One evening, actor and Ferrari pal Peter Helm and I were heading south through Laurel Canyon--me in the GTO following Peter in his California spider. As we raced down the Hollywood side, we came upon a slower moving pagoda-style Mercedes-Benz 280SL. We were going fast enough that slowing down--at least in Peter's mind--was not an option. As we passed by the country market in the canyon, Peter went around the SL and had just enough room to pull back into the lane again before the blind curve at the end of the straight. It is a diminishing-radius curve and, unfortunately, the move served to shorten the radius even further to such an extent that his Ferrari lost traction and the last sight I had before it disappeared was of the California spinning out and swapping ends as it rounded the curve. What I expected to see as I came around the bend was Peter and his California wrapped around a tree. What I actually saw was Peter continuing to pull away from the Mercedes driving--freewheeling--backwards looking over his shoulder and negotiating the series of tight turns near the bottom of the canyon as though it was a natural thing for him to do. No doubt the Mercedes driver had intended to impress his attractive passenger that evening. I wonder how impressed she might have been that he was beaten out by someone driving backwards down the canyon in a Ferrari. Peter's antics are legendary and one night he was stopped by the police for speeding down Gower Street near Paramount Studios. The officer, not realizing that Peter's Ferrari was right-hand drive, proceeded to write the citation to Peter's lady friend--the citation was dismissed in traffic court to the embarrassment of the police officer and the amusement of everyone else. The photo here shows Peter in his California with me and Gary Wales--first US owner of the Ferrari Breadvan--walking about in the parking lot of Gary's auto parts store that he owned at the time. If you crane your neck, you can just see my GTO out of frame to the right... #peterhelm #ferrari #ferrari250californiaspyder #ferrari250gto #ferraribreadvan #filmmakerslife https://www.instagram.com/p/BowNwYJHRNb/?utm_source=ig_tumblr_share&igshid=161gz4963fxtj
