53424.S1.NS2-5

What kind of 17-year-old Honda sells for more than $200,000? At well above the original sticker price, that’s what you’ll have a to pay today for a low-kilometre 2005 Acura NSX. Why? Limited production (they are scarce), pure driving enjoyment and visceral sensation that’s next to impossible to find in newer cars.

As such, this two-seater has earned the distinction of being one of the greatest sports cars in history and has also been major influence on many high-performance vehicles that followed it.

About 18,000 NSXs were sold around the world between the fall of the 1990 and 2005, with about half of that production going to North America.

Roll the clocks back to the mid 1980s when Honda — Acura’s parent company — set out to create an image vehicle that reflected its blossoming technical prowess in Formula One racing. It was a culmination of pretty much everything the company had learned to that point about engineering and construction.

<a href="https://wordpress.wheels.ca/wp-content/uploads/2022/04/wh-NSX-Car-Cutaway-April23.jpg"><img class="alignnone size-full wp-image-167746" src="https://wordpress.wheels.ca/wp-content/uploads/2022/04/wh-NSX-Car-Cutaway-April23.jpg" alt="Acura NSX" width="800" height="358" /></a>

How? The cornerstone of the project was weight: the less of it the better. A strict diet gave the car quick steering and chassis response. Within that framework, Honda chose a high-revving, high-horsepower V-6.

Keeping the weight down meant bucking convention when it came to the use of metals. Because the chassis would be of the monocoque variety (no frame, but an integrated structure that included the roof), non-structural polymers and fibreglass were out of the question. Instead, engineers developed a special high-strength aluminum alloy for the internal structure and all the body panels. Even the suspension parts were made from aluminum.

Through space-age engineering and the use of supercomputers, the resulting chassis weighed just 452 pounds (205 kilograms), about 40 per cent less than a comparable steel chassis and just as strong. Special attention was paid to the door sills, which when cut apart showed an intricate internal webbing designed to increase rigidity.

In the process of crafting the NSX, Honda established 400 new patents and enlisted then-Formula One champion Ayrton Senna, who was driving a Honda-powered McLaren racer, to evaluate the new car.

<a href="https://wordpress.wheels.ca/wp-content/uploads/2022/04/wh-NSX-Car-Engine-April23.jpg"><img class="size-full wp-image-167747" src="https://wordpress.wheels.ca/wp-content/uploads/2022/04/wh-NSX-Car-Engine-April23.jpg" alt="Acura NSX" width="1000" height="667" /></a>

Like the comparable Ferrari, the NSX’s powerplant was slotted behind the passenger compartment and in front of the rear wheels. In the NSX’s case, the V-6 was mounted sideways and was connected to the driver via a five-speed manual transaxle. There was also a four-speed-automatic option.

Compared with Ferrari’s cantankerous shifter, the NSX’s gearbox was butter smooth and quick. The V-6 was brought to 270 horsepower with first production use of Honda’s VTEC variable valve timing that increased the top-end horsepower and rev range. VTEC kicked in at about 5,000 rpm, just when other domestic vehicles were gasping for an upshift. You had to be quick with the shifter in first gear as the engine howled its way to 8,000 revs in a heartbeat. Holding it together were six titanium connecting rods, deemed necessary for such engine speeds.

The true beauty of the car was its ability to make anyone feel like they could lead the Formula One pack. The ergonomics were superb, and occupants were treated to tautly drawn leather seats, Bose stereo and climate control, all the while enjoying a panoramic view from the F-16-fighter-jet-inspired cockpit.

A little-known fact is that every NSX was hand-built in a factory especially constructed for the car. Each NSX was painstakingly pieced together by the 200 elite workers who were required to have a minimum 10-years assembly experience. Even the leather interior was hand sewn.

The NSX was also one of a few vehicles at the time to have different diameter wheels in the front and back. Forged aluminum blocks — called billets — were milled into lightweight 15-inch wheels for the front and 16 inchers for the rear. Yokohama was contracted to supply a tire that was unique to the NSX and its performance characteristics. Dubbed the AO22, the tires wore out quickly, but stuck like glue. During the two-year development period, Yokohama produced and rejected 10 separate molds and used more than 6,000 test tires in more than 100 different formulations of compound and construction before going with the AO22.

And there it was. The new performance benchmark. NSXs sold in Japan and Europe were badged as Hondas, while North American versions wore the Acura label.

Ferrari, in particular, pulled up its socks after the NSX arrived, finally creating a worthy adversary with the 360 Modena, although maintenance costs and reliability were lessons that were either unlearned, ignored or unattainable.

Interestingly, the NSX changed very little over the years. In its final incarnation, it sported integrated headlight pods, slightly larger wheels, a six-speed manual transmission and 290 horsepower from an updated and larger 3.2-litre V-6.

Acura waited more than a decade to build a successor to the first NSX, although as good as the new car is it just didn’t break new ground like the original. And when the creator has a hard time one-upping itself, you come to understand just how good the original really was.

Your turn

Are you proud of your ride? Send us a photo of you and your vehicle, along with a line or two about it, and Wheels may include it in a photo roundup during the Victoria Day long weekend. Be sure to include your name and where you live. Submissions can be emailed to wheels@thestar.ca.

If you like modern Ferraris, then thank the Acura NSX

Photoradar

The members of Friends and Families for Safe Streets (FFSS) have lost loved ones to traffic violence or survived a crash with severe injuries. I suffered serious, life-altering injuries when an SUV driver made a reckless left turn and crashed into me while I was riding my bike to work, breaking my spine.

But do not make the mistake of calling any of these collisions that destroyed our lives or killed our loved ones an “accident.” They are the result of roadways designed for speed above safety.

Vision Zero is a policy about changing street design to eliminate death and severe injury. The city of Toronto adopted this program nearly six years ago, but its failure to save lives, as it was expected to do, is because of an absence of political will to build the most effective and needed street design elements identified in it.

What specific design elements do Vision Zero streets have? They have dedicated active transportation lanes with robust barriers that prevent drivers from crashing into someone in the lane or sidewalk. They have narrow car lanes that make it difficult to speed. The deadly epidemic of speeding we see in Toronto is the product of the mismatch between the wide and straight design of our streets that invite high speeds and their much lower posted speed limits.

Safe streets have frequent pedestrian crosswalks, so people are not forced to cross mid-block, often contending with six or more lanes of speeding car traffic. Safe streets have raised crosswalks, meaning the curb-height elevation of the sidewalk is continued across the road. Raised crosswalks clearly demarcate pedestrian territory to drivers, indicating they must drive carefully. They also function as speed bumps to stop drivers from speeding through intersections, a significant cause of fatal crashes.

Safe streets have protected intersections with corner islands, tight turning radiuses to force slower turns, curb bump-outs to reduce crosswalk widths, pedestrian head starts at traffic lights and a universal ban on right turns on red lights. Safe streets are mostly self-enforcing by design, but use automated speed and red-light cameras to make sure reckless drivers don’t break the law.

The streets and intersections where vulnerable road users – people outside of vehicles – are most likely to be killed have none of these design features.

A recent Toronto Star analysis that found serious collisions in the GTA occurred around deadly suburban arterial intersections, as well as March 31’s heartbreaking triple-fatality crash on Lake Shore Boulevard, further underscore the causal relationship between design and death.

<a href="https://www.thestar.com/news/gta/2022/04/01/our-most-dangerous-streets-huge-new-collision-database-points-to-torontos-postwar-suburbs.html">https://www.thestar.com/news/gta/2022/04/01/our-most-dangerous-streets-huge-new-collision-database-points-to-torontos-postwar-suburbs.htm</a>l

Compounding Toronto’s deadly street design is the fact that our leaders have failed to provide appealing alternatives to driving, forcing many residents into car dependence. It was a political choice not to support inter-city train or bus services and to starve public transit of funding for decades.

It was a political choice to build a city where using transit takes two or three times longer than driving, and where it is distressingly hostile and dangerous to walk or ride a bike.

The out-of-control housing crisis contributes to traffic violence: when people can’t afford to live where they work, they must reside far outside the city and drive long distances. Forced car dependence and long commutes mean more driving, and more driving means more death and injury.

Though blaming individual road users in the aftermath of a collision is satisfying, the time and energy we waste on blame only benefits the politicians with the power to make systemic design changes. Toronto Mayor John Tory should be the most vocal supporter of Vision Zero design. Instead, attempting to distract us from his failure to understand and support Vision Zero, he responds to horrific crashes by sternly finger-wagging and saying our streets won’t get safer until drivers slow down.

A leader who understood and supported Vision Zero would admit that our streets won’t get safer until we build safe streets.

Mayor Tory boasts of his commitment to slow, incremental change, but incrementally building disconnected stubs of infrastructure at a glacial pace only condemns more people to violent death and injury, people who could have been saved by faster progress.

Pooling collective resources to solve problems, building Vision Zero for example, is the purpose of having governments, yet all levels of government are asleep at the wheel on responding to the twin crises of road violence and climate disaster.

Perhaps it’s time to give Toronto Public Health control over street design, rather than leaving it in the domain of endless political interference and cowardice.

FFSS is here to tell everyone the anguish of traffic violence is preventable. We don’t want what happened to us and our families to happen to you. It is infinitely easier to build safe streets than it is to bury your loved one or live out your days with chronic pain and significantly reduced quality of life. The human cost of road violence is far higher than the financial cost of changing our streets. We don’t need more lip service about Vision Zero. We need our leaders to finally get serious about actually building it.

Jessica Spieker is a spokesperson for Friends and Families for Safe Streets, which wants Toronto’s leaders to build and achieve Vision Zero and eliminate severe injuries and deaths on our roads.

Political leaders need to adopt Vision to make city streets safer for all

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Colin Dhillon is heavily involved in a cutting-edge, Canadian-made vehicle. He is also busy telling his story in a combination autobiography and self-help book that he was persuaded to write by one of Canada’s most popular sports heroes.

“It began because of one individual, Michael (Pinball) Clemons,” said Dhillon of the former Toronto Argonauts football player who is currently the team’s general manager.

Dhillon is the Automotive Parts Manufacturers’ Association’s chief technical officer and its lead for Project Arrow, a zero-emission vehicle that will be unveiled later this year. The 51-year-old is also the author of “The Three Houses, A Journey to a Better Life,” where he shares his spiritual, creative and social voyage. Both autobiographical and motivational, is also includes a liberal sprinkling of short, one-page stories and illustrations.

“I wanted the words to come across as being from a common, average person. That guy speaking as if he lives next door to you,” Dhillon said. “One of the reasons I’ve woven in some of my philosophies is for people to read it and to get something out of it that benefits them in their lives but does not feel like they’ve been in a classroom or are being lectured to.”

Dhillon met Clemons eight years ago through a mutual friend, and their relationship grew from there. They both had a common background as immigrants – Dhillon from England and Clemons from the United States – and encountered racism.

Dhillon grew up in Tipton, an industrial town in the West Midlands, where he and his brothers were encourages to anglicize their names by the headmaster of their school. They were the only Sikhs, and both wore turbans. Dhillon, whose birthname is Kulbir Singh Dhillon, also experienced verbal and physical abuse because of his appearance.

Clemons, who grew up Florida, said he also experienced what it is liked to be marginalized, adding that it is “a shadow, and it can be overbearing.” He said he was impressed by Dhillon’s character during that first meeting.

“He’s obviously very smart, but still he has that tremendous spirit of oneness, of collaboration and is able to be patient enough to give people a voice, even if he might be better versed in something,” said Clemons. “He has a tremendous way of being inclusive and bringing people together. During the conversation I enjoyed him so much that I turned around and said, ‘You should be the mentor here.’”

Dhillon said he was taken aback by Clemons’ comment, but “that’s Michael. Very humble. And Michael knows how to get the best out of somebody,” he said.

