Just finished a Saturday wash of the Beast and was out for a short joy ride before heading home for a night out. Weather in Atlanta was a cool 44 degrees, but clear skies and dry roads. I pulled up over a hill toward a traffic light on a residential 2-lane. I couldn't believe it. At the red light by himself was a early 90's (??) white Ferrari 512TR. I planned to go left, but saw no traffic ahead, and blinked my lights at the TR. He read my mind, and at the green the Ferrari blasted away in a mind-boggling scream of 12 cylinders. I had lowered my window to hear the melody of the 12 cylinders, and I jumped on it in pursuit. This was my first real chase of a very fast car (absolutely blew away a C43 recently), and I was stunned at the Beast's pace. Through first and second, I was never more than a car length off, and I was shifting way below redline at 5500 to 5700 RPMs!! As I hit third, I almost ran right up the Ferrari's tail pipes! All with my window down! I realized I could pull beside or pass this guy, but there was oncoming traffic ahead on the 2 lane. After a half mile or so, we came up on a moderate left curve, and I knew this would be the test. Could the Beast handle this turn at 130? Could it keep pace with the low-slung TR? As the Ferrari came up on the curve, I think he lost his guts and hit the brakes. I was less than a car length off his rear, but I felt like I clearly could have taken this corner at our top speed. We quickly dropped to about 110 throught the curve, and then came up on slower traffic. The fun was over, but the Beast was amazing. It was clearly as fast as the TR through 130 and maybe beyond!
I haven't found a real "challenge" yet, but can't wait. You'd think I'd find one in the Silicon Valley, but I don't drive enough to run into any 'unfortunate' prey. Though, the occassional VW VR6 thinks he's got a chance, it makes me yawn...
M5Mad:
Awesome story! Ranks up there with Broker's Diablo story. Can you imagine the look on that guy's face when he saw that you were only 1 car-length off his *** and still gaining?hahaha. BTW, what color is your beast?
I knew i wasn't th eonly one, cuz I had an incident with a Testarossa on 280 and that thing was WAILING, but I just thought he wasn't pushing it hard enough or something. Thakns for hte confirmation and a great ride/kill/story!
How come I never get challenged when I'm driving in Atlanta? I've only had run-ins with an early model 512TR that I blew away, a Supra Turbo that demolished me from 90+ after I had pulled a slight lead, and a Mustang which was so embarassed he turned off at the next light.
By the way, I had a 1986 TR and the M5 is not only faster but handles MUCH better! The TR has too much weight in the rear and really doesn't corner that well. I had mine at Road Atlanta several times and never could get a good time . In fact, my old e36 M3 was much faster around Road Atlanta than my TR.
GradX, I originally replied yes to Parkerfe's post on the track days, but decided against it after one of my partners did $20 something thousand damage to his Viper at Road Atlanta. Should I reconsider? Any spots left?
Parkerfe, good to hear more info on the TR's. I thought this guy was out of tune or something. Anyone have any speed specs for the 512 TR? The TR also looked pretty twitchy on the fast curve, confirming what you said about handling. The driver didn't impress me with his skills, but we were in a populated residential area and he had the lead! All I had to do was follow. Incidentally, the whole run was very slightly downhill and leveled out at about the 1/2 mile mark right before a 30 degree left curve.
I couldn't believe the Ferrari was white. Don't think i've seen a white one before. But did see a Forest Green 550 Maranello in Buckhead last week. Some different colors out there on Atlanta Ferrari's.
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