Welcome to Must Read, where we single out the best stories from around the automotive universe and beyond. Today we've got reports from StreetLegalTV, Slate, Axis of Oversteer and Hemmings.
The Fast, the Furious, and the Long-Term Erosion of American Social and Economic Institutions – Slate
Matthew Yglesias takes a turn at Fast & Furious 6 through the lens of political economy.
Like any reasonable person, I watch the Fast and the Furious film franchise primarily for its insights into moral philosophy and political economy. At a fundamental level, the franchise is about what Harvard philosopher Christine Korsgaard identifies in The Sources of Normativity as the "intractable conflicts" that arise from our conflicting practical identities. As moral actors we are, first and foremost, human and subject to impersonal moral obligations. But in this neo-Kantian, human-centered framework we face the unavoidable reality that as humans we are each beautiful unique snowflakes with our own particular lives and particular obligations to particular people. To simply ignore our concrete obligations to one another in the face of abstract obligations to humanity would, itself, be inhuman.
Testgate: Keeping The Customer Happy – Axis Of Oversteer
AC tries to suss out the motivations in the weird relationship between the tire manufacturer and the sanctioning body/customers.
As for Pirelli, they are facing a PR disaster if forced to leave the sport with the impression they could not make a "good tire", it's no surprise they jumped at the chance to help themselves and a key team, instrumental in renewal of their F1 contract not to mention a big production car tire customer.
Racing Heroes – Mark Donohue – Hemmings
Another entry into Kurt Ernst's racing heroes series, this time featuring McLaren driver Mark Donohue.
In the late 1950s and 1960s, it was still possible for “gentlemen drivers” to make the jump to professional racing once their talent was established. Such was the case with Mark Neary Donohue, born in Summit, New Jersey, in 1937, who began racing his 1957 Corvette while still a senior at Brown University. Donohue’s very first event was a hill climb in nearby New Hampshire, and the 22-year-old driver demonstrated his natural ability to drive a race car by bringing home a win in his first outing. Two years later, with an engineering degree to his credit, Donohue took home the 1961 Sports Car Club of America (SCCA) national championship behind the wheel of an Elva Courier, and his talent soon caught the eye of racer (and former Briggs Cunningham driver) Walt Hansgen.
Ultra-Fox, Jason Hall’s Unbelievable GT500 Swapped Fox-body – StreetLegal TV
It's so sleeper you'd expect Woody Allen to be driving it.
We have seen plenty of 5.4 and supercharged modular engine swaps into Mustangs in the past. That isn’t what makes this car special. It’s the execution of this swap that makes this car stand out. Hall didn’t just swap out the engine and control system. He swapped nearly everything from the wrecked GT500 with the exception of the body and suspension.
Photo Credit: StreetLegal TV, AP, Getty