“I like cars, they are part of my life.” With that presentation Mario Pergolini He starts chatting with Clarín about something that excites him. “The truth is that I’m paying attention to the cars.”
However, Pergolini’s approach to that taste for cars does not come exclusively from design or any connection to motorsports. His attraction stems mainly from his concern for mechanics and for needing to understand how things work.
So it was that the creator of Vorterix remembered that as a child he spent “Saturdays with my dad who was changing the spark plugs or every once in a while taking apart the engine cover. I’ve been seeing valves since I was ten years old.”
But the technology and media entrepreneur also greatly appreciates sitting behind the wheel of a car: “The number of buttons I touch on the road is stupidly ridiculous. I don’t sit in a car just for the sake of it. I’m totally aware of which car I’m sitting in.” “.
He has been driving since he was 13, however, It’s not clear who taught it to him.: “I remember as a kid watching how my dad drove and letting me shift gears.”
“In the city, I won’t even get into a manual car”
-How do you get along with cars?
-I have always liked cars. But because I also like mechanics. So I guess since I was a child I saw something more than mobility in cars. I like cars for their engines, for their technology. Handle them too, obviously.
-And that taste for mechanics, where did it come from?
-It has nothing to do with motorsports. It came from my dad, who put his hands on all the cars he had. He was a technical guy who knew a lot and had a high aptitude for mechanics. I remember being next to him on Saturdays, when he was changing the spark plugs or every once in a while taking apart the engine cover. I have been looking at valves since I was ten years old, knowing that the spark plug gap was measured with a saw blade and how to clean it. Then I went to a technical school too, of course.
-I imagine that that technical school was also a consequence.
-Yes, I have to admit that it was because of dad, who liked cars, but he was not a fan of saying Wow, look at that Ford!
-And were you attracted to the design or was it also just because of the mechanics?
-I knew all the models, there was more car advertising. The Renaults with the Indians. Pulling a Ford truck from a Hercules. But I liked the mechanics first. I liked to get on my uncle’s Fairlane who told me “with this soft one because it has power steering” or see the power windows on the Rambler Ambassador. I like the mechanics. To this day I still love it. I watch Discovery Turbo shows. I think I follow eight programs.
-At what age did you learn to drive?
Mario Pergolini admits that he would like to have an electric car.-Do you remember that moment?
-I think it was a logical consequence. I remember two facts. First a Fitito that my Aunt Mary had one and I don’t know why she asked her for it and lent it to me.
-Yeah. And once also my uncle Pedro, in an anecdote that we always remember because he says that I screwed up, because he asked me Maniac?And I told him yes, that my dad would let me. And he lent me a Fiat 128, which later when he found out he told me that he was crazy and how could I lie to him. So yeah, at 14 years old. And also something else that I remember: wanting to turn 18 that same day to go get the registration.
-Who taught you how to drive?
-I don’t remember if there was anyone. I do remember that as a child I watched how my dad drove and he let me go through the changes. I don’t remember what the process was like with which I learned to drive. I remember already driving.
-Did you go out driving or use the car to get from one place to another?
-No. She only went out driving. She enjoyed it a lot. To this day I still love driving. It’s half a thermos head, right? Later my aunt Marta had a Taunus. And she lent it to me to go out. I don’t know if that thing still happens where you have to go to the bakery when they lend you the car and you say I’m coming! And it is three blocks away but you take the long way of 20 blocks.
-What do you consider was your first car?
-The car I used most often was my aunt Marta’s, who has lent me all her cars so I can go out on Friday or Saturday nights. And I remember the Taunus too because one day she hit it badly, turning badly and quickly in a corner and I hit her front wheel and messed up her steering. Also my sister, who always wanted to save and do things well and she bought a car as a student, a 147 and she lent it to me. But the first car that did belong to me is the Rambler, which my dad passed down to me.
-And how was he when he handed it to you?
-And I half threw a ball. He used more oil than gasoline. But I knew its Tornado engine by heart. It was more being with the car than going out with it.
-What was the first car you bought?
-A Fiat 128 Super Europa. Short. It said IAVA but it didn’t have anything about IAVA. I don’t know why they had changed the address, which was super direct, and it was very hard. Red. Short. He hit everywhere. And from there I went to a Renault 19, French. It was kind of crazy that at 26 years old I bought a 0 km but I had already started earning money on TV. A very comfortable car.
Pergolini admits that he is not careful with his cars.-You told me that you like to drive. If you can explain it, what does driving do to you?
-When I get into a car, even when they are borrowed, I don’t think of the car as a luxury object. I think about it as a whole. The fact of driving, the comfort when they are silent, if they have something new to see, the gearbox… But that happens to me as soon as I sit in a car. It’s not just accelerating and being taken somewhere. I don’t sit in a car just because. I am fully aware of which car I am sitting in.
-Do you use all the functions? On the road, for example, do you have cruise control?
