Jalopnik: manhattan classic car club

Supercar Hypermiling Day 2: Ferrari F430

Wed, 21 Nov 2007 08:45:56 EST

In Part 1, I found the Ford GT's high-torque V8 pretty economical in traffic. But what was it we were saying about those Italian engineers and their appetite for Chianti? Well, like father like son, the creators of the F430 created a thirsty one. In spite of being the smallest, arguably most sophisticated and largely race-bred engine of the group, the Ferrari F430's 4.3-liter V8 was just not built with efficiency in mind. It's not like it had a struggle on its hands; traffic between Manhattan and New Jersey was a breeze compared to my day in the GT. Other than brief stints of stop-and-go traffic at the toll and the bridge, I was able to paddle my way to sixth gear quickly and coast along at 50 mph. When I left the club, the gauge read full, but I pulled over and topped up anyway, adding 2.2 gallons. After an even 30 miles round trip, even though the gauge still read full, I filled up on the very same pump and added 4.7 gallons! That's right, 6.4 mpg. Pathetic! So add $.50 /mile fuel cost to that $2/mile depreciation. Ahh... the price of race-bred perfection! – Zac Moseley

Supercar Hypermiling Day 1: Ford GT

Mon, 19 Nov 2007 10:30:55 EST

As if we didn't already know Zac Moseley from the Manhattan Classic Car Club has the best job in the world, he's driving it home this week with what we thought was an interesting class project: Five cars, five days, 250 miles and 7.5 gallons of gas. Is hypermiling more fun in a supercar than a Prius? We'll be running the show-and-tell all this week. — ed. For the next three weeks, my apartment is being gutted and I'm staying in Englewood, New Jersey with the in-laws. That means I'm a commuter. It's not to say driving a different performance car every day gets boring, but commuting in general sucks and you have to look for new challenges to make it interesting. I decided to see how far I could stretch the gas mileage. I went for the highest gear the car would handle and tried to hit the brakes as little as possible. lots of coasting was involved too, which works since it's basically downhill all the way from the George Washington Bridge to the Club.

Day 1 Ford GT
Sure the Ford GT hits peak horsepower at 6,500 rpm, but you haven't lived until you've spent an hour-and-a-half behind the wheel at 600 rpm! Unfortunately for the GT (and my sanity), leaving Manhattan on Saturday evening meant stop and go all the way from Houston Street to the George Washington Bridge. What was most impressive was how much driving could be done without touching the gas pedal.

The GTs relentless low-end torque was plenty happy to get the GT moving at 500 rpm with little hesitation and no sign of stalling. Once it got back up to a 900-rpm idle I could drop in the next gear and repeat, getting up to 30 mph or so before requiring additional throttle input. As congestion eased, the best technique for fuel economy was to borrow what the GM engineers worked out for the Corvette Z06 — give it just a pinch of gas, and skip across the gearbox from first to fourth to sixth. In sixth at 55 mph, the GT's 5.4-liter V8 chugs along at a meager 1,200 rpm. The result? 17 mpg! I was hoping for 20+, but considering that 15 of the 30 miles I covered took 90 minutes, mostly stopped and idling, I have to hand to this American brute for teatotaling. Apparently, I'm not the first to put the Ford GT through a fuel sipping test. On May 14, 2007, during an economy driving contest , Icelandic Ford dealership employee Gísli Jón Bjarnason achieved 20.8 mpg when he took a Ford GT through hilly terrain around Reykjavik.

Tomorrow's the F430, hopefully this prancing horse doesn't have the same appetite for petrol that it's makers have for Chianti! – Zac Moseley

Jalopnik Team Party Crash: Auto Media And Liquor, Never Sicker

Ray Wert — Thu, 05 Apr 2007 15:21:03 EDT

There comes a time in every young automotive blog's life when it's time for him to become a man. Last night was that time as we celebrated our 2 1/3 anniversary in swanky style at the Manhattan Classic Car Club. With a night spent drinking and downing loin-burgers in Lutzian style we're assuming we had fun but the hangover headache, combined with holes in the memory, made this morning at the Javits Center a painful one. What we do remember is the party guests were an eclectic mix of Midwestern media-types and Manhattan blogger elite randomly spiced with automotive advertising and public relations quasi-professionals. We could say more, but you know, we'd rather just let the pictures tell the tale for us. That's mostly because we can't remember much more than that. – Ray Wert

Jalopnik Vrit: Down at the Manhattan Classic Car Club, Part 2

Mike Spinelli — Mon, 10 Apr 2006 18:02:12 EDT

Our Jalopnik class trip to the Manhattan Classic Car Club continues. In this episode, we do pretty much the same as in the first episode, except with double the exhaust. Don't worry, you'll get it later.

Jalopnik Vrit: Down at the Manhattan Classic Car Club, Part 1

Mike Spinelli — Mon, 03 Apr 2006 15:39:06 EDT

We stopped by the Manhattan Classic Car Club to oogle its fleet of classics (e.g., Ferrari 348, Chevelle SS 396, 1977 Aston Martin Vantage, 1974 Jaguar XKE) and late-model performance sheetmetal (e.g., Ford GT, Lotus Elise, BMW M3), which club members can sign out for up to five days as part of their membership. We also spent a few minutes with co-director Zac Moseley, talking about the $1.5 million shopping spree that populated the club's lower-Manhattan warehouse space, and about the club's "they're meant to be driven" approach to the cars. Right freaking on. Click through for part 1.

Jalopnik's Flickr photoset from the Manhattan CCC