I swore I would NEVER EVER do it...

["Tessie McMillan" <tessmc@domain.elided>]

I can't help it; I've always been a good girl. I don't smoke, have never
been interested in drugs, and don't drink licentiously. However, there is
one thing I have always SWORN I would NEVER do, and today ... I broke down
and did it.

I drove a Spider at the track. &:-)

Although I dearly love Olive Oil, and drive her with the top down in all
kinds of weather -- it's especially enjoyable at night with the stars out, I
have refused to track her due to a totally irrational fear about being in an
open car in a competition situation. I've always been a coupe-type driving
slut. Well, so women can change their minds, ok? Today, our local Alfa club
held its last track event for the season at Bremerton Raceway. Perfect
weather, perfect group of people, perfect group of cars. My (non-Alfa) Audi
Quattro was pitted next to a friend's Series 4 Spider. And after looking at
it all season long, curiousity just overcame me. "So, how stiff does this
roll bar feel, and how different is this Spider from my Graduate?" I asked
him. He looked at me and said, "why don't you find out! take the car out for
a spin on the track!". I looked at him and was thinking "noooooo, I'm not
really comfortable being responsible for other people's cars; maybe I should
just drive it in the paddock.." but out of my mouth came the flippant
answer: "Hell yes, I'll get my helmet!". And I found my feet following
through on this statement.

First thing I noticed was the stupendously wonderful gearbox. This car has
been lovingly cared for! I had a little trouble getting accustomed to the
shifter throw, and the height of the clutch, but the car was solid as a
rock. And the dang-blasted sun visors stayed UP, for goshsakes. A little
twitchy -- surprise! power steering -- at first, but then that turned into
an asset. &:-) Surprising power underfoot. My quattro does not know the
meaning of 0-60, and if I drop the rpms anywhere on the course, I'm a dead
ship and people use me for target practice. My friend's Spider was ... I
have to say it: ZIPPY! My friend had complained about an air bubble in his
brake lines -- even emailed me about my Power Bleeder before the event, and
said he'd had trouble getting the car to stop on the first hammer, but when
I nailed on the brakes, MAN the car dug talons into the tarmac.
Unfortunately, for the first too-many laps I couldn't quite get the hang of
THAT, no-ABS, and had a bit of a wakeup call keeping the car from swapping
ends. My german-trained foot was just too darn ham-fisted (can I say that?).
When I finally learned to slow the car by E.S.P., things went much more
smoothly. &:-) Pretty soon, I'd forgotten all about my friend, forgotten all
about the responsibility for his car, forgotten all my psychotic fears about
"flipping", forgotten all about wind buffeting in the comfort of the
driver's seat, forgotten about my eyes (hey! I don't need to wear contacts
any more) and was pointing Ferraris and 993 twin-turbos by with panache and
then trying uselessly to run up their tailpipes. I'd also become really good
friends with those street tires, and was making the tread squirm all through
the chicane.You should have SEEN the smile on my face, and I was yelling
"yahoo!" much of the time.

So what does this lead to? Certainly no lessons about fear. Anybody can have
a fear and learn how to confront it, at any stage of their life. There is no
reason to make fun of people who are afraid of something! Fear is natural
and necessary and serves a good purpose! No my message is about the value of
friends. Having friends who are willing to help you grow, and I have to say,
the Alfa club is chock full of those kinds of people. One of them let me
drive his car today -- knowing full well my penchant for ruining the tread
on street tires; another took me around in his car to remind me of the line
and we decided to stay out the whole session because we were having so much
fun (this guy needs to put an Alfa Romeo badge on his MR2 because that's the
way he drives the thing); another was willing to take my camera and shoot a
boatload of photos for me; another was inspecting my car and discovered the
bolts on my strut tower brace had come totally loose; another let us pore
through his Jeep full of tools and borrow his floor jack and various
esoteric wrenches and vise grips; and still another figured out a clever use
of tools (and loctite) and bolted that baby back down even though we could
not reach up to the bottom of the bolt inside the strut tower.

Today I confronted a fear, I instructed four people and turned them on to
the track, I relaxed and let one of my friends drive my car, I learned to be
more observant in monitoring my suspension, I learned that if I get too
intense I miss the checkered flag, and I reaffirmed the value of my Alfa
friends.

May we always learn from our Alfa friends!

Tess
in Seattle [sigh ... big green trees and lots of deer...] WA USA

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