<a href="https://wordpress.wheels.ca/wp-content/uploads/2022/04/wh-ColinDhillon-Pinball-April16.jpg"><img class="alignnone size-full wp-image-167411" src="https://wordpress.wheels.ca/wp-content/uploads/2022/04/wh-ColinDhillon-Pinball-April16.jpg" alt="Coiln Dhillon" width="2409" height="1604" /></a>

Telling his story

After Clemons kept pushing him to write a book, Dhillon, who moved to Canada in 1993, finally decided to do it. He found an editor to help him, someone he met at an event hosted by the Sikh Heritage Museum of Canada, where he is the organization’s chair and president. He began writing the book almost seven years ago, completing most of it over an 18-month period.

Dhillon put the book on hold when he joined the Automotive Parts Manufacturers’ Association so he could focus on his new job. During the COVID-19 pandemic, family and friends – including Clemons – encouraged him to finish it.

In the book, Dhillon talks about the challenges he has encountered, including the bias he experienced in Canada by potential employers because he wore a turban and had a long beard, both proud symbols of his heritage.

“I’m an industrial designer by trade and Colin Dhillon on the phone sounds like a white Anglo-Saxon fella from the U.K,” Dhillon said. “I would be encouraged to come in for an interview after they reviewed the fax version of my resume and my portfolio. But when they would see me, I’d be this long-bearded, turban-wearing individual and I got rejected several times. That definitely was a period from an employment standpoint where I felt like I was maybe back home.”

Dhillon said he has profound gratitude for what Canada has given him. “One of the things is love and respect,” he said. “I’ve never, ever, ever felt second class in Canada beyond my initial search for a job. My outlook on life and the challenges I’ve faced in the earlier days led me to have a lot of internal conversations, and that’s the crescendo of the book.

“You can have challenging times, but you literally have to have a mindset where you can wake up and forget about what happened the day before because you have no control over it. It’s the past. Don’t carry the baggage of yesterday, travel light.”

It was also in Canada that he met his future wife, Cindy, who is also a Sikh. A matchmaker, who knew both his parents and his future in-laws, facilitated the union. He and his wife have now been married for more than 27 years and have two children.

“My wife built this kind of utopia of love and respect, and the people we have close to us, who are influential to both us and our children, are like-minded individuals as well,” Dhillon said. “I’ve been creating my own spiritual journey.”

Project Arrow

That professional, personal and spiritual journey continues with his work for the auto parts association. Dhillon said he is indebted to its president, Flavio Volpe, and their work on Project Arrow is a key part of that relationship.

“One of my responsibilities is reading the tea leaves,” said Dhillon, who came up with the idea for Project Arrow with Volpe. “We’re looking into the future around technology to make sure Canada is prepared.  One of our tea leaf-reading sessions was (asking) how can Canada attract electric vehicle assembly, technology, and growth?

“Rumors were coming out of Michigan about the embracing of electric vehicles three years ago, and so we said that for Canada to continue the trajectory in the auto sector we need to come up with a project which helps to demonstrate Canada’s capabilities for electric vehicles and autonomous vehicle technology.”

He said they are currently in phase three off the project – the engineering and building of a prototype – and that the vehicle will be unveiled at the end of the year. The project includes the participation of established auto businesses, but also what Dhillon said are the “new kids on the block,” digital and tech startups.

“We came up with Project Arrow literally over a plate of Welsh cheese and red grapes. It’s amazing what good food can do,” he said.

Giving back

Copies of “The Three Houses, A Journey to a Better Life” are available through Amazon, with profits from the book going toward SOCH Mental Health, which promotes mental health awareness in the South Asian community, and the Pinball Foundation. Learn more at kcsd.ca.

Autophile: Colin Dhillon

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On paper, the Bricklin SV-1 should have been a dream car, but for dealers, owners and the tiny Canadian province of New Brunswick, the car ended up being a total nightmare.

Much has been said and written about just how big a failure the Bricklin actually was, but the idea behind this GT-style sports car was actually ahead-of-its-time brilliant. It was in its execution that things went south.

Malcolm Bricklin conceived his namesake in the early 1970s as reasonably priced two-seater that could withstand significant collision damage and still protect its passengers in cocoon-like safety (the model designation SV-1 stood for Safety Vehicle 1).

The front and rear bumpers were built to absorb a 10-miles per hour whack without hurting its fibreglass body, and the bolt-on body panels hid a protective safety cage with guard rails that were built to withstand rollovers and side impacts. Some of these features are considered normal today, but they were ground-breaking nearly 50 years ago.

<a href="https://wordpress.wheels.ca/wp-content/uploads/2022/04/wh-Bricklin-Logo-April16.jpg"><img class="alignnone size-full wp-image-167407" src="https://wordpress.wheels.ca/wp-content/uploads/2022/04/wh-Bricklin-Logo-April16.jpg" alt="Bricklin" width="800" height="517" /></a>

Bricklin, a former building supply store mogul and North America’s first Subaru importer, was actually on to something with his concept. The Bricklin SV-1 made its public debut on June 25, 1974, in New York City, with production beginning shortly after.

Along with its safety features, the Bricklin’s skin was made using an advanced vacuum-forming process that mixed the paint into the gelcoat in much the same way boats and personal watercraft are made. The body was then bolted to a steel frame that could be easily detached for quick repairs.

For the sake of simplicity, the vehicle was only available in five exterior shades: red, orange, green, white and tan. An eight-inch-wide black strip was painted along the bottom of the doors and fenders, supposedly to make the car appear lower and to hide stone chips and assorted road grime.

Inside its electrically operated swing-up doors, the only trim colour to be found was beige. The Bricklin was actually similar to the Chevrolet Corvette in most key dimensions and, with its rear hatchback, promised greater practicality compared with the storage-starved Chevy.

Even before the Bricklin entered production, enthusiast publications began gushing over the car. One popular automotive magazine proudly trumpeted that, “Bricklin will have no trouble selling all the cars than he can build.” It went on to refer to it as, “A tangible threat to the Corvette.”

First-year 1974 cars, 780 in total, were fully equipped with air conditioning, tilt steering wheel, AM/FM stereo radio, digital clock, tinted glass, front disc brakes and alloy wheels. The only key item lacking was a spare tire, a potential disaster well before run-flat tire technology.

The actual production volumes were nowhere near Bricklin’s plans of 12,000 units for the first year, 30,000 in the second, 50,000 in the third and 100,000 by the end of 1977. (Only 2,117 were produced in 1975.)

Problems immediately surfaced when the first batch of cars arrived at dealer showrooms with poor door and hood-panel fits, missing weatherstripping, electrical problems and a host of other glitches. What was to be a leading-edge vehicle seemed more like a poorly constructed kit car.

Price also became a bone of contention. Dealers were originally told that each Bricklin would sticker for around $6,500, which was $2,000 below the Corvette. But the final list was closer to $10,000.

The Bricklin plant teetered along until September 1975. By that time, New Brunswick, which had sunk millions of dollars into the project, finally had enough. Funding was cut off, the company placed into receivership and hundreds of employees were put out of work.

Some Bricklin die-hards argue that, with a bit more time to get its act together, the car could have become a financial success. The SV-1’s safety legacy does lives on, but lacking sufficient quality, practicality and the necessary price-point advantage, the Bricklin dream was destined to become a nightmare.

The Bricklin was New Brunswick’s nightmare

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If you think a three-wheeled vehicle sounds odd, think again. The Morgan Motor Company built its first three-wheeler more than 100 years ago – and still sells a modern version of it.

Morgan cars have been painstakingly hand built since the company’s founding in 1909 by H.F.S. (Henry) Morgan, and the three-wheeled car that began it all was both simple in design and innovative in its engineering.

Morgan’s original Runabout featured a seven-horsepower Peugeot two-cylinder engine positioned ahead of an independent coil-spring front suspension. A dual-speed manual transmission resided behind the driver’s seat, directly in front of a single chain-driven rear wheel.

Its light-weight chassis consisted of a series of steel tubes that supported the running gear and the rudimentary single-seat convertible body with wooden floorboards. Two of the tubes also doubled as exhaust pipes, a design that was quickly abandoned after it was discovered that the corrosive effect of the exhaust gasses caused the tubes to rot away.

Since the engine was held in place by just four bolts, servicing or repairing the Morgan’s key mechanical component was a relatively easy process.

The original Morgan’s power-to-weight ratio became a hallmark for future models and a key reason for the car’s early success in hill-climb races and other events. Morgan set numerous class speed and endurance records with his early vehicles, earning widespread praise – and a significant sales boost – for his three-wheeled wonder.

By 1912, the Runabout was making a name for itself in England as well as on the European continent. The car had a low purchase price and could reach a top speed of nearly 100 kilometres per hour, ensuring a strong demand for it. In fact, Harrods, London’s premiere department store, lured shoppers to its establishment by placing a Morgan in one of its windows.

Following the First World War, Morgan created a four-seat, three-wheeler that sold alongside his two-seater model. For a time, this Family Runabout was extremely popular, helping bring total production to 50 cars a week.

In the 1920s, numerous improvements were made to the vehicle, including electric lights, front-wheel brakes and the availability of an electric starter. A variety of new engines were also employed, including one that could propel the Runabout to more than 160 kilometres per hour.

Demand for the vehicle was so big that Morgan entered into a licensing agreement with French automaker Darmount to help produce them. By then, two distinct Runabout models were being built: an exposed-engine sports model and the Family model, with a hood-covered motor and an option to seat four.

The three-wheeler was thoroughly updated in 1933, including the addition of a pair of small doors. Three years later, the first four-wheel Morgan, called the Plus 4, was added to the lineup, allowing the auto maker to compete against more modern and powerful sports cars. The Runabout was suddenly obsolete.

Morgan continued to make limited numbers of its original model until 1951, when it pressed the brake on production. For H.F.S. Morgan, the Runabout was far from dated. Instead, he claimed it was public taste and the public perception that spelled the end for his three-wheeler.

The Runabout’s durability and performance had made it popular and helped make Morgan a successful family venture that continues to this day. The modern successor to its three-wheeled original, called the Morgan Super 3, has a starting list price of around $60,000.

Norris MacDonald is on vacation. His column will return in a few weeks.

Three-wheeled vehicles are not new; Morgan has made one for more than a century

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With over two decades as a member of the Automobile Journalists Association of Canada (AJAC), Michael Bettencourt has been writing about cars and automotive topics for over 25 years. A journalism graduate of Ryerson University, he has won multiple awards for automotive photography, vehicle testing, plus EV and green topics, and has owned various EVs since 2011.

I get a lot of questions from readers wondering how big a difference there is in maintenance costs between EVs and gas cars. It’s a good question, as the fuels savings with EVs are easier to compare. But on the maintenance side, going by my own experience as well as those of other EV owners in Canada, the short answer is that there are less maintenance costs – but don’t expect huge savings.

The first thing to consider is what type of EV you are talking about. With a plug-in hybrid (PHEV), which uses both a lithium-ion battery and a traditional internal combustion engine, there typically is little to no maintenance savings. The battery often needs annual checks, and the engine requires regular maintenance – such as oil changes and tune ups – and might need costlier transmission or exhaust system work.

That is why fans of pure battery electric vehicles sometimes refer to PHEVs as the “worst of both worlds.” You have all the maintenance costs of electric and gas-powered vehicles but relatively little driving range per battery charge (often fuel savings are also overestimated by owners). Some plug-in hybrids, like the formerly produced Chevrolet Volt, managed to offer impressive EV range of up to 85 kilometres and, if run largely in electric mode, its maintenance schedule allowed for oil changes to be delayed up to once every two years. But most PHEVs do not extend their maintenance schedules that long.

With battery electric vehicles, there are simply fewer drivetrain components to maintain or need to have repaired. Our Nissan Leaf, outside of the annual battery check, required very little maintenance during the five years we owned it. It did still need some annual care, like tire changes and rotation, cabin filter replacements and even some brake work.

The brake work surprised us. We were led to believe most electric vehicles need very little maintenance thanks to the brake regeneration system that slows the car by reversing the drive motor as you lift your foot off the accelerator and initially press the brake pedal, which usually doesn’t engage the pads or brake discs.

Speaking of brakes, we did just replace all our brake pads and discs on our Ford C-Max Energi (a pHEV), which cost roughly $1,100 in total. Plus, there was also a charge port cover that fell off while driving on the highway when it didn’t latch properly – but that was not very expensive to replace.

