Re: IML: Handling Run
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Re: IML: Handling Run



Kenyon, That sounds like one great ride, congrats on the run I'm in Minot ND and will head south on Hwy 83 today to visit a good friend in Bismarck this Hwy is like an arrow and 75-80 is cruising I'll take the 66 Imp parade  caonvert on her ist run since a good tune up on her 50,000 mile engine and body . Been awhile sine had her on the road  at continued speed over 75 and am looking like you forward to a good run. Like your idea of and Imp GT Best of luck I miss Calif. Ken

mrs954@xxxxxxx wrote:
Kenyon,
That sounds like a fantastic ride! I'm trying to visualize it in my mind. Being from Pennsylvania, where there is no such thing as a flat, straight road without potholes and deer hazards, it's hard to imagine but it sounds like a whole bunch of fun.

Best regards,
Mark Souders
Mohrsville, PA



-----Original Message-----
From: Kenyon Wills <imperialist1960@xxxxxxxxx>
To: IML <mailing-list@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Sent: Fri, 14 Mar 2008 1:56 am
Subject: IML: Handling Run

Just got back home with a big smile on my face.    I have a side job that I go to Thursday evenings.   Coming back, I go from South San Francisco down the  280 freeway and then west across the San Mateo Bridge.    280 is interesting because it was designed in the late  1960's, at the later portion of the big freeway  building boom.  It's called "america's most beautiful  freeway" and goes along a pretty coastal range of  hills with a pretty reservoir alongside it.     The story that I heard was that the designers figured  that cars were just going to get faster and faster, 
 and so they deisgned the freeway for 90 miles per  hour, with wide, sweeping curves, 5 lanes, and very  few straight sections.  This is possibly one of the  best driving freeways I've ever been on, and I've done  it at 3am in the mid 100's on a sportbike and it's  incredibly smooth and well designed for high speed  work when nobody else is around.    Anyway, I took the 72 GT tonight.  It's seemed to  stabilize and not be cranky on the shorter errand  drives I've been on recently, so I felt confident  enough to take it out on a 100 mile journey this  evening.    Coming back at 9:30 yeilded a freeway that was  relatively devoid of cars, a willing engine, and my  newly installed tachometer showing that the 440 was  running smoothly and confidently.    Coming away from the SF Airport, I took the 90 degree  banked turn from 380 to 280 south on a flying overpass  at a good clip, and as I entered the turn, I passed  the pickup truck in the slow lane and popped on my  high-beams. 
     The car is outfitted with H4 bulbs that are 100w on  high beam.  55w is the legal limit, so these  headlights are BRIGHT and incredibly well focused with  a flat, low pattern and a cool whiteness that is a  huge difference from stock 1970's lighting technology.    Hitting the highs instantly illuminated the dark,  unilluminated overpass and made the pavement almost  glow.    I proceeded out of the curve having left the truck I'd  passed at least 20 car lengths behind and dropped down  onto the gently sloping uphill section pointed  straight at Crystal Springs Reservoir a mile ahead.    Traffic was light and I firmly accelerated as I  confidently moved the car over into the fast lane  after dropping the lights back to low beams so as not  to annoy or be rude.    As I crested the hill and turned left heading south,  the freeway straightened out and I picked up another  20 miles per hour or so and the car really started to  hum, the tachometer indicating a solid 3500 RPM
 with  all gauges reading nominal, happy readings.    After being delayed in a clump of traffic where 5 cars  decided to drive abreast and at almost the same speed  on an otherwise empty freeway, I was able to wiggle  through.  This was by the golf course and as I crested  the hill for the 4 mile downhill run to the Crystal  Springs Bridge, I was presented with an empty freeway.       Hit the high beams and instantly get to see every lane  reflector for 2 miles ahead and the far-off overhead  signs as they jump into sharp relief.      Rolled the car on to 4000 RPM and felt it settle in to  a steady thrum as the wheels ate up the distance in a  way that was almost eager.      Bottom of the hill and there is a left hand sweeper.   Car is probably at 120 or so, but the speedo has the  wrong pinion gear in the trans, so it gets buried when  the car hits 80 or so...  No police around to inform  me what I'm doing, but it feels good, so I keep going.    I come up on light traffic
 and drop the headlights  again, lining myself up for the transition to  westbound 92, again a sweeping 90 degree banked,  elevated flyway.  Ease off the gas and hit it at about  85, with the car leaning a bit but the wide, soft  tires I've chosen grip the pavement without complaint  and the car pulls nicely all the way around the curve.       Drop into the merge where three different flows of  traffic join into two lanes, sidestep the idiot that's  not watching his mirrors and relying on blinkers and  not his mirrors, and a quick glance to the rear-view  mirror reveals the presence of a like-minded  individual in a 5-series BMW that has decided to step  up and join in.    The car rises on a climb and it's into a long,  sweeping mile-long curve first left and then right, a  mile long flat straight by College of San Mateo, and  then a swooping, curving cambered drop 3 miles down to  El Camino Real, all the while with the BMW close but  not insistent in the rear view mirror
 at 90 or so.    The bottom presents the only real challenge of the  evening.  Brake or float through the whoopdie-doo  where the cement overpass goes flat followed by an  immediate drop during a right hand jink.      BMW isn't interested in slowing down, and neither am  I.  He's not in the passing mood, and that's good.   Glance to make certain he's not going to try to take  me and then jink the car into the slow lane.      Car goes onto the tip-toes of its suspension as the  bottom drops out of the road, followed by an annoying  lump back upwards that compresses the car's  suspension.  We're OK so far, but payback for the  compression of that suspension is a bitch.      This is the one place where the car shows it's 1970's  luxury roots, rebounding like a marshmallow and  popping the car laterally to the left as the car hops  back up and the weight leaves the tires for a moment.     The car Pops back into the fast lane from the slow  lane.  Good call on the BMW's part not
 to pass, and  who thankfully isn't there and is probably glad to  have lifted his right foot at the same time that I  did.  The car was pretty unsettled for a moment, but  it is now composed again and I wonder what my road   companion thought about the large car squirming around  in two lanes.  I'll probably not hit that one so fast  next time...      He winks his high beams and flips off onto 101 south  as I proceed across the elevated skyway headed for  home across the San Mateo Bridge, another haven from  speed enforcement and thus a place to stretch one's  legs when there's space.  It's a 9 mile blast over an  elevated ramp that climbs 300 feet and then drops to a  few feet, straight and flat above the bay for an 8  mile, three lane shot into landfall at Hayward.    The car eats up space and traffic all the way across.   Confident in it's size and solidity.      Easy does it around the cloverleaf onto 880 north and  a quick ride in heavier traffic at the speed limit to
  my offramp and home.        The Imperial GT has arrived, and the rest is all  detail work.      Kenyon Wills                                                          ____________________________________________________________________________________  Looking for last minute shopping deals?    Find them fast with Yahoo! Search.  http://tools.search.yahoo.com/newsearch/category.php?category=shopping    -----------------  http://www.imperialclub.com  -----------------  This message was sent to you by the Imperial Mailing List. Please   reply to mailing-list@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx and your response will be   shared with everyone. Private messages (and attachments) for the  Administrators should be sent to iml.webmonster@xxxxxxxxx 
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