only people left in California will be the Tech Nerds who can afford a Porsche and the people who wash them.
PCNA moved from Reno to Atlanta a long time ago.
PCNA got a new HQ on the former site of the Taurus/Sable plant by Hartsfield just under a decade ago. There were incentives for that opportunity.
MB USA is also based in Atlanta.
Yes, Germany does have palm trees. Or at least it used to.
Painted on certain motor vehicles back in the 40s.
Fear not, palm trees are not native to California either .
I hate them and have removed them anytime I lived where there was one on the property .
-Nate
Nostalgia is the last refuge of a dying brand?
Reminds me of all the Detroit ads when they'd show a 50's or 60's car next to the newest iteration, which they did with Caddies, Challengers, Chargers, Mustangs, even Pickups to some extent. And all of the flyover country viewers were like "damn, for the same money I'd take the old one".
Also, if that's supposed to represent a 60 year span, the man in the last shot isn't near old enough to be the kid from the first shot, which obviously they're trying to imply.
It's hard to say that Porsche is a dying brand though. This stuff is resonating hard with the younger well-off group of slightly chubby tech dudes (or trust fundies) who are obsessed with posting instagram photos of their watches in front of a steering wheel.
They abandoned their core business of making fast road cars for serious men and now chase the twin markets of minivan/shopping-cart and garage-paperweight.
Which is apparently WAY more profitable.
I just don't admire it at all.
So, they're Harley-Davidson?
Maybe, but I'm honestly not sure what the H-D core product or demo ever was. As far as I can tell, they always sold a few big bikes and a lot of sportsters. I suppose the full-on push into tourers and baggers is their Cayenne/Macan equivalent.
Harley has no direct competitor to a CBR1000RR or Panigale. That should tell you half of what needs to be said of them.
I know lots of motorcycle manufacturers have an entry into every field and is this necessary? I say no, the bean counters say yes it seems.
Why would you leave money on the table?
Why does a touring/sports car company make EVs and SUVs? Sullied the brand but people don't care. Harley hasn't stooped to quite that level but they do have a billion variants and special issues which is fake as f.
And it shivved the one guy who tried to give them exactly that when the economy imploded in 2009.
Do they even have an engine that could be used for something like that?
The core H-D product for probably the last 30 years has been expensive T shirts.
Haha can confirm: sold my shovelhead, kept the cool shirt.
Harley's not alone. Do you remember "No Fear"? It was literally JUST a logo that two brothers concocted a few decades ago and sold on merchandise like decals and t-shirts to underwrite their racing efforts, in Trans Am as I recall.
oh its not special edition F150s?
Around here there's a ton of guys in their 30s-50s in the trades that have brand new financed $30-40k Street/Road Glides with upgraded stereos etc. Sportsters have been "girl bikes" for a number of decades now it seems. Though if I fit on one better, I'd love a 98-03ish Sporster 1200S. And/or if I dip my feet back into the Harley world I'd love a $2000-2500ish Ironhead sportster. I don't mind having that much tied up in a bar hopper. I didn't like having $6-7k into that Shovelhead that I didn't trust to take farther than the county line.
Stereos in fuckin' motorcycles.
Like a cupholder on a sniper rifle.
Neither do I. However, one of my best friends just picked up his new daily he ordered, a Cayman GTS 4.0. He's already put about 3k miles on it in the past month or so. So there are SOME of the younger generation who are excited about these cars and aren't keeping them just as garage queens.
Unfortunately you need to be wealthy to afford them (always have?) and suck off a dealer. Plus, you won't even be able to recreate what he did in 18 months when that car is turned into a microwave.
The Cayman is what the 911 should've evolved into, but it has the same problem the Buick Grand National did: It can't be seen as showing up the company's halo car.
How ironic that the 911 has to still be the alpha sports car of the company when in proportion and purpose it's become a 928.
At least the 928 had presence. Today’s bloated 911’s are just a caricature of the past.
A Porsche for people who don't really want a Porsche?
"This car's a shiny dick with two chairs in it. And I guess we the balls, jus' draggin' the fuck along!"
I'd argue the Grand National and GNX had some other political issues, within GM.
In addition to threatening the hallowed institution that is the Corvette, it upset GM management that Buick's image was being altered by a crude, fast, garish hot rod. They were worried their staid, conservative brand was going to lose its traditional customers if the Grand National really took off. So, GM management put the kibosh on Buick's sporting aspirations.
On top of that, GM probably figured that if anything was going to be that fast, it ought to be a Cadillac. Cadillac, they thought, had the best chance of competing against the onslaught of European and Japanese prestige performance cars that were hitting our shores.
