There can be nothing said except that the Northwest's first M5 meet was definitely a resounding success. There were a large number of showing with a total of 6 M5 represented in addition to 4 850 series (3 850i and 1 850Csi), 2 Z3 2.8's and even a Miata (The owner of the Miata also did a write-up which can be found
here).
To start things off, the route will be kept a secret so it doesn't get too crowded! All I can tell you that the route consisted of a number of whoop-de-dos twisties, roller coaster up and downs and high speed stretches!
Jet Black M5 in Van summed it up perfectly when he asked how I found such an incredible route?! I just told him that I pulled out a map and looked for the twistiest, craziest and most fun route I could find before going out to test it out myself! EUREKA!
The day before the drive, I was talking to
Jet Black M5 in Van and he had mentioned that he was heading back to the auto show at the B.C. stadium. I jokingly mentioned that I should come up and check it out for myself. He said that I should come up! So, on an moment's notice I dropped everything and just headed up there! It took me about 1 1/2 hours to get to the border where he was waiting. We headed back to his house where I left my car. We had a little over an hour left before the show closed so we had to move. In the parking lot I spotted this:
A couple pictures that I took at the show:
2003 Viper
A killer stereo system in the back seat of a Land Rover Discovery
Estoril blue X5 4.6is
Lemans blue M5
Topaz blue M3
BMW Display complete with a showing of "Star!" Everytime that show came on a large crowd gathered in front!
Imola red M3 interior with SMG2
The New SL500
360 Spyder
Customized Estoril blue 330i for BMW's own driving school
Titanium Silver Z8
We stayed until just after closing...
Jet Black M5 in Van took me for the ride of my life through Stanley park which has DARK winding roads throughout! He did this with almost bald rear tires! This guy is insane! I should have known that this would be a foreshadow of things to come.
Later that night we also went to check out all the various dealerships throughout the Vancouver area. Mini, Bentley, Lotus, Mercedes Benz, BMW, etc. How come I never saw those places before when I visited Vancouver last? :p
In the morning we did a quick wash before going to pick up Polvoronn at the train station and meeting the Vancouver crew at Safeway.
Mine
His
At Safeway, others such as
Lupo ///M5,
alpywhite,
sveilside. were already there. We waited a bit for more to show up but nobody came.
After a short drive, we made a stop at the border.
On the way down,
alpywhite and
Lupo ///M5 pulled off to get some gas.
Jet Black M5 in Van turned around to find them and I kept going to meet the others in time. On the way I ran into this:
We played a bit before I had to pull off.
Martin A. was already there waiting for us! I still wasn't sure who was going to show up yet. The Vancouver crew eventually showed up and we had 5 M5's.
A couple minutes later the 850's started showing up one by one.
Two 850i's
A 850Csi and 850i
Of course we had to check out the engine in that sweet 850Csi!
Funny thing is that a couple Z3's along with a Miata showed up. See the story posted earlier
here. When the last of our guests showed up, we all went on a short drive over to Snohomish for lunch. We had lunch at this authentic 1800's era saloon for lunch. Needless to say they were quite surprised to see 15+ of us show up at once! We had a good lunch.
Group pix (sorry its a bit blurry)
After lunch we all regrouped before taking off. We didn't realize that we had accidentally forgotten about poor Jim Wald with the 850Csi! He got in his car and wondered where everyone was! We had forgotten to exchange cell phone numbers and the talkabouts didn't have much range. More on that later.
After a FUN route filled with surprises at every turn...everyone was having fun. We made a stop in Snoqualmie Falls for pictures and a bathroom break. Some people couldn't wait...Lupo was one of them. When we passed through Carnation he made a prompt detour for a bathroom break! When we regrouped we realized that one of us was missing! So while everyone waited I headed back only to see Lupo heading the WRONG way! Fortunately, I was able to catch up with him! My radar was going off and I had seen a cop somewhere in the vicinity earlier. Thank god he didn't catch me going at hyperwarp velocities!
Some more pictures from Snoqualmie Falls:
Lots of cars!
Is everyone having fun?
Snoqualmie Falls. 300+ high full of raging water!
This was the final stop for most of us as some had to take off! It was sad to see them go especially Lupo ///M5 and alpywhite. Those two left while I was in the bathroom. Glad you guys could make it!
Only the truly die-hard folks kept going as we reached the final leg of the route. This consisted of a romp through the tunnels separating the East and West side of Seattle. The purpose of going this way is so we could HEAR the full fury of two sets of Dinan exhausts! Polvoronn was able to record things with my camcorder!
As we approached our destination, one of the 850i had to leave. We kept going to Jack Block Park which offers a fantastic view of the Seattle skyline. Imagine my shock when I pulled into the park only to find a red 850 waiting for us! I wondered how he got in front of me when he was always the last one. As I got closer, I realized that it was Jim Wald!!! Turns out he couldn't find us and had left his map at the saloon. After securing the map he tried in vain to follow the route in hopes of catching up with us. Jim inadvertly took a wrong turn somewhere halfway through the route and ended up lost! He elected to just head straight to the last point and waited for over an hour for us to show up! We were all glad to have him join us again!
Some pictures to end things off.
A row of beauties
Looking good
Seattle in the background
Group pix!
Hard to believe that this 1993 850Csi has only 10,300 miles on it and is in excellent shape! Worthy of a concours d'elegance event!
A nice interior shot to end things.
Hope you enjoyed reading this as much as I did! I had a good time and I'm already looking forward to the next M5 meet!
). 
Perhaps one of the Z3 drivers summed it up better earlier during the day while following Lupo "your exhaust sound like pure sex!"
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