Sunday 6/9/02 Silver 996 going to Vegas you here?

Had a conference to attend out in Vegas and after much internal debate because of the extreme desert temps and age of car, decided to run the 928S4 out there. Boy am I glad I did. Usually when I'm in the Audi S4 I see nothing but Porsche guys and when I'm in the Porsche I see more Audi S4's than you can shake a stick at. This time, I got it right!! I happened to pass a silver 996 as traffic was clearing up just north of San Bernadino on I 15. The driver started to follow but kept a respectable distance which was fine since the last thing I wanted to do was instigate a race. So for the first few miles we run about 5 to 10 car lengths apart. Then after no crazy moves were pulled we each seemed to decide the other wasn't nuts and took it up to warp speed for pretty much the remainder of the drive out. Two Porches in the left lane seemed to do what one alone could not and that was move slow left lane traffic out of the way. On a few clear stretches we were really able to open it up. Now, something to note here was that I was already a bit timid about pushing my car in the 90+degree heat with AC running but for whatever reason I kept my foot in it and with a great deal of anticipation was able to keep up with the younger and fresher car. At one point on a long incline where they tell you to turn you AC off the 996 managed to flat out run away from me. To be fair, I got caught in the wrong gear, and AC on but I was never able to haul him back in. Having only four gears to his 6 plus my added weight is just too much to overcome. On even ground with anticipation I was able to stick around to the 130 or so we would reach every now and again. I'm pretty sure that when he was behind me he didn't have to turn his AC off and work the draft like I did. After a long while of running on the high side of 100mph on a two lane highway it occured to me that radar detector or not, some trucker or person was bound to either call or radio in to the CHP that two Porsches were absolutely flying down the road. Sure enough, we get slowed for traffic on yet another stretch of gradual "car killer" incline and I pull my shades down to check my rear nice and good when what do I see? Is that???...yep..an almost plain CHP cruiser(black and white but no light bar) hiding a ways back waiting for us to drop the hammer again. The only reason I spotted him was the push bar bumper on the front of the car. I put my hand up in front of my face and manage to signal the 996 driver who'd by now spotted this guy too and we just stayed where we were in the left lane. The CHP tried moving around laterally behind us to blend in and eventually when that failed to work pulled up on me. He looked me for about 15 seconds, and then cruised on to the 996. Now up to this point we had passed two or so fixed radar traps but it was obvious that this guy was specifically looking for us. He got behind the 996 and I just readied myself for the lights to come on for a dual pull over to ensue but he just eyeballed the 996 for a few seconds longer than me and then kept on moving up the road. There were other non Porsche cars that had been making a show of keeping up when we were at the low end of our cruising speeds. Whenever we slowed, they would blow by us, lose their nerve and sit no more than an eigth of a mile ahead. They weren't as quick to spot the wolf but traffic and trailers ahead kept them from getting nailed too. Another 2 miles or so however and the CHip pulled a U to head back the other way. So, point taken we slowed down to a more reasonable if not blendable (new word) speed and continued our great run into Vegas. So, 996 driver, thanks for the great run. I was literally settled in for a long boring drive until you came along. It was a pleasure and the drive back to LA not nearly as much fun. <img src="graemlins/beerchug.gif" border="0" alt="[cheers]" />