Letter From The Editor: Beware the Hobby that Eats

Gregory Anderson

12/01/2006

Shortly after he broke the track record at Laguna Seca with a lap time of 1 minute, 6.309 seconds, I asked Toyota’s Formula One test-driver Ricardo Zonta what he does to relax. “I’m always relaxed,” came the quick, casual reply. A man of few words, Zonta appeared perfectly calm, which struck me as strange. If I had just broken the all-time lap record at Laguna Seca, I would have been rolling around on the track in my underwear, à la Will Ferrell in Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby. In other words, I would have been stupidly ecstatic.

Of course, some people do not need a hobby to relax. Their daily life is so pleasurable, so Zen-like, that work itself is soothing. For those of you who need a little help unwinding after a long day at the office, however, let this special issue of The Robb Report Collection be your guide.

For escapism, or just to achieve an F/1 driver’s level of tranquillity, you may want to test-drive F/1 cars at the LRS Formula One school. Speed not your style? Try sampling a bottle of 1945 Mouton Rothschild on a whimsical wine-tasting tour of France. Health hobbyists who prefer to de-stress by working on their New Year’s resolutions in the privacy of their own residences should see what Blue Clay can do for the home gymnasium.

I recently gave up my summer moviegoing hobby to concentrate on another high-tech type of Toyota technology. In preparation for our first child, my wife and I purchased a Toyota Prius (the Bugatti Veyron lease being just out of our budgetary constraints). The Prius is solid, reliable, semi-eco-friendly family transportation. Like the F/1 car, it uses gas, but not so you really notice. In the short time we have owned the car, we have put just 1,034 miles on its digital odometer, mostly driving back and forth to various doctors’ appointments. In that time, we have stopped for gas three times—an average of once per month.

Stopping at the gas station half as often is its own reward. Not much of a hobby, I realize, but at least it lets me devote a little more time to my new favorite pastime: fatherhood.