Still, it’s tough to think of our 10-year-old PHEV as having low maintenance costs right now. In fact, the advances in battery-electric vehicles in terms of range and convenience have us considering ditching gas completely – and for good.

Michael Bettencourt bought his first EV in late 2011 and has followed the Canadian EV scene ever since. Follow him on Twitter @MCBet10court

EV Advice: When it comes to maintenance, there is a winner

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After proving he can build electric bikes, scooters and off-road vehicles, Toronto entrepreneur Aldo Baiocchi is revving up his business. He is now working on electric vehicles, including one that he said will be able to go faster than anything of its kind on the market – and will even include a feature to mine cryptocurrency.

“I’ve always wanted to build a car,” said the 53-year-old. “I’ve been trying to do it for 15 years. I think I can do a better job than what’s out there – and we’re talking from scratch. Electric is obviously the way to go.”

Baiocchi developed a couple iterations before settling on the current prototype for his three-wheeled electric vehicle. Multiple companies worldwide are building three wheeled cars, including several in Canada, though they are legal in only some parts of the country. Baiocchi plans to sell his products in the U.S., where there is a larger market since these vehicles have received approval in a few states, notably California.

“The three-wheel market is not the biggest market, but to become the leader in that market you still have to have a sexy product that has speed,” he said. “This is the perfect city car. It will appeal to a lot of people. I think it’s a decent-sized market in which we could become number one in the world.

“Building with three wheels saves us some money on the production side and testing. Eventually we’ll build it with four wheels, but this is the best way to go to get it done faster and economically and lower costs to the consumer.”

From computers to EVs

Baiocchi’s background is not in manufacturing, it’s in computer software. He had been successful creating video games, but when the dot-com business crashed in 2001, he lost almost all his savings.

He stumbled into the electric mobility market later that year when he wanted to buy an electric scooter for his daughter but couldn’t find any in Toronto. Using his last $10,000, Baiocchi bought a scooter shipment from China, figuring he could easily sell them. But when the shipment arrived in Canada, it was seized by customs because these e-rides had not been approved for use in the country.

<a href="https://wordpress.wheels.ca/wp-content/uploads/2022/04/wh-AldoBaiocchi-Second-April9.jpg"><img class="alignnone size-full wp-image-167262" src="https://wordpress.wheels.ca/wp-content/uploads/2022/04/wh-AldoBaiocchi-Second-April9.jpg" alt="Also Baiocchi" width="1417" height="2166" /></a>

Baiocchi was told he could destroy the shipment or ship it back to China. Instead, he decided to send the shipment to the U.S., and was able to secure a buyer in Buffalo, N.Y. He ended up making money off the deal.

In 2002, Baiocchi decided to walk away from the digital software industry because he wanted to start a business he could “touch and feel.” He formed Daymak – using the initials of his first name, his wife, Yeganeh, and his children, Melissa and Daniella – and began selling mobility scooters and ebikes,

In 2011, after these vehicles were legalized in many Canadian provinces, Baiocchi’s business picked up speed.

His company, which is known for its cutting-edge designs, has now become the biggest distributor and developer in Canada when it comes to Light Electric Vehicle (LEV) technology, which is classified as anything under 500 pounds. Overall, Daymak has sold more than 100,000 units since its inception and has a global distribution network spanning more than 300 dealers, including big-box customers such as Walmart, Costco, TSC, QVC, Best Buy and Hudson’s Bay. 

He has now turned his attention to his three-wheel car. Called Spiritus, it will have two seats and come in two models – Deluxe and Ultimate. He has already built the Deluxe and has videos of it in motion on his company website. It can go from zero to 100 kilometres per hour in five seconds. It will start with a base price of $22,000 (U.S.). The Ultimate will be able to go from zero to 100 kilometres per hour in 1.8 seconds, which Baiocchi said will be faster than any three-wheel or four-wheel EV production car in the world. It will start with a base price of $149,000.

The Spiritus prototypes are currently being built in Argentina, where one of the designers is based, and will be test driven by a retired Formula One driver. Baiocchi would not divulge the driver’s name or the cost of hiring him. He said when the testing is completed, the company will publicize it.

One of the features Spiritus includes is technology that Daymak has developed to mine cryptocurrency. Mining is a process by which specialized computing systems are used to solve mathematical equations that then become part of the next block of bitcoins placed into circulation. Baiocchi said the patented Daymak technology can earn Spiritus owners $10 a day.

“I’ve got interest in the car from a lot of people, and I think the crypto angle helped,” he said. “This is a car that basically stands out from the rest. Even if it’s $10 a day, no car out there makes money, so this will be the first one of its kind and gives it an edge over (the three-wheel competitors). You don’t have to know anything about mining, so if you are making $10 a day it reduces the cost of the purchase.”

A flying vehicle

On a more ambitious level, Baiocchi has plans to build an electric vehicle with the ability to take off and land vertically, like a helicopter, and travel horizontally. The aircraft will resemble a flying saucer and will be marketed as Skyrider.

There are more than 100 companies around the world collectively investing billions of dollars on building electric vertical takeoff and landing aircrafts, known as eVTOLs, though the biggest obstacle they currently face is receiving approval for their use from federal aviation authorities. Baiocchi’s prototype is the only one that looks like an unidentified flying object.

“When I used to watch cartoons when I was young, all the flying vehicles were similar to this,” he said. “This is where the idea comes from. I want people to think that’s what you are buying because everyone’s imagination is pretty much the same when you say UFO. You have an image in your mind like on ‘The Jetsons.’

“I’ve always dreamed of building a car and one that flies, just like Elon Musk dreams of going to Mars.  My dream is slightly different. Imagine going to work in five minutes. Instead of a 45-minute drive, you are doing it in five minutes,” he said. “Imagine if you can crisscross the world and go see whatever you want. That’s my dream. You can basically work anywhere. The world technically becomes one country. That’s the long-term dream, and I think within 30 to 40 years we’re going to get there.”

When asked why he is taking such a risk going forward when he could have easily stuck with his proven products, Baiocchi laughed.

“It would not be exciting just to build the other products,” he said. “Yes, I could have gone forward without much risk, but you only live once, so I might as well go for it. I’d like to make a difference on the planet. Dreams are a key to everything. That what motivates me.”

Autophile: Aldo Baiocchi

wh-KunalColumn-April9

Having worked in the automotive industry in many roles for over 15 years and currently the Content Strategist for Wheels.ca - Kunal's obsession with cars goes back to his early childhood. Even now his insatiable thirst to be in the know of anything with wheels and a motor continues, and will likely never fade. His idea of bliss is the open road,  good tunes and a manual gearbox. Kunal is a member of AJAC (Automobile Journalists Association of Canada)

The Federal government wants everyone to buy electric cars, and so do automakers. And those that already have an EV on their driveway? They want you to buy one most of all. If you have cold feet about going fully electric for any reason, get ready for a stern, and often condescending lecture on online EV discussion groups, especially from Tesla fans.

I’ve seen quite a few curious folks get eviscerated online when trying to defend internal combustion engine cars as a necessary, or better fit, for their lifestyle. With the current state of charging infrastructure in Ontario, if you do need an affordable and reliable vehicle, a gas-powered, hybrid, or even a plug-in hybrid (PHEV) are still the best choices for many.

<a href="https://wordpress.wheels.ca/wp-content/uploads/2022/04/DSC03364-scaled.jpg"><img class="alignnone size-full wp-image-167197" src="https://wordpress.wheels.ca/wp-content/uploads/2022/04/DSC03364-scaled.jpg" alt="Ford Mustang Mach e gt" width="2560" height="1707" /></a>

I became acutely aware of this recently when I had the opportunity to test drive the Ford Mustang Mach-E, a new all-electric SUV, for a week as part of my job. This is exactly the type of vehicle that everyone wants. It’s a good fit for families with ample room for passengers and cargo, it can be configured with all-wheel drive, it has lots of power and great styling inside and out.

But two things brought me back to earth; the starting price of $50,000 and the need to find a place to charge it.

One day, with the temperature hovering around minus-10 degrees Celsius, and a battery level of 85 per cent, the Mustang showed just 280 kilometres of range before it would need to be plugged in. This number is a guesstimate influenced by many factors, not the least of which is the cold weather. If you have a convenient place, like a garage, to plug in for the night, it’s barely an issue.

Living in a downtown Toronto condo, I don’t have anywhere to plug in overnight and had to rely on public charging stations. There are plenty of Level 2 chargers around, but I don’t have hours to wait for a top up. The nearest Level 3, or fast charger, is stationed at a nearby hospital with nothing to really do there but sit and wait inside a cold car.

I head over to the hospital when the Mustang’s range drops to about 60 kilometres, but someone is already using the charger. I have to wait more than 30 minutes until their done and I can start charging the SUV. Once plugged in, the car tells me that it will take more than an hour to get to 80 per cent at a max charging rate of 50 kilowatts. The vehicle could charge faster, but the nearest station capable of doing that is 20 kilometres away through Toronto traffic.

Even if I decided to make that drive, there’s no guarantee that the charger will work or be available once I get there. I’ve been burned a few times this way, and it’s not fun.

You can arm yourself with a variety of charging location apps and maps on your smartphone, and hope that nearest and fastest charger is available and working, but it feels too complicated on a cold day when the battery is draining faster than expected.

<a href="https://wordpress.wheels.ca/wp-content/uploads/2022/04/IMG_4943-scaled.jpg"><img class="alignnone size-full wp-image-167198" src="https://wordpress.wheels.ca/wp-content/uploads/2022/04/IMG_4943-scaled.jpg" alt="mini cooper se charging at st joseph hospital toronto" width="2560" height="1920" /></a>

I’ve driven many electric cars over the last few years, and they are rapidly improving. In many ways they’ve made the gas-powered car obsolete. But with unreliable charging stations and patchy networks it makes owning one in Ontario a less enticing proposition, unless you have a second car, or a dedicated place to plug it in at night.

More and more drivers are choosing to buy electric in this country. According to a report from London-based consultancy IHS Markit, battery electric vehicles (BEV) made up 3.79 per cent of new vehicle registrations in 2021, up a whopping 51 per cent from 2020. If we include PHEVs in this, that take rate jumps to 5.6 per cent on a national level.

On a provincial level British Columbia leads the way with 13 per cent of all vehicles registered as being zero-emission, and Quebec is next at 9.5 per cent, which is not surprising considering both provinces offer incentive programs. Ontario doesn’t have a provincial incentive program and lags well behind the national average at just 3.3 per cent.

Even if more Ontarians bought electric today, Natural Resources Canada lists only 325 Level 3 stations, with a total of 973 plugs, for public use in the province. That’s 973 plugs in a province with a population of nearly 15 million people. And that number includes stations exclusively for the use of Teslas. So, if you drive a non-Tesla, you’re limited to just 415 plugs (Quebec has more 800). And if you want to charge faster than 50-kilowatts, there are only 158 plugs.

In 2021, there were 20,197 new electric vehicle registrations in Canada. Even if 80 per cent of those cars charged exclusively at home, it still leaves more than 4,000 vehicles that need to rely on public networks. Condo dwellers like myself typically get left out in the cold.

Don’t get me wrong, I would love to consider an electric vehicle as my next car purchase, but with Ontario’s unreliable charging network, it’s still too much of an inconvenience. And for my current life situation and that of many others I know, completely impractical.

OPINION: Sure, buy electric, but what happens if you live in a condo?

wh-DrivingAnxiety-March26

On an early winter morning late last year, I was in the office of my home that overlooks an area of Fredericton, N.B., where drivers come to practice their parallel parking. Suddenly, I was struck by a memory. I knew then, without a doubt, that I’d witnessed a car accident when I was four years old. This trauma resurfaced. I called my mother to fact-check it with her.

“Was it true?”

“It was,” she said.

As we were crossing a road, I’d been holding hands with a girl who was hit by a speeding car. She was injured but survived the accident.

