Electric Generation

I am Generation X so I like Ford Capris.

My children are Generation Z so they like Instagram - or, as those of us down with the kids know it, Insta.

There is news this week of electric cars for both groups this week.

Autocar and Auto Express are both reporting the new Ford Capri which is set to be launched in a couple of weeks...

No, that doesn't look much like a Ford Capri to me either.

Meanwhile, Jack from The Fully Charged Show, takes us on a tour of the Hyundai Insta - sorry the Hyundai Inster.

Both of these are cross-over SUVs, or as I prefer to call them, stupid cross-over SUVs.

Just like with the Mustang, Ford will be cashing in on classic car names to flog large numbers of vehicles to people who don't know much about cars.  And they will succeed while seriously turning off the real car fans to the brand.  Just look at he comments under articles about the new Capri.

Here's the only electric Capri that I approve of - I have one in my loft.

Meanwhile, Gen Z are getting a pretty decent car by the look of it - and check out the comments under Jack's piece.

What does this leave for the other generations?

I predict the forthcoming Honda Dailymail for the Boomers and the Mazda Dawsonscreek for the Millennials.

We are supposedly up to Generation Alpha now.

They can have the Tesla Heyduggie.

A Colossal Mistake

Fox News got me all excited.

But I'd made a colossal mistake.

I thought they were going to be holding a round of next year's NASCAR at The Colosseum in Rome:

The story is here.

It looks really exciting. They are laying down a temporary track like did at Wembley for the Race of Champions.

It will also be a showcase for the Next Gen NASCAR cars. Which are nowhere near as innovative as the next Gen BTCC cars.

But they seem to like them.

Now although the Colosseum is the right shape, I wondered about the size.

I was right to wonder - I'd got the wrong Colosseum - even the spelling is wrong.

It should have been the L.A. Coliseum:

Much more suitable.

And easier to get to for your average NASCAR fan.

The only NASCAR Racing that would fit comfortably into the Roman Colosseum would be this version:

And that set isn't even an oval.

Grid Lock

This post title is cleverer than it seems.

You see this is a racing grid...

...with a huge amount of cars.

But that is the end of the story.  We need to be at the start of the story - after all, the Grid lines up at the start.

It all starts in 2018 when, as Touring Car Times tells us, UK motor racing circuit Rockingham, got dropped from the 2019 BTCC Race Calendar.  They cited the possible impending sale of the venue preventing  organisers from being able to confirm a meeting that year.  Shame.  Rockingham was intrinsically different to all of the other other BTCC Circuits in that it is built as an American-style banked oval with added in twisty bits to keep the UK punters happy.

It was different - which made it interesting.

We've not had banked curves in this country since Brooklands closed - unless you count Scalextric.

Anyway, thinks me, I'm sure the new owners will get it back on the calendar the following year.  And then I thought no more about it.

Until I read this BBC story this evening.  At which point I learned that in November of 2018 it held its final race and the following January it was announced that the Grandstands would be demolished.

It is now the home of Rockingham Logistics Hub (the eagerly anticipated new owners) and is now apparently "the UK's new centre for automotive logistics".  Not overly sure what that means but they are storing thousands of unwanted used vehicles there - including lots of ex-rental vehicles and lease cars.

Mind you, depending on how you crop your picture, it didn't look that different in 2015:

Talladega Not As Racist Way

I was always going to do a follow-up to yesterday's post.

But it was going to be how Scalextric wouldn't be able to sell my favourite car from my childhood any more:

That is, of course, The General Lee - named after a Confederate hero and sporting a Confederate flag on the roof.

 

Not that I understood the significance of that when I was 12.

 

But they stopped selling that a few years back - now they are advertising the Pratmobile and the Reliant van from Only Fools and Horses: 

Which is all now a complete digression from the news that while some NASCAR fans are still racist, they didn't actually go as far as putting a noose in Bubba Wallace's garage.

 

Apparently, it was a door pull rope "twisted into the shape of a noose" - the new story (or noose story) is here.  It doesn't say who twisted it into the shape of a noose.  Or why.  Or when - but it was probably months ago.  I bet the pit crew team member who found it on Sunday feels a bit of a prat right now.  I wonder if he drives a green Capri.

 

Unless this whole door pull story is because someone important left the noose there?

 

No, I'm not one for conspiracy theories and neither are the FBI:

Electric Car Racing

Caught this story in Autoguide today about McLaren supplying "electric engines" to a new racing series called Formula E.

They aren't electric engines, they're "motors".

Formula E had completely passed me by. Autoguide had covered it briefly in August but I'd missed that somehow. It will be an FIA fully sanctioned race series but it doesn't start properly until 2014 so I suppose they have a bit of time to get the word out.

They do have a Website but there isn't much on it - just some twitterings and a couple of annoying videos. And the reason they are annoying is a reason why this sport may not catch on with spectators - the racing just sounds wrong.

Hopefully batteries will have improved by 2014 because the current (ha current - electric - geddit?) plan is that "there will be 10 teams and 20 drivers for the 42 cars, as two cars will be needed to complete a one-hour race because of battery life." Either that or have some very long extension cables - or use the Top Gear Dodgem Car solution.

Until then, we can make do with these electric McLarens which don't sound too different to what we'll have in 2014.

'03 Ford For Sale

1903 that is.Fox News have the story of this Model A Rear Entry Tonneau (presumably the forerunner of the Mondeo) coming to auction with a pre-sale estimate of $300,000 to $500,000 - and it only cost $850 when new.

Pistonheads, meanwhile, are reporting on another item up for auction - the Dunlop Bridge from Donington Park.I won't be bidding because I already have the Scalextric version - I don't need the real thing.

Besides, it doesn't include the metal framework which you would need in order to walk over it! Apparently that was scrapped when Donington were doing all the work to upgrade when they were getting set for their ill-fated venture into hosting the British Grand Prix.

A venture that proved to be a bridge too far.