My Stradale Experience

Iv'e been trying to sit down and write somthing about this experience since Thrusday but I havn't been able to sit down untill now.

Thrusday July 15, marks an important day in history. It was the day I got to ride in a 360CS. The smile hasn't left my face yet.
Major props to member Bumboola who took me for a ride in his car. A true gentleman.

A while ago, fellow fchat member Bumboola offered me a ride in his Italian machine sometime. Thursday I get a call that went something like this:

"Hi, this is Paul from the Ferrari board. Is this Paul?"

It took me a while to figure it out but when I did. . .

"Yes"

"I'll be in the area in a little bit, want to go for a ride?"

"Yes"

I don't think it was possible to say no. A little while later, I hear this noise that sounded like pure raw power echoing off other houses and going though my windows. There was no mistake, it was HIM.
This amazing piece of striped machinery roared up my driveway. I could tell Paul wasn't trying to be loud, but this is raw power and there is nothing you could do about it, even if you wanted to.

What a nice guy! Offering me a ride in his Stradale AND picking me up at my house!
And to top it off he went to bat for me with the Fun Police. Er, My Parents.

We talked a little bit and then the moment came when he said “O.K. Lets go”

I opened the door and bent down to let the seats surround me. The first thing I noticed was once you got in, how comfortable it was. Supportive but comfortable. I shut the door and looked at it. I’ve seen tons of pictures of Stradales, but there is nothing like seeing one in real life. The door was almost like a hologram with all this carbon fiber. And so smooth to the touch, like glass. By now I was convinced that this is the coolest thing ever
With the key inserted, and the start button depressed the engine seemed to snarl and then softened to a gentle hum. With a flip of a paddle we backed down my driveway nice and slow. I was loving every second.
Going down my street I remembered that I have never seen a Ferrari go down it. It occurred to me that the first Ferrari I have seen go down, I was riding shotgun!

Now on the street we make a right turn at the first light and what happens next can’t really be described but I’ll try. Intense G force, split second pause, intense G force, split second pause, intense G force.
Cop. Intense negative g force.
The whole time the car is singing the beautiful Italian symphony, it was music to my ears.
By the time the cop turned around (he was on the other side of the road) we were already down the hill we were on and stopped at a light. Thank god he didn’t pull us over. But he did follow us for a long time hoping Paul would make a mistake. But he didn’t, dumb people don’t own Ferraris. We went down a few twisty roads and never once has this car lost its composure. We didn’t go that fast but you can tell you weren’t anywhere near its limits.

It’s so nice to see a car like the Stradale. In this age, we are so focused on the “uber car.” They are all beginning to look the same! It seems no company is true to its roots anymore. It has to handle good, ride nice, go fast, be easy to drive in traffic, fit many people, and haul all our stuff. And with all these expectations, the engineers of these cars must have forgotten or refused to include a soul. Its like the modern day car is trying to be everything, and they don’t do just one thing perfect, like the Avalanche. All this trying to be everything is downright boring.
That is why it’s so refreshing to see such a focused car like the Stradale. In the Stradale, There is no room to haul stuff. There is no AWD. No plush interior, just carbon fiber. No third row seat, no second row either. The best sound system the world has ever heard is standard, the radio is optional. The tires are so soft and sticky, they pick the tiny rocks on the road and throw them at the inner fenders, making a little ping sound when they hit. The welds are exposed, and there is no carpet. It’s loud, and hard to get in to. Yet none of the imperfections this car has detract from the whole experience. The average “perfect car” is equivalent to drinking fine wine though a Dixie cup. The Dixie cup is made to drink anything you want, but you won’t get the full flavor out of some things with it.
It’s the whole package that matters, even if it’s very limited as to what you can do with it. The Stradale is very much the same as the wine glass. It doesn’t do much else than what it was designed to do. However it does what it was designed to do very well, it has a defined purpose. It puts a grin on your face, and passion in your blood. It has a soul. It gets me excited just thinking about it.
With the elimination of anything not necessary to the cars performance, you can connect with the true soul of the car which brings sheer bliss to anyone inside.
There is so much I want to say about this car. It’s amazing. It’s beautiful. It’s fast. It’s for lack of a better word, Perfect.

Many thanks again to Bumboola for giving me that ride. I certainly will never forget it. I'm still smiling about it.

 

I'm sure I've been in Ferraris as a kid, but I cant remember. So I guess this is my first ride in one now that I think of it.

No, no pics. It even dawned on me, but I havnt charged the batteries in some time. My camera eats batteries like popcorn. Nextime, defenitley.

 

Well the problem is my camera takes a special camera battery (I think, I havnt seen it before). It is Lithium Ion. The reason why it sucks up so much juice is that the memory card is acutally a little tiny hard drive, and it has to use power to spool up the platters inside. The tradeoff is that it stores 1GB. I can fit about 800 pictures that are 8megs each. Pretty cool though. Next time I see the Stradale I will take some pics of it for sure.

 

No, I didn't, or atleast wasn't trying to compare the two. I was trying to say that the Avalance is both a pickup and an SUV, and dosnt do either well. Its more or less a compramise