Posts Tagged ‘driving’

Cars in the Wild

Posted: February 11, 2013 in Cars in the Wild
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The first time I ever saw a Ferrari was on a family vacation in Lake George, New York when I was about 17 years old. It is indelibly burned into my memory: A red Testarossa growling through downtown Lake George on a warm summer night, downshifting for a red light, me running into the middle of the street to stand behind it in awe. And standing there in traffic with my mouth agape, I knew my life would be different forever.

Since they started making roadcars, Ferrari’s bread and butter has been cars like the Testarossa—low, wide, mid-engined, two seat sports cars. That is, until now. Welcome to the seemingly most unorthodox Ferrari ever made, the FF.

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Released in 2011, the FF (which stands for “Ferrari Four”, as in four seats and four-wheel drive) is about as unconventional for the most revered name in motoring as you can get. It is the very first all-wheel drive Ferrari, and instead of a svelte two seat configuration, a slightly ungainly hatchback designed body was penned instead. As you can imagine, when Ferrari first revealed the FF, the purists went nuts. They cried, “Say WHA?!? Ferrari is making a car that ISN’T a dedicated asphalt shredding track weapon? Blasphemy!” This car is Ferrari’s response to an ever changing and evolving marketplace. With the FF, the company is now able to reach into previously untapped markets to scoop up customers who may have never purchased a Ferrari because of the cars’ inherent practical limitations.

And the result? Epic. The FF may look more pedestrian than the 458, F12, or the Enzo, but don’t be fooled. Along with its ability to fit, like, stuff and people inside, it arrives packing a 6.3-liter V12 engine, the largest capacity engine Ferrari has ever created, 651 horsepower, and crushing on road performance. It even passed one of the toughest crucibles of them all—the withering yet hilarious opinions of TV’s most famous trio on Top Gear,  and it went onto win the show’s ”2011 Estate Car of the Year” award. (‘Estate’ translating into ‘station wagon’ for us ‘Muricans).

And it isn’t just Top Gear that is singing the FF’s praises—Harry Metcalfe of EVO magazine fame took loan of an FF for a week, putting 2000 miles on it and driving through nearly every situation possible—hustling down motorways, tearing up backroads, long road trips, even taking it for a spin around his farm. The car’s innovative four-wheel drive system allowed Harry to literally take the FF offroading. Blimey, Ferrari seems to have pulled it off. Check out the excellent video HERE.

The FF is by no means the most lustworthy or visually appealing Ferrari ever made, but it is an immensely capable machine and a total game changer for the Prancing Horse. Bravo!

- Many thanks to Dan Szczesny for the photo!

Cars in the Wild

Posted: August 27, 2012 in Cars in the Wild, Dream Cars
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I understand if you don’t know what car this is. This is undoubtedly the rarest and most interesting car yet featured on Cars  in the Wild. Some cars are so transcendent that you don’t have to know a single thing about them but the minute you see one, you know it is something special. When a Rolls-Royce or a Lamborghini drives by, people without a shred of car geek in them turn to gaze longingly then quickly text their car obsessed buddies. And, there are some cars that being seen driving in them is one of their primary purposes (I’m looking at you Rolls and Lambo). This is not one of those cars. Yes, the giant wing will cause deep boy-racer envy and every cop on the road will do a double-take when the see the flashy red paint, but the Noble M400 is about as far from a poser performance car as you can get.

Google ‘Noble’ and you have to scroll for several pages before you reach the company’s homepage at NobleCars.com. Based in Leicester, England, Noble has been producing cars in small batches since 1999 with only a handful of different models since its inception. The M400—the track oriented version of the Noble M12—features a 3.0-liter twin-turbocharged V-6 that puts out 425 horsepower and 390 pound-feet of torque. What’s most significant about this car, and rings true of Noble’s in general, is the staggering level of performance it delivers for a comparatively small fee. Brand new during its production run from 2004 to 2007, the M400 would run you about $70,000. It may not have the swagger of an Italian exotic, but in return for your hard earned money it will obliterate the run to 60 miles per hour in 3.3 seconds (as fast as a Ferrari Enzo), and pull well over 1.0G on the skidpad. Check out a fun Fifth Gear comparison test with the M400 HERE, and a 2007 review from Car & Driver HERE.

The thing I like most about the M400, however, is that you have to know what this car is in order to buy one. This is not a car you cruise around in to pick up chicks or flaunt your wealth in—although the ride is reportedly very good, which should bode well for delicate female bottoms. Whoever owns this car must understand cars on a different level than someone who buys, say, a Lamborghini Gallardo. While the Lambo is a ridiculously capable performance car, there is a certain brain wave pattern a person must exhibit to purchase one that I don’t think exists for the M400—call it a mix of vanity/bravado/macho. I’d like to assume that the owner of this car (I must meet them!) enjoys track days, knows the Formula 1 champions for the past decade, relishes replacing the M400′s clutch and sipping aged classic Scotch. If I see this car on the road, you can bet I’m going to do everything I can to get them to pull over so I can find out if my assumptions are correct. Is that sketchy? Whatev.

Kicking The Bucket List: Yuppie Rally 2012 and driving the Tail of the Dragon

Posted: June 26, 2012 in Dream Cars
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If you’ve spent any time around me at all for the past few months, you’ve heard me talk (with great vigor) about the Yuppie Rally. Put together by the great team over at Yuppie Racing, the 2012 Yuppie Rally ran from the Aston Martin of New England dealership in Waltham, Massachusetts, down to The Tail of the Dragon in Tennessee, up to Atlantic City and back, all the while raising money to support Guardian Angel Motorsports and the Franciscan Hospital for Children in Brighton, MA. Be sure to check out Yuppie Racing’s website HERE, and the TDC Facebook page for more photos and video from the Rally.

You think your trunk is small?

Day 1 – So It Begins: Sometimes in life you’re presented with moments and opportunities that cause you to stop abruptly, take a wide-eyed look around, and say to yourself, “How the heck did I end up here?” I had one of those moments earlier this month as I slid into the passenger seat of a new cherry red Audi R8 V10, getting ready to embark on the five day, 2500 mile Yuppie Rally. As I closed the bank vault-like door and listened to the R8′s Lamborghini-derived V10 engine snarled to life, I still couldn’t  figure out what divine intervention landed me here. Those thoughts, along with the rest of my brain, were reduced to the consistency of scrambled eggs as I experienced the full fury of the R8 for the first time. It was going to be a good week.

I met Pete Ladas and Chris Benvie, the masterminds behind Yuppie Racing, through Steve Oldford and Guardian Angel Motorsports. After several months of figuring out sponsorship parameters, what I could bring to the table, and finalizing the details, I found myself the recipient of a seat on the Yuppie Rally with only food and gas bills ahead of me. For what felt like years I had imagined being on the Rally and carving up smooth Southern roads behind the wheel of some exotic machine, partying in Atlantic City, and spending a week with card carrying gearheads. Scott Marberblatt, the owner of the R8, was gracious enough to offer me his passenger seat and for that I am eternally grateful. A huge shout out to the Team O’Neil Rally School for donating a multi-day Rally School to the Rally—they were primary reason I was able to attend this year! Be sure to visit their website HERE, and read the ‘Chasing Racing Dreams’ feature I previously wrote on the school HERE.

