Well, Dream Racing in Las Vegas has exactly what you need to experience your dreams while awake – boasting the largest super-car fleet in North America, they offer a truly unprecedented experience. I visited Dream Racing a while back together with F24’s Grant and Alvin. When we pulled up and walked along the stunning assortment of some of the most exclusive vehicles in the world, Grant dropped a classic one-liner that encapsulated the experience pretty well: “…*sigh*…is this what love feels like?”

I did a little bit of calling around to other groups that offer a similar experience in Vegas, or at least claim to, and concluded that Dream Racing offers a better experience, where you simply get more — other groups either don’t offer focused training in a simulator, or have vehicles with an additional set of controls for your driving coach, essentially inhibiting your experience. In addition to this, Dream Racing allows safe overtaking anywhere on the track, whereas other providers only have one or two “zones” where this is allowed. I mean, in that case, whats even the point??

A big thank you to Alec from Dream Racing, who accompanied us throughout the day, and gave us the inside scoop. First, we got a rundown of how our day was looking: spend some time studying the track, both on paper and in a VR simulator, measured to the millimeter to replicate the Dream Racing track. With the coaching of a former pro driver, who offered some hilarious  and accurate —  check the below snapchat clip — advice when driving these cars, we would prepare ourselves for driving the real thing.

After spending time in the simulator, we headed to the changing room to throw on our race suits, and on to the stables. They have a bay of just street cars, and a whole other one with track car. Think stripped out Lamborghinis that make you feel like you’re sitting in a fighter jet cockpit – unlabeled lights, buttons, switches as far as the eye could see, but still nothing but a carbon fiber panel and elastic loop in-place of a door-handle. “It saves about 6.7 lbs or so,” Alec mentioned as he saw me knocking it with my knuckles. It was pretty flexible.

Then he said, “You guys ready to pick your rides?” For me, it was a situation straight out of my 10-year-old self’s dreams — except it was happening. The selection was endless and the choice was difficult, so all of us we spent nearly half an hour thinking. But in the end we each knew exactly what fit our personality.

Grant chose a 573 horsepower Acura NSX hybrid, Alvin the Ferrari 488, and for me it was a no-brainer, I had to pick one straight off my childhood bedroom wall. My choice had to be a Lamborghini. The triple black Lamborghini Huracan boasts a guttural, naturally aspirated 600 horsepower V-10, and for me it was the perfect bull to grab by the horns.

After an immersive walk-through of our respective vehicles, and a breakdown of what be aware of while on the track from Dream Racing’s copilots and coaches, we were pumped.  We got the drone in the air, GoPros rolling, and gave Grant the thumbs up, and promptly heard what sounded like a jet engine firing up.  Check a visual summary of the insane experience in detail below:

Each lap we could hear the Acura getting louder and louder — the tires screeching at the limit, and the hybrid engine howling. Finally, Grant pulled into the pit, got out of the car wide-eyed but with the biggest smile I had seen on him in a minute — almost like he had been partying with various stimulants for the last 10 hours at an deep house club in Brooklyn. “Dude…dude…its so fast. It’s SO fast. How?!” he managed to get out as we saw his coach in the background trying to hide a grin and give us a quick thumbs up.

I thought I was prepared for the Huracan: I had driven 911s way too fast up canyon roads, been in an SLR on the Autobahn… hell, I commute on a sports-bike. I thought I knew fast, but  I was sorely mistaken in this instance — the lateral grip this vehicle had, was absolutely insane. It was straight out of my dream as a child, and I couldn’t help but laugh as I took turns tighter and tighter with each lap, the Lamborghini unflinching no matter “how-high-in-the-hundreds” fast I went into turn 1.  The back would get a little wild when you really pushed it, but that’s part of the fun. Getting the hang of how to make the vehicle hold the drift and then regain traction was doable after a surprisingly few number of laps (although I did blow it once in a large cloud of tire-smoke and a few seconds of serious vertigo…shhh)  — especially in “Corsa” mode.

We all had our minds blown by the vehicles, the very knowledgeable and helpful staff, and the the environment and training Dream Racing provides to really help you experience what these vehicles are capable of. In short, get your butt to Dream Racing if you want to make your dreams come true, and really experience what these vehicles have to offer.

The post Dream Racing Gave Us A Track & the Supercars Of Our Dreams appeared first on FactoryTwoFour.

