Adventures
BORN TO RUN, AGAINST THE SUN
For this entry, we get a first-person account from Trevin Hermosillo about his experience on goldRush Rally 2022 - One More Run Against The Sun. Trevin is the co-founder of SWAE and leads the charge on all things automotive and innovation. As the project lead for the Ferrari FF SERPENS build, he had a hand in every aspect of the car, but not everything turned out as expected.
"For starters, let me say how proud I am of the team for putting this car together. The entire SWAE team played vital roles in bringing it to life. There were plenty of late nights and early mornings - some of which blended together - to prepare the car for goldRush. You never know how a car will drive until you put it through its paces.
While prepping the Ferrari FF, we experimented with wind noise and took extra steps ensuring it maintained "laminar flow" as we made adjustments. But I suppose it was out of sight out of mind when it came to the roof rack.
Starting at about 55mph, all the bars on the rack harmonized and created a subtle hum that would ring through your entire body. It was annoying enough to make us stay out of the "trumpet zone," as we named it. As we would creep above 90mph, we went from private jet level sound to full-on 787 Dreamliner at about 120mph. At 120mph, we started to hear the hull of the ship creak and moan under the pressure of the wind, as well as feel the downforce on the entire car as we compressed the roof under the wind sheer we were creating.
With that in mind, we decided that 120mph would be our max speed for the rally, which wasn't an issue as we would be able to make up time elsewhere. It became a game of tortoise, and the hare - quick fuel stops and consistency kept us at the front of the pack and usually one of the first ones to the predetermined destinations.
The Nicest People by Accident
Instead of choosing the quickest points from A to B, goldRush designed a route with the experience of driving in mind. Winding roads took us up beautiful mountains, down through the hills of Taos, Arizona, and up again through the canyons of Colorado. As we are no strangers to winding mountain roads, we loved every bit of it, and so did the car.
The long nose of the FF, combined with v12 power and AWD, ate up every corner. We ran into an issue when pushing the car through tight technical turns. We noticed what appeared to be spider webs whipping around after a tight turn and realized we were gently rubbing the fenders as we created enough body roll. This was due to the slightly more aggressive offset of the wheel and tire combo. To my wife's relief, I had to slow it down a bit.
We eventually found ourselves coming through the beautiful state of Georgia. We had fallen a ways back, and I was anxious to make up for some time. Our driving app signaled that there were several cops ahead, so I started to downshift in an attempt to slow down. Too late - they nailed me with the laser. I looked down and saw that I hadn't made it below 100mph. I warned Ema that if I went to jail, she would need to drive the car and gave her the 30-second crash course on how to put it in park, drive and start procedures. It's still unclear if she worried more about me in handcuffs or taking over the wheel.
The radar continued to squawk until I saw the cops that got me. Keeping my fingers crossed, I jumped into traffic and continued to drive. Sure enough, they were in pursuit, and I decided not to give them a run for their money. We quickly and swiftly pulled to the safest part of the shoulder and waited for my reprimand.
"Whachu in such a hurry for, sir? The speed limit is 70, and you were doing 106," the officer said kindly - in the most southern drawl you can imagine.
I told him the car got away from me and apologized - a bit of a half-truth but sincere nonetheless. A second officer was at the passenger window peering into the car. I'm sure he wondered what the heck kind of robotic dog-looking thing was sprawled out in the back of the vehicle, but he remained silent. I gave the officer my driver's license and poked around for the registration, realizing I had forgotten it back in Montana. He didn't seem worried and said he could look up my plate number.
We patiently waited as he took longer than I would have expected. Finally, as we sat sweating it out, officer number two came strolling up. "Sir, it looks like we have a problem, and it's not good. Your car is coming up as a Ford Escape." I told him I would get a photo of the registration texted to me momentarily, and I called the guys at home. I had a picture of the title and registration within a minute or two, and motioned them back up. They admitted it was a "typing error," and I was good to go.
Now let me give you some context here. I'm from Montana, where speeding isn't that big of a deal, and typically you pay the ticket in cash right there on the spot. In Georgia, it's a different story, so when I asked the officer if I could pay the ticket in cash on the spot, he mistook it for a bribe. In hindsight, it was probably not the best choice when already getting off easy. So we motored on through Georgia down to Miami, where we said our goodbyes to the rest of the rally. For most, this was the end of their trip - but for us, it was the halfway point. " -Trevin
