ramp #62 Wild Things

In few other places do people purposefully drive around going really nowhere than in a road movie. Just heading along, the journey itself a wonderfully blank page that presents itself to us with a cheerful unpredictability, as an inspired playing field for trial and error, for curiosity and spontaneity, unexpected surprises and flights of fancy. Wild and untamed. Just like life itself.

Wildness means energy and strength, it doesn’t like to be restrained by rules. The truly wild and free need little that is familiar. Danger is no obstacle to them. Readily, they dance with the unknown, journey into the depths of thought and imagination.

In his work La pensée sauvage (in a new translation rendered as Wild Thought), the French anthropologist and philosopher Claude Lévi-Strauss contrasts the planning and rational engineer with the improvising bricoleur who creatively combines whatever items are available to him and anticipates the unanticipated while staying relaxed and self-assured, trusting in his skill for combination and improvisation. Always courageously open for whatever life has to offer.

Having an attitude like that actually sounds like a really good plan . . .

Stay wild!

The racetrack, in the past: on the road in our heroes’ world

The racing line describes the perfect path that a race car should take. Deviating from it is usually penalized with a loss of time, in the worst case with the driver running off the track. But in the end, that produces precisely those heroic stories that we will still be talking about decades later. Of daring victors. And ill-fated losers. Or preferably both, wildly mixed.

Wladimir Kaminer’s dance in a luxury Toyota

When our super super super test gets totally wild and out of control, it’s a good thing there are such reliable and luxurious vehicles as the Toyota Century. The Century was Toyota’s way of showing the Americans what real luxury was all about. With a twelve-cylinder engine that is so quiet you could fall asleep at the wheel. Good thing that the wheel is on the wrong side to keep us on our toes.

The Verdun of Motorsport: the Isle of Man by e-bike

The Tourist Trophy is the most dangerous motorcycle race in the world. Our author Kurt Molzer flew to the Isle of Man to cover the 60.72-kilometer course riding an electric bicycle. The color of his bike: black as death. Of course. Along for the ride: Klaus Klaffenböck. The three-time TT sidecar champion is sometimes surprised himself that he is still alive.

McLaren Artura: total contemplation

Reality sucks, supercars rule. Says our author David Staretz after an extensive test drive of the McLaren Artura. What he found was a promising boudoir of speed and safety in equal measure. The super sports car as a life enricher. Not just in terms of speed. But also in aesthetic matters.

Beatlemania: cruising through Liverpool in a Rolls-Royce Ghos

Many years ago, our author was asked to drive a Rolls-Royce and write an article about it. Unfortunately, the story never made it to print. This time, he did some historical research on the Beatles. And let himself be inspired by Clint Eastwood, who must at least once in his career have said, “I ride into town; everything else just falls into place.”

Anniversary edition of the Le Mans Classics

How often do you get to see a Porsche 917, a Ferrari 250 LM and an Alpine A442 all in the same place? Along with around eighty pre-war Bentleys? At least once, when the Le Mans Classic celebrates the 100th anniversary of the 24-hour race. With 235,000 spectators and more than 800 race cars in attendance.

Genesis and the creation of the future

Genesis, Hyundai’s premium luxury brand for athletic yet elegant design, for the first time gathered all the representatives of its X Concept trilogy together for us, along with the GV80 Coupe. The vehicles are moments in time made real, to show the way into the electric future – the Genesis Way, you might say.

Portrait of a photographer: André Josselin

“Any image that you stop to look at and that triggers a reaction in you is a good photo.” Says André Josselin. And because a Bentley triggers a special reaction in us as well, we interviewed the Berlin-based photographer in a Continental GT Speed Mulliner.