Royal Flush

 

 

'Some day's you just get it right.'

'I felt good that morning. The sun was shining, conditions were perfect. I was driving around for just  seven minutes before I spotted this hole and my heart started beating like steam-train. Not only is it a bare 5cm longer than the car itself, (leaving just 2.5cm of wiggle at either end) the gap holds the extra pressure of being flanked by a Mercedes S400 and Toyota Mr2 Spyder. Not the kind of thing to take on if you value your no-claims bonus.

Judging by the rich guy cars and affluent housing in the area, the owners of these two high price pieces of machinery couldn't have been far away, any slip on the clutch here could easily have lead so some  serious physical, as well as financial pain. 

There was no way that I wasn't going to give it a try. I knew, as soon as I saw it that it was a once in a life time gap.'

These are the words of Darren Caulwell, At just 31 years old, Darren is a young driver, new to the sport, but already making waves with some super-sick reverses. The two pics above were all it took to lift him above the run of the mill and earn him some special recognition from 100% Awesome. 

In fact, the shots are so impressive that when they first started making the rounds a lot of people accused Darren of faking the reverse by bringing in the two flankers after the fact. Some even suggested that he had had his own car modified so that the front wheels would turn a full 90. None of which is true.

It's a shame that when new-blood comes on the scene the first thoughts of the old guard are to suspect foul play. Having seen the boy in action myself, and met his charming mother who he lives with, I can personally guarantee that this is not the case. 

He has a perfect sense of position and his clutch control is exemplary. 

These are exciting times for Parking, someone young and charismatic like Caulwell could really ignite the public imagination and take our sport to a whole new level. 

Darren favours a Rover 200 it's an unconventional choice as it doesn't have the greatest turning circle in the world and has quite a long wheel base.

It's cheap, it's got great bumpers and the open turning circle actually suites the long wheelbase, it's a slower curve but if the positioning is right then it doesn't matter; I find that you can always wiggle in. Because of the size of the car, it's true that sometimes I have to drive past holes that a pro in a Nissan Micra would fit into easily. But the pay off is that I tend to find that the gaps that a regular Joe in IQ or Smart Car leaves behind, make ideal super-tights for me and my Rover which would be much too wide to consider challenging enough in a smaller vehicle.

It's out of the box thinking like that that has made him the rising star he is today.

As for the Pics above. It's certainly tight and even, the wheels are straight and it's definitely flush with the line, But lets face it Darren, there is no slope to speak of and road is extremely wide. We at 100% would like to see how you would handle this same gap on a one-lane urban side-street with a 35 degree slope. Pull that off and we'll really be impressed.


PS. Darren is currently looking for a sponsor, so if you are into parking and want to get in on the next big thing... get in touch and 100% Awesome will set something up.