Hello, dear readers and I hope you're having or had a lovely weekend wherever you are. I'm just back from driving some fun stuff in Europe that I can't quite talk about yet, but will be appearing on an internet near you soon.
It's been an exhausting few weeks of writing and travel, and so I decided to give myself a full week off to recharge my batteries, a week that was promptly cut short when I received an offer to go to a place to drive a thing, an offer I couldn’t decline. Vacationing as a freelancer, I’m learning, is even harder than doing it when you’re on staff somewhere. But I’m not complaining at all. Given the state of things, I feel remarkably fortunate to have work and places to publish it.
Anyhow, so it won’t quite be a full week of R&R, but for a good portion of this week at least you'll find me wrenching under my imported STI, which is finally here but its paperwork still isn't.
A topic for another day. For now, here's what I've been up to the past few weeks!
Spectre - Inverse and Fast Company
For 119-years-old Rolls-Royce, being cutting edge doesn't exactly come naturally. But, when it decides to go for it, the results are quite good. Spectacular, really. The company's $420,000 all-electric uber-coupe had to be good, but I didn’t expect it to be this good.
After they extracted me from the interior of that thing, I sat down with Rolls-Royce CEO Torsten Müller-Ötvös to talk about just what Spectre means for the storied company that's been reborn about a dozen times over the years under various corporate parents and now, under BMW AG, is evolving yet again into an all-EV company.
Back at Engadget
After almost exactly 10 years away, I'm back at Engadget. Well, at Engadget.com, anyway. I was very thankful to have the opportunity to start up a little freelance work for the site where, if you don't know, I worked from 2006 to 2013, serving as EiC for the last two and a half of those years. My triumphant return? A first drive of Lotus' first SUV, the Eletre, which impresses in some ways -- and disappoints in others.
Tires From The Future - MotorTrend
The topic of future tires was a perennial favorite over at CNET, and it was great to take a dive into what’s fresh and upcoming for MotorTrend. Next-gen tires will not only be grippier and faster, but much, much, smarter too, riddled with sensors that’ll have them talking to cars in remarkable ways.
Reviewing the Zero DSR/X
While electric motorcycles have taken a while to find their footing, the options hitting the market now are truly compelling. I've been living with a Zero DSR/X, the company's new all-rounder, and absolutely loving the time I've been able to get in the saddle. I love the rumble of my BMW and the scream of my Triumph, but I think I love the serenity and seamless acceleration of this thing even more.
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