Bill Reiss takes a photo at Pololu Overlook during a break from driving. (Hawaii247.com photo by Karin Stanton)

Karin Stanton/Hawaii247.com Contributing Editor

Retired race car driver Roland Linder’s wife is not impressed by the fierce power of the Mercedes McClaren SLR, the seriously smooth handling of the Lamborghini Gallardo LP 560, nor even the brilliant red sheen of the Ferrari. Nope, she’s happy with a safe, sensible, affordable minivan, thank you very much. After all, it’s just transportation.

I used to agree with Helen. Until about 11 a.m. Wednesday, March 18, 2009 when I joined in the 2009 World Class Driving Hawaiian Tour. A full day of cruising the Kona and Kohala coasts in some very cool and very, very powerful super cars. The Delaware-based company has a fleet of expensive high-performance cars that it takes all over the country and, for $1,995, you and a friend can drive ’em all. 

The Ferrari is just cool from every angle. (Hawaii247.com photo by Karin Stanton)

“The owners are ex-race car drivers and they just like the share the fun,” said Bill Reiss, World Class Driving logistics director.

Shortly after Linder leaned in through the driver’s side window of the Callaway Corvette C16 and told me how to shift gears, a caravan of six super cars, plus a pace car and trail car, left the Sheraton Keauhou Bay Resort & Spa’s parking lot and hit the road.

Those first moments were a little anxious. After all, it was me behind the wheel of the bright yellow $150,000 vehicle. I later learned the 580 hp V8 supercharged engine can vault from a standstill to 62 mph in 3.5 seconds. It took me a little longer to get comfortable and I did not come close to hitting the top speed of 200 mph, but it wasn’t much longer before I found out what supercharged means. That’s when you tap on the right pedal and are pushed back into seat while the engine whines so loudly you can’t hear the Eddie Money song blasting from the radio.

This is a car so cool it doesn’t even have door handles. You just brush your hand over the door lip and it magically pops open.

The Ferrari and Lamborghini pose for a photo. (Hawaii247.com photo by Karin Stanton)

Turns out I can drive a super car, even ones that have shifting paddles behind the steering wheel. Right click, up a gear. Left click, down a gear. Simple.

If it were allowed, I might have gotten it up to 94 mph. If it were allowed …

I’m still not crazy about the Corvette bright yellow. The Audi R8 was a nice stylish shiny silver. The $178,000 machine is touted as being “flawlessly gifted with stability and traction control.” It certainly felt like the car was more in control than I was. 

Whizzing along in the Kona sunshine, the car just did not like going under 40 mph. The car reacts so quickly to every touch, it freaked me out a little bit.

Next up for me was the absolute highlight of the day and probably the year, maybe even the decade.

Linder, who in addition to being a champion endurance driver owned a super car driving school for years, settled me into the Mercedes McClaren SLR before climbing into the passenger seat.

This piece of machinery costs $450,000 and is capable of going 205 mph. I’m not sure, but I think the SLR stands for Serious Low Rider, because I could barely see over the steering wheel.

“That’s OK,” Linder said. “You don’t need to see here. Look out there.”

He was waving about two miles down the road – a nice, straight stretch of Akoni Pule Highway. With a couple of sedans sedately meandering along ahead of us.

“Come on, we’ve got the catch up with them. Come on, push it. Harder,” he calmly coached in his Belgian accent. “OK, go, go. Now, back over to the right. That’s it. Very nice. Good job.”

That split-second likely shall remain in my Top 10 Lifetime Moments. At the same time I was glancing down at the speedometer, a real professional champion race car driver just told me “good job”! If it were allowed, the readout might have been 102 mph. If it were allowed …

Thrilling moments only last a moment, though. And Linder was already urging me to overtake the next meandering sedan. 

“Can you see down the road? OK, go now,” he said. “Now pull back.”

I gave a quick look over my shoulder.

“No need for you to look,” Linder said. “They are already very far back. Just pull to the right.”

I loved that car. And I was very grateful to have Linder by my side. He made sure I got the most out of the experience.

The cars attract admirers during the lunch stop in Hawi. (Hawaii247.com photo by Karin Stanton)

This is what makes the Alfa Romeo so loud, so fast and so scary. (Hawaii247.com photo by Karin Stanton)

After lunch in Hawi, the afternoon flew by. That was probably because I was darting about the North Kohala countryside in the Lamborghini LP 560. 

After the Mercedes, this ‘baby bull’ was an easy drive. A grey drizzle began as we headed out to Pololu Overlook for a photo opportunity.

I wondered what the other visitors might be thinking – standing in the rain, clutching the keys to their rented Chevrolet Cobalts, watching $2 million worth of super cars parade past.

I was thinking the Cobalt price tag of $25,000 would only be a down payment on a replacement hood for the Mercedes. They run about $107,000. 

Tooling along the Kohala Mountain Road in my Lamborghini, I realized I would be quite comfortable driving it every day. Then I caught myself. “Yes, of course you would, you fool. It’s a Lamborghini! Go ahead, start saving up. It’s only $250,000.”

Now I had that figure in my head and road was getting really wet, I started getting nervous again and was glad when Reiss pulled the convoy over.

“OK, you’re in the Ferrari now,” he said.

It’s red. It goes fast. It has a market value of $499,000. And I had a passenger.

