Talking about somethinh 'HOT'

Last night I watched the F1 live from Spain. Somehow I cannot picture what it would be like to go at 300 kph , approached a bend and with late braking, turn comfortably and step on the accelerator again to bring your vehicle to 300kph again within afew seconds !

NOW THAT IS HOT !

I recalled my experience of an adrenalin rush and I wrote it in a post last year. Read it again and also re posting it.

THE UPS AND DOWNS OF MY WEEKEND

My Uppers.
I have to thank my son for making my weekend. When I received a call from him at 5.00pm on Saturday to meet him at the car-park, he had me worried .Why? Why at the car-park?

A thousand and one possibilities came to my mind. Looking at the cars coming in, I was still wondering while waiting for his familiar car. Then a black car drove in, with the distinguished radiator grille.

In my mind, I still had time to tell myself ‘WOW!’ An Audi A4.

Just what my son and I had been talking about the last couple of weeks or so. When the car was nearer, I saw the familiar grin of my son in the car. He parked the car, still grinning, he got out, and keeping the door opened, said, “Come on ‘Bah! Give it a drive!”

OMG! I mean this would be the first Audi that I would have driven.

But this particular one is the Audi Quattro A4. (4-wheel drive, Turbo)

The next thing I knew, I was heading towards the Middle Ring Road and listening to my son giving a run-down of the car details. But it was just a normal drive with the usual heavy traffic, swerving in and out without actually ‘feeling’ the car. I drove on, passed the students’ hostels of Taman Melati and finally make a U-turn back towards Setiawangsa..

Then my son suggested getting on to the Elevated Highway. Now, that was a good idea. So we made a U-turn at the Jalan Ampang and Middle Ring Road intersection. After the Flamingo Club, we turned left into the access road to the highway.

Just as I drove in the access road, my son switched on the traction-control and moved the gear lever to the “S” position. Coolly he told me to step on the accelerator right down until I felt the switch on the back of the pedal hitting the floor.

I did just that. THEN IT ALL HAPPENED AND I LOVED EVERY SECOND OF IT. ! The turbo kicked in and 200 horses pulled the car with a surge, throwing my body back with such a force that I was shouting “S**T and laughing all the way.

Maneuvering the bends of the access road before getting to the highway was easy. No skids no nothing. I knew I was grinning all the way . Inspite of all the bends before reaching the toll booth, within that short distance, I knew I’d already hit 190+ kmph.. ( Earlier, my son told me he was cruising at 240 kmph at the highway and making a U-turn at 100 kmph - without realising it other than a slight squealing of tires. Well I believe him)

The car simply did what I wanted it to do. Not a single scary moment at all. Thanks to it road-holding ability and its traction control. In one word - WOW ! ADMITTEDLY, THE STIFFNESS OF THE SUSPENSION DOES GIVE IT A SOMEWHAT HARD RIDE---BUT HEY ! WHO CARES ! LOOK AT THE STABILITY OF THE CAR - ITS WORTH THE SACRIFICE.

The toll booth of this particular highway is something else. I have seen powerful cars doing their thing after paying the toll. I have seen a VW GTi punishing a new BMW 5 series , a Lotus Elise weaving in between cars like nothing, a Subaru Impreza roaring off like nobody’s business and other two-seaters like the Celicas , Mazda RX7s and a host of other ‘boy-racers’.

. Indeed this would have been a Traffic Cops’ Paradise!

Any way as soon as the toll-gate opened, I pumped the accelerator to the floor-board. I was just in another world. The roar of the engine: the surge of the car: the thrill of it all. MY ADRENALIN WAS PUMPING AWAY FULL-TIME - and suddenly nothing else mattered.

There are other powerful cars –no doubt—but for that time this car was in my control. And I love it. No squealing of tires, no wasted energy – just sheer power to pull you away from the world behind you.

After the first surge of the turbo power, the next best thing to happen is that (something I thought I would never have the chance to do –ever):- I flashed the Xenon lights of the Audi on a BMW 5 series. And you know what? It moved aside to give me way!

Anyway – all too soon, we reached the end of the highway, made a U-Turn and swing back to where we came from—still blasting away with the car doing exactly what you want it to do ! I didn’t look to see the speed I was doing.- But I do know I pushed the engine to 7000 rpm. when I took a very quick peek without taking my eyes off the road.

I know I saw my son pressing his imaginary brakes from the passenger seat and at times putting up his hands as if trying to stop something. I was doing that sometimes when he drives.

When we reached home, parked the car, my son turned to me and said, “Abah, its no fun to be a passenger in this car!” All I said to him was, “Thanks for making my weekend son. ‘ But in my heart I was saying, (heheheh---well, I can imagine so!)