At 16, I was brought by mother – against my will and interest – to take my driver’s license test. I recall scanning the driver’s handbook in the car on the way to the testing centre and thinking, “No problem, I’m not going to pass.” I was right. After two tries, however, I left with a class G1 license. Now, nearly two decades later, I still do not feel I know how to drive nor do have a license of any kind.

It turns out my recalcitrance is actually a fear of driving. A car accident can be a traumatic moment, but I wondered, are there services for people like myself who struggle with getting into a car as a driver or passenger?

I found DriveAgain, a medically based rehab centre in Toronto that offers occupational therapy services for people with driver anxiety, whether from being in a car accident or from other traumas. I spoke to Kathleen Barnes, an occupational therapist and clinical director at DriveAgain, who said that she’s noticed a six-fold increase in requests for help with driving anxiety since they started offering an in-car therapeutic service six years ago.

<a href="https://wordpress.wheels.ca/wp-content/uploads/2022/04/wh-DrivingAnxiety-Headshot-March26.jpg"><img class="alignnone size-full wp-image-167165" src="https://wordpress.wheels.ca/wp-content/uploads/2022/04/wh-DrivingAnxiety-Headshot-March26.jpg" alt="Driving Anxiety" width="480" height="640" /></a>

In theory, driver’s education should have sorted out some of the issues I had with driving, but Barnes said that driving schools aren’t prepared for the psychological and medical issues that people with driving anxiety suffer from.
“In the last week alone, I’ve had five clients who have said to me, ‘Kathleen, I’ve been doing driver’s ed for almost 10 years off and on trying to do this, to get better. And nothing’s worked,’” said Barnes, “It’s because driving instructors don’t understand how to target the anxiety. They just keep doing the driving.”

According to Statistics Canada, generalized anxiety disorder affects about three per cent of the population “in any given year.” Findings from a recent StatsCan’s survey on COVID-19 and mental health found that one-in-four Canadian adults “screened positive for symptoms of depression, anxiety or posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) in spring 2021,” an increase of four per cent from the previous fall.

To help people with driving anxiety, DriveAgain offers what they call “in vivo” exposure and desensitization training. Working with a driver rehabilitation specialist (who is not a driving instructor), clients spend time slowly increasing their time in a car, sometimes starting as a passenger in the back seat. DriveAgain provides a vehicle which has an added brake located on the side where the driver rehabilitation specialist sits.

“They go out in our vehicles because we can manage and control the vehicle for them,” said Barnes, “Once they’ve been able to master being in our vehicle, then we try to transfer them into their own vehicle.”

In addition to exposure to and comfort with a car, they also work through their clients’ traumas and anxieties in an in-office therapy setting.

“Sometimes, I use YouTube videos where we’re observing a car driving down the road and then we learn to manage the somatic responses by visualizing ‘what is’ instead of actually experiencing or doing it,” said Barnes. “A lot of this is about preparing the mind, doing the desensitization, increasing the exposure, gradually increasing their abilities, and meeting them where they’re at to say, ‘OK, we’re going to work on this slowly and gradually.’”

The length of the program depends on the nature of the driver’s anxiety, she said. The company has a three-week waiting list. The program begins with an assessment that costs $750 followed by an intake appointment with an occupational therapist that costs $250.

It can take anywhere from 10 weekly sessions to a year. Barnes has clients on her caseload that she’s been working with for nearly a year because they suffer from deep-seated trauma. She notes that the source of the trauma doesn’t always have to be driving-related.

“(With) People that have had PTSD, perhaps (due to) sexual abuse, it ends up coming out that a lot of these people are suffering from anxiety behind the wheel, and they don’t know why,” she said.

For people who have been in car accidents, the process of rehabilitation sometimes ends with DriveAgain’s services.

“The people that have been in crashes and collisions most often have been participating in rehabilitation or attending medical appointments (because a lot of it’s linked to the insurance industry),” said Barnes. “What we see is that anxiety develops out of a fear of being reinjured physically and feeling overwhelmed by the idea of having to go through all that therapy again.”

While some clients are referred by their psychologist or insurance providers, many find DriveAgain’s services for themselves. Barnes said she’s seen more clients with ADHD as well as people who are newly anxious after not driving through the pandemic.

After 12 years of driver anxiety therapy, Barnes is struck by how freed drivers feel once they’ve processed their driving anxiety and traumas. “We see this over and over again with people that have been severely injured physically who’ve got that fear of being injured. Once they’re finished 10 or 20 sessions, it’s like, ‘Oh my gosh, I have my life back,’” she said.

In my own case, I’ve always wanted to take to the open road, but buried trauma has kept me out of the driver’s seat. Hopefully, by working through it with an expert, I can finally crack open the driver’s handbook again.

Vicky Mochama is a freelance writer. Follow her on Twitter: @vmochama

Coming to terms with driving anxiety

wh-TADAColumn-April2

The automobile industry has evolved considerably in the past two decades, in terms of vehicle design, safety features, fuel efficiency, on-board electronics and connectivity.

One area that has also evolved is the representation of women in the industry. Although I don’t have firm numbers, there are more women working at dealerships and auto-related businesses now than ever before.

Where women formerly worked mostly in clerical, finance or administrative positions, today they serve as dealer principals, general managers, controllers, accountants, sales consultants, sales managers, human resource managers, service managers, parts advisors, auto technicians and marketing specialists.

At the corporate level, women hold many leadership positions in the auto manufacturing sector, including Bev Goodman, president and CEO of Ford Canada; Erin Buchanan, general manager of manufacturing at Toyota Motor Manufacturing Canada; Susan Kenny, engine plant manager at Honda Canada Manufacturing; Linda Hasenfratz, CEO of Linamar Corporation; and Jeanette Wiltshire, manager of retail marketing and programs at Hyundai Auto Canada, to name a few.

The Trillium Automobile Dealers Association (TADA) is a strong advocate for creating more inclusive workplaces. At the 2020 Canadian International AutoShow, the TADA hosted Women Driven, a networking event aimed at creating greater awareness among women about the diverse careers available in the retail, manufacturing and aftermarket segments of the industry.

Participants included media outlets, new-car dealerships and dealer groups, automobile manufacturers, aftermarket suppliers and post-secondary schools that offer automotive courses.

Women Driven was the brainchild of Susan Gubasta (the first female president of the TADA in 2018 and 2019, and president and CEO of Mississauga Toyota), along with four other women who have carved out successful careers in the auto industry. The sold-out event drew more than 350 people.

A second Women Driven event will take place on Tuesday, April 12. This will be a virtual event, featuring an impressive line-up of women guest speakers, an industry panel, networking opportunities, sponsors and prizes.

In addition to creating more awareness of career opportunities for women in automotive, TADA is planning to make Women Driven an annual event, and automotive companies are encouraged to host their own Women Driven events to empower, educate and encourage a more diverse workplace.

In 2018, the TADA launched a Women in Automotive mentoring program, which is designed to connect post-secondary students with auto-industry leaders who offer support and advice while encouraging young women to consider careers in automotive retailing.

Hiring practices at dealerships have evolved significantly since I first entered the business in the late 1980s. Dealers have altered their hiring practices and have fostered work environments that are welcoming and supportive of women and traditionally underrepresented people.

Dealerships now hire candidates based on skills and talents and are actively looking for a wider set of skills, including communication skills, community involvement, networking capabilities and customer experience. Many women candidates are uniquely qualified with these skills.

While more women are pursuing careers in the auto industry, the industry still has work to do in achieving gender equity and promoting women into senior management positions.

Government legislation, better education and training and changing public attitudes towards more equality in the workplace are helping to move the needle towards greater gender equity in hiring and promoting.

What will it take to further increase the number of women who work at dealerships?

Industry leaders need to continue to create and retain a gender-diverse workplace. Hiring more women into senior leadership positions will significantly contribute to changing the bias, which will filter throughout an organization.

Employers can create informal and formal networking groups, which are a powerful tool to provide support and guidance to female workers and the advancement of their careers.

I believe greater diversity within the auto industry will lead to more productive workplaces and a stronger industry as a whole.

To view current jobs available at dealerships, and auto education programs at post-secondary schools, visit carsandjobs.com.

Michael Eatson is president of the Trillium Automobile Dealers Association and is president of Peterborough Volkswagen. This column represents the views and values of the TADA. Write to president@tada.ca or go to tada.ca. For information about automotive trends and careers, visit carsandjobs.com.

Diverse career opportunities available for women in auto industry 

wh-GranTorino-Main-April2

Maybe it was really all about the stripe. In the mid-1970s, not much was bigger or more recognizable in the world of primetime TV than two crime-fighting cops from Los Angeles, David Starsky and Ken Hutchinson, and their red-and-white striped Ford Gran Torino.

Truth be told, the Torino was as big, or bigger, a star as the guys who drove it.

Paul Michael Glasser and David Soul, the stars of “Starsky and Hutch” from September 1975 to August 1979, couldn’t have imagined the “Striped Tomato,” as it was known on the show, would provide so much competition.

If a car could have won an Emmy, the “Tomato” had as good a shot as any. For four years it was red-hot. And then, it happened again.

In March of 2004, the Torino rolled once more as the “Starsky and Hutch” movie hit theatres, showcasing the car 25 years after it roared off its Beverly Hills set for the last time.

In many ways, the Torino was an icon for the decade. It was an icon for cool. In fact, before the Torino went out of production, you could duplicate it through your Ford dealer. And it turned a vehicle that was on its way out of production into an ever-lasting hit.

The Torino was a phenomenon, turning Wednesday night into must-see TV, a fact all the more impressive considering the show’s main advertisers were Chevrolet and Dodge.

When “Starsky and Hutch” debuted in 1975, the switchboard at Spelling-Goldberg Productions in Beverly Hills was inundated with questions about the make and model of the car.

<a href="https://wordpress.wheels.ca/wp-content/uploads/2022/04/wh-GranTorino-TVseries-April2.jpg"><img class="alignnone size-full wp-image-167013" src="https://wordpress.wheels.ca/wp-content/uploads/2022/04/wh-GranTorino-TVseries-April2.jpg" alt="Gran Torino" width="1400" height="934" /></a>

How it was conceived was pretty natural for Hollywood. Spelling-Goldberg wanted a car that would stand out in a crowd. The studio used cars from Ford’s studio-TV car-loan program and the Gran Torino emerged as an early possibility.

In a moment of brilliance, producers decided to paint the vehicle red and add the signature white stripe to the box-stock Torino.

Some modifications were made for stunt purposes. Mag wheels were added as well as oversized tires and air shocks. Glasser manned the wheel for normal driving scenes and a stunt driver took over during the chases.

Producers used a Torino with a camera mounted on the roof and a second for exterior shots. It screeched. It smoked. It spun.

But no one could have foreseen the response that followed. Fan clubs were established from Australia to Germany to England, Japan and Ireland. Auto shows continually requested the car for display purposes. Even custom van and truck shows found room on their exhibit floor for a knock-off of the coupe. They knew it would draw a crowd.

As the show gained popularity, some Ford dealers had a few Torinos painted red and white and advertised the fact that a “’Starsky and Hutch’-type car” would be at the dealership. At the height of the car’s popularity, Ford Division ordered a limited production of a comparable car with a similar paint treatment — 1,000 units in the United States and 100 for Canada — to be produced at its Chicago assembly plant.

<a href="https://wordpress.wheels.ca/wp-content/uploads/2022/04/wh-GranTorino-Car-April2.jpg"><img class="alignnone size-full wp-image-167015" src="https://wordpress.wheels.ca/wp-content/uploads/2022/04/wh-GranTorino-Car-April2.jpg" alt="Gran Torino" width="1600" height="564" /></a>

The signature Torinos sold for $4,461 (U.S.) and standard equipment included a three-speed automatic transmission, steel-belted radial tires, electronic ignition, power front disc brakes and power steering. Pretty standard, including the 351-cubic-inch “Cleveland” V-8. Ford called it a 351M (for modified).

Optional equipment included air-conditioning ($478), a deluxe bumper ($67), white walls ($52), tinted glass ($51), dual mirrors ($46) and the “Starsky and Hutch” paint treatment ($164.20). Transportation and handling were another $114, bringing the typical price to about $5,351 in the United States.

