When last we saw the Jeep Grand Cherokee, it was blowing tires and going bumper-up like Seka. Redemption is on the horizon, however…
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Posts By: Jack Baruth
“Two questions.” Our European contributor, Mirko Reinhardt, wants to test my knowledge. “First question: Last month was a pretty big month for Cadillac in Germany, relatively speaking. How many Cadillacs did GM sell? And second question: Which model sold best?”
Oh, man.
While most of the media outlets were enjoying the Geoff Day Show at an all-expenses Colorado resort adventure to celebrate the release of the new GL Alabama mommy-wagon, TTAC’s Jorts Penalty Crew, Changed Mon Motorsports, was contesting the Toledo SCCA Pro Solo.
Seventeen cars entered the “STR” class. Our guys, Marc Pfannenschmidt and Mark Baruth, finished first and fourth, adding two more SCCA trophies to their already-stuffed trophy shelves. Congratulations to the Changed Mon crew!
If you’ve never seen an SCCA ProSolo event, you’re missing something. The best ProSolo drivers are accurate to within an inch of their desired line at the precise limit of the tires and suspension. Live timing for the Toledo event can be found here. My brother Mark Baruth, who is not to be confused with the “Bark M.” who occasionally writes about his BOSS 302, is taking a break from his BOSS 302 to return to Honda-powered STR-class competition. If you’re in the Toledo area, check it out… if not, click the link and support the SCCA!
Your humble author is TTAC’s resident cycling enthusiast, as shown in the eminently regrettable photo above which can best be titled “35-Year-Old Man Takes Mountain Bike To Skatepark For No Good Reason.” When I was younger, I had unveiled contempt for people who drove somewhere when they could ride. Three knee surgeries and a child later, I’m not so sure. Still, cycling is gaining momentum across Europe in precisely the same way that the economy isn’t. The public-bicycle scheme in Paris, Velib, now profitably shares 23,000 public bicycles across a subscriber network of 225,000 people — and the electric-auto-sharing service which has been operating for over half a year now looks to be headed for similar success. The implications regarding private and public property raised by both services are worth discussing.
A few years ago I got a Civic Si race car around VIR in about 2:12 and I thought I was really doing something, man. Had Mike Skeen been at the track that day, he would have had time to cross the line, stop his car, get out, remove his helmet, and have a short sip of The Kraken Rum Gatorade before I trundled past in my little econocar. We’ll have coverage and highlights from this event tomorrow, but in the meantime, watch this video. It will show you just how fast driving is really done: with economical hand motions, solid control inputs, and an utterly fearless mentality.
Road and Track has exciting new photoconcepts of the anxiously awaited Porsche Pajun. They purchased said illustrations from our friend Chris Doane, so we won’t steal them and reprint ’em here. Check it out! Insightful comments from R&T on this wonderful new entry-level-luxury sedan from the well-respected full-line German automaker: “The car will have a V-6, not a flat-6″ and ” As long as vehicles like these help fund even better future 911s and Caymans, we’re all for them.” Sounds good!
HEY! Remember when I said the Cadillac ATS was going to be a miserable failure? Guess what? It still IS going to be a miserable failure! But you’d never know it from the glowing reviews on the Web right now, many of which are filled with self-described on-track driving heroics that sound utterly Schumacher-esque until you realize they were done with mandatory save-the-brakes stops every lap and with careful supervision.
Motor Trend’s Scott Evans managed to slip the surly bonds of that supervision long enough to touch his Cadillac’s face to a couple of trees. We challenged GM and Motor Trend to release the black box data and share with the public what really happened.
Well, I’m pleased to announce that Mr. Evans completely fessed-up to the real reasons behind the accident in the full-length MT feature on the car, which was just released. Just kidding! He didn’t even mention it! He who controls the past, controls the future! It never happened! Love ya, Scott! For the amusement of TTAC’s readers, I have, ah, slightly edited Mr. Evans’ review to reflect what he perhaps should have written.
Subaru has struggled with advertising decisions over the years, but one of their better efforts was a television ad where some self-satisfied beta-male cyclist — you know, the kind of guy who wears his padded shorts to lunch and thinks Cervelos are made in Italy — refuses to wash his Outback until “nature takes care of it” by raining on the car. Of course, anybody who cares about their car’s paint knows that a “rainwash” usually just moves the dirt around and helps what remains settle into a hardened, scratchy mess.
No longer, perhaps.
Did The High Plains Chevette-O-Rama leave you hungry for more ‘Vette action? Of course it did. TTAC delivers with this YouTube video of Chevettes in mortal combat. Find out more here. And yes, your humble author will be trying to buy a seat in the 2013 winter season!
A little-known paragraph in most press-car loaner agreements states that “The vehicle may not be used for competitive purposes.” When you buy your own cars, however, you can do whatever you like. Our (not-so-much-of-a-)mystery contributor, Bark M., wanted to get an SCCA event under his Mustang’s belt before the temp tags ran out. He drove it back to back with an AP1 Honda S2000, and perhaps we’ll get some impressions from him in the near future.
But the question remains? What’s wrong with this picture?
AutoGuide states that
In many ways, the 1LE is to the Camaro SS what the Boss 302 is to the Mustang GT.
Sure, and in many ways Silver Side Up was to Nickelback what Zep II was to Jimmy Page and the rest of the boys. And just like Silver Side Up, the Camaro keeps selling like there’s probably no tomorrow, and certainly no trackday tomorrow. Let’s see what 1LE customers will get.
Hey, remember when Porsche introduced the 959? Wasn’t that awesome? Yes, it was. It was awesome.
Remember when they brought out some wack-ass sedan at the same time that looked like a radiation-deformed Cold-War-era Tatra and made sure that they saturation-bombed the media with advertisements designed to make sure that every McMansion Mommy promptly earned a subsidized lease of one by agreeing to wear “something special” on the next few Monday nights? And remember when they decided not to make the 944 Turbo so they could focus on making that sedan?
No, because that didn’t happen.
This is 2012, however, and the Massive Marketing Machine That Is Porsche both giveth to, and taketh away from, the joys of its long-suffering enthusiast base.
I don’t think anybody else in automotive journalism can make this claim: I’ve put in nearly 37,000 miles behind the wheel of a Bentley Continental GT, in places as disparate as New York City’s West 48th Street (home of Rudy’s Music), the rural roads of northern Kentucky, and the Climbing Esses at Virginia International Raceway. Forget a lead-follow press event or the rich-for-a-week-wannabe experience of a loaner car: every mile I spent behind the Bentley’s wheel was at my own expense.
Of course, I’m speaking literally here: I’d actually purchased the piano-black-wood-rimmed steering wheel from a Continental GT and installed it, along with a set of Bentley paddle shifters, into my 2006 VW Phaeton V8. When I finally got around to driving the real thing, I couldn’t believe how close the driving experience of the $190,000-plus Bentley was to that of the $68,000 Volkswagen. “This car,” I thought at the time, “is a Phaeton for idiots, which is really saying something.”
Five years later, the Continental GT is still a Phaeton for idiots, except now it’s an old Phaeton for idiots. Old, tired, and showing no signs of life despite a twin-turbo-V-8 heart transplant. It’s time to pull the plug on a car that never even deserved to be called a Bentley in the first place.
Owning a Volkswagen occasionally requires a Vanagon’s worth of patience, but there are compensations. The newest one: a high-speed trackday at one of the country’s more interesting racetracks, complete with instruction, for fifty bucks.
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