5/7/16
Yes, I have been fixated on the acquisition of and then on mourning the loss of the 1977 Targa, but life goes on. It has been over two months since I last had a head clearing, stomach churning, wind howling drive in my Cayman GTS, the car I drive daily and the one I love dearly. It is also the one for which this blog is named. To put my feelings in perspective, I quote Maren Morris’ lyrics from her song, My Church:
I’ve cussed on a Sunday
I’ve cheated and I’ve lied
I’ve fallen down from grace
A few too many times
But I find holy redemption
When I put this car in drive……
I like to get out about once a month, so I was seriously feeling the need to take on some twisties. Earlier in the week I cast about looking for Porsche comrades to go with me. Turns out it was going to be a solo run. It was almost a when Harry met Stu run, but Stu got stewed in traffic, so solo it was to be.
I headed north on PCH and was immediately frustrated. Traffic was really heavy. It’s not even tourist season yet, and the highway was packed. I had planned to go up PCH to Encinal and then head up to Mulholland Highway, but I got frustrated and made a last second right onto Topanga Canyon. Big mistake. As I accelerated up Topanga, I immediately came upon an extremely slow sedan. I pulled over and waited for a few minutes, then a Boxster went by, and I thought I would drive with it. Of course, I caught it pretty quickly, as it was being held up by the slow sedan. After a few miles of this torture, the slow sedan put on its blinker and turned left. Hallelujah! Or so I thought. Just as the Boxster passed the slow sedan, a car turned on to Topanga and cut off the Boxster. Needless to say, this car was almost as slow as the one that just turned left. The rest of the ride up and down Topanga was pretty slow.
Eventually I got to Mulholland, turned left and then left again onto Mulholland Highway. I began to smile in earnest, as I was headed for wide open spaces and lots of twisties with very few cars. It was exhilarating and fun. The window was down, and I had the car in Sport Plus mode with manual shifting and Porsche Sport Exhaust (PSE) on. That meant the wind and car were howling, as I kept the revs up between 4,000 and 6,000. With the enhanced throttle response of Sport Plus mode and the high torque the engine produces in this rev range, the car leapt from turn to turn. The miles flew by.
Soon I had passed Stunt Road, Las Virgenes (Malibu Canyon) and was at the Rock Store at the base of the Snake, a 20+ turn uphill portion of Mulholland Highway known for fast cars and motorcycles. Apparently, too well known. I stopped across from the Rock Store and snapped a picture. In the high res version, you can see the front parking lot of the Rock Store in the side view mirror. Then I took on the snake. It used to be that to stay out of trouble, and not get into a wreck, all you had to do was stay on the right side of the double yellow line. That seems to have changed. I noticed an absence of cars on the snake, I noticed an absence of motorcycles on the snake, I noticed an absence of bicycles on the snake, which is not a bad thing, as it is bad news to cone up on them in the tight turns. I ran the snake in a fairly controlled manner. The GTS was not stressed, which was a good thing because about two thirds of the way up, I noticed a police suv in my rear view mirror. The police suv was hiding on the left side of the road, facing the way I was going, and just waiting to pounce. This might have explained the lack of activity. I passed by unscathed. I have not seen it yet, but a photographer got a picture of me on the last turn of the snake, a left hand sweeper. I’ll have to check that out.
All too soon I was at Kanan Dume and it was time to go back to PCH and home. I turned left onto Kanan, and before I knew it, I was at PCH and heading home amidst the beach traffic, which was not as irritating this time.