My time at Ferrari, Maserati, Lamborghini of Washington in Sterling,VA

Hello Fellow Gearheads,

Last Thursday, after a nice vacation with my grandparents and cousin in Washington, DC, I wanted to visit Ferrari, Maserati, Lamborghini of Washington in Sterling, VA. Why did I want to visit you may ask? Why I wanted to visit is because I saw they had good reviews which means to me that they are nice to everyone even if people aren't buying but come for the "car enthusiast experience," if you will. Also they have a sick inventory.

When my grandparents drove up, we were all amazed, my cousin, myself (obviously), and my grandparents. When I walked into the dealership, I was going crazy with my iPhone taking pictures while my grandma went was talking to a Lambo salesman, named Antoine. He was (and still is) a very nice guy who is just as enthusiastic about cars I am. He was even kind enough to take me out back to see customer cars and what looked like recently delivered inventory!

One of the customer cars I saw was a orange Lamborghini Aventador SV or Superveloce (pictured below). Also, a Lamborghini Huracan in the showroom. Then, I walked to the Ferrari Maserati showroom, where I was once again amazed to see beautifully specked cars.

After another crazy photoshoot with my iPhone, I then went over to talk to my grandparents who were also talking to the pre-owned sales manager, named Jonathan. He was just as nice and just as car crazy as Antoine. I truly love the dealership; it's just such a wonderful place to be. The sad thing is that it's in VA and I live in NJ. If I lived closer, I swear I would make it my hangout place after work or school. I felt welcomed there from the second I walked in. Everybody there made my day. 

So, if anyone is reading this who knows someone who wants to buy or lease a Lamborghini Ferrari or a Maserati or if you're reading this and you want to lease or by one yourself, then you must go to this dealership. Honestly, there isn't any other way to buy other then going to Ferrari Maserati Lamborghini of Washington. This is my true opinion and no one is telling me to write this. If anyone is curious to see more of my photoshoot, there is a Flickr link right here: https://www.flickr.com/photos/131524826@N05/albums/72157657872440981

Hey guys! Sorry I've been so inactive. I stopped the blog because I thought no one gave a damn about it. Until someone submitted me something. So I needed that motivation and now I'm back!

The Cost Of Doing Top Gear Road Trips by carleasingmadesimple.com

Ferrari Central New jersey Visit

Hello Fellow Gearheads!

Yesterday, my Grandfather and I spent the day together looking at Porsche, Bentley, and Rolls Royce dealerships in Parsipanny, NJ. I asked him if we could go to Ferrari Central New Jersey in Edison and he said, "Sure."

So, 48 minutes of driving and one missed exit later, we arrived At Ferrari Central New Jersey. It has  its own secluded area behind some strip malls. My Grandfather and I walk in and to my left is a "mother freakin'" Enzo Ferrari as well as 30 more Ferraris for me to gawk at. I was taking pictures of every single car there including the Enzo (although they told me not to) ... I mean if you witnessed a beautiful car with only a 400-car production run, I'd bet you'd sneak a snap too.

The dealership's inventory mainly consisted of Ferrari 430 Scuderias, a couple Californias, a of couple 458 coupes, and couple of 458 spiders, a couple of FFs, and one Ferrari F12. Not only were the cars nice, but the staff was as well. As soon as I walked in, they asked me if I need a drink and offered me a chilled bottle of water. I talked to Pat Cianci who is the Certified Brand Ambassador at Ferrari Central NJ. Mr. Cianci, one could say, is a Ferrari nut just like myself. From what I could see, he was pretty happy with the Ferrari watch I was wearing and my overall enthusiasm seeing the cars. My Grandfather told Mr. Cianci about this very blog and he seemed impressed.

As my Grandfather and I were leaving, Mr. Cianci rushed out of the dealership and gave me a Ferrari hat and his card and said, "Mention me in your blog." So, fellow gearheads, you can see that I've done exactly that. I've heard mixed reviews about this dealership, but my experience was excellent. So, if you live in the New Jersey area, I suggest going down to Ferrari Central NJ on 816 Route 1 North in Edison, NJ 08817. The site is www.FerrariCentralNJ.com if you want more information.

    

My take on the "Fracas" incident with Jeremy Clarkson

Hello fellow Gearheads!

I sincerly apologize for the inactivity lately and I will try to be more consistent.