-The number of buttons I touch on the route is stupidly ridiculous. I just changed the car, so there is a new discovery. The one that leaves you inside the lane, the one in distance with the one in front with the cruising speed. Then I walk the route and put it at the shortest distance to see how far it holds. I’m looking at the dashboard graphics. I mean, I’m really testing the car all the time.
-What are the cars that have impressed you the most among those you drove?
-The truth is that I remember my aunt Marta’s Taunus, when she had just turned 18. The gearbox seemed incredible to me, what it was like inside. It was a car that had an impact on me, I felt like someone lent me a Rolls Royce. I was able to drive many cars. And it would be easy for me to fall into an Aston Martin or a Bentley. I like the American car. I enjoy. Sometimes they are too spicy. The Mustang is all that. I liked having tried electric cars.
-My concept changed when I tried the Audi RS e-tron GT. That’s another thing that makes you smile because it’s giving you something new. You accelerate it and it never stops. Feel the traction of an electric motor. It’s coming back. I like technology, I like mechanics. So the cars that surprised me the most were the ones that shocked me at the time. By design there are a lot of cars that I really like, except when I see the Lamborghini SUV. On the contrary, I love the Maserati line.
-European or American car then?
-It’s difficult for me to answer that. Because I loved the Audi e-tron. And then I get into a Mustang and also.
Mario Pergolini would like to someday own a classic car.-Would you have an electric car?
-Yes, totally. I’m not that much of a “piston head.” I am not defending the combustion engine because it seems to me that in everyday life an electric car is much better. It’s comfortable and can be spicy too.
-What can’t be missing in a car that Mario Pergolini drives?
-Technology. It seems to me that I have to have all the technological variables that a car offers because it improves your driving. It prevents you from making the car safe. Even in things like Android Auto and CarPlay, because the truth is that it is beginning to be integrated more. And they have to have a good sound system. It bothers me a lot to be in high-end cars and that they don’t have the total efficiency that I want.
-What was the technology that surprised you the most in one of the last cars you drove?
-I think that the technology that has amazed me the most is the one that went unnoticed. I think it could be traction control or ABS. But when you realize that you are driving a six-cylinder car and you reach cruising speed, it goes to four, that breaks my brain.
-What can’t you be missing when you get in the car?
-It changes with age. It’s not the same when you have children. I have three children. Depending on the age of the children. My car, like almost all cars today, depends a lot on the phone, right? Maps, calls, auto answer. Yes, the phone. And I’m glad that I no longer have to think about cables.
-Are you careful with cars?
-No. I don’t have those skills. I’m not a guy who needs to have it super clean or not have it scratched.
-Do you remember any big baton that you have sent with a car?
-Yes very much. And they all have to do with a confidence that you sometimes have, perhaps a little more when you are young than when you are older. To believe that you have control over driving that you really don’t have. I never had a bad crash. But all the scares I had were because of my confidence in believing that I drive much better than I really do, because when I see people who drive well, I say “I’m pretty far from this guy.”
-Manual or automatic box?
-For fun, manual. But I don’t understand why anyone in the city wants to drive with a manual transmission. I don’t even get into a car with a manual transmission. Just thinking that I have to be putting first and second gear every four seconds…But I do like that when I’m on the road and I want to downshift, the sequentials respond to me.
-No. No. Every time I get in a pickup I have fun, but I wouldn’t have a pickup. The best for me are SUVs.
-How much do you set the air conditioning temperature?
-What car would you like to test?
-I like fast luxury cars. I would like to borrow an Aston Martin or a Bugatti. But since I have access to many cars and sometimes they lend me some, I would like to drive another level of vehicle. I would like to be able to go to a track in Barcelona and do the three days, starting with a BMW and seeing what category I could go up to. Some GT competition, for example.
-What is the motorsport category that you like the most?
-I love the TC 2000. The truth is that I don’t know what I see in a category that is not even very spicy, but it is the one I like the most.
-More than TC or Formula 1?
-I think the TC falls short. I like the folklore of TC, the competitiveness. I like that the drivers make the race interesting. I like this new change. But I would like them to free up the engines more and a couple of other things, but it is a nice category. And there are times when I really like Formula 1 and there are times when I get really bored.
-What does it do to you to know that at some point cars are going to drive themselves?
-Alright. There are many of us humans, cities have become chaotic, without a doubt. The way we have driven with this number of cars already needs another order. Another form of mobility. The new generations no longer give so much importance to the car. There are many of us and the cities have changed. You have to optimize all of that. Let’s talk about mobility and not about cars. I think it’s fine.
-Are you looking for a classic car?
-Yes, but I can intervene in it. I always have that fantasy that one day I’ll get a car that’s half shit, not completely, and it doesn’t matter how long it takes. And I’m learning how I do this how I do that. My dream would be to have that exclusive workshop so that my classic car could work at some point.