[DeTomaso] Report from Italy

[Dave Londry]

Envy - Oh well - I 'm off to the Brit F1 in 3 weeks, which is cool enough,
 but I won't be eating as well (unless you're into Bangers & Mash)
dave

MikeLDrew at aol.com wrote:
> 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
> - 
> Dave Londry
> Embedded Spaces Inc. (ESI)
> davel at emspace.com
>
> 604 589 9183 phone/fax
> 604 721 2278 cell
> Skype:embeddedspaces
>
>