DarkHalo

Just got home from the cruise. Will have pics as soon as I get the camera developed (yeah, yeah, yeah I still havent found the cable for my digital cam). We had 9 cars and about a dozen people show up at the March Air Museum this morning. 1 guy had to bail from the museum and couldnt do the cruise (hes a cop) but those of us in the other 8 cars (which was split half and half C4's and half C5's) got to do some way cool *spirited driving* in the mountain twisty turnies, then a pitstop at Lake Fulmor to stretch the legs and use the facilities then on to Idyllwild for a nice lunch at the "Gastronome". Good company, good coversation and a lot of quality time mashing the loud pedal. I got stuck leading the pack for most of it but took it easy (sorta) so the C5 guys could keep up (heh heh heh). Seriously though this was a BLAST and I cant wait to do it again. :auto: :blueangel:

Hurricane_777

Sounds like fun! :cheers:

I'm dying to get out and drive! :steering:

rocco16

I just got home from the March/mountain drive myself. What a great bunch of people! Perfect weather, good serpentine roads, surprisingly little traffic, and a total of nine Corvettes with not a dog in the bunch! No tickets (and don't let DarkHalo tell you he took it easy either), no accidents, no broken equipment.....just good fun! We'll have to make this an annual event. Some VERY nice C5's (yeah, yeah, they're all nice....I know), so nice, in fact, that if I ever get enough cash together I think I'll buy one (as a spare 'Vette; it can be the cute-but-slightly-'challenged' little brother to the '96 :) Sorry Fred, thevettnet, and RiskyBeans....I had to throw that in. By the way "beans" I don't think we got the name of your lovely female passenger. She seems like a very nice young lady, you should let her drive once in awhile!!
Farhorizon's nice blue example started smoking a little, but Fixvet and several others determined that it was most likely an over-filled A4 trans. No harm, no foul. Who got the name of the driver of the cool Pewter C5 with the Mallet wheels? Was it Wayne? Anyway, nice car, dude.
We'll do it again!!

Larry
LT4coupe

:seeya :seeya

DarkHalo

Annual??? like hell...how about once a month but in diff areas? maybe yer neck of the woods next time? And you can lead the next time dude! Ill tell you what, after we left Lake Fulmor and Far Horizons was leading it got VERY spirited! (I have to admit I really pushed it HARDa few times and the Z06 behind me hung right in there with obviously no problems). I got to really push those new Kumhos I just put on yesterday. By the way, they did absolutely fantastic! The diff between them and the GSC's was like nite and day. My vette literally felt like it was glued to the road no matter how hard I pushed it. I never once got the tires to squeal in any of the corners. Oh, we saw a C4 there in Hemet going the opposite direction and I couldnt help but notice Rocco and me both waving at a brother....yeah, the spirit lives on. :blueangel:

mid life 90

Sounds like a good time was had by all. Wish I lived a little closer, would have loved to been there :auto:

DarkHalo

Did I mention that it was like 85 F and half of us were topless? (thats 29.4 C and the C stands for Canuck not celsius :lol: ) I got sunburned today!!! :lolg:

mid life 90

Go ahead and rub it in. I was at work and saw the sun once and got rained on twice

farhorizon

I just got home! After parting ways with the rest of the Forum crowd in Idyllwild, my buddy Rod and I headed off for Mt. Palomar. We stopped in Warner Springs at the glider port (it was hopping!), and then continued on to the Anza Borrego desert, Julian and the mountain. After a meal at Mother's we caught highway 79 back towards Temecula in the dark. In the spirit of today's ride, I opted for more curves, and took Sage Rd., a winding, narrow, unlit, and seldom used stretch of asphalt (with no cell service) pointing north toward Hemet.

High beams on, Steve Earle's Jerusalem playing on the Bose, having fun covering ground! I crested a small rise, the road went down to the left and then cut back to the right. I tapped the brakes, the front end drifted left, I cut the wheels to the right, and the back end came around. I heard Rod say quietly "Here we go" about the time I was pointed backwards in the wrong lane. I held my foot on the brakes and tested the effectiveness of the ABS. We left the pavement backwards, onto the dirt shoulder, and continued rotating counterclockwise another quarter turn. We stopped off the road, a little short of a dirt berm, having spun 270 degrees! Wee Haa! Don't try this a home kids!

No Sweat! A little dusty. No damage done. The rest of the drive home was uneventful. I am a little curious about why it spun. My last 3 cars have been an RX-7, a Fiero, and a Chrysler Conquest. I've driven all of them on that same stretch of road, never spun any of them, ever, there ar anyplace else. Oh well! I emerged from the dust cloud a little wiser! I guess you never know the limits until you pass them! I won't be doing that again!

By the way, Dark Halo, do you have my other radio?

DarkHalo

Ive driven Sage Road about a hundred times and yeah, it can be real tricky in spots! Im glad all is well with you and the vette. Yeah, I got part way down the mountain and was digging around in the glove compartment and found your radio. IM me and we can exchange phone numbers and meet up somewhere. Hey, I just bought a Fiero myself! I got a beautiful black '85 GT last week for my son Stephen that was there with me today. Im tempted to get another one for me now. I didnt get a chance to tell you but you had me pushing the corners pretty hard that stretch from Lake Fulmor to Idyllwild when you were leading! It was fun!!! I was wanting to go the extra long trip like you did but when I had the new Kumhos put on last nite I found my rear brake pads were like paper thin and I just didnt want to push it too hard before I changed them. We gotta do this again soon! :blueangel:


[Modified by DarkHalo, 9:13 PM 2/1/2003]

farhorizon

Are you going to the Nethercutt Museum gathering next week? If so, hang on to the radio, we can use them to coordinate for the drive. I'd like to suggest a run up the Cajon Pass to Highway 138, past the Mormon Rocks to the Wrightwood cutoff. Highway 2 across the ridge of the San Gabriels will drop us down onto the 210 freeway a few miles south of the Nethercutt. There's not much snow to speak of, the traffic should be light, and the Angeles Crest Highway beats the superslab for scenery any day of the week!

rocco16

Far- Glad you and the car came through unscathed. Would hate to see that perfect blue paint (the paint that was the restaurant hostess's choice!) get damaged!
Halo- Give us some more details on the new tires...model, size(s) etc.
And another run in about a month sounds real good...

See ya' next time!
Larry
LT4coupe :seeya

DarkHalo

I got a set of Kumho Ecstas from the Tire Rack here in the Forum. Theyre 275-40ZR-17's. $108 each and $22 shipping for 2 day Fed Ex. They beat the crap outta the Goodyear GSC's that were on there. The feel is VERY solid and smooth as glass. I think I could have fairly safely added another 10-15 mph on most of the twisties we were going thru up there. Yeah, a month sounds about right too. I prolly wouldnt do car shows or stuff that doesnt involve primarlity driving the vette though. I mean going somewhere to socialize is ok and all...but Im still mostly wanting to just have fun driving with other vettes yaknow? So yeah, lets plan on something else real soon. Maybe a run up to Palomar Mtn like FH was saying would be a good idea. Ill have my people contact your people :lolg: :blueangel:

Rob 93ZR-1

Sounds like a great day, full of fun. :cool: :cheers:

rocco16

I hear ya', man. I got a Corvette to DRIVE. If I wanted to talk, I'd join the local Corvette Club.....
How about a run from Escondido to Julian to Santa Isabel to Palomar?
MountainRun II?? In March?
Fix'? Far'? 'Beans? 'Net? Fred? Wayne? Cool white 'Vette with MY wheels?.....etc?

Larry
LT4coupe
:seeya

DarkHalo

:iagree: You hit it right on the head about joining a club. Everything I ever hear is that theyre more about socializing than driving. As you said, I got a vette to drive the hell out of it. Im definitely up for Mountain Run II. I hope the others see this thread and chime in either yea or nay on it. :blueangel:

farhorizon

I'm always up for long mountain cruises! That's why I chose the name farhorizon (because that's where I'm headed)! Anybody up for Mulholland Highway, Angeles Crest Highway, or Highway 1 through Big Sur?

I know it's a long way off, but has anybody ever made it to Hot August Nights in Reno? I've never done it, but it's on my list of Things To Do this year!

DarkHalo

I was just talking to Rocco in email and he suggested an Escondido/Santa Isabel/Palomar cruise for the first of march. Whatcha think? Im up for it. We could caravan down south for it even. :blueangel:

farhorizon

There's a lot going on in my life around that time. I manage a factory that will be relocating about then. When the Big Move happens, my weekends will be committed until everything is back up and running. The big kid in me wants to say "Sure, count me in", but the responsible adult in me (who wants to keep his job) needs to say "Guys, I'll have to get back to you later on this".

DarkHalo

You gotta keep the $$$ coming in to get more toys for the vette *G* Well keep a slot open for you when you can. :cheers: :blueangel:

fixvet

Count me in!! We could extend that to also run south out of Julian on the Sunrise Highway past Mt. Laguna and maybe make a pit stop at Viejas Indian Casino/Outlet Center off I-8 at Alpine, then back home. I'll get Mike to drive his '86 vert too. I like Saturday cruises best!! Check out the new thread in "Pacific Forum".
Fix :auto: :auto:


[Modified by fixvet, 9:43 AM 2/3/2003]