Interesting Speedster article on C/Net (of all places)

"At least on public roads, you simply can't go fast or go hard enough in a modern 911 to trick your brain into pumping the same quantity of dopamine and adrenaline that a 356 mainlines into your soul at a third of the speed -- at least not without going to jail or bending something."

I think that says it all.  And to think our Speedsters do pretty much the same!

@ALB posted:

"At least on public roads, you simply can't go fast or go hard enough in a modern 911 to trick your brain into pumping the same quantity of dopamine and adrenaline that a 356 mainlines into your soul at a third of the speed -- at least not without going to jail or bending something."

I know the feeling, Al.  You have to pick your roads carefully.

@Gordon Nichols  @ALB @Bob: IM S6  all you guys are 100% correct.....i wonder if that guy would feel a bit safer in my coupe,,,that said....with 180hp....short throw vintage speed shifter...better brakes etc....i have been up close to the line...which is why i don't aim at guardrails anymore...it's toooo nice a car to throw away by being a bit over exuberant... more fun to just use your head for something other than a doorstop and bring 'er home each time....but nice to know it's there if the situation calls for it...as always IMHO

This is the same Speedster Michael McKelvey linked to in the Robb Report article. It must have been Media Day in Hawaii. Porsche actually flew all of the cars in the CNET article for the write-up.

Outstanding.

I would add, that the only thing more sublime than lonesome highway at night cruising is hustling with haste and vigor through a tight mountain road, playing cat and mouse with likeminded wheelmen in similar conveyances.

It's as close to heaven as I'm likely to get on this blue ball.

Here here, my Midwest Racer Boy Exhaust-cutout friend! It truly is one of life's pleasures.

@Stan Galat @Carlos G

Sounds like a perfect spot to advertise this year's Tour de Smo'.  

Details in the Events forum, folks.

Stan's comment about lonesome highway at night cruising brought to mind a show I went to in southern Vermont a few years back which ran a bit late (it was a cruise-in at Hemming's Motor News in Bennington) so I was driving back on the Mohawk Trail (Mass RT 2) just after dark, mostly by myself as the traffic was light and it was a warm, starry night.  Pearl was running great and RT 2 is a 4-lane series of long sweeping curves until I got off onto I-190 back towards home.  

There's a lot to be said for night time cruising in a Speedster.  It's almost spiritual.

@Lane Anderson posted:

Sounds like a perfect spot to advertise this year's Tour de Smo'.  

Details in the Events forum, folks.

Not so loud Lane. Smaller is better on tight and twisty.

Small cars and small group. YUP!

Reminder: Smo is a DRIVER'S event. It is NOT an "oh-looky-that" cruise/tour.

@DannyP posted:

Small cars and small group. YUP!

Reminder: Smo is a DRIVER'S event. It is NOT an "oh-looky-that" cruise/tour.

Understatement of the year.

"There's a lot to be said for night time cruising in a Speedster.  It's almost spiritual."

Amen, Gordon, amen.  I have loved summer evening cruising in a little two seater since I was sixteen years old...

Living where I do, my favorite time to cruise is late spring and summer evenings, Hwy 30A from Destin to Rosemary Beach is a great place to spend an evening. Lots of places to eat, places to shop and people to watch.

@Gordon Nichols posted:

There's a lot to be said for night time cruising in a Speedster.  It's almost spiritual.

There have been a couple of times when I've been behind the wheel of my Speedster on some lonely highway in Utah or Nevada or Wyoming, a hundred miles from anywhere, with a canopy of a billion billion stars in the firmament above - when everything about my existence: my concerns, my work, my immediate situation, even my self-awareness just melted away into the moment.

It was not almost spiritual, it was profoundly spiritual. I got to peek behind the curtain of heaven.

Gliding along in the car, everything but the moment just fell away, and I was floating on the surface of an ocean of goodness - carried along in a symphony of all of the past and present and future working together. There was a sense that all of the wheels and levers of history were focused on that exact moment. But there was also a deep understanding that all of the striving and sweating and pulling (while making the moment possible) were just supporting the production - that they (and I) were just roadies in God's own masterwork, rolling out the road in front of and behind me.

While fixed at a this focal point, I was in all of it and none of it at the same time.

I knew, down in my guts, that I was really just an "extra" in the production, that the beautiful and wonderful machine carrying and cocooning me was just a prop. Yet somehow, this production was playing out for me. I was allowed to be an active participant in God's plan for that exact moment, in that exact place. I got to live it - to smell the dew in the air, to see the stars in the heavens above, to hear the engine humming and burbling behind me, spinning thousands of times a minute and yet seeming relaxed and happy.

Like me, at least for that one moment.

It's happened a few times in my life - once on a riverboat on the Amazon River, several times in church, and a couple of times in my Speedster. God met me, and lifted the veil. It shook me to the core and unwound me.

That's spiritual.

Very inspiring Stan !  Two nights ago, Susan and I went "Star Gazing".  Here in the Baja Peninsula, we have no ambient light from any city and to get away, we drive out into the desert where we are far enough from any highway or people. We lay out under the stars. The sky isn't black. It's dark navy blue ! You can nearly feel the stars as though they are little "prickles" on our face and hands.The stars are so bright that they replace moonlight such that you can easily see. The Milky Way is right in our face in all it's glory.  So much so that we are humbled by how insignificant we really are in this wonderful universe. Susan said after a long silence," God is definitely in our presence !"

It's easy to find the Big Dipper.  The North Star from that.  Orion is right there to protect us and keep company with us ! It's a time for complete reflection on all that is good !..................Bruce

Some of the best nights I've ever spent were on wilderness rescues. All day long would be spent hiking/searching looking for the lost person. At night we would lay down for a few hours before searching again. Night time was the best for searching since lost people almost always bunk down when the sun sets and they wouldn't start moving again (against all of our wishes that they would remain in place) until the sun rose the next day. We would make a lot of gains at night, but in those few hours we rested the star gazing was at its best. When you're at the 10,000' foot level or higher (I've been above 13,000' feet) there are no trees to get in the way, there is no ambient light for many many miles, there is no smog, there is no noise to ruin the concentration, and the stars seem so close you'd think you could touch them. During the sixteen years I spent on the Search and Rescue Team I was in that place close to one hundred times. I would lay on my back with my teammates spread out nearby and we'd all just be silent staring up at God's creation pondering the many different thoughts that needed pondering. At that moment and the moment you're at the top of a mountain peak at 13K' with a 360 degree view you realize how small you are and how little space you take up in the universe. Stan says it a thousand times better than I could, but there is nothing like those moments to put you close to Him.

..Susan said after a long silence," God is definitely in our presence !"

.

I think those of us who can’t find it in ourselves to let go of these cars have had one or two of those transcendent moments.

Suddenly, it’s more than a car - and something we can’t find in a modern car.

These auto writers jump in and immediately start applying their usual measures - what’s the zero-to-sixty? Then they discover the zero-to-sixty is terrible, but somehow they still want to drive. This shakes up their little universe. Could there be more to a car than just the numbers?

No turbo, no Brembo, no traction control, and they STILL want to drive.

Maybe one of them got it when he realized he had to pay attention, to stay focused on the driving. The car needed him to be there. There was a knack to be mastered if you wanted to go fast, or almost to go at all.

For some of us it’s a discovery, For others, it shifts the bedrock a little, we need to reset our internal clocks.

For the most hardcore, it’s even spiritual.

Can I get an ‘amen’, brother?

And oh, here’s another new disciple:

.

@Sacto Mitch well said sir!....my car is far from the real deal stock item...and you really do have to stay focused a bit more than in the SUV soccer mom car...like i said, i have pushed the limit to a certain extent...and found out what i already knew.....these replicas are NOT a GT3...but as i also already knew...they were never meant to be.....spirited driving is fine...i'm just not part of the "phony tuff & crazy brave" club

@Sacto Mitch posted:

...Maybe one of them got it when he realized he had to pay attention, to stay focused on the driving. The car needed him to be there. There was a knack to be mastered if you wanted to go fast, or almost to go at all.

For some of us it’s a discovery, For others, it shifts the bedrock a little, we need to reset our internal clocks.

For the most hardcore, it’s even spiritual.

Can I get an ‘amen’, brother?

Amen, Brother.  Your first sentence says it all- in so many endeavors/activities you only get out of it what you put in, and this is certainly one of those!

And Stan, what you said- when you're one with the machine and only the moment matters it is most magical (and yes, spiritual!).  It's true, the moment doesn't last forever, but once you've been there you will never forget it.

I think that's what these guys who are used to being insulated from the road are discovering- motoring in it's purest form.

PS- and the guy in Mitch's video- yeah, a new convert...

On a dark desert highway

Cool wind in my hair

@Panhandle Bob posted:

On a dark desert highway

Cool wind in my hair

Warm smell of colitas, rising up through the air