As interest in the TV show faded, the Torino continued to rev. When Ford stopped making the car in the late 1970s, the fan clubs grew, and collectors emerged. All of which made the 2004 movie remake with actors Owen Wilson and Ben Stiller a natural.

The film’s production required nine Torinos to handle the chase scenes and peel-outs for the script.

Over the years on the TV show, the Torino’s appearance changed, but the movie version was an amalgam of all models.

Picture-car coordinator Craig Lietzke discovered none of the original Torinos were available to use as a basis for the movie cars. However, one of the special-edition Torinos Ford had produced was located. It had 1,800 original miles (2,900 kilometres) and had been in storage for 29 years. Using it as a template, Lietzke hired Premiere Studio Rentals and Cinema Vehicle Services to convert stock Torinos for the movie, also using recordings of the episodes, old photos and model cars for reference.

“Our Torinos represent bits and pieces of the car as it changed each year of the series,” Lietzke said at the time.

Even after all those years, “Starsky and Hutch” producer Alan Riche said that the car was as hot as ever. “The car is the star,” he said. “It’s one of the truly great cars. It reminds me of growing up, listening to the dual pipes — the power of Detroit. It’s still sexy.”

The Ford Grand Torino was the real star in 'Starsky and Hutch'

NTT IndyCar Series XPEL 375

Norris McDonald is the Editor of Toronto Star Wheels. His columns, blogs and feature stories, particularly about motorsport, are industry-leading. He has received awards and citations for his newspaper work and frequently appears on radio and television. In 2014, he became the first journalist to be inducted into the Canadian Motorsport Hall of Fame.

The first time I read an in-depth story about the man who was to become my hero, Roger Penske, I was flying from Toronto to Indianapolis via Detroit in the 1990s. We were on a Northwest Airlines flight (I’ve always loved that defunct airline because of the movie “North by Northwest,” which is one of my two or three favourites) but there was something wrong with the plane.

After a while sitting on the runway at Pearson International Airport, the pilot told us that we weren’t going anywhere, and we had to make alternative arrangements.

A fellow named Jack Cooke, who was a champion racer at Pinecrest Speedway in Vaughan and who worked for the Goodyear Tire &amp; Rubber Company, nodded at me. “Stay with me,” he said. We knew each other so he tried to book two seats via Chicago – but to no luck. I managed to get us on a Sabina World Airlines flight instead

Cooke and I boarded the plane, taxied out to the runway and realize that we were the only two people on the flight. I’m serious. This was a jumbo jet that had just delivered a bunch of people to Detroit, and it would be making a stop in Indianapolis before heading on to Los Angeles.

We were on the plane for about 40 minutes and had the time of our lives. The flight attendants served us a filet mignon and a bottle of wine. They offered us a bourbon cocktail. One of them handed me a magazine “Here,” she said. “There’s a good story in here. It’s about a really interesting guy.”

The guy was Roger Penske. He was a driver and owner of racing cars. He was in the automobile business and had just completed the purchase of the Hertz Penske Truck Rental company. His motto was, “Effort equals results,” and I liked that.

He is perhaps best known for founding Team Penske in 1968 and leading the American pro-racing team to be one of the most successful in the history of the sport. Last month it celebrated is 600th win, when driver Josef Newgarden won the NTT IndyCar Series race at the Texas Motor Speedway in Fort Worth on March 20. It is just one of the records Team Penske has racked up over the decades. Here is a look at some of those impressive numbers.

MILESTONES 
<ul>
 	<li> First win: Dick Guldstrand, George Wintersteen and Ben Moore at the Rolex 24 At Daytona race at the Daytona International Speedway on Feb. 6, 1966</li>
 	<li> 50th win: Mark Donohue at the Michigan 200 race at the Michigan International Speedway on July 18, 1971</li>
 	<li> 100th win: Bobby Unser at the Indianapolis 500 race at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway on May 24, 1981</li>
 	<li> 200th win: Paul Tracy at the Motorola 300 race at the Gateway International Raceway on May 25, 1997</li>
 	<li> 300th win: Ryan Briscoe at the ABC Supply A.J. Foyt 225 race at the Milwaukee Mile on June 1, 2008</li>
 	<li> 400th win: Brad Keselowski at the Federated Auto Parts 400 race at the Richmond Raceway on Sept. 6, 2014</li>
 	<li> 500th win: Brad Keselowski at the South Point 400 race at the Las Vegas Motor Speedway on Sept. 16, 2018</li>
</ul>
DRIVERS 

Fifty different drivers have won at least one race for Team Penske since 1966. The top five winning are

Brad Keselowski with 67 wins, Mark Donohue with 59, Scott McLaughlin with 49, and Rusty Wallace, Joey Logano and Will Power with 37 wins each.

WINS 

Team Penske has won races in 14 different global series, with the most wins coming from performances in the IndyCar (224 wins), NASCAR Cup Series (134), NASCAR Xfinity Series (81), Australian V8 Supercars (56) and IMSA (32). The 2010s have so far been its most successful decade, with 231 races won by Team Penske. In the 2000s, it won 111 races, compared to 17 in the 1990s.

The 2020s could very well redefine success for the team. It already has 55 wins this decade, which is just entering its third season. Penske’s chances to earn more trips down Victory Lane will increase in 2023 when it resumes sports car competition with a Porsche LMDh prototype.

When it comes to Team Penske, it seems effort does equal some impressive results.

Norris McDonald is a former Star editor who is a current freelance columnist. Follow him on Twitter: @norrismcdonald2

Roger Penske and his 600 racing victories

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Brad Bradford is Toronto City Councillor for Ward 19 (Beaches-East York).

The race to respond to our changing climate is on. Cities around the world are looking for innovative ways to reduce emissions, leverage new technology and encourage carbon-reducing lifestyles. The City of Toronto is no exception. In 2019, Toronto declared a climate emergency and has since adopted an aggressive target: reaching<a href="https://www.toronto.ca/services-payments/water-environment/environmentally-friendly-city-initiatives/transformto/"> net zero emissions by 2040</a>.

Through mandatory green building standards, improvements to bike lanes and bike-share programs, and the expansion of public transit, here at the city we are advancing our role in reducing global carbon emissions.

Yet, despite these efforts, Toronto is still missing the mark on one of the most impactful policies we have in our toolkit: investment in electric vehicle (EV) infrastructure.

Roughly <a href="https://www.toronto.ca/legdocs/mmis/2020/ex/bgrd/backgroundfile-157352.pdf">38 per cent of Toronto’s emissions</a> are produced by transportation, with more than a quarter resulting from passenger vehicles. Restrictions at the start of <a href="https://www.mdpi.com/2073-4433/12/7/848/pdf">COVID-19 outbreaks resulted in a significant emissions reduction</a>, largely due to widespread work from home mandates and reduced travel opportunities.

Toronto is now faced with a decision: contribute to the changing landscape or risk suppressing a widespread transition to EVs in our city. Countless municipalities are proving that EV uptake is possible when government support exists.<a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2021/09/16/realestate/best-places-electric-cars.html"> San Jose, Calif., is ranked No. 1 </a>across the United States for their EV-friendliness, with roughly 2.9 public charging stations per 1,000 residents. In stark contrast, Toronto currently has 0.20 per 1,000 residents.

There is a glaring disconnect between the city’s policy goals and its ability to implement the steps needed to reach these objectives. This is evidenced in one of the latest targets put forth by the city’s TransformTO Net Zero Strategy, which seeks to eliminate combustion engine vehicles from city streets by 2040. The <a href="https://www.toronto.ca/wp-content/uploads/2020/02/8c46-City-of-Toronto-Electric-Vehicle-Strategy.pdf">Electric Vehicle Strategy</a> outlined in the framework sets an ambitious target: the installation of <a href="https://www.toronto.ca/services-payments/water-environment/environmentally-friendly-city-initiatives/reports-plans-policies-research/electric-vehicles/">3,000 Level 2 charging ports across the city by 2025</a>. To date, Toronto has<a href="https://www.toronto.ca/wp-content/uploads/2020/02/8c46-City-of-Toronto-Electric-Vehicle-Strategy.pdf"> installed just 600</a>.  Pilot programs with Toronto Hydro have taken years to roll out and local attempts to boost EV infrastructure along city streets have suffered from interdivisional disagreements and a lack of jurisdictional clarity.

As a city councillor, I routinely field feedback that can be summarized as “I’d like my next vehicle to be an EV, but I have nowhere to charge it.” The problem is simple – there are many parts of the city where parking is predominantly on-street, with some shared mutual driveways, if driveways exist at all. In these instances, access to convenient EV charging infrastructure remains elusive.

In 2019, I proposed the allowance of <a href="https://www.toronto.ca/legdocs/mmis/2020/ie/bgrd/backgroundfile-156881.pdf">front yard parking (FYP)</a> in the Beaches–East York area as a practical way to increase parking and charging options for EVs.  It was a move met with fierce ideological opposition from some, and concerns with a reluctance to try something new from others. Yet, after more than a year of bureaucratic manoeuvring, we provided folks with a much-needed pathway to EV charging infrastructure in their neighbourhoods. For me, this experience is emblematic of the tendency of politicians and institutions to lean into soaring rhetoric, but a reluctance to tackle the much more complicated and nuanced process of implementation. This will need to change if we’re going to achieve the widespread adoption of EVs articulated in our policy objectives.

If you watched the Super Bowl, you likely notice that auto-manufactures went all in on electric. General Motors, BMW, Kia, and Polestar exclusively advertised new EVs, with no airtime afforded to their internal combustion counterparts. The private sector has made it clear we are on the precipice of the biggest automotive transformation since the Model-T, but these technological advancements will be stifled without the support of local municipalities advancing the new infrastructure required to complete our transformation.

Our environment cannot wait for the bureaucratic tape to be cut. If we want to achieve our climate goals, we must align our targets with our actions. This will require co-ordination across government, utilities, and manufacturers to think differently than we have in decades past, and a commitment to making charging infrastructure abundant across the city. We’re dealing with a new technology, and it will require a new approach – let’s get that done with the urgency the climate crisis requires.

Brad Bradford is Toronto City Councillor for Ward

Infrastructure a key step to EV adoption in Toronto

ChrisMustang2

Chris D’Alessandro is a writer living in downtown Toronto. Growing up in a family of used car dealers and mechanics, he’s been immersed in car culture his entire life. A frequent contributor to VICE Canada, Chris’ screenwriting work has also won a Canadian Comedy Award. So, “hipster, wise-ass, gearhead” pretty much covers it. Follow Chris on Twitter @chrisdaless and Instagram @chrdalessandro

I saw my first S197 Mustang in late fall 2004. I had just turned 14-years-old.

With the possibility of possessing a driver’s license so rapidly approaching, cars had begun to take priority in my imagination. Specifically, Mustangs were my gateway drug and whether I knew it or not at the time, I had been hooked at an early age.

My mom had a 1986 Mustang when I was a toddler. After parting with it, she often daydreamed out loud of owning a 1967 convertible. We would sometimes go to the local “cruise night” to appreciate first-generation Mustangs — my mother putting the idea in my head…

“One day…”

Mom was of course brainwashing me. I blame her directly for believing that owning a Mustang is a life aspiration and symbol of fulfillment. Whatever. Could be worse.

Emerging into my early teens, I distinctly remember being enamored with the 2003 Mustang Cobra “Terminator” at that year’s Toronto auto show. I wanted as many models and posters of it as I could get. Movies like Bullitt and Gone In 60 Seconds helped to burn the Mustang’s distinct fastback silhouette into my soft, pubescent brain.

So when 14-year-old me spied my first S197 Mustang — a silver hardtop GT — out of the school bus window on the ride home from school (grotesquely picturesque, I know, but I’ll swear to every word), I became obsessed with the idea of having one. This is an obsession I have yet to let go of. And I suspect I never will.

We feel everything more intensely when we’re teenagers. Raging hormones, heightened emotions and developing brains tend to hardwire our teenage preferences into us for life — like writing in soft cement before it dries. It’s why everybody thinks all music was better when they were a teenager and that the kids today have shit music.

