Racing Driver in a GS

Marwood

Junior Member
Messages
87
One month and 1000 miles into owning my GS it took it down to see a pal - former racer and owner of race prep shop. I am bowled over by the GS…but don't have lots of experience driving fast cars (twice as many wheels as I'm used to!) so was interested to see what he'd made of it. Part of me did wonder whether he'd hand the car back broken, dripping and hissing with a verdict of 'more mouth than trouser'.

So we ended up on a wonderfully twisty Welsh road…rock face on one side, big drop and trees on the other. I drove down it on tip toes, having fun but spooked by decreasing radius bends and switchback sequences. Racer Friend gets in. I start to explain how the gears work but - oh, right. You've done this before...

There then followed twenty minutes of sublime speed and precision violence.

Full throttle or full brake, seemingly nothing in between. Back end moving out - just a little, but everything neat, measured and above all, immensely bloody quick. "Like the front. Nicely pointy" he says at one point, then proceeds to mash the throttle before the apex to see how it responds. My stomach goes light and I realise I can't sit, breathe and talk at the same time. I mention (just) that I thought the brakes were a bit wooly - overwhelmed by the weight maybe - but Friend said "No - these are good. Nice feel. You're just not pushing hard enough". (More on that in a minute). We slam into another tightening bend at Warp 8 and he has fun with the downshifts. "Love that. Great sound too, but I think I can see the fuel gauge move every time I change down!".

After three passes we pull over. He's out checking the tyres, walking around looking…thoughtful, as the GS pings and ticks to a cool.

"'I've looked at these in the past and wondered what they were like… and its bloody good, isn't' it? A proper machine - there's lots there to play with. Good torque and like the way it gets more responsive right up to the red-line. Makes you want to drive. Decently quick too, nice brakes, wants to turn. The castor angle means I'd be wary in the wet - but there was loads of grip left out there. I could go a lot harder ("Really?" I wondered, trying to get my legs to stop wobbling. "Blimey".) Love the schizo thing - more liveable than a Ferrari but a proper sports car when you want it to be. And I really like the inside. I'm actually feeling Serious Want here."

And this from a guy more used to doing this stretch of road at 5am on summer mornings in a 500hp rally monster.

I was chuffed, not only to experience what the car can really do (both reassuring and a great incentive to learn how to drive properly) but also to know that the Maser is every bit as special as I'd hoped. Bloke validation but more too…satisfaction that something actually lives up to its reputation. Or maybe exceeds it?

"Oi, stop getting all misty eyed Doris and come and learn what the brakes can do."

And we're off again, me driving. 70mph, empty road. Full-on hard stop. "Didn't even get the ABS flickering. Try harder. Go deep." 80 mph, much harder push. Much, much harder. The GS just hauls up straight, without a chirp. "Christ." Mouth dry, palms moist. "How much harder can this thing stop?" "A lot! You'll get there. That's the fun of a car like this. It can do more than you think. Right, that's enough buggering about. Time for the pub."

So we did.
 

zoros

Banned
Messages
243
Loved the narrative. You should write for a living!
I'd be beside myself if someone thrashed my baby like that though!!!!
 

MAF260

Member
Messages
7,662
Great write up for an interesting story. Good to know that many of us are just not trying hard enough!
The only time I took my old 3200 on a track (Goodwood) a ARDS instructor drove me in her for a couple of laps to show me the circuit and what the car was capable of. Needless to say, he drove it faster and more smoothly than I did all day, although I got a little better as time went on.
 

Marwood

Junior Member
Messages
87
DSC06448.jpg

Meant to finish off with a picture (here you go…if I have pressed the right button).

M
 

Chrisbassett

Member
Messages
3,909
Loved the narrative. You should write for a living!
I'd be beside myself if someone thrashed my baby like that though!!!!

You'd be surprised how much these cars can do and can take...I had a track instruction day and half way through I handed the keys to the instructor who proceeded to smoothly thrash the nuts off it, but he was impressed by the whole thing too. Made my random stabbing of the pedals look erratic, which spurred me to aim for smooth rather than "enthusiastic"
 

Emtee

New Member
Messages
8,446
Really enjoyed that Marwood. Thanks for taking the time to write and post what sound like a fabulous few hours. I'm particularly interested by the comments about castor? So I'm assuming he though it didn't centre very well?
 

zoros

Banned
Messages
243
Not only do you tell a good story but your camera work is good too! Lovely colour.
 

Fair2

Junior Member
Messages
211
Thanks for the great write up. Enjoyed it very much. Copied it to my notes for a latter read.
Robert F
 

Andyk

Member
Messages
61,040
Lovely car a great read.......MOst of us would be surprised by just how shoddy our driving is if we went out with a racing driver..
 

zagatoes30

Member
Messages
20,764
A number of times I have been sat in the passenger seat of one of my cars with ex or current race drivers. It never fails to surprise me how much more untapped ability there is in cars I know well. Hence why I am no race driver.

I have recently become friends with one of my all time school boy heroes brother who both raced touring cars in the 70s. I just love sitting in the passenger seat on track days as he drives old school. Carry loads of speed into the corner let it drift and just as the back starts to slide catch it a power out the other side. His style nearly always gets him pulled in by the organisers but when he explains our Gerry taught me to drive that way and they see his surname they just say be careful.

