SSVI GT-R Exclusive | 3. Braving the Storm

[Tekknikal]

According to Google Maps, American Airlines was going to get the wifey to Orlando before my GT-R could get me there. I consulted my GT-R's navigation system and copilot, Aimee but to my dismay, she agreed with Google. I pushed her buttons again just to make sure she understood what I meant when I requested the fastest route. It didn't matter, her best calculations had me an hour late. Needless to say, things wouldn't go well for me, if I was late for the wifey. I tried to remain calm as I watched the clock tick away all my stored, hard earned bonus points.

Bump that. I have seen this before. Wall Street employs some of the most educated people on earth and you know what? They were wrong! See: Financial crisis circa 2008. No, I had to reject the conventional wisdom; it was time to drive outside the box.




When I was young, I would sometimes run my hands along bodies of airplanes I would fly on. There was something about that touch that created a bond, a physical connection between me and the plane. In that moment I felt it was real. On that morning I went over the entire GT-R, looking it over in pre-flight inspection. The machine was real. I knew I'd be driving it in challenging conditions. Mizuno had asked that owners- even if they want to baby the car- try it at least once in poor weather. I think today would qualify. Indeed, today I needed the car to be everything Mizuno promised....

The morning started with frustration. I realized I needed gas so I had Aimee bring up a list of the nearest gas stations on my way. With the efficiency of the stateside gas stations and convenience stores, I figured I'd be wide open on the interstate before I knew it. I was wrong.

I pulled up to the first gas station, it's entrance was a little on the steep side. Thankfully, the GT-R has great clearance, at least for a car on its level. Once inside I pulled the pump for 93 octane and put my credit card into the slot. Nothing happened. I tried two or three times but all I got were more beeps than R2D2 with a laser pistol pointed at him. After wasting the better part of 10 minutes with different pumps, I went and found another gas station.

In a familiar chapter from the "Gas Stations of St Croix" playbook, this one didn't have any gas! I couldn't believe it...

Thirty minutes of delay later I had finally loaded up with 93 Octane gas and was on the road. Unfortunately, the clock was ticking toward 8AM fast.



Meanwhile, on St Croix, the wifey was enjoying the glory that is modern air travel. They were probably having her walk through the metal detector for the third time, and looking for as many things as possible to take- deodorant, toothpaste, whatever they could find.





On the wet, rainy, under construction streets of Atlanta the GT-R was awesome. It's rigidity was never compromised. With the onramp just ahead, I repositioned the car to merge onto it and onto the highway. I could already see beyond it that traffic was moving fairly well. It was time to stretch the GT-R's legs out.

I gave it some gas, half pedal to get up to speed. I hit the bank. According to the on board telemetry, I was pulling one half of earth's gravity. In the wet. People are going to think this is madness, I thought. "Madness? This is a GT-AAAAAR" I joked to myself. Less than five seconds later, I was fully merged into the far left lane of I-75 and was headed south at a cruising speed of about 65 mph. Punching through rain and wind, I headed into the darkness.



For the next hour of driving, conditions never really got too terrible. The wind blew, I'm sure of it - but sealed into the GT-R, I didn't feel it or even hear it. Oddly, I could see the trees blowing on the side of the road though. The rain came down at a pretty good rate but hadn't stayed long enough for a lot of water to collect on the roads. So despite how things looked, I was making good pace. After an hour, things improved (visually at least) and I really settled in for the drive.



Then I came across the Warner Robins Air Force Base.



Freddie had told me that the brand new F-22s take off out of here. In those moments I felt a profound sense of camaraderie. I think I know something of what it must be like to be strapped into an F-22. Big props to those drivers.

Another hour later and things really started to improve. Even better, I'd also found some fellow drivers to ride with. Together we were making great time. Cruising speed was usually on the far side of 80mph. By that point, the speedometer needle was starting to point at an angle that seemed to support the idea that I was moving. I chuckled at that.



At this point I'd like to comment on temperatures. During the day it was hot in Atlanta. In the GT-R though, it was cold. Very cold. And what's weird is that the GT-R is very hot if you stand next to it, or park it in a garage. It'll heat everything up (not just metaphorically). I think there are two reasons for this.

The first reason is that the GT-R's been aerodynamically designed such that it dissipates heat into the air when it moves. Thus, once in motion, the car cools itself. But at rest, the heat just emanates from it. It makes sense when you look at it. Not only does air flow under and over the car, but also through it- into the engine bay, through the propeller shafts, through the rear transmission/differential, and out the top of the diffuser.



