Edward's Corner

Alright so those of you who have been asking. Here it is. The write up about how I ended up behind the wheel of the California.

Note 1: While I do share my thoughts on the car at the end of this post, I dont go too far into the technicals of it all. I’ll save that for the internet armchair racers out there.

Note 2: It all happened SO quickly, that I only have a handful of my own pictures for this post, the rest is stock photos. The event was a whirlwind to say the least.

The Setup: Orange County California. I am attending a cool event with entrepreneurs, investors, and other individuals associated with the business of having their own business. It is exactly the type of events I’m into, being surrounded by people who have no life but what they are working on. Curiously enough, it was set to take place in some corporate building, but it was rescheduled last minute to the Marconi Automotive Museum. A meeting with others like me while surrounded by a $30M car collection? Dont twist my arm…

Needless to say I showed up early. I wanted to see every car before people got there, as I knew I wouldn’t get the chance to later. I drive up to the lot and find free valet service. I pull a u-turn and park on the street, thank you very much but I’ll pass on you driving my car.

I walk across the empty parking lot and the first car I see is the BMW 1. (image below is from the museums site. it was not indoors when i was there)

I didn’t know what I was more shocked at. The great conscious choice of having the first car people see being the M1 or the ridiculous thought of it being OUTSIDE. I walk past the DeTomaso sitting next to it and head inside.

Name tag, Check. Racing motorcycles sitting next to check-in area? Check. Walk in and flanked by a hardtop F-50 and a barchetta F-50 next to an F-40? Damn.

Not to mention I look across the way randomly and see a Cizeta.

(excuse the non-revealing photo, i sent it to a friend in portland to test him and see if he would recognize. He got it right. I dont know whats geekier, the fact that I did it to test him, or the fact that he got it right)

So here’s where the story starts, unless you’ve been reading along…good for you :)

Name that car! (another test)…dont just say “ferrari”. Its an FX. I couldn’t believe it. 7 in the world. 6 of which went to the royal family of Brunei The only one outside in “public” eye was here, in front of me. Well, actually, in front of us.

Standing next to me? A guy that was in the room we pitched our company to earlier in the day. We really didn’t get the chance to talk much after the presentation. In any case, I started chatting with him about the FX and the Sultan of Brunei’s collection. 5,000+ cars strong and as I INSIST, primarily yellow. (an estimated 2000+ cars of the collection are yellow)

The majority of the collection that day was Ferrari, so it was a natural extension for me to talk about my feelings towards Ferrari and Lamborghini both deciding they will no longer build manual-transmission cars.

Him - “You sound like a car nut”
Me - (hesitating) - “eeeh, I just really like cars”

So my conversation with this fine gentleman started off with us discussing the history of Ferrari and I immediately went into how some of the essence is gone with the lack of manual transmissions, as well as the design direction of Ferrari, which started to depart from classic Italian styling.

The change was most notable from the late 90’s F355

To the Ferrari 360 Modena onward.

Regarding the transmission discussion, I mentioned to him that while I understood technology allowed the car to shift faster than any human ever could, it sort of killed the spirit and engagement level.

In a manual car, your left leg is busy with the clutch, your right leg is gas/brake, your right hand is on the shifter, and your left is on the steering wheel. Complete and total engagement. In a Ferrari’s paddleshift/semi-automatic, my biggest problem is that there even is an automatic option. The gearshifts on the paddles are BLAZING fast, but at the end of the day, not completely necessary if one pushes the wonderful “auto” button. The car, is driving you.

So during some more conversations and a quick running around the museum together discussing different cars, our own cars come up in the conversation. To this day I continue to honestly feel I have very good reasons as to why I am slightly disappointed in Ferrari, but as luck had it that day, the very guy I was talking to about it had his brand new one sitting outside.

He pulls out the contents of his pocket and finds the valet slip.

(dramatization of pocket contents - thanks google!)

