Would You Rather Race Cars or Fly?

"whatisthatsound" (whatisthatsound)
02/12/2014 at 11:24 • Filed to: oppo, oppsitelock, #oppositelock

I have always enjoyed fast cars and big vans, and I think it is pretty easy to understand why after a little background. I grew up in the jump seat of a 1990 mystery blue Volvo 240. That sort of speed at 4 years old, while sticking my tongue out at the car waiting behind us at the red light, was exhilarating. Who would have thought dog-fur covered wagon would lead to a love of cars.

Although, my obsession was probably spawned from my sister's boyfriend, now my brother-in-law, who introduced me to speed, convertibles, and turbos. He would never own a car for more than a few months. He wasn't rich; he was persuasive. He is the king of craigslist trades. He started in a 1989 blue Ford Festiva nicknamed The Nug. When The Nug began to perish, he traded its frail rusting body to a man with an affinity for jumping old cars. He brought home a shiny relatively shiny candy apple red Geo Metro with carpet everywhere, literally everywhere, the prior owner glued shag carpet on every single surface of the car. I started to fall in love with little hatchbacks that my 7 year old friends would make fun of me for. From there, he bought a yellow MR2 Turbo, then a beautiful orange Porsche 914, a few more MR2's of various years, an Elise, and an 8 passenger van.

My first car was his glorious off gold Chevy Astro, and from that moment on I knew I loved cars and vans. By the time I was 18, (2 full years later) I saved up enough to buy a 2005 S2000. I bought the car for $16K with 23,000 miles on the odometer, clean title, in great shape, and I was the 2nd owner. I immediately fell in love with the S. I took it to college in NYC, paid it off, and decided I will never get rid of it. Most importantly, I made up my mind that I will never buy a slower car than that. The S is my benchmark.

I was on an ROTC scholarship in college. I had an expendable income to blow on tires and gas. Any free time I had I was tracking cars on the weekends, practicing my handling at AutoX, racing karts at Grand Prix in Yonkers, and becoming obsessed with speed. Luckily, my significant other became an enthusiast as well. Her daily driver is a 2012 Golf R, which is not a bad car to have to drive when we go food shopping. I told you I loved hatch backs.

I decided working on a ship would not fit my personality. The Navy was crazy enough to let me go to flight school, full disclaimer I am an NFO, a backseater, a Goose though because my eyes are horrendous. I headed down to flight school with the Navy bought a CRG shifter Kart and a 2005 lime green Unlimited Wrangler to pull it to the track. I found a house near an abandoned airport where anyone can go to play and practice their skills in a safe environment.

I thought flying fast and low could give me a rush like racing could. I was wrong, so very very wrong. I absolutely lucked out with where I am today, and I love flying, but going fast at 500 feet above the ground does not invigorate me the way my CRG shifter kart does. Flying is a thrill ride. I love being inverted, spinning from 18,000 feet to 12,000, stalling, and flying aerobatics. I love the mission, talking on the radios, getting the controls when the pilot gets annoyed of me asking constantly. No roller coaster in the world will ever be able to match the drop in my stomach I get from flying.

Every time I am at the controls though I remember the freedom I get while flying and being able to maneuver on all three axis, does not match the joy of braking into a corner, hitting the apex, and accelerating out. When we are out there flying, and a student pilot, civilian or military, gets lost and puts themselves in a dangerous close call with another plane I realize how dangerous and stressful flying can get in the blink of an eye. Flying has an extremely steep learning curve, and for those at the beginning of the process it is not easy. When I am in a race car though, I have confidence that my competitors have worked just as hard to be on the starting grid as me. I can usually expect I will not see a car going the wrong way down a straightaway like a student pilot trying to land with a tailwind on the runway.

Any of you who may never get the chance to go into a break over the runway, and always thought of how much better it would be than driving that empty winding road on a sunny day, I can tell you from my own personal experience I'm just as happy driving to and from work as I am flying at work.

