Driving the Giro and Going to Monterey
#21
08-13-2010, 03:46 AM
Day 5- Morning
I got up at 4:00 AM to get some of the writing done and get caught up on email before breakfast. At 7:00 AM sharp we all met for breakfast in the large meeting room were the four cars were parked the night before. Maurizio Reggiani joined us for breakfast after getting in late last night. Maurizio is head of R&D at Lamborghini and is truly one of the nice guys in the company. He sat at our table and gave us a little time to catch up. I saw him in Seattle just about six weeks ago. Maurizio is really an amazing guy because of his keen understanding of what Lamborghini is all about and his commitment to do something really unique. It’s always a pleasure to sit down with him. It’s similar with Manfred Fitzgerald, Director of Branding and Design, and the two together make an interesting pair. I’ve yet to have much time to sit down and chat with Wolfgang Hoffmann and get to know the guy. It’s hard to tell if he’s the guy to improve things in the US or not. So far I have no impression.
After our morning breakfast buffet, we started our engines at 8:15 AM and drove down to Infineon Raceway to spend some time karting and to take our cars on the track. The drive down was completely random because of traffic and no plans to keep the group together in any way, we just drove.
As we approached a four way stop, an old Bugatti on the tour from Kirkland, WA to Pebble Beach joined our procession along with other cars in the tour. The car is from the Seattle area I believe, and I just saw it in Kirkland last Monday as they were about to start south. What a beauty, but the driver and passenger never waved and I think were glad to see us get out of their way.
I’ve not been in a kart of any kind in years. Prior to that, as a kid I probably got a ride in a shopping cart. I think the last time I went karting was 1994 and those carts were as dangerous as they come, with no safety gear of any kind. Our karting safety orientation made me a little nervous, but once we were out there, it was a great experience. I can see the benefit of skill building. We made go-carts as kids out of lawnmower motors, wood and whatever else we could find.
I’ve got to admit, Lamborghini management has obviously learned a thing or two about driving as I was lapped twice by Winkelmann himself. After getting a stern warning about damage to the carts in our orientation class, I was more concerned about that than keeping up with him. It was a lot of fun and nobody died.
After our time karting, we took a short bus ride back to our cars to have our turn with our cars on the track. It started with a safety session and the groups were broken down into four cars at a time led by a pace car.
Each lap was progressively faster with radio instructions given to us on each turn. There was one short stretch where I could get up to 116, but that was about it.
I shot external video with the GoPro and internal video with the HD camera. It’s taken all night to upload the first 6G of video and I have a lot more so it may take a day or two to get all the video uploaded and some clips edited down. Vic also shot a lot of video, and together we shot over 700 photos.
I got to catch a glimpse of Maurizio running a couple of laps in the new Superleggera and his driving is very impressive. In fact when the car started out, I had no idea who it was and thought it was Balboni running a few laps. It’s now the morning of Day 6, but I’ve got to get moving. Yesterday was a very long day and I’ve got a lot more writing to do.
I got up at 4:00 AM to get some of the writing done and get caught up on email before breakfast. At 7:00 AM sharp we all met for breakfast in the large meeting room were the four cars were parked the night before. Maurizio Reggiani joined us for breakfast after getting in late last night. Maurizio is head of R&D at Lamborghini and is truly one of the nice guys in the company. He sat at our table and gave us a little time to catch up. I saw him in Seattle just about six weeks ago. Maurizio is really an amazing guy because of his keen understanding of what Lamborghini is all about and his commitment to do something really unique. It’s always a pleasure to sit down with him. It’s similar with Manfred Fitzgerald, Director of Branding and Design, and the two together make an interesting pair. I’ve yet to have much time to sit down and chat with Wolfgang Hoffmann and get to know the guy. It’s hard to tell if he’s the guy to improve things in the US or not. So far I have no impression.
After our morning breakfast buffet, we started our engines at 8:15 AM and drove down to Infineon Raceway to spend some time karting and to take our cars on the track. The drive down was completely random because of traffic and no plans to keep the group together in any way, we just drove.
As we approached a four way stop, an old Bugatti on the tour from Kirkland, WA to Pebble Beach joined our procession along with other cars in the tour. The car is from the Seattle area I believe, and I just saw it in Kirkland last Monday as they were about to start south. What a beauty, but the driver and passenger never waved and I think were glad to see us get out of their way.
I’ve not been in a kart of any kind in years. Prior to that, as a kid I probably got a ride in a shopping cart. I think the last time I went karting was 1994 and those carts were as dangerous as they come, with no safety gear of any kind. Our karting safety orientation made me a little nervous, but once we were out there, it was a great experience. I can see the benefit of skill building. We made go-carts as kids out of lawnmower motors, wood and whatever else we could find.
I’ve got to admit, Lamborghini management has obviously learned a thing or two about driving as I was lapped twice by Winkelmann himself. After getting a stern warning about damage to the carts in our orientation class, I was more concerned about that than keeping up with him. It was a lot of fun and nobody died.
After our time karting, we took a short bus ride back to our cars to have our turn with our cars on the track. It started with a safety session and the groups were broken down into four cars at a time led by a pace car.
Each lap was progressively faster with radio instructions given to us on each turn. There was one short stretch where I could get up to 116, but that was about it.
I shot external video with the GoPro and internal video with the HD camera. It’s taken all night to upload the first 6G of video and I have a lot more so it may take a day or two to get all the video uploaded and some clips edited down. Vic also shot a lot of video, and together we shot over 700 photos.
I got to catch a glimpse of Maurizio running a couple of laps in the new Superleggera and his driving is very impressive. In fact when the car started out, I had no idea who it was and thought it was Balboni running a few laps. It’s now the morning of Day 6, but I’ve got to get moving. Yesterday was a very long day and I’ve got a lot more writing to do.
#22
08-13-2010, 04:10 AM
Originally Posted by agup48
Do you have any pictures of the Rosso Vik Superleggera? That sounds like it looked amazing.
#24
08-13-2010, 05:15 PM
Quick question for Tom/Junus
The record breaking UA has been in SSC's hands since 2006 for display and testing purposes, how many miles does that car have on it now as it always looks to be in perfect condition.
The record breaking UA has been in SSC's hands since 2006 for display and testing purposes, how many miles does that car have on it now as it always looks to be in perfect condition.
#28
08-14-2010, 04:01 AM
Yes, they were there one night before moving to the Hilton for a few nights. We’ve had people bouncing around since we got here.
#29
08-14-2010, 03:39 PM
Hate to bug you, but anymore updates? I check this thread hourly hoping for cool pictures and stories.
