Nate is that the Whale Tail from the mid 80s? I've driven one of those too
I'll stick to street cars for this discussion though.
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Skip to my having new car troubles Formula at about the 6.30 mark. It didn't post mid video like it should have.
That Black Bird is my current waste of busted knuckles and money. 1999 WS6 Formula. That was first time out after converting it to a Baby Turbo after it was previously Procharged. I managed to down the car in the garage almost two years with that bright idea. It's spooky quick and quiet though for a old dudes sleeper.
I have a lot of seat time in my buddy's C7 too which is truly a pretty damn nice machine.
Last edited by 007FJ; 08/04/20. Reason: Video
Originally Posted By: slumlord
people that text all day get on my nerves
just knowing that people are out there with that ability,....just makes me wanna punch myself in the balls
I had the chance to hop behind the wheel of a practice car at the 24 Hours of Rolex at Daytona, I guess 8 or 9 years ago.
I was there on business, and a friend of a friend hooked me up.
I told the crew I was terrified to wreck the car. They said I had no idea the car's capabilities and I would chit my pants before I ever broke the rear loose. It is Daytona, but more of a road course, for the uninitiated.
They were right. 2 laps, I came in full of adrenaline, and out of breath.
They showed me the logged data of my 2 laps vs the other 2 drivers.................
LOL!!!!!
Eye opening experience!
The DIPCHIT ADD, after a morning of drinking:
You despair, repeatedly, constantly! daily basis? A despair ninny. Sack up, despire ninny.
My car is a supercharged Cooper S [that my daughter in law gave to me] is what I am driving. 134 mph top speed is wasted on me. I have had it up to 85
The cooper S is good right off the shelf, dont care for great top speed myself , but through a list of mods one can improve acceleration, handling, stopping power, etc to maximize the glued to the road point and shoot fun factor.
one of my neighbors spent a heap on his. but he had dollars falling off him, the other cars in his drive were AMGs and M series, but he was always seen in his cooper - S.
-Bulletproof and Waterproof don't mean Idiotproof.
I was a valet in south FL in the 80s. Drove a heap of high end cars. I never pulled a Ferris Bueller, but the property and lot was long enough to get a feel. 911s were so common that they almost became boring. Ferrari 308s, AMGs, M3s, M5s, Vettes, blah, blah , blah. There were a number if classics, too (i.e. 454 Chevelle, blown Fairlane, etc.).
Believe it or not, none of them made me feel that there were anything but overpriced toys until the night that Buick GNX rolled into the lot. The owner specifically said “I know what you’re going to do. Don’t take it off the lot. Don’t scratch it and put me up front.“. He gave me $20 and didn’t look back when he walked away.
That car took my breath away and made such a mark on my soul that I bought a Grand National 9 years later and dump thousands into it. I’d drive it to the track, turn off the a/c and make runs in the 12s with Sunoco pump gas.
“When debate is lost, slander becomes the tool of the loser.” - Socrates
289 &427 Cobra. My college room mate, Carey Paul jr, father was a Ford performance/Cobra dealer. Back then all the car dealer's sons street raced but we were the Kings of Atlanta.
You should not use a rifle that will kill an animal when everything goes right; you should use one that will do the job when everything goes wrong." -Bob Hagel
“I’d like to be a good rifleman…..but, I prefer to be a good hunter”! memtb 2024
Fastest I've driven was in a BMW M1 in South Africa. About 174 mph on a slight downhill on the rev limiter in 5th gear. Very stable, but very noisy with the mid-engine right behind your ears.
Most fun in an analog era car was a 1997 RUF CTR2. Around 500hp in a 3000lb car.
Fastest off the line is a 2019 BMW M5 Competition with our Noelle Performance Tune. 850hp in an all wheel drive 4 door sedan. 0-60 in 2.9 seconds. Very impressive. Customer's car that he took from us to the strip and turned in a 10.9 second 1/4.
