The Gotham Dream Car Tour

Birthdays, Christmas, Fathers Day all elicit the same reaction from so many women. What do you give the man in your life when he already has so many of the toys that he wants? Motorcycle? Check, check and check. Tools? A definite maybe but, another torque wrench under the tree just doesn’t cut it. Sweater vest? Uh… no. After wracking my brain trying to find something neat for my better half Kenny for Christmas, I settled in to a gift certificate to partake in the Gotham Dream Car Tour.

The Gotham Dream Car Tour puts you in the driver’s seat of some of the world’s most exotic road cars for a day.  The tour gives you the unique opportunity to pilot six exclusive autos out on public roadways, spending about a half an hour behind the wheel of each before moving on to the next car.  I was fortunate enough to be taken along as a passenger on this great day of driving.

Much to the collective palpable disappointment of the 7 drivers participating in the Tour on that day, no one would be getting any seat time in any of their Lamborghini cars, which were all in some state of requiring mechanical attention. To their credit, Gotham knowing right away that this would be a major letdown to the group gave each driver a fifty percent off certificate that they could use on a daily rental or on another tour. Beggars can’t be choosers, so the drivers would have to suffer through a pair of Maseratis, the poor things. The lineup of cars that we would have the opportunity to ride in on this day was the Maserati Quattroporte, Maserati Gran Turismo, Bentley Silver Spur, Bentley Continental GTC, Ferrari 360 Spyder and the Ferrari F430.

The way that the tour works is each driver is listed on a driving rotation sheet, allowing each person to experience about 30 minutes behind the wheel of each car. After the safety meeting and car orientation the group received their driving badges and the driving rotation. You could see each driver excitedly scanning the paper looking for their name to see where they fell in the car driving lineup. Let’s face it, each of these boys wanted to pilot those Ferraris on the twistiest part of the route to get some understanding of the amazing handling that they’ve all read about since they were wee lads. It seemed that Lady Luck was riding along with us as Kenny got the 360 Spyder and the F430 while we were going to be driving in Harriman State Park which offered the most winding roads of the route and then the Silver Spur and the Gran Turismo on the to and from highway legs of the drive.  Score!

When the tour leaves the garage facility in New Jersey the train of exotics tails a lead car that is a rather inconspicuous looking sedan. Following behind is a sweep car of similar non-descript ilk making sure that none of these very expensive sheep get lost. Each car is equipped with a CB radio to keep in verbal contact with the entire group. Route directions, road hazards, Smokey is hiding in the bushes type messages all come across the radio during your drive with a northeastern accent that had me chuckling at times. One of the messages actually included the phrase, “a couple ten fifteen minutes.” You just don’t hear that outside of the New York metro area.

The lead car radios the group to pull in to scheduled stops to make driver changes. What ensues is then something of high profile Chinese Fire Drill. Excited chatter about their impression of the car they are exiting flurried between the drivers. On this day each of the drivers was salivating over the Ferrari F430, wishing they could just get a little more time behind the wheel of the Italian beauty. The group could not escape without pictures, questions or just general awe at the collection of fine automobiles all congregated together.

As a passenger, my impression of the driving segments of the tour overall can be summed up in a single word: Terrifying. Admittedly, I am probably the worst choice as a front seat passenger. As Kenny, with an uncharacteristic giddiness, blipped the paddles and moved through the gears of the Ferrari F430 it rumbled a delicious guttural growl through the deep green surroundings of Harriman State Park, I sat gripping the door white knuckled all the way. The car skimmed across the roadway with agility at speed unlike anything I have ever experienced before and am unlikely to again. The term handled like it was on rails never meant anything to me until riding in this car.  It was ferocious and manly and oh so exhilarating and being a passive entity in the ride was absolutely scary. Watching the man I love be truly overcome with the driving experience, wrapped up completely with an excitement that I don’t think I’ve ever seen from him before was hands down worth the price of admission.

What I came away from this event with was an understanding that giving the gift of an experience will leave a lingering joy unlike anything else. Clearly the people at Gotham Dream Cars understand this. I would absolutely recommend the Dream Car Tour to anyone with a thirst for exhilarating pursuits.

To read a firsthand account of the Dream Car Tour, visit Kenny’s blog on watermelon18.com.