Well today was a relatively uneventful one for the rally. After having a seriously expensive dinner for a party of 12 in our hotel last night with the Darkcyd gang, and Rob Ferretti and his partner Noah of Gotham Dream cars, in which the waiter basically treated us like we didn’t exist, forcing us to act a little juvenile by throwing cold rolls at each other, after deciding the cold soup wasn’t worth bothering with, and the cold food wasn’t even worth complaining about, and the fact that he wouldn’t even bring us water. I went to bed about 3am after my write up to get up at 7am for the todays stage. The first reports of hijinks was somebody padlocking a group of cars so they could not leave on time, which I am sure made more than a couple people mad. None of our cars were affected, and we had nothing to do with it, and such is the nature of these type of events.
As usual the Darkcyd Navi was lined up first to launch , and we were heading for Ceasar’s Palace in Las Vegas. Since the route is basically a straight shot and there is no viable route to save time, it was clear the Navigator would not be able to keep up with the super cars. The Gallardo was out first to do recon and left before the event started. we were told all kinds of stories about how the police were all ready since there was no place to go, and anyone doing 5 over from the rally would be arrested. I was told one Porsche that left early ran into a squad car and the driver was arrested. .I personally do not know if this was true or not, but doubt it. The Film helicopter started with us and it was quite a scene when we left Vail for I-70 west. The mountain curves and running through the tunnels with the loud engines, was an impressive assault on the senses. Tons of great film of the Bentley with the two girls driving sporting sexy Darkcyd Racing spaghetti straps, added to the appeal, while Bart and I ran in the Lotus shooting the other action with the rear camera mount. True to form ,cops were lined up about every 5 miles, and all we could do is short bursts in between. Once we got to Grand Junction, things spaced out a bit and people Like Rob Ferretti, in the modified Ford GT, really started to run with a Red Porsche 911, and an Audi driven by Kevin a former Baja 1000 winner on a motorcycle, whom I have great respect for, since I ran Baja last year in a buggy, and know how looney one must be to do such a race.
We kept things at a moderate pace, because anything above 7/10ths on roads that are not perfect, forces the tires to scrape and is dangerous from my perspective. We enjoyed shorts spurts for filming purposes, but remained low key in order to avoid any tickets. With the Gallardo and the GT3 ahead were were getting all the cop reports, which ended up being fairly numerous, and it was somewhat humorous to just listen to them talk on the scanner as we cruised on towards Vegas. Unfortunately my next report was that the Darkcyd Gallardo would not go into gear and Alex , and Danyell needed to be picked up so we cruised on in and had them in pure luxury in the back of the Girls Bentley within 15 minutes including getting a wrecker out to have the car taken to Lamborghini of Las Vegas for repairs in hopes of running tomorrow.
After that, we decided to just settle in a comfortable speed while having Peter and Bulent forge ahead with the Darkcyd chase to see about a respectable finish. This was the fist day the Navi did not arrive in the top 5, but our GT# came in 6th. The red Porsche made it first but there were reports it left 30 minutes early. It is kind of funny but there was always a big deal about getting your Lanyard scanned in and out to prevent cheating and mark your time. I really hope that this was not the result of any Rally cars. I learned in Toronto that scanning out was all about deception, when a driver made a big deal about scanning out so he would be on record, and Tara overhearing Jessie tell the other staff member to just pretend he was being scanned out. We saw two wrecks, one being an SUV rolled over and another being a trailer that Jacknifed. When we arrived in Vegas, they did not even bother with the charade of scanning at all. When unloading my car, I realized my lap top was not in the car, and I was convinced it was stolen at a rest stop when the boot was open. I was quite upset but soon calmed down to realize I had given the Chase vehicle the laptop by mistake this morning because I was so tired.
Caesars Palace as a hotel is a horrendous place to stay and I am writing from a room with a hot tub outside the bed room, and a mirror on the ceiling. this is an upgraded room, and I doubt Tara will even sleep in the sheets tonight because they seem used. To compound things, I got lost in the massive hotel trying to just get out, and needless to say, I will never stay in this crappy hotel again , even of the room was comped.
Tommorow we have a Police escort to Las Vegas speedway, and I believe were are to meet Carol Shelby, which is pretty cool, since I also have a Saleen Mustang in my little collection. Hopefully the Gallardo will be repaired by tomorrow, unless it is determined to need a clutch in which case the car is out for good. we will then head to a beautiful city on the water, before our final destination in LA.
Until then,
Cheers,
Robb
