what an overwhelming experience! i arrived at 8:30 am on the nose and there were already so many cars. then all hell broke loose; from river rd you heard exhausts and engines blazing in every 2-3 minutes. i am going to set up a seperate photobucket account and post the pictures i have there, i will post the link when i am finished editing and all that jazz. i was the tall fellow in the striped polo, i would have liked to chat with many of you, but i was too busy taking photos! and sorry to the silver viper i was in front of for the first 2 miles of the run. haha. Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login
touareg = not a good "run" car. heres more pics, just uploaded. http://s112.photobucket.com/albums/n192/ferrarichat/
Easily the biggest "drive" I've ever been on. 100+ cars at the starting line ranging from 360 Spiders and Murci Roadsters to blown Vipers and Ruf Turbos. Everything you could imagine. Hovik/JDogg/993Guy all did a great job organizing. The roads don't get any better. With a group that large, it's expected that you lose 1/2 on the way so no biggy. NO ACCIDENTS. NO TICKETS (as far as I know). Safe driving. Good people. Great seeing the Fchat contingent showing up in force...
The run was interesting to say the least. For the first half I would say it was a lot of fun but the second half was the worst I had ever been on. Everyone I know got lost because of the lack of directions and confusion all over the place. After all, how can there not be enough copies of directions?? Several people left because they simply got lost not to mention the "leaders" were in the front and were gone after the first half. What ever happened to gas stops? I had to stop myself and got lost until I found the group again by chance. Also where was the final stop? I do not even think people had any idea that the run was over in the parking lot until people just started leaving. Basically, what I got was, here you are, in a parking lot, Goodbye. I did not even know where the diner was until I left but not like I was going there anyway since we were told that there probably was not enough room for everyone to go there. I drove by and only saw 5 damn cars?! Sorry but It was a great concept but planning was horrible. Runs are supposed to be relaxing experiences but this one frustrated the heck out of me as well as many others.
just got home. Great run and nice to see everyone. I must have missed you Keith. Although it was a little fustrating with the directions in the end, oh well. I had a blast and look forward to running with you guys again. Now time to for sleep. Ill post more later.
Pictures from my co-pilot Steve: http://pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph/dviper74/album?.dir=4fd1re2&.src=ph&store=&prodid=&.done=http%3a//pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph/dviper74/my_photos Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login
Maybe you should drive a little faster then? I was sitting on top of you in a car 1/2 the power in bear mountain..
That was fun though. I was just driving in 1st and 2nd but was slowing down a lot for all those bikers. Did not want to round a corner at 40 MPH with a cyclist there.
Had a great time today. Thanks for all the kind words on the car. It's nice to put faces with names. Looking forward to the next one. Bill a few pics http://www2.snapfish.com/thumbnailshare/AlbumID=48889915/a=59957091_59957091/t_=59957091
Had an amazing time guys, was alot of fun and especially with so many HOT cars and cool people, although the second half of the drive got very tiring, me and my co=pilot Steve the video guy had alot of fun, Steve ope you enjoyed the ride and day out Martin (techart 996tt grey)
Keith, I understand your frustration, and I see some things that I should have done differently/better. Printed Directions - 80+ cars on the list, usually alot of cars don't show up, and lots of guys said that they're not going to drive, just gonna come to the meet spot to check out the cars, so I printed 70 copies! The turnout was 130+ and most of them wanted to drive. I should have printed at least a 100 just in case, but even that wouldn't be enough. Getting lost - Everybody should have followed what it said exactly on the directions. 30 cars drove from 7 Lakes DR. straight to 6 and into Lake Mahopac skipping the 9W and RT218 Part. more than 30 cars got on RT6 WEST, when the directions say continue on 7 Lakes DR. I had to drive after them when I saw them turn the wrong way to catch up and bring them back. The directions say take 218 from the intersection of 293/218, lots of cars take the 1st 218 they see and get lost and many more examples... If people actually read the directions and followed the planned route, instead of just the car thats driving infront of them, everything would have been alot easier and smoother. I don't know how much easier I could have made the instructions to make them crystal clear. Gas Stops - I looked into it, but since the seperation of the group was unvoidable and would have happened one way or another, group gas stops just wouldn't have worked. Finish and Dinner - Just like the instruction says the finish is at Mahopac Plaza. And after that if people want to sit down in the dinner its down the street on RT6 called Olympic Dinner. It was 5 mints driving from the Plaza. And on many occasions I've mentioned in the preperation thread that I've talked to the owner of the Dinner and he can accomodate all of us with the cars. Those few that were at the Dinner can confirm that. Leaders - I had no idea that Eric and Jdogg had to leave early during the run. If I knew that I would have taken the lead from the begining. That was a surprise for me also. Again, I understand your frustrations and I do agree with you that the run is supposed to be fun and relaxing. Also see places where I could have done a better job. So would just like to give my appologies to the people who got lost and didn't have that much of a fun drive/time. Thanks everybody for coming. The parking lot was AMAZING to say the least!
my driver bailed on me last night at midnight sayin he has food poisoning... so i missed the event... martin you and i should go out one of these days and take some pics..
Anthony man that is horrible and ****ed up if he lied, i hope he feels better though! Anyway im down to meet up whenever, let me know! I have to detail my damm car, the close high speed runs witht he gt2 in front of me and the supra's with slicks messed my bumper up But hey, it was damm fun
I heard Hovik talking Russian(?) to one of the cuties he brought. A man of many talents Sorry to hear she wasn't feeling well at the restraunt. Neither was her friend. Hovik, and you? Maybe, just maybe is was Shivam's driving??? Mental note: don't ride with Shivam. Ok, I clocked 286 miles at 17.8 gallons of gas for an average of 16mph and an average of $3.07/gal. Boy, you NYers are getting Ripped! $2.90 in NJ anyway, had a pretty good time, though running with the porches proved tough for a 23 year old car. Brian, where were you buddy? Body roll eh, Matt? Hmmm. The car's already had her post-run bath, oil checked...clutch to be adjusted maybe tomorrow. Time to catch up on the Sunday paper first. Here's the pics from start to finish. Special thanks to Tamara(sp?) and her friend for the pose showing 308's are still loved . Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login
Hovik, JDogg, Eric, Thanks guys. Had a blast today... Too tired and frustrated (post-run car troubles -- never seems to end) to go into more details or post my pics right now, but will put up some pics later. *EDIT* Almost forgot... It was great seeing everyone there, too many to name, but you know who you are.... Hope everyone got home ok. Cheers, J.
All in all the run was great for me. I did happen to get lost at one point and wound up with some others in Orange County but we made our way back on track. Wish I could have stayed a little bit longer but I had a show to go to. It was a pleasure meeting those I spoke with and wish I could have met the rest of the people there, but of course there were a ton of cars. Hope to do it again soon. Thanks to all who organized this !!
Thanks to all...great fun! I ended cutting out a little early to get back to NYC. Always great to put some faces to the name/online persona Anybody of you UWS' up for dinner around here one of these nights?
thanks for putting it together. No one knowing who to follow and too many town traffic lights made it tough. Thanks for putting it together though. good time today. Nice disclaimer this morning, I dont think many of those guys would have woke up if you said your "not allowed to drive fast" before we came out