Audi’s TT-RS will be imported into the U.S. in a limited quantity of just 1,000 units, and each one features 360 horsepower and the latest generation of Audi’s quattro AWD. North Carolina’s Tail of the Dragon, on the other hand, features 318 curves in 11 miles of road, complete with plenty of elevation changes. Unfortunately, it’s also complete with plenty of idiot drivers and motorcyclists, driving (or riding) above their ability. As a result, accidents (including fatalities) are commonplace, and law enforcement is paying more and more attention to speeds on the Dragon.

In the words of Yogi Berra, “No one goes there anymore – it’s too crowded.” If you can manage to hit The Dragon mid-week and off season, your chance of having fun is greatly increased. If you can hit it under those circumstances in an Audi TT-RS, you can call us jealous.

Audi TT-RS Meets The Tail of the Dragon

Yeah, I'm pretty sure that's about to be a distraction...

I’ve never heard of the Russian girl band SEREBRO, and I don’t speak a word of Russian (which, to my untrained ears, sounds a lot like forcing a weasel into a garbage disposal). I’m not a big fan of pop music, either, but I will suddenly admit to being a huge fan of SEREBRO. It’s got nothing to do with the band’s music, and I think you’ll enjoy the video a lot more if you turn the sound down. If you’re a heterosexual male, however, I assure you of this: you WILL like this video.

See if you can spot all the distractions to the driver in the 5:33 second video below. I’ve watched it a few dozen times now, only because I keep losing count; besides, is slapping your front seat passenger’s ass considered a distraction if you don’t take your eyes off the road?

Source: You Tube, via Autoevolution

I-90, somewhere in Montana. Image: smithje77

You Tube user smithje77 was moving his family from Seattle to Maine, so he did what any of us would have done: he wrote a script in python to have his Droid take an image every ninety seconds, then he set this to video and dubbed in a Woody Guthrie tune, which he also performed.

And by “any of us,” I mean not me. I’m adept with an iPhone, but I draw the line at writing apps. As for setting images to video, I still struggle with Photoshop, and I’m fairly sure that people would pay me large amounts of money to NOT sing. I sure as hell can’t play guitar, but I have driven across this country more times that I care to ponder.

So has Mike, which may be one of the reasons we get along so well. If you’re a fellow brother of the road, you’ll get this video; like us, I’m sure you’ll recognize a few frames, even if they do flash by rather quickly. If you don’t have the Road Jones, you probably won’t understand the attraction of this video, or the appeal of driving twelve hour days, fueled by truck stop coffee and bags of beef jerky. If you don’t understand, I sure as hell can’t explain it to you.

Source: You Tube via Straightline

http://blogs.insideline.com/straightline/2011/09/video-time-lapse-footage-from-seattle-to-maine.html#more

That’s right, we made it! We just conquered 2,987 miles in a 22-foot Penske box truck with a bench seat, 71 mph top speed, archaic suspension and an average fuel economy of 7.4 mpg. It was a long road (literally) but thankfully one that was void of any bad tidings. I’ve done a lot of cross country driving over the years, but I have to say that this particular run was very special. You see this one was a life changer for this native New Yorker, as California is about as close to New York as oil and water when it comes to people, weather and life philosophy. One thing however that remains constant though are the cars… those wonderful, wonderful cars.

*One very LONG road…

Where New York City is pretty much the “Mr. Big Nuts” as far as modern metropolis’s go, California is the center of the world’s car culture. Exotics, muscle cars, classics, electrics as well as every other genre of four-wheeled automobile can be seen frolicking around here year-round. Hell, in the 2 days I’ve been here I’ve already seen more daily driven classics then I’ve ever seen back in New York. In fact I’ve been using my ’68 Charger as a daily driver and so far it’s been awesome.

*The ’68 and ’69 in their new California home.

Granted, having “MR ANGRY” and “ANGRIER” New York license plates has been turning a few heads and garnering a few comments, but wtf… one has to make an impression right? So far the weather has been outstanding and the people unbelievably friendly, but if there is one thing I have to get used to though, it’s having space – miles and miles of open space. Hopefully in the near future I’ll be able to get dialed in with northern California’s car culture, and from there it’ll be all sorts of new topics and articles for good old Ridelust.com. So just make sure to stay tuned and we’ll see what we can do to give you guys a little shot in the arm.

