7
"Because of its very short wheelbase the car is prone to oversteer but this can be used to aid cornering."
About thirty years ago I was young and stupid (I'm no longer young) and often bragged I could drive anything with at least three wheels and an engine; I was frequently drafted by a local restoration shop as "test driver" for cars we took to Road Atlanta for T&T days. I will never live down that Saturday afternoon I spent in a fully rally equipped Stratos they had just restored (it had been rolled and was not a pretty site when they first got it). Well, we got it off the tilt-bed, I got in and promptly spun it in the gravel; no big deal, everybody gets a little throttle happy in the gravel. I spun it in the grass, I spun it on the road to the paddock, I spun in the paddock, I spun exiting the garage. By the time I spun on pit road the mirth of all present was quite evident. We need not discuss how often I spun on the track; I came to the conclusion the only use for this vehicle was to return to high school and cut donuts on the football field all night (especially when I was told the car was supposed to handle that way). At one point, during a stop, I chased the shop owner halfway down the pit area, shouting "let me strap your ^%$&*^% a** into that #$&^$^ piece of s**t and you tell me it's handling properly!"
But there was to be no end to my humiliation that day. A lady of our acquaintance, a fiftyish music teacher who raced a 3000/6, stopped by to talk (now don't get ahead of me here); soon she was on the track in this beautiful monstrosity, and I was inwardly smirking, expecting a major spin. Her first lap the car was fishtailing all over the place ...but she never spun. Thereafter, every fishtail lined the car perfectly for the corner exit. I hiked over to where I could view the esses, and was amazed. She came through there not like the car was on rails but like it was being pulled down the track on a rope. It bounced, it twitched, it shimmied, it fishtailed, but she never put a wheel offtrack and barely grazed the inner curbs. I returned to the pits and she came in a few minutes later ...laughing. Laughing! and saying she wished she could afford one (well, I wish I could afford one also, but i would buy something else). I still think the Stratos is a beautiful automobile, but I'm content to just look now.
At least when I spin in GPL there will be no witnesses.
Edited by jgf, Apr 22 2010 - 10:27 AM.
Excellent story! 
I was expecting 140-150mph. 
The only thing I don't like is the rear suspension. You can have the left or the right, but not both of them at the same time as they are always flickering in and out of existence. I missed some cool screenies because of it.
Where are we supposing to put that file?
