Random Musings

No, I didn’t actually buy a super car, but I think that I should be able to. Allow me to elaborate.

I live in a rather affluent part of Southern California and nice (expensive) cars are not uncommon on our roads. I spent just a couple hours recently at Shoreline (some bluffs just over the beach) and watched as every 3rd car that drove by was a Porshe. Mostly boxters and cayman but none the less, where else in this world are porche’s more common than hondas? Here, you have to drive a Ferrari or Lamborghini to even begin to stand out.

It’s worse than that though. I know of no less than 3 Ford GT’s, 2 BMW M5’s, 4-5 Astin Martin Vanquish, 2-3 Ferrari F430’s, countless Bently GT’s and Mercedes AMG’s of all flavor, and last but not least one Maserati quattroporte which I see every day at work. If I recall, when I read a magazine review of the Maserati the author felt comfortable saying that you may never see one of these vehicles in person, and here I am fighting for a parking spot with one.

Now those are just the cars that I’ve observed on the road, god knows what is tucked away in garages and not driven but on the most holy of days to tootle on down to the country club. And here, by my reckoning, is the worst part. Most of the owners of the cars have NO CLUE how to drive, nor will they ever come close to exercising those cars to any where near the potential. The worst offenders are the trophy wives who are driving around in their various Mercedes Benz AMG’s. There isn’t one of them that drives more than 40 MPH at any time for any reason, very much including the freeway. Either that, or they think they’re an Andretti and drive dangerously fast in a straight line, and panic whenever they have to actually change trajectory. Why their sugar daddies thought it was necessary to spend 30% more for the same car, but with a ton more power they’ll never use, I can only guess.

Which brings me to the point of my rant. I know, about time eh?! I think that all manufacturers that make cars built for the enthusiast should have some sort of discount program. Here’s how it would work.

Perhaps only a couple weeks out of each year, you could walk in to your favorite uber car dealership, take a test drive, and chat with the salesperson. Then before you go to sign the paperwork for your shiny new cruise missile you are required to prove your enthusiasm for the car. How you ask? By proving your mettle on a series of driving tests.

Picture this, you get behind the wheel of the $360k car that you’d like to buy, and if you can wring it around the test track in less time than a certain predefined speed, demonstrate competence in controlling the car at, and beyond the limits of traction, and otherwise convince the manufacturer that you’re willing and able to drive the car in the way it was designed, why it’s yours for a mere fraction of the price!

Isn’t that what it’s really about anyway? These cars aren’t built so that only real estate moguls and CEO’s can own and drive them. No! They’re designed to be driven FAST, on a track by a talented and appreciative driver. So why not give your average Joe the ability to get into one of these vehicles, someone who would really cherish the privilege and (hopefully) have some respect for traffic laws and be able to control the vehicle on the street, someone like ME!

It might even cut down on the number of incompetent and unexperienced drivers that get behind the wheel of these monsters.

Just a thought. Manufacturers are you listening? I’ll take delivery of my Ford GT as soon as you realize how good this would be for business.

I’ve been noticing a trend lately in modern cars. Everything is getting exponentially faster and more powerful, and meanwhile more affordable.

You can go out today and buy a lightweight SUV or sedan from Jeep/Dodge/Chrystler with a 420hp Hemi for around $35k. But it’s not just the “hot rod” cars that are getting big power, a 2008 Honda Civic has no less than 140hp in it’s cheapest form. Not even 10 years ago that amount of power was reserved for the “Si” model. A 2008 Honda Accord v6 has 286hp. The performance of these cars easily exceeds that of the 60’s and 70’s muscle car and is well in excess of what most drivers need, or can use.

Meanwhile, all you need to do is memorize a few rules and convince a government worker that you can drive in a straight line and use your signals when appropriate to get a license. Worse still, you only need to prove it once. Afterward you’ll just get a renewal notice in the mail until your 130th birthday when they start to wonder if you are still alive, and should be driving.  That’s well past the age where “oops I mistook the gas for the brake” is at an acceptable margin of error. There is no requirement to handle power induced slides, know how to react when you start to go sideways in a turn, nothing! But 16 year old Johnny, if he’s fortunate, or wealthy can be behind the wheel of a relative super car.

Where’s the responsibility? You should have some vague inclination of how to drive, and control yourself if you’re going to be able to drive some of todays cars on the street with others. Now don’t get me wrong, my first car was a 1967 Thunderbird which made 340hp. However, it almost NEVER ran well enough to generate that power and deliver it to the tires. Furthermore, I had to work hard on that car to even keep it running, which gave me a good sense of it’s inner workings, and exactly what I was dealing with. I was also taught a few important lessons about speed and control before I was set out on my own with it or any other vehicle.

The idea of just anyone with an (easily acquired) drivers license behind the wheel of some of these vehicles is frankly quite terrifying to me, particularly in the face of the sort of antics I see on a daily basis even from “mature” drivers. Mind you I wasn’t alive during the “hot rod” era of the 60’s and 70’s where I’m sure a similar situation existed, even in the absence of anti lock disk brake systems, air bags, and chassis/traction controls, so maybe this is just history repeating itself.