Gene Heskett wrote: > On Thursday 21 May 2009, Joerg wrote: > [...] >> Wow, I've never been in a close call like that one. Only once in a small >> Dornier aircraft when the (otherwise totally quiet) bush pilot kind of >> guy let off a lot of cuss words, the stall horn was blaring, pine tree >> tops came at us and it was of course not high enough to do a parachute >> bail. A burly mtorcycle guy next to me who usually isn't afraid of >> anything mumbled "Well, I guess this is it". We made it but could see >> the snow flying off the trees as we inched up in altitude. Maybe the >> newly "found" ground effect or something saved us. For a while there the >> tree tops looked like the road does from the low seats of a Porsche. > > Humm, similar I suppose to a go-kart I once had. Quite a rush when the > blacktop is going by your hip joints at 120+mph, an only an inch below them. > That of course was back in the 60's when go-kart engines were 2 strokers and > some could make 4 to 5 horse per cubic inch. Mine was an old outboard, 14ci, > but a deflector head design so even on booze it was only maybe 2hp/ci, and > about 1 on straight gas. But that was enough to get the job done for me. :) > > I highly recommend that everyone who really wants to learn to drive, do it on > an old go-kart, the new 4 strokers aren't fast enough by any means. On a go- > kart you can play with the envelope and find out what the machine can do, > generally without collecting any broken momentos. Lose it in the corner and > spin it out? Go do it again, till you can hit that corner 30mph faster than > when you spun out, steer it with the throttle while sliding at a 10 degree > angle to the direction you are going, using every inch of the track just like > the indy cars do. Spend a summer or 3 doing that and I guarantee you will > never, ever drive a cage in such a manner that you can't handle whatever the > road or weather throws at you. Even at my age, 74, I still have one corner I > use as a gauge to see how I'm doing. >
I'll second that. Did it in Spain but the track owner from whom I also rented the go-kart didn't want me on there anymore after my power-slides blew out the 2nd tire (including some smoke plumes). They must be rather expensive. -- Regards, Joerg http://www.analogconsultants.com/ _______________________________________________ geda-user mailing list geda-user@moria.seul.org http://www.seul.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/geda-user