Prelude / Introduction -- "Gumball", preparations and DOT regulations

[From 2009]

            It started, simply enough with a one-word email:  “Gumball.” 

Many readers are no doubt familiar with the 1976 movie, The Gumball Rally, similar in plot and tone to the subsequently-released but better-known Cannonball Run, both portraying a race across the country, from Manhattan to the Pacific ocean.  The competition is triggered by phone calls and telegrams relaying that one word.  

            My friend Dan Watkins sent this email to me in mid-July, knowing full well that I’d immediately reply  – “Ok, what the heck are you up to now?”  Most recently, Dan participated in a Ferrari Club of America rally through New England in his recently acquired McLaren F1.  Shanghaied as his navigator, I found myself stuffed into the right-hand passenger seat (which, surprisingly, had more headroom for my 6’3” XL frame than the left-hand passenger seat) for 600 very quick miles through the White and Green mountains. 

            “I’ve been invited to show my newest acquisition on the lawn at Pebble Beach, and I thought I should also have a couple of Ferraris there.  And the McLaren is being shown as well.  Rather than doing the boring thing and shipping all the cars there via transporter, I thought that we should drive across the country.  Just like the Gumball Rally.  Only without the car wrecks and police helicopters.  Hopefully.”

            “Dude!  I’m so in.  But I thought the McLaren was your ‘latest acquisition’?”

            “Oh, didn’t I tell you?  I bought the Bertone Mantide.  I drove it at the Goodwood Festival of Speed, and Stile Bertone wants to have it introduced to the US audience in Monterey.  I’ve always liked Jim Glickenhaus’ P4/5 built on the Enzo, and wanted a coach-built one myself.  It’s being shipped here, and I think we should drive it, the McLaren and a couple of Ferraris to California.”

            “Wait – you bought a Mantide?  When did that happen?”

            “Well, technically, I bought the Mantide, but yeah.  Bertone is considering building more depending on demand, but for now, it’s the only one.  What better way to show how practical it is than to drive it to Pebble Beach?”

Stile Bertone, the legendary Italian design house, built the Mantide as a styling exercise to demonstrate its current prowess.  This is the baby of Jason Castriota, Design Director at Bertone, who worked on the Ferrari 599 GTB Fiorano, the Maserati GranTurismo, the Maserati Birdcage 75th and the Rolls Royce Hyperion concept cars.  Most pertinently, Jason was the Head Designer at Pininfarina for the one-off Ferrari P4/5 for Glickenhaus.  With a hand-laid carbon-fiber body and interior built on the new Corvette ZR1 chassis and drivetrain, the Mantide runs the stock (for now) supercharged Chevy V8 putting out 638 horsepower, but carries about 200 fewer pounds.

            Now, a word about Mr. Watkins.  Dan is a Boston-based co-founder of a thriving software company, and is now able to indulge the passion for cars inculcated by Formula 1 as a young lad growing up in a working-class English city.  A financial firm invested in his start-up a couple of years back, so Dan, 40, could now compete in the Ferrari Challenge series, and race a Porsche 911 GT3 Cup at the 24 Hours of Daytona.  His collection has included a Ferrari 288 GTO, Dino 246 GTS, Lamborghini Miura, and a series of modern Ferraris.

            But unlike many or even most collectors, Dan’s ethos has always been to drive, believing that cars are meant to be used.  When Dan and I first met, I thought his black Ferrari 360 Modena was painted gray, when it just went unwashed for months.  To attend F1 races, he’s driven the 288 GTO to Montreal and a Challenge Stradale to Indianapolis.  So it’s perfectly natural, in his mind, to drive four supercars across the country.

            “Ok, so we’re taking the Bertone and the McLaren.  Which Ferraris?”

            “Well, my Scuderia Spider 16M should be delivered in a couple of weeks, so we can take that.  It’d be cool to have the world’s highest mileage 16M, don’t you think?  And for comfort and luggage room, I thought the 612 Scaglietti would be perfect.”

