Porsche 919 EVO demolishes the Nordschleife record

Last week I wrote about not giving a damn about Volkswagen beating the Pikes Peak hillclimb overall record with their bespoke electric race-car. This week I am extremely excited to write about Porsche demolishing the Nurburgring Nordschleife overall record with their 919 EVO race-car. 

I am no fan of electric cars, but electric power in concert with combustion engine - hybrids, I can (somewhat) get behind. 

Porsche is celebrating their successful FIA WEC campaign - since retired - by throwing a tribute tour showcasing the 919 Hybrid LMP1 car all over the world. During the tour Porsche wanted to break a couple of track records. Utilizing a derestricted specification of the 919 (EVO) with more aero, less weight, increased hybrid boost, and grippier than race-spec Michelin tires, Porsche aimed squarely at two tracks steeped in motorsport tradition: Spa-Franchorchamps, and the Nordschleife. 

The Spa record fell back in April, and down went the Nurburgring record this past week with an incomprehensible lap of 5 minutes, 19.55 seconds. 

I drive virtually on the Nurburgring almost daily with my GT Sport simulation rig so I can confidently say a lap in the 5 minutes is truly bonkers. A mighty effort of not only the car, but most certainly the driver. The ceaseless attack of heavy g-forces and the reflexes required to navigate a lap that quick is indeed a supreme display of athleticism by Timo Bernard.

Spa is a wonderful track, but the Nordschleife holds all the mystique: the uneven undulating surface, the utter lack of runoff areas, and the immense variation of corners to familiarize. Sir Jackie Stewart nicknamed it “The Green Hell”; Formula One cars have long deemed too fast to race on the track. Only GT3 class cars and below currently do racing on the old Nurburgring. 

It makes what Porsche did all the more incredible. 

For the longest time fans have wanted manufacturers to take their F1 or LMP1 machinery to do one lap time-attacks on the Nordschleife - just as they do with road cars. There’s been a few demonstration runs over the years (Nick Heidfeld in a BMW F1 car), but nothing concretely timed have ever been done. 

Kudos to Porsche for having the balls to do it. 

The not white tree of not Gondor. 

Volkswagen shatters Pikes Peak hill climb record

This past weekend was the annual Pikes Peak International Hill Climb, and Volkswagen shattered the overall record by some 15 seconds. The German marque built a bespoke all-electric race-car just for the event, utilizing the power advantage in high-altitude to great effect in beating Sebastien Loeb’s time that had stood since 2013.

You can color me thoroughly unimpressed. 

For sure I think VW has done a tremendous achievement of engineering. Pikes Peak's immense elevation meant it was only a matter of time before electric power would come to dominate the hill climb event. Suffering none of the symptoms that ail combustion engines in super thin air, electric motors gives full, consistent power, limited only by the size and store of the battery.

So kudos, Volkswagen, but it hardly moves my needle. 

Electric cars are wonderful and will supposedly save the planet from climate ruin but for me it’s a type of vehicle I would not own personally. I’ve felt the searing acceleration of a Tesla before and while it’s an amazing party trick, the novelty of a Model S ends there.

I fell in love with cars because of their sheer mechanicalness: the miracle of formed metal and coupled gears harnessing thousands of mini-explosions per minute into motivative drive. The cars that stir the soul are those that reveal its mechanicalness to the driver: the constant shake of a connected gear-lever, the whine of a supercharger, the hiss of a turbo waste-gate purging, and the pops and bangs during an off-throttle lift. 

An electric car have none of those qualities. A plush Mercedes S-Class sedan doesn’t have them either. I’d never purchase the latter so why would I entertain buying former? Indeed electric vehicles can handle and turn a proper corner just as well as an internal-combustion car - VW now owns the Pikes Peak record after all, but more than astonishing numbers and stats it’s how a car makes me feel behind the wheel that ultimately determines its value. A Tesla Model S and a Porsche 911 GT3 occupies stark opposite ends of that spectrum. 

I predict as electric vehicles proliferate in the coming decades, purely internal-combustion cars will be relegated to the expensive segments like super sports-cars - akin to fine handmade mechanical watches and their cheaper quartz-movement counterparts. The discerning few of us will seek those out and keep the analog spirit alive for as long as possible. 

Waiting for dinner, waiting for sunset, waiting for god. 

Record heat in San Francisco

The classic San Franciscan tradition of complaining whenever temperatures goes above 80 is one I disagree with because as I’ve said before, it does the body good to have some variations in the weather. This past Labor Day weekend however, was beyond anything we’ve seen before.

For two consecutive days, the temperature for much of the daytime was in the 100s, and in the night hours the scale never dropped below 80. San Francisco simply doesn’t experience Fahrenheit in the triple digits, and the infrastructure is not built for it, namely the utter lack of central air-conditioning in homes. I’ve live in hot climes before, and it’s eminently bearable if the home is air-conditioned because that limits the amount of exposure to only the hours people are outside. Lacking conditioned air whist the mercury is in the 100s, we were basically hot and sweating for the entire day, right through to bedtime. 

I can’t remember the last time it felt too sweltering to fall asleep, but now sadly I’ve got a fresh place-marker in my memory. 

Thankfully, this recent bout of high heat occurred during the weekend (it’s significantly cooler today), which afforded me to leisurely do absolutely nothing but watch automotive videos on Youtube - as planned. I watched it all on the tablet, of course, cause it was indeed best to avoid turning on the iMac lest adding to the already sauna-like room temperature. Thanks to the heat, I was able/forced to to properly honor the spirit of Labor Day. 

If San Francisco is to see more and more of these 100 degree day weather - climate change or whatever - I think it prudent to finally invest in that portable per-room air conditioning machine. Perhaps soon, since San Francisco haven’t even got to its traditional ‘Indian Summer’ of late September and early October.

I shall gladly and unashamedly complain about 100 degree temperatures.