As many of you will probably be well aware, Italian autostradas are nerve-wracking … but nowhere near as nerve-wracking as jousting with full-size tours buses on the blind bends of the Amalfi coast! I have never seen Mrs. Robbo so close to tears in the passenger seat of a car I was driving. Mind you, she was on the side of the car where a wrought-iron railing was about all there was separating terra firma with a 400 foot drop into the Mediterranean!!
But enough. The 5-week overseas jaunt is a distant memory. I have been distracted by other, more important, things.
You see, I have been to Broadford where, finally, I have given the old $10,000 Horizontally-opposed-Porsche (ie. the Boxster – henceforth referred to as “10Khop”) a thorough thrashing. It was an eye-opener.
I have established, without equivocation, that tyres made somewhere north of Hong Kong and west of Pyongyang are rubbish. At sensible speeds these mid-engined devices are benign and well balanced. Flat stick on a track, however, the shortcomings of cheap and nasty “GoodWing” tyres becomes all too apparent.
I had Understeer. I had oversteer. At the same time. Not a 4 wheel drift – sort of one shortly after the other. Scrubbing into corners and “Whoa!” tail wagging out of corners. And no, it wasn’t my driving. I tried slow in/ fast out, fast in/slow out, early braking, late braking, no braking. I just ended up being slow/in, slow/out. Thankfully, the only people I was holding up were a couple of late model mega-buck 911s being punted around skillfully in demonstration to their owners by their mentors.
And there were a few occasions when I thought I’d broken it. Then I realized that, unlike old Italian cars, these things have a rev-limiter. I was bouncing off it! More often that I should have…
So whereas there was fun aplenty, I quickly realized that things would need to improve.
Which got me thinking…I like anything that turns petrol into noise, you see, so from a young age I have had affection for hot rods and that idiotic American notion that there is no substitute for cubes. So why not combine my new-found pre-occupation with Porsches with my deeply ingrained love of all things “over-engined” – that is to say, small car, big motor. In the modern parlance “OUTLAW”!!
And being rash and occasionally impetuous, I spoke to Stuart and together we discussed my “NEW PLANS”!!
These seem to involve a breathed-on 911 motor of 3.4 litres, a set of coil overs, reduced ride height and a set of sticky tyres on a set of Fuchs copies that hark back to the glory days of the 60s and 70s!! There’s other things I have in mind too, but I’ll keep them as a surprise. Think a bit retro. Think IROC. Maybe early Trans Am. Maybe Brumos. Forget Can Am!
So whereas I have recently christened the jigger “10Khop” and will continue to refer to it as such, the sobriquet will, henceforth, necessarily, apply ONLY TO ITS PURCHASE PRICE!!
Watch this space.
By Robbo (Ian Roberts)
