Pilots and Fast Cars

[Bill Greenwood]

Most pilots naturally like high performance vehicles other than planes, like cars , motorcycles., speedboats, etc. I just saw an article on line that reminded me of my experience with that. Roger Beasley Mazda dealer in Austin, Texas has a program to honor local nurses. They give 15 of the top rated nurses in the area the loan of a brand new Miata for a month! Despite it being hot there these ladies put the top down and like the wind in their hair. Its really generous and probably really good advertising for the brand also. I wouldn't be surprised if some of these ladies bring a check instead of returning the car at the end of the period.

Quite a few years ago I had flown to Sun N Fun, and my good friend, EAA member and noted warbird writer Jeff Ethel and I decided to share a room. We had airplanes, but no car and the last one the rent a car booth had was a Miata, so we took it to share. What a kick! For anyone who doesn't know its a small 2 seater, low to the ground, and really is nimble and corners well. The ride is a little bumpy, but its not boring, you hop in and its an adventure wherever you are going, it would be a great perk for someone who had to get to a boring job daily. I used to have fast cars, but put my money and energy into planes now, but still recall the Porsche. I kind of hope Im over the fast car phase, but a few years back I drove a friend's very fast new Porsche. Don't know how much hp it has but more than enough, and it goes around right angle corners at about 50. I had to get out of there before I got addicted. I remember reading about racing the 917 at Le Mans and 215 mph on the Mulsane straight and still accelerating. I/m supposed to be over that.

[robert l]

Yep, I had the sports car, motorcycles, still have a motorcycle but ride it less and less. Back in the 60's, the hippies even said, Speed Kills, of course they were talking about a different kind of speed. And I've always heard that a Piper Cub is so slow, it will barely kill you ! My philosophy now is, "Life in the Slow Lane" !

Bob

[CarlOrton]

I transferred my 996 to my son to free up garage space for my Zenith project. Fortunately it’s still about a mile away so I have visitation rights. Had two Porsches and still are fond of them. But there’s still nothing like a lopey-idle big block from the late 60s with 11 or 12:1 compression and headers. It’s a sensory thing. Today’s supercars are faster and smoother but they don’t smack you upside the head with the total sensory immersion.

[rwanttaja]

When I was in the Air Force, a buddy was an Academy graduate. When their senior year came around, the local car dealers offered to take group orders for cars for the soon-to-be-graduating cadets. So you could always tell when an officer was commissioned by the year of their Corvette, Porsche, 280Z, etc.....

Never had the muscle-car urge, myself. Comes from being a hard-headed engineer, methinks. Even when I did buy a Camaro 40 years ago, it had the smaller engine for better economy. Did go a bit sportier once I retired. I prefer two-door cars for better visibility to the side, and this was a pretty good option (Honda Civic Coupe). Handles nice, but too much turbo lag. "There's no substitute for cubic inches."
http://www.bowersflybaby.com/rides2.jpg
Ron Wanttaja

[Mark17]

Oh you bet Bill! I’m all about speed! For the Civilian Owned Category I’m all about the F-5 and CF-5D, Premier 1A and the Lancair Legacy. All time favorite Mil Power has to be the F-14. Although seeing the Raptor in action gives the Tomcat a run for the money! Just Awesome! Cars are anything with power and a Manual Transmission! But if I could design a top 5 it would be 1) 2019 Acura NSX Hardtop Retractable Convertible with 575hp and a 7 Speed MT 2) 2010 Mercedes SL65 AMG Black Edition with Retractable Hardtop and MT 3) 2017 Ferrari 458 Italia Hardtop Retractable with MT 4) 2011 Lamborghini Gallardo Hardtop Retractable With MT 5) 2012 Aston Martin V8 Vantage MT. So yup all Manuals! If I could put any 5 boats in my Boathouse it would be 1) Mystic C5000 2) Sunseeker Predator 108 3) Pershing 110 4) Ranger Z522 Comanche 5) Ranger 621FS. Love em all!

[DaleB]

"There's no substitute for cubic inches."
We'll have to just disagree on that one, Ron. :) The little 3.5 Ecoboost in my F150 does an awfully nice job. Two small turbos instead of one big one means they spool up a lot quicker, and there's really no noticeable turbo lag. The same can be said for the Mercedes... again, two turbos, but with a 5.5 V12 picking up the slack while they spin up. For a big, heavy car, it will really scoot... in fact, it's the quickest car I've ever owned. My first sub-13 second car. Cubic inches AND forced induction is a really fun combination, even worth the 91 octane fuel bill.

The worst case of turbo lag I ever experienced was a rental car in Germany. We had an Audi A4 wagon, with a teeny little turbo Diesel. It had a nasty habit of slumping over a second or two after you launched into an intersection... that was unnerving until I learned to get the RPMs up a second or two before the light changed, just to get a little boost going.

