Vehicle Virgins Host Proves Why You Should Ignore InfluencersRecently, Parker Nirenstein from supercar You. Tube series Vehicle Virgins went to a Michelin press event where there was an autocross. You know, actual hard driving that requires skill and precision, the likes of which we dont see on supercar You. Tube very often. He is immediately called out by Alex Roy. It is hilarious. Parkers regurgitating a lot of tire jargon that Im not sure he quite understands, so The Drives Roy is doing the public service of calling him the influencer we got, not the influencer we need or deserve. Im not sure Nirenstein even knows what modulate between understeer and oversteer, is supposed to mean. Isnt there a word missing there, like throttle, maybe Mind you, Nirenstein just posted a video from a track day a couple months ago where he appears to be in one of the instructed groups for novice drivers, given the lead follow laps done to familiarize everyone with the line of the track at the start. Thats great More auto personalities should be going to the track for instruction so they can be better at what they do. Its one of Nirensteins best videos since its an honest look at what happens at the track and how fun it is. But theres the rubI dont expect a guy whos just starting to dabble in performance driving to be consistent enough to discern the difference between snap oversteer and ham footing the go fast pedal. Hes not exactly carrying much speed in the corners at the track, either. This is also why we dont do tire junkets here. Theyre dumb and bad Whats the takeaway Whats the story Dunlop tires feel amazing at the limitRecently, Parker Nirenstein from supercar YouTube series Vehicle Virgins went to a Michelin press event where there was an autocross. You know, actual hard driving. Teslas Hurricane Irma Update Taps Into Our Deepest Fears Of 21st Century Driving. Earlier this week, Tesla remotely upgraded select Florida Tesla owners cars to. Cd Spin Doctor Update Lion To Mountain' title='Cd Spin Doctor Update Lion To Mountain' />I can really feel the car in these Dunlop tires Only buy Dunlop tires from now on It is press graft at its worst. You see, Nirensteins puzzling tire remarks are what the lovely people who sell tires want their message coming out of a pretty face who gets lots of attention. If your schtick is look at me shiny objects and not the art of driving said shiny objects fast, youre going to be more inclined to spit back out something that sounds way too close to the manufacturers marketing presentation as opposed to your own thoughts in your own voice. Especially when a tire manufacturer is footing the bill for the whole event. Heres a thought if youre looking for tire advice, seek out the people who are very good at flogging on tires, not a guy who got famous on You. Tube for spending a lot of money on cars. Grassroots Motorsports has a habit of putting national autocross champions behind the wheel for their head to head tire tests, and its an annual must read for performance street tires. Tire Rack also does absurdly thorough tests of even more normal fare, if youre able to read between the lines of this is a company trying to sell you tires. Alternately, ask any track day instructors you know, as they experience a little bit of everything thanks to the massive variety of tires that students show up with at the track. But dont listen to influencers, who are too easily influenced on press junkets. Full disclosure I am hot garbage at autocross, and I dont get to do anywhere near the number of track days Id like to do. Im surprised Jalopnik trusts me with cars at all, to be honest. Update On the other hand, if were talking about influencers Update 2 Alex called to say he wants you to know he used Michelin Pilot Sports for his Cannonball Run, and he swears by them. Everything is terrible, influence yourself, trust no one. The Game of Thrones Finale Wasnt Perfect, But It Made the Season a Hell of a Lot Better. After six episodes that have been incredible, infuriating, revealing, confusing, and epic, last nights Game of Thrones finale had a great many things to answer for. They were the answers needed to help recalibrate the shows uneven seventh season so it ended up greater than the sum of its inconsistent partseven if that doesnt equal the shows best seasons. The Wolf and the Dragon had its own problems to be sureone in particular made me want to actually scream in irritationthe main one of which was its surprising lack of surprises. If youve been paying a decent amount of attention, you didnt have to hunt out hacker leaks to form a pretty good idea of what was going to go down in the season finale, but for me, that somehow didnt make it any less satisfying. If youre a book reader, you know how the show, having advanced beyond George R. R. Martins novels, has been partially satiating our hunger by sporadically giving us the scenes weve guessed and hoped were coming. The finale was packed with these scenes, like a Thanksgiving dinneryou know what the meal is going to consist of, but its still a feast. It began with a meetingThe Meeting, reallywhere most all the shows principal characters came together in the Dragonpit of Kings Landing for Jon Snows almost certainly unfeasible attempt to convince Cersei Lannister to help fight the White Walkers and their army of wights. There were three daises set up on the floor of the shattered arena where the Targaryens once imprisoned their dragons. The people sitting in them are as follows Cersei, Jaime, Qyburn, Euron Greyjoy, and the Mountain Jon Snow, Davos, and Brienne Daenerys, Tyrion, Jorah, Missandei, Varys, and Theon. And, after