I had just pulled up to a post-race barbecue in the paddock when I was approached and asked if "that thing can do a burnout? The Rally Baby Mercedes wants to see." The barbecue was hosted by the Rally Baby team. If I wanted to eat, I didn't really have a choice.
After Saturday's first AER race (second place finish for us! And we did one better during Sunday's race! More on that soon!), I was told that there was going to be some beers and barbecue in the back of the paddock with Rally Baby, a sort of autonomous racing commune that brought eleven cars to the event. Eleven. Team honcho Mike (not sure if that's his official title) told me that they have at least 17 cars in the stable, making them the "biggest racing team in the world, but not necessarily the best."
Basically, it's a bunch of dudes who are out there to have fun, hang out, and race some cars. It's the sort of life I understand. So when I was told that the Rally Baby Mercedes wanted to see a burnout, I felt obligated to spin the tires.
Now, this Mercedes is a LeMons car. Basically, it's an old SL with a Chevy V8 under the hood. It isn't a slouch when it comes to burnouts. At all.
I had the Aston Martin Vantage GT, Aston's entry-level $99,000 Vantage that has plenty of lovely stripes, a fantastic manual gearbox, and a 4.7 liter V8 with 430 horsepower out front. It's the sort of car we like very much.
But which is better? I'll let you decide.