Just after five pm, all 18 cars rolled out of Aston Martin with our first destination being a hotel right outside Philadelphia, PA. The two hours before we departed were spent mingling, swapping stories about previous rallies, and getting the pre-rally briefing from Chris and Pete on the days that lay ahead. To the untrained eye, a Rally may appear to simply be an excuse for people to get together and drive like lunatics. Watching videos on YouTube of the infamous Gumball or Bullrun rallies can create a skewed perception of what an event like this is. To some degree, yes, it is about having a blast on the road with your buddies, but it’s also about raising money for a great cause and being a brand ambassador for what the Yuppie Rally is all about. And having epic adventures.

This is the way other cars look in an R8.

The trip from Mass to our hotel in Philly was relatively uneventful (if you can call an exotic car rally uneventful) and we somehow managed to squeak across the George Washington Bridge outside New York City with essentially no traffic. We arrived at the first hotel around 10pm. My original plan was to put a post up on TDC each day of the Rally, but as soon as I caught sight of the hotel bed’s deep pillows and crisp sheets, I knew that idea was a goner. Day 1 Highlight: Hitting the first of many tunnels we would see in the R8 (Did I mention it had a Tubi aftermarket exhaust? It sounded like… God). A car like the R8 turns average driving experiences into sheer bliss.

Day 2 – Perceptions Redefined: Day two dawned bright and gorgeous. Walking around back of the hotel and seeing all our cars lined up in private parking spots, gently sprinkled with morning mist, was an excellent way to start the day. So was seeing the looks of disbelief on all the faces of the hotel staff. (Sidenote: two of my favorite parts about hotels are 1.) Not having to clean anything, and 2.) Free continental breakfast. Pretty sure endless free breakfast is actually heaven).

We headed out of the hotel and pointed our caravan south towards Virginia, the location of our next checkpoint. After several exciting hours, we pulled into a rest area for the requisite stretch/bathroom break/gas fill up. As we got ready to hit the road again, Scott asked me if I wanted to drive and handed me the keys. I’m pretty sure that had I looked up, I would have seen a soft celestial light caressing my brow.

Climbing into the driver’s seat of the R8 for the first time was strangely serene—I had expected to feel overwhelming excitement, verging on delirium, at the prospect of driving the car, but that wasn’t what I felt at all. Pulling the door closed with a satisfying thunk, sliding the key into the ignition and starting the breathlessly rampant V10 behind me simply felt natural, correct. Instead of a blinding excitement, I felt a sense of calm definiteness that this was where I needed to be.

When people ask me what driving the R8 was like I tell them this—it’s exactly as good as you think it is. Comfortable, spacious, and a bit like driving a 520 horsepower slab of granite. Regardless of the speed you’re traveling at, the R8 tracks exactly where you point it and is easy enough to drive at speed as your mom’s Corolla. Fortunately, Scott ordered his car with the gated manual transmission which only added to the drama and excitement of the experience. Direct, communicative steering, confidence inspiring brakes, and enough power to whip your head back and exploit positively any gap in traffic with ease. The Tubi exhaust elevated the R8′s soundtrack from Heavenly Exhaust Note to Shattering Sonic Eargasm. And just below the surface of the R8′s crisp Germanic perfection, is a frantic sense of barely contained rage. The car felt gritty and raw, and it wasn’t hard to imagine the joy you would receive from caning it around a track. Check out this video I recorded from the R8 while we stormed through a tunnel on the Chesapeake Bay Bridge HERE. Bottom line: I love this car.

Several hours later we made it to Virginia, one of my favorite places in the world. Beautiful farmlands, incredible weather, rich history, “southern” enough to be interesting, and “northern” enough to not make one start whistling the theme from “Deliverance”. We cruised through lush rolling hills, past dozens of Civil War monuments, surrounded by the sweet late spring air on our way to Blenheim Vineyards, a gorgeous vineyard owned by THE Dave Mathews. As it turned out, the roads around Blenheim were absolutely incredible and we, ahem, enjoyed them to the fullest. We arrived at Blenheim and were treated to a wine tasting and a short tour of the winery. Afterwards, we were anxious to get back on the road and onto the night’s hotel located in Knoxville, TN, so we jumped back in and headed out. Day 2 Highlight: Driving the R8. Duh.

Day 3 - Dragon Slayer: For me, one of the best parts of the Rally was seeing the looks on people’s faces when our entire convoy would roll through their neighborhood—a hilarious concoction of disbelief, followed by awe, topped off with either confusion or uncontrollable excitement, generally depending on the person’s age. It was also hugely entertaining to talk to the people who approached us whenever we stopped. Walking down to hotel parking garage on Wednesday morning, we met the manager who secured all the private parking spaces we were occupying. This normally reserved older woman babbled excitedly about how much she loved Chris’s Shelby GT500, the fun we must all be having and how great it was we were raising money for charity. I thought she was going to keel over when all the cars started up and revved their engines. As we rolled out of the garage into the morning sun, we were all thinking about only one thing: The Tail of the Dragon.

If you’re into cars or motorcycles, you’re bound to hear about the infamous Tail of the Dragon sooner or later. If you haven’t, allow me to be the first to welcome you to Higher Knowledge. The Dragon is a slithering ribbon of tarmac that boasts 318 curves in 11 miles—technically called US Route 129—that crosses the Tennessee/North Carolina border on the southern edge of the Great Smoky Mountain National Park. The drive to the Dragon is pretty tame and unassuming, but the excitement in our group was absolutely palpable as we closed in on what’s generally regarded as the best driving road in the country. It was mid-morning when we arrived at the start of the Dragon on the Tennessee side and we pulled over for a quick photo shoot against the backdrop of beautiful Chilhowee Lake.

From the Tennessee side, the Dragon begins as flowing and graceful as it follow Chilhowee Lake and  weaves around the bottoms of thickly wooded hills. When the road departs from the lake and deep banks of trees fill the edges of the windshield, the Dragon surges uphill and begins its savagely winding path. There was an ear-to-ear grin permanently plastered on my face as Scott and I enjoyed what was very likely the best road either of us had been on. (Accelerate, hard on the brakes, navigate the hairpin, feel the banking of the turn push you down into the seat, back on the power, hard on the brakes, around the next hairpin, on the power again). Sitting in the passenger seat of the R8, it felt like I should be wearing a helmet and reading course notes to Travis Pastrana.

The Tree of Shame at Deal’s Gap, NC

The main thing that struck me about the Dragon is that nothing can really prepare you for how technical it is. Pull up videos on YouTube or listen to someone try and explain how the off camber banked corners come at you mile after mile, and you’ll still have your mind blown the first time you drive it. You just can’t believe how severe the turns are and how demanding it is to drive it quickly. In the words of the eternal Jeremy Clarkson, “You need to be awake to drive this fast!” It was undoubtedly one of the best driving experiences I’ve ever had.

