I know I sometimes post these essays, I don't expect everyone to read them, but the SAR ones are very cathartic for me to write, often while still stinking of avtur, ears ringing trying to wind down. But these car ones I simply enjoy re-living the moment.

 

I once read a mountain biking editorial, to paraphrase, it said, "Biking is all about the seconds. You spend weeks waiting for the weather, hours driving about from forest to field, days peddling, hours belting down hill. But perhaps once a ride, you set into a bend, your hairs stand up, you realise you have run out of talent and are relying on luck, you feel yourself slip outward on the loose gravel towards the edge, the one that if you cross will carry you into a crash. Front and back wheels squirming, the bike makes it round, you exhale, and add a few seconds to the bank. It is for those seconds that you ride." So now I will reflect on a few seconds that I banked today.

 

The short version

 

It was almost dry, the world was quiet, the car was happy and far more capable than the roads I led it down. It took everything in its stride, dancing eagerly with snarling lunges, squirming dives and scything yaw. I was left with chemicals in my bloodstream, ringing in my ears and a pulse in my throat.

 

The Tom version

 

I have had a long week, I have been examined, exhausted, dunked in the sea, woken in the night, scared half to death, and bombarded with paperwork. I afforded myself a teenager's lie in today with the plan of using my day off as an opportunity to do some paperwork. But as I woke this morning, the sun was shining outside and I knew what I was going to do. I said aloud to myself, "You put bloody hours and hours into that car, today go and enjoy it for once." So I filled it up, I washed it and I headed to 'that bit of road'.

 

The drive was destined to be a great one, it was basically dry, bright but with cloud cover giving perfect flat light, it was the middle of a Tuesday and I was rested and perfectly comfortable. As I rolled out of town I set my seat to the "not mucking about" position, belt pulled tight across my front, shoulders gripped and controls falling perfectly to hand, locked in. I turned onto my road, checked the car's vitals with habitual mistrust between each gear, using an early straight as a chance to provoke a tantrum while still within pushing distance of the first world. But not today, with all the needles pleasingly central I settled into my rhythm.

 

Starting steadily not wanting to make a fool of myself I began pulsing along on torque, chattering up from third to fourth before blipping down again with modest whoops of boost and started feeling the pads and tyres fizz alive with building heat, this was when the car reminded my why. Reminded my why, I will relentlessly work to restore it, why I don't drive a golf, or for that matter an M3. As my smile spread across my face, I was confronted by a fallen tree in the road, I braked hard and I think for the first time ever, really used the KSports, the braking pulled at my cheeks and the car squatted and squirmed, I again thought "you bought these to use them, all the up-rated parts, are built for this stuff." Any doubt was cast aside, I would not worry about the cost of new pads, or the water temperature, I would trust my carefully chosen components, and focus on driving well.

 

From then on, I did just that, don't get me wrong, I remained mindful of the unexpected, the law and the public, the reason I didn't hit the tree was that I was at an appropriate speed, but I had full boost in most gears. The pinnacle of the drive was a very long left hander, the momentum was up by then and I was at a neutral throttle in third, the car beautifully stable and flat I fixed my eyes on the vanishing point 200m away and heard the turbos whistle softly, as I straightened I reached wide open throttle, the car just barked, I had been balanced in the bend at ~4500rpm and the thrust to the horizon had me using 1000cc sports bike techniques from then on, just to stay ahead of the car and to never fall behind it, keeping a wide view and fighting against tunnel visioning. I tell people who use my car not to use second gear, but transiently the car and I had come to a motoring cease-fire, an unspoken agreement had been made that we would not try to kill each other, if only for 5 miles. It was on those few miles that I found myself dipping my heel an inch further into the gas hard on the brakes second falling to hand. I should (and probably will) install some sort of warning light for second gear operations, one that asks "I hope you are as good as you think you are!" I kept myself in check with this thought at the base of my favourite set of serpentine heavilly cambered hairpins, everything is amplified in the latter half of second; weight slams forward as you lift and is thrown back again as you focus on keeping the revs only about 500rpm above where they should be as you scrabble out of the apexes, on the road less is definitely more.

 

Those are "the seconds" of today, some others I will forever keep to myself but the ones I have shared I hope will bring a cracked smile to those of you that are lucky enough that you can reach for your keys. For those of you that can't, well I hope that it makes the tool kit feel a bit lighter next time you reach for that.

 

I can't wait to hear from others enjoying your cars as we leave this winter behind.

 

Safe zedding everybody,

 

A very happy Tom.

 

 

Edited February 17, 201510 yr by tomfromthenorth

Will you please just sit down and write some womens' erotic fiction, man...??!! You're blatantly destined for that career path! :lol:

 

Do you quote Chaucer to the people you rescue...? :lol:

 

 

 

In all seriousness though, glad to hear you're enjoying her! :thumbup1:

That sent a shiver down my spine! Damn i need to finish my car and quick!

Cant wait to get mine out :drool: Nice read Tom

B*strd......... I'm off out in my Z for a spin now........... Back later...........lol

Go on Russ! :biggrin:

For but a short moment I was riding with you Tom, great writing!

nice

Good to see you enjoying it at every opportunity :D

I was sitging there with you for a moment.compleatly lost in the moment of time and goings on. For a minute i thought i was reading a romatic love affair story for one man and his car. Next minute drawn in and wanting to read on to yhe next chapter.but it finished. Great read tom.you should right little stories. Toms adventures. Actually that sounds wrong.lol. good stuff mate.

Looking forward to the next instalment Tom!

 

Haha that is awesome. Thanks Andrew :biggrin: