If Fiat is coming to the US, why isn’t Alfa?
The Road Testament returns as JF Musial & Alex Roy debate which Italian marque should really be coming here in 2012. We also offer a shout out to The Human Centipede, a film about which one should ask not…
(WARNING: GRAPHIC LANGUAGE & OFFENSIVE VISUALS)
An all-new Polizei Interceptor has entered the team’s stable: 144S.
Any guesses? This shouldn’t be too hard.
But it’s a left field choice. Truly.
Anyone Else Notice The Shortage of Press Re: Gumball 3000 2010? Ironically, I was really interested to see more coverage of the 2008 route through North Korea, which I was sorry to miss. Nothing since the 2004 route through Morocco sounded as crazy.
In any case, the 2010 Gumball goes global again, yet there’s barely any pre-coverage.
Click here to see the latest Google News search I just ran…
Opinions? I have mine, but would love to hear yours. Just PM me if you don’t want it public.
The Road Testament moves outdoors, JF suggests we talk about tuners & best engine transplants, and, as usual, I rant, rave and talk over him without doing enough research.
Next week? We move to the studio, up the production values, and I do some real prep.
But I’m still waiting for someone to invite me to ride a motorized unicycle.
Just read Matt Hardigree’s uniquely insightful coverage for yourself.
I’ve been saying this since February 25th.
Hardigree should get an award for this.
TURN UP THE VOLUME & watch in HD if you can.
THIS is IT.
THIS is what all of the videos we’ve posted in recent months…yes…THOSE videos which had no apparent purpose or explanation…THIS is what they’ve all been leading up to:
Behold. Polizei Interceptor 144P in ALL its tentacled glory.
Watch as Rene Villeneuve takes her around Infineon Raceway for the first time as we prep for our debut at Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca Sunday May 17th.
I couldn’t be more proud than to see Villeneuve & Henri Richard pilot 144P in Polizei livery starting this Sunday.
I wish them the best of luck.
And here it is. The e-mail from the real Polizei – sent from a personal address in a cute font and color – that led to our Banned Sale last week.
Obviously, I had to remove his information, but if you read the full message after the jump, I’d be grateful for any insights into his psychology. I have my theories, but first, let’s hear yours first.
Team Polizei is entering professional motorsports.
Yes. Team Polizei is entering professional motorsports.
It’s utterly surreal. Even for me.
…yet on May 17th, Polizei Interceptor 144P will roll past the start line at the Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca in the 2009 Grand-Am Rolex Sports Car Series.
Making the jump from road rallies to the Grand Am Series – which includes the vaunted 24 Hours of Daytona – is one I deemed less even less likely than a successful attempt to break the Transcontinental Cannonball Record.
I thought both impossible – at least given my skills & experience – and yet, even after the record was broken, I never expected to race a race car on a race track, let alone show my face among proper race drivers, and yet I sought to prove that I knew as much about endurance racing as the 24 hour drivers, and that few of them were capable of breaking 31:04…at least not without a teammate like myself.
Then – in a chance meeting that almost made me believe in a higher power – I met veteran racer & Skip Barber instructor Rene Villeneuve. Not only did he praise my application of endurance racing strategies (which I learned from watching Le Mans) in breaking the NY-LA record, he also pointed out that I sucked at driving manual. Really. Then he began explaining the meaning of teamwork, about which I knew less than I’d thought.
Logically, I asked him to become Team Captain. He agreed, on the condition I become part of the team, which – on my rallies and cross country runs – had usually been some crazy bald man with some very patient friends…whereas with Rene running operations and teaching me to drive…
Fahrzkrucht 1 Alert
Polizei Operations US West
0300hr PST
Team Polizei will make a major announcement later today. The statement will pertain to Team Polizei’s undercover operations carried out during the last 12 months, and the team’s first public deployment since 2007, to mid-May.
HQ Out.
