Stef Schrader

Stef Schrader

@hoonofthe.day

She of the Puffalumps. Eater of Nuclear Tacos. Porsche Cayenne and Zündapp Janus stan. Texan living in CT. Autos reporter for Consumer Reports. All opinions here are my own, not my employer's. Parshtreon: puffalump.de

3.5K followers2.1K following27.8K posts

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never let anyone claim that I won't commit to the bit send queso recommendations so I don't starve and die

Stef Schrader@hoonofthe.day

Welp, I guess I'm trying every bowl of queso in the Hartford area. Ocho Cafe: It's molten cheese! Could use more tomato and pepper chunks inside, like the salsa. Texture isn't totally smooth, but it's not like a broken emulsion or anything gross. Congeals like good ol' foodservice Extra Melt.

I wish I could high-five the @trangirlismo.bsky.social girlies every time they mention treatment-resistant depression. Same! As a longtime member of THAT club, I feel like I should pass on the secret handshake (which is really just laying down and being too apathetic to bother with the handshake).

(Not sure if I have the energy to high-five anyone, but I have at least successfully acquired a maple latte, which means I'm not hiding from the oppressive pain of existence under a pile of Puffalumps right now. Baby steps?)

PREACH. It was awesome *in* a car, too!

What made the first corner of COTA special was that from the POV of the camera there was nothing but sky on the horizon of the hill - it really emphasised the elevation. That big multi storey car park now just spoils it.

Good grief, I left motorsport reporting so I could play with my own dumb track cars again. I should not be spending my garbage insomnia time angrily fact-checking someone else's article. ... IF ONLY THERE WAS A RACE TRACK IN THE TOWN WHERE MY RACE CAR LIVES THAT ACTUALLY WANTED MY MONEY

Anyway, when it's clear even in PR-ese that a whole community is getting a big ol' middle finger, maybe reach out to said community? Every track dork group on Al Gore's Series-O'-Tubes Internet has been telling the backstabbers running COTA to eat turds over this for months. It's not hard to find!

"We don't want the local motorsport community to go without a facility for too long, but we also need to get the project right." Then maybe don't preemptively shut out the local community? Or shut them out at all, given that other membership tracks still host public events? This isn't hard.

It's absolutely wild for the author of this story to write, "COTA still sees itself as the 'people's race'" uncritically in an article about how COTA wants to shut out everyday people from actually driving the track!

"Growing motorsport, particularly in the local area, is very important to us," Mullins continues. Really? Because if that were the case, the remaining events wouldn't have been told (with less than a month before some) to quiet their cars down because it might be too much noise for the theme park.

"I know people love being able to say they've driven their car on the grand prix circuit, and we're sorry that this won't always be possible unless they're members." Again, this is an unnecessarily wordy way for COTA's SVP to say, "Screw all of you common folk who've kept this place going."

"'A second track will be built, primarily because we recognise that we're displacing a number of people and organisations that have been partners of ours since the circuit opened,' Mullins explained." That's a whole lot of words to say, "We know we're stabbing our supporters in the back!"

Welp, I'm extra-glad I didn't attend in person now. Yikes. She doesn't even have ANY connection to Texas that I know of, nor is she that notable of a player. Is this another case of "the cruelty is the point?" It's not like there aren't a zillion other, more relevant personalities to wave a flag.

Mickayla@mic-burke.bsky.social

as a trans racing fan i’m not sure how i am meant to interpret F1 giving Sophie Cunningham the checkered flag at COTA besides an explicit statement of support for powerful people who would seek to exclude me and my friends from society

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This butt-awful building is what happens when you drive away everyone with good design sense. The Initech headquarters from Office Space that was meant to epitomize an anonymous corporate hellscape had more character than this thing atop Turn 1, for crap's sake.

Relevantish sidenote: Lumbergh's 911 was built into a PCA race car after filming the movie, and that is one of many organizations shut off from booking races or trackdays at COTA after 2026. I'm absolutely losing my mind at the many ways COTA's stabbed some of its most loyal supporters in the back.

Stef Schrader@hoonofthe.day

This butt-awful building is what happens when you drive away everyone with good design sense. The Initech headquarters from Office Space that was meant to epitomize an anonymous corporate hellscape had more character than this thing atop Turn 1, for crap's sake.

