Automotive

can be all around you...

Let me try to answer your question... Porsche?

Best,

Nicolas

the mirror was attached to this -

What a glorious way to die, no?

;-)

But the object IN the mirror was...

Ok, I will have less blood, but a ride on a Porsche as a final trip is worth the reduced blood pleasure, for a bigger blood pressure.

It was you, in the mirror...

All the best, my friend.

Nicolas

The WanderingPurist and Unotaz needed a break from real life (or as Unotaz put it, "it was good to go out and stretch our legs, get a little exercise...") and I got to tag along!

;-)

So this is what one saw in the mirror...

As with any decent road course circuit where long stretches of road have no facilities whatsoever (start finish was 230 miles total, including about 100 miles of freeway and 130 miles of "closed road course" that included about 100 miles with no facilities whatsoever, not even turn offs or usable shoulders / run offs...) it is a good idea to start with a full tank of gas -

It was cool to see this on the way -

There were short stretches where one could turn off and which merged with public roads -

After a nice 3 hour "stretch" we had worked up our appetites -

During lunch, Unotaz, knowing I was underwhelmed with my seat time experience in the MP4-12C at Goodwood, told me in no uncertain terms, "this is a completely different car than you drove. What is great about McLaren is that they listen and they constantly fine tune and upgrade their cars, and even better, make improvements available to their existing owners, to the extent possible."

He went on to say, "What is so amazing about this car is that for most of the run, the car was supremely comfortable, but when we got on it, it had no trouble mixing it up. It's nice to have comfort along with the performance."

I understand his point, but for me, if I want comfort, I'll take the CL65 and it's 700+horses and 900+ lb-ft of torque and still not break a sweat, along with tons of storage and lots of cabin space equivalent to a penthouse suite on wheels...it's a land yacht, without the floaty wallow...

In the end, it's about compromises, and everyone should be able to choose the compromises they want to live with, given their priorities and preferences. Me, when I want pure, I want PURE.

We agreed to disagree, and that's just fine, we did so respectfully and amicably. With full respect. Because that's what PuristS do...

As we were leaving, and I cast one long, last look at these two thoroughbreds, it was clear that these two represented polar opposites, the pinnacle of the old school versus new:

The (pen)ultimate, last of the breed purely mechanical raw performance cars which puts a premium on man-machine connection with as few electronic helpers as possible in these modern days of regulation and litigation and dubious driver training and skills; contrasted with the brave new world of ever present high power processing assisted high performance driving - everpresent, but if fans are to be believed, not intrusively so.

Exciting, heady days for the driving enthusiast, days and choices I can't imagine will last for much longer.

Enjoy it while we can!

Mr. Dennis has his team working on that "switch..."

;-)

Unotaz, my friend, there is ALWAYS compromise...life is about compromises...for example, just because your wife is beautiful, AND smart, AND has a great personality...there are STILL compromises...

won't offer a three pedal MT, so it looks like truly the end of an era...but wait, the Carrera still offers a 7 speed option?!?

Ah, the wild and wonderful world of marketing and product positioning...

So is the GT3 (and RS) the PUREST expression of the Porsche lineup, or the FASTEST and TECHNOLOGICALLY the most efficient?!?

Seems like a flip flop to me...

On the demand side, the best of both worlds -

Hard to imagine traditional purists getting a better EPI-tome of the "old school" (ABS, yes, some traction and stability control, but also that famous steering "live" feel, some "real skill" required to wring the best out of the car) than the GT3RS 3.8 and 4.0...

And the rest of the world gets to move on with progress (torque vectoring, rear wheel steering, electric PS, DFI, etc etc etc)

" Blame the traffic, blame the smartphones, blame the reflected glamour of Formula 1’s carbon-fiber paddle shifters, but don’t kid yourself. Given the choice, drivers are abandoning the traditional “standard shift” en masse. " 

"When I push too far, the nose lets go progressively, allowing me to cover each mistake as if I’d meant to do it. Couldn’t be any easier. Anybody can go fast in this car, and the mildly talented can go very fast. "

". Lift-throttle oversteer, once the last sensation some 911 pilots experienced, has been tamed into a party trick. The next generation will probably have a button that does it for you so you can take a call from your broker while your passengers cower under the body-color-matched seatbelts"

(Jack Baruth, R&T)

(sigh)

ps: tell your wife she is very welcome, and assure her I'll KEEP REMINDING YOU everytime we hang out!

for the "public" stretches...

What a great time of year for road trips! Have fun...

unfortunately.

Hope you can join us for the next "stretching of the legs"

Cheers,

TM