Unabashed Gearhead Gnarlyness

Commento del Pilota: David Jeffries on the Isle of Man TT

Find more videos like this on www.truveo.com.The

This Commento del Pilota is delivered by the late David Jeffries.  A man of immense talent, Jeffries held the absolute lap record for the Isle of Man TT, and won the overall event nine times. 

In this commento, Jeffries details one lap of the Isle of Man TT course, a distance of 37.75 miles.  As you listen to his voice, imagine the cognitive power it takes to navigate this route at triple-digit speeds: you're taking an outrageously powerful machine to and beyond the limit while also anticipating what the conditions will be around the next corner, all based on your memory of the circuit, informed intuition based on miles of racing experience, and pure feel for the road.  As I look at this video, I couldn't imagine maintaining control of his motorcycle for even the first 30 seconds, let alone the almost twenty minutes it takes to complete a single lap.  Then imagine doing it for successive laps on end. 

Racing like this isn't about a crazy guy letting it rip on a bike.  What we see here is something akin to a highly-trained and exquisitely practiced concert pianist taking us through a Rachmaninoff sonato seamlessly, all from memory and without a single technical error or lapse of expression.  To go on a lap with Jeffries is to understand flow and its importance.  His life is on the line every foot and every second, and in the running, he is living.

Respect.

How to drive a 911, part XI

Pointers on driving a 911, as seen from the cockpit of a well-driven Honda S2000.

And yes, he does get the 911 at about 5:36.  Patience is a virtue.

Commento del Pilota: Foust rallies the Subaru

Here's a new feature on Unabashed Gearhead Gnarlyness: Commento del Pilota.

Those of you who read metacool know that we have a series running there called "Director's Commentary".  The Director's Commentary is about design thinkers articulating the design process behind their creations.  It is based upon the very cool feature of movie DVD's where we can listen to the movie director commenting on why a scene is the way it is.  Powerful stuff.

Commento del Pilota is going to be a place to hear racers, designers, builders, pilots, and all other purveyors of gnarlyness talk about what they do, how they do it, and why they do it.  My big learning so far in the creation of this blog has been that gnarlyness is often a state of mind induced by action and dynamism; sometimes the object may not be so gnarly when static, but can create a sense of gnarlyness via the act of moving.

This first Commento del Pilota features Tanner Foust, ace rally pilot, drifting artist, and stunt car driver (and former pre-med student), talking us through what it takes to drive a Subaru rally car at the limit.  Rallying being a team sport, there's a huge amount of teamwork and behind the scenes prep that goes in helping someone like Foust get out there and rip it up.  And then there's the driving, and his incredibly quick hands.  Wow!  Be sure check out the video at the 4:04 mark... simply amazing.

Oh yes, the title.  It's in Italian.  If you have to ask why, you're probably better off reading this blog.

Forza Subaru!

My favorite off-road racing truck

The Honda Ridgeline Baja Racer

GT-R photography by Jim Marshall

Check out this amazing photography of the new Nissan GT-R by ace photographer Jim Marshall.

Don't know what I want more:  a real GT-R or the virtual version in the new Gran Turismo! 

I began my engineering career with a college internship at Nissan's R&D center in Atsugi, Japan.  Hot damn!  All the cars, car magazines, and car talk a gearhead could possibly want!  This was back when George Bush the elder was president, and the GT-R wasn't the player on the American automotive landscape that it is now.  I spent the summer working with a testing group wrenching on pre-production Nissans and prototypes, as well as on competitive makes.  This guaranteed lots of quality time with some amazing Nissan engineers and technicians, and made it possible to get a ride in the then-current GT-R (I begged to drive it myself, but no dice...).  I've been a GT-R believer ever since!

Why Subaru is my favorite car brand today

It's all about a brand that is based on a truth rooted in getting real stuff done in the world.  It's not about selling the sizzle, it's about selling a steak that sizzlers.  Hot!  And a juicy one at that.

What makes it all authentic is the relatively close tie between the WRX's you see pogoing around in this video and what you or I could buy down at the corner Subaru dealer.  They're a lot closer to the civilian models than anything you'd find in NASCAR, let alone Le Mans racing or even touring cars.  Effective marketing is about brands that are real, not fake.  Truth, not myth.

minivan = performance icon

All of us here at Metacool Media are fervent believers in the minivan as performance vehicle.  They're just tall cars, as opposed to cars that stand tall (also known as SUV's), so with just a little imagination they lend themselves well to sporting modifications.

If I told you I had a mid-engine, turbo-charged, rear-wheel-drive car that I went drifting in, would you think it was a hot dog Toyota Previa minivan?  Why not?  Why not, indeed.

thanks to our gnarly brethren at Winding Road for the tip

Hakosuka!

 

I have a thing for late 60's European sedans, and occasionally I have to remind myself that Nissan was cranking out some amazing vehicles during this period, too.  For an example of what I'm talking about, check out this lovely 1966 Datsun PL411 (with body styling by Pininfarina, natch!).  I want one enough to put it on my life list.

So, the rosters of great tin-top racers from BMW and Mercedes and Lancia, check out this wonderful video of a PGC10-type Nissan Skyline GT-R "hakosuka" being rammed around Fuji Raceway.  A big brother to the PL411, blessed with a truly wicked sounding inline six. 

I advise listening to the startup sequence on the video, then forwarding to about 1:39 to avoid the cheesy soundtrack.

More One Lap Honda Odyssey!

Honda's Bradley Buchanan takes us through all the design work that went in to the creation of an Odyssey that hauls at both ends. 

What a sound this thing makes!  And how it hunkers!  It has all the gravitas of a hairy-armed first-generation Porsche 911 Turbo.

I've said it before, and I'll say it again: there's a market out there for vans that pack the punch and handling of a BMW 535i.  People in my demographic and psychographic could easily absorb 10,000 of these a year in North America alone.  I'd buy one in a second, especially if it were powered by a turbodiesel. 

Space is the ultimate luxury. 

Space coupled with warp-speed performance?  Well, that's nirvana.  Honda, are you listening?

One Lap Odyssey

How does a 400 horsepower, fire-breathing Honda Odyssey strike you?

Not exactly the greenest of conveyances, but I bet some hyper-fast minivans would go a long way toward changing the "vans are for soccer moms" story which makes people go and buy silly, tippy SUV's for road use.  A powerful van would at least be greener than an equally powerful SUV.  After all, a mini van really isn't a small van; it's a tall car.  And space is the ultimate luxury.