The day we were there, several car clubs and hordes of motorcycles were running on the Dragon. The Dragon is perhaps more a motorcycling mecca than anything else. It’s ideally suited for hard riding on a motorcycle, though having so many bikes on the road makes driving with caution and awareness even more important. If you’re going to make the pilgrimage to the Dragon, read up on it as much as possible first and treat it with the respect it deserves.

After we had our faces melted off on the Dragon, we headed to the Cherohola Skyway, another incredible piece of mountain road and the sister road to the Dragon. A driving mecca in-and-of itself, the Skyway’s sweeping turns and scenic vistas were the perfect way to wrap up what had been an incredible day. Our convoy lined up and headed Northeast towards the night’s hotel in Johnson City, TN. Day 3 Highlight: Taming the Dragon and running the gorgeous Cherohola Skyway.

Day 4 – Disturbing The Peace: A convoy of 18 exotic sports cars charging through sleepy rural Appalachian towns gives new meaning to the phrase disturbing the peace. It’s likely that not one of the people we passed on our way out of Johnson City or the other tiny towns we drove through had ever seen anything quite like it. I have a snapshot memory of a young boy standing on a dilapidated porch holding a dirty comforter (why?), eyes wide and mouth open as we passed by. Probably what I would look like if I was 10 and saw us, though hopefully minus the comforter. We left that part of the South seeing things quite unlike we’d seen before as well. Example—in the outskirts of some small town near Johnson City, we passed a low concrete block building that featured French maid outfits and fishnet stockings in their front window under a sign that read “The Fuzzy Hole stripclub”. While Drake and Lil’ Wayne have indeed given us the moto (YOLO!), that’s one experience I’m totally okay with never having.

Our journey was not without peril, however. Both Porsche 911 Turbos on the trip had their share of mechanical troubles—the “Team Bath Salts” Porsche driven by Sam Laurie and Alex Jarvie experienced major steering pump issues and had to be driven to a shop for repairs, and Fedele Cacia and his wife Ivana in the yellow Porsche had such severe transmission problems, the car ended up on a U-Haul trailer for the final leg of the trip. Considering we drove a combined 45,000 miles over the course of six days, it’s amazing there wasn’t more mechanical fallout. Both Porsche’s ended far behind the rest of the group and made it to the hotel well after the rest of us had dug into our delicious buffet dinner.

Our next hotel was in the historic and beautiful Williamsburg, VA. The drive there flowed by in a blur of sunshine, beef jerky, prodigious horsepower, and hilarious two-way radio banter (each of the cars was given a two-way at the start of the trip). I was especially excited to be staying in Williamsburg. As a kid, my sister and I would spend several weeks in the summer visiting grandparents who live in Newport News. We often went to Williamsburg and the neighboring Busch Gardens theme park, so it definitely holds a special place in my heart. As the sun began to set behind the hotel and bathe our bug splattered convoy in soft evening light, the only sound was the soft tickticktick of gently cooling Porsches. Day 4 Highlight: Blowing minds in rural Tennessee with our awesomeness.
Day 5 – YR Invades AC: Saturday morning followed the tradition of the previous mornings on our trip by dawning sunny and glorious. Fortunately, we were able to cash in on some extra sleep as we were leaving out a little later than usual. Several of the guys used the extra time to make use of a nearby car wash. I jumped in the Lotus of “Team Elise” with its owner, Mat, and we were followed there by Tom in the electric blue Lotus Exige 240 S. Mat and I pulled up at the car wash and were immediately greeted by what may have been the most stereotypical redneck ever. He leaned way down (keep in mind a Lotus Elise is really small—we’re sitting about six inches off the ground), stuck his head in the window, and asked us if the doors on the car went up like on a Lamborghini. Mat looked up from his vantage point about eye level with the guy’s sagging pant line, in a car that weighs as much as a shoe, and said, “No. They don’t go up.”

Back at the hotel, we tuned our navigation systems for Atlantic City, NJ and headed out. I jumped back into the R8 with Scott for the run to Atlantic City (did I mention how much I love this car?) Our first checkpoint was a restaurant just over the Chesapeake Bay Bridge in Virginia. If you’ve never been across this bridge, find some excuse to get down there and drive it because it is awesome. Seemingly endless stretches of bridge spear through unbroken miles of shimmering water. The bridge is interrupted by tunnels that dive beneath the Bay, while off in the distance, aircraft carriers and warships dock at a nearby naval base. The restaurant we stopped at was right on the beach and we ate and chilled under a perfect late spring day and watched the waves roll in.

Aside from our entire convoy uncorking their respective throttles in the tunnels and reveling in the full glory of performance exhaust notes in an enclosed space, it was a long and relatively boring drive from Virginia to Atlantic City. At least we had the anticipation of partying it up on the Jersey Shore like Snooki to console the boredom. Arriving at the hotel, however, threw those plans for a bit of a loop. We were supposed to get to the hotel and park our cars right in the valet lot, simple and easy. However, a misunderstanding somewhere in hotel management resulted in all the cars being stuck out front of the hotel for hours and several of the guys having to stay with them until the problem was solved. Not a great way to kick off the final night of the Rally, but the suitably epic amount of mayhem that took place that evening was enough to make up for it. Day 5 Highlight: Pinning the throttle in the R8… under water.

Day 6 – Homeward Bound: Part of me was sad to see the last day of the Rally. The previous five days had convinced me that I could very likely drive the Audi R8 everyday for the rest of time. The other part of me, however, was definitely looking forward to getting back home. For the final leg of the trip, I jumped in “Team Re-Pete’s” Audi S4 with Pete Ladas and Pete Gochis (yes, two Pete’s in the same car). Several of the guys had already headed out so the remaining cars made for the highway together and headed north. At a fuel stop somewhere (forgive me for not remembering where we were, all the fuel stops started to blend together), we spotted a wildly modified Suzuki GSX-R 1000 with potentially the longest swingarm in history and an enormous bottle of nitrous strapped to the back. The owner, who had to be more no more than 23, said even without the nitrous he could lift the front wheel of the bike off the ground, and that he hadn’t fully used the nitrous because he was afraid to. Good times.

We landed at the Blue Colony Diner in Newtown, CT for one final load of carbs, salt and sugar (thank you french fries, fried chicken and milkshakes) before we split up and headed our separate ways. One by one, the cars peeled off and headed for home, but not before throwing a  final fist pump out the window, or making promises to connect up again for the next Yuppie Racing event. The Petes and I pulled into Aston Martin of New England tired, but excited to be so close to home. While I was happy to be back and sincerely looking forward to not driving and/or moving for as long as possible, even now it’s still hard to forget the unearthly howl of the Audi R8, the chilling supercharger whine from the Lotus Exige, and remembering that the only thing I needed to do each day was love every moment of driving. I can’t wait for my next rally.

Many thanks and much respect to all the guys on this year’s Yuppie Rally. Special thanks to Chris Benvie and Pete Ladas from Yuppie Racing, Matt Nolan and Steve Oldford at Aston Martin of New England, the Team O’Neil Rally School for their incredibly generous donation, and to Scott Marberblatt for letting me drive his spectacular car.

Cars in the Wild

Posted: May 17, 2012 in Cars in the Wild
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There is nothing like a Porsche. There are plenty of manufacturers in the same market, other cars in the same category, but no one does it like the boys from Stuttgart. Some of its competitors are better, while many others get their doors blown off, but the people who own Porsches and drive them and race them are Porsche to the core. The purest iteration of the Porsche language is embodied in the 911, the iconic sports car the company has been making since 1963. And of the innumerable variants of the glorious 911 stands the GT3 – the pure, track focused version of Porsche’s purest automobile.

The GT3 follows a pretty genius marketing plan – charge more and give customers less. Sounds sheisty, but it isn’t. The only things you get less of are weight, distraction, and time spent on each lap of your favorite race track. This particular example (doesn’t it look epic in black?) was spotted at the New Hampshire Motor Speedway two weekends ago during the 24 Hours of LeMons race. Mounted at the back of the GT3 in quintessential 911 fashion, is a 3.6-liter flat-six engine that develops 415 horsepower and manhandles the ever important dash to 60 miles per hour benchmark in 4.1 seconds. Interestingly, Road & Track Magazine recorded a 60 mph run in 3.8 seconds. Competitors and posers will be admiring the size of the GT3′s diesel rear wing all the way up to the car’s top speed of 193 mph.

But, this car isn’t focused only on outright speed – world class handling and neatly slicing a race track to ribbons are the GT3′s true calling. There are very few cars with the balanced nature, communicative feedback, and pure tenacity of a GT3 on full attack. For as much as Top Gear is the outlet TDC turns to for videos and commentary, auto-geek Chris Harris (@harrismonkey) composes some of the most insightful car reviews you can find anywhere. Check out his breakdown of the GT3 by clicking HERE.

Another great thing about Porsche is they are always creating newer and faster variants of their already bonkers cars. Recently they created the GT3 RS 4.0, a car that makes pretty much everything else a few classes up and down the social ladder wilt with terror. A colossal 4.0-liter flat-six that makes 500 horsepower has been shoehorned into the back of the 4.0, resulting in low-3 second sprints to 60 mph. The 4.0 also inherits a range of parts and technology from Porsche’s racing program which make it a barely street legal racecar. Check out another excellent Chris Harris on the GT3 RS 4.0 video HERE.

Thank you, Porsche, for making cars like the GT3 – they are the stuff of dreams!

What Inspires You?

Posted: April 1, 2012 in The Cars of Our Lives
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Good writing can come from anywhere – a particularly articulate essay for school, a legendary novel, a satisfyingly succinct news article, or a exceptionally poetic piece of poetry. As a writer and an avid reader, I can appreciate and enjoy all of these instances of excellent writing. However, there is one area of writing that for me simply overshadows all the rest – automotive journalism. I literally can only think of about three other things I love more than finding a piece of auto writing that simply explodes off the page like a piston detonating in a cylinder. You know you’ve found it when the chills down your spine, the description of the engine note actually reverberates in your ears, and your palms sweat as the author describes the car’s incredible turn of speed. Oh yes, how I love it.

For this TDC entry, I wanted to put forth these five pieces of what I consider to be truly exceptional examples of what I’m on about. Each author makes a compelling case for why cars are not simply modes of transportation, but a reason for life. Read them, digest and absorb their beautiful prose and flowing language, and then let me know what you think about them and which one is your favorite. Without any further ado, I present these exquisite articles for your consumption. Enjoy!

Autoblog.com – First Drive: 2011 Audi R8 V10 Spyder

Written by Autoblog’s Jonathon Ramsey way back in August 2010, this piece caught my heart because of it’s glorious detail and the way it manages to be an exciting review of what is without doubt one of Audi’s finest automobiles ever, and at the same time an insightful look into the way the car changes fundamental elements of driving. Need an example? Check it. “The Audi R8 has made canyon running so easy, and the Audi R8 V10 Spyder has made it look and feel so good, that it’s pornographically indecent.” Stop reading this, and go read that.

Jalopnik.com – Bentley Mulsanne: First Drive

There are a lot of automotive websites out there, but there are none that can touch Jalopnik on its unique brand of humor, crudeness, or hilarious insights. Case in point, this piece by Sam Smith from July 2010 on one of my favorite cars of all time, the Bentley Mulsanne. The thing I particularly love about this piece is that because the Mulsanne is so expensive and so over the top, it’s easy to exploit that insanity into a brilliantly entertaining review, and Smith absolutely nails it. “The glovebox hinges are heavy chrome bastards you could hang a lifeboat from. Every control has weight, every switch or instrument is heavily damped, and the door handles contain more mass than the entire door in the average Honda. A Mercedes-Benz does not feel like this. Neither does a Bentley Continental. Even most Rolls-Royces fall a bit short.“

Jalopnik.com – Cadillac CTS-V Coupe: Eating Your Way To A Burnout

Sam Smith from Jalopnik was on a roll back in July 2010. Both this post and the Bentley Mulsanne first drive are straight epic. I primarily love this piece for two reasons: 1.) The Cadillac CTS-V is one of the best cars on the road today, period. 2.) In classic Jalopnik fashion, Smith reviews the car but does it while on a wacky adventure and draws the reader into his hilarious affair with Caddy’s outrageous supercharged coupe. “A brief word about the CTS-V coupe’s supercharged, 556-hp, 551-lb-ft, 6.2-liter V-8: It is the kind of unholy device you do not screw with. It leaps toward the rev limiter with such fury that, were you the type of person to have a pile of donuts in your lap while driving, most of those donuts would end up on your shirt. It is quiet; from the cabin, all you hear is a subdued growl and no supercharger whine whatsoever. Then the earth opens up, swallows you, and spits you back out. When you wake up, you are on the other side of the planet.” That’s what I’m talking about.

Autoblog.com – Review: Lamborghini Murcielago LP640

This Autoblog review, written by Jonathon Ramsey, was a primary catalyst for me wanting to write about cars. No joke, every time I read this piece, it still makes the hair stand up on the back of my neck and tears to well up in my eyes. That may sound strange, but follow the link and read it for yourself and I challenge you to not feel the same way. It’s something about the way Ramsey builds such gorgeous analogies and puts the reader right in the driver’s seat that so startlingly takes your breath away. “As long as you’re not on some spit of asphalt custom made for a Lotus Elise, the LP640 is limited only by your knowledge of the road and your knowledge of how to drive it. The car isn’t glued to the road — it is the road, a single amplitude of tarmac flowing between the shoulders. Go with it, and you will go far, my son…“

Car and Driver – Road Test: 2012 Lamborghini Aventador LP700-4

I’ve read a lot of car reviews in my time, but NEVER have I read anything like this. Long time C&D editor Aaron Robinson writes one of the most captivating road test pieces I have ever come across. Robinson demonstrates with every line what the difference is between people who write for low-budget car blogs (ahem), and the people who pen lines for one of the best magazines in the biz. Not only is the Aventador the stuff of dreams, but Robinson’s descriptions of Lambo’s finest offering make me want to be a better man. “If  you have the Aventador’s stability control set to “corsa” (or, indeed, turned off) and are an Apache with the throttle, it’ll reward with a sturdy push from the back to rotate you toward the path of righteousness. It can thus achieve truly terrifying speeds without feeling stressed . . . and truly terrifying noises. The 8500-rpm redline and furious spin-up of torque, especially from 5000 on when the ears flatten against the deep percussive energy emanating from the back, remind you of why the major Italian boutiques eschew turbos.”

Cars in the Wild

Posted: March 1, 2012 in Cars in the Wild
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Read an interesting fact about the Mercedes-Benz CL recently – Mercedes-Benz will sell as many of these coupes in a year as Ford will sell of the F150 in a single day. In a single day. Not only is that difference so enormously vast it’s actually hard to comprehend, it also speaks volumes about the exclusivity of the CL, and the ubiquity of the F150. Out of all the cars offered in MB’s diverse portfolio, every model except for the G-Class SUV and the SLS AMG supercar sell fewer models than the CL, giving it a rarity that few other cars enjoy.

This particular model, the CL550 4Matic, isn’t barnstormingly fast, it doesn’t hold the fastest lap time at the Nurburgring, and it can’t outgun rivals like the Ferrari 612 in pure power. It’s 5.5-liter V-8 makes 382 horsepower which is enough to motivate the big coupe to 60 miles per hour in about 5.5 seconds, so world dominating power is not its game. What the CL550 does have, however, is class. And it has it in spades. The flared wheels arches, acres of creased hood, and the tight belt line that streaks from front to back, all give the CL550 a distinct and powerful presence on the road. And while there certainly aren’t any ugly cars in the MB’s stable, the CL’s design definitely makes it one of the most attractive. Inside, its standard MB stuff—vast stretches of leather blended together with wood and other high quality materials to create a cosseting and comfortable place from which to command the road.

“That’s all well and good,” you might say, “but a car of this caliber (and pricetag) needs to light my hair on fire and mash my face like Play-Doh when I step on the gas.” Fear not, because you can have your CL with heaping, prodigious piles of righteous horsepower courtesy of MB’s tuning division, AMG. Step up to the CL 63 AMG, and the comparatively piddling 5.5-liter V-8 is replaced with a 6.2-liter V-8 which makes a properly massive 518 horsepower and 465 lb-ft of torque. And if that still isn’t enough, you can dig deep into your wallet and have the CL 65 AMG which dumps the V-8 engine all together, and instead uses a 6.0-liter twin turbo V-12 to bludgeon poorer motorists into submission. The 65′s volcano of an engine churns out 604 horsepower and 738 lb-ft of torque. Yeah, that’s a lot.

The price for this handsome coupe—which is based on the venerable S-Class luxury sedan—is about $80,000 in CL550 trim, and over $130,000 for the CL 65 AMG. That’s also a lot. There will soon be a newer version of the CL-Class hitting the streets when MB launches its refreshed S-Class sometime later this year. Let’s hope the power and class of the current generation continues into the new model. With an emphasis on power. Yeah, lots of power.

The Torque Tube: Bruce and Linda Ledoux, and Guardian Angel Motorsports

Posted: January 12, 2012 in The Torque Tube
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This edition of ‘The Torque Tube’ features Bruce Ledoux and his wife Linda from Guardian Angel Motorsports (GAM), a team of racing drivers who are racing for a higher purpose besides podium finishes and racing fuel. Moved by personal experience and inspiration, Bruce and Linda are using GAM to improve the lives of children with disabilities and illnesses by donating money to charities and causes that support them. Be sure to visit the Guardian Angel Motorsports website HERE.

It’s mid-November 2011, and I’m still slightly starstruck as I walk through the paddock at the wildly exclusive Monticello Motor Club (MMC) in Monticello, New York, wondering what supreme stroke of luck landed me at this incredible place. Parked in one of MMC’s garages is an immaculate Ford GT, and lining the pit wall are veritable acres of Cadillac CTS-Vs in coupe, sedan and wagon form, a pair of stunning Ferrari 458s, a Corvette ZR1, and more Porsche Caymans and Lotuses than an average person will see in a lifetime. As I pinch myself I realize two things: 1.) It’s going to be a ridiculous day, and 2.) I didn’t think it was possible to love cars as much as I do right now.

What got me here was more than luck. I’m spending the day at MMC on an invitation from Bruce and Linda Ledoux, the founders of Guardian Angel Motorsports. They brought their race-prepped Lotus Exige Cup to the track to race in the final member race day of the season and were kind enough to invite me along. As you can well imagine I jumped, nay, lept, at the chance. As I wander through pit lane ogling the machinery, I think about the significance of what Bruce and Linda are doing with GAM, and what an incredible impact it can have.

As the latter part of the name implies, Guardian Angel Motorsports is a team of racing drivers that compete in a range of different races, classes, and events throughout the country. As for the first part of the name, Bruce and Linda were inspired by their son Colin, who was born with a chromosome defect that causes global learning delays amongst other challenges, to create a charitable organization that brings awareness and assistance to kids like Colin; to be a child’s “guardian angel.” Since its inception in 2009, GAM has donated over $160,000 to nine different charities, all the while competing in major races like the Rolex 24 at Daytona.

Bruce was gracious enough to spend some time talking with me about how GAM started, what it means to him, and what his vision for the future is for this organization.

What is the inspiration behind Guardian Angel Motorsports? How did it start?

“It came around because of the experience that Colin has brought to Linda and I… Professional racing is a passionate undertaking of mine, but I struggle with the time investment and the dollars required when I have a child that is affected the way that Colin is. What I was looking to do was also payback the system or ‘pay it forward’ if you will because we got so many great things from the social services that we consumed as we have been progressing with Colin. It occurred to me that if Colin didn’t have the advocate that Linda represents for him, he would be a complete victim of the system.

One of things we learned in the process is that you can see an injustice or a problem in the system and you can point it out and talk to people about it, but nobody really wants to change it or fix it or do anything about it… Implementing that change is incredibly powerful. So, you show up with a checkbook. Then you can make change, significant change, as quickly as it takes you to write out a check. So… If you want to get something done, you need to do your thing and get it done.”

Linda Ledoux. Photo Credit: Guardian Angel Motorsports

It was from that desire to enact significant change that GAM was born. Through their organization, Bruce and Linda have married their passion for racing and donating resources to challenged kids, and the opportunity for impact on children’s lives with GAM is enormous. Another fundamental inspiration for GAM were “pledge-per-mile” or “pledge-per-lap” events like the Pan-Mass Challenge. The Challenge, a bicycling event founded by Billy Starr, brings in over 4,500 participates and donates tens of millions of dollars to the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute.

Bruce Ledoux at the Rolex 24 at Daytona. Photo Credit: Guardian Angel Motorsports

“I thought, ‘Why can’t we do a pledge-per-lap race?’… There are 76 million NASCAR and motorsports fans, if I could get half to give a dollar every year, now we have something. We have something with some major range to it.” After learning about the Pan-Mass Challenge, Bruce decided to apply that kind of fundraising concept to GAM. “And I thought, ‘Well, if [Starr] can do this on a bike ride and we use all the TV and media and high profile things that come with [racing], we ought to be able to do that.’”

