Entries from March 2008 ↓

For the past couple of months, while I have been waiting / trying to get my bike fixed, I have been borrowing Allen’s 240sx. To be totally honest and totally clear, this car is pretty much rice. The paint is bad, there is a big dent in the front corner (a standard on these cars), the lights no longer go down, it has an exhaust that battles with the jets at the airpark, and it is lowered. One thing that doesn’t really count but is worth noting is that it is NOT front-wheel-drive.

It is at this point that I should also note that Allen didn’t just lower it but completely redid his suspension from the ground up and that he also added a LSD to it so it is pretty easy and ready to drift (a fun rainy day event)

While I was driving today I see a car in my rear view mirror creeping up.

I let the car pass, snap a picture with my cell phone and watch. Turns out we are both getting off at the same light. So I take another picture only slightly closer.

Then comes the fun. While I know that Allen has put a lot of work into the functioning and handling of his car, I look and sound like every Fast and the Furious Wanna-be on the road with an import car. I figure what better fun to have in North Scottsdale than to play that part a bit. So I start revving my engine a bit go through the light, and change lanes REALLY quickly to the other lane, drop a gear and tear past him only to jump back into the lane as soon as I have passed him. I am not an idiot, I wasn’t tail-gating and I certainly didn’t cut the guy off, but I made my point. I think my car is better than his Porsche. Sure enough he does the same thing only much faster and gives me a dirty look on the way. This is where I give my ‘whatever’ should shrug and look like a total jackass who doesn’t know anything about cars.

It makes me feel good to goad people buying these cars that cost like 5 times my annual salary.

Do I love the GT-3? Yeah. Do I wish I could drive one? Yeah. I just find it funny that there are people out there who drive cars like Allen’s and think they are faster than anything on the road. I also find it funny that those people bother people who pay $200,000 for a car that looks like the kind of car the Devil would drive through the canyons of Heaven.

note: For good measure I threw a picture of the GT-3 from the Porsche Site, just to show the front as well. Top image © Porsche AG

Specs:

Max. Horsepower: 415 hp at 7600 rpm
Max. torque (lb.ft.): 300 lb.ft. at 5500 rpm
Engine redline: 8400 rpm
Compression ratio: 12.0:1

Curb Weight[ lbs. / kg ]: 3,075 / 1,395
Fuel economy [ mpg ]: 15 / 22

Top Track Speed: 193 mph (310 km/h)
0-60 mph (0-96 km/h): 4.1 sec.
0-99 mph(0-160 km/h): 8.7 sec.
0-124 mph(0-200 km/h): 13.5 sec.

I started a job recently in North Scottsdale. Yeah, its that Scottsdale, and its the rich area. It is in the air park where the elite, invitation only car club is housed. The one where you pay an arm and a leg to be able to rent crazy sports cars. It is about three miles away from where Barrett Jackson is held.

Pretty much every day is an adventure in amazing cars, and this is just when I drive down the road. The first day I worked was the week of the Superbowl and everyone was out. I saw a Bentley Continental GTC, Lamborghini Murcielago, Ferrari F430 Spyder, Audi R8, Porsche GT3 RS, and others. This was day one. Yesterday I almost got in an accident as I was driving next to and, in effect, looking at at Maserati Quattroporte. The point is that I get to see a lot of cool cars driving down the road, but today surprised me.

I was reading about the first Nissan GT-R being imported from Japan into the US, and the article was going on about being the first to own one and so on. Well that may be the case, but guess what. I saw one in Scottsdale today. It was red. It was DEFINITELY a GT-R. An R35. Unmistakable.

It was a quick look, but as I saw it and wondered, “What is that?!?” I turned my head for a brief instant while it passed by and there they were. The tell-tale round tail lights, and the rear end that always reminds me a bit of an Altima. It was for certain a GT-R.

Here is the deal. There are a few of these around town as the Nissan proving grounds are about a half-hour away (when there is no traffic) and my guess is that they are driving around some of them before they hit the road here in the US. Pretty simple, but a pretty car all the same.

This is a video that was taken of two GT-Rs in Mesa or Tempe (Southeasterly of Phoenix) by a friend of mine Brian Shaler. The quality isn’t great as it was taken by his cell phone, but apparently there are quite a few of these driving around.