My “interesting car” story from today involves more than just a sighting.
It was my birthday last week, and as a surprise gift my wife bought me a little bit of wheel-time with these guys. It’s a Southern California company that lets you pay for the privilege of blasting sports cars around a very short and very tight track. I had no idea what she had got for me until we turned into the parking lot and i saw the cars.
She bought me a half-dozen laps in the Ferrari F430, and another half-dozen in the Porsche 911 GT3, and it was a total blast. The acceleration and the grip of these cars, especially the Porsche, is unbelievable, although in some ways i was even more amazed by the power of the brakes. The GT3 had carbon ceramic brakes, and their incredible stopping power allows you to make the most of the very short straight on the course. Hitting the anchors is like running into a wall, with no fade and no brake softness at all.
Each drive was over in a few minutes, making it a pretty expensive little outing, but it was an absolute hoot. I’m under no illusion that i’m a race-car driver in the making, and i’m sure i came nowhere near testing the limits of these amazing cars, but i highly recommend doing something like this if you get the chance.
Yesterday, at the grocery store, I parked next to an* exact* replica of my 2002 BMW. The car had the same (so-called) “limited edition” pinstriping as mine and a few other matching oddities. I hung for a while hoping to meet the owner, but eventually had to scoot.
Yesterday it was a 4th Generation (1973-77) Chevy El Camino cruising down the highway in rush hour. It looked it quite good shape, I wonder if it was a restore job or just well kept.
This morning I saw an AC Cobra (probably a replica but I can’t tell). Seemed a bit chilly at 6:30 to be driving with no roof, but the car looked great. Blue with the white racing stripe.
It’s Back to the Fifties weekend in St. Paul. How can I pick a “most interesting” from all that? I’m still very keen on the looks of the original Thunderbird though. Powder blue of course.
From day to day I see the usual yawn assortment of Ferraris, Maseratis, Jag F-Types, and Teslas, but the one I noticed was a Nissan 350Z with a license frame saying “I’d rather be driving my Miata.” So why wasn’t he? Maybe the Z Car was his winter car and wasn’t top-down weather, but it was nice enough. Later Zs always looked like lumberers to me, and if he wanted a lithe athlete he’d drive the MX-5.
I have a 2002 530i and my car twin was the same.