A lot of us like movies, right? And when we watch movies, we tend to make ourselves a part of that story. We all like to be heroes. So, if you’re a movie buff and Hollywood has made your life awesome, what is the most Hollywood thing one can think of doing? 

Swing from the Burj Khalifa? Jump off a plane? Be chased by cops or baddies while driving in a drainage system? Probably. But there is more. Something you can do. So when I asked myself what was the most Hollywood thing I could think of doing, I had a very doable and very fun answer. 

What you do is… you reach the hallowed land, you pick up a badass ‘mode of transport’ and you take a roadtrip through the best of what the ‘Land of Opportunity’ has to offer. That was the plan anyway. When I reached the US, I had it all figured out… except the badass ‘mode of transport’. 

Then I remembered a roadtrip I did in 2017. Polaris Slingshot in Death Valley! As I dived deeper into the bylanes of that particular memory, I thought of doing something similar but on a larger scale. So I picked up a Polaris Slingshot R and drove it for over 3,000 km around the United States of America. Let me tell you how it went. 

I’ll start with the Polaris Slingshot R. It is not a motorcycle but feels like one with one wheel at the back that receives all the power. It is not a car but feels like one because it has a steering wheel and a pair of wheels at the front. What is it then? Well, it is something you pick up to truly stand out and enjoy the best of both worlds… and the opposite of that as well. I’ll tell you more about the Slingshot R along with sharing the good, the bad, and the beautiful of this roadtrip. 

My journey started in the City of Angels, Los Angeles, the crown jewel of not just California but arguably, the whole of the US. Home to Hollywood, one of the most glamorous cities in the world, and surrounded by so much that one can explore. So, after landing in Los Angeles, I went straight to the folks at Polaris, got myself a Slingshot R and off I went. 

The Slingshot is a very unique vehicle, one of a kind. It is not even sold in a lot of markets because of homologation. In the US, however, it works just fine. More than that, it tends to catch a lot of attention thanks to its looks. While the Slingshot was quite outlandish in its own right, the Slingshot R dials everything to 11. The sculpted hood, the two-tone colour and an outright menacing stance make it very easy to stand out with this AutoCycle. Yes, it is recognised in California as an AutoCycle, something that is a mix of a car and a motorcycle. 

After rocking the streets of LA at the helm of the Slingshot R, it was time for me to head out for the roadtrip. The next destination was a town called Beatty which is also known as the Gateway to Death Valley. It is an apt nickname because it is the best base from which one can go around exploring Death Valley. 

On the interstate, I was having a fair bit of fun driving the Slingshot R. On the highways of the US, they have diamond-marked lanes that are meant for HOVs or high occupancy vehicles. In simpler terms, it is a carpool lane and since most of the people in the US have their own cars and are usually found driving solo, the car traffic is scarce in these lanes and motorcycles are allowed in those lanes. So I could drive the Slingshot R in those lanes but then again, since it is almost as big as a car, there’s no filtering. 

That was the fun bit. Onwards to the bad bit. Riding a motorcycle or driving something roofless like the Slingshot R in the summer makes one believe in the veracity of the name ‘Death Valley’. With searing temperatures that go up to 52 degrees Celsius, it is a death wish. That is why some people question the point of the Slingshot. It is stuck between a motorcycle and a car. But it is bigger than a motorcycle and does not have a roof like a car. 

Then again, most things fun do not have a point. On that note, there is a Roush Edition of the Slingshot that gets a roof but I did not get it since it’d defeat the purpose of driving something outrageous like the Slingshot. Regardless, the heat was not only taking its toll on me but on my camera equipment as well since they’d shut down every two minutes due to safeguards against overheating. 

After a stop at Beatty, I went ahead to explore Death Valley. It is not a new place to me but regardless of how many times I visit, I always find it as surreal as I did the first time. To me, Death Valley is one of the most beautiful places on Earth because it looks like it does not belong to the Earth. Roaming around the expansive landscape gives one the feeling of being on an alien planet. A planet that is a match for the Slingshot R’s own outlandish existence. 

Battling the heat, I went to explore Badwater, one of the lowest points on Earth and one of the hottest too. It is situated 266 feet below sea level and the maximum temperature ever recorded here was almost 54 degrees Celsius. The landscape is as desolate as it is beautiful and it makes for some beautiful photos. This place also made me realize that the Slingshot R is a fair bit of fun off-road as well. It can pull powerslides with ease despite the traction control (not always a good thing but more on that later) and makes for a fun outing in the dirt. 

My last stop while navigating Death Valley was a ghost town called Rhyolite. It is named after an igneous rock called Rhyolite. Among the many ghost towns that the US has, Rhyolite is especially interesting because of the Goldwell Open Air Museum. It is a sculpture park that is known for, well, the sculptures. The same structures that make this place beautiful in the day must make it look really eerie in the night. 

