Roberto is a racing buddy of mine and it suuuucked seeing his car come in on a flatbed with him in an ambulance (you get a free ride to the paddock, whether you’re hurt or not). Unfortunately, all of us have random lapses of brain waves that manage to distract from whatever routines we all have before strapping in for…

Awesome story (and photographs) even though in the moment, things were undoubtedly very un-awesome. I got caught in similar conditions last spring, driving an inherited 2003 Ranger home to DC from Washington state. It had every option except 4x4, and was on new Hankook Optimo tires, which are universally panned as…

Yeah, I figured as much about the brakes. Electric is smoother at low speeds in my experience, but having brakes at all is important when you’ve got that kind of weight behind you!

Got it, my L322 Range Rover was the same way. If it connects to trailer lights/brakes then it enables tow mode. That’s different from not having one at all. Good to know!

I am supremely excited for this truck, because it may be able to haul my racecar around in an enclosed trailer. Pretty wild that they had you tow 5k lbs with no trailer brakes (or did the boat trailer have surge brakes?). I’m also surprised by the lack of Tow mode to change transmission behavior. The Pentastar will…

This is excellent, David. Great writing and descriptions. I am very eager to get behind the wheel at an upcoming media drive and hoping to throw my enclosed race trailer on the back of one. It weighs about 6,500 lbs loaded up, but the real challenge for Gladiator (and other “midsize” trucks) will be how they handle…

Sucks about the E39 touring. I’ve been to the Tail once, in my Miata days, and am loathe to go back again. There are far too many people who simply cannot drive with any amount of skill trying to use the road as their own personal racetrack. Someone died the day we arrived because they were driving like a moron and…

Looks like I’m here in full color now so someone took care of it.

For $3,500... sure. I was a solid “maybe” until I saw those seats. They look like a great place to spend time honhonhon-ing around town.

Elon, like Trump, doesn’t really add value to the shouting-into-the-void space that is Twitter. So yeah, stop Tweeting you dingdong.

We got to see the Phantom Matte Gray at a DC-area press event last week. The car as a whole looks great in person although I’m not a huge fan of the wheels. My life doesn’t jive with matte paint but it was nice - had a tinge of green to it. I’d go with blue or yellow.

Let me inject a dose of reality into your fantasies of a manual-trans Mercedes racecar. My mom has had a three-pedal Crossfire since it was new in 2005. I’ve got it in my possession right now and have put about 1k miles on it. I learned to drive stick on it when I had my learners’ permit, in 2005.

Less, surprisingly. The common consensus is “we’re all here to drive real fast, we all got here by working hard and being good people, let’s keep at it.”

“Here’s a challenge: name an active gay racer. Can you?”

BMW had a similar issue with the E36 3-series in the late 90s. They used thin sheet metal for the shock towers, and it didn't hold up well in states that use a lot of salt on the roads during winter months. They issued a recall to have reinforcement plates installed (which did mitigate the problem almost entirely) but…

Now now, don't be so exclusive. My lived-in-New-Jersey-in-a-past-life E36 M3 with three re-welded shock towers would like to have a word with you.

Have you towed a car before? A 1,000 lb. trailer is pretty typical, and that would be to only fit one car. Suggesting Tesla uses a short-bed, short-wheelbase EcoBoost F150 to tow two Model S's at a time is ridiculous. The trailer will put you at or near the max. spec'd 11k towing capacity, the poor V6 will be spinning…

It turns into an off-balance washing machine and starts gyrating all over the road.

I love reading these posts, Matt. I'm actually about to pick Sacha up for a weekend trip to see some BMW friends of ours. Small world.

I think the intended use of Double Locking is so that if someone smashes out your window, they still can't open the door. It also disables the ignition system.