Either way, I think it was a mistake. Buick itself has never had anything so relevant (to anyone who wasn't already an octogenarian) as the Grand National. They had a few sparks of brightness with the later supercharged 3800 cars, and the rebadged Opel performance models that came a decade after those (Regal Turbo, Verano Turbo)...but nothing like the Grand National.
Also, really, the Grand National wasn't that garish. it was fairly subtle for what it was. A literal Dark Horse. In fact, in another generation or two of improved build quality (and GM not nuking its RWD platforms), it could legitimately have competed with the Europeans. Yes, better than Cadillac. Better than the -V cars, even. It could have been the subtlety to Cadillac's ostentatiousness.
It is worth noting that the team that worked on the Grand National and GNX later ended up doing the famous GMC Syclone and Typhoon siblings, so they weren't put out to pasture, at least.
I think you're correct. The ironic thing is that the Grand National and GNX were the most sophisticated cars Buick made at the time - but in a Sophisticated As Hell way, like my dad, who listens to Bach while drinking Beast Ice.
The GN & GNX certainly didn't fit the Middle Class Mercedes image Buick wanted to cultivate and since there wasn't enough distance between them and the C4, into the dumpster they went.
Same problem with the SyTy. They didn't fit into GMC's image.
I have a copy of Black Air, the documentary about the Grand National and GNX, that I watch from time to time.
They were just too cool. Not sure if a 5.0 Fox coupe or a GN was the faster ride on the streets though. All bets are off if you tweak them enough I guess.
The Grand National died because the platform died and there was nothing comparable to replace it. Buick did continue with forced induction V6 and V8 performance cars, but the FWD applications of course never had the presence of the G body GNX.
As an owner of a number of them, I'll say they're the ones I most see at track days.
The 992 911 is ridiculous, the latest 911 I'd want is a 997 and even then not really.
Good comment. I got a Cayman GTS 4.0 when they first came out. It reminded me so much of my 97 Carrera, without the bad parts. My last 911 was a 2012 991. It was too large and soulless. Plus the seven speed manual was nowhere as good as the six speed in the Boxster/Cayman variants.
I wonder what the overlap is between new 911 drivers and people who’ve stood in line with 300 others for a chance at five minutes on top of Mt. Everest.
They just can’t buy what it is they are looking to have.
I am fussing around with a piece on "RICH DUDE EXPERIENCES" and I'm going to talk about exactly that.
Just don't book any deep sea submersible trips while doing research.
Ah, I imagine the chances are low that would happen again. Things are safer now, based on recent feedback, right?
From where I sit all your articles are about rich dudes .
Maybe some more Blue Collar thoughts ? .
-Nate
So who makes fast road cars for serious men?
I think your question hinges on “serious,” because there are plenty of purveyors of fast road cars.
All cars are fast now, really. My stick-shift Milan is about as fast as a 911SC.
But there are virtually no serious cars; they're either eco-weenie signal or self-parody butch.
The original F12berlinetta was probably my favorite serious-man fast car.
Did you happen to drive an F12 TdF or an 812 Superfast?
Did not, but I didn't care for the visual changes.
I'm serious about driving any car fast.
But I'm not that serious of a man, I fuck around a lot.
I think I got there subconsciously. This is the first time in 38 years I have not had a Porsche sports car. I actually have the Macan T. I finally said fuck it. I picked it up new off the lot for 10% off MSRP which made it cheaper than a new Bronco. The maintenance costs will be more but a I have a good indie shop locally that is reasonable. It certainly is not an icon of cool. I treat it like what it is, an appliance. Of course all of mine were daily drivers with mileage, door dings, and rock chips. I actually had a Porsche guy ask me if I was going to track my Macan. I said, “Are you fucking nuts? It’s 4200 pounds with average brakes and 260 HP.” What’s sad is that I can afford most of their new cars but just don’t want them. When you have to tell people you are are cool, you are not.
When I reviewed the Audi SQ5, the Macan's platform mate, I thought it handled much better than a vehicle that heavy and that far off the ground should be able to handle.
I agree it is a great driving and handling car. It’s just not anything I would like to drive on the track.
I'm the guy who when I saw one of those new Brinks trucks that literally looks like an armored military vehicle (https://images.wsj.net/im-585688) and has to weigh at least 10 tons unloaded, I said to myself, "I wonder what it'd do in the quarter mile and what it'd pull on the skid pad."
What would that kind of car would that look like? Same vehicle as the one above, just without the cringe?
Maybe?
Odd thing here is that the Cayenne is actually a solid vehicle and better than anything else. I've even started to look at one since I do go skiing quite a bit and yes you need the ground clearance out west and the Cayenne is rather capable. Makes me sad.
And the taglines, like "Yeah, it's got a Hemi!"
