Still a gear head

I couldn’t sleep, I was wide awake at 3:00. I finally rolled out of bed and got ready, I gave Cakes a kiss at 3:30 and got on the road to Santa Cruz. There was no traffic on 101 as I headed north. I set the cruise control at 80 and kept my eyes on the road and the mirrors.

An hour and a half later I was south of Santa Maria. Still no traffic. I was driving my 2007 Corvette Z51. I slowed down to 20mph, shifted into 1st gear and floored it, I shifted at the 6,000 rpm red line, 1st then 2nd, then 3rd, then 4th I shifted into 5th gear at 140mph. The heads up display showed 168 in 5th gear. I lifted off the accelerator and let the the car lose momentum. While I was accelerating I’d kept my eyes ahead on the road, a long way ahead. As the speed dropped I cautiously looked around, I was slowing down but everything except the road ahead was a blur. Road signs whipped by, too fast to read. The speed dropped under 100, then 75 and I reengaged the cruise control and continued north to see my daughter and her kids.

168 is the fastest I’ve ever driven a car, the 2nd fastest? I hit the 155mph speed limiter on our AMG Mercedes one night on the Mass Turnpike. According to all the road tests a Z51 has a top speed of 186. I did 20 mph less than that and never shifted into 6th gear.

Modern high performance cars are mechanical miracles, the Corvette (and the Benz) settled down over 100mph, the design and aerodynamics literally push the car down on the road the faster you go. Both cars were stable and comfortable at speed. As fast as it was, the Corvette routinely delivered gas mileage in the high 20’s even the low 30’s when I drove at the speed limit. I never got less than 20 in town.

The amazing thing is as I accelerated the Corvette, the car never slowed down, it accelerated as hard over 100 mph as it did between 20 and 100. I didn’t time it, but I know from start to finish my high speed run from 20 to 168 took less than a minute. Checking the road test numbers bear me out. Funny the car had a built in timer, I could have timed my run, but didn’t think of it.



The first time I believe I drove a car over 100mph was my dad’s buddy Bob Anton’s ‘56 Thunderbird.

I was 13 years old. I don’t think I really topped 100, the ‘56 Bird’s top speed with a 312 V8 and a stick was 113 mph. Hard to believe, a basic Toyota Corolla with an automatic would kick the T-Bird’s ass.

I use Amazon Prime, it gives me a chance to read new magazines and delete them when I’m finished. I downloaded the July Car and Driver yesterday on my Kindle. Good issue, very good.

C&D tested the Ford EcoSport tiny SUV, it has a 3 cylinder turbo charged engine. In the performance test, the writer said, “your grandmother could knit a sweater in the time it takes to get to 60, have her keep knitting and by the time the EcoSport finishes the 1/4 mile she would have a turtle neck and a pair of mittens done.” So not all the new cars are that great. The EcoSport is about as fast as its great, great, grandpa, Bobby's old T-Bird, the car I thought I drove 100mph.

Did you know Rolls Royce is building an SUV, an all wheel drive, 3 ton SUV? They are, it’s called the Cullinan and it’s even got a low range! It has traction settings like sand, mud, snow, etc. Base price $325,000.

RR offers 90 different colors for the leather interior and they’ll paint it pretty much the color you want, all it takes is money.

One of the options RR offers on the Cullinan is the “Viewing Suite” two well appointed leather seats electrically emerge from the tailgate, a table, matching the wood trim inside the car, appears between the two seats. You can sit back, enjoy tailgating at your alma mater, watch a polo match or your kid’s soccer game. No matter what you’re into, Rolls Royce has you covered. Like to fly fish, you can order a fishing module, like to shoot trap, you can order a shooting module, anything you want, customized for your taste and desires. You can order your Cullinan set up to be driven by your chauffeur with a glass partition that separates you from the hired help. The car comes with custom glassware for in flight cocktails.

The Cullinan is quite the beast,it has 563 horsepower from it’s 6.75 liter V12 and a top speed of 155mph.

You know where they debuted the Cullinan? Abu Dhabi. RR feels the oil rich countries of the middle east will be their biggest market for the Cullinan.

Know what a “Glider” is?  It’s a new truck with all the latest in safety and comfort features built by Peterbilt, Freightliner, Kenworth and others. They sell the truck without a drive train to aftermarket companies who install rebuilt pre-2002 engines, transmissions and running gear in the “new” truck. They do it to beat the EPA diesel standards. The gliders put out 430 times the particulates of a modern truck. Our new trump EPA has loosened the rules and are allowing the glider builders to build and sell 3 times the number of trucks allowed under the old rules. The glider builders contributed over 600k to republicans in 2016.

ZF the German transmission maker has 29 locations in the US, in their main plant in South Carolina, they employ 8,000 American workers. ZF has had facilities in the US since 1880. I wonder if anyone in the administration even cares about pissing them off?

C&D interviewed engineers from all the major automakers, they asked about the lowering of the fleet mileage goals, consensus was it is stupid and makes no sense.