fergyflyer

I finished work on Wednesday and my now old boss said that I could take the rest of the week off, he didn't need me. He told me for all the help I've given him, he'd still pay me, which was really nice. Great guy.

Another ex boss called to tell me he was picking up his GT500 KR from the Shelby plant in Vegas on Thursday, while I'm looking at my mail and seeing a card from the Stratosphere offering me 6 nights free, a $200 slot credit, $60 in table credits, 2 free shows for 2, A ride all day pass for 2 and $100 food credit. My girlfriend walks in and says she needs to get away.

I jump on Travelocity and find a flight to Vegas leaving Thursday at 7 pm Florida time and getting there at 9:20 Vegas time for 270 round trip and both flights are non-stop. I jumped on Hertz and got a Hyundai Accent for 109 for the week. Booked it all. She went into work for a bit more than a half day on Thursday and announced she was taking a trip and wouldn't be back till Wednesday, so off we went.

I got a free upgrade at Hertz to a Ford Fusion 2.3L 4cyl. I know I'm cheap, but how much driving do you do in Vegas??? Well we actually did a really neat road trip on Sunday. Which brings me to the car part of this.

The GT500 KR is nice. They are delivered after a dyno break in, so except for the gears, there really isn't a need to break the car in. His has 540 hp or 545, and they gave him a dyno sheet with it. I don't remember exact numbers, but they were just under 480 and 490hp to the wheels so the car is underated. He paid 75k for his a year ago. My guess is it will be a faster car than a C6 Z51, but not as quick as the Z06. A guy at the Shelby plant told my friend that they have gotten high 11's from the car at the strip there in Vegas with some DR's on it. I think the track there is around 2500 feet high too, so that isn't bad numbers at all.

The Fusion killed me. Very underpowered car.

We took a road trip that was almost the exact same trip we took in the summer with the C6. We went up highway 93 to 375 which is the Extraterestrial Highway that goes past Area 51. Not sure what was going on there, but there was tons of security around, white Hummers. The road is very lightly traveled and security had a bunch of cars pulled over. I guess a silver Fusion qualifies as a stealth vehicle. We went to a mining museum in Tonopah and stopped in Goldfield. The Fusion averaged 30.5 mpg on the run at pretty much 75 mph. The Vette, with a blast for about 10 miles up to and holding 170, netted 29.5 over the same trip. The car is rated at 20 city and 29 highway. I got 20.3 running around Vegas with it.

The car handled and rode well. It's seats were comfortable. It really impressed me by being a 26,000 mile rental car that didn't have pulsation in the brakes and there were no rattles. One thing that tortured me the most though was the transmission. They put a 5 speed auto in that car. It starts out in 2nd gear unless it detects a rapid throttle opening. What happens is the car very slowly starts to take off, so you end up pushng harder on the pedal till you reach a bit better than half throttle at say 8 mph. Well the cars then snaps into first with an abrupt downshift and takes off much faster than you wanted. Not a good design when you have a low torque motor and a mid-size car.


Other than that, I'm back and off till Monday when I start my new job.

Oh, for those that want to know, mostly Texas Hold-em 1-2 or 2-4 no limit. I didn't win a dime which is rare for me. I did win at slots. I was down about 1200 going into last night and hit a couple big slot jackpots to bring me back to a 530 loss. My girlfriend lost about 800. We aren't too crazy and when things don't go our way we have the sense to get up and walk away.

Aramz06

Hmmm.... sounds like a fun trip! I've been to vegas quite a few times, I never saw the area 51 part but I know its out there. I enter from the mandalay bay side. Maybe you entered from the other end of vegas? where the stratosphere is. I'm guessing Area 51 is in that part of the desert. Yes those hummers / guards are VERY hostile from the documentaries I've seen. Theres is a video of a bunch of college students getting too close. The guards blow a small mine not too far away from the students to get theyre attention and then with a speaker warn them not to get any closer, So the hummers came up to them with guns drawn and told them to leave.
Anyway, tell us more about the KR!

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fergyflyer

Area 51 is about a 140 miles north and east of Vegas. It's extremely remote there. The town of Rachel is about 15 miles from the base and has about 50 residents and it's about 70 miles one way and a 110 the other to the next towns. The one that is 70 miles away only has 3-400 people there. The other town 110 miles away has 10,000.

The GT500 KR is a real nice GT500. It has 3.73 rear gears and you can really feel the difference with that. It helps overcome some of the weight issues the GT500 has. I think they did some things to lower the weight too from what my friend says. It's not much, like 50lbs, but anything helps. I liked it.

As a daily driver, I like the GT500 a lot. The car rides good and handles well and has tons of power. It's as good as the Corvette was for daily driving, maybe better, until you get the two to the track where the Vette really shines. The KR's ride seemed stiffer, but the handling felt tighter. The clutch was definately different and I'm not sure if I think it's better or not. Not very many differences, visibility is a little bit less than the GT500 thanks to a higher hood. The supercharger whines more, higher boost I'm guessing. That's about all I can tell you from the short drive I made. I'd much rather have a Z06.

I guess the best way to put it is to the KR is to the GT500, what the Z06 is to the Vette. I think Ford thinks the exact same thing too. The GT500 is priced a bit less than the Vette, but with mark-ups ends up slightly more. The performance of the GT500 is in the ball park of a Vettes. The KR is in the ball park of the Z06 in performance and it's a bit higher in price, probably because Ford noticed their customers were willing to spend more than a Vette price for the GT500 even with less performance.

Aramz06

Oh, the car does sound pretty amazing, but then again performance wise... I would expect a bit more. I thought they were going to drop in the KenneBell supercharger for the KR's? When it comes to looks I have to say it does look great. The way I see it, a regular GT500 is closer in competition to the 2008 LS3's. I'd say the GT500 falls more into the "collectable" catagory. Did you make up your mind on wheather or not to get a Z06? Goodluck again

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