New Australian Member Damo... 2010 CTS-V soon to arrive...

[Damo]

Hey all! I've just got over to the US from Australia - and my-oh-my, loving the choice in cars and the price of cars! Really, really loving it. I needed to get a family car (for my two daughters) and for the same price as a new Honda Accord in Australia, I can get a 2-3 year old Cadillac CTS-V that'll blow the Accords bollocks off. No brainer. God bless America.

My 2010 CTS-V arrives from Arkansas next Monday (damn the waiting) so I've been doing even more reading than I did before I bought the car. I have to say, loving everything I've read.

So does anyone have some suggestions for awesome driving roads near Houston? You know what I'm talking about, tight bends, no traffic and high speed limits (or no cops). Failing that, is there a good way to do track days in the CTS-V? I'll need insurance of some kind (or the wife will kill me if I smash it) and a newbie friendly track. Suggestions?

Now, come on and get here already, my beautiful American family muscle car.

 

[Tuna]

Hey Damo! Welcome to the V-Net.

You're a long way from home now. What brings you to Houston?

I used to live south of Houston - Santa Fe, TX - but that was a while back. So, I'm having a hard time remembering all the roads to enjoy. To find any real fun roads and get out of the Houston traffic, you're going to need to drive a bit - southwest and east-north east.

There are plenty of nice 2-lanes east of Houston out north of Port Arthur that I liked. Then again, I remember hitting triple digits with a group of Corvettes on I-45 more than once. Fun is where you find it when driving.

I also found that the roads going to Aransas Wildlife park down by Corpus Christi were fun. As you've probably noticed, it's pretty flat down there with the highest elevation changes being railroad and river bridges.

There used to be an "autocross" track in Hitchcock, TX called Grand Sport Speedway - Google still shows it. Check with one of the local Corvette clubs about when it's being used. If it is, you can have some weekend fun playing on the track.

Again, welcome to the V-Net.

Hope your V gets to you soon.

 

[Damo]

Hey, thanks Tuna!

You're right about the roads in Houston. Flat as. Mind you, you can get some curves going when changing from freeway to freeway - but finding on-off ramps with no traffic on them are all but impossible at civilized times of day.

I'll check out the track days at Hitchcock when I get some time. Cheers for the tip.

As for me, my wife's job actually brought us to Houston. She got an opportunity to be transferred over here earning enough money to be the sole earner. We've got a 6 month old and a 3 1/2 year old - so my turn to "take time off" and look after the kids. It's been fun. Can't wait to get the kids in the back of the V. My 3 1/2 year old loves acceleration (she's currently enjoying the wife's VW GTI - just wait until she experiences the CST-V!!!)

For my part, I'll post some nice driving roads when I find them. We'll eventually be heading for a state-to-state driving holiday around America (and I really want to go for a road trip to Vegas with some Aussie mates), so I'll have to find something there, right?

 

[Rob]

Congrats and welcome to the Cadillac V-Net! :blinzel:

 

[Damo]

Congrats and welcome to the Cadillac V-Net! :blinzel:

Cheers Rob. Really been digging the forums. Love the level of passion and activity - with only a small number of members. Clearly you and Tuna are keeping it real. Love the updates, rumours, freaky news, Tuna's social activity in traffic and all the rest of it. Nice work.

Quick question, though, why no V car for you? Based on some of your posts, you work for (or own) a dealership, right? Seems an odd combo for someone to start a forum dedicated to Cadillac's V models...

I don't mean to pry, just curious. Feel free to ignore me.

 

[Rob]

Cheers Rob. Really been digging the forums. Love the level of passion and activity - with only a small number of members. Clearly you and Tuna are keeping it real. Love the updates, rumours, freaky news, Tuna's social activity in traffic and all the rest of it. Nice work.

Quick question, though, why no V car for you? Based on some of your posts, you work for (or own) a dealership, right? Seems an odd combo for someone to start a forum dedicated to Cadillac's V models...

