I drove my first Ferrari tonight

Well, I only need to drive a Diablo now to die a happy man. I pay for my toys in college by valeting at night and on the weekends at various upscale restaurants in Raleigh. Tonight I was working at JK's and I saw a red 550 go by out on the street and I made a mental note to report it on the sightings thread. Then he drives by the front of the restaurant and I watch it go by and low and behold it turns around. He pulls up and says "Do you know how to drive stick?" and I don't think he finished his question before I said "Yes sir!" I parked it out in the middle of no where and then put other cars I had around it so no one could park next to it. I don't drive customers cars hard (except for one special a**hole) so I have no real driving impressions except those that come by cruising and watching everyone do a double take. I was in heaven for about two or three minutes tonight. This comes very close to pushing out 0-130 on the Ducati as the coolest moment of my life. I've sat in a few Ferraris, but never made one move and it was definately a moment where I forgot about all of the other stresses in my life and was just focused on the moment. If only it had been longer. I definately envy you guys who get to experience it every day, but it only makes my will to acheive stronger. Anyways, I called everyone who might remotely care soon afterwards. I've got terrible pictures on my camera phone that I will put up at some point.

PS: Brakes squealed, no suprise there. I also mentioned FChat to the owner, so we'll see if he pops up.

 

Thanks guys. First person I called was my friend David, who has a 99 FRC Vette who I feel the need to call everytime I have a fast car and challenge him to a race. He never seems to want to play when I'm on the bike and the Eclipse has become my neglected step child (though at one point it was faster than a stock Vette) and the Porsche is too old to be competitive. I was sticking my chest out pretty far when I called with the keys to a 550 in my hand. I really wish I hadn't been working alone, then I would have been able to spend some time admiring it. My up close and personals have been with a 308, 355, 360, and 333SP, so I would have really liked to have gotten to take a few minutes to take it all in being as I've been around a few but never got to really check it out. I'm really hoping he pops up, he was a real nice guy.

 

I was up at the VIR meet this past spring, though I didn't know anyone at the time. I've intended to come to a few of the meets, but with working nights and weekends and going to school during the day, its been difficult. I'm not gonna lie, I'm also pretty self conscious about my car, so until I bought the bike I didn't want to show up in my half assembled beater. I'm actually gathering funds to join the FCA and PCA this year though. The bike is almost entirely mine and then it will be time to save for a new car. Thanks for the warm remarks, I look forward to getting to know everyone personally this year. I'm trying to find an internship (nudge nudge, anyone need an engineering intern??) or any other job that will allow me to consolidate my time better and free up some weekends. I've got a short video on my phone of me starting it up, which it won't let me upload, but I'll try linking it. Sorry about how dark it is in the pic, you can just see the outline.

http://www.vzwpix.com/mms/markMessageRead.do?play=forward&msgNo=2&folderId=33463843&msgUserAssocId=46480213&messageState=RETRIEVED
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