Testarossa Road Trip - made it back again...

We decided a week ago to take the 95 ZR-1 out for a four day weekend from Dallas to Hot Springs to see the trees, shop for pretty rocks, drive on some curvy roads, etc.

Friday morning came, and I decided to start the Testarossa and let it warm up and charge the battery a little while we were packing the Vette. Well, the inevitable happened...this was to be the last road trip of the season before winter set in, and I decided that I was not worthy of the Ferrari unless I took it out on the road where it belonged. So, luggage was pared down to what could fit in the front along with the spare and tool kit - and Mai and I rolled out about 11:00 am in old 1986 60447.

Going up, the back roads of eastern Oklahom were selected. Hugo, Talihina, Mena Arkansas, and then on into Hot Springs. All very well maintained 2 lanes hill country roads - with one exception - an short section on Arkansas 8 out of Mena that was badly tire rutted.

While I had earlier taken the Testarossa on a mostly Interstate road trip to Oklahoma City, this would be the first time on genuine curving 2 lanes for much of any distance. Of course, the Testarossa is an enormously capable turnpike cruiser - 70-80 mph in fifth at just over 2000 rpm, and you never need to shift down unless you have to slow down to 40. There is so much torque that just a whisper on the throttles and you have blasted by slow trucks and such passing 100mph seemingly in an instant. This is a 6th to 5th or 4th situation in both of my other cars, the ZR-1 or the Porsche 993. Not even the Vette in 5th gives this feeling of low end torque.

So, on to the back roads - here again, anything 60 to 70 mph or up, you just leave it in 5th and concentrate on steering the good line. Again, this is 5th-4th-3rd territory in both my others. For the narrow and really sharp curves, 4th is quite sufficient. As long as the engine is over 2000 rpm, the lower gears are not needed and the car is happy making any curve at about 15 mph over the notice speed signs for each turn. What I felt (comparing to my other two cars) was a sort of tradeoff: The Ferrari definately needs more effort to the steering (which is both heavy and also quite "lively" as it tends to feed back any road irregularity no matter how small), but the gearshift and engine are very relaxed and pretty much a low maintenance effort. We made it to Hot Springs in about 6.5 hours, all on slower back roads and without every really hurrying. We saw about 16 to 18 mpg with just one gas stop.

We had a great time in Hot Springs - drove the back roads to look at the trees, stopping at roadside antiques and crystal stores, also found a safe parking spot in downtown Hot Springs and spent an afternoon in the old historical bathhouse row area. This was one of the best years for tree color we have yet seen in about 7 years of making this trip in the fall.

Coming back, we decided to drop down to the Interstate 30 and follow that back to Dallas - both due to time constraints and also because some heavy thunderstorms were expected on Monday. Sure enough, we did catch short bursts of rain about every 15 minutes or so all the way back. I held it at about 75-80 mph unless the rain was extra heavy - the car stayed calm and stable except again for places where big trucks had left heavy depressions in the road surface - in which case it tried to follow the depressions here and there. The defrost, AC, wipers & washers were if anything better than my Vette or Porsche. I think I am ready for new tires; the fronts do have a little worn shoulder effect and with other cars I know that this really makes the walking around after road surface much worse. Maybe even a look at the front alignment and linkages. We shall see.

Again, no mechanical problems, no real road issues, nothing to report reliability wise. I did pretty much ruin my just-completed winter detail but that is par for the course. We ran about 615 miles total on this trip - and while I am trying to conserve the mileage I cannot see that just cruising to work and back once a month or an occasional run to the grocery store can compare in value with actually getting this car out on the road. We are at just over 24,000 miles now, BTW...from the 22,000 when we got it in late winter 2007.

Great car, great trip - thought I would write a note for others with interest in the Testarossa (and especially the early cars which seem to have such a reliability reputation).

James