[Mike M]

We'll have to just disagree on that one, Ron. :) The little 3.5 Ecoboost in my F150 does an awfully nice job. Two small turbos instead of one big one means they spool up a lot quicker, and there's really no noticeable turbo lag. The same can be said for the Mercedes... again, two turbos, but with a 5.5 V12 picking up the slack while they spin up. For a big, heavy car, it will really scoot... in fact, it's the quickest car I've ever owned. My first sub-13 second car. Cubic inches AND forced induction is a really fun combination, even worth the 91 octane fuel bill.

The worst case of turbo lag I ever experienced was a rental car in Germany. We had an Audi A4 wagon, with a teeny little turbo Diesel. It had a nasty habit of slumping over a second or two after you launched into an intersection... that was unnerving until I learned to get the RPMs up a second or two before the light changed, just to get a little boost going.

The most fun performance vehicle I ever owned for "off the line" was a hopped-up 1835cc VW tube frame buggy. Wheelies through 2nd, lift the front end in third. Brakes on all 4 wheels, stopped in two heartbeats even from full throttle. Who cares what it topped out at! No computer, no restrictions but fluid dynamics, FUN. Thanks for reminding me.

[Mayhemxpc]

This is rapidly moving to NOT airplane stuff....except I will talk about my SAAB 9-3, which was at least made by an airplane company!

Great turbo. Absolutely no lag. Great acceleration and a superb sport suspension. Everything a sport sedan made by an aircraft manufacturer should be. Never had a problem with the turbo. All good things come to an end and in 2017 I replaced it with a Ford Fusion. (Ford, at least, is a good friend of EAA and I therefore consider it tangentially airplane related.) The Ford Ecoboost pales in comparison to the Scania engine, with a half second or a second lag. very disconcerting. The ability to paddle shift makes up for that somewhat, but requires some getting used to. For raw power, however,... I learned to drive in my grandfather's 1963 Buick Wildcat with a 435 cubic inch engine. Push on the accelerator and you could immediately feel the G increase...as you watched the fuel gauge sink. So...when the oil crisis hit we traded it in for a Beetle. That Beetle is still my all time favorite car. (Many EAB aircraft use VW engines, so I will claim an airplane relationship here, too.) :D

[Dana]

I had a 280Z when I was in my 20s (great car, but I got a lot of speeding tickets...), but really my taste runs to lower powered low cost sports cars with great handling in the British/Italian style... never owned an MG or Triumph, but I had a few Fiat Spiders (also great cars, with some idiosyncrasies) and (briefly) a Fiero that I taught my daughters to drive in. Now I drive an older Miata which is really a British style sports car with a level of reliability that the Brits only dreamed of. But I still lust after a Lotus Seven (think the opening credits of "The Prisoner".

Shall we start a thread correlating tailwheel pilots with drivers who prefer manual transmissions? Guilty on both counts... :cool:

[rwanttaja]

This is rapidly moving to NOT airplane stuff....except I will talk about my SAAB 9-3, which was at least made by an airplane company!
Hmpppfff. So was my Honda.
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/23/HondaJet_Ryabtsev.jpg

Ron "Nyah, nyah, nyah" Wanttaja

[Floatsflyer]

Now I drive an older Miata which is really a British style sports car with a level of reliability that the Brits only dreamed of. But I still lust after a Lotus Seven...

Airplane stuff or not, I want to add to this thread. In 1974, I had a Mercury Capri, the German made version. A great looking sports car.

My summer only car is now a 2017 Miata GT, meteor grey mica with a tan interior, a go cart on steroids that rides and handles like it's on rails. Top down, socks off baby! It's also the biggest selling sports car in history, over one million sold world-wide.

Dana you're half right. The Miata styling is a cross between a Lotus AND an Austin Healy with a bullitt proof engine and perfectly balanced chassis/body.

[Bill Greenwood]

I may have already written about this, but it is a car story about very fast and very rare car and airplane related. I have a friend who is a warbird owner, historian and whose normal job was with a branch owned by Jaguar which was then owned by Ford. Ford was even building cars at the large Castle Bromwich site where so many Spitfires and Lancasters were built during the war.
One morning, on his birthday he got a phone call to come out to the test track. He arrived to find a full race factory D Jaguar, and not just any race one but the actual car that had won Le Mans in 1955. They told him he could drive it a few laps, but please not to bend it as it was worth more than a Spitfire at that time. Pretty good birthday present.

[BusyLittleShop]

The way my Honda RC45 homologated race bike leans into the bendy bits it feels like I'm flying... it sports a tall first gear good for 90 mph... so by the time I reach 6th gear it's go straight to jail velocity...

8003

My true story published in MCN...

