Drive Time – Page 29 – Splendid Isolation

Just Remember, Kids

February 27, 2022 Kim du Toit Drive Time, Gratuitous Chick Pics

…that today, she’s just “Mom” (or “Mum”) and “old” to you.

But back before you were born:

As for Nana:

Yeah, and Beyonce wasn’t the first to show her ass, either…

Thatisall.

Return To Italy

February 26, 2022 Kim du Toit Drive Time, Travels

You will recall my last post on driving the Mille Miglia course:

…and the difficult choices listed from which one would make for a companion, and the car for the journey.

Forget the companion. The topic is a perennial favorite of mine (I believe my first post on the topic was back in 2017), and I was thinking about it again over the past weekend.

For one thing, I can’t help but think that in doing this particular trip, the choice of car should be exclusively Italian, for the same reason that one should eat at little trattorias along the route rather than searching for McDonalds, and drinking Chianti rather than Diet Coke. It’s all about Italy, and one should take the opportunity to immerse oneself in the complete esperienza italiana.

Given that I don’t like most modern cars — both their homogeneous wind-tunnel shapes, and their overpowered engines — I keep going back to the cars of my youth, and was assisted in this thought by pics of a car on sale this week at a Sotheby’s auction: a ground-up restoration of a 1974 Alfa Romeo 2000 GTV.

It’s neat, it’s shapely, and that little 2-liter engine is as capable of purring along at a leisurely pace through the many narrow village streets as snarling at 75mph through mountain passes and along deserted country roads.

By 1974, Alfa had pretty much worked out all the niggles typically associated with their earlier models of the Tipo 105, and I know several guys who were still driving their GTVs of that vintage when I left South Africa in 1986, a dozen years after the car’s release. So while there would always be a threat (promise?) of some kind of Alfa-related breakdown en route, I would still be willing to take the chance.

And in the end, if I were to become marooned in some little Italian village while the local mechanic waited for spares to arrive, I’d just have to grit my teeth and endure the experience with my translator:

She’d have to be a petite lil’ thing to fit into the GTV, you see…

Okay, so maybe she’s not that petite:

So ignoring the companion, which model Italian car (e.g. 1967 Fiat Dino 2000 GT) would you choose to make the drive? Here’s a suggested list, just to give you ideas to draw from:

Alfa Romeo
Cisitalia
Ferrari
Fiat
Lamborghini
Lancia
Maserati and
Pagani.

And if you feel like doing a little research for an hour or two before making your final decision, let DuckDuckGo be your friend… as I did.

Opulence

February 14, 2022 Kim du Toit Drive Time, Law and Order

Combat Controller sends me these pics under the heading: “I think someone’s police department has too much money”:

“…compared to the Sheriff’s department…”:

When you think of how often the city cop cars will be in the shop for repairs (five times per month, average) compared to the Sheriff’s cars (twice a year, average), it’s an even worse picture.

The Real Grand Tour

February 13, 2022 Kim du Toit Drive Time

You’ve just won the Grand Prize of a big raffle. The prize is that you get to tour the United States AND Western/Central Europe for six months (in any combination you wish, e.g. four months in the U.S, two in Europe). All expenses and accommodation are paid for. You have your choice of companion: wife, mistress, girlfriend, best buddy, Carol Vorderman, or nobody.

You also have to choose only one car for each continental leg of this trip, which may prove problematic, because they’re all classic cars. However, in the same spirit of the Clarkson trio, you will have a support vehicle driving a couple of miles behind you, so forget about car trouble.

Also: because of the age of the cars, interstate highways and autobahns are not recommended, so you’ll have to use lesser roads e.g. US-50 or US-287, etc.

Here are your choices for the U.S. leg (pick one only):

1932 Stutz DV-32 (5.0-liter straight eight, top speed ~ 100mph)

1934 Packard 1101 Eight Coupe (319 cub.in straight 8, top speed ~ 120mph)

1935 Duesenberg J Walker Grand Torpedo (6.9-liter straight 8, top speed ~ 115mph)

1936 Auburn Boat Tail Speedster (5.3-liter straight 8, top speed ~ 120mph)

Now for the “European leg”. You can choose to tour only the U.K. in one of the three right-hand drive cars — OR only the European continent in one of the three left-hand drive cars:

United Kingdom

1936 MG SA Tourer (2-liter inline 4, top speed ~ 80mph)

1938 SS-100 Jaguar Roadster (2.5-liter inline 6, top speed ~ 100mph)

1938 Alfa Romeo 6C 2300 B (2.3-liter inline 6, top speed ~ 105mph)

(I know, it’s not a Brit car; but it is one of the most beautiful Alfas ever made, it’s RHD, and you’ll have a support team, remember?)

Continental Europe

1936 Horch 853 A (4.9-liter straight 8, top speed ~ 120mph)

1938 BMW 328 Cabriolet (1.9-liter inline 4, top speed ~ 110mph)

1938 Mercedes 540K Cabrio A (4.9-liter inline 8, top speed ~ 125mph)

Enjoy the trips…

My Difficult Choices

February 7, 2022 Kim du Toit Drive Time

…from yesterday’s post about driving around the Virginia International Raceway:

Group A: 2009 Wiesmann Roadster

Are you kidding me? A German V10 in a custom-built luxury sports car? Vroom, vroom.

Group B: 1995 Aston Martin DB7

Never driven an A-M… time to do so.

Group C: 1985 Lancia Delta S4

Better than the Stratos? I’d need to judge for myself…

Group D: 1975 BMW 3.0 CSL
Not even close. One of the best cars BMW ever made.

Group E: 1967 Iso Grifo 350 GL
American engine, Italian styling. Also, not even close.

Group F: 1955 Fiat 8V Zagato
Let’s see: four-time winner of the Euro Sports Car championship, a snarling 2-liter V8 engine… what was the question, again?

Next Sunday will feature yet another series of difficult choices. I rather like this game.

Still More Difficult Choices

February 6, 2022 Kim du Toit Drive Time

You have been given a free day to drive the Virginia International Raceway (long track). For those unfamiliar, here it is (click to embiggen):

You have been given a whole Fall day to drive a half-dozen cars of your choice, from the list below, from dawn till dusk (about 7.30pm) around this 3.5-mile track, and you’ll have the place all to yourself. The weather forecast is for clear and sunny skies, with perhaps a brief shower at midday, clearing after about an hour. Temperatures will be in the mid-50s (11C to15C, for those of the Celsius persuasion).

You will be limited to up to twenty (20) laps for each car; three warm-up laps (no faster than 50mph) to get the oil temperatures up and for familiarization, and the rest at whatever speed you wish. Individual lap times can be kept for comparative purposes.

Mechanical service will be available at any time (so assume no breakdowns), and fresh tires will be provided as needed.

The cars from which you must make your choices are from the following list, and *note well* you may pick only one car from each group:

Group A (“Roaring 20s”)

Car #1: 2009 Wiesmann GT MF5 Roadster (go here if you’re unfamiliar)

Car #2: 2015 Maserati GT: