Benman
September 2nd, 2003, 15:36
It all started out so innocent. The plan was to wake up early and take a stroll to a small town on an undisclosed local hiway (see, i DID listen to Mr. Fru T pants and got off those "durn freeways!". It's a great hiway with lots of fast sweepers, off camber turns and blind crests. It's a very common thing to see Corvettes, Vipers and NSXs on the same route (the earlier the better!).
So with wife and kid loaded up we set out @ 7:00 a.m. The first thing of interest came as a Nissan 350Z. It was moving along pretty well but ended up stuck behind 2 bikes (of all things). We were both waiting for a clear shot past them and when we got it we both went for it. When the Z pulled back over i kept going past him and in about 15 seconds never saw him again! "Well that was easy". Over the crests and turns we continued. My confidence growing and growing (please do not confuse with stupidity:D ) and was becoming VERY impressed with the Beast's high speed handling on curvy roads.
Another 20 minutes went by and there it was. At first i could not tell what it was other than a sparkling red gem in the sun. It was on the other side coming the opposite way. It would dissappear and reappear behind the hills and valleys until finally it was close enough for me to make it out. As it passed by i shouted " NO WAY! Honey did you just see that? That was a F40!!!" It took me all but 15 seconds to decide that we weren't going to make that trip out to that little town after all. I pulled over, waited for a car to pass and BAM. Just like that we made a U Turn and were in pursuit.
It didn't matter that this guy was going to hand me my butt on a platter. I HAD to try. I HAD to. I mean, how could i pass up this once in a life time oppertunity. We're talking about a F40 on a back road with me the wannabe after it!!! It took about 3 or 4 minutes to finally catch up. The beauty of it was that i cought up right as we came to the only stop sign on the route. It has a LONG straight ahead of it so i down shifted as we came to it in hopes that he would hear my engine and know my intentions. He did. He down shifted as well so i could hear his. As good as the RS 6s engine sounds THAT engine was flat awesome:bigeyes: .
So were at the stop sign and i'm 2 car lengths behind. I shift into S mode. We both drop the hammer and we're off! Now i know he dropped the hammer as well because not only could i see a very large puff of white smoke but i could actually hear his engine OVER mine!!! Here's where it gets good. I was really expecting his car to be gone in about 10 seconds or so but NO!!! The mighty Beast would not be denied!!! Now i'm not going to lie and say he didn't pull away at all but the amazing thing was that he didn't pull much at all. By 0-60 he had only an additional car length on me and by 0-100 he had only had another car length! As we came to the first sweeping turn the driver of the F40 slowed to @ 85-90 (coudn't tell you the exact speed as i was watching the road) Any distance he had on me he LOST trough the first turn! On to the next sraight. Again the F40 only pulls a car length or 2. And then we come to the next turn. Again, any distance he has on me he LOSES:bigeyes: as i again gain back the space between us!!! I can't BELIEVE this is happening!!!:bigeyes:
By the third turn i driver started to realize it was going to take alot to get rid of me. But instead of turning it up he actually put on his blinker and PULLED OVER!!! I couldn't believe it!!! I blew past him with what had to be one of the biggest smiles my wife had ever seen on my face! I kept the pace thinking he would catch back up but i never saw him again! We headed back into town (instead of flipping yet another U Turn to go to our original destination) to get some breakfast. As i came to one of the shopping centers i could see in my rearview mirror the same F40. I slowed and put on my blinker to let him know that i was going into the parking lot and really wanted to talk to him. To my surprise he put on his and followed me in! We both got out of our cars. His first words were "Man. I kept thinking this guy is NUTS!" My smile got bigger.
His son (@17) was asking me about my RS 6. "i didn't think they were in the U.S. yet. I only had seen them in Europe." Right then a guy in a SUV pulled up to get a better look at the mans Ferrari. He was asking the man about it ( and didn't even bat an eye at my car! I LOVE the stealth!!!).
When the guy in the SUV left i told Mr. F40 "you know, i'm a little bit down on power but..." He interupted and told me he knew all about my car. The engine specs, how fast (his commuter was a M5). He went on to tell me that he had only had his F40 for 3 days and was learning it's limits (wonder what he would have thought if i told him i only had mine for 9 days and was doing the same. I complemented him many times on his sweet ride before i drove off (because man let's face it. It was!).
Both the man and his son were very nice to meet and i enjoyed the experience to NO end. :D So, does this mean the RS 6 is a Ferrari beater. No. But what it does mean is hear in the REAL world with REAL drivers (and not pros) the capabilities of the quattro system are just awesome. I was not once scared or felt unsafe at those speeds through those turns with the Ferrari where as i'm sure he knew once his car broke loose that would be it. No quattro to save him or his car. Bye, bye:bye: I did have to spend some time on the way back convincing my wife that i wouldn't kill myself in this Beast but even she had to admit how impressed she was with the cars handling. Ahhh quattro. Ahhh... what an experience...:cheers:
Ben:addict: :addict: :addict:
So with wife and kid loaded up we set out @ 7:00 a.m. The first thing of interest came as a Nissan 350Z. It was moving along pretty well but ended up stuck behind 2 bikes (of all things). We were both waiting for a clear shot past them and when we got it we both went for it. When the Z pulled back over i kept going past him and in about 15 seconds never saw him again! "Well that was easy". Over the crests and turns we continued. My confidence growing and growing (please do not confuse with stupidity:D ) and was becoming VERY impressed with the Beast's high speed handling on curvy roads.
Another 20 minutes went by and there it was. At first i could not tell what it was other than a sparkling red gem in the sun. It was on the other side coming the opposite way. It would dissappear and reappear behind the hills and valleys until finally it was close enough for me to make it out. As it passed by i shouted " NO WAY! Honey did you just see that? That was a F40!!!" It took me all but 15 seconds to decide that we weren't going to make that trip out to that little town after all. I pulled over, waited for a car to pass and BAM. Just like that we made a U Turn and were in pursuit.
It didn't matter that this guy was going to hand me my butt on a platter. I HAD to try. I HAD to. I mean, how could i pass up this once in a life time oppertunity. We're talking about a F40 on a back road with me the wannabe after it!!! It took about 3 or 4 minutes to finally catch up. The beauty of it was that i cought up right as we came to the only stop sign on the route. It has a LONG straight ahead of it so i down shifted as we came to it in hopes that he would hear my engine and know my intentions. He did. He down shifted as well so i could hear his. As good as the RS 6s engine sounds THAT engine was flat awesome:bigeyes: .
So were at the stop sign and i'm 2 car lengths behind. I shift into S mode. We both drop the hammer and we're off! Now i know he dropped the hammer as well because not only could i see a very large puff of white smoke but i could actually hear his engine OVER mine!!! Here's where it gets good. I was really expecting his car to be gone in about 10 seconds or so but NO!!! The mighty Beast would not be denied!!! Now i'm not going to lie and say he didn't pull away at all but the amazing thing was that he didn't pull much at all. By 0-60 he had only an additional car length on me and by 0-100 he had only had another car length! As we came to the first sweeping turn the driver of the F40 slowed to @ 85-90 (coudn't tell you the exact speed as i was watching the road) Any distance he had on me he LOST trough the first turn! On to the next sraight. Again the F40 only pulls a car length or 2. And then we come to the next turn. Again, any distance he has on me he LOSES:bigeyes: as i again gain back the space between us!!! I can't BELIEVE this is happening!!!:bigeyes:
By the third turn i driver started to realize it was going to take alot to get rid of me. But instead of turning it up he actually put on his blinker and PULLED OVER!!! I couldn't believe it!!! I blew past him with what had to be one of the biggest smiles my wife had ever seen on my face! I kept the pace thinking he would catch back up but i never saw him again! We headed back into town (instead of flipping yet another U Turn to go to our original destination) to get some breakfast. As i came to one of the shopping centers i could see in my rearview mirror the same F40. I slowed and put on my blinker to let him know that i was going into the parking lot and really wanted to talk to him. To my surprise he put on his and followed me in! We both got out of our cars. His first words were "Man. I kept thinking this guy is NUTS!" My smile got bigger.
His son (@17) was asking me about my RS 6. "i didn't think they were in the U.S. yet. I only had seen them in Europe." Right then a guy in a SUV pulled up to get a better look at the mans Ferrari. He was asking the man about it ( and didn't even bat an eye at my car! I LOVE the stealth!!!).
When the guy in the SUV left i told Mr. F40 "you know, i'm a little bit down on power but..." He interupted and told me he knew all about my car. The engine specs, how fast (his commuter was a M5). He went on to tell me that he had only had his F40 for 3 days and was learning it's limits (wonder what he would have thought if i told him i only had mine for 9 days and was doing the same. I complemented him many times on his sweet ride before i drove off (because man let's face it. It was!).
Both the man and his son were very nice to meet and i enjoyed the experience to NO end. :D So, does this mean the RS 6 is a Ferrari beater. No. But what it does mean is hear in the REAL world with REAL drivers (and not pros) the capabilities of the quattro system are just awesome. I was not once scared or felt unsafe at those speeds through those turns with the Ferrari where as i'm sure he knew once his car broke loose that would be it. No quattro to save him or his car. Bye, bye:bye: I did have to spend some time on the way back convincing my wife that i wouldn't kill myself in this Beast but even she had to admit how impressed she was with the cars handling. Ahhh quattro. Ahhh... what an experience...:cheers:
Ben:addict: :addict: :addict: