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Hello folks, I'm bored so I figured I'd write a little story about one of my favorite cars in GT4 and a "test drive" of it I recently took in it at Monterey, California's very own: Laguna SECA.
I hope it dosen't suck too bad. Enjoy
Golden Oldie: Legends Never Die
One day I at my place of residence in Florida, I got a call from my uncle. He said that he wanted me to fly out to Southern California to check out a "recently aquired piece of hardware" that he had flown in from the U.K. He said he would pay for a 2-Way 1st class ticket, so I wasn't complaining.
The next morning I was boarding my 10 AM flight to SoCal, wondering what he bought this time. It must be pretty special if he wants me to check it out.
Then it hit me, my uncle mentioned a year before that he was looking for some new cars to add to his museum in San Diego. Adding to that he knows I'm a fan of the Group B era of the mid 1980's, it's problably one of the monsters from the time. Thinking this, I begin frothing at the mouth, wondering what could possibly be in store for me.
As I got off the plane, I noticed a chauffer holding a sign saying "R. Rodriguez". "I'm your man!" I said jokingly. "Good man." he said. "Your uncle is expecting you, this way please." I stretched out in the comfortable back seat of the Lincoln Town Car and took a nap.
When I was awoken by the car stopping, I looked out the window at what appeared to be the back of a Pit bay. Judging by my surrounding I said quietly "Jeebus! I'm at Laguna SECA!" I sleepily got out of the car and followed the chauffer to the front of the pitting bay. And there I saw it.... turns out my suspicions were true.
My uncle was in a pitting garage, leaning against what appeared to be a white Ford RS200. My heart skipped a beat, and my mouth went dry. He did buy a new car, and it was from the Group B era! "Suprised?" my uncle said with a laugh. "That's an understatement." I replied awingly. "Well, I know you didn't come out here to just look at it." he said. "Hop in, I'll give you a ride around the course. And then I'll let you drive." I couldn't believe what I was hearing, I was getting a chance to drive a piece of history around Laguna SECA!
The Cockpit was a tad snug for my 6/5 frame, but I managed. It was suprisingly well-equipped for a homologation car, with carpet... and that's about it so far as creature comforts go. It looked like it had a radio at one point in time, but all that's there now is a hole in the center console. "Ready?" my uncle said, putting on the suprisingly pedestrian seat belt attached to the B pillar. "Hit it!" I replied. The beast roared to life, the whooshing-roar of 1.8 litres of Cosworth's finest revving up to a pant-wetting 8,000RPM.
The first corner approached rapidly, but my uncle didn't seem to notice. He drove calmly it like the average soccer mom drives a Dodge Caravan. He dabbed the brake, turned in, and floored it out of the turn in high second gear. It went on like this untill we approaced the Rahal Straight, home of the famous Corkscrew. "This might get a tad scary." my uncle said, I could barely hear him over the angry lump just inches from my ears. He approaced the corkscrew with the intensity of Ayrton Senna and slid it like Stig Blomqvist, who ironically campaigned the RS200. I, at this point was barely in the seat, I was pushing myself against the floor so I wouldn't come out of the useless seatbelt.
Now it was my turn, to say I was scared was the understatement of the century. The clutch was like a bear trap, and required a lot of effort to get into gear. But the 5 speed gearbox otherwise flowed quite nicely, with short throws and positive engagement. The steering was very direct and communicative, with a nice weighted feel to it. The grip on this car is astonishing! (Problably because of the D.O.T-legal race tires fitted.) And when it does let go, it goes into a nice, controllable slide. Understeer does become a problem if you become too heroic, but it's easily corrected. The engine is a piece of Cossie art. Getting 250ish horsepower from less than 2 litres is no small feat, but they managed to pull it off. The low-end responce is not the greatest though, but it's in the powerband soon enough.
When the day was done. I parked the car in the garage, and my uncle and I went out to dinner to catch up on things.
My best lap time was in the 1:44:00 ish range, not too shabby for a person who has trouble tying his shoes.
Apparently, a Cameraman was on site taking pictures of our little joyride. He sent me the pics a week later, here they are:
So that concludes my write-up, feel free to say I suck and point and make-fun. But I enjoyed writing it.
