My wife purchased a spot on the Imagine Lifestyles test drive for my birthday. I could go a Ferrari or a Lamborghini around a race track.
Imagine Lifestyles chose Candlestick Park as the location and created a test track using red cones in the parking lot. This is not the ideal test track, like Laguna Seca in Monterey (where I did my motorcycle racing with Keith Code Superbike School), but it would have to do.
I chose to test drive a Ferrari F430 convertible on Sunday, October 28th at 10:00am.
When I arrived at Candlestick Park, a long line of people registered for the various cars. I decided to record my session, so I got to wear a GoPro Hero2 camera mounted on my helmet. Each vehicle comes with an assistant sitting on the passenger side, who explains the driving rules and gives helpful advice on making the car perform.
Here is the GoPro Hero2 video recorded:
My assistant explained that the Ferrari needs to have brakes applied very hard. It was helpful advice! All cars were automatic, although I was hoping for a manual transmission.
The Ferrari was automatic and sliglow to come off the line. There was a delay between when I pressed my foot on the accelerator and the car's response. The car handled very well in turns, but the brakes had a very long travel and had to be pushed all the way in as hard as possible to slow down.
It was not as exhilarating as racing a motorcycle around a race track. The acceleration was just not the same caliber.
I had lots of fun but am not too impressed with the Ferrari F430. It could be the automatic transmission (I would have preferred a manual), but I didn't feel the exhilaration I had expected.
Next time, I will try the Lamborghini. It has a nice growling exhaust.
Imagine Lifestyles chose Candlestick Park as the location and created a test track using red cones in the parking lot. This is not the ideal test track, like Laguna Seca in Monterey (where I did my motorcycle racing with Keith Code Superbike School), but it would have to do.
I chose to test drive a Ferrari F430 convertible on Sunday, October 28th at 10:00am.
When I arrived at Candlestick Park, a long line of people registered for the various cars. I decided to record my session, so I got to wear a GoPro Hero2 camera mounted on my helmet. Each vehicle comes with an assistant sitting on the passenger side, who explains the driving rules and gives helpful advice on making the car perform.
Here is the GoPro Hero2 video recorded:
My assistant explained that the Ferrari needs to have brakes applied very hard. It was helpful advice! All cars were automatic, although I was hoping for a manual transmission.
The Ferrari was automatic and sliglow to come off the line. There was a delay between when I pressed my foot on the accelerator and the car's response. The car handled very well in turns, but the brakes had a very long travel and had to be pushed all the way in as hard as possible to slow down.
It was not as exhilarating as racing a motorcycle around a race track. The acceleration was just not the same caliber.
I had lots of fun but am not too impressed with the Ferrari F430. It could be the automatic transmission (I would have preferred a manual), but I didn't feel the exhilaration I had expected.
Next time, I will try the Lamborghini. It has a nice growling exhaust.
