The red-and-white curbs strobe by slowly as the soft leather steering wheel slips through my hands, its winged B logo twisting through 270 degrees. The car it's controlling, a nearly $400,000 Bentley Brooklands coupe, is almost too long for this chicane. There's too much grandiose British steel here, too much surging power underhood for this exercise. Besides, it's hard enough coordinating turn-in points, braking zones, and trailing throttle without having to worry about dodging vagrants.
I have the Brooklands here on Detroit's Belle Isle — a tiny sliver of land in the Detroit River, and home to the IndyCar/ALMS racing that commandeers its wide thoroughfares for a weekend each summer — for mostly semantic reasons. The Brooklands is named after an old, irrelevant racetrack. Belle Isle is a freshly paved-and-curbed, but still irrelevant, racetrack. The symmetry is inescapable...
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HHmmmmm....Belle Isle...and no mention of ??? I wonder who on Kwame's press core paid you guys off not to mention all of the crackheads on "The Belle".
Back OT-- Bentley = classy lines and a heritage of style. This keeps true to form.
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I like my cars like I like my women...exotic, imported and fun to "drive".
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Vr6's should sound like chewbaca getting raped.
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'Ring testing a pickup is like seeing what a nun is like in bed.
i just want to go on record as saying i have never once seen any crack or crack periphanalia on my couple times a week runs and bike rides around the island, i've seen some homeless folk for sure, but not so many of the crackhead variety. how often do you go these days mr 1974? i mean for someone with nothing good to say about the city, i assume you don't frequent it
I'm frustrated by the celebration of anti-intellectualism and the fear of ideas.
i just want to go on record as saying i have never once seen any crack or crack periphanalia on my couple times a week runs and bike rides around the island, i've seen some homeless folk for sure, but not so many of the crackhead variety. how often do you go these days mr 1974? i mean for someone with nothing good to say about the city, i assume you don't frequent it
I was born and raised in southwest detroit...Vernor and Spring Wells. I DO know about what the city WAS and what it IS. True, I don't go down to DeToilet as much as I used to...I'd rather drive 4 hours to a thriving city like Chicago or Cleveland than waste my time in the "d". IF you haven't seen the users it's because you're not out there after dark...or if you are it's not where they're hiding. MAYBE they've cracked down on them and sent them back into the neighborhoods. IDK...and I don't care.
Quote, originally posted by Lwize »
Tongue weight isn't when your girlfriend pauses...
I like my cars like I like my women...exotic, imported and fun to "drive".
Quote, originally posted by Das Borgen »
Vr6's should sound like chewbaca getting raped.
Quote, originally posted by Turbiodiesel! »
'Ring testing a pickup is like seeing what a nun is like in bed.
MAYBE they've cracked down on them and sent them back into the neighborhoods. IDK...and I don't care.
they have cracked down on all kinds of nefarious activities on belle isle, there is a curfew on the island that goes into effect at 10 or 11pm.
oh yeah, and on the topic of it being a irrelevant motorsports venue, the local SCCA chapter held an autocross on the island just a few weeks ago, and has more planned for later this year
Modified by username at 9:42 AM 5-27-2008
I'm frustrated by the celebration of anti-intellectualism and the fear of ideas.
It's pretty easy to blow off a city that's down and/or run by a buffoon. It's a crapload harder to enjoy what's there, but some of us persist. It's working for Cleveland, and it worked for Philly. I plan to keep the faith for Detroit.
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It's pretty easy to blow off a city that's down and/or run by a buffoon. It's a crapload harder to enjoy what's there, but some of us persist. It's working for Cleveland, and it worked for Philly. I plan to keep the faith for Detroit.
With shining stars like the DIA and The Foxtown area there is a start...and potential. And with the return of the Detroit Grand Prix to The Belle and other motorsports activities it's a good start. It would be nice to see the "d" return to "The D".
Quote, originally posted by Lwize »
Tongue weight isn't when your girlfriend pauses...
I like my cars like I like my women...exotic, imported and fun to "drive".
Quote, originally posted by Das Borgen »
Vr6's should sound like chewbaca getting raped.
Quote, originally posted by Turbiodiesel! »
'Ring testing a pickup is like seeing what a nun is like in bed.
With shining stars like the DIA and The Foxtown area there is a start...and potential. And with the return of the Detroit Grand Prix to The Belle and other motorsports activities it's a good start. It would be nice to see the "d" return to "The D".
indeed, indeed....but people constantly badmouthing the place ain't gonna help
I'm frustrated by the celebration of anti-intellectualism and the fear of ideas.