Today's topic will relate to Jeremy Clarkson's suspension from BBC. For those who don't know, Mr. Clarkson punched his producer, Oisin Tymon, over a lack of food. Now people all over are saying time and time again all over twitter #BringBackClarkson. As much of respect and love for the man, I disagree with what everyone is saying. I sincerely think Mr. Clarkson is a good man, but any inappropriate and violent physical contact with your producer, your boss, your superior or whomever does merit a second chance. 

James May, one of the three co-hosts on Top Gear says, "It's getting a bit ridiculous." Also, there are claims that Mr. Clarkson was drunk as well when the dispute occurred. Drunk or not, again, punching or any physical contact is unacceptable. 

Let's say a man who works for a business driving a company truck gets into an accident and the boss later finds out that this man was texting and driving. The boss fires him because of his lack of safety being on public roads. Mr. Clarkson is probably a very good employee just like the man I was talking about in my example, but his extreme lack of judgement to do that sort of action over lack of food is stupid.

On the other hand, if the producers choose to fire Mr. Clarkson (and he would deserve it), I would still have mixed feelings. Mr. Clarkson's charismatic and edgy sense of humor have made the show and established it as super-successful franchise. 

Another thing that I find complete bull-crap is that the BBC is pulling the final episodes that are left in the season. This is unfair because it punishes the fans along with Mr. Clarkson. The episodes are ready to air so it's not like they need to finish editing it. Again, why punish the TG fans like myself? I didn't tell Mr. Clarkson to punch his producer nor did the rest of the millions of fans, so why not air these final precious episodes? If the BBC wants to add money to its already deep pockets, then just air the three remaining episodes. I do like James and Richard just as much, but it won't be the same without Mr. Clarkson.

F1 McLaren History (my version)

Hello fellow gearheads of near and far! 

Today, I shall be discussing rare cars. No, not one-offs, but rare cars that had an extremely limited production run, such as the Corvette ZHZ, Ferrari 250 GTO, Maserati MC12, Bugatti Veyron and so on AND so forth. 

The car I want to talk to you about is the F1 McLaren. Correct me if I'm wrong, but that was McLaren's second road-legal car. The first one was the 1968/9 McLaren M6 GT. Two were mad with a Ford 5.7 liter engine boasting some 370 HP. Bruce McLaren, McLaren Automotive's founder, aimed to produce 250 of these. Sadly, he died in a crash at Goodwood on July 2, 1970. The M6 GT project died along with him. 

Gordon Murray was the man that made the F1 McLaren possible. But before I tell you how many F1 McLarens were made and its variants, allow me to discuss the specs. The chassis is made of 100% carbon fiber--the first production car to do so and became the stepping stone for almost all production supercars to have a carbon fiber chassis for years to come. Rear wheel drive coupe, has a BMW 6.1 liter V12 because of that V12 it has 627 HP, a 6 speed manual gearbox, 0-60 in 3.2 seconds, 0-100 in 6.3 seconds, 0-124 in 9.8 seconds, 0-150 in 12.8 seconds, and 0-200 in 28 seconds. These specs made it the fastest car in the world with a top speed of 240 MPH. 

This is exactly why the F1 McLaren is such a cool car. Not only because of its looks and top speed, but because the engine bay has gold in it! It's also so ahead of its time because of the records it broke. The McLaren F1 is also faster than its successor the McLaren P1 and the other big hypercars of today such as the Porsche 918 spyder and the Ferrari Laferrari 

The materials used in the F1's interior include gold-plated face tool kit, tailored luggage to match interior, and light Connolly leather. Customers were given a special edition TAG Heuer 6000 Chronometer wristwatch with the car's serial number scripted below the center stem, side luggage compartment. It is also a 3-seater, the driver's seat being in the middle to give that real race-car-like feel. Unfortunately, the middle seat is one of its cons, making it difficult for the driver to enter and exit the vehicle. 

There are so many more details that I'd love to bore you with, but it's time to move on. There were 64 road cars and 2 special editions of which there were five LM or Le Mans models. The LM was based off the GTR race car to celebrate McLaren's 1995 Le Mans victory. McLaren manufactured two GT models with an HDK (high downforce kit) which some of the features included a front carbon fiber splitter, a big rear wing, and some new performance tires and some other things that i can't really think of at the moment which combing the two special editions together makes 8. There was 28 GTR racecars, and five preproduction road car prototypes, one LM prototype, and one making a 106 total. 

