This time we headed out to Luray in the Shenandoah region. To get there, we had to cut through the Shenadoah National Park on highway 122, which turned out to be one of the highlights of the trip for me. Unlike Skyline Drive which cuts north-south through the park, this road cuts east-west and has a 45mph speed limit as opposed to 35mph. In addition it is multiple lanes at times to allow for passing, and is an upward climb with banked "S" and hairpin turns until you reach the peak at skyline drive, then is a downhill with more twists and turns. I have no pictures of this part of the journey, but I was grinning ear to ear the whole time and only smiled more when my co-pilot yelled "Whee! Daddy this is just like a roller coaster!". And it was just like that. We were hauling some serious speed through the turns and the car was absolutely planted. I kept waiting for the rear to step out but it never did. The phrase "on rails" came to mind, even with these miserable all-season tires. Speaking of the tires, it was only 5 or 6 turns into the uphill jaunt that we could smell them, umm, heating up. This was just a fantastic drive. Never reckless, never out of control, few cars around, and keeping with the speed limit of 45, whether going straight or hitting a turn. A very rewarding car in the turns and hills. Power was adequate and since break-in was still ~80 miles from completion this was not an exercise in redlining. Just maintaining a steady speed and letter the suspension and tires do their thing, keeping between the lines and keeping momentum.
First stop was the Luray Zoo where they had a surprisingly robust collection of venomous snakes, a Tiger that really didn't like me, and a noisy donkey that had a few personality issues. Its a small zoo to say the least, but we had a good time if only for a short while.
This guy didn't like me. I've never been yelled at by a tiger before. I can take a hint, we moved on quite briskly.
Here are some goats and the crazy donkey. I can't say I've heard a donkey do the stereotypical "EEE-AWWW" before to perfection, but this guy hit it dead on.
This is one of the venomous snakes, the king cobra. He was very active and thankfully behind glass.
Still, it would get close enough to scare little children ;-)
After the zoo we hit up McD's across the street. After that we headed back to Skyline Drive and another uphill climb on the twisty roads. No pictures, but miles of smiles.
We headed into the park onto Skyline Drive north to begin a gradual route back home. We stopped at the first overlook to take in the recently changing fall colors and hike a bit. Below are some pictures from that stop. I love seeing the changing colors, even if not a peak colors. Its always a sight to behold, and the brisk cool mountain air is so refreshing. Even if they are just "east coast" mountains.
A shot from down the trail.
This area below had some nice colors happening worth checking out.
This next stop had a great panorama and a cool tree to check out.
We were driving along as the weather began to turn rainy and the clouds began to form in the valley. I am not a good enough photographer to capture how awesome these low clouds looked as they rolled through.
We headed out of the park and kept on north onto Lord Fairfax parkway, eventually hitting highway 7 and back to Leesburg. The FR-S did fantastic when called on for enthusiast driving, and nice enough amenities and cruising disposition for the more leisurely travel segments.
Observations 1,000 miles in:
-This engine is a bit rackety at idle, both inside and outside. This car has one of those gimmicky tubes that pipes in engine noise, so I'll look into disconnecting that to alleviate the cabin noise associated with the engine.
-Now that break in is over and I've been above 4,500 RPM several times, it is like a whole different car. There's a horrible torque dip in the 3K-4K RPM range, and being able to shoot above that makes this car much more pleasant!
-I've got a random clunk when the suspension 'unloads', such as heading over a hill at speed where the weight shifts forward slightly. Will have to research if something in the interior is loose or if this is a bushing issue.
-The suspension is much firmer than the 1996 Miata I had. This thing will transmit all undulations in the road... which is great, it is sticking to the road like a slot car. I can see how there will be people that get this car that will regret it though, based on ride quality. This is a purpose built car, and it serves that purpose well.
-My original impressions that the car was a 'tail happy' car are not entirely true. It is true that with minimal effort the tail can be kicked out. However, I was concerned at speed that the car would be skittish on the rear end. On the contrary, it stays planted so long as you're holding a smooth line and letting the suspension be predictable, and lets you drive out to the edge of tires or mettle.
-HD Radio has been a pleasant surprise once I figured out how to access the multiple "channels" offered by each station.
-Once the oil in the transmission is warmed up, this shifter is something else. Just so nice.
-Fuel economy is 30.9 MPG. We'll see what happens to that now that break-in is completed.
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