And notice another modern Thing: from the looks of the daughter, the unseen wife is likely of color. Every couple depicted in commercials lately is biracial.
Saw the driving video. Nice threading the needle and slowing up enough to keep traction but not spinning like the others in a hurry to get to the crash/spin.
Pure tradecraft. Even knowing the rain was there because of the caption still made me pucker a little.
Still like the older Porsches, but still have no desire to be around the people or company.
I'll admit that I had a HUGE moment of self-doubt when the Formula X car went by... "am I being too much of a pussy here?"
No trust your gut. Whether you realize it or not, you were holding back a little for a reason. May not have been able to articulate it in the moment, but it proved to be the right call. Like you knew the train wreck/yard sale was coming and going to happen.
Again, even though you wrote the caption which was foreshadowing when it happened, it still made me pucker. You just knew the car off track was going to pull out. Just like a kid at a go karting event for the first time. Full broadside.
Made the previous articles about racing with people who should know better all the more real. They get out there and then forget every ounce of training.
Congratulations to your son. That is absolutely awesome. If he’s getting promoted, he’s earned it. Nothing feels better than getting the recognition after putting in the work.
The "reentry" (attempted murder/suicide) was the smoothest brain thing I've seen in a while.
Not even sure I'd do that in Forza.
Be careful out there a lot of NPC’s out there who think the are the main character of a movie. No situational awareness.
Reality and physics are stern teachers.
The difference between the call the cops make to you is that when it's about your son, it's what he did to someone but when the call is about your daughter, it's what someone did to her.
I wonder if all this unnecessary social strife will be mitigated to some degree when mankind finally develops the technology to scatter across the galaxy and reassert the nomadic tribes societal model that served us pretty well for a quarter-million years.
We'd need a Leto II to push us into it, I think.
Or a lot of people fed up with the Coercive Integration model we have to deal with now.
"When I set out to lead humanity along my Golden Path I promised a lesson their bones would remember."
Jack can you advise which of the Post-dune novels are readable? There are so many and friends say many of the sequels are a drag
The problem with most of them is the pacing - the worldbuilding falls off a bit so you're stuck with lots of politicking, philosophizing, and setup for some rushed action near the end of the books. The politicking and philosophizing varies in quality from book to book.
Messiah is solid. It gets (got?) a lot of shit, but is generally enjoyable. It has some really great characters and fun moments. I don't want to spoil it too much, but it's a great counterweight to what Dune was.
Children is good, but overrated in my book. Frank's dialogue becomes excessively dense to the point where I always felt like I was missing something in the conversations, even if I seemingly understood the plot points. Frank starts to really get on the nose with the political views he wants to share. Once the book takes off near the end though, it gets WILD real quick.
God Emperor is phenomenal in my opinion, but I can see why others hate it. Frank starts to tighten up his writing here and there is a noticeable difference in the language. The book is slow and mostly focuses on more philosophical ideas, but does this without the unnecessary fluff found in the previous book. I will say that Frank clearly had some amazing ideas in this book that he didn't quite get to flesh out. The next two books (especially Heretics) go a LONG way in appreciating God Emperor.
Heretics is fun. More action packed, great characters (Miles Teg is a gigachad), and as mentioned previously, fleshes out what God Emperor failed to say.
Chapterhouse is uhh...honestly the worst and could probably be skipped. By the time you get to it though, you're too deep to quit.
If you mean the books done by his kid... don't even use them to hold up furniture, they don't deserve to be seen in public.
As far as Frank's original six: if you have the time to read them all in order, it's worth doing. The older I get, the more I enjoy Messiah and Children. God Emperor is the masterpiece. Heretics and Chapterhouse are basically capeshit books set in the Dune universe, but they're not TERRIBLE.
We will scatter then come back together years later to fight over our new difference. Possible we don’t remember we are related, but even if we do one group will try to get the better of the other. It’s what we do.
Vegas has the odds of us destroying ourselves before we get that far. Don’t bet against the house.
Hey man, don't harsh my mellow!
Let a guy dream!
Truthfully, I hope you are correct.
Just feeling like Debbie Downer today and have little faith in humanity collectively. We are assholes. We are the “insert place you mention because they are an embarrassment” of the universe. If The Hitchhikers Guide was correct would have left with my towel a long time ago.
Individually great. As a group not so much. Our collective IQ goes down as a large mass. Politicians please step forward as exhibit A.
We are both the problem and the solution
Some are just speed bumps in the road of life.
Those 964 drivers aren't gay, they're just a couple of gravel bike racing privateers.
So they're bisexual!
Bisexual = Gay
I wonder about that. Prior to Christianity pretty much all men were at least a little bisexual. They were out there banging women, men, boys, animals, you name it.
