Letter From The Editor: The Spirit of Adventure
02/01/2008
ad•ven•ture\ d-’ven-ch r\
noun
1 a: An undertaking usually involving danger and unknown risks b: the encountering of risks.
2: An exciting or remarkable experience.
3: An enterprise involving financial risk.
With the Merriam-Webster dictionary as my witness, this issue of The Robb Report Collection qualifies under all three subject-related definitions as a proper adventure guide.
First, most of the undertakings documented herein were dangerous and risky. For instance, intrepid assistant editor Paul Meyers dropped everything at a moment’s notice to take part in the California Mille, which he recounts in "First R8 Rally". What he did not realize upon accepting the assignment was that for at least part of the rally, he would be riding shotgun in an Audi R8 with a factory racecar driver. Just as there are no atheists in a foxhole, nor could any nonbelievers be found in the passenger seat of a 420-hp mid-engine sports car driven at triple-digit speeds on narrow and windy public roads. Meyers later admitted that his religious convictions were somewhat bolstered by the experience—apparently, prayer works.
Contributor Christian Gulliksen faced another potentially hazardous encounter when he reenacted the Baja 1000 along with legendary racer Rod Hall. Jim Fets’ photography captures some of the more hair-raising moments starting on page 98. Beginning on page 70, Gulliksen explores Morocco with an equally fearless style in part two of our series of Land Rover-based adventures that closely emulate the Land Rover Experience Driving School.
Under Webster’s second classification, we cover a remarkable annual event hosted by BMW on the shore of Lake Como, where Nicholas Frankl reports that the Concorso d’Eleganza Villa d’Este is quickly becoming a must-see classic car event of the year. Villa d’Este, with its quaint charm, is the perfect escape from the madding crowds of Pebble Beach.
Finally there is the third type of adventure—the financial foray. While a certain amount of jeopardy applies to just about anything that costs money, Marco R. della Cava reveals the mystery behind automotive and racing country clubs (as in, why join?) which require membership fees in exchange for nearly unlimited laps on some truly breathtaking road circuits . And just in case you have any difficulty committing to one sports cars car for the country club, Matthew Phenix tests a fleet of exotics on the road while Basem Wasef takes to the track in two convenient methods of tackling the car-buyer decision-making process.
So be brave and try some of these automotive exploits. Adventure, after all, is also an intransitive verb meaning "to proceed despite risk." What do you really have to lose, apart from time?