“Well, of course you have to lift for that in the R8.” That was what I was told by a very experienced, well-respected driver whose racing resume absolutely dwarfs mine. And I think that any experienced, well-respected auto racer would have agreed.
The problem is that I’m actually a BMX racer who just happens to be racing cars because his knees make audible grinding sounds when he walks. So of course I didn’t lift, and of course the R8 landed sideways at one hundred and twenty-four miles per hour, and of course I want you to read the magazine and see what happened next…
Sam Smith called me about writing for Road&Track on October 17 of 2012. That’s what my phone says, anyway. From the beginning I had some concerns about the idea of working for a major print rag. Would they let me be honest and forthright about the cars I drove? Would I eventually be completely seduced by the perks and the trips and the ego-trippin’ ecstasy of seeing my work on the cover of a magazine?
Oh we’re big autowriters
Like those English blighters
And we’re all past middle age.
We write about driving
Down the Stelvio Pass
At two thousand dollars a page.
We wear Piloti shoes
In red, black or blue
When we’re holding people up on the track
But the best kind of treat is
When you get your feature
On the cover of the Road and Track.
Road and Track…
Wanna see my Neon on the cover
Track…
Wanna send five copies to my brother
Track…
Wanna see my hairy head
On the cover of the Road and Track!
Most of my fears have gone unrealized. It’s true that some of the more outrageous and/or offensive work that I’ve submitted to the magazine has fallen prey to the editor’s red pen. Maybe that’s for the best. If you let an artist of any type just do whatever the hell he wants, then half of the time you wind up with Zero Tolerance For Silence. I’ve also occasionally failed to deliver the most “Baruthian” article possible — sometimes that’s because I’m consciously trying to emulate one of the autowriters I admired when I was a child. Still other times I’ve written things at the very last minute, like Samuel Johnson penning Rambler 134 while the printer’s copy-boy waited in the hall.
With very few exceptions, most of which you my readers could probably accurately guess without any further hints from me, I haven’t had much difficulty working with the automakers. There are a few companies that will specify “anybody but Jack Baruth” when they send an invite. I consider that to be the highest possible form of praise when it comes for a public-relations person. Fuck ’em. A coward dies a thousand deaths.
So let’s talk about two companies that had the guts to let me drive their $200,000 cars around Summit Point’s concrete-lined Shenandoah course at the maximum possible* pace. Audi and McLaren both had confidence in their products. That confidence was largely justified. It was a real thrill for me to soar through the air in both of these stellar supercars.
Yes, the test has a winner; if you want to read a test where everybody gets a participation trophy, there are a few magazines on the newsstands next to this one where that’s always going to happen. One of these cars was discernibly more satisfying than the other. But I’d be personally satisfied with either car. And I hope you’ll take the time to buy, and read, this issue. It’s the third major comparison I’ve put in R&T in as many months and although I occasionally find it a bit wearying to keep up this pace I’m not going to stop until they fire me or kill me.
As always, thank you for reading.
* Maximum possible for me, anyway — but can YOU turn a 1:36 on the extended Shenandoah course?
You are the reason I started reading R&T again.
Just sayin’.
I concur.
Seconded.
If they fire you they will have to “cancel my goddamn subscription” to paraphrase William. F. Buckley.
Quick question: I’m considering buying a 2007 Carrera C2S. I was throughly seduced by the test drive. I’m going to get a PPI and am aware of the potential IMS issue. Do you have any thoughts?
If you go into it with eyes wide open, then I think it’s a good idea. It’s tough because what we all probably really want is a 997.2 with the bulletproof engine but the market is pricing them accordingly. So buy it and enjoy it!
yeah, they are priced at about the same delta as a complete M96 engine! I guess the market really is efficient.
Is there anyway I can get Road & Track’s magazine in Malaysia?
I’ll send you some!
Jack pushed me to think about things that I otherwise would have approached differently, perhaps in ways to reflect my own age and experience. His first installments of that pressure were unwelcome I must say (example: On the Brink, 9/2/2014), and I reacted with that emotion then. But I have come around, to honestly enjoying the pieces he writes and strong measure of respect for the details and flow. The work does have perspective as well but its relevent and interesting. Mr. Baruth’s email teases to get me to jump over here to the article, are way good too.
So Jack, this is long way to say, as others have done, “Thank you.”
Thank you for giving me a second chance.
That looks painfully rad. For some reason the 570 tickles my special purpose much more than all the other $200k mid-engine cars I’ll never buy. I may have to pick this issue up, even though I did that a couple months ago and discovered that magazines now cost twice as much as the last time I bought one. I’m doin’ it for you, Jack.
Anyway, hope you’re still going in October, which reminds me: Do you, DG or Bark have any recommendations for brake pads? People are telling me Fiesta gobbles them up quick but they’re not always the most reliable sources…
Painfully rad you say?
I CAN TAKE THE SATs ANY TIME, ADRIAN, I MEAN, MOM!
The Porterfields on DG’s car are pretty, pretty good.
I had Porterfield’s street pad on my Mini and can recommend those too. They were also more than capable for my use at the track. It was a tighter, low speed track and I’m a novice. Not sure if that’s better or worse for brakes.
Jack, Porterfield can also custom make stuff; worth giving them a call if you’re still looking for an alternative for the Accord.
Thank you both, I’ll check those out. Looks like they get bonus points for not requiring a bedding process that would make me look like a dickhead on Boston surface streets (lookin’ at you Hawk.)
Well, I was assured that you were born to drive sideways.
So I run to Kindle to download this latest issue, and am greeted by an issue of Seventeen erroneously placed in this month’s R&T download slot. Oh well.
Is it the one with Demi Lovato on the cover? That’s some good readin’.
Somebody named Hailee Steinfeld.
So I went into my local wallyworld yesterday and the only R&T I can find for sale is the May issue. KanBan has yet to make it to my city of one million plus.
would it be possible to collate all of the published Baruth articles and their accompanying photos into a coffee table book, or would the magazines take “issue” with that?
That would be neat. I wonder if they’d let me do that. They let PETER EGAN do it…
sign me up for the pre-order.
I was at Summit Main with NASA on (presumably) the weekend you guys were there. We were all commenting on that dude driving around the paddock in his fancy orange McLaren and why the heck wasn’t he on the track with us! Now I know.
Maybe, maybe not… we were only there on a Monday and Tuesday night. The guy in the orange Macca might have actually just been a non-trackin’ douchebag!