Chris Harris's Rant: How Ferrari spins
Feb 17, 2011 | 01:59 PM
#132
Thread Starter
| Teamspeed Senior Member
Joined: Apr 2008
Posts: 291
From: Tiburon CA, Kent OH
not "always"
am a part-time (for fun) journalist for Top Gear Magazine in my country, and have been to 4 big Porsche events to launch new models. most recently for the GT2RS last October.
in each case, they gave me the keys, a map (or a route to plot on the GPS,) a time to be back by, and basically said "hope you enjoy our car".
have never been to a Ferrari event.
am a part-time (for fun) journalist for Top Gear Magazine in my country, and have been to 4 big Porsche events to launch new models. most recently for the GT2RS last October.
in each case, they gave me the keys, a map (or a route to plot on the GPS,) a time to be back by, and basically said "hope you enjoy our car".
have never been to a Ferrari event.
But I'm with you owning a Ruf I think they could tell you are more than capable of taking care of yourself.
p.s. your Ruf-rt12 is a car I've always lusted after I always wanted it in mexico blue, but in white it may look even better
Feb 17, 2011 | 02:43 PM
#133
Teamspeed Member
Joined: Aug 2009
Posts: 181
Chris Harris, thank you for alerting me to all the falsehoods of the automotive industry, we failed to buy Ferrari and also fail to buy magazines and accessing sites that journalists write articles without character.
We all know that the cars sent for tests in magazines are checked to detail the mechanics and technicians from manufacturers, fixing that scratch on the door, knob loose, naturally a high-performance sports car has to be adjusted to the street and get another adjustment to track.
Do not forget the Ferrari makes cars not normal, unless you find a car that makes normal 9000 RPM motor.
It takes the presence of the factory responsible to give proper attention to all the testers.
You is not the only one who test the cars, other riders have magazines in line to walk, imagine if the same day has three pilots scheduled for the same car, the first runs with the car pretty clean and well-ordered the last gets the rest tires dirty and almost out of gas
Porsche, BMW, Mercedes, Lamborghini, MacLaren, ... all send their best designs and there are always technicians and mechanics to fix minor problems that may affect the conduct of tests by other testers.
Chris Harris, will answer frankly that just makes it a Ferrari?
Chris Harris not think we are all idiots.
We all know that the cars sent for tests in magazines are checked to detail the mechanics and technicians from manufacturers, fixing that scratch on the door, knob loose, naturally a high-performance sports car has to be adjusted to the street and get another adjustment to track.
Do not forget the Ferrari makes cars not normal, unless you find a car that makes normal 9000 RPM motor.
It takes the presence of the factory responsible to give proper attention to all the testers.
You is not the only one who test the cars, other riders have magazines in line to walk, imagine if the same day has three pilots scheduled for the same car, the first runs with the car pretty clean and well-ordered the last gets the rest tires dirty and almost out of gas
Porsche, BMW, Mercedes, Lamborghini, MacLaren, ... all send their best designs and there are always technicians and mechanics to fix minor problems that may affect the conduct of tests by other testers.
Chris Harris, will answer frankly that just makes it a Ferrari?
Chris Harris not think we are all idiots.
Feb 17, 2011 | 03:07 PM
#134
Don't give up so fast. Go ride and drive one. Most of these brands past mind blowing about 5 years ago. Seriously you've not felt how good these things are until you've run them 8/10's plus hard for an hour or so. Most people 99,9999999999% will never do this but WHETHER they lie or not on paper it doesn't matter these cars are really that good.
Carrara I feel so blessed that you "guess" you will agree with me. Sorry kid I've always been on your side but once your britches are a bit bigger and you've taken your drivers test I'm off your Christmas list on off your side until you come to your senses.
Carrara I feel so blessed that you "guess" you will agree with me. Sorry kid I've always been on your side but once your britches are a bit bigger and you've taken your drivers test I'm off your Christmas list on off your side until you come to your senses.
Don't get me wrong, they are awesome cars that I would love to own, but many people don't get that the media inflates it too much sometimes that it gets you expectations WAY up and you get disappointed when you actually experience it
no doubt that ferrari builds awesome super cars, but so does a few other makers, they just gotta win the competitions, or lose them, in a fair matter. Putting pressure on reviewers and "cheating" is not tolerable IMO
all I'm saying is if you earn it, take it, if you don't, try harder next time, that's how they should play!
