Matéria sobre TrackDays no NYTimes

[Digo 1.523]

Detalhe: o cara é jamaicano e é motorista de caminhão de entrega da UPS. Com essa profissão ele vai todo ano pro GP do Canada, participa de inúmeros TrackDays e tem uma M5. Imaginem com essa profissão no Brasil... o máximo que ele poderia gostar era de futebol

“I guess my dream job would be a test engineer,” says Wayne DaCosta, “where you get to drive — maybe even for Ferrari — and your job is basically to dissect the car and tell the weaknesses and strong points.”

Video com fotos e com a relato do cara:

http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2008/05...GO_FEATURE.html

*Wayne DaCosta*

U.P.S. driver

Freeport, N.Y.

Automobile: 2002 BMW M5

Date acquired: 2002

Mr. DaCosta does drive for a living, though his job is not evaluating the roadworthiness of the 180 mile-an-hour Italian sports cars he reverently calls “priceless.” Still, his work vehicle is just as much an icon: a U.P.S. truck, which makes its rounds one block at a time.

That ponderous truck was never meant to inspire its driver with notions of the Nürburgring. “Safety is the No. 1 issue with the company,” said Mr. DaCosta, who has worked for U.P.S. for 18 years (and has been my deliveryman for the last four).

Weekends, however, are a different matter: That’s when he gets to drive a trackworthy BMW, his 2002 M5.

Known to the Bimmer faithful as the E39 — the company’s internal shorthand for that version of the 5 Series — and offered in the United States in 2000-3, the high-strung sedan is relatively exclusive. Fewer than 9,000 M5s of that generation were sold here. Built by BMW’s performance-tuning division, it was equipped with a 4.9-liter V-8 rated at 394 horsepower and 368 pound-feet of torque.

“Pretty powerful car,” Mr. DaCosta said.

That spare choice of words understates how fully engaged he is with all things BMW — and how readily he can deliver a huge download of information about the company, its cars, its racing successes.

A 38-year old whose friendliness survives even during the harried holiday seasons, Mr. DaCosta was born in the nation of Jamaica and grew up in Queens. “Living in the U.S., the big thing was the Indy 500,” he said, “so I used to watch drivers like Danny Sullivan, Al Unser, all the Andrettis.”

This led to an interest in Formula One, which, in turn, led to a fanaticism for every detail of BMW culture, though, he admits, he “was too young to realize that BMW had won the drivers’ championship in 1983 with Brabham.”

After buying a 540i in 1999, Mr. DaCosta joined the BMW Car Club of America. The club organizes track days for members, offering the ideal therapy after long days in his slow-footed, top-heavy U.P.S. truck.

“My first track experience was 2001 in Loudon,” he said, referring to New Hampshire Motor Speedway. “It was so addictive that I did it 10 more times.

“That first experience, I found out you could do 80, 90, 100 miles per hour, he said. “You could see what your car could do and not run the risk of getting arrested or getting a huge fine.”

He’s also driven his M5 at Pocono Raceway in Pennsylvania, at Watkins Glen International (“three times, three years in a row”) in New York, at Virginia International Raceway (“my favorite track”) and at the BMW Performance Center in Spartanburg, S.C. (“twice”).

The track time has not given Mr. DaCosta an overconfident view of his own driving skills. At the Virginia track he had a chance to ride along in a race-prepared M3 with a professional driver. “It felt like I was at Six Flags,” he said. “These guys weren’t even doing ten-tenths, I would say six-tenths. I was humbled.”

Although Mr. DaCosta closely follows all the series that BMW races in — as well as other motorsports and the Yankees — he’s mostly a fan of Formula One. Since 2002, he has attended nearly every Canadian Grand Prix with a group of friends who call themselves the Montreal Boyz.

“It’s a rigid routine,” he said, leaving New York City on Thursday evening to arrive at the track Friday morning and sitting in the same section every year by the Casino hairpin.

One year, the Montreal Boyz met a group of like-minded fans from Toronto who had perfected a clever technique for sneaking into pit lane. “Formula One is pretty restrictive,” Mr. DaCosta explained. “Two hours after the race, we climbed over the fence into another world.”

There he met Frank Williams, whose Formula One team was using BMW engines that year. “He was very gracious,” Mr. DaCosta said. “The man has been in Formula One for 40 years. He’s seen and heard everything.”

Recently, Mr. DaCosta bought a house and has bowed out of the Montreal trip. But he still looks forward to driving his car on the track. He even bought a second car — a BMW, of course, but a 318i — solely for that purpose.

That’s not the full extent of his devotion, though. His vacation days are scheduled to coincide with the track days, something that Sherry Crawford, his girlfriend, is willing to tolerate.

“Driving on the street, especially the car I’m driving, you really can’t drive the car the way it’s meant to be driven,” he said. “So you want to get on the track and get that aggression out, enjoy the car.

[SpimpFire 1.571]

Segundo carro, 318i.. Bimmer!

Sempre desconfiei q esses deliveryman lá fora deviam ganhar bem..

[gabrielbps 6.145]

não satisfeito em 1 BMW, ele tem 2.

e o emprego dele, molezinha...vida boa do caralho!

[(Rodrigo) 28]

eeh...e aki mal dá pra pagar as contas no fim do mês...:mrgreen:

[transeunte 5.623]

“It felt like I was at Six Flags,” he said. “These guys weren’t even doing ten-tenths, I would say six-tenths. I was humbled.”

Traduzam pra quem nunca andou de montanha russa gringa, please! :mrgreen:

[EvoAirSuspension 3.065]

pra ter isso aki com essa profissao só se for motorista de politico e mesmo assim emprestando o nome pra fazer uns contratos faRsos.

bacana a materia.

abrax.

[mlbimmer 4.018]

É, o cara tem bom gosto !!! FOi logo no Top !!!

[Drifter-RJ 17]

Detalhe: o cara é jamaicano e é motorista de caminhão de entrega da UPS. Com essa profissão ele vai todo ano pro GP do Canada, participa de inúmeros TrackDays e tem uma M5. Imaginem com essa profissão no Brasil... o máximo que ele poderia gostar era de futebol

Dps q vi um Overhaulin Especial, q eles pegaram um carro novo ao invés de um fudido, e a mulher era enfermeira e tinha comprado um Mustang GT ZERO, me enputeço profundamente em ver presepeiro pobretão com Civic arranhado/amassado e se achando pq tá de Civic, ou então nego feliz da vida andando de Siena achando q tá com o melhor carro do mundo.....sem contar a galera q acha q Celta é um carro bom :mestre:

[diogocartier 3.060]

Show a reportagem..

e é incrível a diferença do Brasil pra lá...

abs