Meet the Family: How MotorTrend Makes Best Driver’s Car Happen – Reference Mark

Opinion


Except that good content like MotorTrend ’s Best Driver’s Car costs a small fortune to produce. Sure, we could pile in a few cars, drive around for a day, then kick back and write a couple snarky blogs. But if you want something that actually adds value to the lives of your subscribers … well, that takes cubic dollars.

So as you read through this magazine (which you or your dentist paid for), you are going to see several teasers to videos that only reside on MotorTrendOnDemand.com. And as MTOD is a subscription service, you’ll need to pay the equivalent of a caramel macchiato for a month’s access to binge-watch an endless stream of thrilling Best Driver’s Car video content (not to mention seasons 2 through 25 of BBC Top Gear and our other MotorTrend streaming video, from Roadkill to Drift This to Throttle Out).

Please allow me to give you a sense of the undertaking that is Best Driver’s Car. Then you’ll see why subscribing to MTOD is worth it.

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First of all, it basically takes the entire editorial staff of this publication (the entire left side of the masthead, on page 8), six months to plan, actualize, test, drive, race, shoot, and then produce and publish all the content you will see within these pages and on our websites.

But this year’s production was larger than usual. Two European MotorTrend affiliates—from Germany and Poland—also shipped over video crews. Germany’s Axel Stein is a heck of a driver and also a bona fide TV star (check out Hausmeister Krause, a Deutschland knock-off of Friends). From Poland came Patryk Mikiciuk, host of Automaniak—think of a Polish Jonny Lieberman, only a lot richer. Kate Dean, our VP of development, got the international-content deal done, and our overseas director of content, Francesca Lossa, handled those myriad logistics, such as getting a squad of foreign nationals onto an active U.S. Air Force base.

Then, on a whim, we decided to race some of the BDC field around Laguna Seca, so we brought in veteran endurance racer Marino Franchitti and drift king Chris Forsberg to help create a thrilling spectacle.

In terms of a video crew to chronicle all this madness, we have our own Bear Dog Entertainment (long story about the name—ask Jonny next time you see him). If it required car-to-car action, a perfect fly-by drone shot (thanks to Mahdad and Hoda Emadipour) or the just-right GoPro angle, Bear Dog nailed it—with perfect lighting and sound—overseen by executive producer Levi Rugg and showrunner Matt Schutz. A small army of production assistants ensured every car was gleaming and clean and where it needed to be when it needed to be there. And of course, our crack photography team captured the dozens of still images you see on these pages (and even more online).

Want more 2019 Best Driver’s Car content on the Supra, Mustang Shelby GT350, Urus, and the rest of the BDC fleet? Get the full story HERE, and watch all the Best Driver’s Car videos you can handle HERE.

The logistics of traveling, feeding, and lodging the team would make a quartermaster swoon. Our Melinda Graves made sure no one sweated any detail on the road. Overseeing the logistics behind this whole bonanza was Luis Navarro, who is probably still rolled up in a fetal position somewhere.


























Almost every manufacturer involved sends a team of technicians to ensure its cars are in tip-top shape before our Randy Pobst wails around WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca. Plus, a couple of the OEMs bought our whole crew lunch during those days at the track—thanks to Mercedes-AMG and Bentley.

Best Driver’s Car also doesn’t happen without the support and cooperation of Monterey County, the owners of WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca. This is one of the world’s most spectacular, legendary racetracks. No one else has the Corkscrew—or such a professional staff aiming to meet our needs. Plus, when you’re hanging out afterward, there are few places more gorgeous to beach-fire your s’mores than the Monterey Bay.

Last, and perhaps most important, we at MotorTrend wish to thank the servicemen and -women of Vandenberg U.S. Air Force Base, 30th Space Wing and Western Launch and Test Range, who hosted their third straight year of the World’s Greatest Drag Race. That meant, among other things, helping stage our dozen cars for endless attempts at a synchronized launch, as well as generously giving us a tour of the “Slick Six” Delta Heavy launch site.

Special thanks go to Capt. Travis Schirner of the U.S. Air Force Entertainment Liaison Office and especially to base commander Col. Anthony Mastalir, who obtained permission from the Pentagon to allow our merry band of hooligans on site.

It was, in all, a great adventure. We hope you enjoy this year’s tale, with or without a macchiato.

More by Mark Rechtin:

  • Swan Song: The Porsche 911 GT3 Celebrates 20 Years
  • Inside Mercedes-AMG’s New, Almost-Sterile Engine Assembly Line (W/Video)
  • Chevy Over Ferrari? Ultimate Car of the Year Makes Us Confront Our Past
  • Why Good Design Matters
  • Speed Kills, But Why It Does is Subject to Discussion

The post Meet the Family: How MotorTrend Makes Best Driver’s Car Happen – Reference Mark appeared first on MotorTrend.



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