Jason Harper

Jetsetter has a sale on where you can stay in great properties in Vegas, Napa or Vancouver, with use of an all-electric Tesla. Niiiice mix. I’ve got a blog about experience of actually driving one. Check it at Jetsetter.com!

BLOOMBERG March 10, 2011

Big on Baja: The buggy

I’m blinking sand from my eyes, rocketing down a dirt road off the Sea of Cortez in Mexico.

A hill looms ahead and my co-driver yells for me to gun it. I do, and all four of our dune buggy’s wheels quit the ground.

Now we are in the air, flying — control ceded to gravity — then snap back to earth.

“Do it again!” my buddy Boyd shouts. That went okay, so why not?

We’re in a $100,000 dune buggy, a race-built machine without doors or windshields, on a driving tour through the Baja California peninsula. Every few minutes the surreal beauty alternates with “am-I-gonna-survive-this?” adrenaline. (more…)

Fiat 500 somewhere in Spain...somewhere...

BLOOMBERG Feb. 10, 2011

Dios mio, but these streets are narrow! Squeezing a car through the walled medieval town of Cuenca, Spain, is hard, not least because it was built on the edge of a cliff, its founders determined to keep invaders out.

Little thought was given to how automobiles a thousand years later were going to navigate the citadel. Good thing we’ve made the right choice for a 10-day vacation driving around the country: the super-compact Fiat 500. (more…)

Bird's Eye: New York City by helicopter

I love New York City — been here for 15 years — but getting OUT of the city is a nightmare. Usually I leave hours before a scheduled flight, headed to Newark or JFK. Usually I’m also hours early, sitting around the airport. But once in a while, I still make it by only a few minutes. The issue? The Van Wyck. Or the Cross Bronx. Or getting crosstown. Or…or…or. Traffic sucks and there’s NEVER any guessing just how busy it will be. I recently sat in a traffic jam on my way back from JFK to the city at 1 am.

Which brings me to a recent “trip.”

Porsche invited me to test drive their new Boxster Spyder, a hot little roaster, at Monticello Motor Club, in the Catskills. It’s a great facility with a private membership, costing around $100K. No worries of me joining anytime soon. Anyhow, it usually takes about two hours, without bad traffic.

Heli Hawyood: Porsche driving legend Hurley Haywood, on his way out of NYC

But since Hurley Haywood, the famous Porsche endurace driver, was also attending, and had to catch a flight back out… the company procured a couple of choppers. I hopped a ride. (more…)