Tommo
Member
(I've resized and compressed the images a bit, but as you'd probably understand I don't want to compress images like these to a great extent, skip the text if your not interested in a summary of the day)
Hi all, I just wanted to share a summary of my trip at Classic Adelaide. Classic Adelaide is basically a rally where a bunch of cars register and can compete under the clock or just for fun. The rally is split up into two sections, the "Competitive" stage where the road is blocked off and cars set off at 30 second intervals and the "Touring" stage which is basically a relaxing drive between the competitive stages. There were around 300 cars registered this year. Note that speeds I refer to are in km/h.
I've been a long time car and especially exotic car fan, but despite this I haven't really had any experiences in exotic cars. The day before I received a call from a friend who offered me a seat in one of the cars as the co-driver, as he unfortunately couldn't make it. While he was talking about it he also mentioned I'd be in a Ferrari and then asked if I was interested... as you'd probably guess I gave a straight out "No" answer... hold on
actually it was a "Yes" answer 
So the next day I was up bright and early (6am ish) and I met my driver Mark at the Hilton Hotel in Adelaide, we had a bit of a chat then set off the the cars.
On the way to the car I'd be in I took a quick snap of some of the car park:
https://pic.armedcats.net/2007/11/24/DSCN1121.jpg
So what car was I in?
https://pic.armedcats.net/2007/11/24/DSCN1122.jpg
Yep, sure was going to be a tough day! The F430's about 3 months old, Mark was on the waiting list for 3 years. In addition to this there was also a friend of Marks named Andrew who was in a 360 Modena and also the person Andrew sold his old 355 to, so the three cars had walkie talkies and we drove everywhere together.
So then we left the car park during rush hour in the CBD and the officials stupidly let all 150 or so cars left in the car park out at the same time :? It caused a huge traffic jam with no one moving anywhere, it took about 30 minutes to get to the other side of the block where we were starting the day. Anyway after being delayed we were on the road, drove through a couple of competitive stages which got me used to navigating under speed and then we stopped for morning tea.
Mark's F430 Spider (note the plates):
https://pic.armedcats.net/2007/11/24/DSCN1123.jpg
Andrew's 360 (it has a tubi exhaust, sometimes when Andrew was driving behind us and we thought we'd lost him because we couldn't see him behind us we'd just listen instead, you could hear it from the other side of the valleys):
https://pic.armedcats.net/2007/11/24/DSCN1124.jpg
The back of the F430:
https://pic.armedcats.net/2007/11/24/DSCN1125.jpg
An F430 Modena which was also part of the rally:
https://pic.armedcats.net/2007/11/24/DSCN1126.jpg
The enjoyment of waiting at a competitive stage start:
https://pic.armedcats.net/2007/11/24/DSCN1127.jpg
Our helmets and stuff as well as the front of the car working on some roadkill:
https://pic.armedcats.net/2007/11/24/DSCN1128.jpg
Gearing up for the competitive stage:
https://pic.armedcats.net/2007/11/24/DSCN1129.jpg
This was when we were waiting for another competitive stage to start, no cars raced for an hour while we waited for two school buses to pass... There was a huge queue of the 300 or so cars on both sides of the road and interestingly enough a police escort for the buses. The owners weren't too happy about parking on sand/gravel just before a special stage with their sticky tires, for some reason I didn't take any pictures of the queue of cars. Anyway we all decided it was a good time to take out our cameras and get some shots of us with the cars, its me on the left with the driver Mark on the right:
https://pic.armedcats.net/2007/11/24/DSCN1130.jpg
Also I have no intention of promoting any political parties:
https://pic.armedcats.net/2007/11/24/DSCN1131.jpg
It was interesting seeing how impressed Mark and Andrew were with this, given the cars they were driving:
https://pic.armedcats.net/2007/11/24/DSCN1132.jpg
The 355 which was part of our 3 car group:
https://pic.armedcats.net/2007/11/24/DSCN1133.jpg
The Gouger Street Party:
https://pic.armedcats.net/2007/11/24/DSCN1134.jpg
When we arrived there was a massive crowd which gathered around the car as we were parking and I heard several people going "its an F430!":
https://pic.armedcats.net/2007/11/24/DSCN1135.jpg
https://pic.armedcats.net/2007/11/24/DSCN1136.jpg
All in all it was such an awesome day, going straight from sitting in/starting an F430 for the first time to navigating at high speed was just so amazing. Mark was a real character and made the trip even more interesting. It was also a lot more than just racing, just going between events was an experience. Driving through town we were waived at hundreds of times and we talked to 30 or so people just at traffic lights with the general subjects of "nice car!", "how much did that set you back?" and "what was the old toy?". It was amazing how much attention the car got, I was looking at the faces of everyone in cars going the other way and people on the side walks and everyone was looking straight at the F430.
Driving around town a bus pulled up beside us and the driver had a chat with us and he mentioned how much slower the bus will be to the next set of lights. Naturally Mark drove very slowly to the next set of lights so we arrived after the bus and said something like "whats that bus got under the hood? it beat us by a long way", it gave me a good laugh.
As for the car itself the handling was pretty amazing. There were several very tight corners and we were going at 130 around them, you just think its going to let go but it holds on like its stuck to the ground with glue. I should also mention the speed limit was 130 for these challenge stages and officially we never ever exceeded the speed limit...er hem *cough* *cough*
A last bit to note was the drive back after the last competitive stage through a tunnel with Andrews tubi exhaust, you really had to be there but what I can say is that the tunnel was absolutely filled with the roar of the engine. It was pretty amazing and nicely ear piercing.
That just about covers it, if you've read this far thanks for reading and sorry if there's some sentences which don't make any sense, I wrote this rather quickly. Basically it was an awesome day with a bunch of people which weren't dick heads at all, just average people who happen to drive some nice machinery.