Where did the name Guardian Angel Motorsports come from?

“The name came about because of frustration we felt when we brought Colin to preschool.” Bruce and Linda experienced significant shortcomings in the school’s ability to cope and adapt to Colin’s needs. “I said to Linda, ‘Damn, you know Colin needs a guardian angel just to go to lunch.’ Then about two days later I was staring at the ceiling and it hit me. It all kinda came together and I was like, ‘Wait a minute, why don’t we do a pledge-per-lap thing and why don’t we call our team Guardian Angel Motorsports?’ We’ll build in it a way that can be franchised much like breast cancer walk is. We’re going to create the package and the formula and then we’re going to franchise that out across as many motorsports participants as are willing to take it.”

Photo Credit: Guardian Angel Motorsports

Do you and Linda have separate roles in running in GAM?

“We definitely have distinct roles. She has some great strengths in terms of organization and planning and details, I guess I’m more the ‘deal’ guy. I have more relationships and seem to have an intrinsic skill to connect dots. So we try to divide and conquer that way so that one plus one is more than two.”

Are there particular charities that GAM tends to support or do you support any charity?

Photo Credit: Guardian Angel Motorsports

“I want to immediately relieve some of the pressures [that kids like Colin] are feeling and give them a chance.” Bruce and Linda’s focus with GAM is to create immediate impact and immediate change. This approach leads them to support groups like the Starlight Foundation, the Massachusetts Downs Syndrome Congress, and Friends of Bella, all organizations focused on improving the lifestyles of children in need.

“It’s not important that [Colin] wins, it’s important that he has the same opportunity that you and I have… If we could use people’s passionate interest and the huge public awareness that motorsports represents… then I think we left our own dent in the universe.”

How many drivers are racing with GAM?

“We have TransAm entry, a Rolex entry, two Continental Challenge entries, we have a World Challenge entry, I’m trying to cut deals right now for an ALMS entry, and I have three people that have stepped forward… [to compete in] SCCA, and the Playboy Cup.”

With the franchising model in mind, Bruce and Linda are out to create a vehicle that will allow people to pursue their passion and contribute to charity at the same time. From the GAM website: “Fast lap times feel good. Racing for a little boy or girl that needs your help—feels incredible. Join the GAM driver team and spread your wings for children’s charities. It doesn’t matter what car you drive, or what league you’re in. All are welcome. If you have a children’s charity that you’d like to raise money and awareness for, bring your charity with you. We’ll give you real estate on our site, we’ll help you advertise, do PR releases, get the word out with social media—we’ll support you with our fundraising engine.”

What’s in store for 2012?

Photo Credit: Guardian Angel Motorsports

“Our big fundraising campaign for 2012 is that we’re going to race 3,000 laps. So what we’re trying to drive awareness to and drive fundraising around is pledge-per-lap. We would like to get 30,000 people to pledge $.10 per lap, that would give us $9,000,000. Our big hurdle is awareness, keeping people engaged and excited about it… We need to get out and have people hear about us and understand what’s going on and start to follow the story and see the impact of our efforts for individuals.”

What is the most significant and impacting thing you’ve personally experienced through GAM?

In 2009, GAM was at a race in Florida where they ended up qualifying dead last. A reporter from a local newspaper pulled into the pits and told Bruce he was going to do a story on the car most likely to finish last and he wanted to write it about them. Clearly, not an exciting prospect for Bruce who had just finished driving the car, nor an intelligent thing for the reporter to say. Instead, Bruce told him about GAM.

“We talk for ten minutes and he clicks a picture and disappears. The next day, I’m in the meal tent and everyone’s coming over and whacking me on the back saying ‘nice job’ and I’m like, ‘What are you talking about?’ They said, ‘You got the cover of the sports section for the local news.’”

A couple of hours later, Bruce is down in the garage for the meet-and-greet, an opportunity for fans to meet the drivers and get autographs. “So… this guy comes over to me with his baby who had some sort of genetic issue… and the 18 month old hands a check to me and it was a $10 donation for our effort. And I was like, ‘Oh man, we’re getting somewhere with this, we’re connecting with people.’ I have a picture of me accepting the check from the little guy… So, it was a little thing, but it hit me between the eyes that we’re up to something that has greater meaning and value.”

Welcome, Bruce and Linda, to The Torque Tube.

Photo Credit: Guardian Angel Motorsports

- Many thanks to Bruce for his time for this interview, and thanks to both Linda and Bruce for inviting me out to MMC to hang out for the day. Interested in supporting Guardian Angel Motorsports? Be sure to check out the website HERE. For supporters and donors, there are opportunities to attend one of GAM’s races and even help the fueling crew down in the pits, man safety equipment, work with the crew chief, or a number of other fantastic opportunities.

Year One: 2011 in review

Posted: January 2, 2012 in The Cars of Our Lives
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Thank you everyone for a spectacular year! The WordPress.com stats helper monkeys prepared a 2011 annual report for TDC and I wanted to share it with you. Check it out, and here’s to an even better 2012!

Here’s an excerpt:

A New York City subway train holds 1,200 people. This blog was viewed about 7,000 times in 2011. If it were a NYC subway train, it would take about 6 trips to carry that many people.

Click here to see the complete report.

Chasing Racing Dreams: Team O’Neil Rally School and Car Control Center

Posted: October 27, 2011 in Chasing Racing Dreams
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Welcome to the brand new Top Dead Center series, “Chasing Racing Dreams.” This series is about the epic adventures that make racing of all kinds so exciting, and it explores the world beneath the driver’s helmet. You’ll read about what it’s like to be a part of a racing team, the experiences of driving a car in anger on an open stretch of tarmac, the people who standout in their sport, and about the different racing schools that make New Hampshire special. TDC has chosen the Dalton, NH based Team O’Neil Rally School and Car Control Center to be featured in the inaugural edition of Chasing Racing Dreams. Be sure to visit the school’s website Here to learn all about their classes and programs. Enjoy!

Dusk is moving in as I jump into a well worn white Ford pickup truck with Team O’Neil Rally School and Car Control Center’s Director of Training, Chuck Long. We’re headed out on the school’s six or so miles of roads across their 550-plus acres of land. Long’s baritone voice fills the cab as he asks me if I’m ready to go. The rally school’s students have left for the day and I can’t wait to check out Team O’Neil’s famed roads. I slam the door shut and say, “Hell yeah.”

For years people have been telling me about Team O’Neil and for whatever reason, I didn’t do anything about it. Perhaps it was because rally racing never really excited me that much. I was content to follow Formula1, catch the occasional MotoGP race, or get hypnotized by NASCAR until I got bored watching them go around in a circle. All that changed, however, with a trip to the New England Forest Rally this past June. Watching guys in turbocharged monsters tear through the woods over broken roads, then flick them around hairpin corners as billows of dust rose like boiling silky waves behind them hooked me immediately. When the opportunity arose to visit Team O’Neil and learn what the school and rally racing was all about, I jumped at the chance.

