Road & Track - Vol. 10, Night, 2022

A

There are polar bears. “Sometimes I might

A R&T VOL. 10 101 have to drive around them,” Sid says, straight-faced. A. With the lowest average temperature of any city in Alaska, Utqiagvik defines inhospitableness. And yet, in these inhuman conditions, a warm and welcom- ing community thrives.

A Sid trudges up in a thick down jacket, snow So people stay holed up inside and let the deliv- A. Suphamat “Bunn” pants, and boots, but no gloves. He waits 60 excru- ery drivers do the driving. Rather than compete, Yeesaeng supplies ciating seconds before the door cracks open just Sid and his colleagues form a network, organized pizzas to the U.S.’s wide enough to receive a pizza box. over short-wave radios that squawk like a chorus northernmost city. of jungle birds. A mixture of Thai and Lao streams “If you stand outside even one minute, the pizza forth in flurry with a few English idioms sprinkled B. During his shift, Sid gets cold,” he says, shuffling back into the CR-V. in: “Polar Cab 7456,” then a string of Thai, followed is dispatched from by a round of laughter. A crisp “10-4” or “Roger place to place via a Along with pizzas, Sid shuttles travelers and that,” and Sid’s off to the next delivery. There’s loosely run radio hauls groceries. Each trip costs $6. More than a no dispatcher—that duty falls to whoever isn’t network. dozen drivers serve as the city’s lifeblood—during delivering a pizza or a person at the moment. Sid winter, simply getting your car warmed up can be allows that there isn’t much logic to it; you simply C. A&D Auto’s Quonset far costlier (and colder) than paying for delivery. fall into a rhythm with a dozen other drivers or you hut, built by the Air can’t hack it. It feels like jazz. Force in World War II, Robert Terzioski of A&D Automotive says every holds a disused vehicle in Barrow needs robust winterization: two Sid never slows down that night, but I take a 80-year-old lathe. In a block heaters, a new battery every year. An A&D breather to meet Suphamat Yeesaeng, known as town reached only by tech demonstrates how they braze power-steering “Bunn,” owner of East Coast Pizzeria. (There’s a airplane, there’s no fittings to prevent ruptures in the subzero cold. second pizza joint in this town of just over 4000 way to ship it out. Ignition keys are prized here; push-button start- people, proof that capitalism comes with its own ers have proved frail in the chill. antifreeze.) Garage labor runs about $160 an hour in town, Bunn immigrated to the U.S. from Thailand, and there’s a mighty backlog. A&D appears to have set up a business importing specialty foods from about 100 cars lined up, the queue growing daily. Southeast Asia, then owned a salon in Anchorage. Sid’s friend, a fellow driver, waited three months for a shop to take his car. 102 R&T VOL. 10

BC COVID shut it down, so a friend helped her find her shoulders. She points out the wolf and wol- work in Barrow. When East Coast’s owner, the enig- verine furs lining its hood and explains the coat’s matic Mario Reyes, died of COVID complications embroidery, an interlaced pattern that identifies last October, Bunn took over the pizzeria. and celebrates her family’s Indigenous heritage. Her mother sewed it by hand. I ask what she’s learned about Barrow after liv- ing half a year here under hard times. “People are Every person I meet has some triumph to share, grateful for everything here. They understand if a fragment about this place that makes them smile. you don’t have all the ingredients because all the The town breeds its own insects to process organic produce has to be flown in. Or if the pizza isn’t hot. waste; the tap water is some of the finest in the They’re just thankful to have the food,” she says. United States; there’s a resident writer who sur- vived the Holocaust and thrives here in the cold. “Also, never shut your car off, even if you’re fill- A thousand more. ing up gas,” she says with a laugh. “You see cars idling everywhere, all day. Never shut them off.” This trip was hatched as a chuckle: Even in one of the darkest, most inhospitable places on earth, The next sunless morning, I sit in the lobby at people deliver pizzas. We’ll send Kinard up north to the Top of the World Hotel, waiting for Sid to take shiver his stones off. But I came away with a story me to the airport. A cast of local characters steps of human resilience in a place where opportunity in, stomps their boots, and sparks up conversa- draws some and heritage proudly roots others. tions. One exuberant young man, chest heaving Every minute in Barrow shattered some notion I with effort, explains that they endlessly beat back had about the Arctic and the people who live there. the snow from stop signs, by hand, daily. Sisyphus Mostly, I’ve learned that what it takes to survive a groans at the thought. The young guy disappears night in Barrow is kindness, not hardness. A few into the chill, smiling. Back to work. warm pizzas don’t hurt either. A woman walks in, a lovely tan parka draped on

STATE POLICE BY A A R O N B R O W N TROOPERS ZENEL LULANAJ and Nehemiah Nel- A son are parked on the shoulder, lights off, engine idling. The temperature is in the teens, but we’re “We get a person who’s driving roasting. When I got in the back of the Dodge Char- while intoxicated, they’re obvi- ger an hour earlier, I left on my winter layers. That ously going somewhere. They was a mistake: Nelson likes the heat cranked. could be going home or going to do something irrational.” There are four of us in the Charger, a handsome dark-blue machine with gold reflective New York State Police insignia. We’re the only ones around for miles. During daylight hours, this stretch of I-287 is jammed. At 1 a.m. on a Saturday in Janu- ary, it’s dark and empty. This is life on a state trooper’s graveyard shift. Lulanaj and Nelson hail from NYSP Troop T. Their headquarters is in Tarrytown, 15 miles north of New York City. Late at night, troopers show up for shift changes, to process arrests, or for a bath- room break, but otherwise the station is desolate, flagpoles clanging as the breeze flaps American, New York state, and POW-MIA flags. The building gives off a new, sterile feeling—a “Petco vibe,” one trooper jokes. I’d waited in my car for half an hour before someone came and unlocked the door. At the start of our shift, Lulanaj launches the Charger onto the Thruway with purpose. He drives like every state trooper you’ve encountered in your rearview: with menace. Lulanaj sets the dashboard to full dark and turns down the light electronic dance music that was playing when we got in. Less than two miles from the barracks, just min- utes into the shift, we find our first customer: a white Range Rover Sport hogging the left lane and weaving across the dotted line. Lulanaj hits the lights, the driver pulls over, and on go the signa- ture Stetson hats. The troopers approach from either side, a choreographed dance. I’m left in the back seat with Trooper Denis Schwuchow, a public-information officer sent along to make sure Lulanaj and Nelson don’t give away the one top-secret tip for getting out of a speeding ticket. We’re trapped. Like most cop cars, this Charger has no interior door han- dles in the back. As I watch the traffic stop unfold, Schwuchow keeps turning his head to scan for an imminent rear-end collision. Not that we’d be able to do much about it. 104 R&T VOL. 10 PHOTOGRAPHS BY J J S U L I N

B A. Troopers Nelson Barely anyone even drives by. After passing the “I like being paired up,” Nelson says. “Not only (right) and Lulanaj at field sobriety test, the Range Rover driver is let go for safety, but to have someone to talk to.” the start of their with a warning. paired overnight shift. “Two sets of eyes,” Lulanaj adds. “We talk about Nelson and Lulanaj started their shift in sepa- all kinds of stuff.” Throughout the night, they ban- B. Late at night on a rate cruisers, but NYSP policy requires troopers ter about music and reminisce about the discon- New York interstate, to double up from midnight to 5 a.m. It’s a safety tinued Ford Crown Victoria, long since removed a blue-and-gold measure, though the two seem mostly unfazed from NYSP fleets. Charger could be a about the difference between a daytime shift and comforting sight—or an overnight. “Anything can happen at any time Around 2 a.m., the dispatch radio chirps, a state- the harbinger of an of day,” Lulanaj says. wide check-in from headquarters. These check-ins imminent ticket. are rare during the day, when troopers are busy, but Throughout the night, the two rib each other occur regularly at night. Partnered shifts mean half over who’s taking up more of the Charger’s con- as many patrol cars on duty. Lulanaj and Nelson are sole armrest, loaded with equipment. assigned to highway patrol, but in rural New York,

