It is fun listening to bob and Scott talk about the "true meanings"
of owning and caring for a British hunk of iron. One of the thoughts
expressed by both bothered me a little. Perhaps my situation is a bit
different.
My goal in life was to always own a car that would corner. That was
all that mattered. I wanted high lateral g's and I would do almost
anything to get them. Braking was also important but acceleration
was not important. I figured that if I took a while to generate the
speed, it was ok, because with my high cornering power I would
maintain this speed through the corner.
I bought a late model Corvette. It does go around corners and it has
the best brakes around. Most of this is because of the tremendous
amounts of rubber and a nice suspension. It happened to have a lot
of torque as well and I grew to like acceleration. But you couldn't
work on the thing. It was like this inanimate black box!
So I bought the Super Seven. I can work on it. I go to the garage
late in the evening when the house is asleep and look at it longingly.
I admire the lines, the polished aluminium, and the sophisticated
front suspension. I curse the rear end. Then I turn out the lights
and go back to bed to dream the dreams of a car nut.
But now to the point were I differ. I think the British car still
does things, the important things, as well as the modern day auto.
My Super Seven will corner, brake, and steer as well as my Corvette.
In autocrossing, I am able to run faster times in the Seven. The
performance envelope is the same until you get over 100mph and I
don't do that very often. While the performance is the same the
driving experience is opposite. The Seven has the wind in the face,
sun on you head, feeling every ripple and rock in the road feeling.
The Corvette isolates you, couches you in the womb and will only
let you know what is going on when you approach the limit. I can't
work on the "black box" but I can sure play with the toy, Seven.
Guess which one is for sale...
Michael
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