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 My
interest in cars is quite limited: I am not interested in automotive
engineering or mechanics. I enjoy driving a fun car period! While
fast cars are an obvious choice, fun could be defined in other ways.
Straight line acceleration makes for exciting runs at the drag
strip... Or even at the front row of a traffic light on a 45+ mph
road (doing it on a road with a lower limit is asking for trouble).
However, the art of spirited driving is more than just brute force.
Handling is an integral part of the experience. Driving windy roads,
where the speed is limited by the cornering ability of the car
rather than it's horsepower, may be even more exhilarating than high
speed dashes on straight roads. It certainly is more involving as
the dynamics of curves forces the driver to be fully focused and be
attentive to the road's minute detail. Being an acceleration kind of
guy I had to drive CA-152 between Morgan Hill and Watsonville to be
converted to this side of the art.
Thrilling
rides have been a part of my life since I have memory. From going
down hill on a paddy wagon to cruising on a windy road in a fast
car, I have always had a passion for envelope pushing speed.
Before I could get behind a wheel, I “expressed” myself in other
ways, such as climbing tall trees, doing acrobatics on tree’s
branches, jumping off of roofs, etc.
My first motorized experience was in a go-kart park for kids where
I completed a few laps at low speed. The thrill came from the fact
that I was driving a motor car with real rubber tires and a real
wheel.
While I was never a wizard on a skateboard, I did enjoy riding it
downhill and then trying to stay on the sidewalk at the almost 90
degrees turn. It is not necessary to say that I was successful only
a few times. I had to give up such Wile E. Coyote experiences when I
was informed that I was not going to get replacement clothing torn
apart during failed cornering maneuvers.
It was not until I got my first own car that I could get to enjoy
thrilling rides again. The history of my experiences is told on my
Automotive Experiences series.
Here I will only mention that a few racing video games helped me to
get an interest in fast cars. My first “dream” attraction was the
Lotus Esprit. What got me interested in the car was that, at the
time, it had very good performance with a 4-cylinder engine only.
Today the Esprit is only a memory as the car is no longer
manufactured. Today my sights are set on Porsche and it no longer
has that “dream” adjective attached in the sense of –if money were
not an obstacle- No, today it looks more as an attainable objective,
albeit still in the future.
Surprisingly enough, I am NOT a racing-event enthusiast. I do not
attend, nor watch, any racing event. Not NASCAR, not Daytona, not Le
Mans nor Formula 1. I just like to drive with “spirito”; although I
seldom do extreme maneuvers such as hard braking. As a matter of
fact, in the 6 years I had my M Roadster, I am about to change
brakes for the first time this year; and it is not because I am
negligent. My maintenance shop, dutifully checks them at every
regular service. In normal high performance driving, you are
supposed to keep the speed until the last possible moment, then, you
brake hard, clear the obstacle and then, accelerate hard again. My
approach is to let the car lose speed naturally or with a little
help of the brakes, clear the obstacle and then accelerate hard.
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