The Monday morning commute

[Isabo]

This morning I had a minor "event", ie we overslept and were late in leaving the house, I had to take my husband to the airport. This was compounded by Armando's BMW deciding it was not going anywhere, probably it's alarm and immobiliser system. My daughter had already borrowed my mini while her car was being serviced so that left......my disreputable 911. Armando briefly toyed with the idea of using a motorcycle but leaving it at the airport was not an option as he's coming back to a different town and the idea of me taking one of his toys home on busy urban roads and fast mountain passes was even more stressful.
My husband has now accepted the 911 as a permanent feature in the household and no longer complains very much about oil leaks on his spotless garage floor, fumes and smoke on start up, and the risk of rust and metal fatigue being contagious and spreading to his precious motorcycles. (Rust problems were sorted ages ago but he loves winding me up). However, he does not enjoy being driven by me at the best of times and especially not in the 911 when we're in a hurry. I had to drive as Armando is big enough to admit that I am much quicker than him in the 911, but he does not enjoy the ride. For once he did not use the mantra about the unreliability of 34 year old cars. Ha ha, new BMWX3 broken down.
The first part of the drive is twisty mountain roads, think of Pikes Peak or Stelvio, going up hill and down hill. It can be very quick as there is little traffic and little policing. Strangely the "peak" times are very early morning and late evening because of commuters going to town. So at 6:00am we hit the road and we met a slow moving van, this held us up for a few minutes until we reached a spot where we could overtake. This allowed another car to catch us up, a VW Touareg. When I saw a chance I dropped two gears and floored it, the van driver was not expecting it and neither was the VW. I managed to build up some distance before the VW was able to pass as well. This showed he was not very familiar with that stretch of road. There followed a less intensive stretch and the VW caught up - I could have got away from him but I wasn't racing, just moving quickly at my chosen pace.
The VW caught up and wanted to pass. No problem, except he didn't have enough acceleration to do it safely and I had no intention of slowing down to allow him. There then followed a few miles of tight bends. Mr VW would sit on my bumper until it was time to turn into the bend, where upon I would either maintain my speed or accelerate through them. Mr VW tried staying with me for the first few but his car was leaning over so much that I think his lady passenger started feeling queasy and made him slow down - watching them in the mirror was quite funny as everytime I increased the distance the driver was becoming more and more enraged. On that stretch if I had gone 9/10ths I would have lost him. We then went htrough a couple of towns and the road became busier and faster, we both had to do a little overtaking to maintain our speed. Coming out of the last small town the road changes to gentle sweeping bends, mr VW saw his opportunity here and overtook me very skillfully. I could have gone faster or blocked him if I had wanted to, instead I just tucked in behind him. This was the moment he had been waiting for, to show what modern SUV technology could do. I stayed with him easily enough and I noticed his car was not rolling so much on the wide bends, or perhaps he was just more skilled in that type of driving condition. His driving becamne faster and faster and I decided to back off. Mr VW wanted to prove a point to himself and perhaps to his lady companion, I have nothing to prove and the speeds were starting to hit dangerous levels for the road and also some points where there may be speedtraps. I slowed down and doubtless he will tell his friends tonight about how he diced with a Porsche and won. It gives him a little satisfaction and costs me nothing.
Enterring the autostrada I joined carefully and first got behind a lorry in the slow lane while I was waiting for a gap in the faster lane I could pull into. I was driving with an eye on my mirror when I saw a familiar set of headlights: Porsche! I dropped into third and waited, when it went passed I kicked down, matched his speed and tucked in behind him. It was a white 964 Carrera 4. We drove along in tandem for a little while until the traffic had cleared a little when we both floored it. I am not sure how hard the 964 was trying but I had no trouble staying with him, I think I may have had a light edge until about 210mph (130mph) when the 964 started pulling away, seeing that he was losing me the driver slowed down and then did it again. I think he was also comparing performance more than trying to race. We stayed together for about 15 minutes until we took different directions. The last stretch was just quick, straight autostrada and tangenziale (ring road) driving, except for passing a totally gorgeous Ferrari 250 gt swb that got even Armando's attention (he identified it for me, it is not on his list of rubbishy old sports cars that should be taken off the road and scrapped apparently). He tucked in behind me for a moment and then went passed, old Porsches are driven in joy, a car like that is driven to peals of bells and the greater glory of God.
In the last kilometre I saw the time - we would get into the airport with just enough time for Armando to check in, the road was clear and I floored it. I pulled into the airport departures at full speed passed a police car and parked outside the entrance. I rushed out of the car and pulled bagsout of the back, kissed Armando goodbye and saw the driver of the policecar smiling.
I had just got back in the car when the police driver came over. I got out of the car and gave him my license. He studied it for a moment and smiled at me: "I heard you arriving five minutes ago! If you don't want to lose your little toy, DRIVE SLOWLY!" A gentleman! I thanked him and drove off making as little noise as possible.
My drive home was very gentle and restrained. I stopped in one town to look at a couple of shop windows and in another for breakfast. I'm sitting at home now waiting for the autoelectrician for the BMW.

