Corey Thomas - Jaguar XJ6 Series III

- World Class Driving event in Front Royal, VA, 2007

On May 22nd, 2007, I participated in a World Class Driving event. It was the introductory year so prices were relatively reasonable. It was a great opportunity to drive the following cars back-to-back - listed here in the order of my most favorite:

• Ferrari F430 - By far, my favorite car of the group with it's normally aspirated V8. Everything worked so well together from the usable and more upright seating position to the fabulous F1-style dual clutch transmission. It felt like a lot of work went into every detail even beyond the drivetrain - which cannot always be said of earlier Ferraris. In some reviews, people discuss how the car is great but hard to live with - rough ride and you never willing to park it anyway. For me it was pure adrenaline. My most memorable part was the exhaust note - especially that automatic blip while it matched revs for a downshift. Everyone was rev-happy when it was their turn. Driving and turning at speed really showed how nimble and light on it's feet this car was. The Manettino was set to race (not by me but by Didier Theys who rode with me). Man, I loved this car both the engineer in me and the passionate car guy.
  
• Aston Martin DB9 - This normally aspirated V12 car also had a paddle shift transmission but this was torque-converter based. Nevertheless it was a great drive. It provided a feel not too far from the Ferrari and was a rocket with it's own pleasing sound. The interior was also great, if not a little quirky. On my drive however, the car did start making a tinny thrashing sound - "Did I do that" in a Steve Urkel voice. I'm not sure what happened but it was de-commissioned for the rest of the day. I did appreciate some of the little things like the reverse direction of the tachometer. We did drive these cars somewhat hard within our constraints.
  
• Lamborghini Gallardo - Another great runner with a normally aspirated V10. It also had a great note. I wasn't a fan of the low-slung seating position and limited visibility but loved the exhaust note and the dual-clutch transmission.
• Ford GT - This supercharged V8 car was particularly special to me because I was tracking it's developed and have always been a fan of the original, Ferrari conquering, Ford GT40. Interesting features where the retro styled McIntosh stereo, which my dad would love, and the doors that included a portion of the roof. It was a 6-speed manual and driving it was not as satisfying as the Ferrari and Lamborghini dual-clutch paddle shifters but fun nonetheless. I did actually stall it once because 1st and 3rd were so hard to tell apart. 1st was a hard extra push to the left - apparantly, I wasn't the only one who had trouble with 1st in this car.
• Bentley Continental GT - This twin-turbocharged W12 (4 banks of 3 cylinders) was somewhat of a sleeper - as if a 12 cylinder engine was not enough, they twin-turbocharged it. It possessed lots of power and torque was really a great cruiser - which is what I was doing (I though a cop was following half a mile back). Interior touches that I liked were the diamond patterned seats but the chrome was overdone on the interior giving it a somewhat gimmicky quality - even though the materials were top notch. Some kids in a C230-k Sport raced up to catch me to drool at the car. They followed me back to the meetup place for photo-ops. For a lot of people, this was there favorite car of the day. Personally, I could feel the mass of this car and really do prefer lighter weight vehicles - not that this car was lacking in any ability to dance.
• Corvette Z06 - Last but not least - in the grand sense - was this normally aspirated V8. Wow did this thing have torque! It even had a comfortable upright driving position. The $100k+ difference between this and the Ferrari was in the refinement. My leg was burning from the heat coming of the transmission tunnel and the interior was unfortunately cheap - I think the new GM is working on this...slowly. These things were briefly overlooked when I would accelerate widening that grin on my face.

Overall, I found that I like the cars most had strong racing programs but also interior refinement. The Corvette actually felt more torquey than most but did not reward me with refinement when I was just driving it. I am a new Ferarri man. I have a lot more pictures in my album: World Class Driving.

At the time, I paid $795 for 30 miles in all six cars - 180 miles total. Not bad though I would much rather that be track time that public highways. They now offer 5 even more special cars but for a good deal more money.