Ferrari Mailing List: Re: Today was meant for a Ferrari...(Long read and F1 SPOILER)

[Rick Lindsay (rolindsay]

Wow!  I smiled all through your note!  Did you see me
right there beside you?  I was - at least in my head.

Today promises to be a cooler (for Houston) day too
and carbed cars just seem to live for cool air.  We
don't have too many twisty roads here and the closest
'hill' is way up toward Austin!  Still, north-west of
Houston, out past Tomball, there are some pretty good
roads.

So after Massa wins today, I think a nice drive is in
order! :-) Thanks Jim for posting that great note!
...and in a 308 to boot!

rick
'79 308GTB

--- jim <jimshadow [at] verizon.net> wrote:

> The week was full of stuff..Rain, storms winter
> approaching.  A tornado
> touched down not too far from here doing all kinds
> of damage.  On top of
> that work has been a pain in the arse.  The only
> bright spot was the promise
> of clear skies and 70deg. temps for Saturday.  This
> kept me going all week.
> 
>  
> 
> Friday night.  Quick check of weather.com.  Looks
> like a perfect day
> approaching.  In planning the day in my head, I'm
> thinking I'll actually try
> to sleep in until 7 or so.Then take the Ferrari out
> and stretch her legs.
> 
> Enter Saturday. The weatherman didn't lie. Slept in
> until 8:15!! Perfect day
> brewing. Checked the web for the call for volunteers
> to help clean up storm
> damage.  Not until Sunday. Great, time to drive. The
> girls have a "girl day"
> planned and I'm on my own. 
> 
>  
> 
> I open up the 2nd garage bay, pull the cover off to
> a gorgeous shade of
> Rosso Corsa. I can tell she wants to run.  Something
> about a Ferrari that
> has been sitting all week waiting for the rain to
> end.  It's almost like she
> knows I know she knows. :-)
> 
> She starts right up and while she's idling I perform
> my pre-flight check.
> 'All systems go' I say to myself as I back out and
> head for a fuel stop.  
> 
>  
> 
> Once she's filled up I head for US33.  Its one of
> only a couple roads around
> this place with curves.  Long sweepers that you
> could take at 90mph.   Some
> are marked '40mph' but that just means a flick of
> the wrist to 4th and stomp
> on the throttle!   My route will take me northwest
> for about 40 miles to a
> small town where I can grab a diet coke, then head
> back southwest to my
> lunch destination to watch F1 qualifying. 
> 
>  
> 
> Once on 33 I find initially that I probably slept in
> a little too long.
> Traffic.  Drats!!!   I'm behind 3 cars moving at a
> snails pace, or so it
> seems.  At the first little town they move off one
> by one until I'm passing
> the last one at about 70mph.  Now we're talking.  
> The road ahead is
> beautiful, accented with the changing colors of the
> trees and the clear blue
> sky.  I'm in heaven!  Rolling hills and sweeping
> curves are flying past me,
> again so it seems.  I'm never really going over 65,
> but it feels much
> faster.    
> 
>  
> 
> At one point I come up on a moving chicane.   I can
> see a stretch of
> straight flat road beyond the small rolling hills
> ending in a series of
> esses that I know well.  That is my target passing
> point pending any
> oncoming traffic.   I'm starting to dream F1.   At
> the last rolling hill I
> make my move.  To my surprise the little Pontiac
> wants to play.
> Unfortunately for him, the little 4 banger is no
> match for the little V-8 in
> my GT4 but he does force the issue down to the end
> of the straight.   Again
> I'm dreaming F1.   Indianapolis, cruising past the
> line of bricks, down to
> the 100meter, 50meter marks..downshift, tap the
> brake and turn in.  Stomp on
> the gas and that little Pontiac is GONE!    I'm thru
> the esses and he is
> nowhere in sight.   I'm a good 1/8 mile down the
> road before he appears.
> "I thought you wanted to play." I said to myself..
> 
>  
> 
> I am all smiles as I pull into the CVS to grab a
> diet coke.   They have the
> coldest pop around.   As I'm walking outside I hear
> the teenagers saying
> "what the -F- is that thing?"   The youngest says,
> "It's a FERRARI you dumb