I am curious though, we have a lot of pilots on Jalopnik, how do you compare your experiences in the cockpit of plane to those in a car. I may be the lone crazy wolf, who enjoys driving more than flying, or maybe not. I'd love to get some of your input.

Here is a video of the lady, my friend and myself playing around in the airport when we first moved down.

DISCUSSION (17)

Bad Idea Hat > whatisthatsound
02/12/2014 at 11:47

I like to drive rather than fly mostly due to an irrational fear of being in a large tube that is in the air and I have no control over, but also because apparently these are no longer the friendly skies .

whatisthatsound > Bad Idea Hat
02/12/2014 at 11:57

Oh wow, I hadn't even heard about that story.

ZHP Sparky, the 5th > whatisthatsound
02/12/2014 at 12:01

This video makes me miss my S2000 SO SO MUCH.

Awesome fun, where the hell does one find a huge abandoned air strip like this?!?

whatisthatsound > ZHP Sparky, the 5th
02/12/2014 at 12:02

Google Maps, I searched and searched for massive strips of land to practice on since track time is expensive. I found this old airfield in FL. It's covered in a find dust so if you can hold a corner on it, you can hold a corner anywhere.

PatBateman > whatisthatsound
02/12/2014 at 12:14

Great video!!

Biased Plies > PatBateman
02/12/2014 at 12:23

Agreed, very fun, well edited. Perfect soundtrack too.

Doge_Supreme drives a BRZ > whatisthatsound
02/12/2014 at 12:29

I need to start my search for a place like this near me now. The best I have so far is a tiny parking lot of a vacant building near my work.

Peter > whatisthatsound
02/12/2014 at 13:05

*Soooo jealous

whatisthatsound > Biased Plies
02/12/2014 at 16:32

Thanks, my s/0 thought I was crazy when I kept making her drive in straight lines, but I just kept saying "IT'S GOING TO LOOK LIKE TOP GEAR!"

whatisthatsound > Doge_Supreme drives a BRZ
02/12/2014 at 16:33

They are definitely out there. Find them, explore them, and GOPRO it for all of us to see.

The Transporter > whatisthatsound
02/16/2014 at 08:40

It's not even a question, I'd much rather be flying. Unfortunately, flying is probably the most expensive hobby us mere mortals can engage in. It's even more expensive than club racing, and I simply can't justify the expense as a college student on the GI Bill. You can autocross your daily driver, but you can't use even the smallest and cheapest of airplanes to go to school and work every day.

69montego > whatisthatsound
02/16/2014 at 09:23

Flying , hands down. love me some autocross, but there's still that being stuck to the ground thing to work around.

whatisthatsound > The Transporter
02/16/2014 at 17:58

Quick question, when you fly are you primarily flying VFR or IFR?

whatisthatsound > 69montego
02/16/2014 at 18:00

I asked the other guy this too, when you fly are you primarily VFR, IFR or a mix?

The Transporter > whatisthatsound
02/16/2014 at 18:27

Long answer, when I was flying, I flew VFR as I don't have my IFR rating yet. I did go to IFR ground school and I took the written test but all that did was turn me off to the idea of going after my IFR rating. The ground schooling reminded me too much of my UAV operator training in the Army. Protip: if you really, truly enjoy being a military aviator, but for some strange reason you need to kill that desire in you, go UAV. It gives you every single burden that comes with being a military aviator with absolutely none of the rewards.

I want to fly, but right now I have no reason why I need to fly, so I'm staying VFR for the foreseeable future.

whatisthatsound > The Transporter
02/16/2014 at 19:06

I've heard nothing but bad things about being a UAV operator. I'll stick with the backseat, and I think your take on flying vs driving is interesting.

The Transporter > whatisthatsound
02/16/2014 at 19:13

Until they allow me to use the university's multipurpose field as a STOL strip, I'm pretty much stuck on the ground.