Oh, for pity’s sake.
How can it not be time for a long moratorium on “tribute” liveries, particularly when applied to four-wheel-drive water-cooled Porkers with automatic transmissions? Worse yet, virtually all of these Hannibal-Lecter-wearing-Officer-Pembry’s-face-as-a-mask sticker jobs refer to the same ten-year period of racing that roughly brackets Woodstock. If you’re going to vandalize your own car, why not try the Flying Lizard look? Or Automatic Racing? Or something, anything, that doesn’t deal in the thick treacle of Boomer sentiment?
The only way this car could represent more of an affront to decent human sensibilities everywhere would be if it were flying the Gulf colors. I can only assume that this driver already has two Gulf cars. Oh, and for those of you who are confused by the title this week:
Alright, let’s get to the meat of last week. For R&T, I drove an old Oldsmobile and offered a brief preview of last week’s Pirelli World Challenge broadcast on CBS Sports.
Speaking of, here’s the whole race. In addition to the very nice commentary they did on my start, I also get a bit of a shout-out at the 47-minute mark; I was wobbling down the back straight when the leaders came up and I elected to pull through the Bus Stop straight in order to not affect their battle. We were told prior to the race that there was no penalty for doing that — but some of the Bimmers were actually faster through the little tire chicane so they made it VERY small. As you can see, it’s too small for an Accord! I don’t get a chance to drive FLAT OUT!
“Or something, anything, that doesn’t deal in the thick treacle of Boomer sentiment?”
Don’t be so jealous and petty Jack, it’s far beneath you .
The video is great ! .
-Nate
Generation X has its own treacle — the movie “Ready Player One” was overflowing with it.
That book was gawdawful. One long, bad movie pitch.
All else being equal, what would you prefer driving in TCA? Civic or Miata?
Generation X would be my 40 Y.O. Son, correct ? .
He and his wife are always on about Millennials , I know us Boomers did all manner of stupid shtye and I’m not defending any of it .
-Nate
Exactly. Gen X is the people who are in their forties now, including your humble author. We have our own stupidities.
Everyone does Jack ;
I’m raising up crack babies for 30 YO women who sometimes want to get live with me, talk about stupid .
Life goes on, don’t like the crazies get to you .
Go take John for a nice Moto ride, remembering : ATG, ATT ! =8-).
-Nate
I don’t know… What’s wrong with some empty calories in one’s nostalgia diet?
Everything in moderation; an Atari T-shirt is fine, an Atari tattoo is like a Martini Tiptronic Turbo.
So then ;
I shouldn’t get a Saxomat tattoo ? .
Dammit .
-Nate
Fair point.
the best part is that nobody even thinks twice about us. the Boomers suck, Millennials suck, but Gen X? Whoozat?
? I suck ? .
(goes off to cry) .
-Nate
Don’t go cry. Come join me on the porch and we’ll throw them got dang kids off the lawn. 🙂
Better to build a fence, then you (we) can sit comfy in the shade and yell at them .
Sadly, one is no longer allowed to shoot then with rock salt ~ lemme tell ya, that shit burns like a BITCH and is really hard to flush out .
-Nate
On the Porsche, in the 70s the boomers came for the Corvette after their first divorce with their gold chains and their pornstache. It was probably inevitable that those same people will work their taste magic on the 911.
On the old Olds. thanks for giving it an even handed look. Import buyers just think it is a stretched Citation. There is no appreciation for the amount of work that went into retaining a big car experience in a car built for high gas prices. When did their beloved Japanese take on such a big engineering challenge?
I thought the gold chain and the pornstache was the viper fans.
Too bad that Oldsmobile article didn’t get to be on TTAC.
Agreed, it was a fantastically written piece Jack, it made me love the old C/H bodies even more.
Contrast this piece to the “gem” of a fresh Tiguan review from Mr Healey:
“The Tiguan weighs nearly two tons with all-wheel drive, yet manages to feel light on its feet, at least relative to other crossovers of its size. Credit the front strut-type and rear multi-link suspension. There is some body roll, however — something you might expect from what’s essentially a tall wagon.”
Woah, credit to that totally unique and interesting front strut and multi link setup!
