$2 Million McLaren F1 Self-Immolates[jalopnik.com]
You see, usually when I see a supercar go up in flames... actually just supercars in general, I shrug and then move on without bothering to read the article.
Seriously, why should I care? Supercars are toys for the superdickery portion of the population, are completely impractical, poorly built; and at least in the older ones, usually trying to kill you.
But this is a McLaren F1 we're talking about! This wasn't a supercar that was built simply for people with small dicks, it was a supercar built on the principle of engineering pwnage, a car so exclusive that the only people who actually own these cars are at least 63% less likely to be dicks and 90% more likely to be actual car enthusiasts. It's a car that was actually well thought out in design, a car that won't beat the shit out of you and one that you can take to the grocery store (and load it up with your boxes of Krispy Kreme). It's a fascinating historical footnote for when a company's vision for ultimate performance at a time when there really was very little performance to be had at all was fulfilled and exceeded. The toils and troubles of designing the whole car, the early use of carbon fibre, the whole saga involving trying to convince Honda to produce the engine (only to end up with MB) is something that all car enthusiasts should appreciate.
I mean, the only car that comes close nowadays is the Bugatti Veyron, and it will never be as cool because it's a fat luxury car with a $15K turn signal lever that is mostly owned by patrons of Dubai. A car whose only trick is going really fast in a straight line (and it's already been beaten at that game by a small American manufacturer).
In these eco-mental and recession-omic times, you will be hard pressed to see such ambitious, high performance and liveable supercars again.
And that is why you should care.