The second reason there's a big hot-cold difference between the inside and outside of the vehicle is that the GT-R features the world's first wormhole. That's right. It vaporizes air from Antarctica, rematerializes it inside the so-called "AC" system, and then blows it at you...as long as you have the temperature knob set at less than 78 degrees. The system seems bulletproof because you can be sweating outside and inside the car will be frigid- with the temperature set to 78. Back in Japan I believe they were testing this on a larger scale, equipping GT-Rs with warp engines that use wormholes to get around. I'll bet they stopped when a GT-R oversteered off the track and went to Mars. RIP to the crew of that GT-R.

Secretly though, I still think the GT-R still uses a wormhole. At least a little one. There's no other way it can do what it does with so little drama.

With the A/C up to 80 degrees, I was comfortably making my way South on I-75.



As I thought about the temperature dynamics, I happened to be enjoying the first of three packs of Haribo Gummy Bears that I brought with me...



They are quite simply, the best gummy bears in the world. Bar none. I think they are the single best product that the country of Germany exports today. They're even better than the 911. The only problem with Haribo Gummy Bears is that you cannot import them into the Virgin Islands. I think that's because, like WMDs, they need to keep them out of the hands of terrorists. Haribo gummy bears would improve an army's moral. In war, you can't let that happen. This is why Amazon.com won't ship Haribo gummy bears to the USVI (IMO).



Why they think terrorists live in the USVI though I have no idea. Maybe one day statesiders will wake up and realize that we're American citizens and that we speak english, use their money, have a seat in their congress, and even fight and die as proud members of the U.S. armed services. Or maybe they won't and we'll smuggle the gummy bears in and enjoy tourist free roads. That's called having your gummy bears and eating them too.



By this point in time, the wifey was comfortably enjoying the friendly confines of Puerto Rico's Luis Munoz airport. I was glad not to be there. The only thing I like about being there is getting on American's A300 to get out. Well OK, it's not that bad. Puerto Rico is great actually. No let me say that again- PR is great. The island has some real benefits and assets....but the airport isn't one of them.

Speaking of airports, it's amazing how few of them offer power ports. You'd think that in the 21st century, seats in airports would offer power connections, right? Especially since oh I don't know- 95% of business travelers need them, and pretty much every traveler can appreciate them. Yet that's not the case. I suspected that at this point, the wifey was unsuccessfully looking for such a port. Good luck finding one, I thought.

But I had none of those worries as me and Aimee hammered down I-75 at 85 miles an hour. I had all the power (Horses and Electrons) I needed. The GT-R was performing without flaw. And, even though I still wasn't cleared to use all the horsepower the car had to offer, I had more than enough for the job at hand.



In the cabin, I was listening to the Top 100 Billboard Hip Hop / R&B Songs from my iPod, which was fully interconnected into the GT-R. I must say- it really is a brilliant interface - controlling the iPod with the steering wheel controls. The on screen display mimics the iPod's functionality as well.

Is the GT-R's Bose sound system as epic as it's performance? If by epic you're looking for 5000 watts feeding into a W7 then sadly no. But it's more than good enough. I don't say that lightly. My personal basis of reference is a Focal/JL/Alpine sound system, with a computer that I hand built to digitally clean the audio before feeding it to the first of the Alpine DSPs.

In the GT-R, two subs sit in between the rear seats. The doors and rear of the car feature the array of midrange-high range. Each door has three speakers as well, which are designed to leave little gap in the upper mid range. It works well and is surprisingly clean, even at high volume levels.



Its strong point is its level of integration. The sound system is fully integrated into the navigation, phone, and audio subsystems. Line sources include AM, FM, XM satellite, CD, iPod, Auxiliary Audio + Video, Compact Flash memory card, and Hard Drive. Yes, the GT-R allows you to rip any CD you feed it and store the mp3s internally. As if that's not enough, the Japanese models also have bluetooth audio input, DVD, and over the air TV. Even if you get stuck in traffic in a GT-R, you will be entertained...

More than half way in, I started to run low on fuel.



Thankfully, Aimee quickly worked her magic on the problem. Looking at my status display I noticed that I only had a remaining range of 67 miles. Looking back at the Nav screen, it listed which exits were coming up- and what was offered there. I was able to cross reference the two displays to figure out that I could stop for gas now at some random station or wait ten miles and have my choice of BP, Chevron, and many others. I decided to wait. As it happened, that exit had tons of food options as well. Browsing through Aimee's suggestions I decided I'd enjoy some Arby's after I fueled up. Aimee automatically added the necessary waypoints and modified the routing accordingly...

