We feel the need... the need for speed!
My son Jeff and I had an opportunity to drive 3 laps in an exotic car at Cayuga motor speedway. The three cars to choose from were a Porsche 977 Turbo, a Lanborghini Gallardo, or a Ferrari F430 F1. When we booked the date, we chose to drive the Ferrari F430 F1. We thought this was the only car with "paddle shifters" as opposed to a gear shift and clutch. Jeff can't drive a stick shift, so we wanted a car with paddle shifters. It turned out that the Lanborghini also had paddle shifters, but the Ferrari seemed faster in acceleration.
For my gear-head friends, the Ferrari F430 has a 4.3 litre V8, and 490 horsepower, and can accelerate from 0 to 100 km in 4.4 seconds. It was made from 2004 to 2009, and retailed for about $200,000.
We arrived early enough to check out the cars. Here is our Ferrari.
The engine compartment is directly behind the drivers seat, but honestly, I don't recall the engine being loud while driving.
Jeff was pretty excited, maybe a little terrified...
After checking in and a brief orientation session, we were ready to go. We drove with an instructor in the car with us. Our instructor was Brian Stewart, a former Indy driver and champion. Brian's philosophy was simple, you're either full on the throttle or full on the brakes, nothing in between. After getting in the car, and looking to adjust the mirrors (as they taught us in the orientation session), Brian said don't bother, you won't look a the mirrors once. And he was right, I don't recall looking at a mirror once.
Jeff went first, so I could get the camera set up and tested.
Jeff was showing fine form, and eventually caught up with the slower Porsche.
Brian instructed Jeff to pass the Porsche, which he did easily. Brian later was told that passing was not allowed for safety reasons. Oh well... it's easier to beg forgiveness, than to ask permission. Take a look how pumped Jeff was when he was finished.
My turn... showing fine form on the take off. Brian's only instructions were - get on the throttle as hard as you can, shift at 5,000 revs, and don't brake until I tell you.
The straight away seemed like the length of your driveway, but by the time we got there the Ferrari was in 5th gear, and time to hit the brakes, and down shift to 2nd gear. The next turns were a chicane, and very fun to accelerate through. Boy could this car handle.
After rounding the last turn and heading for the straight away, the instructions from Brian had changed - get on the throttle hard, and shift at 7,000 revs.
By the time we reached the braking point, the car was in 5th gear, but we were travelling about 190 km an hour.
The third lap was much of the same - either full on the throttle or full on the brakes.
I still don't know what it is about guys and fast cars, but I'm not complaining either... After seeing all three cars in action, I'm glad we picked the Ferrari. We would both love to go back and drive it again.
If you are reading this blog for the first time, don't forget to review the archives at the right side for earlier entries. And feel free to add a comment, as well as share this blog with your friends. If you have not already done so, please enter your email address in the "Follow my Blog by Email" box on the right hand side. It will be much easier for me to stay in touch with you. If you don't see a signup box on the right side, then click on the blog heading and that should take you to a webpage with better graphics. You should then see the signup box on the right side. If you have trouble signing up, send me an email at mark.girard@rogers.com.
Thanks for reading...
Mark
No comments:
Post a Comment