2015 Gotham Dream Car Sprint

Today I got to drive a Ferrari and Lamborghini for a second time (the first being last year's Dream Car Sprint in Aberdeen). This time the event was in Baltimore at one of the parking lots next to the Ravens stadium. It didn't quite live up to last year's awesome time, but I still had a lot of fun.

Although the location was way more convenient for us, the smaller parking lot meant that the course was much more confined and quite a bit slower. It was just a figure-eight and the "road" marked out by the cones was very narrow. On the upside though, the slower speed and tighter corners made it even easier to play around with the car at the limit.

I drove the Lamborghini first - a black Gallardo convertible. It had tons of power and sounded fantastic. The traction control (they wouldn't let me turn it off) still allowed me to slide the car around through corners, which was a lot of fun.

The Ferrari F430 was second and had a bit of a rocky start. As soon as I started to pull away, the car stalled! I started it again and gave it a bit more gas this time, and the engine note sounded really strange. On top of that, when I tried to get on the gas it would only give me about 20% power. The Gotham Dream Cars guy had me pull it in right away and they opened up the hood to figure out what was wrong. After about five minutes of waiting, they had it working again.

I blipped the throttle a few times while I was sitting there waiting to go on track. We were sitting underneath a highway overpass, so the engine note of the revving Ferrari was just fantastic. On track, it was actually not quite as nice to drive as the Ferrari I drove last year. I don't know if it was the tires or the tighter track or what, but it seemed to squirm a lot under braking, and the traction control was a lot more intrusive as I tried to accelerate out of the corners.

I'm surprised to say it, but I think if I magically had $150k of disposable income I might actually buy the Gallardo instead of the the Ferrari. Not only was it the more fun car to drive today, but I absolutely love how the Gallardo looks.

As much fun as it was for me, the most important thing was that my mom, who also drove the Ferrari, had a blast. I got her the Dream Car Sprint for Christmas this year partly because she missed an opportunity 10+ years ago to ride in a Dodge Viper around Lime Rock Park driven by an actual race car driver. I was hoping this would make up for that missed opportunity and she seemed to really enjoy the whole experience.

Gotham Dream Car Sprint

This past Sunday, I got to do something I've dreamt about since I was a little kid: Drive a Ferrari! And boy did I drive it. And a Lamborghini too! And it was even better than I imagined.

For Valentine's Day, my wife got me a groupon for $125 for the "Dream Car Sprint" from Gotham Dream Cars. From their website, it's described as an "autocross event" where you can "open [the car] up for the thrill of a lifetime." Sounds totally awesome, and I was excited, but part of me was worried that "open it up" would really translate to "no wait don't go too fast" when it came to the reality of the event. I also had no idea what cars would be there, or what the track would be like. Luckily I had done a little bit of autocross this year (just for this reason!) so I at least knew a little bit about driving around cones. Otherwise though, I really wasn't sure what to expect.

My appointment was at 10am, and when I got there I saw a beautiful gray Ferrari 430 and an even more gorgeous bright orange Lamborghini Gallardo Spyder. Only one problem - they were going so slow! Whoever was driving them was really crawling around the track. This was not a good sign.

I got registered, which was super smooth and easy. The guy said my groupon included 4 laps in the car of my choice. Or, I could add another 4 laps, in either car, for $75 extra. Well that's a no-brainer! I'm already taking the time out of my busy schedule to get all the way up to Aberdeen, and you're telling me I can drive both cars for an extra $75? Sold.

I was essentially in the Ferrari and Lamborghini line at the same time (you get little cards with numbers on them), and the Ferrari came up first. My wife and 2-year old daughter told me to have fun and go fast, and I hopped in the drivers seat. As we waited for the Lamborghini to finish on track, the instructor and I got to talking about similar experiences, and I said I had done a little bit of autocross and some Skip Barber Racing School back in the day. I told him I would go as fast as he'd let me. Luckily, he had the perfect response - as long as I'm in control, I can go as fast as I want.

As the Lamborghini exited the track, the instructor gave me the green light. On the gas, and I'm actually driving a Ferrari!!! Oh man it sounded wonderful. Up through 1st, to 2nd, to turn 1, hard on the brakes, tires squealing with great brake feel. A long right-hander follows. I'm still getting used to the car, but as I give it more and more speed, the handling just feels wonderful. The right hand turn tightens up, and switches quickly to a tightish left-hander, but then it's a little bit of a straightaway, then hard on the brakes again and into a long right hander leading back on to the main straight.

After getting used to the car that first lap, I really cranked it up for the rest of the four laps. I was getting it up to third gear by the end of the straight before jamming the brakes and getting back into second. And through the turns, I was getting the car right up to the limit of adhesion. It felt so light and nimble, and so responsive to the steering and throttle inputs. Just amazing.

On the last lap in the Ferrari, I went a little wide through turn one and ran over a few cones. The instructor didn't seem too upset about it, which was good. When I got back to the pit, it became clear that I took the cones with me, and the people had to spend a few minutes fishing cones out of the front of the car. :-) Oops.

Next up was the Lamborghini. Just sitting there waiting, blipping the throttle and hearing that growl, was super cool on its own. On track, I started pushing earlier in the Lamborghini session since I already knew the track. It was pretty nimble too, and was certainly great, but compared to the Ferrari it had a little bit less steering feel. On the exit of one of the corners, as I got onto the gas, the back end got out a little bit. It was a pretty small moment - just a quick steering correction and everything was back in line. When we pulled back into the pits though, the instructor said it was the first time all day that he had a little heart attack. :-)

My wife said you could see the two of us with huge grins on our faces, as we brought the car back in at the end of the run. I'm sure it was pretty funny to the spectators too, hearing the car squealing all over the track after seeing most of the people just poke around the track slowly.

The whole experience was amazing. The only downside was that I didn't do much "soaking in" of the fact that I was actually driving these awesome cars. I was just spending all my time concentrating on going fast. I don't really mind it, because pushing the cards that hard was awesome. It was great that they let me go that fast. Both cars, particularly the Ferrari, were just so outstanding at the limit. So much better than I expected, which is actually kind of funny because what else would you want out of a supercar? It opened my eyes to what makes these cars so great though. I'm hoping I'm now on some kind of e-mail list for deals from Gotham Dream Cars, cause I'd love to do it again in the future.