several tense moments and several even more tense conversations, there is one person in the center of the all The Hound, who carries a giant chest by himself. When he opens it, nothing happensno movement, so sound. Clear Windows Update Cache Sccm Microsoft. And when he kicks the chest over, the wight inside bursts out growling, and runs right for Cersei. In terms of showing the woman who currently sits on the Iron Throne of the threat that lies beyond the Wall, it honestly couldnt have worked out any better if they planned it and it almost makes you wonder if they did. Sandor Clegane yanks the wights chain back at the last second, so Cersei gets the most horrifying look possible. When the wights attention is focused on him, Sandor cuts the wight in two at the waist, allowing Cersei to see both halves trying to crawl towards someone to attack them. When the Hound cuts off a hand, Jon Snow picks it up to demonstrate the wights weakness to firethen stabs the torso with a dragonglass dagger, demonstrating its other weakness. All in all, Jon makes his caseso effectively, in fact, that Euron asks Jon if the dead can swim. When he answers no, Euron says and Im paraphrasing, I. Am. Outta here. He announces that he and his fleet are heading back to the Iron Islands, and leaving everyone on the mainland to die. Cersei also recognizes the horrific threat the living face, but she agrees to Daenerys request for a truce, and that shell send her forces north to fight with Winterfell and Daenerys Unsullied and Dothraki to fight the enemy of all of them. If Jon Snow, King of the North, agrees to stay up north and at no point take his soldiers anywhere near the eventual war between herself and Daenerys. Jon explains he cant do that because hes already bent the knee to Daenerys. And Cersei storms out of the Dragonpit. Jon tells the truth, and dooms humanity. It was as infuriating a moment as anything Ive ever seen on Game of Thrones. Oh, I know Jon has his honor, and his desire to always do the right thing has gotten him into trouble before, trouble that includes being murdered by his own men. But this moment this is beyond the pale. Knowing the truth would end the nascent truce, negating everything theyd worked so hard for, rendering the death of Danys dragon meaningless, and indirectly consigning god knows how many inhabitants of Westeros to death, Jon tells the truth anyway. Davos is pissed. Tyrion is pissed. Daenerys is extra pissed. Jon gives a pretty little speech about how lying is bad and people need to keep their word and blah blah, which might have had an ounce of weight to it if heal so hadnt been talking for seasons about how the war against the White Walkers was the only thing that matters, nothing elseincluding Jons goddamn honor. Everyone on Team Daenerys and Team Stark knows it, but Jon doesnt. Its a decision so stupid, even for a Stark, it feels like it almost erases everyones development over the course of the entire series, like it reset everyone back to the beginning of season one. But the worst thing about it isnt how dumb it is, but because its so selfisha truth told for his own self righteousness and self image, and nothing else, because it certainly doesnt benefit anyone else. In fact, it leads directly to Tyrion making his own terrible decision To go see Cersei, the sister whos tried to have him killed at least twice that he knows of, by himself and convince her to return to negotiations. Last week, in my recap of Beyond of Wall, I used the headline Game of Thrones Is at Its Best and Worst Right Now. I was referring to the shows powerful ability to give us amazing, epic fantasy scenes unlike anyone has ever before tried of television. What I wasnt referring to was the shows original strengthgiving us characters of depth, but also scenes between these characters, usually just talking to one another, that made them and Westeros rich and real and so captivating that even people who think stories about dragons and made up places are dumb have gotten completely invested in the series. Tyrions reunion with Cersei is one of those scenes, and, somewhat surprisingly, powered by the characters honesty wth each other. Cerseis still mad that Tyrion killed their father, but more upset that he left the Lannister family so vulnerable that their enemies felt bold enough to kill Myrcella and wrest control of Kings Landing from her, eventually leading to Tommens suicide. Tyrion explains the reason he follows Daenerys is because she actually wants to make the world a better place, while Cersei only cares about her ever shrinking list of who she considers family. Tyrion baits Cersei and tells her to have the Mountain, looming behind him, to kill him when Cersei doesnt, he pours himself a large glass of wine. Cersei reveals shes pregnant. The two will never love each other, but they end up making their own sort of truce together. Or so it seems. The Wolf and the Dragon is filled with these sorts of wonderful, character driven scenes, more than the entire rest of the season put together. Its as if season seven was sprinting through the plot for the first six episodes, in order to make sure it had plenty of time for these scenes after virtually all the main characters got together in one place. Id argue Tyrion and Cerseis reunion is the highlight of the episode, but heres a few more of them, some large, some small, all gratifying Brienne discovers the Hound is still alive, and the two of them share a small smile over what an ass kicker Arya has become. Tyrion gets a few moments with Bronn reminding him of his eternal offer to him Ill pay double and his former squire Podrick.