OCTOBERFAST 2010

[Ash510]

it was a very cool day, I loved having my son come along with us. only thing was that he felt ill when the road got relly twisty near the top of Baker, and my car smells like gas, bad.
a big thanks to James for letting my son ride with him, to get away from the gas smell.... plus I think you have a new freind James. Michael loved going in your car. one more time thanks.
it was very cool going to Baker, I havn't be in 20 years. thanks for planning it Keith.

[r8gordini]

I would like to thank the 510 club for organazing a great event.
It was a perfect day.
Perfect weather, perfect speed, perfect company.
I enjoyed it and look forward to more drives.
Byron I forgot to give you the membership fee, next time we meet for sure.

Paul (the non Datsun)

[jason]

Keith, that was a spectacular route and scenery! Many thanks for another well planned run! As Paul says, everything went perfectly for the drive, the lunch lady ..... I'll post some pictures up later!

[Byron510]

What a day. As the ship I was supposed to work on today was delayed until tomorrow, I got to attend the run. The Bronze is out of commission at the moment, so I got to sample the passenger seat of other member’s cars and that was just fine with me. James was the first to offer, and I held down the passenger side of his L18 turbo machine until half way up the mountain. I loved hearing the turbo whistle on and off up the maintain side. Then I switched with Michael into Aron’s car - cool to take a ride in an SR20DET car - a lot more refined power plant, you can sure fell the difference that 30 years of technology can add, and the gas smell wasn't bad Aron - I didn't even notice after 5 minutes, but maybe I've just been around cars for way to long! After a short hike on the mountain with the crew, I got to ride in Paul’s R8 Gordini - what a cool little car! That little 1200 motor freely revved past 8000 RPM, and didn't sound like it was even working - bloody awesome! Paul revved it a number of times to this RPM rowing through the gears, pretty much burying the stock tach at close to 9000 RPM - and this is a completely stock Gordini engine! Very cool indeed; Paul, thanks for sharing the car with me today, I'm a much more educated man in the field of crazy French cars now. And to think this is a stock family sedan! No wonder so many of these cars made it onto the race tracks in Europe and other parts of the world. 15” tires, 10.5” disc brakes with aluminum calipers on all four corners stock, double A arm front suspension up front, 5spd close ratio box standard (5th is 1.1:1) and 4:11 gears – it’s a very cool little package for a car built in 1965!
And the weather was awesome - couldn't have had a better day for a drive. Keith, thanks so much for putting these events together. The border was no problem at all, and the route was fantastic. I haven’t been to Mt Baker since I was about 18 or 19, and I'd forgot what a great piece of road it is to get up the mountain. And better yet that the summit road was open to the upper parking lot.

No worries on the membership Paul, we'll catch up soon.
The photo log:

Destination ahead – Mt. Baker in the distance from Hwy #1 in Abbotsford


Sunrise muster point at Costco Parking lot in Abbotsford


Driving into the rising sun, approaching the Mt. Baker Forest park – beautiful road, from the co-pilots seat of James’s car


Approaching the lodge area on Mt Baker; exposure on right! From the co-pilots seat of Aron’s car


The Baker Summit road was so twisty that it looks like I’m standing outside the car for this shot! James L18 turbo car and Alveen’s 850 (240+610….)


Aron, Alveen and James’s rides at the parking lot atop Mt. Baker


Keith and Malcolm’s red machines to the right – it was great to see the Malconator out, it’s been many years since he’s been on one of our runs.


From the right is Paul’s R8, Jason’s 69 goon and Ron’s KA 2dr


Some shots of our little walk;




Arriving back above the lot – great to see our line of cars, and they were getting their fair share of attention as well!


My ride down in Paul’s car – the G meter hanging from the mirror tells the story – a driver’s car being driven This gives you an interior shot of Paul’s R8.


Saddling up after our lunch stop

Paul’s 1200 had no problem holding it’s own even behind lead foot Malconator!


I just thought I’d add a parting shot of the incredibly simple, yet effective power plant in Paul’s stock R8 Gordini

[jason]

OK here's some pictures ....

We started out at 6:30am, early starts are good, less traffic, took about an hour to get to the Costco parking lot in Clearbrook.



Dang, it was cold out already and it's only mid October, I'm not going to enjoy this winter!

Going through customs at 8:30am, took about 10 minutes in line ...





