Had a 10 hour, 850km drive today from the Island of Shikoku where I was working, back up to Tokyo. I started at 4AM to miss traffic so the first 4-5 hours were uneventful, but as I got into the mountain roads of the Chuo Expressway I had three challengers over about a 3 hour period - made the drive a lot more fun! And each time the GTA emerged victorious, I became a little more impressed with the amazing depth this car displays!
A few highlights:
1) Legacy Blitzen with lowered suspension and muffler change - beautiful red color just like my 147. All of a sudden I saw his car closing in quickly. The road was pretty empty, so I thought I'd see what he had - floored in in 4th doing about 120kph - he just couldn't keep up. We played around for a good 20-30km before he got off, but never once did he get close. I was impressed though, with the flat stance of the car through curves and lane changes. With the best AWD system available he probably would have had a much better shot in the rain, but it was a beautiful day, bringing another laurel to the GTA...
2) Mercedes S55 AMG - this guy was just plain rude. Lots of traffic so everyone is going about 90-100kph on a two lane section, and he just gets right on the tail of car after car, flashing his lights to make them get out of the way - I totally clobbered an E55 in a 321hp M3 a few years back, so I thought I'd see how well a 250hp GTA would hold up. First he gets right on my tail and flashes me - rather than get out of the way I just gently let my foot off the gas forcing him to slow down, and then when a space opened up between the two lanes I just floored it and blasted away. He tried to keep up but couldn't - he was just about on my tail again when traffic slowed us down - I went around the traffic using the open truck lane but he didn't follow. He continued to flash people to get out of the way and was eventually on my tail again, but never passed me - this went on for about 10 miles, with me always ahead until the very end when I chose the wrong lane in a tunnel - I know the S55 is a faster, more powerful car than the GTA, guess it was just the driver...
3) Burnt Orange Fiat Punto Abarth HGT - first one I'd ever seen and it was a beauty! Lowered suspension, big muffler (too big in my opinion - it ruined the very nice looking body kit). I was already cruising at about 140kph up a long hill, a good 20-30kph faster than most of the traffic, when I caught sight of the HGT closing fast - I speeded up to about 180, but he still stayed with me! We ran into a few cars of traffic that temporarily slowed us to about 100kph, so I thought, OK, lets see how much power he really has. Once the traffic cleared (we were still on the hill), I dropped into 3rd and floored it - the effect was amazing! I had 20-30 car lengths on him in a matter of seconds! We raced and played with each other for probably 100km of road (once in awhile I'd let him ahead to start), but in whatever condition, the amazing torque of the GTA always put me on top by a large margin.
All in all a fun day, and another three feathers in the cap of a wonderful, beautiful, well-rounded Italian sports car!
A few highlights:
1) Legacy Blitzen with lowered suspension and muffler change - beautiful red color just like my 147. All of a sudden I saw his car closing in quickly. The road was pretty empty, so I thought I'd see what he had - floored in in 4th doing about 120kph - he just couldn't keep up. We played around for a good 20-30km before he got off, but never once did he get close. I was impressed though, with the flat stance of the car through curves and lane changes. With the best AWD system available he probably would have had a much better shot in the rain, but it was a beautiful day, bringing another laurel to the GTA...
2) Mercedes S55 AMG - this guy was just plain rude. Lots of traffic so everyone is going about 90-100kph on a two lane section, and he just gets right on the tail of car after car, flashing his lights to make them get out of the way - I totally clobbered an E55 in a 321hp M3 a few years back, so I thought I'd see how well a 250hp GTA would hold up. First he gets right on my tail and flashes me - rather than get out of the way I just gently let my foot off the gas forcing him to slow down, and then when a space opened up between the two lanes I just floored it and blasted away. He tried to keep up but couldn't - he was just about on my tail again when traffic slowed us down - I went around the traffic using the open truck lane but he didn't follow. He continued to flash people to get out of the way and was eventually on my tail again, but never passed me - this went on for about 10 miles, with me always ahead until the very end when I chose the wrong lane in a tunnel - I know the S55 is a faster, more powerful car than the GTA, guess it was just the driver...
3) Burnt Orange Fiat Punto Abarth HGT - first one I'd ever seen and it was a beauty! Lowered suspension, big muffler (too big in my opinion - it ruined the very nice looking body kit). I was already cruising at about 140kph up a long hill, a good 20-30kph faster than most of the traffic, when I caught sight of the HGT closing fast - I speeded up to about 180, but he still stayed with me! We ran into a few cars of traffic that temporarily slowed us to about 100kph, so I thought, OK, lets see how much power he really has. Once the traffic cleared (we were still on the hill), I dropped into 3rd and floored it - the effect was amazing! I had 20-30 car lengths on him in a matter of seconds! We raced and played with each other for probably 100km of road (once in awhile I'd let him ahead to start), but in whatever condition, the amazing torque of the GTA always put me on top by a large margin.
All in all a fun day, and another three feathers in the cap of a wonderful, beautiful, well-rounded Italian sports car!