1994-2002 [Subscribe to Daily Digest] |
Tonight, a blood red (of course) Ferrari pulled up next to me as I was leaving the airport in San Diego. Before I saw it, I thought that it was a motorcycle from the sound of its engine.
The car had an open top (targa?) so I talked to the driver and complimented him on his car, which had Texas plates. The driver was probably under 30. He told me it was an F50.
We were going to turn left into a tunnel and he said the car was going to sound loud in the tunnel. I asked him to "get on it" and he obliged me. The sound was incredible, but faded away somewhat as he left me in the dust. I tried my best to keep up, chirping the tires in second, but to say that it was no contest is a gross understatement. At the end of the tunnel, he backed off the throttle, and the Ferrari backfired with what sounded like two cannon shots.
We pulled up to another light. The Ferrari was in the left lane and I was in the right. A car was in front of him, however and was going to turn left. The two lanes narrowed into one. When the light turned green, I punched it. He had to wait for the car in front of him to turn left while I sped ahead.
It didn't take long for him to catch up and pass me just before the lanes narrowed into one. It was a risky move on his part, but it was an unbelievable show of speed. There I was, at full throttle, and he shot by me with his wailing engine as I were riding a moped. I've never seen a street car accelerate that fast. I was in awe and also very envious.
He continued ahead onto the 5 fwy, with me well behind. I didn't see him after that.
I checked the specs of the Ferrari on the net. It has 513 horsepower from 4.7 liters of V-12. That's close to 3x the power of my engine! I think the weight was listed at about 2700 pounds. Not a bad power to weight ratio.
Maybe someday I'll be lucky enough to own something like that Ferrari. In the meantime, I still love the Saab.
Dan Wyman
Oceanside, CA
No Site Registration is Required to Post - Site Membership is optional (Member Features List), but helps to keep the site online
for all Saabers. If the site helps you, please consider helping the site by becoming a member.