troopers handle most law-enforcement duties, CAR including general 911 calls. THIEF “It’s definitely not like being in the city, where BY A . J . B A I M E you call for backup and have 20 cars coming to you in 10 seconds,” Nelson says. “You have to think on “MY WHOLE LIFE was lived at night,” says Scott your feet and be able to control the situation until (not his real name). “You know what they say: you have backup.” Nothing good happens at night. That’s why I was living my life entirely after dark.” “This job isn’t for everybody,” he adds. “You’re on your own for the most part. That’s just how it is.” In the Eighties, Scott helped run a Southern Cal- ifornia car-theft ring specializing in Porsche 911s. After the Range Rover stop, Lulanaj parks the As he tells the tale, we’re sitting in a Chicago garage Charger on a dark, icy patch on the shoulder of the filled with every automotive tool imaginable. A 1979 interstate, midcorner. It’s a favorite type of hiding candy-apple Corvette crouches under a tarp. Next spot: If troopers catch you speeding here, where a to it sits a 1997 Jeep Wrangler that Scott is build- cautious driver would slow down, you were prob- ing for the end times, with massive shocks, extra ably going even faster before the radar picked you fuel tanks, and a variety of shovels mounted on the up. The Stalker Dual radar sits on the dashboard hood. Next to a TIG welder sits a smoking bong and directly in Lulanaj’s line of sight, flashing a red $6000 in cash. Scott has been out of the criminal life speed number as a vehicle passes. It’s an unlucky for years, and today he’s a hardworking father. But lottery for a speeding motorist. Hovering between some habits are apparently hard to lose. the seats is a laptop computer bolted to the cen- ter console, idling on its “Vehicle Inquiry” screen, “Back in the Eighties, there was a huge mar- which spits out information on any license plate ket for stolen Porsche parts,” he says. “And where a trooper types in. there is a market, there is money to be made.” It wasn’t rocket science. “I had a buddy who lived in All five traffic stops between midnight and 3 Orange County who owned Porsche shops. He could a.m. involve a suspicion of driving under the influ- make a lot more money if he had parts that he didn’t ence. Four pass the field test. The fifth ends in a DUI have to pay Porsche for. A customer walks in with arrest. Nelson says empty Modelo bottles were a busted mirror? Hey, he’s got plenty of mirrors. A strewn around the car. guy walks in with a crushed door? He’s got doors.” It’s a messy situation. I see the driver stumble The first thing you need to do to run a car-theft out for the sobriety test. Before the test is com- operation is find the cars, Scott says. The pros call it plete, Nelson returns to the Charger to call for bird-dogging. “I was just out of high school, living backup. The front-seat passenger keeps trying with my grandparents in Burbank,” he explains. to exit the vehicle, so Nelson stands by her door “My job was to scout parking lots at night. If I found until the second patrol car shows up. The driver a Porsche parked in the same spot every night, is handcuffed and put in the back of the second there you go.” The shop owner would pay Scott prowler. He sure as hell isn’t squeezing in between a $500 finder’s fee for every car ripe for stealing. Schwuchow and me. Overnight, a crew would snatch the vehicle and bring it to Orange County. It wasn’t the exotic fare A tow truck arrives quickly to get the suspect’s that got the attention: The 911 Turbo was some- vehicle off the highway, and our convoy returns to what of a new phenomenon at the time. More valu- Tarrytown to process the arrest. able for thieves back then was the 911 SC, because its parts were more in demand. Stopping this kind of dangerous driver is what keeps troopers alert through an otherwise monot- “My guy in Orange County would dismantle the onous overnight shift—“a critical mission of ours,” cars,” Scott explains. “He would take anything that Lulanaj says. “We get a person who’s driving while didn’t have a number on it. So now he’s left with intoxicated, they’re obviously going somewhere. everything that did have a number: the engine, the They could be going home or going to do something chassis, the transmission. He’d call me and tell me irrational. You don’t know. It’s terrible to have to to come down and get all this shit.” Scott could take tell someone that the reason why their significant all the leftover stolen parts, items a purportedly other is dead is because of someone’s decision to consume alcohol to the point of intoxication.” PHOTOGRAPHS BY M A X T H O M S E N As warm as the Charger’s interior is, patrolling the dark in Upstate New York is cold and mostly lonely work. A handful of routine stops punctu- ate long waits and trailing silences. Not boredom, though, but a vigilant watch to maybe stop a trag- edy before it happens. 106 R&T VOL. 10



A “Nothing good happens at night. That’s why I was living my life entirely after dark.” straitlaced body-shop customer wouldn’t touch, by drilling in Heli-Coil thread inserts where the A. Years ago, if you and sell them. Buying and selling the same assets numbers had been. “Besides, with the race cars spotted “Scott” in different markets to maximize profit—“it’s all we were building, it didn’t matter if the parts had lurking by your about arbitrage,” Scott says. numbers on them, because these cars were never Porsche, it meant you going to hit the street.” were about to be Scott’s buddy Bill (again, not his real name), “a relieved of your car. rich kid from Burbank,” would buy all the num- During the three years Scott worked this Porsche Today, he’s on the bered stolen parts. “We’d go down to Orange ring, he estimates that he pulled more than 100 jobs. straight and narrow County at night with Bill’s pickup and trailer and “Just the mirrors were worth a lot of money,” he and a caretaker for load up the skeletons of the picked-over cars. says. “They were worth $500 to the dealer. They an owner of a new There’d be a chassis and engines and whatnot, were easy to steal! A guy would come back from 911 Turbo S. sometimes there’d be seats. The shop owner in lunch, and his car wouldn’t have any mirrors.” Orange County always gave us wheels so we’d be able to roll this shit up into the back of the trailer. Since those days, the underground market for Was I nervous driving this pickup with the skele- stolen cars has declined massively, in part because tons of stolen 911s on the highway at night, back Porsche and every other carmaker have made up to Burbank? Nah. To us it was routine.” vehicles harder to steal. Research from the car- insurance watchdog Uswitch found that car theft in Scott and Bill put together Frankenstein Porsche the United States declined 62.6 percent from 1990 race cars in Bill’s garage, all made of stolen parts. to 2020. By then, only 246 out of every 100,000 They had a technique for obscuring serial numbers cars were stolen. But the same study shows that

the trend was on the rise again in recent years, LONG-HAUL with a 10.71 percent increase in thefts from 2015 to TRUCKER 2020. Not surprisingly, California still has a thriv- ing stolen-car economy—tied for second place BY E L A N A S C H E R R with New Mexico and behind Colorado, where authorities believe the recent spike is related to WE’RE CHASING THE ZIPPER by moonlight, drug trafficking. an all-night, 482-mile run from Los Angeles to Tucson. Eastbound and down, just like the song. Meanwhile, Scott has shifted his automotive Silver bullet in the back, just like the movie. passion to less unsavory activities. Not only is he building out that Jeep to survive the apocalypse, The “zipper” is the white dotted line. At night but he’s also the caretaker of a 911 Turbo S that on a lonely stretch of road, it might be the only belongs to a wealthy Porsche fan. He gets to drive thing visible, a metered flash in the headlights. the thing just about whenever he wants. Ironi- It’s also the only trucker slang Brian Measel used cally, what Scott did in the Eighties makes him a on our drive. My “breaker-breaker, bear-on-your- good guardian of a quarter-million-dollar Porsche tail” fantasies dissolve while we were still in today. He knows how to think like a thief, because L.A., when Measel’s polite inquires as to which for a handful of years, he was one. lanes were open around a crash go unanswered. “People don’t really use the CB much anymore,” But there’s one thing today’s thieves still have he says. Over the next 400 miles, the radio stays going for them, one that can’t be defeated by any silent, except while passing a container truck on car alarm or smart-key technology. I-10 whose faded blue bulk appears with star- tling speed when we come up on it doing 40 mph “Dude!” he yells. “In some places here in Chi- to our 65. cago, if you stop to get gas in a Porsche or a Land Rover, you better be careful. Back in the day, we “Is that thing on?” Measel calls over the radio had to bird-dog cars and go in and functionally do once we’ve settled into the passing lane. “You’re stuff to steal them. Now the gangs will just car- gonna get run into.” Answer: static. jack your ass.” Measel drives for Pilot Transport, a Michigan- based car shipper that hauls for OEMs and private parties alike. On our run, his six-car trailer has one occupant: an Iridium silver Mercedes-AMG C63 on its way from a dealer in Oregon to its new home in Tucson. Before picking me up, Measel had dropped off a half-million-dollar Ferrari SF90 Stradale. After we unload the Mercedes, he’ll check in at Pilot’s Arizona hub, then head north. Or east. Or west again. He mostly finds out his next cargo and destination a day before. Then he plans his route, using both Google satel- lite view and a truck-specific GPS that labels low overpasses and restricted roads. He’s allowed just 11 hours of driving time within a 14-hour work day, so routes need to be efficient. Many truckers drive in pairs to go longer. It takes a lot of trust to sleep while someone else hauls you through the night. Measel once had a trainee who’d zonk out the second the sun went down. “As soon as it was dark, like a par- rot.” He prefers to work alone. He’s a perfection- ist and a bit of a neat freak, his polo shirt crisp, his truck’s paint shiny, the interior spotless and a no-shoes zone. “The guys call me Martha, like R&T VOL. 10 109