I don't mean to pry, just curious. Feel free to ignore me.

Nope. I'm a Web Developer. I work a full time job for a small IT company and run this site and others on the side. I've always loved the V-series Caddys, but just can't afford one at this time.

 

[Damo]

Nope. I'm a Web Developer. I work a full time job for a small IT company and run this site and others on the side. I've always loved the V-series Caddys, but just can't afford one at this time.

Web developer, eh? Me too! Well, web and iPhone... and back in Australia (before I recently became a stay at home Dad). Mainly did Python and PHP with the occasional Ruby on Rails project (having happily abandoned .Net development about 5-6 years ago).

This is the post that made me think you were a dealer:

Since 1996, C and P Imports, LLC has been one of New England's premier independent Sports, Exotic, and High-end automobile dealerships. We are a boutique company and specialize in buying and selling only hand selected vehicles in exceptional condition with low mileage. Our inventory includes some of the world's most exciting cars, including:
Corvette, Bentley, Ferrari, Hummer, Lamborghini, Mercedes, Porsche and more.

Guess you just posted it on their behalf. Anyway, good to meet another web dev and good luck in saving up for your V-car!

 

[Rob]

Web developer, eh? Me too! Well, web and iPhone... and back in Australia (before I recently became a stay at home Dad). Mainly did Python and PHP with the occasional Ruby on Rails project (having happily abandoned .Net development about 5-6 years ago).

This is the post that made me think you were a dealer:

Guess you just posted it on their behalf. Anyway, good to meet another web dev and good luck in saving up for your V-car!

The company I work for does everything in .Net which I hate.

I do a lot of PHP stuff on my sites.

Yes, C&P Imports is one of my clients. I built and maintain their web site.

 

[Tuna]

Cheers Rob. Really been digging the forums. Love the level of passion and activity - with only a small number of members. Clearly you and Tuna are keeping it real. Love the updates, rumours, freaky news, Tuna's social activity in traffic and all the rest of it. Nice work.

Thanks, I think! ink:

Now we need a few more members like you to get in here and keep the V-Net moving.

 

[Damo]

It's here...

Okay, so my car has arrived and I've had a bit of a drive now.

Took it on some freeways to do my "errands". Yes dear, I always wanted to try that supermarket on the 610...


I hit the gas a bit, and my first thought was "yeah, it's fast, but only feels a bit faster than my wife's VW GTI". Sure, the indicator on the dial was further along than I thought (definitely on the right hand side of the speed limit), but there was no "whoosh". Strange, I thought.


Then I noticed pushing the drive selector to the right made some text appear on the notification screen: "Sport mode activated". Promising. So I slowed down, found a stretch of road with no-one in front of me and...


<< I'm not sure about the profanity filter on these forums, so excuse the asterisks >>


... buried my foot to the floor. Holy f**king s**t balls, the f**king acceleration was f**king amazing!!! I am so glad I haven't found the disable traction control setting yet, or I'm sure I'd have no rear tires. As it was, my lungs didn't make it back from their visit to my spine until I got off the freeway. The supercharger whine made it sound like the engine was having an org@sm (it probably was). When I finally took the time to glance down at the speed dial (seconds later, really) it was *ahem* a little on the high side.

I f**king love my CTS-V. Bring the speed.

 

[Rob]

... buried my foot to the floor. Holy f**king s**t balls, the f**king acceleration was f**king amazing!!! I am so glad I haven't found the disable traction control setting yet, or I'm sure I'd have no rear tires. As it was, my lungs didn't make it back from their visit to my spine until I got off the freeway. The supercharger whine made it sound like the engine was having an org@sm (it probably was). When I finally took the time to glance down at the speed dial (seconds later, really) it was *ahem* a little on the high side.

I f**king love my CTS-V. Bring the speed.

LMAO!!!!!! :laugh: :laugh:

Nice!!!!! :blinzel:

 

[mtrocket]

Welcome... Glad to have you aboard!!