RE: 944turbo v. ur-q (stereotypes)

[Son Nguyen <snguyen@hydra.acs.uci.edu>]

I'd second Frank's 3ct...

A few year ago, I reluctantly attended my first Porsche Owner
Club autox w/ my lowly NARP '76 914.  I thought I'd run into
the same sorta 911/944/968/928 drivers that I see on the 
street.  During tech inspection, I was told that my front
wheel bearings was loose, the tech pointed me to an area
in the parking lot to go get that fixed.  When I got 
there, other Pcar owners literally rushed over to 
help me, along w/ floor jacks and tools.  They patiently 
showed me how to tighten the bearings, not too loose, not
too tight, but *justttt rightttt* and even let me do it.  Others
offered their portable compressor (the tiny one from Sears,
maybe 5 gals so it can't be used too often) to play with
different tire pressures between runs.  All in all a pretty
homey group. 

--
Son Nguyen
snguyen@uci.edu
89 GLI

> Date: Wed, 05 Aug 1998 11:35:44 -0400 (EDT)
> From: FMARTIN <FMARTIN@ithaca.edu>
> Subject: RE: 944turbo v. ur-q (stereotypes)
> 
> Hi Folks.
> 
> FWIW, thought I'd throw in my 2 cents regarding stereotypes and attitudes 
> of/toward makes-specific drivers. After attending the QCUSA's driving school 
> at Watkins Glen in 1996 & 97, I thought I'd try something different and do the 
> Allegheny Region PCA school at the Glen last month (it was also about $100 
> cheaper!). Once again I drove my GTX, though this year with maybe 30 more HP 
> (160 total+/-?), courtesy of an added manual boost control setup. (This event 
> was advertised on the Q-list several months ago.) 
> 
> I must admit that, going by the "standard" Porche-owners stereotype, I 
> wondered how badly I'd be snubbed by members of this group, what with me 
> driving essentially a modified Japanese-hatchback. I can report that I was 
> pleasantly surprised at both the variety of car makes there (I'd guess that 
> over 20% of the est. 100 cars there were not Porsches) and the friendliness of 
> the Porsche owners that I happened to rub shoulders with, both around the pits 
> and on the track. I cannot remember a single instance where I felt blocked by 
> one on the track, where it was clear I was catching up. This was not quite the 
> case at my last QCUSA school, including one instance where I'd swear one 
> Q-driver sheepishly avoided me after a session during which he obviously could 
> not bring himself to let a Mazda by in the last few laps. I love my Q too, but 
> we're supposed to be grownups. 
> 
> My point being, here is *another* instance where if you take the trouble to 
> get beyond the stereotypes and actually check it out for yourself, you usually 
> broaden your own horizons. I think any of the groups likely have similar "bell 
> curves," with buttheads at the extremes but a big group of decent folks in the 
> middle. 
> 
> Caveat: I do think that on the street, the bell curve is flatter, containing 
> more buttheads, simply because there are more posers - people who only drive 
> what they do for the status and think they're hot s___ because they do an 
> occasional wild and wooly offramp, but never do their talking on a track. But 
> this is true of most groups. 
> 
> OK, so maybe that was 3 cents.
> 
> Frank M.
> '90 200TQ
> '88 Mazda 323 GTX (now with cracked front rotors - I knew I should have 
> replaced them sooner!)