Le Mans in the 80s

Rolling to an end of an era...

As with every giants in human history, the car industry will be brought down on its knees. As new winds and new breeds come along, the old one has to die to be replaced by a growing seed.

The thing is though, no giants have been forgotten, ever. In fact each of them hit the ground with thunder and earthquakes.

So let's just sit back for a moment with a drink in the hand and watch the last bits of anguish of the car industry... as it goes down in tyresmoke and flames...

Here.. we... GO!!

It all boomed in America and that is the place it will most likely to crumble for good.

For me, the whole phenomenon started with one little car with much fury and legendary pedigree of outland myth.

The Mustang.

The Mustang has always been out in the market. Young guys loved it, olders collected it. It was cherished by the blue-collar self-made men.

...and yet, the actual generation of the mid-noughts came in all retro, all in style. It resembled all the glory of an era when gasprice was not more of a question than the ingredients of a real 'merican burger.

But it was the first sign of the end.

You see, the message was already written on the wall: "You can not make wasteful cars anymore!"

So with a very last breath, all the manufacturers with a sense of pride did what a wounded fighter would do realizing the inevitable: stirking down once again.

The muscles were pumped up again. Then came the Charger, the Challenger, the Camaro. Their European and Japanese doppelgangers, the hot hatches were rolled out in the greatest glory by far.

The Civic Type R, the Focus RS, the Golf GTI and many-many more were just eager to take the roads with the by-then family men. Turbos, lightweight. They had all that.

But in fact these are just the footsoldiers I am talking about at the moment.

How about the real heroes? The true gladiators.

The supercars.

First, Volkswagen thought it would build the ultimate supercar ever without compromises, just to make a point about their capability of engineering. The Veyron was born and knocked down the ultra-rare McLaren F1 off the throne in almost all aspects. The idea was simple and worked, making all other manufacturers to get into the game: build high-speed cars and make them reminder of the uncompromised era.

Biref list: the Ford GT, the new Ferrari GTO, the Lancia Stratos, the Audi Quattro concept, the Alfa Romeo 8C Evoluzione, the AMG SLS, the constant Porsche GTs, the M1 resembling BMW concept, Astons  - all existing at the same time...

...embracing decades of pride, fame, deathtraps. All being ugraded clones of a past self. Bringing together old-school and the latest technology. The ultimate barinchilds of the internal combustion powerplant.

And when these vhicles gather in time and space that will be the final fight where neither of them will be spared.

...and the day will be remembered 'the day the engine died'.

Cheers!

Hatch muscled up

I admit: I love muscle cars.

From the GTO through the Charger, the Demon to the Fairlane Thunderbolt I love them all. Unfortunately I live in the part of the world where gas has always been priced high (which is good in the long run), where the roads are tight and curvy (again, good) and where even taxes are taxed, too (not good at all).

So, we are restricted to the EU flagship 'affordable performance cars'. Whereas it is the muscle car in the US, on the other end of the ocean it is the hot hatch.

A souped up smaller (here: midsized) family car. Eventhough  they are really hard to compare, they share the same philosophy.

Let's take the Ford Mustang and the Ford Focus RS. The Focus RS has a straight-5 in good Audi and Volvo tradition whereas the Mustang has good ole V8 horses under the hood. Note, if you have more than 4 cylinders in Europe that counts something extraordinary, in the USA V6s are something okay.

Of course, if you have a V8 in an American car, you have to talk about turbocharging in a European one. For a whole decade, picky customers were eager for SOME turbocharging at least after the 90s naturally aspirated craze, they got it clean and clear.

Unfortunately there is no real compromise to RWD at a reasonable  price. Common rule that a performance car is RWD at least. Fact, that FWDs cannot be capable for such performance.

That's why we have front differential, great handling, slightly btter mileage and all the flashy exterior stuff.

Europe is eager for some muscle, America for some quality hatch. Besides, it's not only petrol/gas a hatch runs on, recently there are keen diesels being made. I read somewhere that the latest Golf GTI existed only to make the path for the GTD. Don't know, never tried it. But it would be foolish to underestimate diesels.

Here's the deal. Since Ford is global, Chrysler has just been bought by Fiat and GM owns Opel and Vauxhall in Europe, why can't we make a compromise?

A midsize, sedan or five door RWD with at least 6 cylinders and a diesel option.

Well, I think there is the BMW 1 series and the Mercedes C-class that matches the criteria.

Problem is, thy are not cheap enough.

Any further idea?

NOTE: Hunting Hypercars

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NOTE: Quicksilver

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NOTE: Ultimate Hoonage

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