To end this post, I will say this ... McLaren was supposed to make 300 F1 McLarens, but built only 106. Twenty-one of the 64 road cars were sent to the USA.

My Top Five One-Off Cars Countdown (rating from 5 to 1)

Hello fellow gearheads,

In my first official post to the blog, I will be telling you guys about my favorite one-off or one-of-a kind cars. Well, here is my list. I hope you guys agree with me.

#5 James Glickenhaus' 2006 Ferrari 612P4-5

This is James Glickenhaus' one-of-a-kind $4,000,000 612P4-5. This earns my #5 spot because of the car's history. Mr. Glickenhaus loves Ferrari. When the Ferrari Enzo came out in 2002-2003, Glickenhaus bought it for around $675,000. This sparked his interest in creating a one-off car and he brought his ideas to Pininfarina in March of 2005. The car was meant to resemble his 1967 Ferrari 330 p3/4 (and it certainly does!). This car's personality clearly represents the history of one of the most beautiful race cars ever made. Specs are as follows: 660 horsepower, 0-60 time in 3.0 seconds, top speed of 233 mph, 6.0 liter V12, which remains unchanged from the Enzo, 485 lb. ft. of torque, and a 6-speed semi automatic transmission.

1967 Ferrari 330 P3/4

2006 Ferrari 612P4-5 (the one-off)






#4 Kris Singh's Pagani Huyara La Monza Lisa

This is the first one-off Pagani Huyara requested by Miami multi-millionare, Kris Singh. The car is named after the famous racetrack, Monza, in Italy. The cost is a whopping $1,500,000 which is $100k more than the base MSRP for a regular Huyara. Specs include: 0-60 in 3.3 seconds, a 6.0 liter Mercedes bi-turbo v12, transverse 6 speed sequential, 730 HP, and 738 ft. lb. of torque. Singh also owns a Lamborghini Aventador Roadster 50th anniversary and a $4,100,000 Lamborghini Veneno. You can follow him @lamborghiniks on Instagram.

#3 Saudi Arabian Man's Bugatti Veyron L'or Blanc

Sorry guys, I couldn't find the owner's name for this $2.39 million beauty. All I know is that it is registered in Saudi Arabia. This is a very unique version that debuted in 2011. The car chassis is composed of aluminum and carbon fiber. In the cabin, the car's interior includes porcelain and the finest leather around. I apologize for not including more details, but it is quite the mysterious vehicle. I estimate that the owner is about 30 years old. Like every other fantastic car that Bugatti makes, the specs include the following: a 7-speed dual clutch gearbox, 0-60 time is 2.5 seconds, 1001 horsepower, 922 ft lbs of torque, top speed is 253 mph all because of a 8 liter, quad turbo W16.

#2 Junichiro Hiramatsu's Ferrari SP1

This is Junichiro Hiramatsu's Ferrari SP1 (or special prototype 1) based off of a Ferrari F430 Berlinetta. This was the first car built by Ferrari's special projects division for the Japanese executive businessman. This car also looks like a Mclaren MP4-12C. But what if that car's design was the inspiration for the 12C? That's probably not the case. The car did put a dent in Hiramatsu's bank account with a sizable impression of several million dollars. The price isn't exact. This work of art has 596 HP, a 4.3 liter V-8, a 6 speed sequential, and a 0-60 and torque top speed is unknown because I couldn't find them. If anyone has info on that, please let me know so that I may edit this post.

#1 Albert Speiss' Lamborghini 595 Zagato

And my personal favorite and number one choice ... Albert Speiss' Lamborghini 595 Zagato. Speiss already has a couple of one-of-a-kind cars in his collection like a 1985 Aston v8 Zagato and a 2012 Aston v12 Zagato. If you guessed that this is based off of the now-deceased Gallardo, well my friend, pat yourself on the back and ask your Grandma for a cookie because you're right! This car's transmission is a 6-speed e-gear automatic and the engine is the same beast of an engine that is also in the Audi r8 v10, which is the Lamborghini 5.2 liter v10 with 570 horsepower with a top speed of 202mph and 0 hooks up quite fast with 60 at 3.4 seconds and 397 ft lbs of torque.

My First Post - 1/24/15

Hey fellow gearheads,

Max G. here announcing the start of my new blog, CARismatic Cruisers. Lots of good stuff ahead, so be sure to tell all your friends.

I look forward to sharing my car love with everyone else.