Driving on the hilly roads that snake through upper Los Altos, Gabe Alloy, an 11th grader at Paly, feels truly comfortable.

The leather on his steering wheel is worn out and the interior of the car has a lived-in look. This is not too surprising because, after getting his driver’s license on June 7, Alloy spent a big part of his free time this summer driving or tinkering with his car, a black Infiniti I30t. He is one of Paly’s most enthusiastic drivers and shares his passion with more than one generation of his family.

His tool collection rivals that of an auto shop, and, according to
Alloy, he probably has a more thorough knowledge of cars’ inner workings than his Auto teacher at school. He works on the Infiniti, his older brother’s white Mitsubishi Eclipse GSX, and his father’s race car, a bright yellow Lotus Elan that recently was modified with a roll bar. The Alloys have been racing the car locally for three years with the goal of winning a few races, but also just having a good time. Currently, he and his brother are working on swapping the engine of the Eclipse with a more powerful one.

Alloy’s love for cars started when he was a little boy and could name the make and model of each car passing by. His obsession worried his parents but by now, they’ve realized it was just the beginning of his undying love for cars.

More specifically, Alloy prefers small imported cars to ubiquitous, gas-guzzling American cars. His hatred for the domestic cars stems from the stereotype of their drivers. "They just ride around, bumping up and down," Alloy said. According to him, the drivers of these cars don’t really care about the feel or quality of the car, just how envious they can make others. To Alloy, a driving purist who has a high regard for the quality of a car, this is deeply insulting. He also feels that muscle cars take one away from the actual driving, as does blasting music. Alloy will listen to music in his car, preferably hard rock or heavy metal, but not when he’s driving. For Alloy, driving is "about the experience" and the sense of calm and control he gets from being at the wheel.

The Infiniti Alloy drives is not truly his, and his parents have given him a list of things he has to do if he wants his own car: get all B’s in his classes this year and keep his bedroom and car clean. But in the end, he says that all this work would all be for a good purpose. When asked what his dream car is, he says it’s a Mitsubishi Lancer Evo8; "It’s ugly as sin, but fast," Alloy says.

In the meantime, besides working at Baskin Robbins after school, Alloy would like to race his dad’s car more. Legally, he can drive it on a race track at 18, but until then, he’s happy to drive it in autocross races, where a sort of obstacle course made up of cones is set up on a parking lot.

One might wonder what driving holds for Alloy, but for him, it’s all about testing the limits the road holds and, as he says, "just pushing yourself."