> *ss!"    My smile turns to a brief laugh.  
> 
> Once back in the car I'm all business.  More road to
> carve and for the next
> 40 miles or so it's going to be major fun!    I head
> south and catch SR5,
> which is a much older road in need of re-surfacing,
> however, it is 10 TIMES
> the fun!   Tighter corners, some 90+ degrees. 
> Bigger hills and very little
> traffic.  This is the road my GT4 likes to drive. 
> 
>  
> 
> SR5 dead ends into US33.   As you head back south on
> 33 you hang a sharp
> right, then a series of switch backs start the
> journey down 5. I'm FLYING
> through these when I come upon an old for pickup
> hauling old pallets which
> are tied down by twine and hanging off the back. 
> "Great" I think.  This guy
> is going to kill me.  I follow him for a couple
> miles, his suspension barely
> alive.  He almost looks like he has hydraulics on
> the front, bopping up and
> down as he's trucking down the road..Luckily he
> turns off quickly, pallets
> nearly scraping the ground and I don't see another
> vehicle for miles. 
> 
>  
> 
> Rolling hills, twisty turns and one of my favorites
> is coming up.  A sharp
> left hander that nearly folds back on itself.   It's
> a 20mph corner but fun
> as hell at 40.  Tires letting you know they're
> working and you can feel the
> rear sway bar doing what it was designed to do, keep
> that rear end planted
> and moving in the proper direction!  Through this
> corner I come upon the big
> Harley.  This guy owns the road, I'm quite sure of
> it.   There was no
> passing this dude and I really had no reason to.  
> He was moving that big
> hog around like it was a sport bike.  Nary afraid of
> a corner nor afraid to
> get on it when the road straightened out.   He made
> this part of the ride
> fun.   After a while I turned right and he went
> straight.  Thumbs up as he
> rode on.   From here I was off to Todd's place for
> F1 qualifying.   Another
> 30 miles of cruising to get there but this time big
> rolling hills and
> straight roads with the occasional long sweeper
> thrown in for fun.  
> 
>  
> 
> "What a PERFECT day to own a Ferrari" I yell at Todd
> as I pull in his drive.
> Head deep in to the interior of his 250 he shouts
> back, "I bet you're having
> fun!"   Sure enough I was in Heaven.  This car is so
> much fun to drive and
> the day could not be better.   "Lets grab some food
> before qualifying."  He
> agreed.   I tossed Todd the keys and said 'you
> drive'.   Even though he has
> a pristine 250, he looked like a kid in the candy
> store when I said this.
> Funny thing about these cars, you never get rid of
> that look, especially
> when a buddy lets you drive is prized possession.  
> We grabbed a couple of
> subs and headed back to the garage, Todd driving
> still.   I think he's
> hooked.  Maybe I'll drag him over to the dark side
> of GT4 ownership, who
> knows.  All I can say is that he was having a great
> time tossing the shifter
> around the gates.   
> 
>  
> 
> "YESSSSS!" we shouted as Massa took pole for the 2nd
> straight year.  Now all
> we need is for Alonso to take Hamilton out and we'll
> have a great year!!!
> Ok, so I don't really want Alonso to take anyone
> out..Hamilton deserves the
> WDC, but a Ferrari driver sure would be nice!! 
> Anyway, the minute
> qualifying ended I was back on the road heading
> home.   60 miles. 60 miles
> of more of the same.   Rolling hills, long sweeping
> turns and a car that is
> running stronger than ever.   She really is putting
> out today. I just love
> my car!!!
> 
>  
> 
> Once home I tucked her safely in her garage space,
> checked her oil and let
> her cool down.   Those who don't own will never know
> the feeling after such
> a drive.  Whether it's on the track or around local
> roads, you guys reading
> this know the feeling.   Damn its fun to drive this
> car!   33 years old and
> the car still bring a level of excitement that few
> cars today can match!
> Few cars today can keep up in the corners with my
> car.  And few cars today
> have the 'Je Ne Sais Quoi" Except of course a
> Ferrari.  
> 
>  
> 
>
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