Hi there - Just a little drive on a beautiful Sunday afternoon in a horseless carriage known as the SCUD! [ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D9yuRqFLoOY[/ame]
I thought I'd add a few driving impressions. Never drove a F430 before and certainly not a Scud - but have piloted my F355 and TR. The couple times (darn Sunday afternoon traffic) I was actually able to drop a couple gears and rev up to 6,000 rpm the car was frighteningly brutal. 6,000 RPM was where things would top out because I'd already be in somebody's trunk. I will say this though, in traffic, it was as tame as a kitty-kat to drive. What is cool is the f-ing sensory overload explosion when you mash the loud pedal. All kinds of things start happening all at once. - The noise, OMFG. The bark of a rabid dog ready to rip your head off. - The thrust. - The swinging tach needle in the corner of your eye. - The lights in the steering wheel as you approach redline. - The vibrations in the engine bay captured in the reflection of the rear-view mirror. - The whiff of exhaust, oil, hot fluids that somehow manages to permeate the cabin. - Things seem to move in slow motion all around you. - You can sense every muscle tightening up...in the passenger anyway!! The normal exhaust note just tooling around is great but OMG when you open it up, it must scare the living heck out of anybody within a 100 ft radius. I can only imagine what it would be like if the roads were empty and I could really get my foot into it. I just hope that I'm lucky enough to get another date with my mistress, the SCUD.
I work on them, have driven them, even had the honor of taking one on a track day. But the most impressive thing was standing behind one when it was strapped to a dyno.........holy cow !! the noise was incredible, you could see the cats glowing and spitting fire...brilliant. Even the guy doing the dyno got out and said "F...me" it was the most impressive 430 he had ever done. Love the car. glad you enjoyed your ride in it.