Image: Pat Hawks

From 1974 though 1987, 55 miles per hour was the national speed limit. In the early days, the limit almost made sense, since those were the dark times between our first and second gas crisises. Back then, most cars on the road weren’t getting 30 miles per gallon, so restricting speed in the name of fuel savings became the logical thing to do. Somewhere along the line, groups embraced the 55 mile per hour speed limit since it was “safer” than the old 70 mile per hour limit. When the double-nickel fell in 1987, those opposed to raising the national speed limit predicted carnage, death and highways flowing red with blood.

It never happened, of course, and today it’s easy to look back on 55 miles per hour and laugh. The national speed limit was the most widely ignored law since Prohibition, and by the time it was repealed few drivers even remembered why it was enacted in the first place. I remember the heady rush of being able to drive at 70 miles per hour, sans radar detector, without fear of getting pulled over and ticketed. It felt a lot like the freedom you experience as a new driver, but the novelty of being able to drive at speeds that would have drained your bank account the year before didn’t last long.

In the years since, speed limits have generally crept up as states realize that inattentive drivers, not speed, kill. The sole exception I can name is Montana, whose “reasonable and prudent” speed limit fell when sports car drivers kept insisting that 140 miles per hour, during daylight hours, was indeed reasonable and prudent. Today, speed limits vary by state, county and even municipality. To help keep track of the states with the highest speed limits, I give you the list below, which names every state with a maximum posted speed limit higher than 65 miles per hour.

Speed Limit 85

Parts of west Texas, although not until the Texas DOT has a chance to review traffic on highways currently posted at 70, 75 and 80 miles per hour.

Speed Limit 80

Interstate 10 in west Texas, Utah

Speed Limit 75

Maine, Louisiana, west Texas, New Mexico, Arizona, Nevada, Idaho, Montana, North Dakota, South Dakota, Wyoming, Nebraska, Kansas, Colorado, Oklahoma

Speed Limit 70

Washington, California, Texas, Minnesota, Iowa, Missouri, Mississippi, Arkansas, Alabama, Georgia, Florida, South Carolina, North Carolina, Tennessee, Kentucky, Virginia, West Virginia, Ohio, Indiana and Michigan

As for the rest of the states, all except Hawaii have a maximum speed limit of 65 miles per hour. Hawaii, which isn’t know for long stretches of deserted interstate highways, has a maximum speed limit of just 60 miles per hour.

Well it’s been 2,353 miles so far and I’m happy to report that the big International is running strong. So we blasted through Illinois, Nebraska and Iowa which were boring as hell from our view on Interstate 80 heading westbound. Wyoming, Utah and Nevada however are a totally different story as the terrain had finally begun to change and we were able to ditch over 1,500 miles of pure corn. We are now residing at the start of the Bonneville Salt Flats in Nevada and truth be told, it’s epic. I’ve been here before, but I’m always amazed just how overwhelming it is when you see it in person. Its expanse is mind boggling and the fact that it is the home of the land speed record is like hitting the holy grail for a car guy.

I had a chance to run out onto the salt and let me tell you something… it’s pretty frickin’ slick out there. Running down the flats at 70 mph is one thing, but 800 mph?!? Now that’s just crazy talk. You see it’s slick, very slick, so driving on it has to be about as safe as driving on a wet road. I give those speed junkies full credit for risking life and limb out there, because those guys are just a completely different type of crazy.

Utah is simply beautiful and is probably my favorite state to drive through. The red rocks and massive peaks are just stunning, and in some way it makes you feel like there is a greater power out there that we as humans just don’t know about yet. As for everything else… well, lets just say I’m looking forward to making it to Califoria in the next 600 miles.

*Three eggs, chopped prime rib, onions and mushrooms over french fries with tabasco… Yeah, that was a good idea.

Obviously the main reason is that I’ll be at my new home, but a strong secondary is that I’ll finally be able to get a good meal as all of this road food is playing havoc with my insides. Otherwise we’re still motoring and will keep ya’ll posted – stay tuned!

