Wednesday Overnight Open Thread - January 28, 2026 [TRex]

Good evening Horde. The time has come for mid-week shenanigans of the post-cafe overnight variety.

Welcome to the Wednesday night ONT which means another edition of random overnight fun and games. Pull up a chair and sit a spell. Good will offerings of amusing puns are happily accepted. Pants are optional, but only if you are in very warm surroundings. Be nice to your fellow commenters and AoS contributors.

[Top photo: Winter in Yosemite. Photo credit unknown.]

Please indulge me for a moment:

Many people know Porsches as the sportscar in Risky Business or Weird Science. Charlie drove a Porsche speedster in Top Gun and Will Smith drove a 911 Turbo in Bad Boys. Maybe you knew a local doctor that had a red one or an uncle with something that vaguely looked like a sporty VW.

Before Porsches became more broadly known in the 1980s, it was a much different company. The company was only born in 1948 and was smaller than other manufacturers. In the mid 1960s, the 911 succeeded the 356 which was the company's first model. The 911 was simple and sporty with a timeless shape where form followed function. It was not a luxury car.

Porsche believed that motorsport improved the breed. The 911 was a road car but it was raced by the factory and customers alike.

Porsche engineer Peter Falk joined the company in 1959 and rose quickly to head various testing programs, including the first road going and racing 911 cars. He served as navigator in the first international race for the 911, the 1965 Monte Carlo Rally. Racing was competitive R&D and run out of the passenger car business.

In the 1960s, Falk managed the racing program. In the mid-1960s and 1970s, the factory built pure racers like the 917 to challenge for wins at the biggest races. In 1981, the racing program was formally moved from under the passenger car business and Falk became Porsche's racing director.

In the 1970s and 1980s, Porsche moved from chasing others to having everyone else chase Porsche. Porsche did not just win - it dominated. Falk lead an amazing group of people that accomplished amazing things. It was a right place, right time, right people scenario. The engineers were not flashy and let the cars and drivers take the spotlight. It was a time before everything became electronic and driven by computers. Trial and error, intelligence, willpower, and on-the-fly engineering pushed progress.

Porsche claimed motorsport success in the 1980s across many forms of motorsport (including LeMans and Dakar), remarkable for a racing department that was tiny by modern standards.

Most people have never heard of Peter Falk or the people in his orbit but Porsche as a company and motorsport in general would not be the same without their involvement and Herr Falk's leadership.

Peter Falk's earthy race saw the checkered flag on January 23. He was 93.

No, Porsche Peter Falk is not the same as the Columbo Peter Falk.

Hat tip: Iris

I await the Horde's theological explanation for why Luke is sugar free.

Two unrelated but random time-related facts:

The Dutch tulip bubble only lasted six months:

Science!

Knowledge:

Sure this has been posted before but think we need some zoomie winter content:

The Pittsburgh police scanner keeps giving. Thank you people of Pittsburgh!

And as is customary and traditional:

In memory of Peter Falk, Hans Zimmer with the soundtrack from the movie "Rush" for the big ONT finish.

Written correspondence can be sent to moronhobbies at protonmail dot com. Are you lurking ?? Thank you for your attention to this matter.

posted by Open Blogger at 10:00 PM

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