BruceBe Posted May 10, 2016 Share Posted May 10, 2016 ...a Caterham CSR in R&T. It's an interesting back-drop to an interview with John Krafcik, Google Self-Driving Car CEO. Sam Smith did a great job weaving a positive message about the Caterham Seven into the article. Luckydawg is well, uh, a lucky dog to get such a great photo feature of his car. We didn't think it would feature so prominently, given the theme of the story. -Bruce Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
breezy7 Posted May 10, 2016 Share Posted May 10, 2016 Can’t find it on the R&T website. Maybe a magazine only thing? Did find a Donkervoort http://www.roadandtrack.com/new-cars/future-cars/news/a29066/the-donkervoort-d8-gto-rs-looks-like-a-lotus-seven-on-pcp/ and a Elan road test from 1963 http://www.roadandtrack.com/car-culture/a29067/road-test-lotus-elan-1600/ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MoPho Posted May 10, 2016 Share Posted May 10, 2016 John Krafcik owns a Caterham as well, though it's been off the road for some time. I used to work with him a lot when he was CEO at Hyundai . Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lucky dawg Posted May 10, 2016 Share Posted May 10, 2016 (edited) The photo that starts the Road & Track article: Edited May 10, 2016 by lucky dawg Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MoPho Posted May 10, 2016 Share Posted May 10, 2016 You shipped your car all the way down from Seattle for the story? . Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lucky dawg Posted May 10, 2016 Share Posted May 10, 2016 Yes. Road & Track had contacted Beachman Racing for a car while Krafcik's was unavailable. Bruce handled all the logisitics of getting the car down and back. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MoPho Posted May 10, 2016 Share Posted May 10, 2016 Seems odd considering there are several options for 7's right there in Silicon Valley. You're car looks great though! . Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Croc Posted May 10, 2016 Share Posted May 10, 2016 Good to see Road & Track contacted Bruce - he knows how to provide well sorted Caterhams! Nice feature on your car LuckyDawg! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lucky dawg Posted May 10, 2016 Share Posted May 10, 2016 Good to see Road & Track contacted Bruce - he knows how to provide well sorted Caterhams! Nice feature on your car LuckyDawg! Thanks, the photo was much more than we had expected since the article was primarily not about Caterhams. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BruceBe Posted May 11, 2016 Author Share Posted May 11, 2016 Seems odd considering there are several options for 7's right there in Silicon Valley. You're car looks great though! . There's really nothing odd about a manufacturer's agent sourcing a known, factory-spec, and professionally assembled car, and then tending to the car at the event, to ensure that the experience and resulting article reflects well on the brand. Note that no mention was made of a Caterham Seven as a "bellowing ox-cart", or anything similar in this piece. Quite the opposite. Cheers, -Bruce Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MoPho Posted May 11, 2016 Share Posted May 11, 2016 (edited) There's really nothing odd about a manufacturer's agent sourcing a known, factory-spec, and professionally assembled car, and then tending to the car at the event, to ensure that the experience and resulting article reflects well on the brand. Note that no mention was made of a Caterham Seven as a "bellowing ox-cart", or anything similar in this piece. Quite the opposite. Cheers, -Bruce Bruce, with all due respect, I've been doing photography for car manufacturers and the car magazines for a good 15 years, I am well aware of the relationship. It was odd to me because last time Road and Track did an article that included a Caterham, they contacted me to shoot the story because they knew I had a 7 and because I was able to find a local owner to provide a car. And this was for a track car comparison test (at Sonoma) where having a supported car would have been much better since they were being run hard all day. I have not seen this story yet, but as noted the story wasn't about Caterhams and it seems the car was more of a prop. It was a lot of work (and cost) to have you haul a car down from Seattle for such a use when there were several local cars that would have easily been suitable for this purpose only a few miles away. Nothing wrong with it, just odd to me in this situation http://yoursmiles.org/msmile/sad/m1516.gif . Edited May 11, 2016 by MoPho Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lucky dawg Posted May 11, 2016 Share Posted May 11, 2016 (edited) Bruce, with all due respect, I've been doing photography for car manufacturers and the car magazines for a good 15 years, I am well aware of the relationship. It was odd to me because last time Road and Track did an article that included a Caterham, they contacted me to shoot the story because they knew I had a 7 and because I was able to find a local owner to provide a car. And this was for a track car comparison test (at Sonoma) where having a supported car would have been much better since they were being run hard all day. I have not seen this story yet, but as noted