Was A4 seats - now R8 and Sonoma

[Mark R]

I've never even been inside a Lotus Esprit.  I think you mean Exige (which
is the car my WIFE wants for a track car).  Absolutely a fantastic car.
Light and very nible... a chassis that rewards fast cornering, since there's
not a lot of extra power for the straights.  I think of them as a higher
level Miata in driving style, if that makes sense.  I don't have a lot of
seat time in them, since I often get assigned to higher HP vehicles.  But
even as a Z06 owner, I love the light cars (SPEC Miatas, Elise/Exige,
etc.).  As I say to my students, "Any a$$ can drove a Corvette fast."    ;-)

Excuse me... "Any epicurean car drive a Corvette fast."    LOL

I love the Porsche Cayman as well.  I think it's a better chassis than the
997.  Heracy!  Like any mid-engine car with a shorter wheelbase, they spin
very easily.  Sliding one around is for an experienced driver.  On the flip
side of that, a car like my modified (full suspension/alignment/some extra
power) S4 or a Porsche Turbo... they're SO easy to drive.  A decent driver
can slide the car out of any corner with a wide margin of safety.

Power is addictive.  Power with a decent chassis is superb.  But so is a
LIGHT chassis, even without power.  Personally, I'd like to drive one of the
newer track-spec Exiges... stiffer suspensions and a little more power.
Would make my wife happy.  =)

The new Nissan is on my short list of cars I'd like to drive.  Personally,
my dream car is a 2 seat lightweight, stiff chassis (think Exige), AWD
(think S4), 300+ HP, great brakes (think Stoptech), and a well designed ESP
system (think any Porsche or Corvette's competition mode).  Honestly, I'll
probably never get it.

Oh, and I think the high HP Radicals are "da bomb."  Sadly, I've not gotten
to drive one.  Maybe I'd change my mind, but I've run with a number of them,
and always come away impressed (more so than Ferrari 360 Challenge cars).

Unfortunately, the newer Audis are SO heavy....  I really enjoyed driving my
friend's S5 on the street (what a backup camera in low light!), but it's not
a great track car.

Ramblingly yours,
Mark Rosenkrantz

On Sun, Jan 11, 2009 at 11:45 AM, George Tur <getur at optonline.net> wrote:

> On Saturday 10 January 2009 18:43, Mark R wrote:
> > 325s!  And here I thought I was all bad-ass with 315 Pilot sport Cups on
> > the back of my Z06.   LOL
> >
> > R8s are cool cars.  Great chassis with AWD.  Just like a Porsche
> > twin-turbo.  SO easy to drive.  As an instructor, I've been really
> > fortunate to be able to drive a lot of great cars at speed.  The Gallardo
> > (which I absolutely can't even close to afford) is one of my favorites.
>  My
> > wife thinks they're ugly, I really like them.  And driving them... feels
> > like a higher performance Porsche Turbo... and that's saying a lot.
> >
> > Like the S5, Audi hit a home-run in the R8.  I just wish for "faster" in
> > the R8 (yeah, the Z06 guy likes power... go figure).  I don't need a 2
> door
> > 2+2, but man if I did.... I'd sell my S4 and figure out a way to afford
> an
> > S5. Simply gorgeous and will always look good.
> >
> ************
> Have you had a chance to drive a Lotus Esprit or Porsche Cayman, and if so
> how
> do they compare with the R8 or other high end mid engine cars? I know they
> don't match up in power but do the Esprit and Cayman give you 8 or 9 tenths
> of the performance at a quarter of the price?
>
> By the way I loved driving through Sonoma a couple of years ago. Picked up
> a
> sandwich and beer in Sonoma and then had a road side picnic further up the
> valley. The view and drive made the cheapo meal a delight. Wish I could
> afford to live in California, just loved driving down route 1 from San
> Francisco. Couldn't believe how many classic sport cars there were on that
> road.
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