Saturday, April 23, 2011

A Ferrari Encounter


Riding along in Delhi on a motorcycle can be huge fun. At the lights a bike can go over footpaths and squeeze through every little gap to hit the front row of stalled traffic, before the lights go green. I do it every single time I’m on the road. And when the lights do go green, I out accelerate everything in a straight line. The trouble is that even moderately powerful cars weigh so much that they can’t keep up.

So, what happens when you meet a Ferrari F430 on the roads? I was casually riding around today when a Ferrari pulled up beside me under the lights. After the lights went green the F430 leaped lazily forward and I circled the car to make sure that it was a proper Ferrari (unlike the one featured by TopGear India in Mumbai a week ago). I could see the engine through the glass cover behind and everything, so I knew it was a proper Ferrari. As I drove around to the driver’s window to take a peek at the dash (yes, it had the huge yellow rev counter and everything) what surprised me though was that the driver was a very pretty lady in shorts...

However what caught my attention was how easily the car could pull away from me under acceleration and this is in traffic. That made it very clear that it was indeed a true Ferrari. Another thing worth mentioning was the amount of heat the car generated. I was behind it at another set of lights and realised why ecomentalists made such a big deal out of sports cars, I was literally perspiring due to the heat generated by the V8. The V8 bellow under acceleration was something else, however in normal traffic the engine produced a rather irritating hum, at least from the outside.

I have to admit though that it wasn’t the prettiest car I have seen with my own eyes. I mean it looks good in pictures, but today, in the real world it didn’t manage to take my breath away.  

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