Yearly Archives: 2013

Machismo

The 275GTB.

If you are into classic cars, the next smartest thing to attending the practice weekend at Laguna Seca one week before the official zooed event is to find yourself mooching around the streets of Carmel, CA early on the Tuesday morning before the big weekend, when Ocean Avenue and the adjacent side streets are closed to traffic and the Ferraris and other lesser marques line up on show, garage queens all in a row. Sadly, most of these machines never drive further than to and from the transporter, but the eye candy on display is undeniable and, if you rise early, there are no crowds to interfere with viewing or snapping.

There were several of Sergio Pininfarina‘s timeless designs to be seen, not least a brace of what has to be the most purely masculine body he ever penned, the 275GTB.


The 275GTB – machismo art.

My son, a man of fine taste, opted for Pininfarina’s later 365, much to Bert the Border Terrier’s dismay:


Pininfarina 365 body.

At least Winston had the good sense not to go for the Yecch, the latest model solidly aimed at New Money and appropriately registered:


2013 Italia 458 Spider.

These things are beginning to look like that most tasteless of vehicles, the Lamborghini, Rolex, gold chains and all.

Finding Yourself

Yeah! right.

A linguist was explaining how double negatives in various languages mean different things. In English, a double negative is a positive – a construct beloved of lawyers who always seek to obfuscate clarity in the interest of charging higher fees. Can you say “not dispositive”? In Russia, on the other hand, double negatives act to reinforce the negative. If a single negative is bad, a double negative is doubly so. Doubtless a linguistic rule which is especially useful in describing any of their leaders of the past ten centuries or so.

That same linguist then went on to explain, however, that there is no language on earth where a double positive connotes anything other than affirmation.

Then a voice from the back of the hall was heard to say: “Yeah! right.”

And “Yeah! right.” was very much my reaction on reading this sign in Balmy Alley in San Francisco’s Mission District:


“See yourself seeing yourself”

Usual ’60s claptrap designed to part the naïve from their cash, was my reaction. Then I checked out the web site of this business and it actually proves to be anything but pseudo-psychological bull.

Here’s a snippet:


From Outerbody.org.

Given that a knowledge of how others see us is worth a whole lot more than any amount of education, this seems like a pretty clever idea.

Speaking of linguistics, when I was an English schoolboy one of the more charming expressions of enthusiasm, cloaked as it is in the English love of understatement, was “That’s not half bad”. Meaning it’s really awfully good. Outerbody.org’s idea is really not half bad at all.

Laguna Seca – Vintage 2013

With my boy among the Big Money.


In the paddock at Laguna Seca
with my son Winston.

Next weekend is the annual festival of automotive excess on the Monterey Peninsula. The Concours d’Elegance at Pebble Beach golf course sees a parade of over-restored vintage cars vying for Best in Show honors. Inland a few miles, Laguna Seca Racetrack holds races where the rich can wreck their multi-million dollar Ferraris and have a good laugh about the experience over a glass of vintage champagne afterwards. It’s all good fun.

I have attended both events on the big weekend and, frankly, neither is any fun. Both are so over-crowded that there is little possibility of enjoyment or for calm discussion with the pressured owners of some of the most magnificent vehicles ever created. Strictly for the ‘See and Be Seen’ set.

The smart money – and very little of it at that – goes to Laguna Seca the weekend before and enjoys an uncrowded paddock and relaxed owners and their mechanics, only too eager to discuss their babies. Everything used to be free, but this year entrance was $20, though parking remains free. And my 11 year old son got free entry. Not at all bad. It’s a charming throwback to the days of the true racing amateur, OK, the days of the truly wealthy racing amateur, and pretense is nowhere in sight. It’s a genuine pleasure to mix with the Ferraris, Coopers, Bentleys, Porsches, Lotuses and any number of distinguished marques with great racing provenance, along with their friendly owners.

This year saw more Porsches than you could shake a stick at, including the frightening 12-cylinder Porsche 917 which dominated Le Mans after first killing a lot of drivers. A couple of Ferrari GTOs would leave you no change from $5mm for the brace and I could not help drooling over a 4.5 litre blower Bentley, massive supercharger and all mounted up front for all to see and hear.

I took my 11 year old son this year as it’s high time the boy got some exhaust fumes in his system before we are all reduced to driving gutless electric cars charged with electricity from massively polluting coal. Such is the environmental lobby, suckered in by Big Coal. Enjoy your Tesla while the miner in West Virginia dies early from lung cancer, after a life of subsistence on coal dust sandwiches.

Anyway, visiting the practice weekend Laguna Seca paddock is truly starting at the top for the lad.


Click the image to download the slideshow.

The slideshow is some 72MB and takes 45 seconds to download on my 16Mb/s broadband. The slideshow will fade from image to image once you hit the play icon, and contains 18 images.

All that traipsing around the huge paddock is guaranteed to work up a good thirst and hunger and I urge you not to eat at any of the positively poisonous concession stands at Laguna Seca. Instead, on exiting the main gate turn right and drive a couple of miles down the road to Tarpy’s Roadhouse which has been here since 1917. Make sure to sit on the patio and its beautiful dappled sunshine will take you as close to Monet’s France as anything can on this side of the pond. Well set back from the main road, all you will hear is the sound of the birds – no piped Musak – and you can revel in the excellent food and service. So the burger and fries are $14. Two main courses and two beverages, plus the obligatory ice cream for my son set us back $45 with a 20% tip. And you are going to take it with you when you croak?


Tarpy’s Roadhouse is on the left, west of the race track.

All snaps on the Nikon D3x and the 35-70mm f/2.8 AFD Nikkor zoom. It’s specious to describe any full frame DSLR outfit as compact, but this excellent zoom on a D3x is as close as you get to an all purpose kit with just one body and lens, the latter further aided by a handy macro range, activated at the push of a button. Not only is the lens beautifully crafted and reasonably compact, it also lacks the plastic and bulk which define Nikkor’s current crop of ‘pro’ zooms, not to mention being a used bargain. Balance on the D3x is just about perfect.