Well, how could I describe this weekend???
Wednesday:
First we left Seattle for Portland last wednesday night and we made it in record time, I somehow knew this was going to be a fun and FAST drive down the next day!
Thursday:
The next morning comes up and we're on the road at 6h30 am...and just out of Eugene, we all get Lasered by a motorcycle cop waiting on the same spot I got a ticket back in October 2001 on my way to the NorCal drive back then. We all escape from the laser pink slip free!
Geting into California I FELT in California, the golden mountains, Mount Shasta, fast drivers, CHP offices all along I-5!
But the pace got faster. A stop in Yreka for gas and food at Grandma's house and It's my turn at the wheel of Jason's super tight Lemans blue M5...driving gloves included! We have some fun in the NorCal highway and south of Redding we make a rest stop and I give the wheel back to Jason! Thanks for leting me drive...it was fun, especially the little dicing with the loud Datsun!
We get in the Bay Area only to get stuck in not-so-bad traffic on the Bay Bridge and 101 on the way to the Bay area's own autobahn, the super wide, super twisty, full of high performance car and moutaneious highway 280! Once we get past highway 92, I spot a Lotus Esprit V8 and Jason gets on it and we race a little with the yellow british car. Jason easily keeps up with it!
We get to Pong's place wired and excited after a FAST drive down to Lost Altos. Arrival time at Pong's place is 5h30pm for a total of 11 hours from Portland to Los Altos with gas, food and pee stops! WOW
Later that day we eat at Fontana's on Stevens Creek blvd, not too far from mark-up country for BMW's and all sorts of high end cars!
A final call to Bobafett before sleep and tomorrow should be an awesome day!
Friday:
Next morning I wake up and get ready to leave for the M5 lunch at Ming's in Palo Alto for a rendez-vous with a bunch of M5 fanatics and delicious Dim Sum! Me, Jason Pong's daughter and the Lemans Blue M5 are first to arrive. Second to arrive is Dan and his FABULOUS Ferrari 550 Maranello equipped with a cargraphic exhaust...nice burbble at iddle and absolutly mean growl when revved!
Soon after, all the M5 trickle in but everybody is assembled around Dan's black beauty!
We have a very good lunch at Ming's and after we oogle over the cars for awhile. Dan gives me a ride and then lets me drive his 550 Maranello (will be featured in Test drive of my life part 2). WOW really the best and fastest car I have ever driven!
We come back to Pong's place to chill out and have a wonderful diner at his house. Pong's hospitality is un-rivaled by anything I have ever experienced! even a 5 star hotel can't beat him and his family for hospitality!
Later we start working on his Miata that has rough idling problems and won't start, we locate a part of the problem as being the fuel pump so Bimmerbabe starts looking for the location of the fuel pump on the Miata and soon enough, we are dissassembling Pon's little Miata to have a look at the fuel pump. We get the fuel pump out and test it out and we decide to buy a new one the next day and we replace the old pump temporarily and go to bed after a long but Fantastic day!
Saturday:
Greg invites me and Jason over to have a look at his version of the black beauty, his 996TT. WOW, that car is very well maintained. It trully is the mirror car! When we get there Greg is actually washing it before the sun comes out. Jason's friend from back in college shows up with his Hayabusa! Another black Missile in the mix!
After the drying is done, I hop into the 996TT with Greg and Jason follows us in his fast Lemans blue M5 along with his friend!
As we enter the tunnel that leads us from 92 onto 280 north, Greg is doing 65 and by the time we exit the tunnel we are well into triple digits speeds in the blink of an eye! Trully a catapulting experience! it felt like God was pulling us
Greg then pulls off the highway towards a vista point with a winding road and shows me what the 996TT is capable off when almost warmed up...OMFG is that thing a monster over 2900 rpms! We accelerate, brake and curve our way up to the top only to go down and back up again!
Jason and his friend get their turns afterwards!
Then we go back to Greg's place and we go pick up his son. I ride with Greg in Jason's M5 and Jason in the 996tt with his friend. Greg says nice things about the short shifter and the Dinan exhaust which he describes an exhaust with a bark type of noise at high rpms! Will he get it for his stock M5?
We head back over to Greg's and watch the footage we shot of us driving the 996tt on the highway and up the vista point! AMAZING car I must say. THIS IS THE TURBO to have!
(Greg's 996TT will be featured in "the test drive of my life part 3")
Later that day we head to Jason's friends place with Jason trailing behind the Hayabusa! Wheelies on 280 at 70mph!
I stroll along the 48th avenue in San Francisco and am once again reminded of how beautiful this place really is! I snap away on my camera and later we head back towards San Jose where we will sleep for the night after another FABULOUS day
Sunday:
We wake up at 6h30 am to head up to Half Moon bay for a ferrarichat.com meet. Dan shows up with his 550 Maranello, two 360's, a 348, a Testarossa, a 512TR, a 328, a 308 as well as Jason's and Don's M5's and the 740i sport! Great breakfast and great exhaust noise. Heading back we TRY HARD to follow Dan once 92 switches to two lane but in vain, the 550 Maranello just DISSAPEARS like a rocket! Just with a beautifully tuned italian exotic exhaust noise!
We get back on the highway and make our way out of the Bay area, we hit traffic on 80 out of Vallejo and I fall asleep until Vacaville and I-505. We make our way out of California and I'm at the wheel when all of the sudden just north of Medford, Oregon I spot a state trooper between rows of trees and I'm doing about 20 over so I tap the brakes and radio cop to the other cars in tow since I'm the lead car. As soon as I brake, the celica in the left lane passes me and when we pass by the cop, he pulls into the freeway and my heart starts beating faster then when I'm having sex! The cop passes all of us and pulls over the Celica and I just about jump in joy and radio my reaction to the other ones: it sounded like this "AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH"
We make our way slowly back to Seattle and we fall asleep!
WHAT A WEEKEND! the perfect car enthusiast's weekend! Thanks to all who made this possible! Jason, Don, Hien, Pong and his family, Dan, Greg, Paul and everyone who I came in contact with this weekend! it was fun! the best weekend in my life!
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