[Rafe LORHO]

OK guys, I'll (try) to keep this story short:

Last week end our American Car Association organised a little road rally.
It was more of a map reading exercise than an out and out race.

Well, the TA was cruising in top gear going up a long hill. My son was checking the map and I was looking to the right to help him figure out which turn off we had to take.
As I looked back at the road, something caught my eye in the rear view mirror. Heck, Thierry's Corvette was approaching at high speed! He must have seen me from the top of the previous hill and he had decided to go for it!
Thierry's "vette" is a 2002 model with Borla exhaust and a racing chip – he claims 400HP for his crate.
Mine is a good old '77 Trans Am with most of the mechanics out of the Year One, Summit and Mondello catalogues. I pull 400HP on a bad day and 450 / 500HP on a good day.
However, today was a bad day!!

I floor the throttle and the Shaker flap opens. The revs pick up a little but not enough – what's wrong?? Double zut!! (P.S. "Zut" is the French equivalent of "damn") The kick down has not kicked! The engine is pulling well in third, but I need more revs…

Thierry is now 50 metres behind and I can hear his Borla exhausts over the rumble of my Pypes. Wait a minute, if I can hear his engine then it means that he's pushing it to the limit. (There's not much on the road here in Brittany that makes more noise than my car!)

He indicates to overtake, and then starts to pass.
We're side by side and it's showdown time: He's got 400 and I've got 400+, thing is though he's around 300kg lighter and that counts right here and right now!
I pump the throttle pedal as if I'm trying to squash grapes – but to no avail. My TH400 continues to refuse the idea of 2nd gear. I guess it thinks it's doing OK in 3rd, and in most cases it would OK, but not against a C5.
He passes me by with a big smile on his face. TRIPLE ZUT !!

Thierry and I met up at the end of the event. He admits that he was redlining it in third gear to get past me. I tell him that I was in third as well, but nowhere near the redline.
I guess you can't win them all.

Regards,
Rafe