We Deserve a Modern Car Movie
How to improve Ford v. Ferrari, Climbkhana Two, plus our Tesla event tomorrow!
A weekly newsletter by Ryan K. ZumMallen | @zoomy575m
Happy Race Day, especially to comedian Christina Catherine Martinez who made the best commercial for her used car of all time. I presume it sold for ten million dollars.
Abbreviated newsletter this week due to the LA Auto Show, which is going on as you read this.
But I do want to take a moment to remind everyone of this very special event: Myself and Ed Niedermeyer, author of the Tesla insider story ‘Ludicrous,’ will joint-host a book signing and electric vehicle discussion this Thursday evening!
Please join us! Click here to RSVP and see event details. We will be at L.A. Ale Works in Hawthorne, just around the corner from SpaceX during the Tesla Cybertruck reveal. Event is 7:00-9:00 pm but we’ll be there early/late. Let’s have some fun!
Another big moment in automotive culture occurred over the weekend, when the film Ford v. Ferrari pulled in $31 million to pretty rave reviews.
I saw it on Sunday and thought that, as a film, it’s not great. I enjoyed parts. And the racing is fun, if you allow a certain suspension of belief. It’s very good for a motorsports movie. But it’s chained to the material, sometimes clumsily, and the material by its nature is one-sided. That is, full of white males.
People smarter than me have written elegantly on the topic, so I won’t spend much time on it. Hannah Elliott of Bloomberg wrote the definitive piece, on the glossing over of motorsports’ then-overtly sexist and racist culture, not to mention basically Carroll Shelby’s entire personal life.
The New Yorker wrote a glowing review and then published another, harsher one days later. The entertainment website Vulture broke Ford v. Ferrari down to what it’s really all about: sunglasses.
What it really made me want is a modern-day car story, one filled with all of the fun and fascinating things we discuss here each week. Variety. Obsession. Innovation. Exposure. Equality. Now that, I would watch the hell out of. The Fast and the Furious came out 18 years ago. Don’t we deserve an update? (We do.)
Culture
I don’t condone Ed’s idea but I can confirm that I will actively participate:
I’ll be damned. Apparently nothing looks cooler than a 4WD Corolla on mud tires.
My friends: “Hey Ryan, what’s your book about?” Me:
Lately I’ve been thinking hard about the environmental impact cars will have in the future. Not in terms of emissions, but rather increased global tension as resources become more limited. Not sure what to do with these feelings yet.
V-iva la unicorns.
Speaking of V wagons, here is a CTS-V wagon I saw recently on a night out and my wife thought I was taking a picture of her and then she realized I was pointing at the car. Love you, babe.
The English translation of this tweet about lifted Lancia Deltas is “What on earth are you?” and I whole-heartedly agree.
Can I interest you in a Twitter thread full of Pontiac and Oldsmobile concept cars from the ‘80s and ‘90s? You have to scroll all the way up but I promise it’s worth it.
I write about new cars sometimes! Here’s my review for Edmunds.com on the 2020 Nissan Titan. Here’s another on the 2021 Aston Martin DBX.
You guys really seemed to like that video of the land-speed record car doing 500 mph a few weeks back. They now say it’s gone 628 mph.
Fake wood-grain Hyundai Palisade is so bad it’s good. (Actually, just bad.)
The new electric Mustang Mach-E is cool and all but this rendering of a slammed one on forged wheels makes me feel things.
Video Reel
Stunt driver and Hoonigan founder Ken Block took to China for his latest insane Climbkhana video, which is ground zero for modern car culture, if you weren’t aware. Are there Segway donuts? Don’t be ridiculous: of course there are Segway donuts.
Okay, Ford v. Ferrari is good but do you remember in 1993 when Porsche v. Ferrari happened in real life and one of the cars did a backflip on Road Atlanta?
Speaking of which, here’s a road-racing Audi doing a wheelie in 1989.
F1 driver Daniel Ricciardo (who has never stopped smiling maybe his entire life?) had a great quip for Valterri Bottas about how to defeat his teammate and noted vegan Lewis Hamilton.
Rally car drifting on two wheels. I said Rally Car Drifting On Two Wheels!
Race Results
An absolutely insane Brazilian Grand Prix this weekend at Interlagos. Max Verstappen won, the Ferraris took each other out, and two young drivers both took their first career podiums. An instant modern classic. Highlights here.
McLaren teammates Lando Norris and Carlos Sainz, who finished eighth and third in a huge weekend for the team, looked predictably adorable post-race:
Also, Norris made a car-horn beeping sound with the champagne bottle and the Internet went crazy.
Red Bull pulled off the fastest pit stop in F1 history during the race. This video looks more like synchronized swimming than a hectic tire change.
Peugeot confirmed its intention to run in the new Hypercar class in 2022 and promised to share more info early next year. This is getting interesting.
Silvia Bellot was named the first woman race director in FIA history this week. She’ll take over the F2 and F3 championships next season at only 34 years of age.
Let’s hear it for Cadillac’s awkward, failed racecar from the early 2000s.
The Americas Rallycross Series is calling it quits after just one season. Can’t say that I ever watched it, but that doesn’t mean it’s not sad.
Extremely accomplished race drivers Katherine Legge and Christina Nielsen are teaming up for a full-time ride in IMSA next season.
And Finally…
Congrats to this dog for doing its part. Many thanks, pupper friend.
Drive hard and be safe.
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Want your event included? Shoot me a note with subject line “Race Day” at ryan@carrarabooks.com.
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