With me and Aimee satisfied, I went back to the road. It would take nearly an hour before I could get back into the groove, but when I did... I was moving. By that point in time I received a text. The wifey's A300 was wheels up, climbing through the fluffy Caribbean clouds, on its way to Orlando.





I was determined to get there before her and by all accounts, my unconventional wisdom was paying off. I was making time! Why not! I now had in my possession, a time machine. When we crossed the border into Florida, I felt the calm of familiar territory. Less than 100 miles until the end of break in. Less than 150 miles to destination. And did I mention I was making great time?

Then the sky turned blue. Aimee thought I had more than two hours of driving left. But then the odometer rolled past 1200. Break in was over. Could it get any better?



It wasn't much longer before I hit Gainesville, Florida. This, for me, is super familiar territory. From there, I would be in Orlando in just over an hour. Crossing into O- Town, the multi function display's clock - synchronized to the time being transmitted by the GPS satellites. Ha! I beat the airlines without breaking a sweat.



I sent a text notifying Freddie that I'd hit the 408. GT-R Style, I had arrived without drama. It was over. I had arrived. Officially!



But that wasn't the best of it. Crossing into the heart of Orlando, a Porsche Cayenne SUV driver gave me a firm thumbs up. He was in on what was about to happen. I was approaching a toll booth.

Florida has a million toll booths. Don't be surprised if you hear one day that Florida is going to do away with taxes. They've found something better. Not only can they make money off you when you go through them, but if you sign up for the automated payments (which you need to do if you want to get anywhere on time) they can sometimes make "mistakes" and charge you twice. Or three times. For every toll booth. You really have to watch your account. Then there's the timing. They can measure the elapsed time from one booth to another, and if you were speeding, charge you for that too. And as if all of that's not enough, there's construction as well. For the last ten years, Orlando's been under major construction. I think the Egyptians built the pyramids in less time than it will take Orlando to get done with the 408. And the Egyptians didn't have the 18-wheeler to help them.

I had forgotten how good it was until I reached the first one and the gate lifted up. In their greed to take taxpayers money while they took their time building elsewhere, they had left me with hundreds of feet of empty pavement ahead of every single booth. Maybe my thoughts wouldn’t have been so dirty if that woman in her V8 powered SUV didn't act like she could dominate the road.



OK I admit I was looking for an excuse....



It felt like it only took 2 seconds, but telemetry showed it was more like five and change. That's how long it took for me to get going much, much faster than the soccer mom in her V8 SUV who must have been doing about 65mph. Only a couple seconds later I was fully merged. By the expression on her face, she had no idea what had just happened. To be truthful, I was barely comprehending it all myself.

The GT-R has an impressively strong pull. I was at about 80% power, in automatic and not even in R mode, so it short shifted... but it was sickening. With that much gas pedal it rolled smoothly and directly into powerband, picking up speed slowly for the first instant or so but then very quickly going exponential. In what felt like one second I was suddenly sucked to the back of the seat as the car propelled itself forward. The entire machine seemed to slam onto the asphalt, which was paved slightly lower than the booth exit area. Despite that, the car's pull was unabated. It's as if it didn't matter. Perhaps what was most impressive of it all wasn't the pull but the stability while it did it. This car is not only graphically violent but also supremely clean and focused. It's like a sniper than can not only pull off a head shot from 10,000 feet, but also do so in such a way that there's no blood. It was like I was riding along on the fist of a heavy weight boxer. Simply stunning.

I sunk into the 408, making my way to check in with Duttyman prior to the Airport Pickup.

I had made it to Orlando.



Having arrived safe, sound, and ahead of schedule, I wondered what the local car scene would be like...

[Duttyman]

I just want to be the first to second the hotness of those Gummy Bears

[DomesticChiney]

Tekk, you REALLY need to write a magazine article or start one up for cars! Good read. Looking foward to more!

[VIZuki]

Aimee...LMAO are you serious yo..what this look like RED PLANET haha sorry I had to laugh...anyways sorry to hear you where late..should have punched it into 7th gear....

[Duttyman]

VIZuki, what is RED PLANET?

[StreetRX7]

Yeh great read .. But I dont thing FLA have more tolls than NJ/NY never.lol lol. .. good job ME-BOY..

[Duttyman]

For real, NJ is out of control!

[twincityfinest]

GTR GTR GTR! bad ass story again. Can't wait to see the orlando street scene over there. P.S. took any pictures of those fine azz ricans over there lol j/k

[StreetRX7]

Yo Tekk suck that gas station dry.. NO more fuel for no one... lol... Talking about station was empty.. hahaha

[Tekknikal]

^

twincity- got even better, but duttyman will be telling that story