Last Tuesday was an unforgetable one for me. I was invited to a very exclusive private event to drive all the above cars at the California Speedway. 7 of us had the track all to ourselves. 2 of us were pro racers. One is Geoff Escallete that raced the Porsche GT3 #6 in the JGTC GT300 class. The other one is a German Le Mans racer.
In the morning we started slowly maneuvering these cars through the cones. In the afternoon, we took on the oval and part of the in-field road course. A total dream came true.
Overall impression:
Carrera GT - most powerful and best handling of them all.
Ferrari 360 - most fun to drive with the F1 tranny.
Astin Mastin Vanquish - most comfortable and smooth F1 tranny, but it is more of a tourer than a sports car.
Top speed at the front straight:
Carrera GT - 175+mph in the hands of a pro
Porsche GT3 race car - 155+mph driven by a pro
Ferrari 360 - 145mph driven by me
NSX - 130mph driven by me
I'm sure the F360 and NSX could've been faster because I was exiting the last turn 10-20 miles slower and braking before turn 1 at least 5 to 8 car lengths earlier than the pros.
The Carrera GT is truly a super car with power, handling, braking, sound, and looks to complete the package. Its sound was just totally out of this world! The racing clutch was heavy, chattered a bit during idle and tricky to launch, but once you got moving, the engine sound and the smooth power made everything alright.
The F360 is the one that I felt most comfortable on the track. May be I just didn't feel like I was driving a house. It handled very similar to an NSX, just with more power. On the oval track, horse power is king.
The purpose of this post is just to share my excitement with the car enthusiasts in this forum and please don't turn this into a "which car is better" thread. After 5 pm, I was happy to be driving my NSX home even with a cracked DC header.
I'll have video clips as soon as I find a way to shrink the mpeg files into something a little more manageable. Suggestions?
In the morning we started slowly maneuvering these cars through the cones. In the afternoon, we took on the oval and part of the in-field road course. A total dream came true.
Overall impression:
Carrera GT - most powerful and best handling of them all.
Ferrari 360 - most fun to drive with the F1 tranny.
Astin Mastin Vanquish - most comfortable and smooth F1 tranny, but it is more of a tourer than a sports car.
Top speed at the front straight:
Carrera GT - 175+mph in the hands of a pro
Porsche GT3 race car - 155+mph driven by a pro
Ferrari 360 - 145mph driven by me
NSX - 130mph driven by me
I'm sure the F360 and NSX could've been faster because I was exiting the last turn 10-20 miles slower and braking before turn 1 at least 5 to 8 car lengths earlier than the pros.
The Carrera GT is truly a super car with power, handling, braking, sound, and looks to complete the package. Its sound was just totally out of this world! The racing clutch was heavy, chattered a bit during idle and tricky to launch, but once you got moving, the engine sound and the smooth power made everything alright.
The F360 is the one that I felt most comfortable on the track. May be I just didn't feel like I was driving a house. It handled very similar to an NSX, just with more power. On the oval track, horse power is king.
The purpose of this post is just to share my excitement with the car enthusiasts in this forum and please don't turn this into a "which car is better" thread. After 5 pm, I was happy to be driving my NSX home even with a cracked DC header.
I'll have video clips as soon as I find a way to shrink the mpeg files into something a little more manageable. Suggestions?
