Anyone who had a poster of a 930 on the wall as a kid will know the feeling— waiting for the planets to align so you can finally scratch the 911 itch. Buying a 911, no matter how practical they are, is a commitment. Don’t let anyone tell you otherwise.
For me, it was a few years ago that I finally ‘got air’. After a few false starts looking at big-figured 993s, the emergence of the 964 RS as the new darling of the cognoscenti re-focused my sights to include the oft-maligned 964. To begin with, I didn’t warm to the in-between shape – part classic 911, part Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy – but in white I could imagine it had just had the race numbers peeled off. More importantly, they were cheaper and just within my reach.
Would we rock it? Heck yeah. Sure, it’s no one’s idea of a track scalpel, but that doesn’t necessarily make it undesirable. Nor does it mean it can’t be modified to be better set up for track duty. It looks so great lowered, too. Actually, we’ll pay it what we think is a pretty high compliment: we think it sounds a bit like a – wait for it – Mercedes-Benz E63 AMG! Now how’s that for a laugh?
•September 1, 2010 • Comments Off on BMW CCA track day, circa 1989
Nice cars. Camaraderie. Oh, and a Lockheed C-130 belonging to the Royal Air Force lingering in the background— you know, the usual stuff. When you get down to it, not a whole lot seems to have changed in the past twenty some-odd years.
The C-130 makes its appearance around the 3:38 mark. Feel free to turn off the stereotypically bad ’80s music, although it does complete the experience in a perverse sort of way (alright, Danger Zone is a suitably appropriate guilty pleasure).
Talking to somebody who was present, Britain’s Royal Air Force was using the same airfield as a staging ground for its skydiving team. The C130 “Hercules” was taking the parachutists up, but the accommodating crew also offered the chance of a lifetime to the BMW guys. Not only did they take everybody up in the cargo hold for a few laps of the local desert, but they buzzed the track a few times and taxied up for a photo.
And when we say buzzed, there are several clips where you can see the plane is a few feet above the heads of the spectators, causing several to ‘hit the dirt’ as it came over.
It’s truly an amazing video and some impressive flying. Sadly, we hear the RAF crew got a roasting for their antics after some US Marine pilots reported their activities, but you’ve got to love the Brits for having a go! (source)
The times, they are a-changin’ done changed. You’re not likely to find this kind of impossibly perfect intersection of opulence and sporting credentials anywhere anymore.
..is bring professional racing driver Randy Pobst on board as a contributing test driver. We’ve always put their somewhat insipid product a distant third behind C/D and R&T, maybe even a fourth when including Automobile Magazine. So it just lends that much more credibility to their operation when the person opining is someone who really knows how to drive and assess cars at a very high level of performance. Even as the auto buff rags continue to see their influence diminish, that’s probably one area where they still have the edge over new media (for us, anyway, if not exactly with the buying public)— that is, provided they continue to open their wallets in that manner.
It’s the same reason we pay slightly closer attention when Tiff and Jason speak, versus their counterparts over at the BBC.
With regard to the clip at hand, we believe that BMW’s engineers intentionally dialed in extra understeer so that its customers don’t do damage to either their cars or themselves (or worse, to others). This is something we think is easily corrected through relatively minor aftermarket modifications that we probably would have undertaken, anyway, although it should go without saying that the first and foremost mod should be the driver mod.
We also love the fact that Ford is gunning for BMW (if not necessarily with the GT, then with products like the recently-announced Boss 302 Mustang), as if to announce to its crosstown rival that it’s got bigger fish to fry. In a way, it almost seems like Ford taking a page out of GM’s book, given that the erstwhile (but well-received) Pontiac G8 GXP itself was said to have been benchmarked against the E39 M5.
All of this would have been laughable – unthinkable, really – just a few short years ago, but it’s certainly no laughing matter now (not that we expect BMW themselves are losing sleep over any of this). It’s all part of the Mustang’s evolution from crude muscle car to bona fide sports car, from the drag strip to the road course. We, of course, absolutely love it.
Perfektion. Or would that be perfezione? Either way, yes please, we want them. Both of them.
Bonus points for anyone who can tell us which car has the lower drag coefficient, the slippery German coupé or the taller and [ostensibly] boxier Italian saloon.
Historic Watkins Glen— the premiere road course destination in the northeastern United States, and at various times throughout its decorated history home to all different classes of road racing, not least among them US Grand Prix. This really is the marquee event of our annual summer track season. And as has been the case all year long, the kleiner GTI ran like a champ, more than holding its own against more powerful cars.
The waterbug hatchback is surely neither the fastest nor the most sportiv car out in the field. Nor does it carry the most cachet. But it wears many hats and wears them pretty well, all while being plenty of fun to drive. And that’s why we love it so.
If you’ve been paying any attention, you will know that we head-over-heels love the Porsche 911. And yet, of the two examples you see here, we would take the Aston— no question. Not that the Turbo is any slouch, but the Aston is just more.. well, special. Just look at it, with its aggressive front spoiler, quad headlights, and that mother of all power bulges. The P-car is probably still the more satisfying drive, but in terms of raw, visceral punch, the manly Aston wins.
Motoring Con Brio 