-AJ
Feb 17, 2011 | 03:10 PM
#135
Chris Harris, thank you for alerting me to all the falsehoods of the automotive industry, we failed to buy Ferrari and also fail to buy magazines and accessing sites that journalists write articles without character.
We all know that the cars sent for tests in magazines are checked to detail the mechanics and technicians from manufacturers, fixing that scratch on the door, knob loose, naturally a high-performance sports car has to be adjusted to the street and get another adjustment to track.
Do not forget the Ferrari makes cars not normal, unless you find a car that makes normal 9000 RPM motor.
It takes the presence of the factory responsible to give proper attention to all the testers.
You is not the only one who test the cars, other riders have magazines in line to walk, imagine if the same day has three pilots scheduled for the same car, the first runs with the car pretty clean and well-ordered the last gets the rest tires dirty and almost out of gas
Porsche, BMW, Mercedes, Lamborghini, MacLaren, ... all send their best designs and there are always technicians and mechanics to fix minor problems that may affect the conduct of tests by other testers.
Chris Harris, will answer frankly that just makes it a Ferrari?
Chris Harris not think we are all idiots.
We all know that the cars sent for tests in magazines are checked to detail the mechanics and technicians from manufacturers, fixing that scratch on the door, knob loose, naturally a high-performance sports car has to be adjusted to the street and get another adjustment to track.
Do not forget the Ferrari makes cars not normal, unless you find a car that makes normal 9000 RPM motor.
It takes the presence of the factory responsible to give proper attention to all the testers.
You is not the only one who test the cars, other riders have magazines in line to walk, imagine if the same day has three pilots scheduled for the same car, the first runs with the car pretty clean and well-ordered the last gets the rest tires dirty and almost out of gas
Porsche, BMW, Mercedes, Lamborghini, MacLaren, ... all send their best designs and there are always technicians and mechanics to fix minor problems that may affect the conduct of tests by other testers.
Chris Harris, will answer frankly that just makes it a Ferrari?
Chris Harris not think we are all idiots.
VTEC
I'm just kidding, I get your point and while it has LOTS of truth it, they should set their facts straight!
-AJ
Feb 17, 2011 | 04:47 PM
#136
Teamspeed Junior Member
Joined: May 2008
Posts: 69
good read. i remember reading a while back that no car mag could get a hold of the f50 to road test it. all owners who offered their cars were enticed by ferrari not to allow their cars to be tested until one person who owned the car outright (f50s were initially only available for lease to prevent customers flipping them) lent the car to a magazine for testing.
Feb 18, 2011 | 10:10 PM
#138
Teamspeed Senior Member
Joined: Mar 2008
Posts: 430
From: Massachusetts
I really like Chris Harris work. But he's a little bit sour grapes on this one. Tuning cars for media and performance tesst isn't all that unusual. Nissan was accused of it by Porsche when they ran the GTR at the ring. Some people said the ZR1 wasn't stock at the ring either. In the end Ferrari, Porsche, et, al are investing tons of money into bringing supercars to market. Reputation is everything. If Ferrari or Porsche want to make sure the cars the bring to press events are at the absolute top of the game, I don't blame them.
Feb 18, 2011 | 11:19 PM
#139
Teamspeed Pro
Joined: Sep 2009
Posts: 6,320
Who cares. You have to assume everyone is doing this. It doesn't matter anyways because most drivers go from their house to starbucks and back. Moreover, the time I have spent in a Ferrari, I could care less if its 0-60 time was off by 0.2 seconds. The sound, looks, and feel of the car is what made it special. Credit to C Harris for sharing his thoughts.
Feb 19, 2011 | 01:51 AM
#140
Teamspeed Member
Joined: Dec 2010
Posts: 244
From: Modena
I really like Chris Harris work. But he's a little bit sour grapes on this one. Tuning cars for media and performance tesst isn't all that unusual. Nissan was accused of it by Porsche when they ran the GTR at the ring. Some people said the ZR1 wasn't stock at the ring either. In the end Ferrari, Porsche, et, al are investing tons of money into bringing supercars to market. Reputation is everything. If Ferrari or Porsche want to make sure the cars the bring to press events are at the absolute top of the game, I don't blame them.