Click here for map routeForeword...Last night I was actually a bit depressed from being home alone (wife is gone to Japan and it was the first time I came home before 8pm since starting the Rebirth of the car, I hate being idle like that, my mind is too active) so I decided to go out for a drive.
I was hesitant at first. The tires are not the best, I've not cut the hood for the intercooler yet, I haven't installed my front license plate yet, I don't have a spare tire in the car right now, yadda yadda..... I knew there would always be excuses so I just decided to screw it all and go out.
Man was I glad. Once I closed the door and placed both hands on the steering wheel, I got that sudden emotional feeling that I just wanted to attack something with the car. I love that feeling. I always get so serious when I set out for the hills by myself alone in the car like this. With all the Initial D I've been watching, I really wanted to do a night run up the foothills, so out I went. It was already past 10pm.
The last time I drove Watts Valley road in my MR2 I remember killing a rabbit. I was really sad that I couldn't avoid it. That must have been back in 2004 or so.
Unfortunately I didn't have my camera with me. By the time I remembered the camera, I was already on Academy Ave and didn't want to head back.
The Drive...I headed out HWY180 to Academy Ave, turned left and then made a right at Ashlan Ave. There was a LOT of on-coming traffic initially but once I got into the foothills the traffic disappeared.
The first thing I noticed is that the road has fresh pavement on it. It's great but they have not painted the lines yet, and since I have not washed my windshield yet (or the car for that matter), and my right headlight is angled down for some reason (I didn't have any tools with me), visibility was VERY poor.
The corners had just begun when I saw some tail lights of a car a ways ahead of me. A couple corners later I realized I was closing in very fast on the car. When I got close enough to identify the car, the car started turning it on. I was glad at first, but then I realized it was a newer generation Toyota Prius. HAHAHAHA But actually the guy was doing quite well, I think he really knew the road. I could easily keep up with him, but on a couple corners I would have had no clue where the road was going without his guidance. Because of this, and the fact that I hadn't driven the road at night before, I decided to continue at his pace (which wasn't that bad really) so I eased the pressure up a bit. Eventually he pulled off and let me pass. He then immediately flashed me repeatedly and I was like "Whatever buddy, I wasn't even ass grabbing you so I don't know what your problem is" I guess he was really pressured by me and was really pushing it.
I made very quick work of loosing him and also made very quick work at discovering that I need to be freak'n careful out there. Before the grade increased, there were a couple uphilll-right-turn-downhill "hump" corners. The first one I took too quick for the sharpness of the corner. Remember visibility is poor and without the painted lines it's hard to predict the sharpness of the road in the dark. I came over that first hump and jammed the brakes right at the top while turning into the downhill corner. A serious No-No in a mid engine car. I didn't loose any traction, but I definitely felt the lateral G-force of the rear end. I thought "Ohh man I need to take it easy since I don't know this road, I could make a mistake really quick driving like this"
I ended up driving the remainder of the road in a more conservative manner. If I could see the corners well enough, then I would get after it. But if I couldn't tell where the road was going, I was man enough to totally slow down to 2nd or 3rd gear even if it turned out to be a high speed corner. There were numerous times when I said to myself, "I could be going so much quicker if I knew this road"
Here is the opening corner from Google Maps