Terry Muniak, of Binghamton, N.Y., was on the tour with her husband Tom. It was his turn in the Mercedes with Linder, and because Terry had enjoyed her earlier jaunt in the Ferrari, asked if she could ride shotgun.

With another human life in the car, I was content to toodle my way back toward Kona.

Terry had other ideas. “Go on. Floor it,” she urged. “It really has some power.”

Actually, it has 12 cylinders of power that can reach 205 mph. It is so special, it just doesn’t even feel that special to drive. Linder calls it “civilized.” I call it awesome.

If it were allowed and I wasn’t worried about that other human life in my hands and I wasn’t hearing “$499,000” ringing in my ears, Terry and I might have reached 92 mph. If it were allowed … 

My last ride of the day was the Alfa Romeo 8C Competizione, a $400,000 maroon rocket. It is so finely tuned, it almost does stuff before you do. A twitch and you’re off in that direction. When you hit the gas, you go. When you take your foot off, the speed instantly drops.

The center console includes the ignition, reverse, the parking brake and, of course, the stereo. I'm still not sure what the other buttons do. (Hawaii247.com photo by Karin Stanton)

It’s a car you really have to drive. And I did, all the way back to the Sheraton parking lot, where I needed to reverse into the slot.

Umm, so where is reverse? I sat rather helplessly until Linder poked his head in the window.

“OK, pull both paddles forward. OK, see that button with the ‘R’? OK, press that. Now you are in reverse,” he walked me through it.

Reserve is a button with an “R” – how cool is that. Apparently the other button is the ignition. 

Oddly, I hadn’t had to start a car all day, nor had I really even thought about reverse. 

It was all about going forward. And I was more than a little bummed to hand over the Alfa Romeo’s key to our assistant tour guide Devan McNally.

Turns out McNally isn’t actually a World Class Driving guy. He owns a residential property management business in Florida and is a friend of Reiss. McNally is on vacation and serving as  volunteer key-carrier. Even though he got promoted to assistant tour guide, he has to give the official uniform polo shirt back, which was on loan from Reiss.

Then we trooped off for post-tour cocktail hour.

Terry’s husband Tom grinned when I asked him how he liked the Mercedes. 

“It was just fun to have the chance to drive these cars around Hawaii,” he said. “I always wanted to drive a 12-cylinder before I die and the Ferrari is, so that was good.”

I guess having a Porsche at home might make you understate things sometimes.

In Hawaii to celebrate their 25th wedding anniversary, Terry said they only signed on after seeing the cars in the parking lot and tracking down Reiss. They will be writing up their adventure for their Porsche car club newsletter. They’ll enjoy being the club’s rock stars, I’m sure.

“Oh, we are car people,” Terry said. “I don’t really know a lot about the mechanics of cars, but this was really something.”

Lisa Abe was still digesting her Mercedes ride and cooing about the Lamborghini.

“The Mercedes was like a beast, a real beast. That’s all I can describe it as,” she said. 

Abe, 42, is an attorney in Toronto who spends her spare time running her Porsche 966 Turbo around the local race track. But she has a new favorite ride.

“The Lamborghini. It feels like an airplane. It really feels like you can fly,” she said. “It’s always been a dream to drive a Lamborghini in Hawaii. How many people can say they’ve done that?”

Abe, on vacation with her husband and daughter, said she too accidentally discovered the tour at the hotel.

“We haven’t been back to Hawaii in 10 years and to be here this week while they are here … it’s serendipitous.” 

Linder, meanwhile, is quietly explaining his teaching philosophy.

“I have to stay always in control of the car,” he said. “The majority of people who come to us don’t even know what these cars are and they are so scared. It’s my job to make them feel comfortable and to teach them.”

He said riding beside inexperienced drivers is not particularly frightening to him.

“Of course not. I can tell in the first quarter of a mile what kind of driver you are,” he said. “Then I can decide. Maybe I can push you a little. Maybe you can do more than you thought possible. Like you today.”

Another understatement.

Forty years after he was hired to drive a Ford GT40 from Brussels to Le Mans (where it won the 24-hour endurance race), Linder still gets a thrill from fast cars.

“It’s still exciting. The day it’s not, I’ll stay home or I’ll come back to Hawaii and put my feet up,” he said. 

He asked if I now felt the same excitement about fast cars.

I said I found the Audi and the Alfa Romeo quite challenging, but I enjoyed driving the Lamborghini and Ferrari. He said I have expensive tastes.

Yeah, well, I do now!

———

There is still time to get in on this year’s tour. Linder, Reiss and the six super cars are on the Big Island through March 23, with at least one more driving day.

It costs $1,995 per couple. You can decide who drives which cars. 

The day includes a briefing, lunch, gift bag, official drivers club certificate, post-tour cocktail, tons of photos and the opportunity to drive six of the coolest cars on the island. 

Plus Linder’s professional instruction in the Mercedes and the chance to chat to a couple of true auto aficionados in Linder and Reiss. 

Oh, and bragging rights with just about anyone you know.

Call Reiss at 561-333-8898 or e-mail bill@wcdriving.com.

If you can’t join in this year, start saving for next year. I am. Although it might cut into my Lamborghini fund.

— Find out more:

World Class Driving: www.worldclassdriving.com

I still can't believe I actually drove that - and didn't scratch it. (Hawaii247.com photo by Terry Muniak)