August 30th Throttle 🏎️💨

What’s up Throttle Heads 😎 Welcome back to another newsletter where we have some fire news for you all.

Williams Replaces Logan Sargent With Franco Colapinto For Remainder Of The F1 Season

In what has been a huge blow to Logan Sargent and American Formula One Fans, Logan Sargent, the lone American driver on the grid has been dropped by Williams Racing for the remainder of the season. Sargent was a rookie with Williams last season where he has only managed to score one point during his entire time in Formula One. While Williams was initially gracious with Logan as they believed he simply had more time to adjust to the car, talk about him being dropped soon began to spread across the paddock. This was accelerated after his wild crash in Zandvoort which saw his fare go up in flames.

Vowles remained very positive after the team dropped Sargent stating Logan is a very talented driver and the team will continue to support him in his racing career. Replacing a driver midseason is certainly an immense risk but it has worked out in the past. Last year, Alpha Tauri (Now RB) scored critical several points when Liam Lawson replaced Daniel Riccardo after he broke his left hand due to his crash in Zandvoort.

Frances Colapantio is an Argentinian driver who is part of the Willaims Driver Academy and made his FP1 debut this summer at the British Grand Prix. Colapantio is currently in his second season of Formula 2 where he is currently sixth in the driver standings after one race win and two second-place finishes. Even though it sucks to see the loan American driver exit the sport, it is great to see new talent coming onto the grid as the driver lineup has been relatively the same over the past several seasons.

Ford GT Designer Promoted To Global Styling Boss Of Ford Brands

Ford has just appointed a new global chief of design, Todd Willing, after the previous departed in May leaving the position open for three months after a seven-year tenure. In this position, Willing will head the design of Ford and Lincoln vehicles across the globe. Willing is a battle-hardened veteran of the Blue Oval who joined the company in 2003. He was promoted from the head of the Ford Model E program, which is the design focused on Ford's electric vehicles. Hopefully, Ford won’t be reviving classic models as electric frankensteins like the Mustang Mach E under his direction. Although, I am a fan of the new Ford Capri as it does look fire.

Willing’s appointment is immediate and he is actively serving in this role as immediately as you are reading this newsletter. One of Willingly’s most famous projects was the 2017 Ford GT which is one of the sickest super cars of the 2010s. Willingly also led the design team for the F-150, Super Duty, Bronco, Ranger, Maverick, Expedition, and Explorer. All of these cars are well-designed models and in the case of the Bronco, Willingly did a great job bringing back a classic SUV. It will likely be a few years before we see the design direction of Willing but I am confident Ford will produce many good-looking cars under his tenure.

Pagani Will Stick to V-12 Engines And Won’t Do Hybrids Or EVs

Pagani has to be one of my favorite car companies and it might not be for the reasons you may think. No, it is not for the amazing design, or the performance, but for the fact they are one of the only car companies to offer V-12 engines. I mean how dope is that ‼️ The only engine you could have ever gotten in a Pagani is a screaming V-12 which makes upwards of 800 horsepower. At a time when many super car manufacturers from Porsche to Lambogorhini are downsizing their engines and adding hybrid powertrains, Pagani is doubling down on what makes them so great.

In an interview with The Drive, Horacio Pagani, the CEO and founder of Pagani said “In reality, no one is interested in a hybrid car”. While this is a very blunt way to say it, he is right as the buyers of hypercars want a car which is analog with a combustion engine. Rimac has encountered this as they have been struggling the sell their Nevera hypercar and close out the order books. Pagani went out to describe how a hybrid car is channeling to develop as it has all of the problems of a gas and electric car resulting in higher development costs. Personally, I think Pagani made the right call by sticking to their V-12 engine which put them on the map. Trying to change their lineup and the DNA of their cars will only push their exclusive clientele away.

Biden Administration Announces It Will Spend $521 Million To Expand EV Infrastructure

The Biden administration is doubling down on its goals to electrify America and reduce the nation’s reliance on fossil fuels. The White House announced Tuesday it will award a whopping $521 million in grant money to build out 9,200 EV chargers. The Department of Energy and Federal Highway Administration broke this money down further with $321 being spent to fund 41 community projects to expand EV charging infrastructure. The remaining $200 million will be spent to fund 10 corridor fast-charging projects along stretches of US highways.

This announcement comes after the Biden Administration faced heavy criticism for failing the slow rollout of its $5 billion EV charging infrastructure project announced in 2021. The goal of the White House is to grow the nationwide charging network to 500,000 ports with high-speed chargers no more than 50 miles (80 kilometers) apart along the nation’s highway systems. Considering how the US currently has 192,000 ports as of July 2024, this is a lofty goal and will probably not be realized for another decade. Hopefully, this money will be put to use in building out charging networks in middle America and rural parts of the country where the infrastructure is lacking compared to states such as California where EV infrastructure is already very mature.