Tag: Cars

Bravo, Scuderia

Drive Time

As it should:

Ferrari’s first SUV will have a roaring 12-cylinder engine rather than a greener eco-friendly powerplant, one  of the bosses at the iconic Italian car company has said this week.

The eagerly-anticipated Purosangue sport utility vehicle is set to be unveiled this year, with most expecting it to have either a V8 motor or use the V6 plug-in hybrid powertrain debuted in the recent 296 GTB.

However, Benedetto Vigna, Ferrari chief executive, told Reuters on Wednesday: ‘We’ve tested several options, it was clear that the V12, for the performance and driving experience it could provide, was the right option for the market.’

Take that, Green assholes.

 

Tormented By Beauty

Drive Time

Last Saturday I was in the throes of passion over an old Purdey shotgun.  Not to sound too romantic, but my heart today has been captured by this vision of liquid steel, namely:

1954 Jaguar XK-120 SE

But wait!  It gets worse!

And how did it reach this speed?  Why, through its 3.4-liter inline-6 engine:

As with most Jags, it has a truck (boot) capable of holding a couple of shotgun cases.

No prizes for guessing which shotguns I’d carry in it, either:

For more pics and its back story, go here.  What the hell, why should I be the only one to suffer?

Smoother

Drive Time

I must confess to liking the shape of the Ferrari Roma a great deal:

…if only for the fact that its bodywork doesn’t look like a biker chick with all her piercings removed, e.g. the new Lotus Emira:

..and even other Ferraris of recent vintage, like the 488:

In fact, the Roma reminds me of my true love, the discontinued (don’t get me started) Jaguar XK of the early 2010s:

…which I still think is one of the most beautiful tourers ever made, by anyone.

YMMV, and no doubt I’ll hear all about it in Comments.

Two Kinds

Drive Time, Sports

Some guy at RedState got ahead of himself and had a go at my favorite motorsport (F1, for those who’ve been away living on the Planet Zarg for the past twenty years).

Saith Jerry:

[O]ur taste in auto racing leans heavily toward the NASCAR and IndyCar side of things. Not to slight F1, but it’s long been overly snobbish and high roller hoidy-toidy for our taste. If NASCAR is auto racing’s Lynyrd Skynyrd, F1 is its Dave Matthews Band. You get the idea.

Not quite;  the comparison is more apt if expressed that NASCAR/Indy are more like a garage band:

and F1 like smooth jazz:

Yeah, F1 is a high-roller sport;  I would have thought that Americans would understand that concept better than our European cousins, who are always just one regulation away from Pure Marxism.  (Then again, considering the Biden Maladministration, maybe we’re not doing too badly ourselves.)

Whatever.  The fact is that F1, especially with its all-new formula for 2022, is far more exciting to watch than the parabolic antics of NASCAR — and yesterday’s maligned Saudi GP at Jeddah was one of the most exciting races I’ve ever watched, of any type, despite the sideshow provided by Houthi missiles:

(And despite my dislike of Mr. Woke Lewis Hamilton, he was robbed of a higher finish by pure bad luck.)

I know that given my readership profile I’m going to get a whole lot of stick about this, but I don’t care.  2022 looks like being a brilliant F1 season.

And I don’t even like smooth jazz.