I know, I know. Useless without pics.

PersonaNonGrata · #1 04-04-2007, 08:51 PM

I was driving home from Blythe, California (aka The Armpit of a Gas Stop Before Arizona) through the desert when I was nearly blown away. It's a two lane freeway through nothing but desert. There is always lots of big rig traffic heading to Los Angeles so lots of time is spent in the left lane passing the trucks. It can be pretty slow going sometimes and today was no different. So I was cruising in my sweet Ford Taurus (work car) in the left lane just finishing up a pass of some big rigs when I casually looked in my driver's side mirror to see if any fast moving cars were coming up on me. I didn't really expect any and if I did, I thought it wouldn't be going that fast relative to my 85 mph.

I about pooped myself when in a blink of an eye a gorgeous burgundy Saleen S7, lights on bright, filled my mirror.

Luckily I was in the process of moving over anyway. It was a scene right out of "Cannonball Run" as the Saleen S7 passed, a modded (big wing, etc) yellow Gallardo Spyder flew by, then a Fly Yellow Ferrari 348 Spyder, then a burgundy Ferrari F360 Spyder, then a Fly Yellow Ferrari Enzo (

license "Enzo F1") flew by, with another pearl yellow Galladro more modded up than the first one was the caboose. Strangely, all of them had Alberta, Canada license plates.

That caravan disappeared quickly into the distance. My poor Taurus felt so inadequate.

I fumbled for my digital camera but needless to say, they were long gone before I was ready to shoot.

The sight and the sound of them was amazing. You don't see that everyday. I kept plugging along hoping that I'd see them stopped at a rest stop so I could take some pictures. That did not happen... sort of. About 10 or 15 minutes after they blasted away, I saw a cloud of dust from the dirt center divider and a CR-V braking hard in front of me. I swerved and luckily the Taurus has razor sharp handling otherwise it could have been ugly.

The cloud of dust was caused by a lovely Ford Crown Victoria with a neat black and white paint scheme and a jaunty star on the side of it. The CHP car was coming over from the other side of the freeway to go in pursuit mode. He nearly caused a major collision in the process.

Another ways up the freeway the CHP had hauled in one of the group and it was the Enzo no less. I was going to turn around to get a photo of the scene since it was just so perfect: a bright yellow Enzo pulled over with a CHP unit. So sad yet such a stark illustration of big game and The Hunter. I decided not to because I had to pee really badly and had to get to a restroom pronto.

The other cars were nowhere in sight.

I had actually thought that someone would call in to CHP to report them if for no other reason to ruin their fun. They weren't really doing anything reckless apart from driving fast. There wasn't any dangerous weaving and bobbing moves to get through us; no "Fast and Furious" moves. I figured that when people see a line of exotics like that they either want to narc on them out of jealousy or sheer panic. Apparently someone did call them in. It's also pretty hard to miss.

I must say that the Enzo was the most interesting car I've seen pulled over. What interesting vehicles have you seen pulled over? Do you think that if it was a Camry or Accord going 100, or even 110 mph people would have called them in?

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SilverBullet · #2 04-04-2007, 08:54 PM

Ferrari F430

crosvs · #3 04-04-2007, 08:56 PM

Quote:

The CHP car was coming over from the other side of the freeway to go in pursuit mode. He nearly caused a major collision in the process.

Yeah i've actually given CHP officers mean looks of

when they do shit that could have caused an accident or literally gave me a fright in so doing: i have been seriously alarmed and partially engaged in defense maneuvers during situations where I seriously thought an accident was imminent. Absolutely outrageous to put others at risk just because some people are going over the speed limit in a safe way.

I've said it before and I'll say it again: SPEED does not necessarily = recklesness. I've seen plenty of SLOW drivers being reckless too. To endanger the public for NON-reckless "speeding" is outrageous.

In any case, that's quite a story!! Thanks for the writeup!! Must have been quite surreal to experience ......... i know the few times i've encountered a group of exotics it literally takes my breath away. Totally unreal.

rebound · #4 04-04-2007, 09:05 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by crosvs

I've said it before and I'll say it again: SPEED does not necessarily = recklesness. I've seen plenty of SLOW drivers being reckless too. To endanger the public for NON-reckless "speeding" is outrageous.

I wish I had a link, but anyway...

I read an article in Car & Driver a few years back that said that over 75% of accidents are caused by the 10% of drivers that are driving the slowest!

As you said, speed does not equal reckless.

crosvs · #5 04-04-2007, 09:26 PM

interesting!! well there you have it then!!

Quicksilver · #6 04-04-2007, 09:44 PM

Add driving stupid to that list.

Quote:

Originally Posted by rebound

I wish I had a link, but anyway...

I read an article in Car & Driver a few years back that said that over 75% of accidents are caused by the 10% of drivers that are driving the slowest!

As you said, speed does not equal reckless.