I forgot one photo. Due to the nature of the project, I don’t have any shots of me actually driving any of the cars, but I do have this one of the other cars, so you can assume which one I was in…

I don’t foresee being so lucky as to get to do this a second time, but my fingers are crossed and I’m really hoping for another run. It was like a dream come true, except I’d never dreamt of driving so many of that caliber cars within such a short period of time. I suppose that’ll teach me for dreaming small, huh?!

Here’s how this gig worked… I got up at 1:45AM every morning. And, as I drove the hour and change to work, there were days I wondered why the hell I tortured myself like that. Then, I got in to work and saw the cars ready to go and it never ceased to amaze me. I’ve had jobs that I loved before, but never quite like this. It was like a surreal dream or part of a movie or something. It wasn’t supposed to happen in real, waking life!

I was pre-assigned which car I’d be driving on whichever day, so I’d get it and my paperwork ready to roll out the door within about ten minutes of my arrival. We drove about 8 hours on the same course every day… Some city streets… Some freeway… Some canyon roads… A little bit of traffic… Filled out the necessary paperwork with my findings and such and then went home.

Because I was so into my experience, I drove different cars to and from the job in order to compare. My Viper and ‘66 Vette got a workout as did my ‘68 Mustang fastback. But even my Prowler helped me sort out what I liked, didn’t like, expected or didn’t expect. A lot was personal preference and expectations, but not entirely. I was chosen for the gig based on my enthusiasm for cars, probably a few other things on my resume, too, but it was what I’d brought to the table that made my opinion valid and that was pretty freakin’ nifty to me. I got to help shape the future of high end automobiles. If only that one week and a half, I got to do my part and I will likely still be amazed I even had the opportunity to do so years and years from now.

By not much of a margin, this was my favorite car of the project.

For me, the only thing wrong with the car was the driver’s seat. This car was equipped with essentially the race package–which was awesome–but the seat was too low. I had trouble seeing out of the car!

Notice my eyes are only barely above the steering wheel?

I really needed a pillow! For part of the time, I sat on my 10 CD case because all I needed was about an inch more height. The seat itself was plenty comfortable, though. This would’ve been a great application for one of those turkey baster, blood pressure bellows thingies. I can’t remember what they’re called, but my ‘94 Viper had one to raise the bottom of the seat. Just inflate the bladder and lock it off.

Aside from the little seat-too-low problem, I loved everything about this car. I really did. I mostly compared it to my Viper and aside from having less torque, the two cars weren’t much different in the go department. The weight distribution was obviously much different. The Ferrari was a lot more forgiving in fast corners because of it.

However, the Ferrari’s steering was an orgasmic joy compared to the Viper. There’s a few spots by my house I either change lanes to avoid the cracks or death grip the wheel so I don’t end up out of control. And that’s just normal driving. The Ferrari had all the feel and response of the Viper wheel without the twitching and grabbing. I was also amazed that the oval, not round, steering wheel didn’t really bother me much. I shuffle steer, so I figured I’d be annoyed that the wheel was traveling unevenly through my hands, but that wasn’t the case…or at least it never felt like a big issue.

My preferences are in how the car runs and drives. I went over paddle shifting earlier. I’ve been absolutely converted to it. I can’t wait until it trickles down into cars I can afford!

Okay, now here’s where I share why I liked this car the most…even over the Spider. And I know it’s kind of a silly reason, but darnit all, even I was amazed at how much of a difference this one little, tiny detail made… When you look in the rearview mirror, this is what you see:

Sorry the picture kind of sucks, but that’s the engine back there. You can see it in the rearview mirror whenever you want to look at it!!!! You hear it roaring along and can look up and there it is! That was pure visual sex for me! I dunno. I didn’t expect that little perk to be so important. The Spider had different lines, so the engine was hidden from inside the car although covered by glass so it could be seen from outside of the car.

Here’s a shot I took while parked:

I just really find this car incredibly orgasmic.

Yes, I spelled it right… Spider with an ‘i’. It doesn’t say it anywhere on the car except in the Owner’s Manual. Several of my co-workers and I were curious enough to hunt down the correct spelling!

I loved this car. Oh. My. Good. Ness. I loved this car. I get chills just thinking about how much I truly loved this car.

Ignore the dirt in the pic above. We were at least 1200 miles into the journey without hosing down the cars. That was actually one of the things I liked about the experience–the lack of needing to diaper down the car every ten minutes to keep it shiny. I wanted to see how it’d hold up with some good ‘ol daily driver dirt on it. The darn thing was still gorgeous even with the road grime.

This particular one had the cushy red leather seats which were soooooooooooo well done I almost felt bad sitting on them.

I had the top down most of the time. I love convertibles, what can I say? But due to the nature of the project, I did have to put the top up and note the differences. Mostly, I was amazed by the very little wind noise and the fact that it had just the right amount of wind in the cabin. I realize that was partly because of the wind break between the roll bars, but even so, if the car were mine, that wind break would be an instant uninstall. Two allen or torx screws held it in and I’d've uninstalled it within a mile of wherever I picked the car up from. I simply couldn’t see through both the plastic wind break and the vinyl rear window. The Lamborghini’s shape allowed for a glass rear window, but the F430 was styled differently such that a window needed to fold in order to hide the top away.

Paddle shifting this car was an absolute dream. And on top of that, I could choose automatic mode if I didn’t want to shift.

I sure do hope that the technology used in this car will get passed down the line to everyday cars. That’ll be the only way I can afford it! But I suppose that money’s the price you pay for the mystique of owning a Ferrari, not just the pure, orgasmic, driving pleasure of it.

I loved this car. I really did…

I took a lot of pictures (a lot more than I’m posting here), but not as many as my favorite of this whole project…which I’ll get to in a later post, of course.

There just aren’t any bad angles of this car. I mean, the styling isn’t my favorite, but the car sure is photogenic. I don’t even like yellow, but on this car, it fits. I think of this car as all show with respectable go. Everybody sees it. Most people give a wave or a thumbs-up or whip out a cell phone camera to snap a picture–one guy on a sportbike even did a wheelie at freeway speed!!!!! This car incites passion. It really does…

However, it still wasn’t my favorite of the experience. I did, however, enjoy it much more than the 911. I mean, the 911 isn’t even on the map with the Gallardo.

This car had one of my favorite driving experiences ever…except for the showy factor. I like showing up at a party wearing the loudest dress, but in this car, I felt like it was difficult to top it when I got out. This car is a little more show-focused rather than driving-focused. Which is fine for what it is.

Don’t get me wrong, it was fast. I had great fun going back and forth between paddle shifting and automatic mode depending on the road conditions (what I wouldn’t give for my Viper to have the same option when I’m in traffic or just too damn tired after a long day). I particularly enjoyed flying through corners at warp speed. In automatic mode, it was so agressive–even double-clutching!–I was in ecstasy. Of course, paddle shifting it myself was awesome, too, but having the option and having it do the work and me only correcting it occasionally was certainly an amazing experience.

But I had a little bit of trouble with some of the little things. Like, I just couldn’t trust the car sometimes. There were a lot of small things that either were uh…unrefined that should have been or things that flat out went wrong or broke that they made me lose faith in the car. Sure, if I owned one, I’d also have to have the money for maintenance, but the things that were less-than-favorable were the kind of things even my ‘68 Mustang doesn’t have trouble with. And that’s sayin’ something…

All in all, great car. I wouldn’t own one, but I might rent one for a day or two just ’cause it was so much fun.