Donald R McKenna wrote:
>
> Let me tell you how I "master" an unfamiliar car.
>
> For "handling-evaluation-purposes", Rich asked me to drive his
> roller-skate-handling Elan one day. Out of the first turn I charged into the
> four or five cone slalom and navigated it with great consistancy. After
> being used to my "tank", I managed to turn-in too early and drive over every
> slalom cone. The rest of that run got better, as, I think, I only hit
> another half dozen cones. Next run was clean (or cleaner) and I ran what I
> thought was a respectable time. By then I'm sure Rich was sorry he had asked
> for my (no help) help and decided to try a new tack. He, next, asked Andrew
> McKee to drive the Elan. Andy, promptly, went two seconds faster than my
> better run and, as I recall, faster than Rich's best.
I guess I'd better set the record straight here. I was looking
for someone to demonstrate for me whether it was me or
the car that was so slow compared to what was expected
of it. I asked Katie, you, Charlie, and Andy to drive it (Charlie
declined).
Andy was over one second faster than my best (less than
all of the runs due to a pulled muscle) because:
1. He was more than fifty pounds lighter than me on
that day.
2. He followed my advice and kept it in third gear for
the fast right hander on his second run (something
I hadn't done)
3. He has car control touch and feel worthy of the gods
as evinced by his driving through the esses with the
back end hung out at about thirty degrees.
Now I have a second Elan which has proven once and for
all that it was the car, and I am as suspected not much more
than a few tenths back from the best on a day-to-day basis.
How I will do in serious competition is still to be determined,
as is how much my driving might improve now that I can
stop focusing continuously on the car.
Rich
Ps. You provided serious comic relief to a lot of people
mowing down every cone in that slalom.
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