A Martha Stewart,” he says as we place our rain- “This was almost $6,” he says, tapping a thermos A. Brian Measel and his damp sneakers on a bath mat under the console. that smells like kerosene and burnt toast. Still, gleaming rig present it keeps him wide awake. In turn, he keeps me a spotless image. All through the night, it’s just us and other big wide awake with the gruesome story of a road- trucks. Occasionally, one sways toward the rum- side mechanic crushed under an RV that was top- B. No stick shift, no CB ble strip, then shuffles back in its lane. “Falling pled by the gust from a thoughtless trucker who chatter. Life in the asleep,” Measel says. “You have to know your indi- passed too close. cab is a bit different cators or you’ll nod off.” His tells are yawning— from what the movies that means he’s got about three hours left—and Very rarely, a passenger car blinks into exis- portray. rubbing the right side of his neck, meaning about tence in the fast lane, dashes past, and is gone. one hour before lights out. He does neither on our Most trucks are speed-limited, trundling forward drive, boosted by a nice nap the previous after- in a slow leap-frog across the desert. Pilot’s are noon and less-nice coffee from Danny’s Truck good for 68 mph. “We used to be 65,” says Measel. Wash and Big Rig Resort in Avondale, Arizona. “But we begged and they raised it.” He says 3 mph 110 R&T VOL. 10

B makes a huge difference. “Sure,” I answer. “Now you can pass all the poor suckers stuck at 65.” “When I graduated, I was like, ‘I just got a master’s For a guy who likes to travel alone, Measel is talk- degree, I shouldn’t be a ative, covering every subject from show horses—he truck driver.’ But I just kept owns a handsome bay named Harley—to NASCAR. coming back to it.” He likes how his black-and-silver company truck and specialized trailer look a bit like a stock-car hauler. In Measel’s opinion, driving a race trans- porter is the coolest trucking job. He never calls his own truck a hauler, though. “I don’t want to seem like a poser. I just call it a rig.” Measel’s rig starts at a glittering grille and ends at a tailgate 75 feet, five axles, and 18 wheels later. Twisting around in back of the cab are thick vines of hydraulic and pneumatic lines for car lifts, ride height, and tire pressure. The cab is a Peterbilt 579; its 12.9-liter diesel is barely a hum from outside. Inside, there’s not a sound besides an occasional mechanical cough deep in the works when Measel shifts the automatic transmission. Of all the big- rig stereotyping I brought along, nothing burst my bubble more than learning that manual transmis- sions are as rare in big trucks as they are in super- cars. “Truck schools don’t want to take the time to teach new drivers to handle a manual as well as a trailer,” says Measel. “Plus, the technology is so much better now. They can tune them to shift so gently.” A jarring gearchange is hard on cargo, be it a tanker of milk, a load of doomed livestock, or carefully stacked cars. Inside the trailer is an M.C. Escher scene of mov- ing platforms, ladders, and rails. Loading is an art form; six Maseratis require a different configuration than three Hummers or one camera-covered auton- omous prototype. Cars are growing larger, and that causes issues: The aforementioned Hummers are too long and too heavy to carry six at a time. Even getting a single vehicle in can be a multistep process, Tetris through the eye of a needle. “I’ve got a degree in MacGyverology,” says Measel with a laugh. Actually, he has an MBA, but a desk job left him fidgety and unsatisfied. “When I graduated, I was like, ‘I just got a master’s degree, I shouldn’t be a truck driver,’” he says. “But I just kept com- ing back to it.” Measel likes the work because it’s ever-changing. “I’ve heard people say that truckers are heroes of the pandemic,” he says. “You know, ‘If you bought it, a truck brought it.’ Me, I just deliver cars, but it makes people happy to get them.” In the heavy dark, lit only by the strobe of the zipper, it’s easy to forget there are other people in the universe. As the sun paints Tucson misty pink, the world crowds back in. Measel rubs his right shoulder. The log book ticks down the remaining work hours. It will reset for the evening, and he’ll be back on the road, covering the midnight miles. PHOTOGRAPHS BY T O M F O W L K S R&T VOL. 10 111

THE

PHYSIOLOGY OF DRIVING AT NIGHT HUMANS WEREN’T MEANT TO DRIVE IN THE DARKNESS, BUT WE DO IT ANYHOW. BY J O H N P E A R L E Y H U F F M A N COLLAGES BY S O P H I E M O AT E S R&T VOL. 10 113

UMAN BEINGS

HAVE EVOLVED TO BE ONLY MEDIOCRE at the popular nighttime activity of sleeping. And 91,000 accidents in the United States, resulting in “Brain regions and networks associated with driving is even more difficult. roughly 50,000 injuries and 800 deaths. Grim stuff. attention and working memory, arousal, and the default mode network (DMN) are affected by sleep In fact, according to the Insurance Institute for Humans don’t sleep as much as most mammals. deprivation,” a group of psychologists and neuro- Highway Safety, during 2019, about 51 percent of Compared with other primates, humans sleep the scientists from the University of California, Berke- fatal auto crashes occurred between 6 p.m. and 6 least of all. Even the function of human sleep is ley, wrote in 2018 in the journal Nature Reviews a.m. This despite the fact that traffic volume falls itself controversial—to vastly simplify, it comes Neuroscience. “The DMN is a collection of brain off radically late at night and early in the morning. down to either restorative function (clearing the areas, including midline frontoparietal regions, Why are the dark hours so deadly? The answers brain of all sorts of mental crud) or physical energy that often disengage when an individual performs touch on psychology, optometry, ophthalmology, conservation. Plus, unlike other animals, humans an externally driven, goal-directed task and then gerontology, and maybe a dozen other disciplines can decide to be flexible about their sleep patterns. re-engage when an individual stops performing that smart people spend lifetimes studying. Often, but not always, we segregate sleep into the that task.” Driving is one such task. later night hours. At night, driving or not, most Driving, even in brilliant daylight, is a mix of human bodies are looking to get unconscious. When the DMN goes gooey because of sleep visual, aural, mental, and physical acuity. A driver deprivation, various brain regions can’t fully must maintain situational awareness under Humans are, after all, the only species that disengage, and task performance collapses. But intense stimulation, identifying, cataloging, and extends the day into the night via artificial light- deprivation also screws with emotional respon- contextualizing every sight and sound to sepa- ing. And we’re the only one that pulls all-nighters, siveness, creating a disconnect between reading rate mere distractions from true threats. Once all goes to movie theaters, looks for possible mates what’s going on with others and one’s own mood. of that is done, brain processing determines our in nightclubs, and ferments our own alcohol. And That’s a recipe for bad decisions . . . like taking on ultimate ability to operate a two-ton hunk of steel then drives. the M5 in the next lane for a little stoplight grand capable of mowing down the neighbors. prix. But, again, at least you’re still awake. No surprise, drowsiness wreaks havoc on driv- Night makes it more difficult for two fundamen- ing. According to the Centers for Disease Control In a 2013 CDC report, among 92,102 survey tal reasons: sleep and sight. and Prevention, being awake for 18 hours is equiva- respondents, 4 percent reported having nodded lent to having a blood-alcohol concentration of off while driving in the previous 30 days. That’s one SLEEP 0.05 percent. Stay up for 24 hours straight, and in every 25 drivers not just ready for a nap but slid- By far the greatest challenge of night driving that rises to the equivalent of 0.10 percent—well ing into slumberland. Independent research here is remaining awake and aware. According to a beyond the 0.08 percent threshold that consti- at Road & Track has shown that car control drops National Highway Traffic Safety Administration tutes being legally drunk in every state. Serious to zero when a driver is unconscious. estimate, in 2017, “drowsy” driving caused about impairment, but at least still awake. R&T VOL. 10 115

VISION DEPENDS ON LIGHT. THERE IS NO SEEING IN A LITERAL DARK VOID. AND TO KEEP YOURSELF FROM BEING FOOLED, IT’S CRITICAL TO BE AWARE OF HOW A DRIVER’S MIND CAN BE FOOLED. While driving seems almost autonomic because narrows about 1 to 3 degrees for every decade of ing in distance underestimation.” In other words, we do it so often, that view invites complacency. life. As the lenses in the eye lose their ability to when your brain has limited information, it can Since most people aren’t brain surgeons or concert change shape, quickly adjusting focus becomes make some very wrong assumptions about the pianists, driving is among the most consequential more difficult, particularly on up-close objects. distance of target objects. things we do. It takes concentration. And at night, And pupils may not open as quickly or as fully as most human bodies don’t want to concentrate on necessary for optimum vision. Vision depends on light. There is no seeing in a anything except dreams. literal dark void. And to keep yourself from being Seeing at night depends on the photoreceptor fooled, it’s critical to be aware of how a driver’s Also, besides drowsy drivers, night brings out cells—the rods and cones—operating at peak effi- mind can be fooled. the ones who are drunk. But that’s another sub- ciency. When it’s dark, the rods are active, but very ject altogether. few cones are. Since cone cells sense color, under EVERYTHING ELSE many night conditions the world appears virtually Sleep and sight quality are the dominant consid- SIGHT black and white. And when a bright-colored light erations in understanding the physiology of driv- What we think we see isn’t always there, and what comes on, like the red of a traffic signal, the eyes ing at night. But every one of our senses can be we don’t see might be there anyhow. The informa- can take a moment to adjust to the brilliance. enrolled in driving safely in lower-light situations. tion our eyeballs collect is transmitted to the brain, Brake smell, approaching sounds of all sorts, and where it’s processed into what we perceive as real- It’s inevitable that there will be unlit areas the thump of a pothole on the coccyx all contrib- ity. The problem at night is that lower light condi- within a driver’s sight. And that’s where the mind ute information that can compensate, at least in tions mean our eyes collect less information. The starts kicking in with assumptions about exactly some small part, for low-light driving situations. mind constructs reality from hazier data. where things are in relative space. “Consider a scenario such as driving at night on a dark high- Whether you’re pulling the late shift at the Driving in the dark, however, isn’t merely about way,” says Teng Leng Ooi, PhD, a vision scientist at Rolex 24 or trying to get home after 16 straight reduced light. It’s about variable light. Vehicles Ohio State University. “The highway is lit only by hours of poker, self-awareness is the single most travel under streetlights or through urban corri- the car’s headlights. Our research predicts that in important tool in successful and safe night driv- dors filled with lighted signs. The light from a vehi- this situation, the eyes will receive limited depth- ing. Know your state of rest, the condition of your cle’s headlamps extends only so far forward and cue information on the ground. Nevertheless, the eyes, and the limitations of your vehicle, and inte- to the sides. And then there’s the light from dash- visual system still has to form a visual space for grate those considerations into your decisions. boards, touchscreens, and random people run- distance judgment. Thus, the visual system will Be aware of your capacity to make dangerous ning around with flashlights. To instantly adjust use whatever depth cues it could glean from the assumptions, be ready to nap if necessary, keep the to those situations and any others, our eyes must limited ground surface and make up for the defi- windshield clean, and call an Uber if you have to. be healthy and nimble. Not everyone has such eyes. ciency with the intrinsic bias”—filling in the gaps While few Uber drivers have much experience at with preconceived ideas. “However, the visual Daytona, they can still help you get home if you’re As humans age, all the elements of the visual sys- space formed will not be very accurate, result- at risk of nodding off. tem age too. The average person’s range of vision 116 R&T VOL. 10



DAAYFTTEOrNA DARK YOU HAVEN’T EXPERIENCED THE ROLEX 24 AT DAYTONA UNTIL YOU’VE BRAVED THE LONG, COLD NIGHT IN PERSON. THESE ARE THE SIGHTS, SOUNDS, AND SMELLS THAT TV COVERAGE CAN’T CAPTURE. BY H O L LY A N D E R S O N PHOTOGRAPHS BY A L E X T E H R A N I 118 R&T VOL. 10

ILLUSTRATIONS BY N A M E T K N A M E T K

“IS THAT OURS?” It’s a little past midnight, and a lone tire is rolling 120 R&T VOL. 10 across pit road toward Team TGM (Ted Giovanis Motorsports) crew members. The Rolex 24 at Day- tona endurance race is nearing its halfway point, and if full-blown loopiness has not quite settled over the entire affair, there are definitely some punchy pockets, and I’m in one now. The stray tire does not belong to Ted Giovanis’s GTD-class Porsche 911 GT3 R, and the crew members settle back into their camp chairs, huddling for warmth as best they can beneath layers of moving blankets and jackets draped over their fire suits. The dark, the lack of sleep, and the waves of the hypermanaged chaos of five classes competing on the same track at the same time make the Day- tona 24-hour race a twice-round-the-clock whirl- wind. But this year is special: It’s the event’s 60th anniversary, boasting a larger field of cars than has been seen in many years—and most exciting of all, it’s accompanied by an intense cold front, complete with a howling wind that is, scientif- ically speaking, like being stabbed with knives made of ice. Welcome to the Sunshine State! 5 p.m. A gaggle of Navy ROTC kids from nearby Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University are run- ning tram services as a fundraiser for their unit, ferrying visitors from the vast parking lots along the backstretch to the infield via grassy embank- ments and a dip through an underground tunnel. The tram drivers are occasionally possessed with the spirit of the track themselves, whipping in and out of the tunnel with a little too much flair to be entirely practical. On most Daytona race days, the increased breeze at top speeds is a welcome balm;



122 R&T VOL. 10 tonight it’s an additional cruelty. The benches are to it, the Vortex ride does a brisk business, filling aluminum, and the cold, which will dip into the repeatedly with lunatics who somehow crave more low 30s, rapidly leaches into any part of your body of the cold knife-wind. In perhaps the biggest upset that touches them. Every attendee swears they’d of the night, the smell of cigars outpaces that of prefer sweltering on the blacktop. both cigarettes and homegrown weed. 5:30 p.m. May whatever deities you hold 6:40 p.m. The fans aren’t the only ones caught A in your heart bless and keep forever the Daytona sideways by the weather. The cars, their tires, even around of Dale Sr.’s ability to make it from the fin- International Speedway’s beautiful, blithe indif- the computer components—nothing has really ish line to the comfort of his plane in seven min- ference to any vehicle brought in for nonracing been road-tested at these temperatures. The utes flat. As we round the backstretch to reenter purposes. If it can roll you across the vast grounds, alarming scenarios this cold and humidity could the tunnel, a tall man in bright-yellow cargo pants it’s allowed, from little red wagons to Rollerblades pose are myriad: damp air coalescing into freez- swings a can of Bud like a clutch purse, ambling to ATVs tricked out at trim levels I didn’t know ing mist and hardening into black ice on the track, toward the stretch of chain-link and barbed-wire existed (and I’m from East Tennessee; this is a slick tires the teams are not permitted to warm fencing that separates raceway from runway. Con- meaningful statement). These zip and weave before setting them on freezing concrete and driv- fronted with a necessarily stern “THIS IS A WORK- between dozens of staged and impromptu auto- ing onto freezing asphalt, the cars not starting ING AIRPORT” sign, he leans in, as if to absorb it a motive reunion parties. A fleet of lovingly pre- up again if they have to sit idle for long stretches. single letter at a time, then rears back and utters served VW buses is surrounded by cottagecore Most of these won’t manifest. But at the moment, “Huh” in a tone that suggests he has finally met a housewares. An actual London black cab painted nobody knows that or can safely assume anything worthy adversary after years of searching. British racing green ambles by to reveal a stunning will work the way it’s supposed to. robin’s-egg-blue 911. A Datsun truck with a giant 10 p.m. A celebratory fireworks display begins. “4” decal on the door sits nose to nose with a sleek Dusk is a perennial danger zone in endurance camper that probably cost more than your house. racing, and when it arrives, every driver has a least It’s pretty, not excessively extravagant, and over favorite spot on the track. The worst is coming out fairly quickly by Central Florida standards, maybe 6 p.m. The one exception to the benevolently of the infield’s Turn 4, when the sun goes down over by necessity. The drivers must be warned ahead of the back of the stands and creates blind spots, and time (imagine being confronted, eight hours into an loose grip of Daytona management is the care- coming out of Turn 6 onto the banking. Tonight’s endurance race, with a series of colorful explosions fully barricaded ponds on the property. Any body weather gives rise to a host of new trouble spots. At in your peripheral vision). And if the weather’s just of water larger than a hubcap is surrounded by a least one team is taking casual bets among them- wrong, the smoke will settle onto the track and sit chain-link fence too high for even sober adventur- selves over which cars will hit the wall attempt- there. Which, like a lot of things at this racetrack, ers to leap over easily. As aesthetically displeas- ing to exit the pits. would probably look incredible, but nobody’s in a ing as the overall effect is, this practice is probably hurry to actually see it happen. for the best, for any number of valid reasons. But 7 p.m. The wind and the damp haven’t seri- the ponds, for once, pose no danger to life or prop- 10:20 p.m. There’s a rapid post-fireworks fan erty in the plummeting temperatures and relent- ously affected the action on the track but are laying less winds. waste to all the makeshift warming mechanisms exodus from the speedway, with a sense of purpose of the infield. Fires spring up all over. Some cre- that’s kinda funny, in that only-in-Florida way. A The Bass Prop Shop next door to the track sells ative souls have fashioned their own chimneys out of gloves before the sun is even down. We learn or brought portable firepits to install alongside there is such a thing as archery mittens when our their RV setups. Some just dig holes in the ground. photographer, fresh off a plane from Southern Cal- ifornia, snags the last pair. And in the infield, any- 7:20 p.m. It’s nearing full dark, and the run- thing that can be used for warmth is being used for warmth. Blankets that have spent a decade or so ning lights blaze to life atop the car roofs. One moldering in truck beds are being worn as capes. might think that bolting unnecessary components Two enterprising dudes in Florida State gear have to the outside of race cars would be a hard sell to remembered that life jackets, by virtue of being the folks in charge of making them aerodynamic. nylon, are windproof, and they don the vests over But multiple engineers profess to have loved the their gray hoodies. practice even a couple of decades ago, when these lights were heavier to mount, if only because it 6:10 p.m. The Ferris wheel is alight but not makes the cars easier to pick out in the field. moving; the operators lament that it worked at 8:30 p.m. You might have to look at a map their last stop (in case you were harboring the opinion that a Ferris wheel in a racetrack infield to appreciate just how directly Daytona Beach could not be any more delightfully dangerous, a International Airport abuts the speedway. From temporarily installed one might do the trick). Next a noise-ordinance perspective, it’s a tidy civic arrangement, and a half-remembered tale floats