Allow me to introduce you to the Mercedes R-class.  I know, I know.  It’s not in production anymore, you’ll have to buy used.  That’s fine.  Your relatives will think you’re especially frugal for letting someone else take the initial depreciation hit.  No, it’s not a minivan, so don’t worry about soccer-mom stigma (the three-pointed star mostly wards that off anyway).  I know it’s not pretty, but it’s got enough going for it that the looks don’t matter.  I mean, it’s not Pontiac Aztek ugly, either.  Besides, you don’t have to look at the exterior when you’re driving it.

For starters, it seats six people in S-Class luxury.  At some point between Halloween and New Year’s Day you will be asked to ferry co-workers, friends, relatives, or even in-laws around.  This time of the year is stressful enough without packing them sardine-like into the back seat of a Camry.  This is your chance to be Johnny-on-the-spot with a people-mover.  That the people-mover in question has nice leather seats and Mercedes’ vault-like isolation is icing on the cake.  If all else fails, your passengers will at least be impressed by the badge.  And no, you don’t want to roll up to your in-laws house in an Escalade, they might find the over-abundance of chrome a bit tacky.

Even if your people-hauling opportunity never arises, the space will still come in handy for those inevitable shopping trips.  It really doesn’t matter what you’re buying, the big Merc has space for it.  Just remember when you’re sizing up potential Christmas trees: just because there’s room for it in your R-class, doesn’t mean there’s room for it in your house.

Sure, you could enlist a minivan for this sort of thing, but for many of you, the weather this time of year presents its own special challenges.  The R-Class is widely available with AWD.  No need for boulder-hopping 4×4 stuff here – you’re not tackling the Rubicon Trail, just snow, sleet, and whatever else Mother Nature has up her sleeves.  A full-size SUV would be wasteful.

At this point, all that’s left is to choose what flavor of R-class you would like.  You’re spoiled here.  Mercedes offered more varieties than Baskin-Robbins.  Early models could be had with the 5.0L V8 – ultimate wafting power there.  If you can’t stomach the fuel bills, V6s were available, too.  They actually dominated sales, so finding one that’s just right shouldn’t be hard.  Of course, if you fancy the ultimate road-trip machine, you can even have a diesel R-class – you’ll be limited by the range of your bladder before you run out of fuel.  My personal choice would be the R63 AMG version.  You’ve been sensible with the rest of the vehicle, why not treat yourself to the snarling hand-built V8?  Boredom will not be a problem.  As an added bonus, the AMG goes nicely with the patriotic summer holidays.

Yes, the R-class.  It’s an impressive, comfortable, capable, frugal or ridiculous Swiss-Army knife.  It’s the perfect car for any holiday, and a sweet piece for all the other days of the year too.  If it had been styled better, we might all be driving one already.

The post Mercedes R-Class: Perfect Holiday Car appeared first on FactoryTwoFour.

Right off the bat, the E550 hits you with its angular design language. This isn’t the mathematical and cold “flame surfacing” of modern BMW’s or the brutalist slabs and creases of new Audis. No, the current Mercedes design language is a more organic and pressed theme. It works well in the flesh and is a welcome departure from the jutting faces of the Mercs from just a few years ago.

Inside you’ll find the same quantity and quality of leathers and surface materials that have been a trademark of the silver arrow almost since the company’s inception. Everything feels up to a high standard and the aggressive, angular design continues here as well. Of special note are the seats – pounding out a cross-country trip in these bad boys would be about as comfortable as laying in a bed made entirely of Tribbles.

Upon first firing up the powerful 4.6L V8 the first thing that struck me was the delicious “thrummm” of the engine. The next thing I noticed was that the radio was already set to Classical. Natch. With the roof down, radio off, and AC disengaged, in other words all distractions removed, I embarked upon my journey. It immediately become clear that the E550 is not a panacea for every driving need and condition. The following are all the things the E550 is not: a sports car, a city car, a posing car, or a fuel-sipping miser car. This is a grand-tourer in the traditional sense. A big, powerful motor paired with an eminently comfortable cabin and sublime road manners. It is built to gobble up great swaths of road at a time.

Because the E550 Cabriolet is more about marathons than agility sprints, the basic concern with convertibles – their softness and propensity to wobble – is not even worth worrying about. If you are thinking of tracking or autocrossing this car, you have bigger problems then body roll and stiffness. Taken for what it is, the 2014 E550 Cabriolet is the only choice for cross-country motoring.

You can check out more of the car in the gallery below:

The post The Mercedes E550 Goes Topless appeared first on FactoryTwoFour.