(the conversation below is as close to what I recall)

Him - “Here maybe you can take it for a spin and THEN get back to me on your thoughts.”
Me - (shocked) “That would only be the most incredible experience ever but I’m not sure about you just staying in here while I go check it out”
Him - “Well with saying something like that you DEFINITELY have to drive it”

He proceeds to lead the way outside and grabs the key from the valet. We walk over to the car, he pops open the driver door, hands me the key, and says, “have fun”. So there I am, in the middle of Orange County holding a red key to a brand new Ferrari California…

…and the driver door open and the interior inviting me in.

Me -(after about a 5 second beat) “There’s no way I’m getting in this car without you”
Him - “Alright lets go!”

I jump into the drivers seat, he gets in, we put the hardtop roof down, and I fire up the engine. My first note, which I’m sure everyone who has ever heard a Ferrari already knows, the sound was incredible.

Pull the right paddle down for 1 click to get the car into drive and we are off. We ended up driving/racing around for maybe 10 minutes or so, and it still feels like a dream to this day, but I was able to collect enough thoughts from then to say the following about the car.

The car as a sum of its parts is in fact gorgeous.

The sound of a the Italian V-8 at full throttle at 8,000 rpm and the wonderfully tuned exhaust can only be matched by the absolutely beautiful sound of the “blipping” through the gears during shifts. I can honestly say that it is the most incredible non-manual transmission I have ever experienced. However, the transmission is so good, that it makes the power delivery of the engine seamless, which means you dont really feel like you are accelerating aggressively. I know what you’re thinking…”Edward how does that not feel blindingly fast”. Well statistically speaking it isn’t that different in numbers, (excluding price), from what I drive daily.

2009 Ferrari California (2-door hardtop convertible):
Engine: Front Engine 4.3L V-8
Transmission: 7-speed dual-clutch paddle shift
Weight: 3,594 lb
Horsepower: 453 hp
Torque: 357 ft-lbs torque
Redline: 8,000 rpm

2008 BMW M3 (4-door sedan):
Engine: Front Engine 4.0L V-8
Transmission: 6-speed manual
Weight: 3,726 lb
Horsepower: 414 hp
Torque: 295 ft-lbs torque
Redline: 8,300 rpm

This is where I believe you “feel” the difference in a manual. The human imperfections in shifts (loss of speed), and the tactile feedback from the transmission in the manual is just a completely different experience. My car is slower, but yet it feels so…alive.

No problem in the Ferrari though, all you need to see is how quickly the cars around you suddenly disappear into your rear view mirror.

There aren’t many curvy roads in that part of Orange County, so the rigidity of a hardtop convertible and its effect on handling I can not comment on. What I can say is that Ferrari is one of the few companies that prides themselves on making structural improvements to its convertibles to increase rigidity and make them super stiff.

I turned around and headed back to the event we so quickly left behind. After we arrived we talked a little more about other random gems in the museum. From 246 Dino’s and 300SL Gullwings, to the fact that we were both from the Santa Monica / West LA area.

(Random dinosaur picture to make sure you’re still paying attention)

For the rest of the evening I talked with other individuals at the event, but it was tough. On one hand I am talking about technology, the market, and what I’ve learned in 2.5yrs on my current project. On the other, I had just experienced something so surreal that the longer I didn’t talk about it the more it felt like a dream.

And so the night went on…meeting person after person in a room surrounded by incredible engineering and history. By the end of the night I was ready for bed. Long drive home to Santa Monica, so lets get out of here.

I looked around the room to find my new car-geek friend, but he was nowhere to be found. I never even got to say goodbye.

So the illusion and lucid-like dream state of that day continues to grow. Was he real? Did I actually leave in the middle of the event for 10 minutes to go for a drive? Did any of this actually happen?

Who knows.

But I do know this. The day I see a blue California cruising around my area I’ll be sure to take a good look to see who is inside. It might just be someone I once knew, even if for a brief moment, in an experience that I’ll be sure to always remember.