L
lanky189
Guest
The humid night in Virginia was one just like the last, and no doubt just like the next. In the air hung so much moisture that one's headlights could barely muster enough strength to cut far enough through the dark moonless night to show the way down Route 43. A delightful game of cat and mouse or follow the leader as it may be was in session. The growl of the 18r in 3rd gear at peak rpm just at the crest of the soft rolling hill was all the driver needed to shift to 4th. Settling into 4th gear with no desire to hit overdrive, the speedometer leans over past 90, easing off the accellerator for the next rise, and slightly tapping the brakes to keep the front tires planted. The rubber meeting the road and acting like a rudder in a boat on a flat lake, keeping the small sports car pointed in the direction the driver most wanted to go. The tarmac run was mearly a warm up. The main event was set to be a solo dash on Carters Mill Rd., a ten mile gravel snake of a road, hard banked turns, sharp declining off camber bends and misleading straights of various elevation change challenge the drivers of any vehicle partaking of this beast of a lost highway. Settling the Celica to stop, then violently sidestepping the clutch and spinning the rear tires thru the first two gears as the rubber strains and heats up to try and force traction. Over the first rise and the speed is too much for the driver's mind right now. A shakedown run ensues..checkin the road for debris, unforseen ruts and new developments thanks to the recent downpours. The shakedown complete..belts are tightened..the radio is turned down and driving lights given last minute tweaks.
Another launch, but this time a delicate one, as the first turn comes quick, and the right hander is driven through with all 4 wheels forming just two tracks. The short straight provided a superb acceleration lane, and as the transmission was massaged into an early third gear the wheel is whipped to the left and the gear shift ripped back into 2nd while the throttle is temporarily pinned to the floor. The car begins to turn slowly at first..but then as the wheel spin increases the back end starts to dictate direction more. Fluctuating and feathering the throttle the driver keeps one eye out the windsheild and the other out the passenger window to keep the roadway insight. A quick countersteer and a shift to 3rd snatches the rear axle back to playing pusher. Up a steep hill and aroud a right turn too open to slide through the celica pushes harder the speedometer eeps past the 60mph mark. Ahead a 15 yard left turn lends itself to a 15 yard sideways slide slowing the car to 40 on exit...wheels spinning faster, then slower, then faster again to maintian the sideways balance. The incline turns left and the driver closes the throttle plate, the hesitation is evident, and the effect......
is terminal.
EDIT: damn row boats
Another launch, but this time a delicate one, as the first turn comes quick, and the right hander is driven through with all 4 wheels forming just two tracks. The short straight provided a superb acceleration lane, and as the transmission was massaged into an early third gear the wheel is whipped to the left and the gear shift ripped back into 2nd while the throttle is temporarily pinned to the floor. The car begins to turn slowly at first..but then as the wheel spin increases the back end starts to dictate direction more. Fluctuating and feathering the throttle the driver keeps one eye out the windsheild and the other out the passenger window to keep the roadway insight. A quick countersteer and a shift to 3rd snatches the rear axle back to playing pusher. Up a steep hill and aroud a right turn too open to slide through the celica pushes harder the speedometer eeps past the 60mph mark. Ahead a 15 yard left turn lends itself to a 15 yard sideways slide slowing the car to 40 on exit...wheels spinning faster, then slower, then faster again to maintian the sideways balance. The incline turns left and the driver closes the throttle plate, the hesitation is evident, and the effect......
is terminal.
EDIT: damn row boats