Well it’s day 2 of my cross country move to Cali and let me say that when I said yesterday that stuff doesn’t get exciting until you hit Colorado, what I meant was that I-80 Westbound is one of the most boring stretches of road in existence. For example, I just drove through the rest of Ohio, Indiana, Illinois and landed in Iowa, and let me tell you… if I see any more roadside corn I’m going to vomit. Yes, there are wonderful automotive attractions in some of these states, but for shear visceral stimulation you might as well be staring at plywood. Tomorrow’s drive should be better, at least the second half anyway as I still have to muscle through more corn in the remainder of Iowa and Nebraska. After that though I hit Wyoming, Utah, Nevada and then finally, California, states where the landscape is a bit more pleasing to the eye.

*More frickin’ corn…

I did however hit a few high notes. First was when I got the International up to 78 mph by popping it in neutral while drafting a large semi downhill (I think I had a tailwind too). Then we passed Tire Rack headquarters in South Bend, IN; a place I’ll be heading back to next May for the running of the 2012 One Lap of America. And lastly, we drove past the worlds largest truck stop in Iowa… talk about exciting. My hope is that tomorrow brings some sort of adventure because as of right now, aside from a sore ass, I’m bored as hell.

*This is Tire Rack HQ… exciting, no?

It’s true… I’m moving to sunny California. In fact I’m currently 625 miles into my journey as I type this from my hotel room from someplace in Ohio. Understand that moving 3,000 miles away from the Motherland (New York City) for me is a big deal. You see I’ve lived my entire life in and around the boroughs of Manhattan. In fact I was born in NYC proper at the now defunct St. Vincents Hospital down in Greenwich Village. I’ve lived in 5th floor walk-ups, battled giant rats one-on-one that would kill a normal man, and had all manner of guns, knives and pipes pulled on me on the subway. I was also right there in the mix on 9/11, a day that will forever be burned into my psyche as one of the worst days of my existence. In some ways being a New Yorker has made me hard and mean with a short fuse that can be ignited at a moments notice, but it’s also made me sharp as a f*ckin’ razor when it comes to people who try to get one over on me. New York is a blessing and a curse, but in the end, it will always be who I am.

All of this angst however does take its toll and in recent years it’s made me wish for a better quality of life in a place where I can enjoy my passion for cars year round. For this, California got the nod, San Francisco, CA to be exact and I’m very much looking forward to settling in out there. Now please understand that while this obviously benefits me the most, it will also benefit you guys as there is car stuff going on 24/7/365, something that I plan to take full advantage of. So, with all of that being said I’ve decided to post a quick pick of the uber-rig I’m currently driving on my journey. It’s a 22-foot International box truck with a big honkin’ diesel engine and a whopping top speed of 71 mph. Sure it’s not fast, but quite frankly I could care less as it’s transporting me to a place that will hopefully help me become a better all around car guy.

Now granted, the only two pictures here are of the as-mentioned box truck, but that’s only because the United States doesn’t get exciting until you hit Colorado. Tomorrow I’ll be heading through Indiana, Illinois and Iowa and while they’re definitely not a hotbed of activity (unless you’re a cow) I will try to bring you at least one interesting road story so stay tuned and wish me luck!

“Body by Lamborghini, High Fidelity By Alpine” – those were the words written on the poster of the red Lamborghini Countach that I had on my wall when I was a kid. I stared at that image day after day for years hoping that one day I’d have one of those iconic machines in my garage. It was a lofty goal for sure, but hell, if one doesn’t have aspirations then what’s the point of living right? I also had a poster of a 1971 Lamborghini Miura SV, a car, that in my opinion, is the most beautiful automobile ever produced. You see for me Lamborghini wasn’t just a car company, it was THE car company. Their body designs were impractically sexy, their power plants were wonderment’s of engineering and their exhaust notes… well, let’s just say that those were conjured up by the Gods above.

