In a message dated 03/08/00 8:04:46 AM Pacific Daylight Time,
nosimport@mailbag.com writes:
> >All illegal speeds were of course attained on closed circuits ;-)
> >
> >Bill
>
> ..... and you're a professional driver.
Actually, I am an aesthetic hedonist by profession, but as that doesn't pay
very well, I am also perforce a lawyer by vocation, and a weekend race car
builder and driver by avocation, when time permits.
The 130 mph in the MGC, BTW, was admittedly on a public roadway, but it was a
new highway that had opened for the first time the day we drove it, and there
was no traffic access from on-ramps or crossings. It was also done with a
fresh ground-up restoration, and a barely broken in 175 bhp engine, so I was
confident about mechanical condition. The really fun part wasn't just being
able to open it up for the first time, it was being a few car lengths behind
a friend's V12 XKE coupe - that model has a 3.54 diff and a 135 mph top end,
but the car was perhaps a little tired and so he was presented with a rear
view mirror full of what appeared to be an MGB that he couldn't lose.
I don't think he believed me when I told him that it was stock, that I hadn't
pulled out to pass, as he was the one with the radar detector, nor that I
hadn't opened it up all the way as I was breaking it in (I had, of course).
Sadly, that highway is now full of Flatlanders from Alberta in underpowered
campers, sightseeing as they drive far too slowly.
Bill
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