[IROC]

Great story! Much better than my drive in this morning...

Mike

[Paulporsche]

Great story! As an Italian American (albeit living in Canada) I had to get back to the "Old Old Country", which I did two years ago. I thoroughly enjoyed driving through Tuscany. Of course, it wasn't in the 911, but driving through the hills of wine country was still fabulous in our rented VW Polo.

[imcarthur]

Cool, Isa.

I too, love driving in Italia. Just not the cities . . . Napoli is . . . well . . . insane.

Ian

[LakeCleElum]

Isa - Thank you for a great story. You are further proof of a theory I developed after driving a few times in Europe. My theory is:
The average female driver in Europe is a better driver than most cops in the US....You sound like you've driven those great roads all your life.

[bigchillcar]

wow..what a rush! armando is a lucky guy..
ryan

[Isabo]

Like everyone else I think I'm a great driver and better than everyone else, don't forget that most drivers especially women are handicapped by their cars and the type of driving they have to do, who needs to learn to double declutch to make a supermarket run? I have worked at it especially since I got the 911 ten years ago. I do compete in hillclimbs occaisionally which helps and I regularly drive on fast demanding roads. That's a road I've been driving at least twice a week for the last 8 years. I learned to drive in country lanes in Surrey in England. Some thanks also to my father who loved Porsches and taught me to drive as well as to Armando and Milu who tried to make me lose my bad habits and taught me proper technique.

[FrayAdjacent911]

Funny... When my dad had his 911, we were in Germany, at Ramstein. Then he went down to Naples to check it out and find a place to live when he learned he was being stationed down there.

He said the Italians down there drive so bad, it would be... not-so-smart... to take a Porsche down there.

He sold it and bought a pretty nice Honda when we got down there... 6 months later, a guy two cars ahead of him dropped his tranny, the guy in front of him dodged, and dad hit the disabled car full on. Totalled his Honda. I guess he was right!

I liked Italy a lot... and I'd love to go back someday to see all of the things I saw when I was a kid.

[stomachmonkey]

A woman who knows how to drive the snot out of a car, now THAT gets my motor going.

Disclaimer: The preceeding statement was not intended to be a negative comment about the ability of women drivers in general. Remember that I currently live in the land of SUV drivin, cell phone yackin, latte drinkin soccer moms. My wife being one of them. Man I wanna move back home to Germany.

[Isabo]

Thanks for all the lovely compliments and kind comments. Learning to drive quickly was also an act of rebellion against my mother who hated speed, sportscars and Porsches in particular, I used to have to sneak out of the house with my dad to get a ride in his as she really did not approve. It became even worse towards Porsches after my father was killed in his. I'm glad he taught me to drive (underage) so I at least have that memory.

[bob tilton]

great read!

[Brillo]

Enjoyed the read.

My mother is from northeastern Italy. Last time I was there ten years ago, I rented a Fiat Punto. Far from a 911, but it was fun.

[}{arlequin]

great story Isa.... thank you.

I sent your original "how-I-brought-my-car-from-the-UK" story to my girlfriend and she absolutely loved it. Now I'm supposed to look for a vintage Porsche for her too....

[Jamie79SC]

Napoli is MAGNIFICENT! I've never had so much fun dirving in a city in my life. Way better than playing Grand Theft Auto.

[LakeCleElum]

Isa - So sorry about your father...Sounds like he did a great job of parenting!!!!!!!

[Isabo]

In Italy as a general rule the further south you go, the wilder the driving gets in the city. Naples is probably the most extreme.
The rule I was given (especially for Rome and Naples) was concentrate on looking after the front of your car and let everyone else worry about the rest. It usually works

[silverc4s]

What a great read! Thanks Isa, made my day here in trafficworld..;-(

[Jamie79SC]

The only advise from my brother who lived in Napoli was, "Never try to outdrive an Italian in this city - if he wants your lane don't fight him for it, he'll win"

[993.986.]

Thank you for your wonderful story. It transported me to another place altogether, I could almost hear that flat six rev up, feel the air rushing over my head (I have a Targa), watch the mountains rush by, etc. and then have Claude Rains (in my mind) tell you to take it easy OR ELSE! What a great read! Thanks again.

[Jim Garfield]

Thanks, that was fun to read. I was recently overtaken on the interstate by a '63 or '64 E type that was doing about 95mph. I caught up and we had a good time passing and repassing each other through the hills of New Hampshire for about 50 miles till he turned off.