The best Ferrari ride I have ever had

You just owned this thread. I'm not often touched by anything, ever, these days; but that was awesome. Thank you.

 

Very cool toggie.

 

FCA National at Road America:
Hot laps with Jon Masterson in his BBLM. Under braking felt as if were it not for the seat belts you would be going through the windshield.

FOC at Riverside:
Hot laps with Jim Stollenwerk in his 250 GTO. At the end of the day approaching sunset with Steve Earle in his GTO just ahead the 2 GTOs were in tandem. No seat belt for the passenger so holding on to the seat frame with both hand between my legs.

FOC Virginai City Hillclimb:
Up the hill with Lou Sellyei in his pontoon fendered 250TR.

Other:
2 months of driving 250LM 5909LM on the street. RHD, LH shifting, no syncros, a clutch that ate left legs, no mufflers, no sound insulation and you felt that the car wanted to bite back if given a chance. Absolute fun.

Jeff

 

Can you elaborate on how driving a 430 can be anywhere close to a ride in a 250 GTO? Thanks.

 

SO FAR, driving a borrowed 550 to a charity event in Seattle has been my best experience
Secondly, chasing a new Corvette Z06 down the freeway in my TR a couple of months ago.

 

121LM with the tonnue cover off, Bob Norwood driving with me sitting on a milk crate at midnight down the I-75 service road. I was 19 at the time and thought it was great, now I look back at some of the stuff we did and am glad to be alive.

 

I still love telling people about that. I remember reading the thread back when that happened, and at first couldn't believe it!

 

Fantastic!

 

Yes, the original thread is in the Mid-Atlantic section called "A Drive with a Hero" and started on 9/18/2007:
http://www.ferrarichat.com/forum/showthread.php?t=167550

Credit goes to 355dreamer for coming up with the original idea.

The "methodology" we came up with on how to safely let a blind person drive a Ferrari started in post #43:
http://www.ferrarichat.com/forum/showthread.php?p=137092357#post137092357

We were going to try to test our procedures by having one of us pretend to be Mike by trying to drive a Ferrari with a bag over our head (with another fchatter sitting in the passenger seat). We came to our senses that this would probably be even more dangerous than letting Mike drive since he was used to being totally blind and we weren't. Plus, imagine getting stopped by the police and trying to explain to the cop why two idiots are trying to drive a Ferrari with a bag over the driver's head!

The pictures of the actual driving experience start on post #67:
http://www.ferrarichat.com/forum/showthread.php?p=137102969#post137102969

The thread ended up having 123 posts in it, mostly commentary on how crazy of an idea it was.

One of the fun parts of the day was taking Mike to lunch at Uno's Pizza and listening to some of his war stories. We had a table of about 12 or so people at it. Truly a hero, Mike is.

Here is a pic of some of the cars parked at the restaurant that day:
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I unfortunately do not own a Ferrari, but the best Ferrari ride (the second one of my life) I ever had was at Fiorano after winning a contest of Shell... Check pictures at http://www.miessen.nl.

My first Ferrari ride by the way was at my own wedding, driving a 360 Modena Spider and that was also a great drive, but in a different way ofcourse! ;-)

 

My best ride ever was in an 07 Lamborghini Gallardo, pearl white. It was my birthday and the ground was covered in snow. At 7 pm my friend Bill gave me quite a present when he took me for a spin in the Gallardo. WE HIT 110 and it's acceleration threw me back into my seat like I had been hit by a bull. (which technically, I was hit by 10 ) We went around turns at 40 mph drifting so much that we were an inch away from spinning out. Every turn I would watch the back end swing around so that we were almost sideways. Truly one of the most thrilling things I have ever experienced. By the way if you ask why I'm not telling my best Ferrari ride story is I don't have one! Thats right, never rode in a Ferrari. So if you're in Chicago and own a Ferrari and would like to help me get a story to post I WOULD BE HAPPY TO ACCEPT

 

just to chime:

I have driven both cars as well (my 250 experience is on the previous page.) These are two very different cars. . . The 430 is more impressive than raw/natural and exciting (compared to the 250GTO). The GTO is so many worlds different that it even differs from the most recent 288 GTO (two different types of rawness, two different eras.) That should give you an idea of how these two cars stand next to one another - the 430S would not even give you an experience close to a GTO.

The 250GTO is much more involving and much more respected - its also slightly harder to drive compared to the new car and may be for some, more of a "nightmare" you want to embrace just because of the beautiful sound. The clutch/transmission noise with the 12 cylinder carb engine built by Ferrari is just an irresistable menu. Firing up the 4.3litre v8 and firing up the GTO are two different, but good experiences.

IMO the 430 is surely not better as a driving experience, but definately does a fair job keeping its roots.

 

Best 'ride' was a dozen laps as passenger in NGT #33. So loud and intense that I couldn't get it out of my head all day, we were even passing the F40s on the track. Owner took me for a second ride when we met up the next year too.

288, Enzo are up there too along with a ride in a 360 Challenge with a former F1 driver (insane).

 

Great story Toggie

 

The week after I bought my car, we were at my parents cabin and my Dad and I took the car out Hwy 165 in Southern Colorado from San Isabel to Cold Spring. He drove out, I drove back. We were in the high mountains in August, the roads were empty, and the car was running great. It was his first time to drive a Ferrari. We had a ball.

The next day I drove it 700 miles home, with my 6 year old riding shotgun. At one point, he climbed in my lap and 'drove' at 100mph. He's 13 next month, and he still talks about it.

 

Hello from Germany,

best ride / drive was back in 1981, when I 'stole' my dad's 308 GT4 to pick up my - back then - new girlfriend - today my wife - for a VERY nice saturday night - I was 18.
I drove slowly, I was full of awe, but it was worthwhile No later experience with any Ferrari can outmatch that memory.

Best Regards

Martin