Baby it's cold out side!!!!!!!!!!!

I am sure I am among the majority who say, enough is enough! When 12 degrees feels "better" you know you are in a cold spell. I was in China on a business trip (where it was a balmy 45 to 50 degrees F) for a few weeks and got back just in time for this damn frigid weather and the super bowl.

With being gone and being so cold I decided to fire up the toys today and let them get the juices flowing. Toys include the 308 QV and the motor home. Fortunately the 308 is snuggled up inside the garage so she started right up. I was tempted to run it up and down the block but due to so much salt dust on the road I thought better of it. As for the motorhome, it was not as eager to wake up but did after the second crank.

In doing this I have ignited an incredible case of cabin fever and can't wait to be able to hit the road.

Anyone else been out in the garage sitting in their toys, starting them up and dreaming of warmer weather?

 

You have NO idea. We got a 550 a few weeks ago. I drove it twice, my dad drove it once. It snowed. The roads were salted. That was the end of it. Now, instead of warming up and raining, it's staying cold and snowing, again. I hate winter.


-Joe

 

I think we should have a winter haters thread, it would have a million responses on it in a matter of a few days....

My baby is under cover in the garage and I am dieing to fire it up, but I know when I do I would want to take it around the block at least, but like you said, WAY too much salt dust on the street, and now this morning, they added another 2 more inches of salt on the streets.....

Enjoy the warm weather for the next two days, it is planning on dropping again by wed. or thursday to the negative temps again.... HAH!

Just think, only 3 more months of this crap.... HAH Or more????

 

Actually it's not so bad (temp-wise) out today. I almost went out in shorts..

 

Tell me about it...
I almost put the top down in my daily driver.....

 

Yeah, you know we've been through some cold weather when we are happy that it is a balmy 32 degrees today!

 

At least I had a chance to drive both cars back in January. Both of them loved the cool air. But this February weather is ridiculous. While in Europe they can't have downski races because it is so warm that they lack snow.

Global warming? I wish. European warming, that's all.

 

Never used ours since mid-January but we start the car for like 10 minutes at least once every 2 weeks.

Today's weather isn't that bad but still not the best time to drive the car since the road is full of salt from last night's snow. I think we're going to have about a feet of snow over night.

 

You're doing more harm than good!

Best not to start them unless you're going to drive them, at least up to full operating temp under load.

Many people are under the impression that downtime storage during the winter months is longterm storage; it isn't!

 

Really? I learned something new today. How about during the summer when you warm the car up for ~5 minutes before you leave?

 

Well today's drive into work is not going to be fun...

 

An eternal debate I suppose. Just looking at the issues people face who store their cars longterm I opt for periodic maintenance driving.

 

Hey guys, look on the bright side....you could be living in upstate New York. They have almost 10 FEET of snow with more comming.

 

NY Ferrari owners feels the same way about the snow as IL Ferrari owners.

IMO no matter how high the snow is, whether its 10" or 10', there is one thing they have in common, people still can't drive their Ferrari's.

 

True, true, but I'd be willing to bet that the 10 inches of snow melts a bit faster than the 10 feet

 

Yup. I'd choose the 10" of snow. More preferably though, none at all.

 

And the key word is "driving"!

There's a big difference between letting an engine sit and run to warm up, and driving it.

The main factor is oil temp. Oil takes a long time to warm up, even when driving. Watch your oil temp gauge and you'll see what I mean.

Until the oil is at normal operating temp and held there, contaminants in the oil won't burn off. What you are doing is adding more corrosive contaminants by letting the car idle until the water temp shows it' s at operating temp.

As far as warming up the engine for 5 mins. in the summer, this is unnecessary.

It's better to start off right away after the oil has had a chance to circulate through the engine, and keep the Rs down until the oil temp has come up to about 180 degs.

 

Speaking of winter storage, any update on my car? I have not been over there in a few weeks.

 

I'm leaving in about 5 minutes in SL65.
(have Sottozeros though...)

 

Wow, good luck, even with the Pirellis.. Didn't want to take the FS instead?

 

That's my wife's driver,since her RR Sport has performance tires on and was totally useless this morning on a school run.

 

Gotcha. Have a safe drive when you leave (if you haven't already).

 

Well, maybe we're actually on the same page: My monthly (or biweekly, weather permitting) maintenance driving is all about temperatures: I don't go home until all the temps are within the normal range again.

 

No update yet, but still inside snug and warm.

Hey, your getting free winter storage!

 

Andreas, we are!

If you're not going to drive it, don't start it.

I could tell you the story about a Rolls Royce that was donated to the Museum of Science & Industry, and hadn't been started in forty years.

We, meaning the RROC, went there for a tour of their attic, and to get the car running.......oh well, the story gets quite involved so I'll just>>>>>>>nevermind, I'm tired now!