Maybe we've just been socialized into "straightness". But that socialization, and a general philosophy of DE-emphasizing sexuality, is what got you the airplane and the light bulb.
CITATION NEEDED
It wasn't true in Judiasm.
And even in primitive cultures, I don't personally think it's a natural thing at all, despite the INCESSANT AND VOLUMINOUS propaganda (if it were natural and common, there would be no need for propaganda).
Well, I think Judaism is literally the first social or religious code to ban male-on-male sexual contact. I'm not saying that the ancient Greeks were like a pride parade in the Castro, but I am saying that it wasn't necessarily a SIN.
As I recall sodomy carried penalties for both in Athens and the case that it was an acceptable practice among the Hellenes is thin
Not sure about Greeks, but Romans certainly had normalized homosexual relationships. Typically between grown man and VERY young man. It also was, naturally, one-sided (the older guy being the "active" one).
As for Greeks, I think that some city state supported gay relations in their army, because you were more likely to be willing to die for people you fuck with.
Like I tell my Greek friends “Greeks invented sex, but Italians added women.”
Vegan power!
It occurs to me that I own (lease) one of the few vehicles that actually has the cross-demographic appeal to star in that Porsche commercial, a Wrangler. Chicks, gays, strait laced dudes, granolas, etc, they all love it.
On the other hand, my other car has a highly specific demographic, first-generation American sons of successful dry cleaners. I know at least three people who meet this demographic (though I am not among them).
On the subject of my having two daughters, you suddenly have me wanting to get my T levels checked, but I am eating for lunch the meat of an animal I killed so that has to be worth something.
Like I said, it's a broad statistical thing. Daughters are generally up as T levels go down, but it's 53/47 instead of 51/49.
Just don't chew on the ovaries of whatever you killed!
I’m too masculine to kill anything with ovaries.
Not only am I willing to kill something with ovaries, I've got a list of names.
Just kidding! OMG!
Narrator voice: he was not, in fact, kidding
Death by BUNGA-BUNGA!!!!
I thought it was death by Snu-Snu?
Depends who you heard the joke from.
I figured we might have some Futurama fans here.
It didn't manage to kill Silvio Berlusconi
Eventually it kills us all. Death is the price of sex. Worth it at twice the price!
The does taste better and the tags are way cheaper.
Antlerless tags are a $20 add on to the $169 license I have to buy to hunt WI out of state.
FIB tax
Where I go in WY the cow tags are 1/3 of the bulls and the hunts are 1/5. And they just hand you the cow tags, you have to draw the bulls.
I’ve spoken to multiple doctors about gender selection in conception, and I’m repeatably told that sperm y/x dispersion is 50/50 and that the guy that has 6 daughters just lost 6 coin flips in a row.
Which is possible, there's a 1.56% chance so if you have enough people it will happen. But I also think that doctors say that AND MANY OTHER THINGS because they don't want to encourage certain behaviors.
It’s possible. I wish I had access to some big medical databases, and money to pay for all the jerking off and testing, it would be a fun thing to find out.
Too much of that and you'll tank your T levels as well is the rumor.
Hold on to your vital essence.
No cap, fr fr, keep that vril in
I am the 12.5%
I was waiting for your reply to this. "Wait, doesn't Scott A and a few other readers only have daughters and BARUTH JUST SAID that absurdity about 'well, your wife probably just has eggs with the hardness of some WWII battleship'?"
Scott: 4 sons. 1 daughter. Come at me. And my 5th kid was a boy, so even in my old age I'm still cranking that higher offspring sex ratio. I should measure my wife's 2nd and 4th digits to see how much testosterone she bathed in in utero. What a bizarre paper. Researchers have no end to the things they measure to hunt for strange correlations.
I think me getting all daughters and my sister getting all sons was Gods way to teach us humility. I'd love to try again for a son but at this point, I'd love to try again and be happy with another little girl. I started late and I am lucky to have any. After the last 18 months, my testosterone is probably negative.
They don't know the why, but the more of one sex you have the more likely you'll keep getting more each time. IOW, if you already have 3 boys the odds of a fourth are much higher than 50-50.
Edit: in a row
I also think that a sizable percentage of doctors, at least 36% according to a statistic I just made up, are bad at math.
Even if it's low, TRT makes you temporarily sterile. So, don't bother!
My vasectomy made me permanently sterile (2 kids is enough!) so I’m OK with that.
Another wise man .
Te doctors fought me tooth and nail when I had my snip, here we are close to 50 years later and no regrets .
(no bastards either) .
-Nate
MotoAmerica was back at Brainerd raceway and continues to provide first rate entertainment. Thankfully, there were no fatalities this year, whereas last year Scott Briody passed away during a qualifying session.