the story wasn't about Caterhams and it seems the car was more of a prop. It was a lot of work (and cost) to have you haul a car down from Seattle for such a use when there were several local cars that would have easily been suitable for this purpose only a few miles away. Nothing wrong with it, just odd to me in this situation http://yoursmiles.org/msmile/sad/m1516.gif . Actually, I believe this was the last time Road & Track did a Caterham article http://www.roadandtrack.com/car-culture/news/a27755/what-you-learn-driving-a-bare-bones-caterham/. You may recall it was widely discussed on this forum several months ago. Edited May 11, 2016 by lucky dawg Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MoPho Posted May 11, 2016 Share Posted May 11, 2016 (edited) Actually, I believe this was the last time Road & Track did a Caterham article http://www.roadandtrack.com/car-culture/news/a27755/what-you-learn-driving-a-bare-bones-caterham/. You may recall it was widely discussed on this forum several months ago. I thought that was a blog post from Jalopnik (Travis used to work at Jalopnik)…, and I don't believe that was published in the magazine This is the article http://www.roadandtrack.com/car-culture/features/a8707/pure-bloods/ ran both in the magazine and the web. We used Seans car for it. . Edited May 11, 2016 by MoPho Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lucky dawg Posted May 11, 2016 Share Posted May 11, 2016 I thought that was a blog post from Jalopnik (Travis used to work at Jalopnik)…, and I don't believe that was published in the magazine This is the article http://www.roadandtrack.com/car-culture/features/a8707/pure-bloods/ ran both in the magazine and the web. We used Seans car for it. . Sorry, I thought a Road & Track article meant just that. Regardless, of the three, the current one is easily the most positive toward Caterham. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sean Posted May 11, 2016 Share Posted May 11, 2016 R&T pages search for "caterham" results. Lots of Caterham content in R&T over the past few years. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
supersportsp Posted May 12, 2016 Share Posted May 12, 2016 Its great that Bruce was able to make this happen and that LuckyDawg was cool with loaning it out. I do have to agree with MoPho though, that locating a customer car from Seattle for a piece in NorCal seems a little out of the way. Why not just borrow a car from Hillbank's inventory in Irvine? They show 13 in inventory on their site. Was Caterham USA unresponsive or did they rebuff the author's request? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MoBoost Posted May 12, 2016 Share Posted May 12, 2016 Maybe that Sam Smith lives in Seattle had something to do with it? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BruceBe Posted May 15, 2016 Author Share Posted May 15, 2016 Really - this had zero to do with the location of the article's author, or the availability of cars in or around Silicon Valley. However, it has *everything* to do with forging a more strategic, measured partnership with the automotive press. That Dyson article was a *DISASTER* on many levels. It was then followed up with another piece that was doomed from the start. We needed to break that cycle of unjustified poor press, and the Google article is a step in the right direction. Let's enjoy the marque's accolades in the article, and look forward to the next piece that highlights the positive attributes of the Seven - we're already working on it. Cheers, -Bruce Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sean Posted May 15, 2016 Share Posted May 15, 2016 Really - this had zero to do with the location of the article's author, or the availability of cars in or around Silicon Valley. However, it has *everything* to do with forging a more strategic, measured partnership with the automotive press. That Dyson article was a *DISASTER* on many levels. It was then followed up with another piece that was doomed from the start. We needed to break that cycle of unjustified poor press, and the Google article is a step in the right direction. Let's enjoy the marque's accolades in the article, and look forward to the next piece that highlights the positive attributes of the Seven - we're already working on it. I'll guess you haven't seen the GQ article on the 620S yet. It's from the UK version; likely different content than the US version GQ, but still, not exactly a complimentary article. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lucky dawg Posted May 15, 2016 Share Posted May 15, 2016 I'll guess you haven't seen the GQ article on the 620S yet. It's from the UK version; likely different content than the US version GQ, but still, not exactly a complimentary article. I guess we have different opinions of complimentary. When the article statesThe problem with the 620S is that its limits are not human." and The Caterham 620S is the world’s best Caterham, but the world can’t handle it." then I'm impressed. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Create an account or sign in to comment
You need to be a member in order to leave a comment
Create an account
Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!
Register a new accountSign in
Already have an account? Sign in here.
Sign In Now