Mrs Glynn and the Glynnettes have cleared off to Wales for a fortnight, so I’ve taken the chance to get stuck into my eBay campaign. I am totally browned off with being laden down by stuff I am not using, and am unlikely to have time to use in the next 12 months, so it’s all going. Everything. Yes EVERYTHING. It’s a major life clearout.
I spent the first hours of freedom this morning digging out stuff I took eBay pics of months ago and getting it into GarageSale on the Mac. Just as I was considering a coffee break, neighbour Kev (the drag bike champ) tapped on the window and told me it was time to put the kettle on. While supping our tea, Kev spilled the beans on his recent passenger run in an index-timed drag car, where the idea is to set a time first, then make sure you don’t go faster than it.
See what you’re thinking there? That’s exactly what we both thought too.
Here’s how Kev’s run went. The driver pulled a burnout, then rolled into stage and launched, whereupon a program shut the power down for a preset interval, to help them make their time. The driver still has his foot flat on the floor and hasn’t touched anything yet. Then the power came back in and the car shot off again, with a gearchange solenoid selecting the ratios. This is not how I want my drag racing.
It got me thinking how little interest I have in ‘stamp on the pedal and let the electronics do the rest’ driving. It’s just so dull compared to how things used to be. Watching in-car footage of the Spa 24 hours while eating dinner left me feeling not that different.
Then tonight, I thought about the recent Youtube clip of the grid girl fainting on Ronald van de Laar’s Porsche 911 GT3-R, and the ensuing furore over a racing driver who only seemed concerned about his car. I didn’t have a problem with that – seemed reasonable given that five horny grown-ups rushed to be the first to pick the honey off the Tarmac. Anyway, I went looking and found a clip of the ensuing race. It’s gripping stuff.
There are two things I love about this whole affair. Firstly, I love that Ronald stays strapped in while girl plus sign clonks to the ground, whereas Stirling or Graham Hill would have been vaulting the bonnet to dispense the kiss of life – the second she started swaying. Secondly, I love that Ronald’s focus has not been interrupted in the slightest by the grid upset. He tears the 911 through the field in a way we Porschers can be proud of. The ADAC GT Masters is a series we need to watch!
I’ll start you off with the grid girl thing (as I know you’ll all like that) then show you the racing. Watch it to the finish, then watch it again. I did.
