Dino Saga 070708 _ Lonesome Ferrari Owner

Dino Saga 070708 _ Lonesome Ferrari Owner

Don’t know about you but having a Ferrari as your only car leaves me out of a lot of conversations. Actually, it kills virtually all conversation about cars. There is a complete disconnect on both sides. I am willing to talk about my car and Ferrari in general and talk about other performance cars in some detail. I can also talk about my wife’s Nissan mini-van. Hell, I can even talk about English cars, German cars and other Italian cars. My weak spots are American cars (except Corvette, Cobra) and hot Japanese cars (except NSX and Miata).

More than half of the vehicles sold in California come from Asia and lots of them are, or are modified to be something special. Half of the other half are pick-ups or SUVs. Hard to believe the mods made to those to make them something special. The big thing with Asian cars is drifting on pavement. The big thing with the big iron is jumping and wading over hill and dale. No roads in sight.

In both cases, the vehicles hardly ever actually do what they were designed or rigged to do. Drifting on pavement goes through a set of tires in an afternoon or in 30 minutes. Driving through mud and desert takes days of clean-up and straightening afterward. And you have bragging rights among a small group but that is about it. It is fun to drive on the edge of control but there is an easy way that is as much fun. I think so anyway! I have been using the cornering technique demo’d in Cars ever since I bought my first MG TD. Find a large flat dirt lot and carve donuts. Vary the size. Try eights. When you know what your car feels like, try a real unpaved road. Go back and practice some more. Out here in southern California it is still possible to find the lots and the unpaved roads. The Dino likes them just fine and is lots more fun than the MG was. Everything you learn applies to everyday driving. Folks who drive in the snow take note.

Nobody is interested in flat dirt and it is a shame. No one is interested that a Ferrari does dirt regularly. No one believes that any one actually drives a Ferrari. They can’t believe that K&N doesn’t make an air filter or an induction system to improve the performance. They can’t believe that Ferraris come from the factory with all the go-fasts that the factory thought worth while. And then they find out that mine is 35 years old and the factory was pretty well right.

It is not all their fault. I don’t understand jacking up or lowering when one guarantees rolling and the other guarantees scraping. I don’t understand 400 Hp in a sedan with no suspension or brakes to match. I also don’t understand 1000 watts of stereo and a speaker system that gives you only one bass note no matter what note was played. And causes the trunk lid to rattle in time with the beat.

Guess I am getting old and crotchety. That is why I write these Sagas. Good audience who does understand the differences. Enjoy the pictures.

John
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