I swear to parsh, my 411's busted carburetor that I want to shot-put into the nearest volcano would do a better job of running this race track.

Welp, I'm extra-glad I didn't attend in person now. Yikes. She doesn't even have ANY connection to Texas that I know of, nor is she that notable of a player. Is this another case of "the cruelty is the point?" It's not like there aren't a zillion other, more relevant personalities to wave a flag.

Mickayla@mic-burke.bsky.social

as a trans racing fan i’m not sure how i am meant to interpret F1 giving Sophie Cunningham the checkered flag at COTA besides an explicit statement of support for powerful people who would seek to exclude me and my friends from society

also, y'all need to bulldoze that rejected office building design atop Turn 1, whoever decided that track cars need a last-minute noise limit so as not to disturb the friggin' theme park deserves to be publicly shamed and fired, and I hope this idiotic members-only track idea bites it hard, kthxbai

(I fully admit that I still haven't tried the version with consommé, so yell at me if you want, but other menu items always sound tastier to me.)

Motorsport Broadcasts Do a Competent Job at Anything Challenge [Impossible]

Looking Spiffy 🇪🇺🏳️‍🌈@lookingspiffy.bsky.social

There's ample space at the top if the timing tower to just put "debris turn x" or "marshals on track" etc. Track hazard is factual but useless for fans. And it's doesn't matter if it doesn't matter! If you're not going to show us, TELL US!! #F1

*gasp!* The furries are VOTING?! Good. It's their right to have a say in our government, too, and a lot of 'em are pretty damn smart. (Y'all should all go vote, furry or not.)

gwen howerton@kissphoria.bsky.social

a friend in Dallas got this gem of a political text today. The PAC, Texans for Common Sense PAC, is funded by Texans United for a Conservative Majority PAC, of which a GOP mega donor named Tim Dunn, who you may have heard of, is a major funder of.

...did they run out of supercars to showcase from the '80s or '90s or something? I'm only partially kidding here, but I got bored with Radwood's fancy-man, higher-entry-fee pivot. Fewer "wow, I haven't seen one of those in YEARS" cars show up lately, and those were the ones I appreciated the most!

The Autopian@theautopian.bsky.social

RADwood getting even radder 🔥 RADwood Will Have Its First ‘Millenia’ Class For 2000s-era Cars, Here’s A Sneak Preview --> tinyurl.com/yktdc7hn

Also, once a themed show show loses its focus, what's the point? I already got tired of it feeling like Cars and Coffee, Cont'd. as it sits.

Biting into a moldy tortilla was not the way I wanted to start my day. :( Being too anxious, depressed, and exhausted to cook much lately sucks.

There's Going Through It, and then there's Going Through It So Badly That I Lost Interest In The Habaneros I Purchased. This sucks and I just want my stupid brain to work again.

My anxiety meds weren't working anymore in a pretty catastrophic way, and I've spent the past few weeks waiting to see if the new one kicks in well enough to function. Why can't meds kick in like a 951's turbo?! I'm tired of tiring myself out from panicking at every little thing that isn't perfect.

It's me, I'm Dad, and I'm still kicking myself that the 411 decided that "en route to suite seats for Austin FC" was the ideal time to eat a fuel pump. >:( theonion.com/dad-losing-h... (I moved without ever going to a soccer game! And that looked fun! I guess it's on my "fix this on a visit" list.)

theonion.comDad Losing His Fucking Mind Over Box Seat AmenitiesCHICAGO—Dashing from station to station in a state of pure delirium as he gazed upon the endless spread of complimentary food and drinks, local dad Bruce Etheridge was reportedly losing his fucking mi...

Give it a normal, legible gauge pod instead of the Hella Cluttered Far-Sighted Driver Special from the Uncharted and Friends, and it might be pretty good.

Antifa CEO (official)@ultrafast.bsky.social

Subaru testing an EV wagon mule with 510hp, a long dash-to-axle ratio, and front double wishbones???

eating a deconstructed quesadilla (a single tortilla and shredded cheese straight out of the bag in front of the refrigerator because I can't be bothered to make anything)

preach

Voice commands in the car is "a solution" to a problem they introduced themselves: all touchscreen stuff with menus that are terribly dangerous to use while driving. You know what car doesn't need a "personal assistant"? My old ass 27 year old Audi TT filled with buttons I can command blindfolded.