His track day car of choice was an mildly tweaked 350z which always seemed to be so much faster than anything else on the track but over the winter he has picked up a 911 Turbo. I have already booked a passenger ride for a track day later in the year.
 

MAF260

Member
Messages
7,662
A number of times I have been sat in the passenger seat of one of my cars with ex or current race drivers. It never fails to surprise me how much more untapped ability there is in cars I know well. Hence why I am no race driver.

I have recently become friends with one of my all time school boy heroes brother who both raced touring cars in the 70s. I just love sitting in the passenger seat on track days as he drives old school. Carry loads of speed into the corner let it drift and just as the back starts to slide catch it a power out the other side. His style nearly always gets him pulled in by the organisers but when he explains our Gerry taught me to drive that way and they see his surname they just say be careful.

His track day car of choice was an mildly tweaked 350z which always seemed to be so much faster than anything else on the track but over the winter he has picked up a 911 Turbo. I have already booked a passenger ride for a track day later in the year.
Gerry Marshall? Legend if so!
[video=youtube;szqV6cL24vo]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=szqV6cL24vo[/video]
 

Felonious Crud

Administrator
Staff member
Messages
21,016
Great read, Marwood, thank you. Hugely entertaining to read - I was disappointed to get the end. Cracking looking car, too. What's the name of that shade of blue, by the way?

You've inspired me to get some driving tuition - bit of track, bit of road. Anyone know anywhere good in the south-east / East Anglia?
 

Grinzzz

New Member
Messages
925
Great read, Marwood, thank you. Hugely entertaining to read - I was disappointed to get the end. Cracking looking car, too. What's the name of that shade of blue, by the way?

You've inspired me to get some driving tuition - bit of track, bit of road. Anyone know anywhere good in the south-east / East Anglia?
Silverstone is good but I quite like Andy Walsh at carlimits.com

good write up, I always used to smile when guys in GS's used to moan about the brakes. Many a comment about brake fluid boiling and when I say press harder then they looked at me as if I'm nuts. On track it's pretty obvious a lot of folk press far too lightly and for way too long. A GS stops really quickly, the brakes as standard are way more than adequate. Give it a good stab and find out what they really work like, they're at optimum JUST before the abs kicks in. Surprised the heck out of me first time I did it after everything I'd read about them .

not just these but many a car I've seen owners add upgraded brakes only to find no real improvement ( beyond confidence) or even find it make the "problem" worse
 

Grinzzz

New Member
Messages
925
Really enjoyed that Marwood. Thanks for taking the time to write and post what sound like a fabulous few hours. I'm particularly interested by the comments about castor? So I'm assuming he though it didn't centre very well?
Lower castor angle reduces the self centring effect of the steering. Increasing it makes the car feel more stable in straight line. It also increases camber (dynamic not static) so can have beneficial effects in cornering. It also makes the steering heavier.

personally I like pointy cars so felt ok ish to me, although a little more mid corner grip would have been good!
 

Marwood

Junior Member
Messages
87
Glad you liked it - happy to share. I put it up, along with an earlier one ("After nine months of waiting…"), in part because I was searching for this sort of info during the past year while waiting to find the car. I must have read one chap's summary of life with a GS a dozen times - I suspect many have.

Colour? Ah..I fear I'll never be a true Maseristi until I can tell my grigio alfieri from my grigio touring...According to the sales ticket I've just found, the colour is 'Blue Neuttino'. Waited a long time before finding this combo. It looks lovely when clean and nicely 'stealth' when dirty. Which is most of the time.

I'm also interested in getting some tuition - South East / Surrey way, or on a track.
 

Marwood

Junior Member
Messages
87
Glad you liked it - happy to share. I put it up, along with an earlier one ("After nine months of waiting…"), in part because I was searching for this sort of info during the past year while waiting to find the car. I must have read one chap's summary of life with a GS a dozen times - I suspect many have.

Colour? Ah..I fear I'll never be a true Maseristi until I can tell my grigio alfieri from my grigio touring...According to the sales ticket I've just found, the colour is 'Blue Neuttino'. Waited a long time before finding this combo. It looks lovely when clean and nicely 'stealth' when dirty. Which is most of the time.

I'm also interested in getting some tuition - South East / Surrey way, or on a track.
 

Chrisbassett

Member
Messages
3,909
I took a days tuition by this guy:

John Chambers
121Drive
07786 698515
www.121drive.com

He can cover most tracks and will take you out for a half or a full day or even a few days. I did snetterton, but for a first day out he likes Bedford Aerodrome as there are big run-off areas : )

Had a great day, covered the basics of driving a car on the track, use of brakes for setting the car up for cornering, weight transfer and choosing lines and gears. Mostly it went in and stayed in...I was a lot more smooth by the end of it, but could do with a good three or four more days to get everything to really sink in.

Oh, and I agree with Grinzzz, John's favourite phrase for the first 2 hours was "push harder" when braking. At some point I must have started pushing hard enough, and it really did surprise me how quickly the car can stop.