B C D A. A rainbow of LEDs distinguishes similar- looking cars and casts a ravelike glow. B. The infield is home to a rollicking overnight party that sometimes forgets about the car race defining its perimeter. C. Camping setups range from the homey compactness of a vintage VW . . . D. . . . to touring-band- size Class As, all huddled under the watchful presence of the infield Ferris wheel.

A B 124 R&T VOL. 10

TOP RIGHT PHOTOGRAPH BY JAMEY PRICE C D A. Between pit stops, crew members string together whatever warmth and rest they can. B. As night draws on, fair-weather fans have evacuated the stands, leaving die-hards gathered around food and TV coverage. C. After dark, glowing brake rotors and streaking lights heighten the sense of speed. D. Infield campsite design is an art. The best manage to pack all the comforts of home in a few square feet of grass.

A A. Uncharacteristically chilly weather chased away all but the most dedicated spectators. B. A midrace crash flung carbon-fiber body- work; sticky-fingered fans came away with a souvenir. C. A racing team’s trailer is a place for strategy, secrets, and slumber. D. In frigid (for Florida) temperatures, any- thing can be repur- posed into a blanket. B C

young woman in the bleachers, part of the last the second time in his GT3 R, and he tries to take Giovanis says that in the moment, endurance group of stalwart holdouts braving the wind in the long view of the dark hours ahead. “Basically, racing is more mentally taxing than physically the cheap seats, suggests offhandedly that Disney you gotta make it through the night,” he says. “And demanding. “You think it’s a driving game, but parks have programmed tourists to believe that once the day comes, then you can start thinking it’s a thinking game,” he says. “It’s not strength- any show is over immediately after the fireworks about racing: who you’re gonna race with, who driven. You should’ve already done all of that. This end. An air of suspicion settles over the group. the competition might be.” is why you did all of that, so you shouldn’t be try- Have Daytona officials wired visitors to stay up ing to exert yourself. It’s all about conserving.” past their bedtime to increase nacho sales? Who 1:21 a.m. Ferdinand Zvonimir Maria Balthus can say? No one drops a “That’s how they get you,” 4:07 a.m. Back in the infield, most campers but it’s on every nodding face. Keith Michael Otto Antal Bahnam Leonhard von Habsburg-Lothringen, heir apparent to the House have gone dark, the bleachers and thoroughfares 10:25 p.m. Following a collision on the track, of Habsburg-Lorraine, is now leading. Please fin- all but abandoned. Even the British radio announc- ish your champagne. ers are openly bemoaning the cold that has driven some youths have scavenged from a tow truck what the vast majority of the crowd to shelter. The near must be $1000 worth of intact carbon-fiber panel. 2 a.m. Between crewing for Vasser Sullivan’s desertion of the infield serves to highlight just how They pose for group photos, flexing in front of the sonically different the 24 is from the 500. If you bleachers. Many vendors are shuttering. Most of Lexus GTD-class entries, Bozi Tatarevic is on some- stand in one place for long enough, you can pick the remaining fans are retreating to their RVs to thing like his 16th straight hour of giving every out the sounds of individual cars. Surrounded on watch Royal Rumble or televised coverage of the fan who either retreated from the cold or couldn’t all sides by streaking glowing streams, and with race that’s happening all around them. make it at all a front-row seat to the action. A pro- the Ferris wheel as a glittering backdrop, you could lific tweeter, he’s been posting from behind the easily imagine yourself in Hong Kong, or Rio de 11:45 p.m. Back in the pits, crews assigned scenes since before 8 a.m., creating a kind of all- Janeiro, or the Mario Kart universe, with mini- access mobile show that covers everything from mal extra Coors in your system. Does it completely to cars now out of commission combine efforts his gear bag (lots of charging cables, multiple fla- defy credulity to report feeling a gathering sense with their sister cars’ crews. Off-duty crew mem- vors of Tic Tacs) to typical midrace refreshments of peace here? Not hypothermia, but a real sort bers take sleeping shifts. In the narrow walkway (Pedialyte is unsurprisingly popular) to candid of serenity? behind the pit tents, a crewman smokes a cigarette shots of team cars going through inspection and with flagrant disregard for the fact that he is lean- teammates at work. 5 a.m. Dawn is still two long hours out. The ing on a fuel drum. As he’s explaining why concentration is tricki- new hot spot, literally, is the Pie Daddy truck in the At 76, Ted Giovanis is competing at Daytona for est during the 2–5 a.m. leg, a nearby bank of mon- infield. The proprietors, scoffing at their neigh- itors shows Jimmie Johnson’s Cadillac and Dirk bors who shuttered their vans at midnight, plan to D Müller’s Mercedes colliding and skidding into the stay open for the entire race. It’s the last remain- grass. Midsentence, Bozi flips from show to busi- ing point of congregation in the night, the only ness. His other earpiece goes in, and behind him warmth to be had. The heads of a dozen strangers crew members who had been dozing are fasten- gathered in twos and threes bend over cardboard ing on helmets and securing neck gaiters. Even boats of fried doughnuts and steaming hand pies the possibility of an early pit stop is run like a fire as if in silent prayer. drill. The crew’s next hurdle is to calm down and let the excitement and adrenaline dissipate so they Sunrise Dusk has nothing on dawn in terms of can recharge. looming traps. Giovanis is back behind the wheel 3:30 a.m. Even in the calmer stretches of the for the early-morning stint, barreling straight into the sun on Turns 1 and 2. There’s a second—a sec- race, if nothing and nobody is screwing up any- ond and a half maybe—when there’s nothing vis- where, the drivers are fed a constant mantra of ible at all from inside the cockpit and nothing to “Keep doing what you’re doing,” which can be mad- do about it but damn the torpedoes. dening to hear for this long. It’s a nice problem to have, but can still feel faintly deranged as the clocks The Porsche doesn’t have any side mirrors. tick toward 4 a.m. During the night, Matt Plumb has knocked one off, Owen Trinkler the other. Nobody told Giovanis Physical conditioning is of primary importance this when he got in the car. “I found out in Turn 6 for this event, but on race day itself, the name of the when I had to come down low,” he later explained. game is focus and flexibility. The weather, again, “The spotter says I’m clear. I go to look, and there’s is not helping. Along with all the usual aches and nothing there. I said, ‘Wait a minute.’ And I come pains, and strains from long g-force exposure, prior down low and look over to the right, and there’s joint injuries have a nasty tendency to act up in the nothing there either.” cold. Multiple teams bring massage therapists to help combat stiffness and soreness. “What did you guys do last night?” R&T VOL. 10 127