As a moto-journalist I am very fortunate to have had the privilege of driving just about every type of automobile out there. I’ve run a $750,000 Gumpert Apollo on the racetrack, flown through the air in off-road trophy trucks and raced a Porsche GT3 RS in a week long endurance race against some of the best drivers in the country. I’ve also dragged my knee through corners on two-wheels at 130 mph, took a swim in an Amphicar, and traversed the country in a 43 year old muscle car. What this all means is that I enjoy my job. It was also about to get better thanks to a phone call I received a few weeks ago from Rob Ferretti, the Chief Operating Officer of Gotham Dream Cars.

Now for those of you that don’t know, Gotham Dream Cars is the premier rental agency for high end exotics on the East coast, with locations that cater to the New York Metro area and Ft. Lauderdale, FL. Their rentals range from cars like the Porsche 911 Carrera S Cabriolet, all the way up to super exotics like the Ferrari 599 GTB and Lamborghini Murciélago LP640 Roadster. In short, if you want to drive the best of the best, then Gotham Dream Cars is where you go.

Back to the phone call… Rob explained that he had an open seat for one of Gotham’s Dream Car Tours and asked me if I would like to tag along. Obviously my answer was yes, but little did I know that this tour was going to be one of the highlights of automotive career. You see the standard (if you can call it that) Dream Car Tour consists of an afternoon driving around in some of the most desirable automobiles in existence on some of the best roads that New York State has to offer. There are six cars to choose from that range from a Ferrari F430 to a Bentley Continental GT, which means there is surely something to fit your fancy. Upon arrival to the GDC warehouse however, I was informed that this was not going to be the standard tour, but their uber exclusive Legends Tour.

Gotham’s web site clarifies the Legends Tour as the following: “The Legends Dream Car Tour is Gotham Dream Cars’ new series, built around its award-winning Dream Car Tour events, that puts enthusiasts directly alongside some of the automotive world’s most famous driving legends in a fleet of exotic sports cars.”

What this meant was that I was about to be placed behind the wheel of five of the most beautiful Lamborghini’s in existence along side one of my hero’s, Lamborghini’s Chief Test Driver until 2008, Valentino Balboni. Balboni has worked with Lamborghini since 1968, which means he’s helped in the development of just about every raging bull the world has ever seen. Cool right?

The day started off with me piloting a Lamborghini Gallardo LP 570-4 Superleggera and ended with a wonderful stint behind the wheel of the Lamborghini Murciélago LP640 Roadster. In between I drove three other bulls, sat side seat with Valentino Balboni talking about the in’s and out’s of the original Lamborghini Miura, and all this was done while ripping up some of the best driving roads in upstate New York.

What one needs to understand is that Gotham Dream Cars is not a rental car agency, but a business that specializes in automotive fantasies. Think that’s going out on a limb? Well, let me explain something here. Gotham Dream Cars arranges for you to drive with some of the most famed drivers on the planet Earth, pilot some of the most amazing automobiles ever created, have a wonderful meal, while at the same time mingling with some of the nicest petrol-heads around. They treat their clientele with professionalism, courtesy and respect and make sure that you receive white glove service from the moment you arrive on their premises. Now of course there is a cost associated with this, however when you consider what you get, where you get it and how it’s delivered to you, I can assure you that it’s money well spent and a proverbial bargain.

… just BS’ing with Valentino about all things Lamborghini.

When the tour was over we were all debriefed on the days events, talked a little bit and were then brought into the front of the building where we received a little goodie bag complete with personalized autographed photos of ourselves with Mr. Balboni. The days experience was exhilarating and amazing and now falls into my “Top 5″ list of automotive experiences. As for that picture with Valentino, well… let’s just say that it’s now hanging on my wall of fame right next to the one of the day when I bought my 1968 Dodge Charger.

Who says dreams don’t come true?

A few weeks ago on Road Testament I had the opportunity to haul my 1969 Dodge Daytona replica out of storage, grab a good buddy and a few cameras and head out on an afternoon road trip. We didn’t really have a plan per say, only that at some point we’d need to eat, and at another we’d need to put fuel in the old beast. Other than that it was just grab a map and go. We started off at a central point on Long Island, NY and decided to head due east until we came to New York’s eastern most tip, Montauk Point. In total we ran about 250 miles, not a huge trip by any means, but for a nice sunny afternoon all those miles seemed to work out just fine. Click through for the video and enjoy.