Where To See Supercars

Why would you do a track day when you can cruise Michigan Ave. with your sweetie and her Poodle?

In my neck of the woods, on the road, we see mostly monster truck wannabes and tuner cars.  I once saw a Ferrari 458 Italia carefully parked at Blackhawk Farms to discourage passers-by from anointing it with sticky fingers.  And a Nissan GT-R doing HSAX at Autobahn Country Club.  Killboy puts up pictures of supercars in his Highlights, but I've not personally seen one on the Dragon.

Last Saturday evening my son and I ate some very good (and expensive) Spanish food, al fresco, at the corner of Michigan and Balbo Avenues, across from Grant Park, in downtown Chicago.  In an hour, we saw a Ferrari 599, a Lamborghini Gallardo, a couple of notables I don't recall, and countless Porsche 911's.  (No "real" air-cooled ones.  ;-) )

The 599 finished second in the Being Seen Contest.  It was a red Spider, top down, with beige leather. Swimming in a sea of traffic, the driver had no opportunity to show off.  But I admired his sangfroid: the essence of cool with all those honking cabs and SUV's inches from his sheet metal.

The clear winner was the black Gallardo.  It too was a Spider, top down, the better to display the driver's cute girlfriend holding her white Miniature Poodle.  Ohio plates.  They had an animated conversation with the fare in a cab in the next lane.  When the light turned green, the Gallardo driver nailed his V-12 for the benefit of the fare and us bystanding campesinos.  Glorious.

I've been looking for supercars in the wrong places.  Seek them not at club circuits or on the Dragon. Seek them Being Seen in major cities on summer Saturday evenings.