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I Want a Fast Motorboat. Seventeen Cars and a Million Horsepower. Bikes? Uhm.BY: Alessandro Saetta Vinci | Category: Entertainment | Submitted: 2010-07-20 06:23:21
I reckon that in the world there are many entities that are completely different, literally at opposite poles. The North and South Pole, for instance. Then you have eco-mentalists that hate cars and racing drivers, Manchester City supporters and Manchester United supporters, champagne and beer. I could go on all day. But I shall not go on all day, in fact I'm stopping here to point out what I believe are the two entities which differ the most from one another. Men and women. That partly depends on history and education and social contests, and partly on our D.N.A. Well, one of the differences I see, and contrary to what people think it's a difference that's definitely due to D.N.A., is the approach and views towards means of transports. Like I've mentioned many times before I hate public transports, except maybe airplanes, but I only like airplanes because I like the thrill of sitting in something that can do 500 mph and might explode any minute. What I'm on about here anyway are not public means of transports, I'm talking about personal means of transports and I, like all men and unlike women, don't consider a car, or a boat, or a bike just a way to get from A to B. I consider them a blend of metal, carbon fibre, petrol, soul, heart and lunacy. Now I don't want to bore you with cars again because apparently, my girlfriend says so, I talk about cars too much. So I'm going to talk about bikes and boats instead. I love boats, I don't really like huge yachts too much, I prefer smaller and faster motorboats to glide on water. Although it must be said I'm not very good at sailing. Last time I rented myself a boat it was on Isola d'Elba in Tuscany and I crashed it against the pier while I was parking it on my way back. I nicked it obviously and nearly broke the prow, or the stern, can't remember actually. There is another problem with boats. I've pondered frequently whether I'd have one if I could afford it and the answer has always been "uhm". Yes, a boat is really expensive to buy but that's not it. Champagne and lobsters are expensive as well, as well as fancy cars, as well as jewels and high fashion clothes, but that doesn't stop you buying them, does it? No. The real problem with boat is maintenance, apart from the fuel and everything else the boat storage is the real problem. I rang up the port in Forte dei Marmi, in Versilia, the other day and asked how much would it be for a small spot, say up to 7-8 metres, where I could "park" a boat and they told me it would cost me a stratospheric 105.000 Euros a year. That's more money than an average Italian makes in a year. So you should pay more than you earn to have a boat that you occasionally use on Summer days. When it doesn't rain. And only if it isn't windy. And the sea is calm and flat. So, yes, I do like boats. But I believe that unless you're a millionaire, or very passionate about it, or unless you live in Venice, you should buy a car or a motorcycle. And you could always rent a boat whenever you feel like it. Motorcycles. Ever since I was legally able to ride one my relationship with motorcycles has always been a love/hate one. When I was a kid, by which I mean from when I was 15 to when I was 18 and finally able to get myself into a car, all I did every day, all day long, had to do with scooters. At school, teachers and classmates always assumed I was a nerd because I was always taking notes. I wasn't taking notes, I was making calculations on which carburettor would fit which cylinder best. In my school bag you couldn't find pens or books, you'd have found screwdrivers, air filters and wrenches. Then we, me and some mates, would go home, have lunch, then lock ourselves in our garage and soup up engines. We'd buy second hand scooters and tune them. We built a bicycle with an engine, we went on buying and selling and modifying our scooters until we owned two or three each and all of them could do 0-60 in less than 8-9 seconds and hit a top speed of 65-70 mph. Not bad for a machine that, as standard, isn't supposed to do more than 35. But then the glory slowly and discreetly faded away because the cars arrived. So some years later, with our glorious and precious scooters parked inside garages with dust covering them up, the will and the need for two wheels rather than four came back. And here comes the naughty problem. About a year ago I, as well as these two friends I was talking about earlier on, started toying with the idea of buying a motorcycle. Well, as a matter of fact, I did toy, they simply bought it. The thing is, I did have some doubts, and wasn't really loose on cash. So I thought I could save up some money to buy a proper bike. I was single-minded. But then I thought it had been a while since I'd last been to Venice and went there instead. Of course being Venice I couldn't just "go", so I opted for a 5 star, Jacuzzi on the balcony, champagne in the fridge, penthouse suite with private elevator hotel. Then I thought from that point on I was going to really save up the money...and ended up in Monte-Carlo, twice. In Latina to drive the Lotus Elise, in Rome, in Bologna, four times, and then in London. And Bognor Regis. And Brighton. The thing is, apparently, I don't care. When I wanted my first tattoo, in two weeks I gathered the money and got it done. When I decided to tune my scooter to make it a proper road runner I spent about 3.000 Euros and in eight weeks I had that done as well. Which is funny because I was 17 and, to date, still I've no idea how I got that sort of money in that brief amount of time. Friend One bought a Yamaha R6, I've ridden it and it is pretty fast. 0-60 takes about 4 seconds and on to a top speed of more than 160 mph. Which is a lot. It actually accelerates faster than most cars I've driven. That having said there are a number of cars I can think of that can do better than that, and there is not a single one of them that's even half as uncomfortable as the R6. After I'd just done about 10 minutes, I'm not kidding, my knees started to hurt. My left leg was sore. And every muscle in my torso was aching. And don't think it's just me, I've played football pretty much since ever, for six years I've been a keen Muay Thai fighter and I rank among the small number of people who actually think that the Lotus Elise could indeed be used as an everyday car. The R6 is really preposterously uncomfortable. As an everyday choice I'd much rather ride a wooden chair covered in shattered glass. It doesn't matter how fit you are. Proper and fast superbikes are extremely uncomfortable, and I really don't like the fact that motorcyclists dress in leather and go out with other men to have lemonades in bars either. I think it's a bit gay. Coupled with the fact that people behind you can see your butt. Friend Two bought a Ducati Monster instead. Which is a lot better. For a kick-off I think it's better looking. It is slightly slower but saying that a Ducati Monster is slightly slower than a Yamaha R6 is like saying that Heidi Klum is slightly less good looking than Gisele Bündchen. But the most important thing about the Monster is that it is comfortable. However I'm afraid this just isn't enough. It doesn't matter how comfortable a bike is, a car is more. Nevermind how fast it is, because two wheels can't handle speed like four wheels. Yes, you will almost certainly reach 60 before a car at the lights, but that will happen only if you haven't somersaulted the bike and yourself and landed on your head while accelerating hard before actually getting to 60. And it doesn't matter how good you are, it doesn't matter how good your chassis is, through corners a bike is no match for a car. Bottom line is that given the chance I'd buy a sports car over a Ducati 1098 in the blink of an eye. I'd have an Elise, or an Evo rather than any Yamaha any day. And among all the other reasons I've lined up here, and all the reasons I haven't mentioned, there's one more. And it comes in the shape of a question. Have you ever fallen off a car? Article Source: http://www.writearticles.org/ About Author / Additional Info: Comments on this article: (0 comments so far)
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