Las
Vegas Supercar Driving Experience Day
Driving
a Ferrari 360, Ferrari 550, Mustang Rouch, AMG Mercedes down
the Las Vegas Strip and out into the Nevada desert
Date:
Saturday 21st April 2007
Time: 9.30am - 3.30pm
Location: Las Vegas, Nevada, USA
Vehicles: Ferrari 360, Ferrari 550, Mustang Rouch,
AMG Mercedes
This
supercar driving experience review
is still a work in progress, it has not been fully finished
yet!
 This
driving experience was slightly special in that it was taking
place in Las Vegas on a quick trip to Las Vegas which was
jam packed with activities. I will only write up about the
driving experience part of the trip though!
We
started by getting picked up from the MGM Grand and taken
5 minutes down the road to the place with the cars.
There
were 8 of us who would be taking part in this "mini Gumball"
and we would have 4 supercars/American muscle cars to keep
us occupied. The line up included:
Ferrari
360
Ferrari 550
Mustang Rouch
AMG Mercedes
First
up we were taken to the red Ferrari 360 and had some pictures
taken with it, I guess a red Ferrari is one of the first cars
people think of when it comes to supercars, I was certainly
lookign forward to getting to drive
a Ferrari again! After we had had our snaps we were
given a briefing about what the day would involve, this included
giving us a set of road instructions with distance markers
so we knew where to head and where the meet points were to
swap drivers and swap cars. Each supercar would have 2 people
in them and at specific intervals drivers would swap around
and also swap cars so everyone got to drive every supercar
that we had for the day. Each "team" were given
a walkie-talkie radio so we could chat to each other in our
cars.
After our driving licenses had all been checked we were then
take to each car in turn and given instructions on them, such
as starting them, altering things in them etc. Also the AMG
Mercedes and the Mustang Rouch were automatics so that needed
to be pointed out too.
Anyway,
we were set to go, I was passenger to start with as we were
given the AMG Mercedes to start our road trip with. Now the
AMG Mercedes was an amazing car, but from the outside looked
pretty understated, so while the other 2 Ferrari's and the
Mustang were getting looks we drove down the Vegas strip relatively
unnoticed. What an amazing place to start the road trip on
though, driving down Las Vegas strip, with the sun beating
down and getting to take in all the sights of the strip as
your cruise down it. I could write a whole section just about
the Las Vegas strip, it's an unbelievable place and just crazy
when you see all the amazing buildings there is down it! After
cruising down the strip and past the Stratosphere we headed
into the Vegas Old Town and then out into the suburbs where
it was about time to swap drivers and me get my first go in
the driving seat. Just to add the Mercedes was the most powerful
car that we would be driving today so it definitely needed
to be tested out...
Where we pulled in to change drivers was a pharmacy, so having
a shaved head and being out in the blistering Nevada desert
kind of required to have sun cream slapped on so I bobbed
into the shop and came out with the required sun tan cream,
a necessity for the day ahead!
I had never driven an automatic car before so this was strange
in itself, luckily I started my drive on a car park as I started
to accelerate slowly back to join the road I needed to break
and as my left foot had nothing to do I jumped on the break
pedal nearly sending us both through the windscreen. Luckily
that was my reminder that I didn't need to use my left foot
in the automatics...
Back on the open road and we soon hit the desert when the
power of the car was unbelievable as you powered down the
big wide desert roads. They are just like you see in the movies
too!
The
first change over point was finally reached and everyone took
the time to grab a quick couple of pictures of the cars out
in the desert before it was time to swap cars and set off
on our way. Next up for us was the Ferrari 550 and back into
a manual car. We were last to set off as the car wouldn't
start, not really an ideal situation to be in as we are now
in the desert just the 2 of us. We jumped out and locked and
unlocked it as we thought the imobobiliser may have been stopping
us. Anyway, we got back in and put the key in the ignition
and the 5.5L V12 engine roared into life, unfortunately the
car started moving forward at the same time with Paul half
hanging out of the car still, the previous drivers had left
it in gear and not told us (I guess you need to have been
there and see it to fully appreciate how funny it looked).
Anyway, Paul finally got the car back into neutral and we
checked the route plan and set off to see what this supercar
had to offer...
Like the Mercedes this Ferrari also had a roof on it so we
didn't have the sun beating down on our heads for this stint
either so we had to make the most of the shade while we had
it.
By now we were right out in the Nevada desert, it was actually
very surreal and not what I expected, it looked exactly like
out of a movie set (most likely because plenty of movies have
had clips filmed out there). It was totally barren with just
nice big roads to drive along and stunning scenery, yes most
of it out there in the desert is brown and big protruding
rocks and hills scatter the landscape but it was breath taking!
Wherever you looked was blue sky and dark burn rocks and soil
with only the very strongest of bushes able to survive out
there in the arid conditions!
When it got to the driver change again it was my turn to get
the wheel and drive the Ferrari
550...Out in the wilderness it's hard not to get a heavy right
foot, despite being repeatedly told that the same rules apply
to driving over there as they do back home in the UK it somehow
felt slightly rude not to open her up and give it some beans
on the large open roads. Any traffic that you came across
once in a while was easy enough to overtake with a quick dip
of the accelerator and you were around them and away.
With Paul in the passenger seat he was in charge of giving
me the directions as to where we should head and where was
the next meeting point and marker. The instructions were set
out very clearly with precise distances marked on them for
when the next instruction needed to be done. The mileage clocks
on the cars were set to zero at the beginning of the day and
we were given instructions when to reset them again throughout
the day so we could make sure we knew exactly where abouts
we were up to with the instructions.
TO
BE CONTINUED...WORK IN PROGRESS!
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