Sawmill Parkway, minimal Audi content

["Brandon Hull" <brandon@cardinalventures.com>]

The Sawmill, and it's sister parkway, the Taconic, in NY are truly
spectacular drivers' roads, with the caveat that there is little room for
error should things go awry.  I grew up nearby, and tested each of my new
cars on these great highways.  One sobering event matured my driving
attitude by 10 years in one day:  In my '67 Lotus, I broke every rule of the
road imaginable on the Taconic trying to get from work to a yacht race on
the Hudson.  I passed on the right, used both lanes and broke the speed
limit egregiously.  Besides being twisty the Taconic and Sawmill have Armco
on one side, and rocks and trees on the other.  I arrived just in time,
safely, sailed, partied, then came out to the car about midnight.  I backed
out of my parking space, and the front left corner of the car dropped to the
ground.  The stamped lower A- arm had given out, due to fatigue and
corrosion.  Had it happened five hours earlier, in the 1300lb Elan on those
roads, I wouldn't be around to build an (Audi content) S2 replica.  The
charm of the car leached right away on the spot.

Brandon Hull
Ersatz S2


>Where: Sawmill Parkway, in NY state.
>Me: Stock 93 S4.
>Competition: New 540i, and 328i, lowered w/aftermarket wheels.
>Conditions: Sporadic drizzle- just enough to make it interesting.

>For those of you that don't know it, the Sawmill Parkway is a >relatively
>narrow, 4 lane divided highway. It doesn't really have a lot of straight
sections,