This weekend my wife & I attended my 30th high school reunion near LA. I let OcCoupe know we were coming down and that we had no Sunday plans. I wanted to see his 2800 and shop. Instead he invited us to... get this... drive Roll Royces at a private race track near Palm Springs (The Thermal Club).
So, this is really a case of what out of the ordinary cars we DROVE...
The centerpiece of the event was the new Dawn. I kept thinking Red Dawn (Wolverines!), but I don't think that's what RR had in mind:
This car is pretty spectacular looking with the top down. Here's a video of the top in motion:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HjuVbnVr2cM
But the real fun was the driving. Julie & I both got to drive both the Ghost and Wraith on the track. In addition to lapping the track we did a series of maneuvers using cones to test how these 'motor-cars' retained their 'magic carpet' like ride even under extreme flogging: Slalom, Elk-test, and dragstrip/panic stop. These cars are amazing pieces of engineering. It is truly shocking that a 5500-6000lbs car can accelerate, turn, and stop with such poise. I refer to this as the 'macro-craftsmanship' I witnessed. Here's a video of Julie flogging the Ghost around:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0-q79oibr0M
On the other end of the spectrum, is the micro-craftsmanship. If you have not experienced a RR up close and personal, and you care about attention to detail in general (?) then you have not lived. For example I took the time to inspect the way the interior aluminum window trim was constructed and noticed the nano-meter scale cut lines. Wow. They had a guy there from the wood shop in Goodwood who spent 15 minutes answering my questions about the wood & metal lamination they use in the wood surfaces. Each piece is individually engineered to deal with impact, for example.
Then there's the extreme opulence. It's not for me. But there's no doubt RR knows their customers. One of my favorites was the star field headliners. You can get them made so that each of the hundreds of individually placed LEDs match real stars in your favorite constellation:
Julie said "no fucking way" out-loud as the factory guy was describing how all Rolls including the Dawn included umbrella's either in the door or fender. Her blurting this out was pretty funny since most of the other people there were far more likely to actually own a RR than either of us (and dressed like it).
The BMW sourced V12 N74 (6.6L twin-turbo V12) was silky smooth and plenty powerful enough for these huge cars. The sound was disappointing. Julie was happy though, as she has a thing for low-end torque.
More pics:
After our return to OC, we stopped by Mike's work to pick up his E3. Oooh; it's as good in person as in pictures. What a score. The vomit-yellow interior is just spectacular.
Later, Mike took us by his shop and I got to oogle over his Coupe project (and pretty much decide that nacthblau is my favorite BMW blue). His shop doesn't suck either. I also got to meet his interior guy, Juan who I now have a serious leather-crush on.
Always great to meet Board members you've only known via the web... we have such a great community. 
