Headed out for a quick jaunt on Saturday - perfect day, about 70 degrees, sunny, a breath of wind, etc, etc (no, I don't have an S2000...but I do like to drive my car hard now and again). There's a nearby road that follows the coast that is pretty much all tight turns for about twenty miles...and when I say tight, I mean lots of 120 degree turns, decreasing radius turns, etc, etc - in other words, FUN.

Anyways, heading along, I got stuck behind traffic - since the road is so hilly, tight, and twisty, you can't see ahead and so you can't pass anyone. After a half hour of trolling behind a Cavalier sedan, I finally got a bit of straight road and passed him.

Had fun for about three minutes before I hit traffic again. Somewhat irritated, I pulled over to let everyone by, then swung back around the other way (no traffic there). As luck would have it, some IDIOT in an older GTI was barrelling along at about 100 (kph) in the 60 zone - he wasn't happy that I wasn't quite up to his speed by the time he got to me. He was gesturing like crazy, swearing, the whole shebang....so I just stomped it to see what he could take.

In the straights, he would stick with me (I've only got 130 hp in my EL) and in the easier corners he was pretty close (bouncing all over the place, though). We were rocketing through the turns at well over 100 kph, just having a hoot (except he was mad - I was just having fun). Well, I finally had enough of him kissing my bumper at those speeds, so I sped UP into an S-turn (practically a chicane) and he just couldn't hang with me - he turned off shortly afterwards. Darn, that was fun.

Anyways, further along I came on a line of ten 'Vettes (some club, I'm guessing), mostly the C3s, but there were two C4s and two C5s as well - it was great driving on a fun road where the people ahead of you didn't touch their brakes heading into the corners! I wish everyone would do that... Heck, with cars the way they are today, most cars CAN corner well enough to not have to slow down (much, if at all) to take all but the tightest corners. These guys would all gear down heading into the corner, then power through the corner - awesome following behind, hearing those V8s do their thing.

Anyways, all in all a fun trip - I haven't driven my car as hard or fast as that through corners before (the wife doesn't like it - gets carsick) so it was fun. Ironically, the road I was on was near the same place where that SwissAir flight went down a few years back....glad I didn't lose control and join all the people that went down with it.

Hopefully I'll drive it again in the near future with something more sporting....

<shudder>

Ciao.

 

Sounds like fun.

Excuse my ignorance, but WTH is Acura EL?

We don't have those down here in the states.

 

Ah...poor deprived USA.

J/k.

The Acura EL is essentially a Honda Civic with the Si engine, but in a four door body. Like all of the Acura's, it's got more standard features, plus more options. For instance, mine (the Premium model) has leather interior, moonroof, sport suspension, alloys, CD and cassette, metallic paint, and low-profile rubber (same size tires as the Integra Type-R). Costs about as much as a midlevel Honda Accord (an LX with a few options).

I'll post a pic shortly (if I can find it)...

You can also see them on the www.acura.ca website, though mine doesn't look like the '02 models (which I think are uglier)...

 

A somewhat crappy picture - I need to take better ones when it's washed and waxed, not to mention in a better location with not so much glare...

 

[QUOTE]Originally posted by JonBoy
[B]it was great driving on a fun road where the people ahead of you didn't touch their brakes heading into the corners!

 

Definitely fun.

I'm not a great driver, really - I do well in REAL racing (ie, ice racing and karting) but taking a FF four door sedan to its limits on a tight road isn't quite my idea of sanity (nor is doing 50 over the limit, but we'll ignore that. =) ). I wasn't pushing the car to its absolute limits at any time. I sped up for that last corner because I knew I could take it faster than I was going at the time. IE, to that point, I was driving the car fairly hard, but not REALLY hard - say, 7/10ths... So, yeah, like you said, I wasn't travelling fast enough to need to brake.

However, if I was racing, you would be right - I would be travelling faster before the corner and would need to brake in order to settle the car and set up for the turn. In this case, I sped up because the car wasn't dangerously close to its limits. In road racing, when a chicane comes up after a short straight, a lot of cars/drivers won't even touch their brakes going through it - they'll just lift throttle slightly, or actually stay on the gas (depending on how tight the chicane is and how good the car is). Since it's an S shape, you can normally come in tight, continue nearly straight to hit the opposite side in the middle of the S, then come out wide on the exit.

Tell you what - come up to Nova Scotia for a day, and in return for a chance to drive your S2000, I'll show you that road and you can try it for yourself.

Heh heh.

Deal?

 

Hey, thanks for the driving tips and the invite. I have meant to take a ride up there sooner or later.

 

Well, no matter whether or not you let me drive, it'd be cool just to watch an S2K whip through the turns. If you really want to go, I'll gladly go with you (follow behind, or in the passenger seat). New Hampshire isn't THAT far away....