MG Tales ~ MGC GTS

"An Understanding"

Having owned the GTS a week or two, I felt that we (the car and I) had to come to an understanding. We were beginning to work as one, learning what needed to be done and when in order to properly tackle a canyon road. Then one afternoon I took a fairly long day trip with this car, and decided to take a scenic route home. One particular road we traveled is a route I've taken many times in the past. But while it's one of my favorite local roads, an MGB just doesn't have the horsepower to really take advantage of it. This day it was no longer an issue. This was the perfect road for the GTS. It's twisty, but not so twisty that the heavier MGC struggles in the turns compared to the nimble MGB.

On the first, more twisty part of the road I went into a turn a bit too hot. Let me rephrase... I went in WAY too hot. In that situation there were only two things going through my mind.

1) Oh sh*t.

2) You can't use the brakes, so turn the wheel hard and steer with the throttle.

It was at this precise moment in time that everything came into focus. The road, the tires, the car, the steering wheel and me. I learned what this car is all about in exactly 0.5 seconds. With seemingly no effort, I throttle steered the car around that bend as if it were on a rail. No understeer, no unintended drift, no loss of control or direction. It simply grabbed the road with its claws and took the turn head on. Upon exiting the turn only two things were going through my mind.

1) Oh sh*t.....

2) WOW!!!

At this point a true understanding between man and machine had been achieved.