Tour de Lebanon is over.Tom Wilkinson is on his way back to Moscow by The Willamette (aka Portland) as I type. A great time was had by both participants. First a little run via backroads up towards Sweet Home in a green mostly stock 1972 911S...Tom and I trading the "chore" of driving. Then another run over roughly the same route, driving duties exchanged in Tom's orange '73 bomb. How to descibe Tom's car? Imagine a 2.7 RS with slightly more power, much better Turbo brakes, and no stripes, tails, or spoiler. In a short driving review, delivered with adrenalin still pumping? Guys, Tom's '73 is "da bomb"...the real deal when it comes to a hot rod early 911. Not original is an understatement, but Tom's thought about every aspect of this Non original shows in the details...too many to describe. I wish I could say I was smooth in Tom's car...nope. Found myself cussing myself over little goofs I made. Nothing major like shifting from 5th to 2nd..just enough goofs to make me realize that Tom's car would take more seat time than I had to really get comfortable...it's different and more powerful enough from my car that I was nervous.
Man, those brakes! I mean...Turbo brakes are 7 league boots ahead of the S aluminum calipers...I found myself applying them much sooner than need be. A 2.7? Done with a bit more than the RS's 210 horsepower? Uh, yeah..."adequate". Poor Tom...it's torque curve is so strong he can't enjoy the kick in the pants that the S cams deliver @ 5,000...nope, his engine just pulls and pulls and pulls in a seemingly flat line.
This a formal event? Hardly...it's just that we'd wanted to get together for quite some time...each getting a turn behind the other's steering wheel. So Tom came down in order to enjoy some of the backroads around my smaller town. Since neither of us could make Monterey, we did our own thing today.
After the running of the cars..a nice chicken dinner by Cindy...Burp! Tom isn't driving home hungry...
Man, what a GREAT day! So, I just had to brag a bit...
Oh, I'll hook a file pic of Tom's car...you know, it looked right at home next to my green machine in the garage...
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(edit) Can you guys tell? I mean, I've always admired Tom's car...now that I've driven it? Gawd, what a fantastic car! How do you describe a perfect balance between hot rod race bits & street? It's the next morn, and my adrenalin is still pumping. Maybe I'll calm down as I spend a few hours in the garage "debugging" Irish green paint. 