No question that today's digital computers on wheels deliver performance that we could only dream of 20-30 years ago, but they don't have the soul, or the durability of the muscle cars of the 80's and 90's. I'll keep my 1985 BMW M635Csi. I know it's not fast by today's standards, but it talks to me when I drive it.
badger; Top of the morning to you sir, I hope the day's been a good one for you folks on the other coast and you and your fine family are well.
Thanks for chiming in as I was hoping you'd do so and give your perspective.
When I was in the storage business, we'd move customers cars when we had to access other units. Primarily we stored boats and RV's but cars were the "filler in the rows" for us.
Anyway because of that I can say that I've driven some fast BMW's - one was a 2 door, I want to say maybe a hard top convertible, but the owner had purchased it at the factory in Germany where they'd insured it for 2 weeks so he could drive it on the Autobahn. He said he'd never drive it that fast again in Canada!!
So while I've driven that BMW, 458 Ferrari, some fast Vettes and even a '69 472"Hemi Charger RT, I was very, VERY careful to never exceed what was a slow walk so perhaps 3mph as I was indoors and all.
You're right that the new technology with the AWD and traction control is such a game changer now, but like you they don't really "speak to me" in the same way.
To the OP, I was at the wheel of a 3 year old Tesla, though exactly which one now escapes me - sorry. The owner was beside me and insisted I do a full launch which I did and I'd say we were doing 60mph in less than 100yds easily. Was sorta crazy how fast we got going.
Oh, last story quickly - one of my clients had the faster model Corvette perhaps 3 years old, but that was 2 years ago as well so a 2015ish we'll say.
He said that when he bought it, GM had a deal where they'd help pay to send you to a driving school in Nevada I think he said, where you'd learn to handle the new car you bought.
This chap was an Alberta oilman, quite colorful like some are wont to be, and suggested that while he couldn't do it, his driving instructor took an identical car to his from 0 to 60mph to 0 in something close to 7 seconds.
He suggested nobody should drive one on the street without lessons because, "If I stand on this thing, by the time I've hauled it back down I've gone 2 blocks and run over 3 dogs, a cat and the mailman!"
Thanks for your input badger and all the best to you all.
Dwayne
Thanks Dwayne.
Actually I had forgotten about the P85D Tesla I drove in Germany in "ludicrous" mode. Very quick launch, but on the Autobahn it seemed to run out of steam above 120mph. Still was able to reach about 140 before traffic forced me to slow down, but it was a very artificial experience. A very quick, quiet golf cart. Probably why it doesn't stand out in my memory.
I dunno - I found the acceleration of the P90D and P100D to be physically painful if you didn't prepare for it. But yeah, not very visceral once you're up to speed. Then there's the weight of the Teslas. Sure it's down low, but 5000 pounds is still 5000 pounds. I'd rather drive a hot hatch
I owned a '74 X1/9 for a while. "Fix it again Tony Thornley" was so very, very true. But what an utterly delightful momentum car in the twisties.
There are five cars that I remember driving. A 1967 427 Corvette, a 1965 427 AC Cobra, a BMW M3 , a Ferrari Dino 246, and a not street legal 426 Hemi Super Stock Dodge drag racing car. It was said the Dodge won the WinterNationals in the mid-sixties but I don't recall what year the car was.
The Dodge was just a straight line car and the acceleration at that time was in the low 10's at 5000 feet elevation.
The little Dino was probably the most fun to toss around and it was fast enough to scare you a bit. It was the most fun to run in corners of all of them. My friend was a car dealer and he bought the Dino at an auction in Texas for less than %25,000 at the time. This was in the early to mid seventies.
Today there are cars that are a lot faster than the few I got to drive back in the sixties and seventies. It was nice to have friends with a little money in those days. The Corvette was about $5200 new, the Cobra was $8800 if my memory is correct, the M3 I don't know, and the Dodge Hemi was used, of course, and they paid less than $3000 for it but it needed heads and a new transmission.
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memtb