I could sit here and tell you that I like the S197 better than a modern S550 because of its “retro” styling. I could make a half-hearted, bad faith argument that the S197 is more faithful to the spirit of the Mustang, that it’s a more striking and uniquely styled car than the current generation. The truth is I like the S197 because of nostalgia.

In summer 2005, my mom finally bought her convertible Mustang — not a classic ‘67, but a brand new, black, ‘05 convertible. The classic styling cues (read, “nostalgia bait”) of the then new S197 were enough to satisfy her own childhood dream of owning a first generation Mustang. Undoubtedly, my mother was the target market Ford had in mind at the time. But I wonder if they knew they were indoctrinating me as well.

I have a lot of fond memories of that black ‘05 Mustang. I learned to drive in that car. I went on dates in that car. When my mother moved to British Columbia, I drove that car from Toronto to Vancouver for her — an epic and unforgettable road trip through some of the most beautiful parts of North America.

But that car was only a V6. It was also an automatic. And I’ve never been crazy about convertibles. I remember that summer day in 2005 when she picked out her Mustang at the Ford dealership — sitting beside it was a hardtop, manual, V8-powered GT, also in black. That was the one I really wanted. That was the one I was determined I would eventually own.

<a href="https://wordpress.wheels.ca/wp-content/uploads/2022/05/Mustang1-scaled.jpg"><img class="alignnone size-full wp-image-168215" src="https://wordpress.wheels.ca/wp-content/uploads/2022/05/Mustang1-scaled.jpg" alt="Ford Mustang GT CS" width="2560" height="1920" /></a>

This year I finally had the means to purchase a Mustang GT. And if I’m honest, my initial instinct was to go with a newer S550 Mustang GT. Because I know, objectively, that they’re great cars.

But between inflation, dealer markup, and the realization that I simply won’t use a sports car all that often (I live in downtown Toronto, don’t commute, have access to press cars and would certainly not be driving my Mustang in poor-weather months) the idea of spending an arm and a leg for a new Mustang grew less and less appealing as time went by.

Then I found a listing for a 2014 Mustang GT/CS. A hardtop. In black. With a six-speed manual. With less than 40,000 km on the odometer. This was the last year that Ford ever produced the S197 chassis. And it had the right engine. And the right options. And a clutch…

Nostalgia took hold. My objectivity was suspended. I bought the car.

Worst decision ever.

Besides spending what felt like an uncomfortable amount of money, the car has many inherent flaws (which are outside the bumps, bruises and other cosmetic imperfections I’m now weighing the benefits of correcting).

The car handles like a tractor. The 5.0-litre V8, while generally rev-happy, is a big, fat lump of American pig iron slung over the front axle. You feel every bit of that weight whilst plowing the Mustang’s bulbous nose around corners.

The live rear axle hops around the road and since there’s some camber to the wheels, the car will track on uneven surfaces. Traction control is a joke. This Mustang has busier hips than a pole dancer and this would all be fine… if the steering wasn’t as numb as a freshly powdered nose. There’s more feedback in a video game controller.

<a href="https://wordpress.wheels.ca/wp-content/uploads/2022/05/Mustang2-scaled.jpg"><img class="alignnone size-full wp-image-168216" src="https://wordpress.wheels.ca/wp-content/uploads/2022/05/Mustang2-scaled.jpg" alt="Ford Mustang GT CS" width="2560" height="1920" /></a>

The action on the gear selector makes the car feel like a pick up truck. The interior quality is hilariously hideous — even with the top trim “California Special” package. And the thing drinks fuel like it’s doing a keg stand.

Also driving a stick if you live downtown will get annoying at some point. I don't care who you are or what kind of insecurities you’re about to project into the comments section. Any living person who has been stuck in traffic on a 400 series highway or in the downtown core, whilst driving stick, has yearned for the sweet embrace of sawing off their own left leg. Any “cool person” who tells you otherwise is lying.

So my Mustang is inconvenient, uneconomical, aesthetically imperfect and lacks genuine merit as a sports car.

Still… best decision ever.

This big dumb lump of metal is absolutely everything I wanted it to be when I was a teenager and driving it puts me into a state of peak happiness.

First, this Mustang is wonderfully analog. Which is something I can’t say about an S550… or really any modern car.

Get this. To start the car, you have to depress the clutch and turn an actual key. Ancient technology, I know. But between push-button starts and electric cars, I had actually forgotten how satisfying it is to feel like you’re the one breathing life into a grumpy, lumpy, burbeling V8.

There’s no “Sport Mode”. Your right foot is “Sport Mode”. The live-rear-end reminds you that your actions have consequences. And every time you clunk the clumsy shifter into gear, you’re reminded that your body is currently connected to the engine…to the wheels… to the road.

Look, I know how fast and thrilling a new S550 is with a 5.0-litre and a 10-speed auto. I’ve driven one. I got a speeding ticket in one. I get it. It’s great.

<a href="https://wordpress.wheels.ca/wp-content/uploads/2022/05/Mustang4-scaled.jpg"><img class="alignnone size-full wp-image-168217" src="https://wordpress.wheels.ca/wp-content/uploads/2022/05/Mustang4-scaled.jpg" alt="Ford Mustang GT CS" width="2560" height="1920" /></a>

But there is a certain kind of thrill and pleasure to dropping the hammer on that (mostly) same 5.0-litre V8, catching the rear-end as power to the live rear-axle forces the car sideways and kicking the clutch as you row through gears — the angry bellow of the Coyote engine ushering you down the road is an event which is best described as “casually violent.”

That balance of danger, power and the need for control make the car feel special in a way that very few new cars do.

And in the same way the opportunities I’ve had to drive amazing new sports cars have highlighted the S197 Mustang GT’s many flaws (upon my first drive in my “new” car, I thought, “Oh, this is why journalists always thought these were junk. Because they are!”) — driving my Mustang reminds me just how engaging and involved and fun for the sake of fun enthusiast cars used to be before manufacturers started chasing lap times and letting computers sort mostly everything out for you.

Sure it has Bluetooth connectivity and navigation and a button which says “traction control” on it (I’m convinced it’s connected to nothing). 2014 wasn’t the stone age. But everything else reminds me of what I initially found so appealing about cars in the first place. Engagement. Bravado. Personality. Stimulation. Reward.

Am I seeing all of this through the lens of nostalgia, personal taste and a thick coating of uncontrollable bias? You bet.

But… so are you.

I’m not trying to say you should buy an S197 Mustang. For the same reasons I don’t think I could recruit any new Alexisonfire fans (seriously, 2004 ruled so hard). You have your own imprints that are written into your once wet, long since dried, cement.

I’m also not trying to make a case that cars need to devolve. They won’t. They can’t. They shouldn’t.

What I am telling you is, despite the reality of owning your teenage dream car — the sticker price, the upkeep, the objective imperfections, the leaps and bounds in performance with which modern cars present you — you should buy it anyway.

Because nothing will ever be as good as the thing you convinced yourself was great as a teenager.

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Buying My Teenage Dream Car Was The Absolute Best, Worst Life Decision

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The federal government is serious about helping to transform the automobile industry in Canada in an effort to achieve its zero emission targets.

As part of those efforts in reducing Canada’s greenhouse gas emissions, the government’s mandatory target is for all new light-duty car and passenger truck sales to be zero-emission by 2035.

There’s no doubt government and industry are banking on an electric future. Auto manufacturers – with funding from the provincial and federal governments – have recently announced massive investments to secure electric vehicle and battery production, including:
<ul>
 	<li>$5 billion for a new battery plant in Windsor by Stellantis and LG Energy Solution</li>
 	<li>$2 billion to re-tool GM’s Oshawa and Ingersoll operations</li>
 	<li>$1.4 billion retooling of Honda’s Alliston plant.</li>
</ul>
The transition to electric is happening, with the money to back it up. According to an analysis by news agency Reuters, car companies around the world are investing $515 billion (U.S.) in electric vehicles and batteries. To put that into perspective, that investment is larger than the economies of Finland and the Czech Republic combined.

However, a submission by the federal government’s Net Zero Advisory Body has raised the possibility of another vehicle tax on working Canadians.

Specifically, the report recommends that the government “broaden Canada’s existing Green Levy (Excise Tax) for Fuel Inefficient Vehicles to include additional (internal combustion engine) vehicle types, such as pickup trucks.”

While the federal government and the Minister for the Environment, Steven Guilbeault, have recently stated that they have no intention of implementing this recommendation, it remains important to point out how this or any other additional tax would impact and penalize Canadians who buy SUVs and pickup trucks, many of whom use these vehicles to earn a living.

Any additional taxes would be misguided, unfair and would hit Canadians where it hurts the most – in their pocketbooks. According to Statistics Canada, 18.5 per cent of household income is already spent on transportation; Canadians can’t afford to spend more.

Canadians are already reeling from escalating cost of living increases. Gas prices are at near record highs, with no end in sight, inflation is at a 30-year high, and interest rates are rising, which will make buying and operating a vehicle costlier.

There is already a tax applied to large SUVs and passenger vans that use more than 13 litres of fuel per 100 kilometres, and any additional taxes would put vehicle ownership further out of reach for many Canadians.

Aside from the unfairness of potentially applying an unnecessary additional tax specifically on pickups, consumers don’t have the option of buying EV pickups at the present time. The newest EV pickups only went on sale in 2021, and although several new models will be unveiled in 2022 and 2023, the supply of these vehicles is extremely limited.

In 2021, Kelley Blue Book reported that 40 per cent of pickup buyers are considering an electric model. The EV market will grow steadily in accordance with the number of models that become available in the next decade.

According to StatsCan, electric vehicle sales increased from 54,000 units in 2020 to 86,000 in 2021. That represents a 60 per cent increase year over year. That accounts for 3.5 per cent of all vehicle registrations and will continue to increase.

On behalf of the TADA’s 1,100 member dealers, we strongly urge the federal government to reject any additional taxes on SUVs and pickups.

Michael Eatson is president of the Trillium Automobile Dealers Association and is president of Peterborough Volkswagen. This column represents the views and values of the TADA. Write to president@tada.ca or go to tada.ca. For information about automotive trends and careers, visit carsandjobs.com.

An SUV and pick-up truck tax would penalize working Canadians

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When COVID-19 forced him to temporarily shut down his stunt driving business in 2020, Hans Wolter found himself at loose ends. As chief adventure seeker of Wings and Slicks Stunt Driving, Wolter had been teaching neophyte precision drivers how to drift, execute J-turns and reverse-180s since 2009.

But the pandemic had put the stunt driving school on ice, so Wolter and creative director Phillip Reilly started dreaming up new adventures where people could seek thrills at a distance from one another. Just before Halloween 2020, inspiration struck: They would organize a ghost outing. Part scavenger hunt, part rally car event, the ghosting adventure would see groups of people — families, bachelorette parties, friends — solve clues to banish a ghost, all from the safety of their own cars.

<a href="https://wordpress.wheels.ca/wp-content/uploads/2022/05/wh-AdventureDrives-Aliens2-May7.jpg"><img class="alignnone size-full wp-image-168054" src="https://wordpress.wheels.ca/wp-content/uploads/2022/05/wh-AdventureDrives-Aliens2-May7.jpg" alt="Adventure Drives" width="1000" height="665" /></a>

“That was really our sales pitch,” said Wolter, “that you could come out and do this fun activity with your family or ‘bubble.’”

Wolter and Reilly mapped out a route around the Niagara Escarpment in the Milton area, combining a scenic country drive with local history. “One of our goals is to introduce people to new places they’ve not been before,” said Reilly. “The number-one comment after the drive is, ‘We had no idea these places existed.’ It’s nice to get people to drive to new locations and see different things in Ontario.”

The ghost outing took off, and a new Wings and Slicks business was born. Adventure Drives has now expanded to offer even more car rally ghost adventures across Ontario, along with scavenger hunts to seek Viking treasure, pursue the Sasquatch or prevent aliens from invading the province.