In Supersport we FINALLY see someone other than Xavi Flores at the top spot with Xavi having difficulty finding pace through the races. Josh Hayes, at 48, became the winningest MA racer across all classes with his top podium spot in race 1. This guy is a machine, and he also spends a lot of time training younger riders, so he's giving back to the sport in a significant manner. Xavi is still dominating in points and provided he finds his pace again in the latter half of the season he should have the class win locked up. We saw a number of wrecks, including one where a rider was collected by the first bike to crash and seriously shaken up. Ty Scott would take first in the second race and it's good to see the young rider remain competitive. Rocco Landers also competed and he is somewhat more humble in this class than in the twins cup that he is competing in for the season.
Stock 1000 sees Hayden Gillum, who ran three classes and six races, take first place by enormous margins and close down the points gap significantly. He is now sitting in second and is only 8 points away from Ezra Beaubier in the top spot. Hayden is a likable personality who is displaying serious skill in King of the Baggers and Stock 1000. The bike is simply not competitive in Superbike as a hybrid package, but he still places top 10 with regularity. Frankly, Stock 1000 saw more interesting battles for spots lower down the running order because Hayden was so far clear of the field he looked like Gagne in Superbike last year.
Superbike saw big wrecks and mechanical troubles shaking things up. Cameron Petersen is out for the season trying to rehabilitate his wrist injury and get back into form. His season was cursed with mechanicals and wrecks and I imagine taking a break and resetting will be good for him. In the meantime - race 1 saw PJ Jacobsen punch a whole in Scholtz' R1 and put Scholtz out of the running due to a maneuver where he avoided teammate Cameron Beaubier who went in entirely too hot into turn 3. He also clipped the rear of Jake Gagne but all riders managed to stay up. In the restart, however, Cameron Beaubier would high side and slam into the ground in a gnarly wreck where he was fortunate neither the bike nor he was hit by incoming traffic. Jake Gagne would successfully defend 1st place from PJ Jacobson for the entirety of the race and secure first. Herrin would come in third place for yet another consistent points gain.
Race 2 saw Gagne and Jacobson duke it out at the front once more, with Cameron Beaubier deemed unfit to ride due to a concussion. Jacobson managed to find a place to pass and put a half second gap on Gagne which he managed to maintain for his FIRST SUPERBIKE WIN. It's really wonderful to see such a competitive group of riders and bikes this year. Herrin would go out with a mechanical this time which ended his consistent podium streak. However, Matt Scholtz saw redemption with a third place ride wherein he had to stave off a hard charging Bobby Fong, riding Gagne's 2022 bike, as Fong was clearing .75-1s a LAP on Scholtz toward the end of the race.
Unfortunately, Richie Escalante fell off somewhat at Brainerd and I'm hoping he finds himself again in upcoming races.
King of the Baggers race 1 saw Gillum take first and Wyman make a poor showing. Bobby Fong botched his start from pole and lost too much time to be able to win. O'Hara and others went out with mechanical troubles. Good clean racing outside of that.
Race 2 had Fong make a much stronger start and control the race from the get go. Hayden Gillum would work his way to second place on the podium, and O'Hara managed to get a second Indian up there at Indian's "home race."
Excellent racing all around, it's just a shame that Gagne's lead was extended through an injury to Beaubier as seeing those two compete has been a treat for the entire season to date.
since we're a close-knit cadre of friends here who can give and take criticism...please stop using "would win", "would finish," etc. that's ancient oilrag-sniffing jargon that says: i'm telling you something important because i'm important. it's pompous-history stuff, the polar opposite of "made contact" on a very tiny orb. thank you.
Oh yeah? How many races have YOU won and finished, Mr. Arutunoff, IF THAT IS IN FACT YOUR REAL NAME?
To give Sod his credit, he's still covering the races between than my SCCA announcers, who after 5 years still think my wife is my brother!
this is how rumors grow
When she and I were in our 2014 crash, Jalopnik went on a six hour suck fest about how I'd been out on a closeted gay date.
Obviously, it takes a real lack of actual life to make up that sort of stuff.
If any of us did a fraction of the things we'd been accused of, or heard whispers or rumors about, we'd all be famous movie stars, or infamous, or dead by now.
Or, on the other hand, if they knew about all the actual secrets ... now, that would indeed be scandalous!
wat
My wife's first name is Charley, due to some ill-considered promises made around the family at the time.
Is your last name really White and Baruth is your professional name?
Actually have relatives named White. Could have easily gone that way.
If that was the case at least there'd be one competent guitarist named Jack White.
I am mulling over if he has a point, certainly the language is warmed over and repetitive and I would also never admit to writing while half paying attention to a meeting and running on four hours of sleep.
