(Bits&Pieces.com)
Monday, December 21, 2015
Fall In Love With The E30 M3 All Over Again
A History of the E30 BMW M3,
From the Folks Who Made it Happen
This BMW mini-documentary takes us inside the mood and the moment that spawned the greatest BMW ever built.
This is it—the very first BMW M3, the sport sedan that kicked off a line of one of the most-loved performance cars in the industry. Sitting at the intersection of a road car and a race car, the original E30 was a car that could do it all. Even all these years later, it's a car that still manages to feel special. This brief history video, produced by BMW, takes a look behind the scenes at what it took to bring the E30 M3 to market. Listen to several BMW insiders tell the story from their perspective.
Video link (Road&Track.com)
This BMW mini-documentary takes us inside the mood and the moment that spawned the greatest BMW ever built.
This is it—the very first BMW M3, the sport sedan that kicked off a line of one of the most-loved performance cars in the industry. Sitting at the intersection of a road car and a race car, the original E30 was a car that could do it all. Even all these years later, it's a car that still manages to feel special. This brief history video, produced by BMW, takes a look behind the scenes at what it took to bring the E30 M3 to market. Listen to several BMW insiders tell the story from their perspective.
Video link (Road&Track.com)
The Japanese Education System Needs To Be Blown Up
The Harsh And Bleak Reality Faced By The Japanese Youth
There is a certain bleakness in the Japanese youth. They can’t afford to marry, nor have kids. They have grown up in a 20+ year recession. They aren’t happy but societal pressures tell them to stay on the course they are on because “that’s what it means to be Japanese.”
(CavemanCircus.com)
There is a certain bleakness in the Japanese youth. They can’t afford to marry, nor have kids. They have grown up in a 20+ year recession. They aren’t happy but societal pressures tell them to stay on the course they are on because “that’s what it means to be Japanese.”
(CavemanCircus.com)
At That Price Point, I'd Rather Have A 911 GT3
The 2017 Acura NSX will cost $156,000
Want It Loaded? That'll Be $205,000
Back in October, when our Editor-in-Chief Mike Austin drove the 2017 Acura NSX for the first time in the Bay Area and at Sonoma Raceway, we guessed that the hybrid supercar would start at around the $170,000 price point. We weren't that far off – it starts at $156,000, and tops out around $205,000. But now that we have a solid sense of what Acura thinks this car is worth, and we know what they benchmarked the NSX against, we can compare apples to apples.
Acura says the NSX will compete with the Audi R8, and was developed to compete with the now-superseded 458 Italia. Let's start with the 2017 R8 V10 Plus – pricing hasn't been released, and a direct Euro-to-USD conversion isn't the whole story, but it starts at the equivalent of $179,000 in Europe. For that, the R8 V10 Plus provides 610 horsepower, a seven-speed DCT, and a 3.2-second sprint to 60 mph. The 458's successor, the 488 GTB, should be more expensive than the $243,000 the old model started at, and provides 661 hp, a seven-speed dual-clutch, and a 0-60 time of around three seconds (official numbers haven't been released for acceleration).
For less money than either of these cars, the NSX delivers ... less. Total system output is 573 hp. It has a slight edge in gear count, at nine speeds, and should beat the R8 to 60 mph. But there's no V10, let alone Ferrari's feral turbocharged V8. It'll be up to buyers to determine if the compromises involved are worth a few thousand dollars in savings, if no options are selected.
(AutoBlog.com)
Want It Loaded? That'll Be $205,000
Back in October, when our Editor-in-Chief Mike Austin drove the 2017 Acura NSX for the first time in the Bay Area and at Sonoma Raceway, we guessed that the hybrid supercar would start at around the $170,000 price point. We weren't that far off – it starts at $156,000, and tops out around $205,000. But now that we have a solid sense of what Acura thinks this car is worth, and we know what they benchmarked the NSX against, we can compare apples to apples.
Acura says the NSX will compete with the Audi R8, and was developed to compete with the now-superseded 458 Italia. Let's start with the 2017 R8 V10 Plus – pricing hasn't been released, and a direct Euro-to-USD conversion isn't the whole story, but it starts at the equivalent of $179,000 in Europe. For that, the R8 V10 Plus provides 610 horsepower, a seven-speed DCT, and a 3.2-second sprint to 60 mph. The 458's successor, the 488 GTB, should be more expensive than the $243,000 the old model started at, and provides 661 hp, a seven-speed dual-clutch, and a 0-60 time of around three seconds (official numbers haven't been released for acceleration).
For less money than either of these cars, the NSX delivers ... less. Total system output is 573 hp. It has a slight edge in gear count, at nine speeds, and should beat the R8 to 60 mph. But there's no V10, let alone Ferrari's feral turbocharged V8. It'll be up to buyers to determine if the compromises involved are worth a few thousand dollars in savings, if no options are selected.
(AutoBlog.com)
Wow, Just Wow
Steve Jobs wife is the largest shareholder in The Walt Disney Company. She has more shares in Disney than in Apple. (article)
For the record, the article says her shares are worth $9.5 billion. But if she still has 131 million shares, according to current share price of $112.16, that’s $14,692,960,000. $14.7 Billion worth of Disney.
(CavemanCircus.com)
For the record, the article says her shares are worth $9.5 billion. But if she still has 131 million shares, according to current share price of $112.16, that’s $14,692,960,000. $14.7 Billion worth of Disney.
(CavemanCircus.com)
My Dream List Of U.S. Tracks To Drive
10 Of The Coolest Tracks Where You Can Drive Your Own Car
2. Sonoma Raceway
2. Sonoma Raceway
- Sonoma, CA
- It’s bold and complex! And we’re not talking about the area’s Cabernet Sauvignon. We’re talking Sonoma Raceway (once called Sears Point), a 12-turn, 2.53mi course with plenty of altitude change and a few blind corners to add hair to your chest. Both Indy and NASCAR run races here annually. And you can too, by taking a class through the on-site Simraceway Performance Driving Center. If you just feel like flooring it and seeing what your car can do when pushed to the limit in a straight line, the drag strip is open to all (for a small fee) on Wednesday nights from March through November.
- Monterey, CA
- You’ve raced this 2.24mi, 11-turn track while playing Gran Turismo or Forza, but there’s nothing like driving Laguna Seca in real life. The track’s focal point is “the corkscrew,” a five-and-a-half story drop consisting of a left-to-right combo turn, which has the tendency to chew up and spit out overconfident drivers. To test your mettle and get on the track yourself, join a car club that’s rented the track for a day -- look at the track calendar at Mazda Raceway to see who’s secured track days. The best thing about coming here is that it’s close to Big Sur, so you can convince your significant other to make the trek and “neglect” to tell them you’ll be spending a day at the track.
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