Since there will be soooo many Concorso pics, I'm starting "Bourbon St. Day" when we arrived at 8pm the previous night... Now a reminder for all those there with cameras: 1) What happens on Bourbon St. stays on Bourbon St.! So be very selective in what you post. 2) Some of what happened on Bourbon St. would not be appropriate for this forum... some of it might be appropriate for the Bikini Thread and ONLY the Bikini thread (like the pros in red bikinis... so to speak). With that said... Here's some pics of the scene from the balcony as some of our group were arriving on Bourbon St. via horse-drawn carriage. Nice touch. The driver seemed amused with having police escort. Though our horse needed a new set of brakes ... and some intake and exhaust mods... we fell way behind the escort.
While some liked the night scene on Bourbon St... I'm sure that some preferred the morning scene... a parade up and down the French Quarter... that beautiful Ferrari sound echoing off the buildings lining the skinny streets... crowds of people cheering... that Mille Miglia feel as you floor your Ferrari down a street with people hanging their heads out over the street to get a better look at what's barreling towards them... As a few stated afterwards... you cannot possibly describe the feeling of that parade... it must be experienced! These few pics are next to worthless... its the video Richard's team was compiling with that oh-so-awesome sound... I cannot wait to see it!!
Just so there's no confusion... when the parade was moving, we were much further spaced out... and moving quick!! Those pics were shot near the end of the French Quarter part... we were stopped while NO's finest were moving from their "close the French Quarter" positions to their "close I-10" positions! They have a huge number of motorcycle police in New Orleans, BTW! These next shots are cruising down I10 at glorious speeds (not to be named )... an interstate three lanes wide full of Ferraris at one point! At other points we were more spread out... and moving too fast for me to be fiddling with a camera!
And no matter what a particular F40 driver says, I did not lead him to miss the exit... I exited with the rest of the group... he defiantly stayed on the expressway with no help from us!! Anyway, we arrived at a beautiful home... which the very nice owner (who I won't name since I don't know if he'd want his name posted here) opened to us most generously... filling his neighborhood with Ferraris... great brunch... fantastic conversation with one of the friendliest group of people I know... and then award ceremony...
I would NOT have wanted the job of choosing Best of Show... first, there were five very deserving cars all assembled around that fountain... all were beautiful... all were very special... And all the owners were extremely nice people... very enjoyable to talk to... fascinating people who were more than happy to share with the rest of us. I would NOT have wanted to choose who to give that award!! My Stradale was, of course, not in the running for that glass cavallino... but I did get one of the cool etched wine glass trophies. That's a first for me... most events would laugh at my car... 6 months old... 12,000 miles... no notable history of mention... and riddled with chips and scrapes from being driven on road and track... But this is a Drivers event... this is an event about passionate people who are more than happy to share their passion with others... its an event that represents, to the ultimate degree, what I love most about the Ferrari community... and as such, that "Platinum Award" from FFQC is about as prestigious an award as I could possibly get. Thanks guys!
Hey Brian, It was a real pleasure to meet you this weekend, and I enjoyed our conversation Sat night! I'm looking forward to next year already! What a weekend!! Dave PS, I still need to get a copy of that 166/P4 pic we talked about!
After the awards ceremony, I headed out... had the luxury of following the People's Choice winning black F50 down I10 along with "the Stuntwoman's" 355... we made great time... and driving is soooo much more fun when you're following one of your all-time favorite cars (I love the F50)... I made it back to Dallas in 6 hours 40 minutes... traffic wasn't too bad... I49 was almost fun (though there was a LA trooper radar'ing).
Everyone of us missed the exit on Sunday because we were following a certain gorgeous Stradale at a high rate of speed! It was so funny, I had seen Brian all weekend, saw his name and the car but never put it together who he was till the last hour of the meet on Sunday.... I certainly had the best time I have had in the U.S. at a Ferrari meet, as long as Franco and John will have me, I will be back! I really enjoyed meeting Brian, he is a class act, I wish we had spent more time together. I think we all need to put GPS units in our cars for the next event! I met several Fchat friends, it was great, a bit of advice, do not follow behind Martin in your car for any reason! Malcom, you get my vote for the coolest guy this weekend, would you please return my DAYTONA! Chris Parr (The burn-outs on Burbon Street may not have had an "official" winner, but I spun the slicks on my F40 literally down to the cords!
Brian, great shots and your car is a winner since you're driving her EVERYWHERE. It seems that I just saw you in Aspen..Time goes by. Don't feel bad about missing the exit..Rusty (GTR) Ted (ENZO) and myself after having a run above 200, missed the exit too and went around and did it again !!! We love New Orleans .. This is the first time that I went to max rpm in fifth and having my warning light for max rpm flashing... See you next year Roland F40LM
Awesome... glad to hear others were maxing it out... per the video shot from my passenger seat (I haven't seen it yet), I got to 185... but of course, for me, that's very near max in sixth and thus almost all she's got... I can only imagine how awesome 200 is!
Roland, it was great seeing you again. Thanks for trusting me with your secret purchase information. I hope you had a safe return trip - with your new acquisition. I really enjoyed the whole weekend, with exception of Friday dinner. B. Stradale - WOW 185! - Ray in his Enzo only reached 167 and this didn't top Franco's record of 170. Nice! I only made 145 in the spider - top down, but still a pure joy ride.
Yeeehaaa...what a fun day. I did 90-100Mph in the French Quarter passing Cafe Du Monde. On I10 it started drissiling and we did only 140Mph. I have to agree: Most fun you can have outside of the bedroom!
Martin, having grown up on the gulf coast, I have, on more occasions than I care to admit, been in the gutter of the Quarter looking up. It is definitely nicer to be looking down. For those of you who missed it, shame on you. Serioursly folks, the only negative that anyone can say is... that it can't last. So like the song says, "Get it while you can." Dale
I,.. uh, .....ahem , could not get my camera out of my pocket during the Black Tie Ball awards ceremony.........they were full of blinky beads, for Amanda...... So if anyone DOES have a nice shot of Franco with the uh,...nice..... awards...cough, cough.....I'd appreciate a PM. Just to complete my personal scrapbook, of course, .....that's all. Thanking you in advance for your attention to this matter.......
Suhweeeet!! I need hi-res of that! Damn, didn't know I could compress the springs that much! Cool shot.
Brian, that's because you took all the fuel in front of me !!! The load made the car lower hahaha!!! Great shot Roland F40LM
