No Machine Is Too Fast For This Guy
Stephan Wilkinson in Baja California last week, where he retraced the off-road route of the original 1967 Baja 1000 in a Hummer.
Photo: Susan Crandell
by Wendy Perrin
Pilot, racecar driver, and nonstop road-tripper Stephan Wilkinson has been writing for Conde Nast Traveler since its very first issue (20 years ago). Now, I'm happy to announce, he'll be writing for The Perrin Post too. His weekly column "The Car Traveler" starts today.
If Steve's name rings a bell, it might be because, as Conde Nast Traveler's Automotive Correspondent, he writes our Great Drives column. Or it might be because you've read his books Man And Machine or The Gold-Plated Porsche: How I Sank A Small Fortune Into A Used Car And Other Misadventures. Or perhaps it's because I've written about him on this blog, as has his daughter Brook.
What I love about Steve is that not only does he drive planes and sportscars, he builds them. He built a Falco F.8L (a very fast Italian two-seater) that made one of the longest flights ever flown by a homebuilt airplane: from Portland, Oregon, to Melbourne, Australia, the long way (eastbound). He also built his own Porsche, which he races when he's not too busy contributing to Popular Science, Air & Space Smithsonian, Aviation History, and ForbesLife.
Please join me in welcoming him to our blog. I can't wait to read his car-trip tips each Thursday!
Steve and the Falco airplane he built from a kit.
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Great, we're really looking forward to the captain's future dispatches about shredding his hard-on hummer through the other tranquil parts of the world. Don't you know this type if "travel" is not simply PC anymore, but even rational?
Posted by: world_traveler | June 09, 2007 at 06:27 PM
All of the tracks, trails and roads that I drove are used by Mexican truckers (small ton-and-a-half trucks) and ranchers, so it's really not like I was charging across the Nantucket dunes. This is the way a lot of commerce and communication has worked down there since the 1940s, even though some of the tracks are so rough you can only go three or four mph.
Obviously Hummers are hugely polarizing vehicles, which, in fact, is exactly why some people buy them: they _love_ the fact that you hate them, just as some people buy Priuses because they love the fact that the Joe-Bob Sixpack is infuriated by the sight of one.
Until a couple of months ago, SUV and light-truck sales in the U.S. outnumbered car sales, so there still seem to be an awful lot of people out there who enjoy the image of off-roading, even though none of their vehicles will ever go farther off-road than valet parking.
Some people do it and enjoy it, and a lot of people do it responsibly. Hell, I think it's outrageous that mountainsides get manicured for people slide down them with boards on their feet, or that deserts get manicured and irrigated so people can hit tiny white balls with sticks, or that people wade in pristine rivers so they can stick sharp metal things through the lips of fish and then throw the animals back so they can do it again. to each his or her own.
I don't want a Hummer myself, but I drove one a thousand miles in Baja because as an automotive writer, it's my job to experience all the varieties of vehicle travel and usage that are out there, not just the ones I fancy.
Posted by: stepwilk | June 12, 2007 at 11:51 AM