PHOTOGRAPH BY R E U B E N W U R&T VOL. 10 129

DOSSIER: MERCEDES- AMG SL63 A

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132 R&T VOL. 10 DOSSIER B THE PROUD N A M E P L AT E IS BACK WITH A RENEWED FOCUS. B U T I S T H AT F O C U S W H AT T H E SL IS ALL ABOUT? SOME PERFORMERS EARN applause simply by A. (Previous page) appearing onstage—before speaking a single line, Golden hour with singing a single note, or dancing a single step. Some the top down is cops can disarm a suspect with the right scowl— where the SL has without reaching for a gun or issuing a threat. And always shined. there are cars that take over a road with sheer cha- risma. Most Duesenbergs and some Rolls-Royces. B. Noticeably trimmer A lot of Ferraris. The Lamborghini Countach. And and more angular often, but not always, the Mercedes SL. than the previous SL, with hints of AMG GT It’s called presence, that ability to instantly in the styling. grab attention, direct it, and control it. The chal- lenge for the new 2022 Mercedes-AMG SL63 isn’t to be quick, fast, or even luxurious. It’s to establish itself and stake out its own relevance. To create its own reality, an alloy of engineering, elegance, and exclusivity. Some arrogance is okay. Some utility would be nice too. Being ignored? Not acceptable. The temptation with every new SL is to drill down into its tech details, as if some demon tweak gizmo aboard guarantees reverence. But tech, even in the original 1954 production 300SL Gullwing coupe, was always in the service of presence. “No exhibition-hall dream, the 300SL with its fabulous 240 hp fuel injection engine and dra- matically functional body is here,” asserted an ad Mercedes ran for the Gullwing back in 1954. “Hand-finished details give the 300SL tradi- tional Mercedes-Benz elegance—in a car that breaks with all traditions.” That sentence con- tradicts itself, yet nicely summarizes the Gull- wing’s appeal. Incidentally, in the ad it’s wearing BY J O H N P E A R L E Y H U F F M A N PHOTOGRAPHS BY L I S A L I N K E



Backstory A B The brilliant and haphazard origins of the legendary SL. With almost 70 uninter- were still hinged at the “BACKSTORY” PHOTOGRAPHS COURTESY OF MERCEDES-BENZ rupted years on the roof, inspiring the “Gull- market, the Mercedes- wing” nickname. Benz SL is one of the car world’s few constants. Despite the under- This despite those powered carbureted capital letters (for Sport engine, the W194 proved Leicht or Super Leicht) wildly successful in the being affixed to vehicles 1952 racing season. as diverse as a radical The cars (of which 10 race car, a roadgoing were built) won that supercar, an exemplar of year’s 24 Hours of Le German design restraint, Mans, La Carrera Pana- a dentists’ country-club mericana, and a couple ferry, a hot rod, and now of other major sports-car a four-seater. races; Mercedes took second place at the None of that was part Mille Miglia. of the original plan. In fact, there wasn’t any For the 1953 season, sort of plan. A handful of Uhlenhaut and team years after World War II, built a substantially a rebuilding Mercedes- updated car, the Benz constructed the W194/11. It rode on a first SL as a sort of shorter wheelbase, used race-car consolation a transaxle for better prize. The company weight distribution, and preferred to go back to had a Bosch mechanical grand-prix racing, but the direct-fuel-injection rules were not favorable. system. Developed for So it built one of the Luftwaffe planes pow- world’s most glorious ered by Mercedes-built parts-bin specials, the V-12s, the fuel injection 300SL W194. boosted the 300SL’s power from 170 hp to Starting in June 1951, 215. Its body, now made the team plucked the of magnesium alloy, 3.0-liter overhead-cam carried the fender vents, inline-six engine, four- hood power bulges, and speed manual transmis- single-bar front grille that sion, and basic would eventually appear suspension from the on roadgoing SLs. The company’s stately new W194/11 was not pretty, luxury sedan, the W186 though. It became “Adenauer.” These heavy- known as the plane car weight production-car because its front end parts were crammed into resembled a carpenter’s a radical and lightweight plane. The W194/11 tube-frame structure. would never race, as To allow for a low hood- Mercedes scrapped the line, the team, led by program to go grand-prix engineer Rudolf Uhlen- racing again in 1954. haut, tipped the tall inline-six 50 degrees and Still, the car didn’t replaced its oil pan with go to waste. American a dry-sump oiling sys- Mercedes importer tem. The slab-sided Max Hoffman reckoned aluminum body carried that a roadgoing version no adornment and of the W194 would be looked very much like a successful in the U.S. rough-and-ready race car. On September 2, 1953, the Mercedes board The tube frame’s tall agreed, and the familiar sides prohibited the use 300SL Gullwing was of normal doors. Initially, born. Hoffman was drivers had to cram right: 85 percent of the themselves through a nearly 1000 300SLs top-hinged side window. built in 1954 and 1955 Later W194s had more were sold in America. substantial doors that –DANIEL PUND

C C. The days of the grace- ful, simple steering wheel are gone. Now a cornucopia of buttons and knobs can adjust nearly everything on the car. D. It may be built in Germany, but there likely isn’t a more Southern Californian car than the SL. wide whitewalls and spinner hubcaps. Because D it was 1954. Because it’s 2022, the R232-generation SL63 hunkers over big 21-inch wheels inside 275/35 tires in front and 305/30s in back. The body, a bit of a throwback to the Gullwing (and its road- ster brother), has rounded shapes at every cor- ner and a rump that droops down in back. From some angles, the tail even looks like a Porsche 911. Which is weird. Weird because the engine isn’t back there. It’s AMG’s familiar 4.0-liter V-8 up front, with two turbochargers between the cylinder banks. In the SL63, the assembly is rated at 577 hp and a thick 590 lb-ft of consistent torque from 2500 to 4500 rpm. It’s mated to AMG’s multi-clutch nine-speed automatic transmission and the also-familiar Mer- cedes 4Matic all-wheel-drive system. Back in 2010, Mercedes claimed that the 661-hp SL65 AMG Black Series, addled by mere rear-wheel drive, would slam to 60 mph in 3.8 seconds. Now it claims the new SL63 will rabbit to 60 in 3.5. DOSSIER R&T VOL. 10 135

A. The SL is still a AC cruiser, but the AMG influence is every- Here’s the problem: When it comes to mechani- where, including in cal engagement, acceleration is not the only thing these massive that matters. The Gullwing had considerably less carbon-ceramic horsepower aboard, but the direct-injected 3.0- brakes. liter straight-six offered other delights. It sang a trilling song, practically flirted with the driver in B. Nobody does an its seductive delivery of power, and was equipped interior like with a four-speed manual. The Gullwing wasn’t Mercedes. B only the quickest car of its era but also the most C. New but familiar, the engaging. It was unique among its few—very few— elegant flowing peers. And it was the most fun. design makes the SL63 one of the The new SL63, impressive as it is at generating prettiest new road- numbers, doesn’t attract as much affection. It’s sters in years. one more German all-wheel-drive whoosh-macher powered by a 4.0-liter twin-turbo V-8 . . . like many BMW M, Audi RS, and other Mercedes-AMG cars. And some of those aren’t even cars but SUVs. The SL63 works great, it performs awesomely, and, damn it, it doesn’t feel that special. And yes, this is the first SL with all-wheel drive. And it’s all-wheel drive only; Mercedes-AMG says it is not considering a rear-drive version. With that in mind, it’s not like all the previous SL generations have been dripping with mechani- cal personality. There was nothing enchanting about the 1955 190SL’s 105-hp 1.9-liter four. And no matter that it was staggeringly beautiful, the Pagoda-roof 1968–71 W113 280SL had a 2.8-liter straight-six that purred but made only 180 hp. An SL can have many compensating virtues. And this new one has those, at least some. The new SL is the first to come only as a 2+2 (a tiny rear seat was optional in some markets on R107-generation SLs introduced for 1972). For at least a few repeat SL buyers, the complex power- retractable hardtop that’s been part of the car’s substance since the R230 model of 2002 has been a frustration—not only because it limited trunk room, but it also meant there was no rear parcel area in which to casually toss a Balenciaga Motor- cycle handbag or let a pair of pure-white Samoyeds roost. The two rear seats in the new SL have belts that imply human beings could sit in them, but there’s no room for actual human lower append- ages. High-end leather goods and designer dogs, however, will fill the space just fine.