“I credit light and lively steering for some of this. Yes, light steering is usually lambasted as being a detriment, mostly due to lack of feel, but it works here, and it’s just heavy enough to remind you of its connection to the road.”
It’s really light steering, but don’t worry, it’s just heavy enough!
“but even with just 184 horsepower and 221 lb-ft of torque, there’s enough verve on hand for the cut and thrust of the urban jungle. I’d be wary of freeway passing, though.”
It doesn’t have enough power, but it has enough!
What a bunch of nothing.
A bunch of nothing, appropriate to the nothing-ness of the vehicle being reviewed!
I don’t think the “tribute” crap is specific to any particular generation, I remember them when I was far younger than I am now, and I see it on HonNisOta’s of the current generation. Never been a fan, but it has made for some entertainment, when I smoke them with my non tribute car that is actually an incognito race car.
Good times, good times.
I have to admit, I could be tempted by an Evora covered in John Player Special colors. But not sold. I’m too fond of yellow paint for that.
I made fun above, but I must admit my thoughts were drawn to those sharp JPS Esprit Turbos.
Why have I never seen a Honda done up in the Yellow/Blue/White livery of the winning Honda/Williams F1 car?
https://imgur.com/gallery/dzLSB
Or a McLaren done up in the red-and-white Marlboro livery of the Ayrton Senna years? I’d think there would be a lot of nostalgia there.
How about a Honda or Acura in pure white with a red sun on the hood a la Soichiro’s first F1 car?
https://www.thetruthaboutcars.com/2015/03/heritage-cuts-ways/
Their money, their choice. My dream is to be Jeff Bezos rich, buy some collectible noteworthy car and set it on fire during Pebble Beach week just for the shock factor. My money, my choice.
Jack, I wonder if you could do a story on the finances of racing SERIES not teams. I watched a bit of that race and was shocked at the lack of humans in attendance. I think NASCAR only makes it because they through the France family and the Smiths own most of the tracks. If NASCAR had to deal with 30+ track owners I think it would fold.
How does a series like PWC or Trans Am make a buck? Are they time buys and it’s up to them to fill the commercials? I do see the appeal to teams and drivers. I frankly don’t see the appeal to viewers.
Team entry fees are exorbitant and increase in lockstep with higher racing classes. Tracks also pay ten to six figure sums for a series like PWC to show up at their venue once a year so they can then sell tickets and make money on concessions (make that 7 to 8 figures for high profile international series like F1). OEM’s and other sponsors will pay annually for various advertising opportunities, including the right to offer “contingency” payouts to top 3 finishers in their chosen model. It gets grayer the deeper you go (funding homologation rulesets within sanctioning bodies, etc) and is often series dependent… what am I missing?
Oh and you’re right - PWC started off (and I think still is) a media company. Not sure if it is time buys/reselling as space as you mention, but the main measure of ROI for any OEM to invest in a series is the amount of eyeballs on the screen for a given time. Nielsen actually calculates the $$ “earned” by a team for every second a brand is shown or mentioned during all of the frames of a race. The better your team does, the more value you’ve received in exposure. Jack’s mention and Accord appearances were probably worth a lot more than most would think in terms of buying airtime.
For someone channel surfing who doesn’t really care about auto racing, the fact that the place is empty of fans would be a turnoff. If the people who like auto racing don’t care then it must not be any good. I know that’s not true, but I can see people moving on to a different channel after seeing empty grand stands.
Personally, I’d come close to giving tickets away if I was a promoter and use the people as props for the cameras.
The visuals of this race looked like the movie Foul Ball with the guy dressed up as the indian (Chief Wahoo?) sitting in the stands with Bob Uecker doing the broadcast.
But what do I know. I watch curling outside of the Olympics.
The fan turnout wasn’t really that bad for a holiday weekend race.
The problem is that even NASCAR at the Glen sometimes looks a little under-attended… the stands were built during a time when the track itself was a common weekend destination no matter what was going on. There are photos on Reddit of “The Bog” being absolutely packed with young people who didn’t spend a minute watching the race.
“Their money, their choice. My dream is to be Jeff Bezos rich, buy some collectible noteworthy car and set it on fire during Pebble Beach week just for the shock factor. My money, my choice.”