Each adventure revolves around a story, some based on history. For example, should you opt for the Milton-based ghost adventure, by the time your route takes you to the community’s town hall, site of Ontario’s last public hanging, you’ll have learned all about Thomas Corner, the real-life criminal at the business end of that noose.

<a href="https://wordpress.wheels.ca/wp-content/uploads/2022/05/wh-AdventureDrives-Ghost-May7.jpg"><img class="alignnone size-full wp-image-168055" src="https://wordpress.wheels.ca/wp-content/uploads/2022/05/wh-AdventureDrives-Ghost-May7.jpg" alt="Adventure Drives" width="720" height="720" /></a>

On all the adventures, teams are encouraged to lean into the experience with costumes, creative interpretations of the scavenger hunt items collected along the way, and car karaoke. “There are several layers to the adventure,” said Reilly. “A big part of it are the activities we’ve built in to create interactions between members of your group. That’s really the key.”

It’s those in-vehicle interactions that set the experience apart from a scenic country drive with a few pitstops. As Wolter said, “The more fun you have with it, the better it gets.” In other words, the journey is the reward.

He points to multi-generational families, some with initially sullen teens, who, after making up songs together and shooting team videos, emerge from the adventure earning points for team spirit.

That a group of friends or a family can have a ball tearing around the countryside singing songs and getting creative is hardly surprising. Whether on purpose or by accident, the Adventure Drive guys have tapped into a specific pandemic shift when it comes to our relationship with our vehicles.

COVID-19 has compelled us to alter how we spend time in our cars. Sure, they still get us from Point A to Point B, but over the past two-plus years they’ve also become portals to adventure, music, movies and immersive experiences.

Think back to the summer of 2020 when the pandemic triggered a movie-going renaissance. We saw the return of the drive-in movie with initiatives like DriveInTO, a partnership between the City of Toronto, eight locally based film festivals and four venues to screen newly released movies. Downsview Park adapted its Friday Night Lights summer screening series for vehicular audiences. Shopping centres turned their parking lots into outdoor drive-ins.

<a href="https://wordpress.wheels.ca/wp-content/uploads/2022/05/wh-AdventureDrives-Arm-May7.jpg"><img class="alignnone size-full wp-image-168056" src="https://wordpress.wheels.ca/wp-content/uploads/2022/05/wh-AdventureDrives-Arm-May7.jpg" alt="Adventure Drives" width="720" height="720" /></a>

It wasn’t just movies we saw through our windshields. In its first performance in nearly a year, the Toronto Symphony Orchestra gave four live performances last spring at CityView Drive-In, as audiences sat in their cars watching the musicians on a massive LED screen with the music piped into their vehicles. Live Nation launched Live from the Drive-In where audiences could still rock out to their favourite bands, albeit contained in their cars.

By Halloween 2020, when in-person trick-or-treating was cancelled in many municipalities, haunted drive-thru tours popped up with immersive experiences where drivers could slink through courses filled with creepy animatronic ghouls as ghost stories played on their car radios. Swap the monsters for decorated evergreens and dancing lights, and by December many of us got into the holiday spirit from our cars at drive-thru Christmas displays.

We’ve also clambered into our cars for charity. Corporate and community-based philanthropic drive-thrus had us raising funds for a variety of causes. April 30, for example, marked the second annual Discover Innisfil Car Rally and Scavenger Hunt, which was launched to raise money for the Innisfil Food Bank but also to give the community an opportunity to reconnect during challenging times.

Wolter and Reilly believe it’s that connective element that’s helped make their Adventure Drives so successful.

“Sure, it’s people driving around and finding things, but that’s not really what it’s about,” said Reilly. “What it’s about is coming together as a family or as a group of friends, and just laughing like you’ve never laughed before, and enjoying spending time together.”

Company turns our vehicles into gateways for hunting ghosts, aliens, Vikings and even Sasquatch

wh-LucasScarfone-Main-April30

It was during a camping trip with his parents near Parry Sound that Lucas Scarfone saw something that would change his life: a Dodge Viper. “The original Vipers were just radical,” he said. “They have that look that captured me as a 13-year-old.”

When the family returned to their home in Hamilton, he researched everything he could about the sports car. He even emailed the president of an area Viper club, who wrote back inviting Scarfone to attend one of is upcoming events and take pictures. Scarfone convinced his parents — who are very much not car enthusiasts — to drive him there.

The teenager soon started attending more events and track days, photographing the vehicles. He became obsessed with luxury sports cars and would pedal his bike to the nearby IDA to pick up copies of the “duPont Registry” – a magazine featuring automobiles, yachts and homes – and plaster his room with cut-out photos of Vipers, Ferraris and Lamborghinis.

<a href="https://wordpress.wheels.ca/wp-content/uploads/2022/05/wh-LucasScarfone-Ferrari-April30-scaled.jpg"><img class="alignnone size-full wp-image-167892" src="https://wordpress.wheels.ca/wp-content/uploads/2022/05/wh-LucasScarfone-Ferrari-April30-scaled.jpg" alt="Lucan Scarfone" width="2560" height="1707" /></a>

Today, he’s the one taking the photos. As an automotive photographer for car manufacturers, Scarfone travels the globe shooting some of the most glamorous, exotic vehicles in existence. Throughout his journey from obsessed teen to pro shooter, Scarfone said he’s received nothing but support and encouragement from high-end car collectors, many of whom he now counts as friends.

Scarfone is also co-publisher of “Autostrada,” a magazine that features some of those same cars and collectors. Yet “Autostrada,” which is publishing its 30th issue this spring, is about more than just high rollers with fancy cars.

Created by car lovers for car lovers, the magazine shines a light on all manner of enthusiasts, whether they be mechanics, artists, racers or even comedian Jay Leno, whose collection was featured in the December 2019 issue. And, of course, many of the publication’s stories are brought to life by Scarfone’s sumptuous photography.

In a full-circle moment earlier this year, Scarfone picked up his own luxury sports car, the first he’s ever owned: a Porsche GT3. We spoke to him about his love of automobiles.

You’re behind the wheel of your brand-new sports car for the first time — where do you go?

I drove it to my grandparents’ house. They both signed the trim under the trunk. I even took my grandmother for a short drive around the block. It was a very special day.

Let’s go back to when you first started out. Do you remember your first paid gig?

When I was 15, I went to photograph a Lamborghini for a client. My parents drove me to his house, and I took a bunch of pictures. He asked if I could make him some prints. I’d never made prints before. He said, “You’re going to learn.”

I found a printer in Hamilton and developed three big prints. I gave my client the invoice, telling him they cost me 25 bucks each. I'll never forget this: He pulled out a wad of cash, and gave me $300, which was a crazy amount for me then. “Here’s a little taste,” he said. “Keep following your passion. You’re going to make some money one day.”

<a href="https://wordpress.wheels.ca/wp-content/uploads/2022/05/wh-LucasScarfone-Viper-April30.jpg"><img class="alignnone size-full wp-image-167894" src="https://wordpress.wheels.ca/wp-content/uploads/2022/05/wh-LucasScarfone-Viper-April30.jpg" alt="Lucas Scarfone" width="960" height="960" /></a>

You took his advice — you’ve since met and photographed some of the biggest car collectors from around the world. How do you keep your cool around these high-profile aficionados?

These guys are great, honestly. There's a big misconception about people who own expensive cars. Ninety-nine per cent of the people I work with are the sweetest in the world.

I've been so fortunate in that these people I've grown up with, many of them have become friends and they’ve been so supportive in every capacity. And, by the way, these are people whose time is worth more than anything; they’re worth hundreds of millions or billions of dollars. But it’s fun because when I show up at their office, I wear a T-shirt and shorts. I don’t look at them as the CEO of this or that massive company, to me he’s “Jimmy with the Ferrari.” I treat them as human beings.

I feel very lucky to know them on a level where they’re just car people. Their passion for cars is outweighed by their passion to share them with people.

You and co-publisher Sean Patrick started “Autostrada” in 2015. What did you want to achieve with the magazine?

Right from the start, we didn’t want a high-end magazine; we wanted a car-person magazine. We’re about the passion, which is more interesting than price tags. We don't do car reviews. There are a lot of other publications that focus on high-end sticker shock. We didn't want that at all.

We’re committed to showcasing people in our local automotive community. When people think of high-end automotive, they think Italy or Europe, but the community in Canada is so deep. Until I started doing what I do for a living, I had no idea how many cars, collectors and owners there are even just in Ontario.

<a href="https://wordpress.wheels.ca/wp-content/uploads/2022/05/wh-LucasScarfone-Leno-April30-scaled.jpg"><img class="alignnone size-full wp-image-167895" src="https://wordpress.wheels.ca/wp-content/uploads/2022/05/wh-LucasScarfone-Leno-April30-scaled.jpg" alt="Lucas Scarfone" width="2560" height="1706" /></a>

We want readers to identify with the magazine, not be overwhelmed by it. I'd rather tell the story of a guy who's built a Camaro in his garage with his dad versus some guy who walked into a dealership and bought something just because he could afford it.

I've been incredibly fortunate when it comes to opportunities. I used to shoot European tours for BMW Canada, I’ve shot fall rallies for Ferrari of America, track days for Lamborghini. If you rewind to when I was 13, when I went to my first Viper club meet, I could have never anticipated any of that.

Childhood fascination with sports cars sparks lifelong passion

wh-AutoTractor-Main-April30

Next time you pass a farm where a modern tractor is cruising around a field, take a closer look. While there is a farmer sitting in the cab, the vehicle might be driving itself. That tractor is often operating on auto pilot using semi-autonomous, self-driving technology.

While the tractor plows along thanks to features like autosteer and computer-assisted technologies for applying fertilizers or pesticides, the farmer can send work texts or emails, pay bills or even flip through Instagram stories or Tik Tok videos.

For farmers, this kind of efficiency is not a luxury. It is a must. Skilled farm labour is nearly impossible to find, a fact that’s long inspired livestock producers to adopt time and labour-saving technologies such as robotic feeders and dairy cow milking machines.

<a href="https://wordpress.wheels.ca/wp-content/uploads/2022/05/wh-AutoTractor-Camera-April30.jpg"><img class="alignnone size-full wp-image-167885" src="https://wordpress.wheels.ca/wp-content/uploads/2022/05/wh-AutoTractor-Camera-April30.jpg" alt="Tractor" width="1920" height="921" /></a>

It is the same with tractors. While automobile manufacturers rave about self-driving cars, that technology has been available for tractors for 20 years. In fact, autonomous technologies, like hands-free steering, is now standard on high-powered commercial tractors, including those built by John Deere.

The iconic company has always been a leader in agricultural technology going back to 1837, when Illinois blacksmith John Deere invented one of the first steel plows that could till prairie soil without clogging.

Earlier this year, the company unveiled the industry’s first fully autonomous tractor. Farmers still need to drive this tractor to their fields, but once they get there they can get out and watch it work on its own. It can be configured to perform several tasks, including pull machinery, without a driver.

“Today’s tractors can perform many driving and end-row turning functions automatically, but still require an operator in cab,” said Ryan Jardon, a product marketing manager with John Deere. “True autonomous machines take that to the next level, by automating every decision and input a machine operator must make, including performance adjustments such as tillage working depth.”

The autonomous unit’s central feature is six pairs of cameras mounted on the front and back of the tractor. They give its GPS guidance system a 360-degree view of any obstacles it might encounter. The cameras also tell the onboard computer the tractor’s exact location in the field.

<a href="https://wordpress.wheels.ca/wp-content/uploads/2022/05/wh-AutoTractor-App-April30.jpg"><img class="alignnone size-full wp-image-167886" src="https://wordpress.wheels.ca/wp-content/uploads/2022/05/wh-AutoTractor-App-April30.jpg" alt="Tractor" width="750" height="1624" /></a>

Images captured by the cameras are passed through a neural network, with each analyzed in about 100 milliseconds. The information tells the tractor’s guidance system to let it proceed or make it stop. Farmers can keep track of the tractor using an app on their phones or computers.

In a field, it all looks very natural, like a conventional green John Deere. You’d hardly notice it or give it a second glance. Until you realize there’s no one in the cab.

