Got To Drive Lamborghini Gallardo And Ferrari F430!!!

[Mean Green z28]

Bought an Imagine LifeStyles driving event through Groupon to drive either a Lamborghini or a Ferrari for 3 laps. Signed up for 3 extra laps and my first choice was the Lamborghini Gallardo; wasn't sure which Ferrari they would bring 'cos it had multiples in their images on their website (wow, look at me being so picky about a car I'd probably never be able to own, lol). However, when we arrived at the event, they were all F430's so we wiggled our way into the Ferrari line for the extra 3 laps, lol. Bought the picture/video package so here's the vids from the GoPro

Warning ... it was only the 2nd time on a track for me, the last time was in a Cobalt at the GM event ... so I was pretty damn nervous and also wanted to learn as much as I can from the professional instructors who rode with us. I didn't have to impress anyone by driving like a bat out of hell; it was more about enjoying the experience than testing limits of the car or myself

First 3 laps in the Lambo ... first time in such an expensive car, nervous as shyt and didn't know the course or what to expect of the car, so it was a bit slow at first. Also, they had the trans in full auto so we were at the mercy of whatever it did, and for some reason it was pretty laggy. You'll hear me get on the throttle; and think I'm easing into it, but it's actually mashed to the floor. Sometimes it decided to downshift, sometimes it just didn't, oh well ... it handled pretty nice though

Second was in the F430, and the dude before me messed up the clutch when he came to the pit 'cos he was still on the throttle and braked and did some bs thing and all we smelled outside was burned clutch ..F. So when I got in the car, the clutch was super grabby and ready to die ... you'll see me stall out when I try to ease into it in the beginning. It was the second time stalling it, lol. Said F 'it and lightly goosed it to get it rolling out of the pit lane; you'll hear the thing clanking and clanking. On the track though, it was much quicker than the Lambo and handled much better too (but the Lambo did have a certain charm to its handling though). You'll see me getting into this a bit more 'cos I was a bit more familiar with the track and the car was more responsive...

Edited September 7, 2012 by Mean Green z28

[VVTi]

MeanGrean... you making me green...

[The Stig]

Daym

[Schiffer]

uuuhhh Jealous

but only few years more for me to drive a galardo n a f430 of my cousins....

but damn im jealous ~ <3

[Kavvz]

Attaboy!

(The laps in the Ferrari sound a hell of a lot better and look a lot faster too, they were a bit stingy on the laps though weren't they?)

Edited September 8, 2012 by Kavvz

[malla]

i think i saw a break paddle in the passenger side in the F430

[nexus]

congratulations man you're one lucky guy.

[CyRaX]

Feeling extremely jealous right here!

[Supra_Natural]

Now THIS is what an auto forum needs to be about!

Congrats machan, have to agree with VVti on the being green part lol... Awesome!

[GTAm]

Wow lucky indeed! Great.

[MasterDon]

Very nice MG...The F430 lap was the best

[razordj]

Wow.. Amazing experience. Thanks for sharing.

Does the F430 seems bit aggressive when it comes to accelerating or is it the way you driving?

[Mean Green z28]

I think the F430 was more responsive than the Gallardo and I also felt a bit more comfortable in it; due to the car or the fact that I'd already driven the track before, not sure. You could def. see I was getting into it a bit earlier and was braking later in the F430 ... thanks guys, it was a small dream come true

[GTAm]

I'm sure that that difference in responsiveness is the Lambo being laced with German sauce while the Ferrari is pure Italian although the development input came from a German driver

MG, what sounded better at the red line in your opinion?

[Mean Green z28]

oh the Ferrari sounded the best. It just sounds like a racecar with that high pitched soundtrack; it even idles pretty high. However, the Lambo is just brawn and guts and sounds meaner and more muscular with the V10 ... and it's got the AWD! Between the two, I'd go for the Lambo ... don't know why

Edited September 11, 2012 by Mean Green z28

[terrabytetango]

Is the response of the computerized manual transmissions as good as they say it is? I mean was there ever any issue with the power coming even a hair too late i.e. shift delay?

[GTAm]

oh the Ferrari sounded the best. It just sounds like a racecar with that high pitched soundtrack; it even idles pretty high. However, the Lambo is just brawn and guts and sounds meaner and more muscular with the V10 ... and it's got the AWD! Between the two, I'd go for the Lambo ... don't know why

Interesting MG. I guess the Lambo had more torque. The Ferrari must have been higher strung delivering everything higher in the rev range I guess.

[Charith]

What a small world. The guy in the white t-shirt who was setting you guys off is a really good friend of mine. He had emailed me a while back asking for me to come instruct at one of these events. Too bad I'm across the country. Would've been hilarious if I ran into you there.

[Mean Green z28]

What a small world. The guy in the white t-shirt who was setting you guys off is a really good friend of mine. He had emailed me a while back asking for me to come instruct at one of these events. Too bad I'm across the country. Would've been hilarious if I ran into you there.

wow didn't know you were in the east coast till recently; just read your blog, good stuff!!

Yeah, it would've been funny had to just randomly met

[Mean Green z28]

Is the response of the computerized manual transmissions as good as they say it is? I mean was there ever any issue with the power coming even a hair too late i.e. shift delay?

well, I guess it also depends on how you drive so maybe I didn't do what it was expecting me to do, lol. I know for a fact that in any car, if you slowly roll into the throttle at say 30mph (example only) then it'll shift later 'cos it probably passed the shit point/RPM/speed setting within it's tables. But if you slam the pedal down at 30mph, it'll probably be at the point where it's like "OH SHIT I NEED TO SHIFT DOWN NOW NOW NOW!!!" lol

I used to play around with the programming on my auto trans back in the day. There were two maps I could play with on my Camaro (originally on the TransAm but I figured out the wiring and did it on my car too); one map for daily driving, and another for performance driving. You had to hit a momentary button and it'll switch between the two modes (indicated by a light). So I tuned the normal mode to shift into high gears quicker and keep the engine rpm's as low as I could during city driving and hold gears longer to get into the power band during performance mode. It was fun experimenting... I'm guessing these cars were not in "race" mode, lol

[madmax]

Damn you! I'm jealous. How much did the package cost?

Edited September 14, 2012 by madmax

[MeanGreenZ28]

Damn you! I'm jealous. How much did the package cost?

didn't see this. In all, with video and pics/etc. was about $280. Kinda high but worth the experience.