As I was reading this article, I was thinking of you and the smoke coming out of your ears.
yeah, i guess i have a rep around here when the subject of detroit comes up ....but when i read some **** by some hack writer that flys in the face of things i experience on a regular basis, i can't help but speak up
I'm frustrated by the celebration of anti-intellectualism and the fear of ideas.
yeah, i guess i have a rep around here when the subject of detroit comes up ....but when i read some **** by some hack writer that flys in the face of things i experience on a regular basis, i can't help but speak up
You can close your eyes all you want, but that doesn't mean Detroit's not a hollow shell of its former self. Frederick Law Olmstead was the landscape architect for Belle Isle. Now compare its current state with that of Olmstead's Central Park. How much standing, putrid water and bombed-out buildings do you see in Central Park? Belle Isle should be one of this city's treasures, but it probably would have fallen into the river by now if it weren't for Roger Penske.
I've lived here my entire life and love the place, but face it: We're a national laughingstock (and I'm not just talking about Kwame). When you look at the way even Cleveland and Pittsburgh have turned themselves around, I don't know how anyone can think Detroit is anything but lost.
You can close your eyes all you want, but that doesn't mean Detroit's not a hollow shell of its former self. Frederick Law Olmstead was the landscape architect for Belle Isle. Now compare its current state with that of Olmstead's Central Park. How much standing, putrid water and bombed-out buildings do you see in Central Park? Belle Isle should be one of this city's treasures, but it probably would have fallen into the river by now if it weren't for Roger Penske.
I've lived here my entire life and love the place, but face it: We're a national laughingstock (and I'm not just talking about Kwame). When you look at the way even Cleveland and Pittsburgh have turned themselves around, I don't know how anyone can think Detroit is anything but lost.
i was gonna let sleeping dogs lie, but since someone else bumped this puppy up, i feel i need to dispel a couple of your assertions as, as i said before, i frequent the island once, sometimes twice a week. yes the one area of the road by the soccer field gets flooded after a good rainy spell. which "bombed out" buildings are you referring too? because as it stands the only one in deep disrepair is the detroit boat club (not to be confused with the well kept detroit yacht club which is also on the island) and even while in disrepair, it is used by the detroit rowing crew. the belle isle zoo is closed, but the belle isle nature zoo was built on the site of the old horse stables (well before penske came around with the alms). the belle isle casino building is still in top shape, the scott fountain, the conservatory et al... the aquarium is closed though, i'll give you that one, but you paint a far bleaker picture of the place than really exists. hell if it wasn't for penske, we might have a nice grassy field in front of you as you come off to the bridge onto the island, not a massive slab of grey concrete...then again, the local scca chapter did hold their second autocross there this year, today....sounds like a really ****ty place to be
i didn't grow up in this state, and frankly i think that's an asset to my perspective of the city, i'm not burdened by antiquated and romanticized visions of what was, but see reality of what is, and visions of what could be. cleveland and pittsburg have done a better job at breaking out of their rust belt pasts for sure, but have you not seen some things improve here in the last ten years? i know i sure have spending every one of those years living in the city, but still a long way to go no doubt. in the end what this city sorely needs is people to participate in it, not people siting on the sidelines in the suburbs bad mouthing it.
Modified by username at 10:06 PM 6-1-2008
I'm frustrated by the celebration of anti-intellectualism and the fear of ideas.
i didn't grow up in this state, and frankly i think that's an asset to my perspective of the city, i'm not burdened by antiquated and romanticized visions of what was, but see reality of what is, and visions of what could be. cleveland and pittsburg have done a better job at breaking out of their rust belt pasts for sure, but have you not seen some things improve here in the last ten years? i know i sure have spending every one of those years living in the city, but still a long way to go no doubt. in the end what this city sorely needs is people to participate in it, not people siting on the sidelines in the suburbs bad mouthing it.
I definitely think that the fact that you didn't grow up here gives you a different perspective. Far too many people from this area just cannot let go of the past... "But it was such a beautiful building!!!" Well, you know what? It's a f**king eyesore now and it needs to get bulldozed. Nobody loved Tiger Stadium more than me (I'm looking at two pictures of it and a wooden armrest hanging on my living room wall as I type), but letting it sit and slowly rot away over the past 9 years is much harder to stomach than a bulldozing.
There's a lot of good things happening in the downtown area... now focus needs to be turned toward some of the neighborhoods. Contrary to the hype, I think there's more overall good neighborhoods than bad ones.
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The above is an excerpt from the best selling book Band of Boozers, a heroic tale of ordinary alcoholics thrown together in an extraordinary time. Experience this harrowing Wino War II tale as only those that drank it can slurr.
??? I wonder who on Kwame's press core paid you guys off not to mention all of the crackheads on "The Belle". 
