Will I ever give up AE86?
I had dinner with some boys last night. Real… race car boys… Elise drivers, hard tuned Honda drivers, guys who will embarrass you in an unmodified car… People I’ve known for years, but never been all that close to… just cause I’m anti-social. But… these guys… are smart enough to call me on all my cocky BS.
When it comes to auto-x… I’ve become cocky and egotistical to a fault. I think that’s what comes from years of being a big fish in a small pond. And by being a big fish… I mean… being one of 10 guys who actually buys the right tires.
We should learn these lessons younger shouldn’t we?
Anyways… I make the claim that when it comes to AE86, I’ll run faster than anyone else.
Approaching ten years of driving these cars… I feel like I know them in and out. I know what changes do what, I know how to fix problems…
At least… I know how to make them do what I like…
… and I think what I like is good.
This claim of mine… which I truly believed… brought instant rebuttal, and a few well known names into discussion. blah blah blah… I said, “are you kidding? those guys?”
Hey wait… they said… aren’t you going to Japan soon?
… at best again… I’m a big fish in a small pond.
There was definitely a time, when I took pride in being an AE86 driver. This was… the late 90’s when… maybe only a handful of us even knew what AE86 meant… back when EVERYONE who drove an import, DROVE A HONDA.
There was a time though… before that… when I drove an AE86 without knowing what that meant. Maybe the time when I loved my car the most. Just me and my Corolla GTS, the road and the Lethbridge darkness.
I’m trying to get back there now.
Now… I’m getting married to a girl I’m upside down and torn up for, and the 86 falls down my list of loves. Furthermore… lots of people own AE86 these days… and lots of people have nice cars: Turbo’s and 20vs and … great setups that go beyond power. I can’t be there. I might not even make it out to the track anymore.
I’ve been anti-social all along… but consider that nothing.
So I’m back to the beginning… with some exceptions… the car isn’t nearly as boro boro as it used to be, and… sometimes I’ll get to share it with a beautiful girl.
It’s a step up.