Date with
the Dragon
3/22/2011
Purpose
Some say that there are no random acts, and that all in the universe is interconnected. A butterfly sneeze here on earth can cause a star to go supernova in another galaxy and so on. I’m not so sure about that, but beyond mere happenstance or fate, I believe we guide our own lives with everything we do. If this is so, then why did I buy the Nissan 350Z?
Oh there were the obvious reasons, I suppose. The middle-aged old fart with a little extra jingle in his pocket who wants to show the world he can still cut it. The 350Z is, after all, a young man’s car. I could have gotten a Porsche or BMW, but then the world would have just looked at me with a bemused eye. “Ah yes”, they would say, “he cannot get it up anymore, so this is his way of compensating.” But no, this Z signals something different. It represents a challenge both to me and to the world, that maybe, just maybe, I’m not ready to coast to the finish line.
Then, if the Z means that I am still willing to have a go at life, the question becomes how to go about it? Do I drive this car on simple mundane trips to the corner store, to the library, and such? I think not. It should be driven only when there is a purpose. The primary reason to move this car is for the joy of driving it. Let there be a payoff in the end, like some day-to-day task that is made special by the mere force of power-shifting. Let these miles of life be traveled in sparkling brilliance with a combination of beauty, performance, and skill. Make the trips a glorious celebration of life.
And so it is for this purpose
that I drive the 350Z. And it
was with that in mind that I was driving west toward the
Romancing the Dragon
On that stretch of Highway 129
between
On this Tuesday in the
pre-dawn, I drove silently and reverently in solitude along Highway 74
westbound out of
When the designers started out to build this car they must have held one principle above all others, and that is the overriding sense of balanced beauty, or in Japanese terms, “tsuriai”. The idea being that in a vehicle you can have too much horsepower as well as too little, too much luxury as well as being too Spartan, too much technology as opposed to a lack of sophistication, body style too rakish and angular as opposed to vanilla orthodoxy. If their goal was to achieve a beautifully balanced blend of these traits, then to this ideal, I believe, they have succeeded to the nth degree with the 350Z. A strong, willing engine coupled with near-perfect weight distribution, low center of gravity, and ample braking capacity, makes for incredibly nimble handling. The Z simply goes where you point it every time. Massive struts and cross braces cut down the under-steer so that the car almost knows by itself where the best line is in a hairpin turn. My 350 is RED with flowing lines that look as if they were sculpted. Red in a sensuous, guttural way that says blood pumping and adrenaline rush. Gawd what a car! This is a machine that must be driven with purpose and driven there fast.
I turned onto Highway 129 at 7AM and ran off a hasty segment into Robbinsville. I knew that sol would appear at 7:24AM and I wanted to be in the right spot to welcome my old friend. Having been born a “sun sign”, dawn has always been my favorite part of the day. To toast this particular occasion, I had made some ‘special blend’ coffee at home earlier and packed it in a thermos. Well gosh, I guess I really am encrusted in many old accustomed ways. After topping off the tank with 93 octane, I headed out of Robbinsville pushing it northbound to my date with the Dragon.
The spot was one of those “scenic overlooks”. A turn out that was kind of bleak and devoid of any place to sit except on the ground. The sky had turned rose-colored in my rearview mirror outlining the mountain ridge to the east. On my way up to this place, I had encountered no traffic except for an occasional oncoming pickup truck. A bit surprising, but one of the reasons I had chosen dawn for my date with the Dragon was so that we could be alone, just the three of us. I sipped on a cup of my “special blend” and waited for the first rays.
It took a bit longer than I had
planned for the sun to clear the mountain ridge, but having extra time for
contemplation was actually welcomed. After bidding sol a warm hello, I headed
out northbound with that beautiful new sunburst in my mirrors. The road now ran smoothly along the
The 350Z is a driver’s car. I know that’s a bit of a cliché, but in this instance it’s spot on. With a rather plain interior, some find that the driving position and relative lack of rear view cramped, even claustrophobic. The car fits you like a glove. It’s supposed to. The controls are precisely placed and the seat wraps around you snugly. Your left foot naturally on the resting pedal or clutch as needed. I believe it was designed this way for a purpose, to meld man and machine. If your sports car feels roomy, then it’s just too big. If you need a lot of room, buy a sedan. If the design of the Z was developed with balanced beauty in mind, then that philosophy was to be tested out on this Tuesday morning on the skyline ridge just after rolling out of Deal’s Gap. Enough foreplay, I thought, let’s get it on.
The Z car leaped forward as we began the downhill run. If the upside had been fun; the downside was turning out to be intoxicatingly heart-pounding, even scary. I found third gear to be the most useful. The road was narrow and with two-way traffic, I could only push the turns when I could see far enough ahead, which wasn’t often enough. Still, the incredibly responsive handling of the Z and those sticky Fierce Instinct ZRs , made even the blind double-back hairpins a joy.
Imagine a rollercoaster. That first hill is always the kicker, the one that puts your stomach in your throat. I had just met the Dragon, and her “tail” turned out to be analogous, except that it was 11 miles long! The Z was tracking great, not even puffing after the long uphill on the NC side. Now we stared into that Tennessee Gap together and then the bottom fell away and it was like a slalom skier dodging the trees while in freefall. The curves started coming, right, left, then harder right and harder left, one upon another, then a “meet your own butt” hairpin thrown in to the soup. Back and forth, hands on wheel, then downshifting, work that clutch, hold that line, make her go there, stay in lane, gawd that rock face is close, no shoulder here so make it sure. Oncoming car passes on the left, probably going to the corner store. Downshift and hit the throttle, brake now back, keep that backend tight, ahhh, kick her to second. Then it is up and down and then again, each blind hairpin another surprise. Sure hope no deer are up yet.
For 11 miles, your heart races, your hands shake from gripping the wheel and shifter, your blood rushes. I think no rollercoaster I have been on matches it. After all, it’s all passive sensation. In the coaster all you have to do is hang on and everything is going to be OK. On the ‘Tail” one mistake and you are toast. The engine was doing everything that I needed. More horsepower? Don’t need it. You’re on the edge anyway with what you have. You can only push it so far on a public highway. The Z dug in and did all that I asked. I moved through the 11 miles and 318 turns in a blur of pure exhilaration. This was truly the reason for my ownership of the 350Z. I mark this as one of those perfect sports car “moments” and I was there with the ideal machine. The equation has been solved.
Afterglow
I pulled in at the bottom near a lake. I had saved one cup of the “special blend” to have after the run. As I sipped, I relived what had just happened. Remarkably, I only had encountered a single vehicle on my side of the road. I had essentially a free run to go as fast as I could. The 350Z is much more capable than I am. I didn’t even come close to her limits. She helped me and pampered me and forgave my mistakes and slow reflexes. Being that we were in the middle of Cherokee country, I paused to lift my heart to the great spirit and gave thanks for my existence.
Just as I prepared to pull away
from the rest stop, I noticed a rusty antique garbage truck pass by heading
right for