Did they report what kind of paint was used? I love the texture. Is it just clearcoated tempera?

@48pan2: AJ Foyt is the baddest badass to spin a wrench and turn a steering wheel. I have a vivid memory, from the early 80s of him trying to qualify at Indy, pulling into the pits, barking at his crew, and then grabbing the wrenches himself to make some adjustments before leaping back into the car. Huevos grandes.

@Chairman Kaga: Seconded, the quintessential rent-a-shoe.

@Roberto G.: Cool tool, thanks! Your link has a superfluous ').' Here's a clean link.

Wow! Congrats to the Leaverman. Does this mean we won't be able to ply him with crazy baksheesh at LeMons races?

Now right about then, Sheriff Roscoe O'Coltrane was settling in for a nice lunch of skirts and kidneys when imagine who should drop in...

@Josh Clontz: Pavarotti's funeral was a huge deal in Italy. The rest of the world too, but Italy really knows how to mourn a hero. I regret I never had the chance to see him perform live.

@Bret: Oh geez, someone take my keyboard away.

@Roberto G.: I picked up some Ferrari branded Balsamico, which is quite good. I wandered around the restaurant absorbing the memorabilia for a while. The staff were very patient to put up with my dropped jaw dragging around their dining room. Here's a Mille Miglia trophy, humbly displayed in a case.

@Bret: The F-1 boys were there testing tires (this was in 2005), I was hopeful to see some of them having lunch, but that was not to be. We did hang out by the Fiorano fence for a while. Every few minutes a guy in an Alfa 156 would drive by and chase the kids off the fence.

@Bret: Oh the memories! Here's the lunch I had. Aren't those plates great?

That yellow building on the right, across the way from the access road to Fiorano, houses the Ferrari restaurant, il Cavallino. It's a fun place to eat. There is a bunch of F-1 memorabilia there and the food is quite tasty.

@bearslayer: Ah, forgot about the AWD thing. That does make sense. Wouldn't a rally homologation AWD Cooper S be cool? I'd line up for that.

@percussionchuck: Really? Weird. I never cleaned the legally mandated front plates of my cars in California. Now that I'm in Washington, where the front plate is also required, but I'm older and slightly less hoonish looking, the front plate of my very hoonish Miata lives in the trunk. I've not been bothered by…

I'm curious at the decision to use the Countryman over the more sporting Cooper S?

Red McCombs can make the Kessel Run in less than 11 parsecs.

Anything hanging from the rear-view mirror. I can't fathom how people can drive with pointless crap dangling from the mirror. Not only does it block the view forward, but it also renders useless your sense of motion from your peripheral vision.

Where we're going, we don't need roads...

Something is finally right with the world: a two stroke SAAB is primed for LeMons glory.

The French Stig likes to play with his Monkey.