As I hope you’re aware, yesterday was the Autopian’s 1rd Members Only Track Day at Lime Rock Park, and I’m delighted to say it was a huge success. I think we had over 70 people show up, a crapton of amazing cars ranging from a Renault 4 to a bunch of lovely Porsche 911s, Jags, BMWs, a conversion van, a mobile repair shop, and so much more, all of which were sent on the track with ruthless, unhinged abandon. It was glorious.
We’re going to tell you all about it, but we have to get all the pictures collected, all of us collected – I need to get on the road this morning to get home – and that’ll take a few days, but I promise you’ll hear all about it, and, ideally, feel sharp pangs of regret for missing it. I’m kidding! I mean sharp pangs of excitement at the idea that we’ll do more, maybe by you! Also, maybe sharp pangs of gas pain, in which case I think you should take some time in the bathroom.
But one thing I can tell you about is a miraculous achievement I believe I have achieved, miraculously, with the Citroën 2CV I dragged to the event. It was an achievement that required the delightfully unexpected assist from an Autopian named David (not co-founder, rust-addled David, a different one) and one that, while I haven’t officially checked it, I think qualifies as a track record for Lime Rock Park, and perhaps the whole Northeast, and perhaps even the nation.
Probably not the world. But still. Anyway, it all started with a gift, a gift based on something specific I’ve written about before: Citroën’s weird fetish for sticking grandfather clocks into 2CVs:
Seriously, it felt like any time there was the flimsiest reason to, they’d shove a grandfather clock into a 2CV. You’d think watches were banned in France, and this was the only way they could tell time. Anyway, this is very much A Thing.
So look what Dave brought to the track day:
A freaking grandfather clock. Which we, of course, then put in the 2CV, just like Citroën trained us to.
Again, a freaking grandfather clock. David is someone who really knows how to commit to the bit. Who the hell brings a grandfather clock to a track day? David, that’s who, and hell yeah he did.
I was, of course, surprised and delighted. And, yes, I was more than happy to cram that thing in my very limber car and tear ass around the track:
I was giving rides around the track to members, showing off how in a 2CV you never need to use the brakes on a turn because the thing can’t flip over. Sure, it’ll lean until you can lick the pavement out the window, but it will not flop over. Even with a grandfather clock sticking out of the roof.
I mean, look:
Actually, I suspect that the clock made the car even more stable, acting as a sort of carefully-designed wing to add downforce.
I drove it all over the autocross track, and also on the main track when we did a parade lap, which is why I think I set a track record. You see, I’m pretty certain that no one has ever driven a car with a grandfather clock in it around the track at Lime Rock. Which means I set the Fastest Lap for a Car with a Grandfather Clock in It track record! In a 2CV! Holy crap!
Feel free to check me on that, of course, but I have a feeling it’s true. The Autopian now holds a Fastest Lap Speed Record for a grandfather-clock-carrying car. That’s been our dream forever, or at least 15 minutes after David rolled up with a grandfather clock in his Maverick.
Dude brought a grandfather clock to the track. Amazing.
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