I have always had a love affair with horsepower. If it had an engine, I was intrigued by it. My job as a young kid was to mow lawn on the farm. I was too young to drive a big tractor yet, so I spent hours on a garden tractor. I loved the sound of a motor running, what a great combination, the rumble and the fragrance of engine oil and fuel. Hasn’t changed much over the last sixty years, just a different variation of the internal combustion engine.
This winter we vacationed in Florida, and spent time at Cocoa Beach. A certain restaurant on the beach, Longboards Tiki Beach Grill was our favorite. We sat outside on the deck by the ocean. The first day we were going to watch a space launch, since Cape Canaveral is just a few miles away and we would have a ring side seat of the blast off. It seems launches are scheduled regularly and scrubbed almost as often.
As we left the restaurant, we noticed a row of Polaris Slingshots lined up outside. My first thought was perhaps a club had stopped for lunch, but my wife noticed they were for rent. Now it was getting more interesting. A Polaris Slingshot is the result of mating the front end of a sports car with the rear of a motorcycle. They are made in Huntsville, Alabama. With nothing more exciting to do, we decided to rent one and head down the Florida beach on state Highway A1A. It took a couple minutes to scan the card and initial the waiver, and away we went. The sales guy gave us a four-digit code to start it and seemed more concerned we wouldn’t remember the code than that we would make it back. I wanted the fun, so I requested one with a manual transmission.
It looked fast and mean. I was already comparing it against my favorite sports car. It had no doors and was a total open air experience. A 1,700 pound vehicle with a 2 liter four cylinder engine generating 204 horsepower at 7,500 rpm. That is 8 pounds per hp. My Corvette has a 5.7 liter engine developing 350 horsepower at 5,200 rpm. A ratio of 9.5 pound per hp. They both go from zero to 60 mph in five seconds and consume about 25 mpg. This little Slingshot has a 12.5 to 1 compression ratio though, requiring 91 or higher octane fuel.
Time for the rubber to hit the road. I found that the Slingshot had better traction with one tire than the Chevy with two. As I ran through the gears all I could get was a squeak and it wasn’t the rear tire breaking with the pavement. It was the rear drive belt slipping. Definitely impressive traction, probably due to the weight distribution. The Slingshot cruised at 65 mph turning 2,500 rpm and redlined at 8,000 rpm, but there was no way I was pushing that flimsy thing anywhere near that point. No danger, I discovered because the engine has a cutout when it reaches 125 mph.
It had a terrific stereo system that drowned out the scream of the engine. Ashley cranked it up as we blasted down the Atlantic sea coast highway. You get quite the feeling of speed when you are basically sitting on and watching the pavement go past. There is not much of a windshield either. I was surprised that it seemed very stable and had solid traction. Fun to drive but no danger of one being on my wish list. I prefer the V-8 over a four banger. Still, I would do it again. Nothing beats the sunshine and fresh ocean air on a warm day in Florida.