For now, the autonomous unit – called a “bolt on” by the company – is being added to John Deere’s most popular tractor, the 410-horsepower model 8R. As the company learns more about the system's performance, it will make it compatible with other models.

What farmers think

John Deere debuted the unit at the Computer Electronics Show in Las Vegas earlier this year. It impressed farmers like Alberta’s John Kowlachuk, who grows grain and oilseeds near Trochu.

“It’s tough finding people to work on farms, and autonomous tractors could be a perfect fit for agriculture,” he said. “They could mean fewer human resources are needed, less time spent in the field, not so much manual labour and more time for family. In many applications they make more sense than driving self-controlled units.”

John Deere hasn’t officially announced a price for the autonomous bolt on. Jahmy Hindman, the company’s chief technology officer, has said that the figure could be around 10 per cent of the total equipment cost. The price tag on an 8R model is about $500,000 (U.S.), meaning the autonomous bolt-on could cost $50,000.

Farmers in the United States will take delivery of the first 10 to 15 units this year. No timetable has been set for the machine’s Canadian introduction. But some farmers, like Tyler Burns of Windy Poplars Farm in Wynyard, Sask., are anxious to give it a try.

“Once fully autonomous equipment can do as good of a job in the field as a farmer, there will be steady adoption,” Burns said. “It will become another tool in the farmer’s toolbox if it provides a solution to a problem, and the shortage of predictable labour could be one of them. But it will be up to farmers to decide if the cost of the technology is worth it.”

Beef producer Gordon Dibble of Dibbhurst Farms in Ingersoll, Ont., said he thinks fully autonomous tractors have a future, but he’s not sure he wants one driving around without him in it.

“I farm with my dad. Someday, when he retires, we’ll have a labour shortage and might need an autonomous tractor. But, at this time, we don’t,” Dibble said. “Maybe in 100 years all we’ll see are autonomous tractors. For now, though, I want to drive and fix my own tractor. Tractor time relaxes me.”

At the Las Vegas show, some comparisons were made between an autonomous tractor manoeuvring in a field and stories of autonomous cars driving on highways without occupants, raising concerns about safety. Alberta farmer Mike Ammeter, chair of the Canadian Canola Growers Association, said we shouldn’t worry about the tractor.

“The public might feel safer about being around a driverless tractor travelling at five miles per hour in a field, than next to a Tesla with no driver flying past you on the 401,” he said.

Owen Roberts is an agricultural journalist. Follow him on twitter @TheUrbanCowboy.

Self-driving tractors plowing ahead in the marketplace

wh-SachaTaylor-Main1-April23

At first glance, the painting appears to be of a woman with her back turned, standing up to her knees in inky-blue water. There’s a sensual energy to the image – is she taking off her shirt? The longer you look at it, however, the more details emerge, and you realize within the swells of water are the iconic body lines of a car. A Porsche, no less.

This is not your dad’s car art.

The artist is Sacha Taylor, and the piece is from her March collection of luxury automotive art. Taylor, who works out of a small studio within her Mississauga condo, creates original and bespoke pieces of art featuring beloved vehicles. Clients come to her with photos and backstories of the cars, trucks and motorcycles that have shaped their lives, looking for a piece of art more enduring and imaginative than a car pinup.

<a href="https://wordpress.wheels.ca/wp-content/uploads/2022/04/wh-SachaTaylor-Main2-April23.jpg"><img class="alignnone size-full wp-image-167765" src="https://wordpress.wheels.ca/wp-content/uploads/2022/04/wh-SachaTaylor-Main2-April23.jpg" alt="Sacha Taylor" width="2400" height="1600" /></a>

“It's a unique type of automotive artwork,” said Taylor of her paintings. “Usually when people draw or paint a car, it looks exactly like the photo. And that can be impressive. But for me, I wouldn’t hang it in my living room.”

It was Taylor’s own search for meaningful wall art (“something badass,” she said) that inspired her idea for Taylor Art Garage. She launched the business in the summer of 2020 despite not having any formal training. “I was not an artist before I started my art business,” she said. “I actually bought my website before I ever put brush to canvas.”

This approach is very on-brand for Taylor: See an opportunity, seize it. It’s how she broke into the automotive industry. Until a few years ago, Taylor didn’t know much about cars, either. During long, boring commutes to a former job, she had started paying attention to the vehicles around her, noticing subtle design differences. She became determined to learn more and started insinuating herself into the industry by attending local car meets. “I really feel like I snuck in the back door of the car world,” said Taylor. “Nobody knew I didn't know anything.”

<a href="https://wordpress.wheels.ca/wp-content/uploads/2022/04/wh-SachaTaylor-Working-April23.jpg"><img class="alignnone size-full wp-image-167766" src="https://wordpress.wheels.ca/wp-content/uploads/2022/04/wh-SachaTaylor-Working-April23.jpg" alt="Sacha Taylor" width="2400" height="1600" /></a>

The confidence Taylor gained learning about engines, chassis and transmissions fuelled her courage to break into the industry as an artist. Having worked as a contractor, she loved building and working with her hands, and painting felt like a natural progression of her creative evolution. And with a background in sales, she felt she was ready to strike out on her own.

In August of last year, almost exactly a year after launching Taylor Art Garage, the 29-year-old quit her day job in manufacturing sales to focus on her business full time.

Taylor’s first commissioned piece was not of a car, but a motorcycle. A woman who contacted her wanted a painting for her boyfriend of Italian racer Valentino Rossi’s bike. Taylor laughed out loud when she received the photo. “It had logos everywhere,” she said. “It was super bright and colourful with a lot going on. I'd been painting only simple stuff up to that point. But I thought, ‘Okay, let's do this.’ I’ve always been up for a challenge.”

This client was typical for many of Taylor’s early commissions: women looking for decor-style automotive artwork for their boyfriends, husbands and dads. But as word got out and Taylor’s inventory of artwork expanded, car aficionados themselves started seeking her out.

She said a big part of her role is to collaborate with clients in creating a piece that captures the essence of the vehicle. “I try and pull information out of them,” said Taylor. “Even people who think they don't know anything about artwork, or don't think they care about colours, once you start talking, it turns out they have a lot of opinions about what they want in their living room, kitchen or home office.”

Taylor said she finds learning about people’s connections to the vehicles they want immortalized a joy. One memorable client asked for a painting of a 1928 Ford two-door he and his dad had built together from scratch years earlier. “He wanted it as a Father’s Day gift for his dad,” Taylor said. “And what was absolutely amazing is that while working on that project, both he and his dad got sober.”

Because she launched her business during the pandemic, much of Taylor’s interactions with clients and industry insiders have been virtual. This spring, she’s looking forward to making connections in person as she takes her work on the road for the first time at events such as Motorama and the Driven Aftermarket Car Show. “I was looking at my schedule over the next six months, and it's going to be madness. But I'm so excited about it,” she said.

“In the last two-and-a-bit years I've been doing this, it's really been a nonstop learning curve,” said Taylor. “As a solopreneur, my business is the biggest mirror of myself, and it's been fantastic.”

Cars are for girls

Inspired by her own experience as a woman breaking into the automotive world, Taylor launched a 10-episode podcast last summer called “Cars are for Girls.” Taylor’s said her goal was to provide an entry point for other women, or anyone, interested in better understanding their own vehicles. “There’s a ton of great information out there, but so much of it assumes a baseline of knowledge a lot of people just don’t have,” Taylor said. “I wanted to bridge that gap.”

With episodes such as “The Ways Car Salespeople Lie to You: Fibs, Fraud and Botox” and “What’s Horsepower and Who are you Picking for Mario Kart,” Taylor’s podcast is an extension of herself – fresh, fun and “free of mansplaining.”

Sacha Taylor’s art seeks to build on the intimate relationship people have with their automobiles

wh-OddRules-Book-April23

If you happen to be driving down the highway in Ontario and spot a horse alongside the road, resist the urge to race against it with your car.

While you’re at it, don’t try to outrun a deer, moose or other wild animal you spot. If you’re caught, you could be fined under Ontario’s Highway Traffic Act, which states under Section 173 that “no person shall race or drive furiously any horse or other animal on a highway.”

In Prince Edward Island, an archaic driving rule still on the books stipulates that you must honk your horn every time you pass another vehicle or back out of a parking spot, which these days would make for a cacophony of noises. A similar rule exists in New Brunswick — and is likewise unenforced. Also in New Brunswick, a rather confusing driving rule states that “driving on the roads is not allowed.”

There are also several driving rules that were created for a different era — before the golden age of the automobile. For example, you’re required to have at least two bells attached to your sleigh on a highway.

These driving rules have been long forgotten and nobody bothered to repeal them, though technically they’re still on the books. At the same time, some driving rules are not legally binding rules at all, yet they’ve become so engrained over time that people believe them to be true.

“I’ve spoken to many drivers over the years who argue that I’m wrong, but I show them the handbook to verify,” said Scott Marshall, director of training with Young Drivers of Canada, who has served as a road safety educator for 34 years. “Some will actually say the handbook is wrong.”

For example, it’s not illegal to drive barefoot — or in flip flops, sandals or high heels, for that matter — in any of the provinces or territories. “Although it’s not recommended since the bottom of the foot is softer and delays a response on the accelerator and brake,” said Marshall.

But, if those six-inch heels contribute to a car crash, you could technically be charged for careless driving.

<a href="https://wordpress.wheels.ca/wp-content/uploads/2022/04/wh-OddRules-Foot-April23.jpg"><img class="alignnone size-full wp-image-167751" src="https://wordpress.wheels.ca/wp-content/uploads/2022/04/wh-OddRules-Foot-April23.jpg" alt="Odd Rules" width="1414" height="2121" /></a>
Many drivers also believe it’s illegal to change lanes through an intersection. “But it is not illegal,” said Marshall. “It just may be unsafe because of turning traffic.” Another myth: Although the right lane is the driving lane and the left lane is the passing lane, they both have the same speed limit. It’s simply recommended that slower-moving traffic keep to the right.

“It’s also not illegal in Ontario to pass a slower-moving vehicle on the right. At Young Drivers of Canada, we call that the lane of least resistance,” said Marshall.

To add to the confusion, Canada has 13 different sets of driving rules — one for each of the provinces and territories — and in some cases separate municipal rules. For example, in Montreal, drivers are prohibited from turning right on a red light. That isn’t the case anywhere else in Canada, or in the rest of Quebec, for that matter.

In British Columbia and the Yukon, a flashing green light means the light will only change if a pedestrian pushes a button (and not to indicate that you can make a left turn, as is the case in the rest of the country).

“For those who do not live near one-way streets here in Ontario, they may not know they are allowed to make a left turn on a red light, but only from a one-way street while turning onto another one-way street after stopping first,” said Marshall. “Most drivers will just sit there and wait for the green.”
While most drivers believe it’s illegal to cross the solid lines on a highway, they’d be right — unless they’re driving in Ontario, where this is optional. Lane markings are indicators of whether it’s safe to pass, serving an advisory function rather than a legal one.

Some driving rules may still be relevant for the times, even if they are a bit unusual. In Quebec, you’re not allowed to block your own driveway with a vehicle, nor are you allowed to cut through gas stations or parking lots to avoid a red light.

In Saskatchewan, Section 240(1) of the Traffic Safety Act states: “No person on a highway shall directly or by any attachment hold onto a moving vehicle other than the one in which the person is riding.” So next time you feel like grabbing onto the back of a moving vehicle while skateboarding down a highway in Saskatchewan, you might want to think twice.

While distracted driving laws exist across Canada, they’re mostly associated with cellphone use. But in Alberta, the definition of “distracted driving” includes a laundry list of items, from reading to grooming your beard to feeding your baby. Also in Alberta, if you’re in a funeral procession, you’re allowed to proceed safely through traffic lights and stop signs, provided you are directly in the procession.

If these rules seem rather confusing, Marshall said he recommends reviewing the relevant driver’s handbook for your province, which can be found online. “For any driver, it’s sometimes easier to search just for a specific law in the jurisdiction and move from there,” he said.

Featuring automotive tips and tricks to enhance your driving, reading and vehicle learning experience | Wheels.ca

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