I just lost control on the steering before he could complete and for all this I held my over enthusiasm and the racing Tilton clutch of the car responsible. David told me not to rush but release the clutch slowly and move ahead by gently increasing the throttle.
Some of the moments in my life made me think whether this was for real and yes this was one of them. In fact this was one of the greatest moments of my life. After all I was occupying the driver’s seat in a Subaru STI which has a powerful 330 horsepower engine. This car is highly competitive to race in Rally America. We are at Team O Neil’s Rally school which is a great place situated in the New Hampshire forests with freezing temperature.
We are carrying all type of sophisticated equipment with us on this freezing morning which includes fire extinguishers, a roll cage, two scalloped goats, harnesses, a steering wheel and a tally hydraulic handbrake. This car has a six speed transmission Sadev gearbox which is mounted 3 inches to the left of the hand brake. Any resemblance to the production car foundation is not present except the signal arm. Besides many gadgets in instrumentation the car contains a digital tachometer and Coralba odometer which shows the time to be 12 o’clock.
The exterior of this car is inspired by Vermont Sports Car. The up gradation of this car was done in December 2013 which included a bespoke roll cage for safe and strength, a seam welded body along with replacement composite panel, much stronger Reiger Suspension rally dampers, method gravel wheels which are 15 inch tall and 7 inch wide, a fuel cell with FIA-spec, much better and stronger prop and drive shafts, Alcon brakes with a bigger size and DMAC tyres to name a few.
Just a few minutes before I happened to stall, the pipes of our Subaru STI made a loud noise which was probably due to the dirt inside. The cabin inside the car was filled with smell of combustion due to the burnt racing fuel. My fingers and toes are nearly frozen at this moment and I could hardly handle the steering wheel. The heat radiation of the 2.0 litre turbo engine provides great relief.