It seems I'm an ancient oil rag sniffer at heart!
Excuse me, sir, but you are talking to a Costco EXECUTIVE MEMBER.
There we go that was a good reply.
I gave up on F1 years ago. MotoAmerica brought me back to racing. Hope to see Herrin and Gagne on equally competitive bikes at any track. Rainey & Co. seem to have the marketing figured out. There are more fans at the track every year over the past 5 years I've been going. Only issue I have is the pandering to the Harley/Indian owners with The King of the Baggers stuff. Again smart marketing but totally fake machines. Like a Nascar Camry. But, brings in more money that appears is being used to improve the venues and incentivize the Riders. Stefano Mesa finally got a sponsored Super Sport ride this year. You can bet he didn't buy that seat. He earned that. Downside with the Bagger series is more Harley riders showing up with their typical BS.
I think Herrin's bike is Petrucci's from last year (maybe not might be all new for him) which was more than competitive in Danilo's hands and is the dominating bike in WSBK (more or less I don't actually know all the differences between the series).
The KotBs is dragging in a new demo and I think it's a mixed bag like you say. I don't know how much everyone understands the bikes are essentially rolling prototypes of which not much is stock. Indian (? I think) announced they would be making replicas which should help them keep their program going by ameliorating the cost.
Mesa's a good rider all around from what I've seen - I do find it strange he's on the ebike for Super Hooligans but mostly because I find it strange an ebike is in the running.
The Indian race bikes are 93k each.
A bargain!
I am afraid that the bikes are just going to be garage queens (maybe a museum or two picks up an example that at least would be sensible).
Have a look at Kevin Cameron’s articles on KOTB over at Cycle World’s website. There’s some pretty interesting engineering and development going on in that series.
GP bikes are just as artificially constrained by a rule book. Otherwise, racing motorcycles would all have a full dustbin fairing like the Moto Guzzi from the fifties.
Apparently the KOTB bikes are lapping Laguna-Seca faster than the two-stroke GP bikes did back in the eighties. That’s just incredible to me.
No argument that the Kotb bikes are not marvelously engineered machines. Bur they don't bare any resemblance to a street bike except for paint, logos and plastic "bags" Actually saw a "bag" blow off a bike during a race. Corner worker tossed it against the fence with a couple of fingers. Checked it out. Thinnest fiberglass I have seen. I get it. The demographic wants to buy into a "Harley " beating old sportbile records around Laguana.The only part of the kotb bikes that resemble the street bike is some of the engine exterior. Internals don't and can't be used on street.
F1 and MotoGP are branding for the mfg and billboards for the dollars. Fans know this.
I doubt the “Demo” knows where Laguna Seca is or that lunatics rode those two strokes there forty years ago leaving lurid strips of rubber as they drifted both ends through the corners. I just find it amazing that the KOTB bikes are that fast.
GP bikes once bore zero resemblance to street bikes. Then Honda with the Interceptor and Kawi with the GPz and Ninja made it de rigeur that street bikes look like racing bikes.
In something of a puff piece, Kevin Cameron passes on the claim that the prototypes are having downstream impact on the actual production bikes:
search for "told by" and it'll take you right to the sentence. How much? Anyone's guess.
https://www.cycleworld.com/motorcycle-racing/motoamerica-experiencing-positive-growth/
I am surprised to hear MotoAmerica supposedly ranks as the third most popular motorsport globally and #1 in the US and is ahead of NASCAR which I think of as quintessential American motorsport (and don't watch).
I realize the following may lower my social credit score to near zero, but I’m 70 so fuck it. If you hear somebody say patriarchy, racism or sexism there are only 3 possibilities: 1. They’re a personal failure and looking for someone to blame. 2. They’re part of an institution that’s failing. 3. It’s a fiat money grab. I might note that the most predictable thing has occurred, HS boys are trending conservative.
"I might note that the most predictable thing has occurred, HS boys are trending conservative."
My son and his cohort are to the right of Alex Jones.
Those gentlemen are "ALLIES" of women.
IS THIS THE NEW FRIENDZONE I'VE BEEN HEARING SO MUCH ABOUT
I spied Officer Brandon Tatum and the Hodge Twins on my son's youtube feed. Very glad to not see anyone like that bedwetter (Evan something?) who tried to start an online feud with Steven Crowder a few years ago, or the Young Turks...
When people wonder who has the power in media, consider the fact that you can't sing about stopping crime in a small town but you can have a whole TV show named in homage to the people who did this:
https://www.armenian-genocide.org/young_turks.html
Thank the good Lord!
you're assuming in #1 that they can think instead of just parrot. you're right about the rest. i reacted years ago to "disrespect." what tranquil days they seem now!
