PEI Bullrun
I managed to keep my speed within or +/- 5-10 km/hour over the speed limit.
I predicted (accurately) the presence of police on the highway by a sudden uneasy feeling driving down the road. Two minutes later, ahead of me, a police car had pulled over a Jeep and had his flashing lights on. How eery is that? I thought I captured this on my digital camera via video record but later checked and found the damn camera did not record a single fucking frame. For the most part, I wanted to be a very easy relaxed driver. Besides looking at horrendous roadkill (deer, skunks, beavers, raccoons), I had one maniac driver in a shitty dodge Grand Caravan tailgate me and eventually pass me doing 150 km/hour. I have no idea what his problem was, I wasn't blocking his lane and I knew I could dust the fucker easily enough. He leaned over across his seat and stared at me. I didn't flinch. I didn't rise to the bait. Street racing on highways is foolish. Managing your bathroom breaks can be troublesome, especially if you drink very large coffee's before your trip (I avoided this). Before I left I found my car needed about 1.5 liters of 5W30 oil again. I suspect driving on the highway is responsible for heavy oil use.
It's pretty easy to rip through the gears on the Impreza, the 173 bhp puts the all wheel drive to use very well indeed. I can go from 40 km (1st) to 2nd to 85 km/hour (2nd) to third (110 km/hour) and fourth (110 mph) easily. The drivetrain noise is thunderous and coming off red lights when my ac is on causes the engine to burble with a low growl. I've driven the WRX and STi cars, those are rocket ships compared to this car. The problem with the WRX and STi is the turbo lag. Unless you've gotten used to it or decided to put in some douchebag blow-off valves, you're stuck with it. While you could spend money and get rid of the lag by using a special device called a TwinCharger.
According to Wikipedia:
'Twincharger refers to a compound forced induction system used on some piston-type internal combustion engines. It is a combination of an exhaust-driven turbocharger and an engine-driven supercharger, each mitigating the weaknesses of the other. A belt-driven supercharger offers exceptional response and low-RPM performance as it has no lag time between the application of throttle and pressurization of the manifold. Combined with a large turbo which would offer unacceptable lag and poor response in the low-RPM range, the proper combination of the two can offer a zero-lag powerband with high torque at lower engine speeds and increased power at the higher end. Twincharging is therefore desirable for small-displacement motors (such as VW's 1.4TSI), especially those with a large operating RPM, since they can take advantage of an artificially broad torque band over a large speed range.
Sure, I did dust some cars while on the highway. One was a crappy Honda Element who had the annoying habit of passing me, then slowing down, forcing me to pass him. After the third time, I lost it and blasted around him. Ugly car anyway. The second jackass was some fool in a Pickup truck driving 80 km/hour in a 110 zone. I had to stay behind this fool for miles because the highway lines were double yellows. The third (and perhaps closest) call I ever had was I just completed a passing a car and moved to the right lane. One half SECOND later some fucker on a fat motorcycle zips by me doing 120 miles per hour and no helmet. I couldn't believe it. People really have no respect for other motorists out there.
Because I'm an auto-enthusiast, I always look out for special or high performance vehicles on the road. This trip I only noticed 1 yellow C5 Corvette and a Black Porsche Truck - The Cayenne Turbo S. That truck looks evil on the road.
Now on to other things:
I am thinking of starting a video series on car reviews - something like Autoweek (in the same vein, so to speak). I'm going to need some crew and equipment. What I'm thinking is:
A Camera (HD-DVI) - 1 Operator
B Camera (HD-DVI) - 1 Operator
Bumper Cam (480i)
C Camerea (HD-DVI)
Auxilliary Lights (4)
Pan reflectors (2)
Light meter
Audio meter
PC 1 (Video recording deck )
PC 2 (Audio mixing deck)
If you're interested, let me know.
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