Exotics in the Outback '06 Picture Thread

While we are waiting for the pics, I took a handful of snaps with no cars in the shot...
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no cars





edit: good shots though

 

thanks captain obvious............

 

Its a pleasure to be at your service!

 

Here's one - an M5 tearing up the Outback. The scale of the place is huge as you can see.
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mhh, approx length of that bit of road off the top of your head???? It looks a fair distance!

 

i'd say 1.5km from where we were standing (i was vidcamming) on that peak to the bend at the end. just after where the shot is from the road bends again.

there were MUCH longer straights than that (you cover 1km in 10-12 seconds when doing a vmax run) but that one was just a nice vista that we could quickly get a good shot from as the lads came through.

 

i'll have some massive write-ups in the next week or so...

but yes, the 997 was astonishingly quick. after the F430 blew the panzer taxis away by 3-4 cars each, we couldn't believe just how much the porker put the hurt on it. vid in a few days when i get everything sorted.

 

cheers ash..... impressive stuff.

 

NOONE CARES!!!!




hahaha I kid

 

On the 997, I don't think anyone but MOTOR got to drive the car, but I did get a 20km ride in it. The car has huge urge off the line. It was a Tiptronic which has a couple of tricks to it including changing down to allow engine braking by giving the throttle a quick stab. It works well, but I thought a paddle shift would be just as effective (well, better than the buttons on the wheel).

Also, the car will hold its present gear if you are quick in coming off the gas. Tim from MOTOR said he still preferred the manual, but he certainly liked the car a lot by the end of the weekend.

The seats in the car are nice, the finish inside it plain but tidy, it has navigation and other mod cons and it looks tough too. OTOH, it doesn't have the engine note it deserves either inside or outside. I'd still be happy to have one though.

Scud's Ferrari was an impressive drive once I got used to the steering which is more restless than my Gallardo's. The F430 feels smaller from behind the wheel than it looks too. The sports seats were great in long sweepers at high speed, really hugging the shoulders. The exhaust note is good but not quite as impressive as the G. Power feels about the same. I think I got it up to about 270 but clearly it had plenty to go. The F1 trans seems smoother and quicker than the e-gear which is clunky by comparison. Scud's car looks great being lowered and having titanium wheels. I thought it was the best looking car when coming up in the mirrors - low, wide and very red.

I also took Scud's Gallardo for a spin as I've never driven a manual one before. I've been too long away from manuals to do it justice though. I think my brain needs one less thing to think about when on the move.

Scud is a very generous bloke to lend his cars to me and others to try. He was polite enough to say he liked his time in my M5 too. He even found the speed limiter for me.

 

as a beneficiary of his generosity for a while now, i wholeheartedly agree......

 

You mean these?
Or these?
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From memory, the straights north of Alice are even longer...

 

Lovely post mate.

 

more happy snaps...until the good ones arrive
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I like the first pic there Steve. It is a pity that what goes on tour stays on tour.....

 

one more
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I kno notting ...(good panzer saying)

 

While the memories are reasonably fresh, here are a few random notes....

The first of us arrived around lunchtime on Thursday. Jack hadn't quite beaten us there this time, but when he arrived soon after, Steve, Ash and I took my car north of Alice for a quick blast. The unlimited sign is a fair way out these days (10-20km?) but when we found it I gave it a quick run up to 250. Ash also filmed a drive by. On the way back, we saw the 997 TT coming towards us. We mistakenly assumed it was the MOTOR crew on board but when we followed it back to town, it had turned into the Ford dealership. We naturally stopped to check it out and the dealer principal came out of the showroom. He asked if we were from MOTOR. I thought he looked familiar. Turns out he was the same dude who bailed me up last year in the mainstreet to say "take it easy out there - we don't want you spoiling it for the rest of us". When we got back to the hotel we told Tim from MOTOR that we had seen his car on the Stuart Highway at high speed. He wasn't too impressed as the dealer has told him he was busy detailing the car for him!