Good. My daughters need someone to marry. I’m hoping the next generations are based.
...but, but I LOVE that Spencer Davis Group song! Always have.
I prefer "Back In The HIgh Life"
The stuff Winwood did during the "Higher Love" and "Back In The High Life" period is about the only music with electronic drums that I can tolerate, well, that and Zappa's "G-Spot Tornado": https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XvpdiIaZZLg
Does the Radical have fairly long gear ratios? I noticed in that video that you don't do much shifting. I've raced Mid O in our Civic SI and I feel like I'm always rowing gears. Yesterday I emailed my regional license admin for the SCCA, to see whether any of my racing experience will count toward getting an SCCA competition license. I've already told you this, Jack, but we don't race as often as I'd like in Champcar, and I'd like to get into some non endurance racing with cars that are more evenly classed. I've sold one of my street cars today, am selling another in the next couple of weeks, and I currently have a line on an ITS prepped RX-7..
So, I'm both geared incorrectly for Mid-O, basically stalling in 6th gear, PLUS my 2nd and 3rd gears are hors de combat from the previous owner. I race in 4 and 5 for the most part.
Over the winter I will re-gear the rear end and rebuild the transmission which will make my life a LOT easier and maybe give me 2 seconds a lap.
I have two daughters now, and my oldest son. I admit I am much more concerned about protecting my son from being crushed by society than my daughters (who I still am worried about just less so!). The daughters, if nothing else, will be able to leverage their prime beauty years. A son in a society that doesn't deem him as valuable and doesn't see masculinity as valuable? Going to be a rougher time.
I joked the other day to my wife that when my daughters are in their mid-20s I’ll be calling up every trade I can to come work on my house and beg them to send their youngest employee in hopes one of my daughters catches his eye.
These poor bastards. Wait until they have to interview with you!
Can they throw a spiral? Drive a manual? Shoot?
I'm starting to think that one of the best things you can do as a parent is to mentally inoculate your children against this prestige / lifestyle marketing. These ads are honestly pretty insulting when you start to see them for what they are - the product of some marketing agency that believes that it can short-circuit any discussion of technical specs, product comparisons, total cost of ownership, etc by just saying "social acceptance" and "status anxiety" a bunch of times in a row.
"These ads are honestly pretty insulting when you start to see them for what they are"
And that's why the entire might of the world is lined up against you doing that.
'They Live' hits too close to home now.
That said, I've got my devices pretty buttoned down and never see ads online.
Who would have thought that Rowdie Roddy Piper would be a conservative Meme decades later.
Spot on. You also need to show kids (at a proper age) that there’s an agenda behind 99% of what the culture spews out. Also teach them about the power of mimetic behavior. We as adults can easily see all these perverse influences, but kids need to be taught to identify them for what they are.
There is a pamphlet written by a former math professor titled "Industrial Society and its Future" which has a few things to say about advertising :)
He was one of my favorite wilderness lifestyle influencers!
If you market that correctly it could blow up with readers
Hut Man tried to murder David Gelernter, a good man. Let him rot in hell.
It's a lost cause. Read the Youtube comments for that video. Those people cannot be saved.
Jack, gun to your head what new Porsche would you get?
Put the lowlights video over yakety sax 😂
Ah, probably whatever the top Cayenne is. I could always use another tow vehicle.
To be forthright, I don't drive quickly enough to need a fast car. I bet my 300C never sees the high side of 120 on a public road and will probably be 5 under the limit everywhere in my county.
For sports cars, I like what you did. I'd want a stick-shift 911 with every luxury feature, no stress about "performance".
You detest both the marketing and the product; I find the former nauseating, but the product is usually pretty good, for what it is.
There is a good chance the facelift GT3 will have:
0-Short gearbox
1-Lightweight flywheel
2-A little more power (the S/T figure or maybe 5 bhp less)
3-The GT3 RS steering wheel knobs (maybe)
4-Keep rear wheel steering (this is virtually certain)
Would make it an appealing car
"the product is usually pretty good, for what it is."
Alright, so what is it? What is it meant to be? Serious, not rhetorical, question.
Succinct!
In my mind a Porsche, especially a 911, is a sports car that can give near top-level performance and still used daily. I wouldn’t drive a Corvette in a snowstorm, and I can’t put two kids in my S2000 or a Supra, but I would expect to do both quite easily in a 911 (baring the exotic versions). But I haven’t driven a 911 in a decade and I haven’t driven a Porsche other than a Panamera Turbo in several years. Plus it’s one of the only mainstream carmaker willing to put a stick shift in a top level performance car (Lotus excepted but their production is a rounding error even though I’d do terrible things for an Emira).