With that, I made my way to the next stop- Las Vegas! Since it was a fair bit away, I got a chance to push the Slingshot R. While the engine of the Slingshot I drove in 2017 was outsourced, this one gets an engine developed in-house and christened as Prostar, a 4-cylinder mill with a displacement of 1,997cc. It makes 203 bhp of power and 195 Nm of torque. And since the Slingshot R weighs just 749 kg (kerb), the power and torque figures make it quite peppy. 

On the highways, the Slingshot R feels pretty darn rapid. It has a lot of grunt even in the 4th and 5th gear and with all that, it does 150 kays an hour with ease. Though at those speeds, the windblast becomes a bother. Even with a good helmet on, there’s a lot of buffeting which makes one feel uneasy in trying to surpass that mark. 

Moving on, the Slingshot R is a fun little number in the corners too. It holds its line comfortably but if the road is wet, the rear tends to come around. Unlike a motorcycle, you don’t fall off but it can knock someone’s concentration off. Even with the traction control working overtime, it can go for powerslides willy-nilly if the driver is too generous with the throttle. It is mostly because of the power it makes and the fact that it is transmitted to just one wheel at the rear. 

Having fun with the Slingshot R and trying to figure it out, I reached Las Vegas. This is one of the few places that no one needs to talk about. It is all well-known far and wide. One of the brightest points on earth when witnessed from space, Las Vegas looks like a huge theme park. The one attraction that I can bring to your notice is The Sphere at The Venetian Resort.

What is it? Well, it is a music and entertainment arena that houses an 18,000+ seat auditorium. It is known for the 16K wraparound LED screen on the interior and an exterior that has LED displays worth 5,80,000 sq ft! It is one of the things that you have to see in person to get a grasp of. Magnificent. 

I also revisited Exotics Racing, which offers the experience of driving supercars on a curated racetrack. For every motorhead, this place is a must-visit and I will probably do a separate piece on it in the next issue. Driving the Slingshot R around Las Vegas feels amazing. Las Vegas is all about flash and the Slingshot R is the epitome of flash! Its looks are definitely one of its USPs. 

After Las Vegas, I made my way to Valley Of Fire State Park with a brief stop at Lake Mead National Recreation Area. I quite liked the brilliant blue hues of the lake and I believe this place deserves at least a bit of your time if the weather is nice enough. The real show though was the Valley Of Fire State Park. The red sandstone formations are marked with petroglyphs touted to be 2,000 years old. At sunset where the red hues of the sunlight add to the red sandstone, this place lives up to its name.   

The next place where the Slingshot R took me was the Zion National Park in Utah. I did not stop here for long but it was quite an experience riding through it. The massive sandstone cliffs that watch over you as you drive through the national park make for a heck of a drive. There are a few things I’d like to point out though. All the national parks in the US have a paid entry and most of them have a crowd on weekends so you can expect some traffic snarls. 

After Utah, I crossed into Arizona and the Grand Canyon was there to welcome me. The drive up to this point was a jaunt on the highways. Lots of nothingness is there for you to absorb and I find it quite comforting too. The Grand Canyon, as expected, is humungous. While it is beautiful and even more so with a setting sun, I could not find a lot of vantage points to take a photo of the Slingshot R. But there are a lot of other activities one can take up such as hiking. 

Driving through these vast landscapes, I also got to think a bit more about my experience with the Slingshot R. I really enjoyed the manual gearbox. It does have an automatic variant but I had heard that it does not quite have the fun quotient that the manual offers. Based on what I had read, I concurred. The manual just offers a granular control over the powerband. With all the power being sent to the rear wheels, you can put the manual to good use by keeping things in check… or letting go occasionally! 

This was also the time when I started my journey back to Los Angeles. I had heard some good things about Sheephole Valley Wilderness so I decided to visit it on my way back. And I could not have been happier to have heeded that advice. It is one of the most isolated areas I have ever been to and one of the most amazing drives I have ever taken up. The expanse of the place and the fact that you are alone really puts things in perspective. 

Sand dune formations, dry lake beds, and the land meet the sky at the horizon; this was one of the best bits of this roadtrip. Driving through the Mojave Desert, I reached Joshua Tree National Park. Often referred to as the place where two deserts meet; Mojave and Colorado, the Joshua Tree National Park was a treat at sunset. It was mainly because of the unique Joshua trees and the spellbindingly beautiful silhouettes they form against the setting sun. 

After all of these adventures, I went back to Los Angeles and also tried to put my thoughts together about the Slingshot R. It is not a usual vehicle so it cannot be looked at as such. Personally, I found the Slingshot R to be very interesting and exceedingly entertaining. It is fun to drive, it is a treat to look at and it can go real fast in a straight line or around a corner. Is it practical? Maybe not. But then again, nothing special ever is. 

It looks like something Batman might want to drive if it came in black and if you want it to, it can go like that too. If it were available in India, I might have given it a shot at being a part of the xBhp Garage for sure. Since it isn’t, I am just going to cherish the memory of piloting this outlandish machine in some of the most outlandish places our fair planet has to offer.