You are currently browsing the monthly archive for February, 2006.
Let us give thanks and praise the efforts of our young disciple as he begins his journey down the path of the righteously fast man. Let us join together, not to cast him down but to lift our voices up in praise and encouragement! For yes it is a hard path to follow and the costs to mind, spirit, body and wallet are sometimes overwhelming. But the rewards are also great and the highs will always outweigh the lows. Be safe be fast and in Juha’s name, amen!
Ah yes. The first time. Oh how vaguely I remember it from my early days. Have seen the footage (something about a dog and razor blades) and was pleased to see a controlled effort by the young fella. The urge to try and fly is always hard to resist but I am sure that words of wisdom from dad were heeded and nice clean runs were made with plenty of control. Yes there were spins and minor collisions with the tyre walls but these were only little errors which were far and away overshadowed by an in control (that word again) and relaxed run at the various courses.
Big things on the horizon? Does it matter? The smile is the biggest indicator and if that is reading high than that is all that matters. As GM knows, some of the best fun has been had near the back of the field and some of the finest moments were followed by offs or breakdowns.
Looking forward to seeing more and more of the young fella out there.
Yours in perfect control
G (yeah right)
The lad took the new beast for it’s first competitive run on Sunday and he had a ball! Wasn’t the fastest, wasn’t the slowest, wasn’t always in complete control, but was having a lot of fun.
It all started on the previous Thursday night when one of our fellow car club members told us the Khanacross was on at Avalon the following Sunday. Once he heard it was on there was no way he was going to miss it. So, I sussed out the details with the Clerk of Course on Friday night and he was entered!
After a bit of last minute preparation of Saturday, the car was loaded onto the trailer and ready for the early start on Sunday morning.
Up early and on the road by 7.30 am it took us about 45mins to get to Avalon. Unloaded, into the line for scrutiny, submit the entry, cruise through scrutiny, Dad gets a rundown on what he should have checked in the rule book and what should be added for next time by the scrutineer. No big deal, not much stress and they are pretty impressed by the little blue and white beastie.
Then it’s drivers briefing and a look at the course maps for the 6 runs throughout the day. Then the wait in line for the first run.
He’s number 43 and they start the numbering at 12 (have no idea how they worked their numbering system) so it’s about 40 mins until he gets out there.
He rolls up to the start line, stops in the box for a moment as required and then he’s away. Lots of wheelspin and revs on the soft slippery dirt (with road tyres) and tentatively into the first corner. He negotiates that successfully as he does the rest of the lap and in no time he’s back in the box, stops and dawdles off to return to the pit area, but he misses the entry and trundles off onto a track alongside the course that goes nowhere and has to do a ‘u’turn and back to where he should have been. No one is too perturbed though. Back in the pits and he has a grin from ear to ear! He’s proud, so’s his brother and of course his Dad is too.
Gee’s it f*&%ing goes hard! He’s impressed with his purchase and it’s first competitive run!
So the rest of the day went pretty much the same way but with a few added spins on the next 3 runs as he explored the cars and his abilities on dirt. An ideal way to start out with not too much to hit except the odd tyre stack. The fifth and final run was probably the tidiest and I’m tipping the fastest for him (we didn’t check times as he was really there just for the experience).
I reckon he understands that’s it’s not the easiest thing he’s ever going to do but is determined to keep at it. I think a few more Khanacrosses are in order before he hits the forest tracks in anger but I can only try and persuade him of that. Ultimately it’s his decision.
So what did he learn? He’s bought a pretty good car, that dirt can be pretty slippery, that he needs to make a few adjustments to the car, that he needs to make a few adjustments to his driving, that those tyre stacks bite and put dents in your car (only little ones that pop out by hand!)and it’s much harder work than Colin McRae Rally!!
’til next time.
See ya in the forest…..