I feel similar, but I’d do it differently. with F-you money I’d put down the winning bid for one of those mint, numbers-matching 7-figure Hemi ‘cudas or Boss 429s, and after checking it over (can’t count on them even having fluids in them) watch those old schmucks keel over from heart attacks as I cut its value 80% by driving the car away.
The horror!!!
Philistine!!!
I really enjoyed the PWC story at R&T.
“I started the truck, everybody climbed in, and we rolled out of The Show for the first, and last, time.”
So, it that it? Is it just too damn expensive for normal people to participate in PWC or other forms of professional motorsport?
I think I could participate with $200k a year and win with $300k a year. That assumes a ten-race championship, for which the entry fees alone would be $60k.
Any chance of getting a ride with an established team? I’m guessing in PWC finding that much sponsorship is going to be a steep uphill slog.
I’d have to win on my own dime for a half-year first, I think.
Who cares, if you adjust for income the Martini graphics Porsche may well be the equivalent of me wearing an Atari Tshirt.
At least he’s trying to go fast, unlike the balding Lambo guys looking to be seen on the boulevard.
Or Beverly Hills / Ls Angeles where the teenage sons of middle eastern diplomats drive them in first gear throttle pinned going 35 MPH, to get attention .
Really stupid and clueless at the same time .
-Nate
I remember talking to a management guy at GM Holden about 1997 who was saying how much pressure headquarters was putting on Holden to put the Commodore on a FWD platform (I assume a GM10) for cost savings reasons, but that the Ozzies were fighting to keep RWD. Just shows how brain-dead GM headquarters were since they were still pushing FWD for large cars 18 years after the last “gas-crisis”, and it would take the return of Lutz before anyone with authority at GM thought to use the RWD Ozzie platform for some US models. Unfortunately, by that time the market had shifted to SUVs, cross-overs, and pickups, and GM’s large car reputation had been flushed down the toilet.
To be fair to GM, when is the last time RWD was seen as a benefit in your standard, everyday family cars here in the US? The best selling cars in America have been FWD since, what the Oldsmobile Cutlass in like ‘77? For packaging, efficiency, and drivability reasons FWD won out pretty clearly pretty damn long ago.
Let’s see. Rear drive BMW and MB are cleaning the clocks of FWD Cadillac, Buick, and Olds in US market share and prestige and per unit revenue, but let’s shut down the only RWD all-independent suspension car platform we have in the world and force them to be FWD also. People don’t buy status cars for practicality and packaging - they want power, size, and quality - which GM wasn’t offering in their large US cars during most of the 80s and 90s except for full-size pickups and SUVs.
“People don’t buy status cars for practicality and packaging – they want power, size, and quality – ”
people buy status cars for the badge. besides, the Cadillacs they were trying to use to compete with the Germans (CTS, CT6, ATS) are rear wheel drive. Cadillac is lacking none of those three things you listed. What they lack is the perception of having those things. ‘cos they only care about the perception of it being a quality car, since they only have them for a 2-3 year lease. It’s the poor shmendrick of a 2nd or 3rd owner who is going to suffer for BMW and Mercedes’s “quality.”
You must remember, if Holden lost their unique platform, they would have lost their local engineering center, and just been a high cost assembler. Of course the locals would fight to keep it. What a lazy indictment of the big GM FWDs.
I truly enjoyed the piece on that Oldsmobile. I’ve had a fairly wide variety of cars in my short driving life (in 7 years I’ve had everything from an ‘89 300CE to a manual, 2nd gen Xterra, to my current EcoStang) but Old Land Barge is certainly on my list of things to try out soon. Something like that, perhaps with decent winter-capable tires, would be a pretty decent daily drive so I don’t have to put 16k miles per year on the Mustang.
But then again I’d love to have a pickup for pickup reasons and I can only have one extra vehicle…. hmmm
If you’re going to sticker up your Porsche, why not go full Sunoco, or any of the other (L&M, Martini) race series killing 917/30 liveries?
Martini graphics like that hearken me back to the old Al Consentino days of Abarth and Lancia rally cars. Lovely on the track, easily recognized, and quick. Good times, good times. Why not use some sentiment sometimes? It’s when it’s over-used that it gets old - again.