British Car Day - Monday, May 18th
Arriving home from work, I rapidly changed clothes and jumped into the
Spitfire. Manual choke on, turned the starter. The faithful
convertible cranked on the first time, and settled into a high idle.
Flipped the lights on (mandatory safety feature), and buckled the seat
belt. Pumping the clutch twice, I slipped it into reverse, and backed
it out of the garage. Down the street, and out of the neighborhood to
the road, keeping it low in the revs until properly warmed. Took a
left, down a particularly curvy road, toward some high speed
well-banked corners. Shut the choke off, now properly up to running
temperature. The car was running perfectly, responding to every
shift, the exhaust note breaking the pre-twilight silence. Up and
around the fast sweepers, the car digging in and not complaining a
bit. Top down as always, I downshifted to third, and then to second,
in preparation for a stop sign. Turning right, I looked down and
noticed it was getting low on fuel. Ran it down the highway to the
nearest service station, and topped it off. Had a nice chat with the
high-school student working there. He pointed out his pride and joy -
a new Jeep TJ ragtop. Having been there and done that, I pointed to
my blue baby. Said our good-byes, and headed back out to the
highway. Crossed the highway, and hit another twisty road that runs
near the local county airport. Turned onto a very twisty section of
road that runs right by the end of the runway, signal lights blinking,
guiding in an unseen bird from above. Just as I passed the end, I saw
it coming. Jammed the brakes and slid off into the rough dirt
shoulder, and shut off the engine and lights. Above me, not 50 feet,
was a Cessna 172, engine purring as it glided in to land. The moon
shone off it's wings as it floated by. Enjoyed the peace and quiet
for a few minutes, the crickets breaking the silence. Then, another
plane - this time a corporate Jet - streaked by just above. From this
vantage point, I could make out all the details from the landing
planes. Coming back down to reality, I cranked up the Spit, and
dropped the clutch. Tail wagging, I squealed back onto the tarmac and
down the other side of the road, spun around, and headed back home.
Turned back into my neighborhood, rounded the corner, and my very own
perimeter lights were on, framing the driveway and guiding my Triumph
and I back to our own hanger. All in all, another successful and
thoroughly enjoyable ride in an LBC. Makes you just want to sit back
and say, Welcome to British Car Week, 1998!!
(The kids on the bikes asked if the Spit was a 'corvette or a
mustang?' I'm still working on them… :P )
Chip Mautz
Dacula, GA
'71 Triumph Spitfire MKIV
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"Aerodynamics are for people who cannot build engines." - Enzo Ferrari
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