Leno: The Gulf Between Feeling Fast and Being Fast
This story first appeared in the November/December 2024 issue of Hagerty Drivers Club magazine. Join the club to receive our award-winning magazine and enjoy insider access to automotive events, discounts, roadside assistance, and more.
Aaron Robinson’s recent story about the Miura reminded me that years ago, I was the opening act for the great jazz musician Miles Davis, who had a lime-green Lamborghini Miura. Herbie Hancock was also in the band, and he bought a Cobra. In fact, Herbie still has it—he’s got to be the longest original owner of a Cobra of anyone in the world. It’s just a 260 with a two-barrel, but Herbie would race it against Miles as sort of a joke and routinely beat him, and Miles would get furious that he got blown off by the Cobra.
Not that a Miura wasn’t fast in its day or thrilling to drive. I got my first one almost 40 years ago, and I promise you, they are a hoot. The engine’s carburetors are basically your headrest. But nowadays, when we have Toyota Corollas with 300 horsepower and Corvettes and Challengers with over a thousand, a Miura actually isn’t all that fast. Which is fine for someone like me, who is not a race car driver and who believes that it is much better to feel fast than to go fast.
Maybe the ultimate car for feeling fast is a Morgan 3 Wheeler. A few years ago, I was absolutely flying down a mountain road in the Morgan when I rounded a corner and saw a cop. Figuring he had me dead, I pulled over at the next corner, but he never came after me. So I went back and asked him why, and he said, “You weren’t speeding. I had you at 37.” Thirty-seven! I thought I was doing 80!
Not that I don’t enjoy driving swiftly, but I don’t enjoy driving irresponsibly. I’m the type of person who worries I’ll hit the proverbial school bus full of nuns. There are a lot of fast cars around the garage, but whenever I’ve been tempted to nail it, I think of that Swedish video-game guy who broke a Ferrari Enzo in two in Malibu back in 2006 by hitting a telephone pole at 160. I don’t want to be that guy. You don’t want to be that guy. Or the guy who spins out his Mustang into oncoming traffic coming out of a car show.
Or the kid from a couple years back who was doing over 100 in a BMW and killed four students who were crossing Pacific Coast Highway not too far from here. Now he’s probably going to prison, maybe for the rest of his life, and four young people are gone. It’s horrible. That’s why I don’t drive fast on public roads. It’s also why I don’t get this obsession with open-road top-speed records. Back in 2020, a car went 331 mph on a road in Nevada. OK, you have a car that can go 300-plus—but eventually you’re just going to kill somebody or go to prison. Or kill yourself because you cheaped out and bought tires that aren’t rated for that speed.
People don’t realize how important tires are. In 2005, I was part of a crew that took a Porsche Carrera GT down to Talladega. I was running at 190, and as the tires began to wear, you could feel the car moving around a bit. After a few laps, I was coming down the straight at about 190 and a guy waved me to bring it in. I just took my foot off the gas and—ZIP!—the rear end spun around. Luckily I didn’t hit anything, but when I came in, somebody offered me a roll of toilet paper in case I needed to clean myself up.
Fourteen years later, I was in Detroit to drive the 2019 Corvette ZR-1 at 200 mph with the chief engineer, Tadge Juechter. Before we went out, I asked him to tell me about his first time going over 200. He said, “This is it—I’ve never even been close.” I stammered, “So lemme get this straight, your first time going 200 is with a retired talk-show host and comedian on a track the comedian has never seen, who is almost 70?” He said, “Yep,” and we went out and ran laps at the GM proving ground, with 212 being the highest we got. The amazing thing is that we were having a relaxed conversation because the tires and the aerodynamics had come so far since the Carrera GT that 200 felt like nothing.
But it’s not nothing, and I occasionally remind myself that a wreck at even half that speed leaves behind only very small pieces. That is, if I don’t get a massive ticket. I’ve met a lot of cops over the years, some on the side of the road. Many of them are car guys, and I think if they bust you at 20-over out in the middle of nowhere, they’ll go easier than if they catch you at 10-over weaving through traffic. But I haven’t been pulled over in years, partly because I love driving cars that feel much faster than they really are.
Years ago the local SCCA chapter had a drive around where the race drivers drove the workers (us) around the track in their road cars. (At a “limited” speed.) A couple of the ride choices were a Super Seven or a 911. I chose the Seven for the very reasons mentioned here. The 911 would barely be idling, while the Seven was “bugs in your teeth” fun!
163 in my C8 Stingray was not especially dramatic, but 60 in my ’85 Ferrari 308 with the roof off feels and sounds like 100! My wife is often scolding me to slow down in the Italian and I point out to her that we’re traveling at the speed limit. Now that’s what I call responsible and safe fun!
