You have to understand RS National Day is not a track day, it's a war zone plain and simple, which is why Alan loves it so much. In that first session we had been playing with a sierra xr4x4 2.9 with Alan's 2 ltr before he pulled over. Alan was full of the joys of a 10 yr old at christmas and telling all the guys from the club about it. To which they all said that no way could Alan keep up with a 4be on a track...Bad mistake like a red rag to a bull....
The next session felt different from the start it was like he had a purpose, then I realised what it was in the distance on the back straight I saw the red 4be and so did Alan, now I knew what he was doing, he stretched his fingers on the steering wheel, rolled his head and a serious posture came over him. He was hunting, I had never seen Alan like this before and frankly it scared me. Lap after lap he closed in on the 4be until he was behind it. The 4be had no intention of yielding and would pull away slowly down the straights only for Alan to reel him in under braking and through the corners.
As we approached goddard esses Alan dropped back from the 4be I turned to him in silent fear as I knew what this meant. One of Alans favourite manouvers is the cut back and at this point I feared that this was what he was going for.
He attacked the esses harder than before giving himself a greater exit speed which kept him close to the 4be down the main straight At the end of the straight (sorry crap him corner names) the 4be turned in and Alan went deep, with the 4be following the normal lines to the craner curves Alan was on the inside and the 4be came back across to the inside ready for the entrance into the craner curve Alan ducked inside him putting himself on the wrong side of the track for the start of the craner curves.....Shit i thought we're off line and going faster than normal, I found myself bracing for the crash and the only thought in my head was at the point that he losses control to shout DRIVE INTO THE GRAVEL...i feared going in sideways and rolling..........Then we exited the old hairpin no drama not even tyre squeal.
When I asked him if he ever thought about crashing he simply said "No, I'd just get another car".
What scares me most but makes me laugh when i think about it was that Alan pace noted the nurburg ring whilst I was driving my first lap of it. It was only at the end of the lap that I thought, i've just followed pace notes from a dyslexic that get left and right mixed up.........
Memoirs of a motor head
I have 3 stories to share, 2 good, 1 bad ...
1st has got to be the day I dropped off my mondeo 1.8 LX and took the keys to my 6 month old MY99 Impreza in Mica Green - I remember the first drive from reading to farnborough like it was yesterday, I remember mainly the queesy sick feeling that the accelerator gave me everytime I put my foot down ... I think I laughed to myself all the way to work .. then having the office come out and look over the car - they were still not really a common sight back then in 1999.
2nd, has to be me realising that impreza's aren't the fastest car on the road - lol - whilst driving back from peterborough a white MK4 escort cabriolet spent 30 mins or so hanging off my bumper, in the end I was getting a bit sick of this wannabee pretender so said to my passenger, let's shake this loser, so I excited a roundabout and opened up all 212 horses ... as I was smugly accelerating away, I looked in my mirror to see the afore mentioned Escort flashing it's headlights for me to move over as I was holding him up ? ... then he passed me like I wasn't moving ... the cosworth badge and NOS sticker kinda gave the game away ... admittedly his NOS ran out I caught him and passed him .. but it did give me a surprise! - Cheeky Escort drivers ..
But, still the best has to be the day I collected my 'standard' R32 GTR in hertfordshire, I remember walking into the SkylinesRus unit and seeing my gleaming gorgeous red (not burgundy) GTR, paying my money and climbing in (well more like attaching a rocket pack to your bum), not listening to anything that Alex was telling me, too busy thinking, I OWN A GTR - Turning the key of MY GTR and driving out onto the roads - nagging in the back of my mind was the thought that most people crash them in the first few weeks, so I was expecting the car to swallow me up and chuck me into the undergrowth, so I tentatively tested the power .. OMGGGG .. calm down .. OMGGGGGG ... calm down ... then realising I now had the skyline smile, whether a smile of smugness or pure enjoyment, I've never worked it out - and I still get it today, poodle around for a while and then hit the loud pedal and I remember why I love the car ... it's all gareth's fault for giving me the 2005 R32 buying guide (one day i'll return it) that caused me many nights of reading and rereading about the machine - isn't it a bit retro, doesn't it look like a jazzed up contina ... well that first drive alayed any of those thoughts .... and seeing the reactions I got from other drivers .. thumbs up, waves ... I loved every moment - a week later I took it out on the track, a day with javelin at sculthorpe, me and Gareth jumped in and discovered the rather fun experience of driving sideways through tight right handers then a quick movement of the wheel to be back in control ... not that sideways was not in control.
I guess I have more than 3 stories .. but the GTR ones all morph into 1, the other thing I remember was having the exhaust, induction, downpipes and decat done together and experiencing the increase of 80 BHP in one go ... and now with the added lovely sound of the re-circ ... ohhhh heaven ...
1st has got to be the day I dropped off my mondeo 1.8 LX and took the keys to my 6 month old MY99 Impreza in Mica Green - I remember the first drive from reading to farnborough like it was yesterday, I remember mainly the queesy sick feeling that the accelerator gave me everytime I put my foot down ... I think I laughed to myself all the way to work .. then having the office come out and look over the car - they were still not really a common sight back then in 1999.
2nd, has to be me realising that impreza's aren't the fastest car on the road - lol - whilst driving back from peterborough a white MK4 escort cabriolet spent 30 mins or so hanging off my bumper, in the end I was getting a bit sick of this wannabee pretender so said to my passenger, let's shake this loser, so I excited a roundabout and opened up all 212 horses ... as I was smugly accelerating away, I looked in my mirror to see the afore mentioned Escort flashing it's headlights for me to move over as I was holding him up ? ... then he passed me like I wasn't moving ... the cosworth badge and NOS sticker kinda gave the game away ... admittedly his NOS ran out I caught him and passed him .. but it did give me a surprise! - Cheeky Escort drivers ..
But, still the best has to be the day I collected my 'standard' R32 GTR in hertfordshire, I remember walking into the SkylinesRus unit and seeing my gleaming gorgeous red (not burgundy) GTR, paying my money and climbing in (well more like attaching a rocket pack to your bum), not listening to anything that Alex was telling me, too busy thinking, I OWN A GTR - Turning the key of MY GTR and driving out onto the roads - nagging in the back of my mind was the thought that most people crash them in the first few weeks, so I was expecting the car to swallow me up and chuck me into the undergrowth, so I tentatively tested the power .. OMGGGG .. calm down .. OMGGGGGG ... calm down ... then realising I now had the skyline smile, whether a smile of smugness or pure enjoyment, I've never worked it out - and I still get it today, poodle around for a while and then hit the loud pedal and I remember why I love the car ... it's all gareth's fault for giving me the 2005 R32 buying guide (one day i'll return it) that caused me many nights of reading and rereading about the machine - isn't it a bit retro, doesn't it look like a jazzed up contina ... well that first drive alayed any of those thoughts .... and seeing the reactions I got from other drivers .. thumbs up, waves ... I loved every moment - a week later I took it out on the track, a day with javelin at sculthorpe, me and Gareth jumped in and discovered the rather fun experience of driving sideways through tight right handers then a quick movement of the wheel to be back in control ... not that sideways was not in control.
I guess I have more than 3 stories .. but the GTR ones all morph into 1, the other thing I remember was having the exhaust, induction, downpipes and decat done together and experiencing the increase of 80 BHP in one go ... and now with the added lovely sound of the re-circ ... ohhhh heaven ...
Dum spiro, spero
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Nov 8th 2007
A date I will never forget
I had won tickets to the Mph show at the Nec from Shell it was one of those text to win competitions and I won 2 free ticket to the show.
It was a Thursday trade night and Myself and Dad set off for Birmingham in high spirits and we had a decent run down to the Nec (one thing I do remember is as an M5 came passed us on the dual carrage way I said to dad "Did he not come past us earlier?" to which dad replied "Yes thats the only car that has passed us all the way from Norwich!!" I didn't think I was driving that quick!!) Anyway we got there at about 6 and went into the hall and the first person I saw was Maxamillion of Gumball fame and a bright Orange Zonda the show itself was pretty good and we got to see the Topgear boys doing their thing in the Live Arena after a few hours of walking around it was time to head off.
Back to East 1 carpark, over to the car????? I'm sure I parked here?????? Sicken I know but don't want to admit it yet feeling, look a few rows over and back and again are we in East 1??? It's gone! Bastards, Over to security
"I think my car has been stolen"
"what is it?"
"A blue Subaru Sti"
Turning to his mate "That Scooby was stolen!"
They had only bloody seen it drive off and let it through the barriers without paying then did nothing!!!!
There is so many more parts to this I could add but you get the idea and I'm sure you have all heard me talk about this that you now want me to get over it!!!:nopity:
A date I will never forget
I had won tickets to the Mph show at the Nec from Shell it was one of those text to win competitions and I won 2 free ticket to the show.
It was a Thursday trade night and Myself and Dad set off for Birmingham in high spirits and we had a decent run down to the Nec (one thing I do remember is as an M5 came passed us on the dual carrage way I said to dad "Did he not come past us earlier?" to which dad replied "Yes thats the only car that has passed us all the way from Norwich!!" I didn't think I was driving that quick!!) Anyway we got there at about 6 and went into the hall and the first person I saw was Maxamillion of Gumball fame and a bright Orange Zonda the show itself was pretty good and we got to see the Topgear boys doing their thing in the Live Arena after a few hours of walking around it was time to head off.
Back to East 1 carpark, over to the car????? I'm sure I parked here?????? Sicken I know but don't want to admit it yet feeling, look a few rows over and back and again are we in East 1??? It's gone! Bastards, Over to security
"I think my car has been stolen"
"what is it?"
"A blue Subaru Sti"
Turning to his mate "That Scooby was stolen!"
They had only bloody seen it drive off and let it through the barriers without paying then did nothing!!!!
There is so many more parts to this I could add but you get the idea and I'm sure you have all heard me talk about this that you now want me to get over it!!!:nopity:
Rob
Pinky's christening
Seems unusual that I'm already five pages into a project thread and yet I have only just been for my first proper drive 