My long-form test of the McLaren 675LT at Road&Track should be published some time today.
EDIT: Here it is!
In the meantime, here’s something to keep you amused. The slide was intentional, but the magnitude of the slide was a bit much.
My long-form test of the McLaren 675LT at Road&Track should be published some time today.
EDIT: Here it is!
In the meantime, here’s something to keep you amused. The slide was intentional, but the magnitude of the slide was a bit much.
How did you find center after shuffling your hands? Zing!
That’s actually a perfect illustration of the problem with sliding that much. You have to play catch-and-release.
Today’s post on TTAC is a masterpiece. So many jimmies will be rustled.
Your article on this car was outstanding. One of your best, in my opinion.
I wonder how many of these will actually be driven in anger by their owners.
Bravo Jack! Wonderful article.
Nice slide…for an instant you were definitely thinking, “oh, snap….MORE LOCK…wait, what?! Already there?!”
Yeah that was the “dab of oppo” the English guys are always claiming to use on the street!
Great article. I wish I could get paid to drive awesome cars like that.
I just read the R&T piece.
I’ve always stated that Jack is the best current autojournalist, and I’m using the broadest pool of writers by which to weigh his writing merit.
I’ve taken note of and held up as examples of Jack’s truly great writing and social/economic/cultural/engineering instinct the following articles he penned:
1) Lincoln Continental piece
2) Watery Big Bang (of Porsche Boxers & Hublot Watches, but not really - much more deep than either of those two examples written about).
3) Porsche Macan & Cayenne pieces.
4) Cadillac piece (chastising Cadillac for chasing post-1998 but pre-2010 BMW).
5) VW Phaeton piece.
6) Lexus LS400 piece.
7) Other pieces I can’t currently, specifically identify.
Jack hits it out of the park not because he is or isn’t “correct” in any moral sense or in terms of anything he opines or outright states as fact (i.e. gender issues, racial issues, economic issues, car culture, advertising culture, etc.), but because regardless as to whether one agrees with him or not, he effectively uses automotive & mechanical metaphors to tap into highly sensitive, timely, relevant and genuinely important issues of our times.
Jack isn’t an autojournalist, in reality, but a journalist using automotive themes to speak to the broadest possible issues of our times, and to spark lightning from readers in doing so.
His writings serve as a catalyst in a manner and to a degree that few other writers are able to replicate, and again, it matters not whether one agrees or disagrees with any particular opinion in any particular editorial he authors.
If I were a literary agent, I’d actively recruit Jack as a client.
Indeed, what a time to be alive.
And by “journalist,” I actually mean observer & writer on things social/cultural/political/etc.
You may already be familiar with them, but you should go back and read some of his older work; by older I mean in the last 10 years.
His “Porsche Deadly Sin’s” series on TTAC is great.
This particular piece from pre-Road and Track and TTAC Avoidable Contact, is what hooked me as a fan of his writing.
http://www.speedsportlife.com/2008/10/01/avoidable-contact-17-cheating-nissan-bitter-porsche/
I happened to read it around 2010 or 2011 when everyone really started throwing around ‘Ring times like it was the end all be all test of automotive performance. It was a counterpoint that was almost a breath of fresh air.
And another one that I was remiss to not specifically mention:
http://jackbaruth.com/?p=127
Say whatever you may about the opinions and allegations and biases expressed therein, agree or disagree with them, and classify that as anything from bullseye accurate to flagrantly cynical or unjustifiably gloomy - it doesn’t matter.
What does matter is that it rips most peoples’ band-aids off in a very painful, very deliberate way, and is a catalyst of optics/nerve/sensory/reality (perceived and/or actual) overload.
I’m not sure if I could pick a favorite between today’s post on TTAC, or this article.
The 675 article took me back to when I was a child and laid my eyes on my first Ferrari, a 250 Testa Rossa at now-shuttered Italian car dealer in Dearborn. It certainly brought up some fond memories that I nearly forgot about.
The TTAC article was (not) surprisingly accurate. As I got older, I began to feel slight guilt in that my father sold both his Jade Green 79 Cobra and 82 GT so that he could send me to private school and cart my ass around for hockey in order to give me the childhood he never had.
I can honestly say that as I close in on 30, I’m not entirely there yet. Your description of those who settle explains more of my friends than I care to recall at the moment. Those who settled into a “safe” school, a dead-end job In some cubicle, a shitty marriage, or worse. I cannot say that I haven’t made similar choices at times, but luckily I’ve always pulled out (literally and figuratively) before it was too late.
Keep fighting the good fight, even if you feel the need to shit on craft beer on occasion.
Also, nice Dead Milkmen reference.
A real great piece really great at capturing the atmosphere. My personal favourite is fleetwood story. Along with some of the recovery after the town car crash such as 200 review
Thank you for reading!
I only watched the 15 second video ~ nice save ! .
-Nate