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I just posted up a new blog chronicling the hairiest moments I've had in a range of supercars over the years including the Ferrari F40, McLaren 675LT Spider, Ferrari 365BB & 512BB, Mosler MT900S, and Porsche 911 (993) Turbo:
SecretSupercarOwner,
I've had a couple of similar experiences with weather. Probably the most terrifying was not in my supercar but in our family SUV on Thanksgiving Day. For at least 3 decades our family traveled early Thanksgiving morning from Los Angeles to Berkeley, CA in the bay area to be with my two sister-in-laws and their families. The exact half way point of the drive is a little agricultural town called Coalinga that houses the Harris Ranch (of Harris Ranch Beef fame) Restaurant and Inn. We would always stop and have breakfast or lunch and visit the gift shop in this beautiful country inn, fill up with gas and know that we'd be sitting at the dinner table in 2 1/2 hours. We finished, packed into the car and headed north on the 5 freeway. I got on my cellphone to call my in-laws to inform them of our approximate arrival time when with no warning a fog bank with absolute zero visibility hit while we were probably traveling at 80mph. When I say zero visibility, I mean I couldn't even stop dead in my tracks as I couldn't even see the pavement. We probably traveled a 1/4 mile before I could slow down and attempt to pull over without hitting something I couldn't see. The fog soon passed and we went on our way. The next day on Friday following Thanksgiving Thursday, in the exact same spot at the same time of day, the largest accident scene in California history happened there with (if I remember correctly) 109 cars involved and I believe 11 deaths and many injuries. As for near disasters in my supercar, I would say the two times I spun my Pantera on a wet track at Sonoma Raceway was fairly petrifying. And many weekends I drive my Pantera out with a group of enthusiasts through tight canyon roads in the Santa Monica Mountains around the L.A. basin. First of all, the Pantera doesn't have power steering and almost no power assist on the brakes, so trying to hustle it around tight corners trying to keep up with guys driving modern sports cars is an upper body workout. But secondly, I have to drive the Pantera barefooted as my size 14 shoes cover the gas and brake pedals completely, and half the clutch. The pedals on early '70's Italian supercars were very close together, and it's quite easy to hit the wrong one, but even if you hit the brake pedal properly, when you really have to "stand" on the brake pedal in a hard braking attempt, without shoes, it takes a heck of a lot of foot pressure to slow or stop the car and a few times, it nearly ended in a bad situation. On two of our drives, one '70's Porsche 911 locked his brakes, slid across the road and hit a guard rail taking out the whole driver's side of his car, and another late model Porsche 911 hit an oncoming car head on (fortunately no injuries) and totaled his car. I have learned a few things about driving my Pantera with over 500hp and ungodly amounts of torque in all five gears, and that is that I will never drive it on wet pavement or risk a lot of bodily harm. Even 335 width rear tires can't keep any traction, so if there is even a slight chance of moisture, I won't take it out, because I'm not good enough to control it.
