Ride out with a difference

[Gecko]

I am fortunate in having a couple of frineds who are rather rich and like to induldge themsleves with some superb cars. Every now and again they come over to Europe with some of the cars and enjoy themselves on some of Europe's greatest race tracks. This last weekend they were down at Spa-Francorchamps with a few of their toys and I was lucky enough to get invited along to have some fun too.

Never mind flat twin boxer power - how about V12 Ferrari power ? I don't know all these cars but this is the engine of the last front engined Ferrari from 1963 I think ....

 

[richie]

I reckon you are wrong on that one Gecko. Ferrari have a smart family sports car with an engine in the front. Don't know what its called though...

612 Scaglietti maybe...

This is where the car nuts come out.

 

[Gecko]

Here's another classis Ferrari owned by the same guy....lucky sod

 

[Gecko]

We were taken out for a spin in this Pro-sport endurance car on full wets. It was a bit damp - in fact it was pissing down but we still got up over 160mph and took the corners at speeds that defied explanation

 

[Gecko]

Here's the pro-sport close up. I think it knocks out about 450bhp and Peter, the driver says it could do with a bit more power

 

[Gecko]

Oh....and this is the car Peter drove to Spa circuit in. Usually when he gets there they jack it up and put slicks on and off he goes but this time it was on full wets and he had to keep the roof on so kept the speed down to and average lap speed of around 100mph.....it's a ferrari F50 in case you were wondering

 

[Gecko]

Oops I forgot to show you the Pro-sport engine .....

 

[Gecko]

There were some other tasty looking 4 -wheelers aorund too. I don't know what these were but they didn't venture out the pit garage because it was too wet - what a shame because they look mighty quick.

 

[Gecko]

Last one ...another shot of this classic ferrari.
What a day
I regard myself as a reasonably good driver but when you get out on a track with someone who can really drive it is a very humbling experience. It was full lock to full lock power slides through the bends and Peter was overtaking everything that was out there. Porsche GT2 and GT3 - blown away. Lotus, Ferrari's and the rest - we flew past like they were commuting in the rush hour. Totally awesome driving and at no time did it feel like he was not in control. He really had full control and was masterful in the way he made it look so easy

 

[Gecko]

I reckon you are wrong on that one Gecko. Ferrari have a smart family sports car with an engine in the front. Don't know what its called though...

612 Scaglietti maybe...

This is where the car nuts come out.

You're probably right - I don't know too much about Ferraris but perhaps it was the last one before they started the rear engine models ....until they came back to the idea of putting it in the front again years later.
The guy that owns these is probably going to buy one of the new Aston Martin DB9 race cars (as shown on Top-Gear last night). It'll cost him a cool half milion quid. He also owns a 1959 Aston Martin which won the Le Mans 24 hours race way back then. It's priceless. He was offered 8 million quid for it last year but he declined to sell it Having said that he's a really down to earth guys and he loves sharing his hobby which is why I was lucky enough to get out to play in some of these amazing 'toys'

 

[richie]

Yes it certainly looks like a memorable day.

I have a mate with two 911 and have been out a couple of times with him, one in each car. Good fun and a lot more accesable than the prices your m8 paid for his cars.

TBO though if I were ever rich enough (not likely now I'm moving to ireland) I'd be happy with a Caterham 7 or possibly a Lotus Elise...

 

[nud1e]

Yes it certainly looks like a memorable day.

I have a mate with two 911 and have been out a couple of times with him, one in each car. Good fun and a lot more accesable than the prices your m8 paid for his cars.

TBO though if I were ever rich enough (not likely now I'm moving to ireland) I'd be happy with a Caterham 7 or possibly a Lotus Elise...

Richie,
the thought of driving a Caterham 7 or a Lotus Elise on Kerry roads is beyond scary - for this is truly GS country

 

[Gecko]

Yes it certainly looks like a memorable day.

I have a mate with two 911 and have been out a couple of times with him, one in each car. Good fun and a lot more accesable than the prices your m8 paid for his cars.

TBO though if I were ever rich enough (not likely now I'm moving to ireland) I'd be happy with a Caterham 7 or possibly a Lotus Elise...

You are right about the budget - there was a Caterham 7 there on Saturday too and a couple Lotus elise . The pro-sport chewed them up and spat them out in it's wake there was also a strange Elise based thing called a Lotus 596 or something like that. It was an odd looking little thing but pretty quick to be sure but it was so light they couldn't really get enough grip in the wet conditions. This is where the pro-sport with all it's spoilers won big time. It just sticks to the road because of the huge down force and super sticky wet tyres. I touched the tyres after we came in from a few laps and they were really hot and sticky even though the air temperature was about 6 or 7 degrees and there was water everywhere.