Driving Slow car’s fast! My Bugeye Sprite out funs a 911 GT3 on back roads every time and I am not going to jail when I am at the limit! If I bring the Sprite out when a group of us go out for a morning sporting drive, I am always asked to swap cars. It’s just fun to be able to use all the power all the time.
What Jay says goes along with why cars from the 80’s and 90’s which can’t hold a candle to the absolute digital rockets you can buy now are often more fun to drive. Hydraulic steering and less filtering out of the things we hear and fee make it seem more alive to drive to me. My 2023 daily driver is fast but my ’97 Toyota is more fun to drive fast. Having said that a Miata is tons of fun as when you are pushing it hard it feels like you are going faster than you really are.
This story makes an excellent case for me keeping my Fiat X1/9. Most fun I’ve ever had driving fast in a slow car. It’s all I need.
Feeling fast is wrestling a race prepared 87 Monte Carlo SS around Waterford Hills only to have a track Marshall wave a yellow flag with a blue diagonal stripe at you! Gotta move over for that little red Miata!
Well, having driven shifter karts on sprint and full size tracks (Laguna, Sears, Thunderhill) as well has riding in flat bottom and hydro boats, being in a car seems a bit sterile. Although my Datsun roadster with a KA24de is just like driving a kart on the street. Pucker up buttercup!!!!!!
I had to take the boss man’s caddy to the dealer years ago. Probably a late 70’s early 80’s sedan deville. Jumped on the freeway which was 55 mph. Looked do at speedo and I was doing 80 mph. That big ol boat just floated down the road. Didn’t realize I was going that fast
Jay’s comments echo my own. I had a 2014 Shelby GT 500, arguably one of the most powerful manual transmission cars in the world. I actually got bored with it and traded it in on a 2021 Miata MX-5 and never looked back. I’ve never had so much fun driving on back roads as I’ve had in that Miata.
Feeling fast is the goal for me. I got that in my first car, a humble ‘79 Civic. It was very, very small and very lightweight. The stock 60HP going through 155-80R12 tires made the car just quick enough for me then.
The best part about driving a slow car fast: You can race everyone, and they don’t know it.
Okay, I keep reading comments about driving a slow car fast being better than driving a fast car slow – but there’s a problem: yes, you can drive a fast car slowly (and I agree it isn’t quite as much fun) – but, you cannot drive a slow car fast, because it’s by definition A SLOW CAR. You can drive it like you are pretending to go fast, but you can’t turn slow into actual fast unless you drop it out of an airplane… 🙄
Yup, speed is relative. That’s why I’m the fastest man on earth in my Bugeye. I just wish my brain could record to prove it.
Something about getting older and wiser, I think. Personally, a couple years ago I switched from my 153-hp BMW 1200GT cycle that did 0-60 in 2.6 to a 48-horsepower Royal Enfield Continental 650GT and have discovered the joy and fun of using the entire throttle, and riding a slow bike fast. Trying to instill the same sensibility in my teenage sons might take some time.
I had a little 63 Rambler American that was hot rodded as much as you could without nitrous or a turbo, or an insane amount of work. About 170-175 gross hp (about 120-125 net… laughable today in a 2600 pound car!). But it felt fast going down twisty back roads at 45-60. I did manage to get the suspension set up right, and that old Nash body (dated back to the 1950 Nash Rambler… chassis is virtually identical) is a really stiff unit body. It handled as good or better than a friends 75 Trans-Am with over twice the power (and about 1100 pounds heavier!). Once I whipped around an upcoming curve with him in the car and he quickly grabbed the dash and door and was visibly shaken a little. I laughed and told him he knew the car would handle a 30 mph marked curve at 45 easily. His reply: ” Yeah, but it’s not supposed to!” The problem was the old long stroke/small bore six took a bit to spin up, and the cam I had. If you dropped much below 45 — as much as to 40 — it took a good 30-60 seconds to get back up to speed (about 1800 rpm). The cam I had ground “came in” about 1700-1800, so you had to keep it in that 1800-2500 range to have any power. Below 1700 or so it felt like the stock 125 hp engine. The 1700-2500 power range was perfect for cruising and having a little passing power at 65 or so. The stock engine just didn’t…
I have 650HP Hot Rod Corvette I built, a 66 Corvair, and a 65 Chevy GVan. Of the three the one that is the most fun to drive and yet scares me the most is the forward control GVan. Besides being a hoot to drive as I hang on to the steering wheel going around bends, I am very aware that I will be “the first one on the scene of the accident.” You have to respect anything that goes faster than you can walk.