Located in Dalton, New Hampshire, Team O’Neil is near-as-makes-no-difference two hours from my house. It’s still dark as I climb into my car and head north. The curling white steam from my coffee cup makes a small foggy cloud on the inside of my windshield. Somewhere near Concord, the sky cracks open and the sun reveals cloudless pale blue above, and blurs of red, orange, yellow, and brown along the highway. It’s going to be a beautiful day in northern New Hampshire.

Once off the highway, country roads lead me to the unassuming dirt road that doubles as the driveway to one of  the most comprehensive driving schools in the country. The crisp, snappy morning has me pull on my hoodie as I get out of my car and although I need more coffee, I’m already tingling with excitement. Inside the school’s main building, Chuck Long is the first guy I meet and he shows me to the classroom where we’ll begin the day. Moments later, a small convoy of cars pull into the school’s parking lot and the six guys taking this week’s session jump out. Judging by the look in their eyes, they’re just as fired up as me to be here.

“In 1992, the economy was bad and I was worn out as a mechanic and I decided I needed a break,” said Tim O’Neil, the “O’Neil” in the school’s name. After getting out of the Air Force, where he was an airplane mechanic, O’Neil was convinced by a few of his stock car racing buddies to lend his mechanical skills to their racing effort. Eventually, “helping out” turned into driving, and O’Neil started racing stock cars. It’s funny how sometimes the simple things can have the biggest impact. O’Neil’s career path took a major change when he read a copy of Road & Track magazine that featured a rally car on the cover. “I picked up a Road & Track and there was a rally car on it, and I had an epiphany… I sold my stock car and got into rally. Rally was the only type of motorsport where you can be a ‘poor guy’ and still succeed.” 

O’Neil’s success on the rally circuit formed the foundation for the Team O’Neil Rally School, and he went fulltime in building the school in the late 1990′s. “I went to England and travelled around a bit and worked as an instructor for Ford of England. I really got a buzz out of teaching and I taught a lot of people… [Eventually] I wanted to go back and start my own driving school.”

The walls inside the classroom where the students, Long and myself are gathered for the morning instructional session looks like a teenager’s bedroom: magazine articles on the school cover the walls, neatly organized plaques proclaim victory achieved at dozens of rallies, there’s an autographed Ken Block photo, and a framed Travis Pastrana jersey with the superstar’s signature and sarcastic quip, “Tim, You’re insane!”

“You come here with your own skill set as far as driving goes and everybody’s a little bit different, we’re just going to add another tool into the tool box,” said Long. “If you’re at the school for two days, you’re not going to walk away a rally champion. You will, however, learn skills and techniques that you likely didn’t know existed and you will definitely be a better driver for it.”

All six of the students here this week came with different goals: some want to learn how to control their car better in bad weather, some are looking to become a rally driver, and some simply want to add rallying skills their already accomplished road racing skills. The school has classes that run from two to five days, and no matter your reason or your length of stay, Team O’Neil teaches the same fundamental driving principles across the board.

One of those fundamental principles is car control. Knowing how to make your car perform the way you want, whether you’re on a slippery winter road or on a rally special stage, is essential to becoming a better driver. “[The school's] program revolves around left foot braking and about 12 other maneuvers,” said O’Neil. “I collected all the stuff that I had the hard way [from racing]… I based the program on those mistakes and from listening to other drivers from around the world… I took everything I had gained and put together a curriculum for the school.”

After the morning classroom session, we head out to the skidpad. The skidpad is a large dirt circle that is used to get students familiar with how a car handles on low-grip surfaces and what over- and understeer feel like. The small lime green Ford Fiestas the school uses look like toy slot cars as they circle the skidpad. After a few laps, the students jump out and switch drivers. Between each switch off, there are big smiles and high fives.

Each of the students rides with an instructor and another student in the backseat. One of those instructors is Alan Moody. Like all the other instructors at the school, he is an accomplished rally racer, having come in 3rd place in his class at this year’s New England Forest Rally, and winning the 2010 Eastern Regional Championship in his division. He sits in an old Jeep Grand Cherokee, one arm resting on the door, telling me what it’s like to teach here.

“I attribute a lot of what I’ve done in rallying to what I do and have learned at the school,” said Moody. “What we’re doing with [the students] is teaching them muscle memory which is developed through repetition, repetition, repetition.” When asked how he keeps his focus inside the car when blasting down a rally stage he said, “You have to clear your mind of everything else. The world just falls away.” Most times in a rally car, the driver is accompanied by a co-driver who is responsible for reading course notes and telling the driver about the road ahead. “It allows you to drive what you can’t even see.” 

After the skidpad exercise, the students move into the slalom. The slalom is designed to teach them one of the most important things they’ll learn today: target fixation. Roughly translated, target fixation means wherever you are looking, your car will follow. The Fiestas set off weaving around the slalom’s bright orange cones. The first couple of runs get a little hairy as the limits of driver, car, and the course are discovered. A few cars spin out, some get sideways, and a couple of cones are flattened and dragged unceremoniously under the car. The students run the slalom dozens of times throughout the course of the day and each time they get faster, smoother, and more confident.

Long’s words from the morning classroom session are beginning to make more sense out here on the course. “We’re going to teach you the technique, then you’re going to do it ad nauseum,” said Long. “It’s our job as instructors to put you in a ‘controlled’ uncontrolled environment to see what your natural instincts are. If they’re incorrect, we have to tell you and show you the proper way to do it. Half the battle of becoming a better driver is learning your instincts… If we’re going increase your limits, we have to find out where they are to begin with.”

I ride in the backseat of several different cars throughout the day, helmet strapped on tight and an ear-to-ear grin on my face. Moody gives rapid fire instructions to one of the students, pointing to the next target and motioning with his hands when to turn the wheel.

“Okay, second gear, bring it up to 4,000 rpms. Now, look at the outside cone, now TURN, add the brake, don’t lift on the throttle. Straighten it out and look for the next cone. Now BRAKE, and TURN, keep it smooth. Don’t lift on the throttle!” In the backseat, the other student and I are tossed side to side as the car zings around the slalom. With the correct amount of steering, throttle, and braking input, the normally uneven and challenging slalom course transforms into a smooth ribbon of controlled chaos.

Following the slalom is an accident avoidance course with Mike Doucette, the school’s Assistant Director of Training. Students are presented with “accident” scenarios that incorporate the skills and techniques they’ve learned. After a short debriefing, the mud splattered Fiestas are driven back to the garage and await inspection and cleaning, and Moody holds a “mechanical empathy” class in the garage. We stand underneath one of the school’s older Volkswagen rally cars that’s been put up on a lift. Moody points out specific parts and sections of the car that have been upgraded for rally duty: students crane their necks to look at protected gas and brake lines, beefy front control arms, skid plates and stiff rally tires.