Some of the other cars arrived later on Thursday, but the main event was the video show at Nev's place. Tony and Steve kindly got the food organised (still owe you for that boys) and Nev shows us his exploits at the track in Spain with the Veyron. We loved the power of the thing on the video but agreed that the LP640 had just as much presence on film. We also look at Ash's edited highlights from last year.

On Friday morning, we had some time to kill while waiting for the Queensland boys to arrive so we took Neville's advice and went for a run to Hermanburg, an Aboriginal settlement about 150 km away (guessing here). The road was pretty new and fast and the Sydney lads Pete and Tony, and Finny and Sabina from Melbourne got their first taste of motoring Territory style. At the end of the road we took a pic or two and headed home to help unload the pretty cars that were just arriving from Brisbane.

Once Scud, Dave, Andrew and Brad arrived, we were off to Glen Helen, about 130km away. This was the most intense drive of the weekend IMO. The road is a roller coast of ups and downs with a few tighter curvy sections thrown in too. It requires a lot of concentration as the traffic is noticeable and the blind crests mean plenty of hard braking and hard acceleration in sequence. Some of the floodways compress the suspension right down with the odd bottoming out as well. Apparently the range that runs alongside the road is quite beautiful. I couldn't tell you as my eyes didn't leave the tarmac. When we got back from GH, we filled again at the BP for the third time that day. I reckon those of us who did the Hermansburg run as well did about 600km for the day. We weren't finished yet though as our MOTOR snapper Guy had organised permission to shoot the cars at dusk at the Alice Desert Park. A couple of the earlier pics show the cars lining up as the sun sets. Some locals turned up to watch the action including our mate Brenden who gave us a discount at the BP last year.

Early on Saturday, we took the cars out to Anzac Hill for a dawn shoot. We left earlier than expected as half the gang were on Eastern time - meaning Ash and Dingo missed out on coming. The rest of us shivered in the 1 degree cold, but the pics will be special at least. Brenden was there to take some pics of his own and donated his company ute as a shooting platform. It takes dedication to get the family out of bed (including a toddler) at 6am on a Saturday - I guess they don't get hot metal in Alice every day.

After breakfast we were rolling south. As we passed the unlimited sign, there was our Brenden AGAIN by the side of the road with Junior getting a couple more pics of the cars streaming past. We stopped at the Cannonball site 100km from Alice for the annual drags....... (more to follow)

 

At the drags, Scud was king of the castle to start with, beating all comers until the Porsche 997 was pressed into action. The vids will tell the stories on the outcome of this event.

Eventually we got rolling again, now on the smoother section of road down to the Erldunda turnoff and gas station. Some good numbers where achieved here and much animated discussion took place while we waited in line for the premium pump. The cars were getting plenty of attention here with some of the other travellers coming up and asking friendly questions. It seems like most people don't mind getting their doors blown off by a Ferrari in the NT.

The next leg was our first taste (for a while) of 110km/h limited driving. We started driving in formation using both sides of the road, just to break the monotony. We also turned our stereos on for the first time in the Territory. After 50 or so km of this we reached the Kings Canyon turn off and we were free to put on speed again. Scud, Ash and I had swapped cars and couldn't find the gang when we arrived at the Resort. Seems everyone but us was gassing up at the servo down the road when a ranger turned up complaining about a couple of people who overtook her in a dangerous fashion in a red Ferrari and a silver BMW. What a coincidence - same sort of cars as us!

(more to follow - or can someone take over?.....please? )

 

More please, it's a great story, complemented by the nice pics!

 

Awesome pics guys! Great detail in the posts's too!

What a trip! sounds like you guys had a blast

Great post's too MHH, you can almost publish a book! really a great read

What was the incident with the lambo?

 

That Black Gallardo,

was it the one bought second hand from melbourne... (with yellow callipers)

(does that mean it was the One motor used a few years ago?)