Lamborghini of Beverly Hills loaned me a 2009 Lamborghini LP 560-4 today for 24 hours. After picking it up, I quickly drove home to pick up JoAnn. We were very lucky to have Bianca babysitting for a few hours! We left Manhattan Beach, drove up to Malibu along the coast and ate at Moonshadows. On the way back, we stopped to take a few pictures. Having the car for 24 hours really gave me a chance to get to know the car. Overall, the car is amazing. It is one of the fastest cars I have driven. Using the thrust control feature, I could rocket the car from 0 to 60 in about 3 1/2 seconds. It was really easy to do! Bijan took some video while during one launch.

My favorite driving mode was the Corsa (race) mode. This optimizes the gear changes, acceleration and handling for quick driving.

For my 35th birthday, JoAnn bought me the King's Experience with the Richard Petty driving experience. This basically consists of 18 laps around California Speedway in a stock car. The entire time is spent following closely behind an instructor who sets the pace and the driving line.

Thursday night we packed up and headed out towards California Speedway in Fontana, California to spend the night closer the to racetrack. That way we wouldn't have to brave the Los Angeles rush hour traffic early Friday morning. We got to the inside track around 7:30 am. I immediately signed all necessary forms, changed into my suit and prepared for a short introduction speech by the instructors.

Once the class instruction was over, we headed out in large passenger vans around the track. The instructors showed us the lines, the brake zones, cones, flag stand and exit & entry points on the track. After taking photos with a car, we then had some quick instruction standing next to the car. Following that, we had another drivers meeting! After all of the instruction, I finally drove eight laps following roughly 3-5 car lengths behind my instructor. The car was extremely loud, always wanted to turn left and vibrated like nothing else. The windshield had a nasty glare, the restraints and the Hans device didn't allow me to move in my seat or look around much at all.

After everyone took their first eight laps, we had another drivers meeting and got to take our final ten laps. During the last ten laps, I turned a 50 second lap hitting an average speed of about 146 MPH. Keep in mind that the instructor dictates the speed and NASCAR doesn't allow them to go more than a certain speed. Once everyone finished those laps, we had a quick ceremony and was able to purchase photos.

The whole experience was really quite fun! I look forward to trying the Mario Andretti Racing School at the California Speedway. They also offer Drivetech Racing School, Fastrack Riders, Skip Barber Racing School, CalSpeed Karting and The Racing Experience at this track.

Videos below include the first drive away, a lap section, one lap and driving up.

My buddy Bijan took us out on his speed boat this weekend. He paid something like $250,000 for this 38 foot long beast previously owned by Don Johnson. I was kind of shocked when he pulled up at the dock. This thing was HUGE!

I think he said the boat holds 240 gallons of gas, weighs over 11,500 pounds and gets less than 1 mile per gallon. Well, we hit close to 80 MPH a number of times and what a rush that was. We had to wear some serious ear protection while sitting in the back. I tried to get some great still photos inside and outside of the boat. The pirate ship from the movie Pirates of the Caribbean, the Black Pearl, was docked near where we launched. We also cruised by some serious transport ships. The videos pick up on the wind noise, but hopefully you can see what it is like to travel nearly 80 MPH on the ocean! The last video is just of the engine bay while at idle.

I finally had an opportunity to take an Aston Martin V8 Vantage for a test spin on Saturday. We picked up a brand new Vantage at the Beverly Hills dealership and drove up to Malibu. We stopped and had some lunch at Dukes just off the Pacific Coast Highway. After lunch I was able to take the car for a spin through some of the Malibu hills. I was quite impressed with the handling and ease of driving around the winding corners. The car makes quite a loud exhaust note when driven hard. Overall, it was an enjoyable experience and I can't wait until mine arrives in late October or early November.

We didn't take many pictures, but we did attempt a few short videos. I was trying to capture the exhaust note and V8 sound.

My friend Tim picked up his NSX over the weekend here in Los Angeles. The car was in amazing condition. Options include wheels, headers and an exhaust upgrade. We took it for a spin through some of the mountain roads in Malibu. I can see why this car has remained so desirable!

Thanks Tim for leaving the car with me for so long! But that's another story.. We took some decent photos and a few short digital camera videos. The first set of photos are up by Malibu, California. The beer is at the Waterfront Cafe (wheat beer place) in Venice Beach. The final photo was taken in Palos Verdes following a bright green Lambo. The first video is during initial inspection. The other three videos are drive by attempts. There is quite a bit of wind noise on those three.