Here’s what MOTOR readers had to say this month

Got something on your mind, or a question that needs answering? Get on the horn and let the MOTOR team know.

We want to hear it, and have a 12-month subscription to MOTOR Magazine to give away each month to the most entertaining wordsmith that lands in our inbox.

This month, we want to know your ultimate $250k three-car garage. There’s just one catch: all cars must have pop-up headlights. So go on, send us a letter at motor@wheelsmedia.com.au, you know you want to.

Read on to see what your fellow MOTOR readers had to say this month.

10

TOO FAST, TOO FURIOUS

Indulge me for a moment. I’m 62 this year and I suppose this is a refrain that many of us feel as we creak on a bit, but as I look at today’s motoring landscape with the benefit of a certain experience, I have to ask, how fast do road cars really need to be?

The thing that prompted this thought was the news that the next Mercedes-AMG C63e could have 480kW. That’s more power than a McLaren F1 and only a handful of kilowatts less than a Ferrari Enzo. It’s not a supercar or a track car, so why do we need that much power? I drive a C43 AMG as my daily and with 270kW it’s one of those cars that’s never found wanting for power on road. I can’t approve of another 210kW on top of that. What on earth is the point? I appreciate that for most performance car enthusiasts, more power is the right answer but there has to be some point where we’re just buying capability we’ll very rarely need or be qualified to exercise. Maybe it’s time for a modern reprise of the Japanese manufacturers’ Gentlemen’s Agreement?

Harold Carmichael, via Email

I’m a firm believer in customer choice. At this price point, customers are often buying intangibles. I had a friend who wouldn’t countenance an SL55 AMG because the SL65 AMG V12 he paid almost twice as much for ‘felt nicer’. AMG will furnish the range with less powerful cars to choose from, so there’ll be a model for almost everyone. – Ed

10

CHECK YOURSELF

I recently heard that the new Toyota GR86 might not be available in Australia until late 2022, so I was wondering whether I should upgrade my current 86 with a supercharger kit to give the car a new lease of life on track and back roads.

I seem to recall that there were a few kits in the old ‘Hot Tuner’ feature but they seemed to be flaky. Has the tech improved in the past couple of years to make them worthwhile, or should I save my money until the new car comes out?

Rhys Simmons , via Email

To be honest, the best go-faster investment you can make is in yourself. Driver training appropriate to your skill level will always be a transferable asset no matter what car you end up with.– Ed

10

WHAT ABOUT US?

Loving the latest mag, especially the Alpine Rally feature. It’s so cool to see genuinely well-written and relatable Aussie stories in the magazine on cars that don’t require a Powerball win. One issue though. I know that Covid has seen us all withdraw a bit into ever-smaller circles, but can we make some of the drives a little less Victoria-centric?

Paul Taylor, Townsville QLD

Funny you should say that, Paul. Now that things are opening up a bit, your fellow banana bender Cam Kirby has some features rolling out in the next few months that ought to be right up your street. – Ed

10

CLASSICAL GAS

Trent Giunco’s sign-off line in this month’s Forgotten Fast Cars piece on the BMW 530 MLE really stuck a chord. Apparently Enright got out of the car and thought it ‘smelt nice’.

I know exactly what he means. There’s something about 1970s car interiors that gives off this incredibly nostalgic smell and I can’t quite put my finger on how or why it changed in the 1980s and 1990s into that more generic sickly ‘new car smell’.

If I had to guess I’d say it was something to do with the way the plastics are made, but there’s an almost organic smell to a 1970s car that can’t just have come about from half a century of farts.

Brian Taylor-Ellis, Caloundra

10

TRIDENT TRUSTED?

As much as I love the look of the new Maserati MC20, I do wonder whether it’ll be a flop. After all, the last mid-engined series production Maser was the Merak that finished up in 1983. That’s nearly 40 years ago.

From the road tests at the time, even that wasn’t much chop. So re-entering that market when it’s already absolutely rammed to the gills with heaps of supercar rivals strikes me as a great way of micturating their money up a wall. I’d love to be proven wrong, but I just can’t picture all these people who’ve been patiently sitting on their money for the best part of half a century to get their hands on a Maserati with an engine over their shoulder. What’s your take?

Jim Bryant, Goulbourn, NSW.

It’s certainly a bold move on Maserati’s part and will go a long way towards bringing hard-won authenticity to a brand which has had its share of ups and downs. Stay tuned for next month. – Ed

10

CIRCLE WORK

Can someone there please explain what a tyre’s friction circle is? I’ve looked it up but I don’t really understand the maths involved. Is there a simpler way to explain it to someone who glazes over when presented with formulae?

Michele di Natale, via email

In its simplest form, the friction circle is a graphical illustration of the limits of a tyre’s grip, covering both longitudinal and lateral acceleration. A driver can’t expect to call upon a deep reserve of acceleration or braking when the tyre is at the limit of its lateral adhesion mid corner (illustrated by the left and right-hand extremes of the circle) and vice versa. Picturing this on a dual-axis diagram, the friction circle allows us to see how techniques such as trail braking can maximise the amount of frictional effort put into the tyre. In other words, maintaining a position as close to the edge of the circle as possible, in theory at least, guarantees that the tyre is operating at its optimum. Remember that this is a basic interpretation and doesn’t take into account factors such as slip angle, traction slip and certain nonlinear measures. The ‘circle’ is not fixed in size and shape as well, though I’ll leave that to you to figure out why. -Ed

10

FAST TRACKED

I’d been talking about attending a track day as something I may get round to, but my wife has rather taken the initiative and wants to buy me a track day at Phillip Island for my birthday.

I have the suspicion that PI could well be a bit of a big boy’s track and that I might be better off somewhere else, but I don’t want to appear ungrateful. Is there anywhere you’d recommend over the Island for my first taste of track driving? I’m based in Melbourne and I drive a 2017 Ford Focus RS.

Anil Sharma, via email

Instruction is a good tip at virtually any race circuit, but if you just want to take things at your own pace, maybe somewhere like Winton could be a good deal less intimidating and a bit safer for your experience level. Check out our track guide in our October issue for a primer on what to expect up Benalla way. – Ed

10

FRATRICIDE!

Can I lob a hand grenade into the Letters page? The MOTOR team and the Wheels team are challenged to nominate four of their staff and have a relay race at Bathurst, with each journo doing four or five laps before handing over to their colleagues. Who wins?

James Sturridge, Via email

Great question. If the race was in Kia Carnivals, I reckon Wheels would definitely edge it. Team MOTOR would probably be incapacitated with laughter trying to follow human missile Ash Westerman over the mountain. – Ed

10

REVERSE PSYCHOLOGY

I’m looking to buy a Porsche 996 Turbo and had my heart set on a manual model, but I’m coming round to the idea of the Tiptronic automatic. While I was discussing this with a mate, he told me that the auto version has two reverse gears. This sounds absolutely cooked but after a bit of research, I believe this may well be true. What the actual?

Simon Mole, Via email

The 996TT actually works really well with an auto ’box. It’s no sharp-shifting PDK but suits the nature of the car and is actually a mechanically tougher thing than the manual. The auto is the same Merc 722.653 ’box found in the SL 55 AMG and, yes, it does have two reverse gear ratios. On cold start, first forward and first reverse gears are used to warm the engine. Once up to temperature, the car moves away in second and utilises its second reverse gear. – Ed