I don't think the Porsche would do any better than a corvette in a snowstorm, there is convergence between the two under low traction conditions.
They're better than fine with decent tires.
Source: drove a 911SC on Blizzaks as it was my only car for a while. Ran some 944 cookie cutters instead of the stock Fuchs as a just in case.
Drove a 2003 996 year round as well on all seasons and those weren't hot after year one (DWS06s) but I had winter tires mounted on the other (other) car as a just in case.
The sheer mass over the drive wheels helps you to go, but obviously there can be problems if it lets go and you don't get grip in time.
They also don't produce traction breaking grunt at 2k RPM vs the 6+L displacement V8s.
The 911 is THE Porsche. It’s the halo under which the entire brand exists. It is many things to many people - there are nearly 30 versions of it, after all - but it is fundamentally an iconic (apt use of the most overused word circa 2023) sports car with a unique layout that has gotten better and better, by and large, since 1963 (for those who disagree, there’s always a station to get off the train - impact bumpers, torsion bars, pontoon fenders, air cooling, PDK, turbos, etc.) It is immensely capable, and becomes more so with every generation, although the owners become less likely to use them for extreme tasks as the cars get more expensive. In that way, it’s like a Rolex Submariner or a Range Rover or a Mercedes G Wagen. The 911 - at least in most guises - is the sportiest, most outre vehicle that a white collar boss (or worker) can drive to work. Brand new $300K+ 911 S/T (without the graphics backage) looks just like a $115K Carrera to virtually everyone. The same guy cannot roll up to work in, say, a 2004 Gallardo. As a final note, surely you can’t fault Porsche for offering a manual throughout most of the 911 range; who else is doing that sort of thing now?
The passenger cars - Cayenne, Macan, Panamera - extend from the aura of the 911. They are the sportiest, most premium cars in their class that a “respectable” corporate employee (or anyone who is sufficiently self-aware) can drive to work, to pick up the kids at school, to church, etc. You cannot do that with a Urus or Cullinan or … etc. These vehicles make liberal use of the VAG parts bin, although in some cases Porsche designs and specs the component (or even platform) and the others live with it - e.g., the Bentley Conti GT is essentially a modern 928, in the sense that it is a two-door Panamera. In other cases, Porsche works with what the rest of the VAG bureaucracy provides for them - e.g., the Macan is a heavily re-worked Audi Q5, and the Cayenne - ostensibly a premium German product - is produced in Bratislava, Slovakia. Porsche is now the master of the house for the entire constellation of brands under the VAG and ultimately Porsche S.E. corporate interests. Oliver Blume defenestrated Markus Duesmann - his old rival - from Audi is the CEO, separately, of both VAG and Porsche.
The Taycan - and the other forthcoming electric cars - are emblematic of the brand’s new obsession (guilt?) over emissions, fuel consumption figures, etc. The next gen Boxster and Cayman will be EV only since (0) they are not terribly important from a sales perspective, (1) they afford an opportunity to experiment before an EV variant of the 911 arrives (lower stakes), and (2) they can persuade many of the Boomer 911 types to add a Boxster / Cayman as a complement to their 911.
If you’d like a brand that ONLY builds performance cars, McLaren is for you. At least for now.
> but the product is usually pretty good, for what it is
This was IBM's strategy in the late 1980s - put $2000 worth of high quality computer components sourced from third party suppliers in a box, stamp their billion-dollar brand's logo on it, and sell it for $7500, twice the price of a Tandy, Apple, Kaypro, etc. And it worked so well that IBM sold every single XT and AT it could produce.
Were IBM's computers good? No question they were - you really couldn't buy a better computer at the time. Were they also obscene ripoffs? Yes, obviously.
I don't know enough about the auto supply chain to know if Porsche is using the same "$2000 of parts in a box for $7500" strategy that IBM used - others can speak to that. But in IBM's case it didn't last - by 1994 they were sitting on $600m of inventory they couldn't sell because it was common knowledge a customer could get a computer that was just as good from Compaq, Dell, etc at a much lower price and the industry was happy to see the giant fall. So maybe Porsche's hold is more tenuous than it looks.
Your analogy very much applies to Porsche. From an engineering perspective it IS near the best, but doesn't justify the pricing premium applied to the finished product.
I’d take a higher HP stick, but the economics get out of wack quickly for the special models. Like you said, airplane, race car, boat, house type of money. At least an argument can be made that the value will probably hold up.
Did the 300C ship, and is it in your possession yet? If so, that was fast!
No to both!
Not a hippie, but the "One For The Road" / "You Don't Have to be Crazy but it Helps" promotional film mentions skater Peggy Fleming, who was at least a chick:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mczB_u5VcjA