Monat: September 2012

Nothing. But you clicked on the link, I got plus one read.

But since are already here, you might just want to read on.
This week two things that I thought would never happen, did happen.
A few weeks ago, after watching Top Gear (BBC, not the US Version, which is not even half as funny), I mentioned to my wife, that it is fun to see expensive sports cars „tested“ by middle aged tv presenters with a British sense of humour and that will be the closest I will get to these cars. Well, I am seldom wrong (don’t ask anyone). Beginning of this week I got an email of a friend who works for (sorry, no cheap adverts here) and asked, if I would be interested in an invitation for a drivers training. Since I am always ready to improve my driving for free, I said yes. It turned out, two days before the event, they were still trying to find people to attend and here I was, ready to help others in a desperate situation. What I did not know, what kind of cars we would get for the training, and – second surprise – while I was at the event, I got an email for the new code drop of Notes 8.5.4. What makes this different to last the last code drops? This time I did get the code … with a bit of help from Peter Janzen. The last three times my cries for help were largely ignored.
Now back to that „drivers training“. When I arrived at the aerodrome of Buochs, I was rather impressed. In the neat row of cars, waiting to be abused by me, were things like Jaguar XKRS, Porsche Carrera S, Maserati Gran Tourismo and Gran Cabrio, Ferrari California, Lamborghini Spyder, Lamborghini Gallardo Superleggera and the McLaren MP4. Calling this a drivers training is a cover up for giving some boys and girls the opportunity to fool around with those toys on a runway, racing around pylons with a whooping 130 km per hour and hoping that somebody might write a check on the spot (for our younger readers, checks are a form of payment used in the dark ages – except in the US, where the banks somehow missed the rise of the information technology).
After a refreshing short introduction by the head of the department that hosted the event, we got down to business. We were late to start because he got lost, due to his navigation system. If he had read the invitation, which came from his department, mind you, he would have realised, that finding the Buochs aerodrome is about as easy, as the exit in a Port-A-Loo. No need for a stinky sat-nav.
In short, the day consisted of driving fast cars. What amazed me, was how easy it is. These cars a full of electronics for self preservation. They will not let you do things they don’t like. The wheels never spin, you can’t drift, nothing … as long as you don’t turn those gadgets off, which we were not allowed anyway. That brings me to a difference between those cars and Notes 8.5.4. But IBM might slap me on the fingers, if I write about it, therefore I must let you in the dark.

Now you certainly would like to know, what was the best toy of the day? The PC 9’s and PC 12’s taking of and landing on the other runway, because Buochs is also the home of Pilatus Aircraft. If you want my opinion on the cars, I would not buy anyone. In the afternoon the whole thing started to become boring or I probably just ran out of adrenalin. Most of it I used sitting in the passengers seat until I got the chance to scare my co-driver. But if I must; the McLaren comes first and the Ferrari California comes last. The Superlegera is too hard but still great, the Lambo Spyder a lot of fun, the Porsche is fun, the Maseratis have bad seats and the Jag is … well, alright. But still, I’d rather be flying.