I hope it dosen't suck too bad. Enjoy
Golden Oldie: Legends Never Die
One day I at my place of residence in Florida, I got a call from my uncle. He said that he wanted me to fly out to Southern California to check out a "recently aquired piece of hardware" that he had flown in from the U.K. He said he would pay for a 2-Way 1st class ticket, so I wasn't complaining.
The next morning I was boarding my 10 AM flight to SoCal, wondering what he bought this time. It must be pretty special if he wants me to check it out.
Then it hit me, my uncle mentioned a year before that he was looking for some new cars to add to his museum in San Diego. Adding to that he knows I'm a fan of the Group B era of the mid 1980's, it's problably one of the monsters from the time. Thinking this, I begin frothing at the mouth, wondering what could possibly be in store for me.
As I got off the plane, I noticed a chauffer holding a sign saying "R. Rodriguez". "I'm your man!" I said jokingly. "Good man." he said. "Your uncle is expecting you, this way please." I stretched out in the comfortable back seat of the Lincoln Town Car and took a nap.
When I was awoken by the car stopping, I looked out the window at what appeared to be the back of a Pit bay. Judging by my surrounding I said quietly "Jeebus! I'm at Laguna SECA!" I sleepily got out of the car and followed the chauffer to the front of the pitting bay. And there I saw it.... turns out my suspicions were true.
My uncle was in a pitting garage, leaning against what appeared to be a white Ford RS200. My heart skipped a beat, and my mouth went dry. He did buy a new car, and it was from the Group B era! "Suprised?" my uncle said with a laugh. "That's an understatement." I replied awingly. "Well, I know you didn't come out here to just look at it." he said. "Hop in, I'll give you a ride around the course. And then I'll let you drive." I couldn't believe what I was hearing, I was getting a chance to drive a piece of history around Laguna SECA!
The Cockpit was a tad snug for my 6/5 frame, but I managed. It was suprisingly well-equipped for a homologation car, with carpet... and that's about it so far as creature comforts go. It looked like it had a radio at one point in time, but all that's there now is a hole in the center console. "Ready?" my uncle said, putting on the suprisingly pedestrian seat belt attached to the B pillar. "Hit it!" I replied. The beast roared to life, the whooshing-roar of 1.8 litres of Cosworth's finest revving up to a pant-wetting 8,000RPM.
The first corner approached rapidly, but my uncle didn't seem to notice. He drove calmly it like the average soccer mom drives a Dodge Caravan. He dabbed the brake, turned in, and floored it out of the turn in high second gear. It went on like this untill we approaced the Rahal Straight, home of the famous Corkscrew. "This might get a tad scary." my uncle said, I could barely hear him over the angry lump just inches from my ears. He approaced the corkscrew with the intensity of Ayrton Senna and slid it like Stig Blomqvist, who ironically campaigned the RS200. I, at this point was barely in the seat, I was pushing myself against the floor so I wouldn't come out of the useless seatbelt.
Now it was my turn, to say I was scared was the understatement of the century. The clutch was like a bear trap, and required a lot of effort to get into gear. But the 5 speed gearbox otherwise flowed quite nicely, with short throws and positive engagement. The steering was very direct and communicative, with a nice weighted feel to it. The grip on this car is astonishing! (Problably because of the D.O.T-legal race tires fitted.) And when it does let go, it goes into a nice, controllable slide. Understeer does become a problem if you become too heroic, but it's easily corrected. The engine is a piece of Cossie art. Getting 250ish horsepower from less than 2 litres is no small feat, but they managed to pull it off. The low-end responce is not the greatest though, but it's in the powerband soon enough.
When the day was done. I parked the car in the garage, and my uncle and I went out to dinner to catch up on things.
My best lap time was in the 1:44:00 ish range, not too shabby for a person who has trouble tying his shoes.
Apparently, a Cameraman was on site taking pictures of our little joyride. He sent me the pics a week later, here they are:
So that concludes my write-up, feel free to say I suck and point and make-fun. But I enjoyed writing it.
