Re: Porsche spin-out (tiny Alfa content)

["Tony Sims" <simstony@domain.elided>]

OK gang, I said "lift" -- not "snap the throttle shut, throw my hands over my
eyes and scream"...  I stopped doing that months ago.  My boo-boo in the Audi
was exacerbated by gravel on the road thrown up by people cutting onto the
inside shoulder, and because I was going way too fast for the experience I had
with the car.  Had I known the path to righteousness was to dip deeper into
the throttle, I *might* have made it.  Most likely I just would have delayed
the inevitable for another 50 or 60 feet, which would have been good for the
car and my wallet, as the scenery changed from vertical and hard to horizontal
and soft.

Other than (many, mostly Ford) rental cars, my experience in fwd cars has
accumulated in a succession of VW/Audi products, none of them with overt
sporting pretensions.  The steady Germans are always the daily driver, the ski
car (because they're great in the snow), the moving van.  They are all
properly maintained and not abused, but they go through life with their stock
suspension and wear whatever middling Dunlop or Michelin is on sale.  All my
VW/Audi cars cornered approximately the same way -- the bias is to slight
understeer, reducing throttle increases the push, and adding throttle tightens
the line.

I'm sure I could change this by tweaking tire pressure, anti-roll bars,
springs, shocks, camber settings, weight balance, etc., etc.  Since I refuse
to take time away from working on the Alfa, to do all that I'd have to give up
working, and then I wouldn't be able to afford the Alfa, and then I'd have no
reason to get out of bed, and I can't reach the computer from the bed, so I'd
lose contact with the digest, and all the fun in my life would just dry up!

Cheers,
Tony
Portland, OR
74 GTV

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