            Damn.  The automotive road trip of a lifetime – driving across the country in more than $5 million worth of exotic cars.  To complete our team, we recruited friends Mark Nolan, 44, an IT professional from London who’s also an avid amateur photographer, and Glenn Farrell, 48, a builder of spectacular luxury houses from the Maine coast.  Glenn, Dan and I had all driven Ferraris together on the race track, so we had mutual confidence in driving skills; with Mark, we agreed to remind him to stay on the right side of the road.

            With just three weeks before the departure date, planning shifted into panicked high gear.  We debated the proposed route, hoping to include some remarkable roads in the East as well as the best of the Rockies and the West.  We’d have to sacrifice the middle of the country to Interstates.  Our checklist included:  UHF radios, multiple Valentine 1 radar detectors, a digital trunking radio scanner, AAA memberships, plenty of cash for bail, and a roll of duct tape. 

            Dan and I discussed reliability and spares:  “Hey, how unreliable can a one-off hand-built prototype built by guys named Alfredo and Luigi be?”  “But it’s built on a Corvette!  Bet it’ll be more reliable than a hand-built 12-year old supercar constructed out of unobtainium by guys named Nigel and Rupert.”  “Do you think the Ferrari that’s survived two years of power-drifting through Boston snowstorms will be more reliable than the brand new, limited-production one right off the boat?”  “And how many sidewall failures have we had with the low-profile baloney skins that come on Ferraris these days?” 

Admittedly, it was the tire issue that scared us the most.  If one of us hit a big pothole, we could lose a tire, and it’d be at least a day or two before we could acquire a replacement.  Ironically, it was the custom-made Michelins ($5000 per set) on the McLaren F1 that was the least frightening; with higher-profile 45 series 17” tires, its wheels looked like they belonged on an SUV, comparatively speaking.

Another consideration that cropped up was the legal mileage limitation on the McLaren F1.  It had been imported under the DOT’s Show or Display exemption, which meant that it was restricted to 2500 miles per annum.  To solve both issues, Dan decided to bring his Ferrari Challenge race car Toterhome RV that could carry two cars, stacked.  We packed spare tires for all the cars into it, and planned to garage the F1 for the long-haul through the Midwest.  The truck would, we planned, leap-frog our route, to ensure that it was no more than a few hours away.  Yes, it was over the top, but bringing along a rolling garage made the plan bulletproof.  Or so we thought.

            Our goals for the trip were simple:  get all four cars from Manhattan to Monterey in eight days, take in some of America’s best National Parks, enjoy some famous windy roads, and avoid getting arrested.  I had another goal:  to find out if the Bertone Mantide is the solution to the “Corvette issue.”  What’s that?

The Corvette.  Either you’ve always wanted one, probably since you were a teenager, or else you never quite understood the appeal.  Oh sure, you aficionados of Porsches, BMWs and Ferraris may respect the Corvette, respect its dominating performance, and respect its huge bang-for-the-buck ratio, but you’ve never lusted for one.  You may even have considered a Dodge Viper over your perennial 911 or M3 lust, but a Z06 never quite scratches that itch.  So what happens when a historic Italian design house takes the ultimate factory Corvette and drapes a stunning new dress over it?  Can the Bertone Mantide win over those who never really fell for the ‘Vette?

The challenge, then, for the Mantide was to see if it could outshine (or even come close to) the best attributes of the other cars:  the GT touring legs and comfort of the 612 Scaglietti, the South Beach cruising sex appeal of the Scuderia 16M, and the utterly dominating performance and presence of the McLaren F1.

            And I had similar questions of the other cars.  Can the McLaren F1, for all of its world-class performance reputation, serve as Gordon Murray insisted – as a comfortable GT machine too?  Could the Scuderia 16M demonstrate the worth of its huge price differential over the ecstasy of the “standard” 430 Spider, while retaining the exquisite driving experience of the 430 Scuderia coupe?  And could the 612 Scaglietti, with its real-world weight of close to 4,000 pounds, use its massive torque to keep up with the burners on America’s best roads?