[DeTomaso] Report from Italy
MikeLDrew at aol.com
MikeLDrew at aol.com
Fri May 22 18:21:29 EDT 2009
Hi guys,
We had a fun day yesterday in the mountains of Austria. It was supposed
to be a very laid-back day with no set schedule, so a handful of us decided
to go on a short cruise to the town of Zell Am Zee, where there's a beautiful
lake.
The drive was a bit challenging; as navigation was difficult, we lost
Johnny Woods immediately (he can barely find his way out of his own car, and once
he got separated from the group by a bunch of traffic, he became so
horribly lost that he had to give up and just go back to the hotel), and there was
an enormous amount of traffic due to the fact that it's a holiday week.
Also, there is a big Euro-wide Harley convention (?!) in nearby Salzburg, so
there were Harleys absolutely everywhere.
We thus had a much later lunch than planned, but it was still enjoyable and
we got back to the hotel in time for the five-course dinner.
Most people had a peaceful, relaxing day today, but Geoff Peters, Gray
Gregory and I got up at the crack of dawn to depart at 5:00 a.m. (and in so
doing, ensured that everybody else in the hotel *also* got up at the crack of
dawn) and zoomed down to Modena.
Unlike the debacle of the autobahn the other day, the Italian autostrada
was free and clear; although there were many trucks, they stayed in the right
lane, and it was easy to cruise at over 100 mph, with occasional bursts to
120 and one particularly spirited run to 130 for a few minutes (which caused
Geoff to have to peg his Lamborghini to 140 to catch up).
"Bloody hell, you're really giving it some stick!" he said at the next gas
stop, with a huge grin on his face. The Pantera has a tidal wave of
torque, and at any moment, I could simply twitch my ankle slightly and just roar
away from him, as he planted his foot to the floor and watched me recede into
the distance.
We rolled into Modena at about 10:00 and our GPS took us to exactly the
wrong place; we'd dialed in the correct street address but the wrong town.
Our destination was in Modena provence but not the city itself. Once we got
that figured out, we soon found our way to the Pagani factory.
For those who aren't aware, Pagani is a boutique exotic sports car maker
who makes what is unquestionably the ultimate supercar. Entry-level models
of the Pagani Zonda cost a cool one million Euros, and the track-day car is
1.4 million. The whole thing is carbon fiber and elegance, and is just a
sight to behold. The 7.3 liter AMG Mercedes V12 sounds like an old V12 F1
engine, simply awesome!
We rumbled in there and shortly after were joined by some other folks from
the British crew, driving two Ferrari 550 Maranellos and a Lamborghini
Murcialiago. After our spectacular tour of the facility (arranged in no small
part because Peter Saywell, a member of the UK De Tomaso club, is having his
second Zonda built at this very moment), several of the workers and
designers came outside to look at our cars. They walked right past the Ferraris
and Lamborghinis and zeroed in on the Pantera GT5.
I was amazed at how much they all loved it. They couldn't get over the
engine, and the Pagani test driver climbed behind the wheel. We urged him to
start it up--and he couldn't figure out how to do it! He's so young he's
never seen a carburetor before and had no idea what to do with his feet as
he turned the key. Once it was sorted out he started it up, and revved the
engine and smiled a huge grin; clearly he was just in awe.
(The motor has 550 hp and the Euro GTS mufflers have been completely
gutted, so it really does sound awesome).
We eventually had to leave, and as the cars backed out into the quiet
street in the industrial park where the Pagani factory is located, literally the
entire factory emptied to come see the Pantera! I obliged them with a
short but decent burnout, and looked back to see the whole squad cheering and
waving. :>)
>From there we drove for about 15 minutes on some incredibly tiny roads
(like, maybe 12-14 feet across) through fields and past centuries-old farms, to
arrive at the Lamborghini factory.
We were hours early for our private tour, so we set off for what was
supposed to be a short lunch; it turned into an epic five-course feast!
Unfortunately it took so long we had to bail on dessert and coffee and hustle back
to the Lamborghini factory.
We got a one-hour private tour of the new-ish museum, and then a special
treat, as after we locked our cameras up in lockers, we were whisked into the
courtyard in between the design and manufacturing centers. There we got to
see various and sundry Lamborghinis, both production models and test cars,
and some race cars, and so forth. It was interesting to see the hustle and
bustle of cars coming and going; however screens had been erected to
prevent us from seeing into any of the manufacturing facilities.
Geoff's Lamborghini had developed some faults, including a driver's seat
that would recline but wouldn't raise back up! After not-so-casually
mentioning this once or twice, arrangements were made for the car to be brought to
a service area, where a factory technician yanked the seat out, fiddled with
this and/or that, and got it sorted out.
His non-functional A/C system was determined to be caused by a dead
radiator fan, which couldn't be fixed because of time constraints (and also because
they didn't have a replacement fan available). So he'll have to forgo A/C
while at low speeds, and hope the engine doesn't overheat (which it hasn't
shown any tendancy to do thus far).
We then made our way to our hotel (separate from the main event hotel
because it filled up) and after a quick shower, at 7:00 p.m. we boarded the 6:30
bus to the main hotel. :>)
When we got there we were absolutely shocked to see how many people and
Panteras were here! This meeting is much, MUCH larger than those of the
recent past, and larger than the organizers had expected. There are something
like 75 cars and over 130 people here!
While standing in the parking lot admiring the cars, suddenly there was a
loud roar, and both the Shelby/De Tomaso 70P and the De Tomaso Ghia Sport
5000 roared in!
Wow! I'd never seen either of these cars running before, and had never
seen them together before, and now they were being driven on the road!
After some more greetings were exchanged, we had a simply amazing
seven-course dinner that lasted some three and a half hours. Great food in endless
quantities, and fun conversations with friends old and new were made even
more enjoyable by the knowledge that this is just the first night of the
formal event!
Tomorrow we are split into three groups, as we circulate around Modena,
visiting the Panini auto museum, and Carrozzeria Campana (the outfit that built
all the De Tomaso show cars, and did all the paint/bodywork for the later
Longchamps, and GT5/GT5-S Panteras, and now builds Maserati show cars etc.)
We are also having an informal car show in the Parco Enzo Ferrari on the
edge of Modena proper.
It really is just an unbelievable scene out here. The weather is like
Houston in the summer (hot and sticky) and air conditioning would certainly be
a nice thing, but I ain't complaining!
One big bummer is that Mats Gorski, the spiritual head of the Swedish group
and the fellow who has masterminded all the previous International
Meetings, isn't here this year. He was deeply involved in the process of putting
this event together, but sadly just a week or two before the event, his wife
was diagnosed with an extremely grave form of cancer. So they are now
fighting for her very survival, instead of enjoying themselve with us as we had
all expected. So all our thoughts are with them this weekend.
Okay, time for bed.....
Mike
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