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This also means that the soft fabric top has A returned to the SL franchise. It is, as expected, a D multilayer assembly that will not only keep out the weather but also resist meteor strikes. How- Whence It Came ever, there is no bolt-on hardtop option. That must come as some relief to Mercedes dealers who, as a The SL through the generations. courtesy, are still storing customer hardtops for R107s from half a century ago. A. W198 and W121 B. W113 (1963–71) (1954–63) The 230SL arrived at The interior isn’t so much designed as it is over- Drawing heavily on the 1963 Geneva stuffed. That starts with the massive 12.3-inch cen- Mercedes’s success- Auto Show riding on a ter screen tasked with controlling everything short ful W194 racer, the version of the W111 of Harvard undergraduate admissions. Separated glorious 300SL sedan’s chassis and from the dash, the screen can be tilted to remain debuted in February wearing elegant usable even in sunlight. But that separation also 1954 to serve as a bodywork by legend- leaves it looking like an afterthought. halo product. Like the ary designer Paul W194, the roadgoing Bracq. The removable The interior has all the latest gadgets. The AMG 300SL featured a hardtop’s striking Performance seats with “multicontour” adjusta- tube-frame chassis, look earned the car bility can be tailored to fit any biped primate. All windswept bodywork, the nickname the screens display vivid images. What’s miss- and gullwing doors. A “Pagoda.” Its 2.3-liter ing, however, is a physical connection to what’s fuel-injected 240-hp inline-six engine going on. Even the very comfort of the seats insu- 3.0-liter inline-six, came from the W111 lates the SL63’s occupants from the physical sen- resting at a 50-degree parts bin, with output sations of driving. angle, allowed the SL rising to 150 hp. The to reach speeds in more potent 250SL There’s been an evolution in the definition of excess of 160 mph. appeared in 1967 “luxury” over time. Look at the old 300SL roadster Underpinned by a con- and wouldn’t last or the W113 280SL, and there are painted metal sur- ventional chassis, the more than a year faces, decorative metallic pieces, and what seem 190SL joined the before the 280SL to be Bakelite knobs. That gave way to leather and lineup in 1955, and debuted, bringing a wood on every surface. Now it’s carbon fiber and the 300SL roadster 170-hp 2.8-liter gadgetry. At the risk of devolving into Abraham replaced the Gullwing inline-six and Simpson–style old-man nuttery, some of that clas- in 1957. upgraded brakes. sic stuff was better. Looking at screens isn’t the same as feeling a transmission shudder in antici- pation under its shifter. When the paint is perfect, painted metal is luxurious. “WHENCE IT CAME” PHOTOGRAPHS COURTESY OF MERCEDES-BENZ

B DOSSIER R&T VOL. 10 139 C E F C. R107 (1971–89) D. R129 (1989–2001) E. R230 (2002–11) F. R231 (2012–20) The heavy, softly The R129 SL arrived For 2002, the new To celebrate the sprung R107 SL took in 1989 with a more R230 offered the model’s 60th anniver- the model even wedgelike, angular model line’s first sary, the R231 further from its shape from designer power-retractable debuted at the 2012 racing roots. Still, in Bruno Sacco. In hardtop. The car was North American 1971, the R107 North America, it much sleeker than International Auto became the first offered three engine the R129, with visual Show in Detroit. The V-8-powered SL. The options: a 3.0-liter references to the R231 became the lineup grew to inline-six (300SL), a original 300SL. first volume-produced include the big- 5.0-liter V-8 (500SL), Mercedes offered Mercedes to feature engined 560 version, and, beginning in high-performance an all-aluminum body but thanks to the 1993, a 6.0-liter V-12 variants through shell. The new car era’s emissions (600SL). In 1995, AMG, which it had weighed roughly 300 equipment, it pro- AMG, still an indepen- recently brought pounds less than its duced only 227 hp. dent tuner, made its in-house. The SL55 predecessor while Over the course of most outrageous AMG, the SL63 AMG, offering a more rigid the 18-year produc- SL-based creation, the SL65 AMG, and chassis. A refreshed tion run, Mercedes the 525-hp SL73, the range-topping body style arrived in sold 237,287 using the 7.3-liter 670-hp SL65 AMG 2017, and so did the R107s, including a V-12 that would go on Black Series R231’s in-house rival, small number of to power the Pagani attempted to restore the Mercedes-AMG dedicated coupe Zonda. Only 85 some of the lost GT roadster. Future models called SLC. SL73s were built, sporting pedigree. versions of the SL 50 of which allegedly The AMG models and GT will share a went to the Sultan accounted for almost of Brunei. a third of R230 sales. platform. –LUCAS BELL



AB Foundation Stock The Eighties 380SL would like you to take it easy. A. In production for cans would plunk down like a slow electric car: shield helps keep the nearly two decades, about $45,000 in early- Speed accumulates in wind from affecting the R107 defined Eighties money to get an vibration-free silence, conversations with your the look and charac- impeccably assembled and with only three broker (“I said, sell ter of the SL for a machine with doors that speeds, not much Eastern Airlines and buy couple of generations ka-thunk and an open- shifting is happening. more Burroughs”). Go of buyers. top structure that’s ahead—get stuck in traf- modern-car solid, all Every control seems fic and hump along; the B. Not known for corner wrapped in an unmistak- to be bathed in refriger- SL doesn’t care, and carving or outright able shape that sug- ated molasses. So neither will you as you speed, this SL was gests there’s a forget about driving sit in your featureless perfect for gently rotary-dial car phone aggressively, as the car roadster. There is a wafting between inside. completely resists your button to raise and destinations, the prurient inputs. Instead, lower the antenna. ultimate cruiser. Put the receiver down lean into old age and and pull away from a drive this roadster-on- Mercedes certainly stop, and the first thing ludes like the success- could’ve made this SL a you’ll hear is the lazy ful adult you now appear sports car. After all, an three-speed automatic’s to be. To make sure I SL won the Mille Miglia torque converter whir- wasn’t misreading this road race in the Fifties. ring like an electric SL, I ventured into the But despite its looks, its motor. This ’81 example canyons rimming Los lack of rear seats, and I’m driving has an Angeles. The car feels its V-8 engine, the 85-mph speedometer, momentarily alert when I 380SL isn’t about so there is a sense of wind the giant steering displays of speed or speed as the needle wheel into a corner, but performance, and it sweeps rapidly across from there it returns to doesn’t seem to mind the dial, until you realize its relaxed ways. With one bit. It’s confident in you’re only going 45. heavy body lean and an the way it drives, looks, The low-compression, engine that always and brushes off acts of all-aluminum 3.8-liter seems to be idling, no aggression. It is, in its single-overhead-cam V-8 one confused me for Sir own way, glorious. As casually doles out 155 Stirling Moss. Teddy Roosevelt once hp at 4750 rpm and 196 said: Accelerate softly lb-ft of torque at 2750 The 380SL works and carry a big phone. rpm. The SL accelerates better on a freeway, where the upright wind- –TONY QUIROGA 380SL PHOTOGRAPHS BY J E F F S T O C K W E L L DOSSIER R&T VOL. 10 141

142 R&T VOL. 10 DOSSIER A The structure of the new SL is a fresh piece of SPECIFICATIONS engineering from AMG. It uses large aluminum castings fore and aft to support the engine cradle 2022 and suspension, with long aluminum extrusions Mercedes- along the length of the car to underpin the cock- AMG SL63 pit. It’s obviously adaptable to accepting a hybrid drivetrain and being further tweaked to go all elec- PRICE tric. The front suspension is, for example, an excep- tionally compact, five-link design that puts almost $200,000 all its substance within those big front wheels. So (est., as tested) most of the engine bay is open to whatever AMG decides is the right thing to put there. In a very real ENGINE way, the most elegant thing about the new SL63 is the engineering of the structure. 4.0-liter twin-turbo V-8 And it does work well. The steering is muted by OUTPUT the all-wheel-drive effort going on, but the SL63 bites into turns as if it were consuming the pave- 577 hp @ 5500 rpm ment. Throw in some rear-steering magic (up to 2.5 590 lb-ft @ 2500 rpm degrees of it at speed), and the car is more nimble than its long 106.3-inch wheelbase implies. That’s TRANSMISSION close to a full foot longer than the wheelbase of either the original 300SL or the 280SL. 9-speed automatic The SL has also been at war with itself. It’s a CURB WEIGHT supercar at some times and a luxury car at others. Some generations have been the sort of car that 4000 lb looks good on a racetrack, others perfect for a clan- destine rendezvous with the club tennis pro. 0–60 MPH It seems right for the SL now to be an AMG 3.5 seconds product. After all, the Panamericana grille used A. The SL may not be as on AMGs originated with the W194 300SL race car tactile and interactive that won the 1952 Carrera Panamericana. The AMG as it once was, but brand is built around the SL genome. putting the top down by the beach makes Still, while this new SL surely generates big up for any number of numbers and presents itself as not quite like any shortcomings. other roadster, maybe it just can’t stake out an indelible place in the greater car culture. The atti- tude and ability that established the SL’s presence isn’t gone, but it’s been spread thin across all those sedans, SUVs, off-roaders, squashy-roof thingies, and hard-core supercars that wear the AMG name. The SL made the world a place where AMG could flourish. But, ironically, that world may not have much room for the SL. Oh, and one more thing: There’s also a new Mercedes-AMG SL55 that gets 469 hp from its 4.0-liter twin-turbo V-8. That is, if anyone cares.



