[tevake]

One of the things I was looking forward to in being on the mainland ( from Kauai )
Is the chance to get involved in motor sports activities.
Well last week end I headed down to Phoenix from Chino Valley taking a renowned route through Wichenburg on hiway 89. This turned out to be a great road to cruise on, great mountain roads and interesting country to check out. Coming out of the mountains and down onto the desert floor, here called the Valley.

Once in Phoenix I found out the Drivers Ed event for Sat. had been cancelled because of the forecast of rain, and possible standing water on the track. Just as well for me as my S C was running a bit rough and not feeling ready for time on track anyway.

But Sunday there was an Auto Cross scheduled. So I figured I'd go by and meet some of the Porsche Club folks and check out the event. I felt very welcomed and included, even tho I decided not to run my car, as it was still not feeling quite right.
They assigned me a spot at the front of the grid area watching to release the next car as the track cleared. This gave me a chance to chat a little with each driver and to check out their cars as they headed out to do battle with the cones. Tho mostly newer Porsches dominated the grid, there were also Corvettes, both a new Camero and mustang, a couple of Miatas, a full race 69 Camero (owned and campaigned by the same owner for over 25 years). One nice 89 Carrera ( the only older era Porsche) also one owner.
And a smattering of other cars there to play.

I was really enjoying myself doing this for a couple of rounds of the two groups of cars did their runs. When one of the Porsche club regulars invited me to ride along with him on the next round. Well he turned to be one of the local Hot Shoes at the event who was driving a 991 GT 3 ! And regularly turned in FTDs. So this was an opportunities not to be missed. And really quite an intro to the sport of carving the cones.
Also I might add my first ride at all in a modern Porsche of any sort.

Suffice it to say this turned to be quite a ride for me. The capabilities of this car were amazing to see firsthand, and Kim K's car handling skills were a revelation. The pace was so fast I had a hard time just seeing what was coming as we ripped thru the quick esses, blasted down the short straight into a tight left hander that I thought was impossible to get around at our approach speed. It was thrilling, exciting, and a bit impossible all at the same time. He set FTD on our third lap. And I ended up with an uncontrollable smile and the adrinelin shakes for most of the rest of the day.
WOW. What a blast! Needless to say I'll be back.

Oh the SCs issues were solved by a fresh fill of clean fuel, so the drive back up the mountains, and the opportunity for an Itallian tune up continued the smile on my face.

Cheers Richard

Ps. To be fair I should add that our fast time was eclipsed by a tenth or so on the last run of the day by the 69 Camero. The bugger had 11 inch tires on the front, just to give you an idea of its development as a race car.