Hi all, I just wanted to share a summary of my trip at Classic Adelaide. Classic Adelaide is basically a rally where a bunch of cars register and can compete under the clock or just for fun. The rally is split up into two sections, the "Competitive" stage where the road is blocked off and cars set off at 30 second intervals and the "Touring" stage which is basically a relaxing drive between the competitive stages. There were around 300 cars registered this year. Note that speeds I refer to are in km/h.
I've been a long time car and especially exotic car fan, but despite this I haven't really had any experiences in exotic cars. The day before I received a call from a friend who offered me a seat in one of the cars as the co-driver, as he unfortunately couldn't make it. While he was talking about it he also mentioned I'd be in a Ferrari and then asked if I was interested... as you'd probably guess I gave a straight out "No" answer... hold on
actually it was a "Yes" answer So the next day I was up bright and early (6am ish) and I met my driver Mark at the Hilton Hotel in Adelaide, we had a bit of a chat then set off the the cars.
On the way to the car I'd be in I took a quick snap of some of the car park:
https://pic.armedcats.net/2007/11/24/DSCN1121.jpg
So what car was I in?
https://pic.armedcats.net/2007/11/24/DSCN1122.jpg
Yep, sure was going to be a tough day! The F430's about 3 months old, Mark was on the waiting list for 3 years. In addition to this there was also a friend of Marks named Andrew who was in a 360 Modena and also the person Andrew sold his old 355 to, so the three cars had walkie talkies and we drove everywhere together.
So then we left the car park during rush hour in the CBD and the officials stupidly let all 150 or so cars left in the car park out at the same time :? It caused a huge traffic jam with no one moving anywhere, it took about 30 minutes to get to the other side of the block where we were starting the day. Anyway after being delayed we were on the road, drove through a couple of competitive stages which got me used to navigating under speed and then we stopped for morning tea.
Mark's F430 Spider (note the plates
):https://pic.armedcats.net/2007/11/24/DSCN1123.jpg
Andrew's 360 (it has a tubi exhaust, sometimes when Andrew was driving behind us and we thought we'd lost him because we couldn't see him behind us we'd just listen instead, you could hear it from the other side of the valleys):
https://pic.armedcats.net/2007/11/24/DSCN1124.jpg
The back of the F430:
https://pic.armedcats.net/2007/11/24/DSCN1125.jpg
An F430 Modena which was also part of the rally:
https://pic.armedcats.net/2007/11/24/DSCN1126.jpg
The enjoyment of waiting at a competitive stage start:
https://pic.armedcats.net/2007/11/24/DSCN1127.jpg
Our helmets and stuff as well as the front of the car working on some roadkill:
https://pic.armedcats.net/2007/11/24/DSCN1128.jpg
Gearing up for the competitive stage:
https://pic.armedcats.net/2007/11/24/DSCN1129.jpg
This was when we were waiting for another competitive stage to start, no cars raced for an hour while we waited for two school buses to pass... There was a huge queue of the 300 or so cars on both sides of the road and interestingly enough a police escort for the buses. The owners weren't too happy about parking on sand/gravel just before a special stage with their sticky tires, for some reason I didn't take any pictures of the queue of cars. Anyway we all decided it was a good time to take out our cameras and get some shots of us with the cars, its me on the left with the driver Mark on the right:
https://pic.armedcats.net/2007/11/24/DSCN1130.jpg
Also I have no intention of promoting any political parties:
https://pic.armedcats.net/2007/11/24/DSCN1131.jpg
It was interesting seeing how impressed Mark and Andrew were with this, given the cars they were driving:
https://pic.armedcats.net/2007/11/24/DSCN1132.jpg
The 355 which was part of our 3 car group:
https://pic.armedcats.net/2007/11/24/DSCN1133.jpg
The Gouger Street Party:
https://pic.armedcats.net/2007/11/24/DSCN1134.jpg
When we arrived there was a massive crowd which gathered around the car as we were parking and I heard several people going "its an F430!":
https://pic.armedcats.net/2007/11/24/DSCN1135.jpg
https://pic.armedcats.net/2007/11/24/DSCN1136.jpg
All in all it was such an awesome day, going straight from sitting in/starting an F430 for the first time to navigating at high speed was just so amazing. Mark was a real character and made the trip even more interesting. It was also a lot more than just racing, just going between events was an experience. Driving through town we were waived at hundreds of times and we talked to 30 or so people just at traffic lights with the general subjects of "nice car!", "how much did that set you back?" and "what was the old toy?". It was amazing how much attention the car got, I was looking at the faces of everyone in cars going the other way and people on the side walks and everyone was looking straight at the F430.
Driving around town a bus pulled up beside us and the driver had a chat with us and he mentioned how much slower the bus will be to the next set of lights. Naturally Mark drove very slowly to the next set of lights so we arrived after the bus and said something like "whats that bus got under the hood? it beat us by a long way", it gave me a good laugh.
As for the car itself the handling was pretty amazing. There were several very tight corners and we were going at 130 around them, you just think its going to let go but it holds on like its stuck to the ground with glue. I should also mention the speed limit was 130 for these challenge stages and officially we never ever exceeded the speed limit...er hem *cough* *cough*
A last bit to note was the drive back after the last competitive stage through a tunnel with Andrews tubi exhaust, you really had to be there but what I can say is that the tunnel was absolutely filled with the roar of the engine. It was pretty amazing and nicely ear piercing.
That just about covers it, if you've read this far thanks for reading and sorry if there's some sentences which don't make any sense, I wrote this rather quickly. Basically it was an awesome day with a bunch of people which weren't dick heads at all, just average people who happen to drive some nice machinery.
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