Long and I bump along in the Ford pickup on the school’s gravel roads that snake through the woods. These roads will be used later in the week for the student’s to practice their new skills: blind crests, long uphill sweepers, off-camber corners, and a range of other terrain awaits in the hills surrounding the school. We climb one of the hills and reach the newly opened northern section that has a skidpad and a large open area that will be used for the slalom and other exercises. As the big Ford descends one particularly steep stretch of road that leads into a sharp left hander, I find my palms sweating as I think about slinging one of the school’s Fiestas around it: I cannot wait to come back here and take the school as a student.

As I climb back into my car and head home, my biggest take away from the day is the amazing level of passion everyone here has for what they do. Not only are they all accomplished racers, they also love teaching and helping people understand all that’s involved in what they teach. O’Neil talked at length about how one of the school’s primary goals is to increase the awareness level of each student and to give them the necessary knowledge and skills they’ll need to be successful, whether it’s to enter a rally, or simply to know how to handle their car in an emergency situation.

“When you have more knowledge on how a car works, that knowledge builds people’s confidence. It’s pretty powerful stuff,” said O’Neil. “We need to get through to the person who doesn’t think of themselves as a racer. They want to be one, but they’ve never had the chance. People want to see that confidence in themselves.”


- Many thanks to Team O’Neil and the school’s dedicated and talented staff for assisting me with this article and allowing me to tag along. Special thanks to Tim O’Neil, Richard Dale-Mesaros, Alan Moody, Mike Doucette, Wyatt, Komar, and Chuck Long.

Autumn leaves and hairpin turns: Discovering NH’s back roads in the Mazda Miata

Posted: October 15, 2011 in Dream Cars
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There isn’t anything quite like autumn in New Hampshire. When the maples begin their explosive journey from green to red to yellow, and falling leaves catch the wind and look like the whirling snow that you can feel is only a few weeks away, it’s time to go for a drive. And the best vehicle for the job? On a day like today when the temperature is in the mid-seventies with nary a cloud in the sky, there’s nothing better than a nimble convertible sports car. Enter, the Mazda Miata.

To drive the Mazda Miata (technically called the MX-5), is to know what a small lightweight sports car should be: crisp, engaging and above all, smile inducing. I’ve always told people that it’s like driving a leather clad go-kart, and if you read any review written about the Miata, you’ll probably see the go-kart reference made several times. This car, purchased brand new by my father in 2008, was spec’d out with the optional Grand Touring package which features leather, traction control, 17-inch wheels, cruise control, keyless entry, and a strut tower brace among a host of other features. He also opted for Mazda’s Suspension Package which adds Bilstein shocks and a limited-slip differential.

As this is my father’s car, I’ve been fortunate enough to drive it on many occasions and each time I drive it, I’m struck all over again by what a blast it is to drive a car who’s focus isn’t outright power. What the Miata lacks in brute force, it makes up for in tractable and linear horsepower and torque (166 hp and 140 lb.-ft), and terrifically crisp steering. Far and away my favorite part of the Miata is the shifter. It has a six-speed manual with short and satisfyingly precise throws, and rowing up and down the gears on a winding back road is one of the real true joys in life.

When I was considering what route to take on this journey, I was reminded of an autumn drive I had taken a few years ago in western New Hampshire. The western part of the state often feels like the neglected child of the family when compared to other parts of NH: the well traveled lakes region, the oft-visited North Country, and the easy accessible and popular seacoast. The small towns and twisting roads around Keene and Lake Sunapee would make the perfect place to take the Miata for a drive.

My journey started on Route 13 through Dunbarton, and then to Route 77 towards Weare. Large sections of 77 aren’t terribly interesting, they have that clinical/basic highway feel to them with wide shoulders, guardrails and the trees cleared wide on either side, but as 77 closes in on Weare, it starts to relax a little and the section before it connects with 114 is a genuinely nice place to be. At the intersection of 77 and 114, there’s a brown State Park sign for Lake Horace that I’ve seen about a hundred times, but never followed. I looked left, then right, grabbed first gear, and scooted ahead towards Lake Horace. On a day like today, why not go exploring?

I’m embarrassed to say that I never actually found Lake Horace. Later when I looked on a map to find it, I legitimately missed it by several miles. How you miss an entire lake escapes even me. What I did find, however, was a divine piece of tarmac about two miles long that made my useless wandering totally worth it. Dips, blind crests, slightly banked turns, and a blemish-free covering a fresh asphalt. It ended at Deering Center Road, and I immediately turned around to run the section again. I arrived back at the 77/114 intersection with a big smile on my face, all thoughts of Lake Horace gone, and took a right to head south on 114.

Route 149 darts off 114, snakes through the rolling hills surrounding Deering and Hillsborough, and reaffirms in my mind that this is a truly great road. While pavement quality left something to be desired, like a lot of the roads I drove, the Miata still stayed relatively planted even through tight off-camber corners with rough pavement.

In the center of Hillsborough where 149 ends, my route took a brief stint on Route 9 and then an eventual left onto Route 31 towards Washington. Both the road and the town of Washington were completely unfamiliar to me, but as soon as I turned onto 31, I knew I was in for a treat. The road was flowing and fast, and with the exception of Windsor and Washington, there weren’t any other towns near it for miles. One thing 31 does have plenty of are protected parks and forests: The Pillsbury State Park, Long Pond Town Forest, and the Washington Town Forest all located between Washington and East Lempster, which is where I left Route 31 and picked up Route 10.

When my father was considering buying a sports car, I implored him to get the best possible variation of whatever car he bought. It made no sense (in my gearhead mind) to buy a sports car and get the base model when a few more grand would get you a far superior driving experience. Because he knows what’s good for him, he listened to me.  And for Christmas last year, we added to the experience by getting him a Racing Beat axle-back exhaust system. Called the Power Pulse Muffler, it adds some significant exhaust noise and manages to sound fantastic without being overpowering. You can check out all of Racing Beat’s products HERE.

One of the more unexpected gems on the journey was Route 123 which I picked up after Route 10. While the quality of the pavement isn’t so hot, someone clearly had a day like today and a car like the Miata in mind when they made it. Scenic straights separated by fantastic lefts and rights, walls of green pines and red leafed maples perched on the edge of the road, and not a single car in front of me or behind me. My grin stretched from ear to ear as the Miata revealed it’s magic to me on this amazing road: Blip the throttle, grab third gear, steadily feed the power through the turn, upshift to fourth, hard on the brakes, blip to third, blip to second, on the power again, then smile and laugh as a carpet of fallen leaves crackle and whoosh beneath the car.

After taking 123 through the town of Hancock, which might be the most quintessential New England town I’d ever seen, I picked up Route 202 to Route 47 towards Crotched Mountain. As I hustled the Miata over 47′s writhing pavement onto an equally excellent Route 136, and across River Road through New Boston, I was thoroughly convinced of two things: that New Hampshire is an incredible place for an autumn drive, and the Mazda Miata is the perfect car for this kind of journey. In terms of driving dynamics and driver feedback, it has few rivals. It’s also comfortable, affordable, economical, built with quality, and reminds you what a joy it can be to drive a great car on great roads like these. I’d say it’s about time to grab the keys and find yourself a good stretch of road.

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