SUNSET SCENE WITH DAYLIGHT FADING, ACURA MAKES ONE LAST ATTEMPT TO SHOW THE WORLD WHY THE NSX DESERVES LOVE. 144 R&T VOL. 10 S H E E T M E TA L



A BC

BY M AC K H O G A N THE FINAL CHAPTER of the divisive second-gen tiny, leaving the bespoke manufacturing facility D Acura NSX was never going to be easy to write. The with bandwidth to hand-build specialized cross- expectation to embody its name (a New Sports overs wearing NSX paint. The second-gen NSX A. The hybrid Acura NSX eXperimental) in the same way the original car did approached its final year of production with its has never been short was impossible to meet. The first generation intro- legacy unsettled. Enter the Type S, Acura’s last on thrust. duced to the world the concept of the daily-driver chance to take control of the narrative. supercar, a midship master class that could pass B. The engine cover 300,000 miles without incident. Lionized since its Parked under the Mojave sun, the brilliant Curva looks like a pan of death as an analog icon, the original NSX demanded red Type S is a familiar sight. There’s no big wing, Jiffy Pop right after a sequel. But replication or revision wouldn’t be no Habsburg-jaw splitter. Just the same attractive the foil splits (that’s enough. The initials required total reinvention. shape accented by a pointier nose with more aggres- a compliment). sive intakes and a larger carbon diffuser designed What eventually arrived, after an excruciat- to mimic the NSX GT3 car. The motorsport inspi- C. The new NSX Type S ing series of teases and concepts, bore the hall- ration continues underneath, with turbochargers should take about marks of clean-sheet thinking. The V-6 sported pulled from the GT3 upping boost to 16.1 psi, rais- half as long to get to two turbochargers and three electric motors to ing internal-combustion power by 20 hp and torque 60 mph as the origi- ensure broad-spectrum thrust. Power went to all by 37 lb-ft. A larger battery and a retuning of the nal did 20 years ago. four wheels, with a trick torque-vectoring setup motors raises the system’s peak output by 27 hp for that would overdrive the outside front wheel to a total of 600, and due to the complex way hybrids D. The model’s quick provide supernatural on-throttle cornering. The deliver peak torque, maximum twist climbs 16 lb-ft and communicative braking was entirely by wire, and the suspension for a total of 492. Rounding out the package is a steering gets even was adjustable, a far cry from its ancestor. Every- tweaked nine-speed dual-clutch automatic offering better with the stick- thing was new, even the Ohio factory that built 50 percent quicker upshifts. The Type S has a wider ier rubber fitted to what was, in some respects, the most advanced track thanks to new wheels and stickier bespoke the Type S version. supercar in its class. Pirelli high-performance asymmetric tires. The response to such ambition was radio silence. Arguing that this car is about more than num- Those who were laser-focused on the NSX waited bers, Acura doesn’t provide acceleration figures in vain for a continuation of the original formula; everyone else was distracted by the new Ford GT, announced with a deviously timed mic drop at the same auto show. Early NSX models offered to the media had unfinished software and unimpressive rubber that disguised the car’s underlying good- ness. Acura fixed the teething issues quickly enough that the final production car, on optional stickier tires, won our 2017 Performance Car of the Year, but not before public opinion hardened. The NSX, to many, was already a failure. That’s a shame, and not just for Acura. Goaded by premature criticism from the automotive media, enthusiasts wrote off this car before it had a chance to win them over. Detached from its legacy, the 2017 NSX was a stellar driver’s car. The steering was phenomenal, the brake-by-wire system natu- ral, and the powertrain explosive. Things got even better for the 2019 midcycle update, yet it wasn’t enough to turn the tide. Sales numbers remained PHOTOGRAPHS BY T O D D B L U B A U G H S H E E T M E TA L R&T VOL. 10 147

148 R&T VOL. 10 S H E E T M E TA L for the NSX. Should you have to defend its honor, not to venture too deep into the 600-hp power though, know that the last one we tested managed reserve. Experience with the NSX tells me it must the 0–60 sprint in 3.1 seconds and this one should be overcome. I steel myself and squeeze the trigger. be quicker still. I line up to see for myself on the The wizardry works—the delicate introduction of outskirts of Pioneertown, California. power gives the front electric motors torque to vec- The ramshackle 19th-century wooden town tor, and the outside wheel speeds up, pulling the looks like a movie set because it was one. Built nose tighter and setting up a blistering corner exit. in the Forties for Westerns, Pioneertown hosted This is the dance of the NSX, and it’s not easy. big productions with big names like Roy Rogers. Sure, going moderately quick in this car requires (Eventually, the Old West movie set was sold off zero effort. But maximizing that pace could take to private residents, its rickety wood-door prop a lifetime of devotion. You have to work with the saloon now an actual watering hole for locals.) A NSX, and unlike so many other digitized cars, it’s Wednesday afternoon here is an opening scene willing to work with you. That front axle is not just from a John Wayne movie, with nothing but Joshua transcendent but communicative, the brake-by- trees and dust blowing nowhere in particular. The wire system not just potent but linear. The NSX is revs in launch mode hold steady at 2500 rpm; the approachable but constantly nudges you to be bet- turbos spool. ter. Get it right and you’ll beat nearly anything in I accelerate down the empty main road, nose three tight corners, the paper numbers not quite toward Twentynine Palms and the winding tarmac capturing how fast this is on a winding road. Get that takes me there, eager to make the most of the it wrong and you’ll never be able to explain why dwindling daylight. The NSX is equally eager but you spent the better part of $200,000 on an Acura. not brutal in its shove, a rubber band tied to the Because with the car parked as the light dies, I horizon, not a kick to the ass. The well-conducted struggle to explain it to the photo crew. The NSX is symphony of the electric low end, the midrange the supercar of the future, the democratization, if turbocharged grunt, and the frantic coordination you could call it that, of the hybrid-hypercar tech of the powertrain near its 7500-rpm redline keeps from Ferrari, Porsche, and McLaren that dropped things interesting across the range. Tuner-car every jaw back in 2014. Trouble is, all of this tech- blowoff noises offer entertainment even as I brake nology and advancement produced an Acura for the first sweeper. supercar that’s no quicker than its conventional Stability and speed come easy, but it’s in the rivals and somehow thirstier on the highway than tight sections where the NSX makes its case. a Corvette. That pushrod Bronze Age bruiser will Braking hard into a downhill switchback, I turn also match it on performance for less than half the A. The reworked nose of the Type S has a in hard, amazed by the darty nose and the sharp price, with more cargo room to boot. distinct whiff of steering. With the wheel askew, instinct tells me The Type S does not rewrite that part of the tale. Lamborghini. We I can find brief moments when it feels noticeably wish all second-gen sharper or quicker, little indications that I’m in the NSX models looked like this. A special one. Yet the whole feels familiar, or at least B. The original NSX is a familiarly brilliant. Like a Corvette, it offers every- tough act to follow, day heroism and serene comfort, but the Type S particularly as enthu- siasts look back on it moves with more joy, always revealing more of through the flattering itself. It flourishes in the subjective, in its flow- filter of nostalgia. ing fast-forward motions. Looking for an objec- C. Swoopy yet staid, the cockpit resembles tive, still-life reason to buy this supercar that’s those of more pedes- less prestigious, cheaper inside, and slower than trian Acuras. some of the more established competition is a fool’s D. Bye, NSX. Sorry it didn’t work out so errand. The NSX story isn’t that simple. well this time.