Is yours equipped with air suspension? That’s the beauty of that system is it also has adjustable dampers. Little dial in the center console allows you to tweak it to your desire.

Heavy indeed. That’s what’s pretty fun about the V10, though. While it’s rated at about the same horsepower as the 4.2 V8 (313), but it has SO much more torque than the V8 gasser. And, to top it off, worst mileage I’ve seen with the V10 diesel is 18. Long highway trips have repeatedly netted me 21-22 MPG, and that’s…

Pretty much what CART/IndyCar have been doing for decades now. They just tightly regulate the design of the venturis underneath the car, but they have indeed been using them for a long, long time.

I’m not opposed to the idea, but the reason why IndyCar lagged behind jumping on the hybrid train for as long as they have is cost. IndyCar doesn’t generate the views and thus sponsorship dollars it did in the 90s and teams don’t have the budgets for the expensive engine leases that were the norm back then, let alone…

Also have to consider that VAG sells more diesels than they do gas engines in Europe. And in general, the diesels have a pretty solid reputation. Some have their common failure points like anything else, but overall pretty minimal maintenance required. No spark plugs or coil packs to replace. No variable valve timing…

If nothing else, Pagani makes great automotive art. 

COTD. Easily.

I know exactly who that is.

My experience has been that the rain is more intense with thunderstorms on the other side of the rockies, but those rain events are often much more short lived. California rain is often times less intense, but can go on for days at a time in some cases, in which case yeah, things flood. Road drainage does also appear…

Wait, you mean you expect people to use common sense and take responsibility for their actions?? That’s asking FAR too much, Torch! That is not the world we live in today. The world we live in today is; go screw something up and then blame someone else entirely because personal responsibility is hard.

It is good to hear he’s at least conscious. There had been little hints of that previously, but nothing super substantive.

In a behind the scenes sort of way, maybe it did make sense.

Ferrari faithful never seemed to really get behind the F50, either. A little too race-car focused, but also lacked the sheer torque and top speed the F40 had, despite the V12 having more horsepower than the F40's turbo V8. Was cool to see a production car with F1-like drivetrain as stressed member of the chassis with…

Good observation, also why I felt the need to add a little extra about Brackley, as they do have unique aero compared to everyone else. Most seem to play copycat to Newey were Mercedes (Brackley) have gone a completely different route.

That’s funny... because that era of Trans Am mostly was a lot like NASCAR, a sort of reminiscent of a production car body panels pasted to a tube frame vehicle with almost identical 360 cubic inch, caburetted V8s, just setup more specifically for road racing than ovals... and stickers that look sort of like the…

And certainly the blame can’t all be on the engine. Red Bull way outperformed them with the same engine for quite some time, too.

True. Ricciardo probably had visions of doing what Hamilton did. Probably didn’t time it quite as well, but he was likely thinking that direction.

I remember that, too. The Mercs did have a bit more unique of a sound, and that did sort of translate on TV as well. It was only for a couple years, though. I seem to remember it being due to McLaren deciding to make the exhaust exit underneath the car rather than over the top of the body work. Most constructors…

Well, I guess that’s one way to put positive PR spin on an otherwise miserable season where their former top team is now walking all over them with the formerly ‘horrible’ Honda engines...

Jokes about VW (and German cars in general) reliability aside, I kind of wondered when VW would tire of warrantying all the leaky sun roofs and other dumb crap that goes wrong with these.