SecretSupercarOwner,
I've had a couple of similar experiences with weather. Probably the most terrifying was not in my supercar but in our family SUV on Thanksgiving Day. For at least 3 decades our family traveled early Thanksgiving morning from Los Angeles to Berkeley, CA in the bay area to be with my two sister-in-laws and their families. The exact half way point of the drive is a little agricultural town called Coalinga that houses the Harris Ranch (of Harris Ranch Beef fame) Restaurant and Inn. We would always stop and have breakfast or lunch and visit the gift shop in this beautiful country inn, fill up with gas and know that we'd be sitting at the dinner table in 2 1/2 hours. We finished, packed into the car and headed north on the 5 freeway. I got on my cellphone to call my in-laws to inform them of our approximate arrival time when with no warning a fog bank with absolute zero visibility hit while we were probably traveling at 80mph. When I say zero visibility, I mean I couldn't even stop dead in my tracks as I couldn't even see the pavement. We probably traveled a 1/4 mile before I could slow down and attempt to pull over without hitting something I couldn't see. The fog soon passed and we went on our way. The next day on Friday following Thanksgiving Thursday, in the exact same spot at the same time of day, the largest accident scene in California history happened there with (if I remember correctly) 109 cars involved and I believe 11 deaths and many injuries. As for near disasters in my supercar, I would say the two times I spun my Pantera on a wet track at Sonoma Raceway was fairly petrifying. And many weekends I drive my Pantera out with a group of enthusiasts through tight canyon roads in the Santa Monica Mountains around the L.A. basin. First of all, the Pantera doesn't have power steering and almost no power assist on the brakes, so trying to hustle it around tight corners trying to keep up with guys driving modern sports cars is an upper body workout. But secondly, I have to drive the Pantera barefooted as my size 14 shoes cover the gas and brake pedals completely, and half the clutch. The pedals on early '70's Italian supercars were very close together, and it's quite easy to hit the wrong one, but even if you hit the brake pedal properly, when you really have to "stand" on the brake pedal in a hard braking attempt, without shoes, it takes a heck of a lot of foot pressure to slow or stop the car and a few times, it nearly ended in a bad situation. On two of our drives, one '70's Porsche 911 locked his brakes, slid across the road and hit a guard rail taking out the whole driver's side of his car, and another late model Porsche 911 hit an oncoming car head on (fortunately no injuries) and totaled his car. I have learned a few things about driving my Pantera with over 500hp and ungodly amounts of torque in all five gears, and that is that I will never drive it on wet pavement or risk a lot of bodily harm. Even 335 width rear tires can't keep any traction, so if there is even a slight chance of moisture, I won't take it out, because I'm not good enough to control it.
Based on my one experience driving a Pantera, it takes both a lot of skill and bravery. Beautiful car.
SecretSupercarOwner,
When I bought my XKR in 2013, I essentially gave up driving my Pantera, it was just too much a pain in the rear for a car that wasn't nearly as quick as my pulley and tuned XKR. Plus on the track, I didn't have to be a weight lifter to hustle it around tight corners without power steering. My wonderful experiences with the XKR forced me to make my Pantera a better, more usable car. It went through a 4+year restoration/modification that brought a 500+hp engine transplant, fuel injection, luxurious leather interior with custom molded C-4 Corvette seats, flush windshield glass, headers and exhaust upgrades among other improvements. Now, with its newfound power, its 3000lb. weight, and its much more comfortable interior, it is much more pleasurable to drive. The noise coming from just behind your head is positively ferocious, so it finally lives up to its "supercar" moniker, and can compete quite admirably with modern day offerings. It always had and still (imho) has supercar looks, with its simple, yet agressive lines. Fifty years ago, when the Pantera debuted, it ushered in a frenzy at GM to work on a mid-engined Corvette. It only took them five decades to finally do it, and while it is a performance miracle, I still don't think it looks as good as its original inspiration.
SecretSupercarOwner,
When I bought my XKR in 2013, I essentially gave up driving my Pantera, it was just too much a pain in the rear for a car that wasn't nearly as quick as my pulley and tuned XKR. Plus on the track, I didn't have to be a weight lifter to hustle it around tight corners without power steering. My wonderful experiences with the XKR forced me to make my Pantera a better, more usable car. It went through a 4+year restoration/modification that brought a 500+hp engine transplant, fuel injection, luxurious leather interior with custom molded C-4 Corvette seats, flush windshield glass, headers and exhaust upgrades among other improvements. Now, with its newfound power, its 3000lb. weight, and its much more comfortable interior, it is much more pleasurable to drive. The noise coming from just behind your head is positively ferocious, so it finally lives up to its "supercar" moniker, and can compete quite admirably with modern day offerings. It always had and still (imho) has supercar looks, with its simple, yet agressive lines. Fifty years ago, when the Pantera debuted, it ushered in a frenzy at GM to work on a mid-engined Corvette. It only took them five decades to finally do it, and while it is a performance miracle, I still don't think it looks as good as its original inspiration.
Great story and I agree on the latest mid engine Corvette.
12-10-2020, 11:07 AM
Hairiest Moments