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[Tench745]

When I was in the Air Force, a buddy was an Academy graduate. When their senior year came around, the local car dealers offered to take group orders for cars for the soon-to-be-graduating cadets. So you could always tell when an officer was commissioned by the year of their Corvette, Porsche, 280Z, etc.....

Never had the muscle-car urge, myself. Comes from being a hard-headed engineer, methinks. Even when I did buy a Camaro 40 years ago, it had the smaller engine for better economy.

Ron Wanttaja

Ron, would "the smaller engine" be the V6, the inline 6, the 5.0L V8, or the 5.7L V8?

[rwanttaja]

Ron, would "the smaller engine" be the V6, the inline 6, the 5.0L V8, or the 5.7L V8?

The 5.0L V8. I ordered the car with the Z28 manual transmission, too. That was a mistake, I think... the transmission was expecting the bigger V8, and the clutch work had to be done carefully to keep from lugging the motor too much. Otherwise, I ordered the car plain... no radio (added my own), no fancy paint, no fancy wheels or hubcaps (just the basic pie-tins).

The car was totaled when another driver ran a red light as I was driving to the Arlington Fly-In about 30 years ago. We were driving up to pick up the Fly Baby, which we'd had parked at the show all week. Wasn't hurt, grabbed another car to take me up North for the ~80 mile flight home. Probably not a good idea; I think a bit of delayed shock hit me as I was flying home.


This is rapidly moving to NOT airplane stuff....except I will talk about my SAAB 9-3, which was at least made by an airplane company!
Thinking about this, MANY of us can claim to own cars made by airplane companies...or least, companies that used to make airplanes. Ford built B-24s, General Motors made Wildcats, Goodyear made Corsairs, Allison the P-75, etc. Not to mention companies like Mitsubishi or BMW (aircraft engines).

If we widen the scope to tanks, we'd have to include Chrysler and Porsche, but this ain't the Experimental Armor Association.....

Ron "Tankety Tank Tank" Wanttaja

[rwanttaja]

I may have already written about this, but it is a car story about very fast and very rare car and airplane related. I have a friend who is a warbird owner, historian and whose normal job was with a branch owned by Jaguar which was then owned by Ford. Ford was even building cars at the large Castle Bromwich site where so many Spitfires and Lancasters were built during the war.
One morning, on his birthday he got a phone call to come out to the test track. He arrived to find a full race factory D Jaguar, and not just any race one but the actual car that had won Le Mans in 1955. They told him he could drive it a few laps, but please not to bend it as it was worth more than a Spitfire at that time. Pretty good birthday present.

My dad had a subscription to Motor Trend magazine when I was a kid, and I remember reading an article about a sports car that someone had added a Merlin engine too.

This being the Internet age, I looked for the article online. Didn't see it, but this one (about another Merlin-engined car) was pretty good.

https://www.classicdriver.com/en/article/cars/john-dodd-and-merlin-engined-monstrosity-infuriated-rolls-royce

Ron "It might be cars, not airplanes, but it beats arguing about smoking" Wanttaja

[DaleB]

This is rapidly moving to NOT airplane stuff....except I will talk about my SAAB 9-3, which was at least made by an airplane company!
I was told SAAB stands for, "Swedes Ain't Airplane Builders". :)

[Mayhemxpc]

Thinking about this, MANY of us can claim to own cars made by airplane companies...or least, companies that used to make airplanes. Ford built B-24s, General Motors made Wildcats, Goodyear made Corsairs, Allison the P-75, etc. Not to mention companies like Mitsubishi or BMW (aircraft engines).

If we widen the scope to tanks, we'd have to include Chrysler and Porsche, but this ain't the Experimental Armor Association.....

Ron "Tankety Tank Tank" Wanttaja

Experimental Armor Association...now THAT would be fun -- having done quite a bit of that. Also remember that North American Aviation was the Aviation Division of General Motors! SAAB always emphasized their airplane association (Svenska Aeroplan Aktie Bolag). And for Dale, they do make good airplanes...sometimes, when their engineers don't get in the way. And they always cost way too much money. I think the F-35 design team must have studied at SAAB.

Christopher Mayer
Colonel, Armored Cavalry, U.S. Army Retired

[Anymouse]

Guilty!!

This is my Saturn Sky. Not necessarily considered a muscle car, but it's peppy enough to get me in trouble if I want.

http://eaaforums.org/attachment.php?attachmentid=8006&stc=1&d=1566010317

A few years later I got a Jeep. Not quite as zippy as the Sky, but still a fun vehicle. BTW... That empty lot over the spinner now has Anymouse Manor on it.

http://eaaforums.org/attachment.php?attachmentid=8007&stc=1&d=1566010331


EDIT: Never realized attachments are shown full size. Can't figure out how to caption them individually though.