[DeTomaso] NPC: A slow forum day and a dose of Dan Neil

[Larry - Ohio Time]

Very nice article Chuck.


Must have been around 1977 I was at Watkins Glen for the "5 Star Weekend".
The main event was the Six Endurance Race. You could buy a roving grand
stand ticket for something like $8. It allowed you to sit in any grand stand
on the track. 

I would always see the start of the race by the pits. Spend the next 6 hours
walking around the track to end up back at the start finish line for the
end. It was some what a tradition to jump the fence and run across the track
at the end of the race. I must not have too much "Ginny Cream Ale", they
would fill up my canteen with beer for a buck, that day as I made it to the
winners circle right by the fence. Not only were all 12 Penthouse playmates
there, but also the winners, Hurley Haywood and Peter Greg. 

Hurley Haywood opened a very large bottle of "Great Western Champaign", took
a swig and handed it to Peter, who also took a swig, then handed to the guy
right next to me. Yes shortly I too was drinking of the winner's Champaign.

Great cars, great guys!

Larry (great memories) - Cleveland



-----Original Message-----
From: DeTomaso [mailto:detomaso-bounces at server.detomasolist.com] On Behalf
Of Charles Engles
Sent: Sunday, October 16, 2016 6:06 PM
To: detomaso at server.detomasolist.com
Subject: [DeTomaso] NPC: A slow forum day and a dose of Dan Neil

Dear Forum,

 

 

                    Dan Neil reviews the Porsche 911 Turbo S.

 

                  Excerpts from today's WSJ.

 

 

                "Every time I drive a Porsche 911 Turbo ---in S trim, with
the big turbos, best served cherry-red-I think, "This has got to be it,
right?"  The best overall sports car on the market?  Smarter than Kant,
sharper than the Brunhilde's horns, tighter than the buns of the Stuttgart
football club, and oh so schnell, the 911 Turbo S tops a short list of
German things that are wildly entertaining.

 

                Pedigree?  Check.  Porsche is the reigning Le Mans champion,
with 18 wins overall.  Provenance?  All Turbos are built at the mother ship
in Zuffenhausen, with conceptual roots as far back as the 1930s and Dr.
Ferdinand Porsche himself.

 

                Performance?  Puh-leeze.  As always when a new one comes
out, the 2017 Turbo S lays down some dazzling markers, like 0-60 mph in 2.8
seconds.  This kind of acceleration actually hurts, the sort of ungentle
transition from still to moving that draws a flag in the NFL.  The Turbo S
will churn out quarter-mile passes in the low 10s until the drag strip turns
the lights off.  Top speed is given as 205 mph, runway not included.  

 

               So naturally, if Dame Fortune or Lady Lotto should extend a
pass to one great sports car, the decision tree could only branch,
rationally and inevitably, to the proverbial ass-engine Nazi slot car.

 

                 So I've always thought.  Maybe I'm wrong.  There are many,
vastly cheaper and more expressive sports-car choices.  If all you seek is a
track-day toy, try a used Dodge Viper ACR, with its cowl-rattling V-10 and
six-speed manual gearbox fabricated by the village smithie.  

 

                   For about 15% more quid than the Turbo S, you could have
yourself the new brill Brit, the Aston Martin DB11, and could parade around
in a kilt, wearing a wolf's head as a sporran, which is equally subtle.

 

 

               Compared with these lewd displays, the Turbo S is practically
invisible.  This is good or bad depending  on the emotional needs of the
would-be owner.  It's pretty clear Lambo owner weren't hugged enough as
children.

 

           Let's kick the tires of this yellow one: a rear mid-mounted
twin-turbo 3.8-liter flat-six engine (580 hp and 553 ft-lbs of torque at
1.950 rpm), all set on hair trigger; the familiar seven-speed PDK gearbox; a
water-cooled all-wheel drive transfer case; rear torque vectoring; adaptive
suspension; active body-roll compensation; ceramic composite brakes that
would stop a meth-addled elephant; and four wheel steering.  The Sport Plus
mode includes a new track-only routine that allows drivers to pitch the car
around good and sideways (large deltas in yaw rate)  before it tugs the
appropriate brake to set things right.  Of course, the driver can't feel it,
so he thinks he is a genius behind the wheel.  

 

          Ditto the car's four-wheel steering.  A little late on your
braking and heading into the short grass?  Take another bite of tiller and
four-wheel steering is there for you, bro.

 

            You can't even row your own gears.  The seven-speed PDK is
equipped with paddle-shifter, of course, but the transmission -control
algorithms are now so precise, so predictive, that shifting by hand would be
quite a bit slower.

 

            "I just leave it in D" said Mr. Hurley Haywood.  "It's smarter
than you are."

 

 

                         Warmest regards,  Chuck Engles