We then headed up to Mt Baker, what a beautiful road, a little tricky with the changes between sunlight and shaded area and black ice already on the roads ... These pictures just shows the straights and the beginning of the twisty bits, I was trying to take pictures while driving and I needed both hands for the wheel and shifter so I've got no pics of the good bits!







We ended up here at the parking lot of Mt Baker ...









All in all, a nice short drive, about 200 miles this time I think for me ... Perfect timing too, my insurance expires today, last run on the last day of full insurance!

Thanks Again Guys!

[5teN]

Looks awesome guys! glad you guys had such a good time and thanks for posting up the pics

[bertvorgon]

Morning Gang,

I will do a small write up, and post it up later today. What a great day!!

[RONSLYCHUK]

I would just like to say that that ride was AWESOME.I forgot how beautiful it is up on Baker.I have not been up there for at least 15 years.Thanks to Keith and all of the other guys for a great day.Now to put the car away for the winter.I am glad that I got it running right for the drive(thanks to Andy at Specialty for the advice)Tomorrow Isabel and I leave for Maui for a week of fun in the sun.It is our 36th Anniversary.See you when we get back.

[Ash510]

thanks for posting all the pics. guys. it was alot of fun, only part that made me mad was getting all the way up there to find out I forgot to put a memmory card in the camera. i'm an (not an) idiot.

[miguel sss]

A curious question ...

The owner of this car is Portuguese?

The symbol that will hang from the rearview mirror is a Portuguese football team ... The team is Benfica!

[bertvorgon]

As I slammed the alarm off at 4:00 am, I had trouble figuring out what reality I was in. I had been fighting some sort of zombie/alien guys, in some morphed version of my parents abandoned home ( I need to stop watching so many of THOSE movies), then thinking I was pissed of at waking so early, to go to work…..and then realizing it was..OCTOBERFAST!
Matt had decided to come with me, so the two of us crashed around the kitchen, trying not to wake my wife, yet drag all our cameras and clothing out. The plan was to meet at the plant, then leave by 6:30. Meeting at the plant was Byron, James, Jason and Paul. Alveen was to meet there also, and, as we were getting ready to leave, a car went blasting by my work. It was Alveen. Two seconds later, he went blasting by in the other direction…! Hmm….I’m going to have to turn the boost up to keep up with him. Matt and I went in the direction he went, hoping he will see my flashing lights. He did and we convoyed out to Abbotsford, hitting some heavy fall fog, which I always hate. It was not so heavy that the road was wet, so the cars did not get slimed up.
At the Costco lot we met up with Ron, Aron and his son, and Malcolm. John had come just to say good morning.
Off we went to the border, just 5 minutes down the road, greeted by some traffic, but not too bad. My car had actually given me some idling issues on the way out, which I am attributing to something different in the last batch of aviation fuel I got. I have never had a problem in cold weather before, so I am convinced that the fuel has a different property this time. Once my intake temp showed in the 50+F. range, I was right back to normal.
The border guard asked us the usual questions, “ Do you have more than 1,000.00 with you?” I felt like saying…”Sport, I’m glad I’ve got 50.00 in my wallet, and enough American to buy a cheap lunch!” We basically breezed through, but Aron was pulled in, and they gave him the third degree to make sure the kid that was with him was all on the legit.
Finally, off we went, at a nice pace, coming immediately upon what looked like a police chase gone bad, with cars in the grass and one smashed up after hitting a power pole. Cool, COPS in real life. The back roads are posted at 50-55 miles per hour, which was actually a nice pace when you keep that speed in the corners. The sun had finally cracked the horizon, showering us with the sky blue of the day, the yellow and reds of the fall colours starting to bleed through the green.
After the small berg of Glacier, we picked up the pace a tad, hitting the twistys, going up the actual Mt. Baker climb. We really climb from sea level to 5,200 feet, with some GREAT 180 corners on the way up. The night before, I had checked the temperatures up at Whistler, just to see how low it was getting. As expected, it was well below freezing, so with that in mind, I was careful as we got higher, to the fact that there would be black ice. Malcolm and I lucked out on being able to pass the one civilian ahead of us, so we had a clear road. Sure enough, in the shade on the some of the corners, I could see the road had that black look to it. It was wet, and in some spots, it was icy. I could feel the car ever so slightly slide on a couple of them, my 048’s never thinking we were going ice racing. In a few spots the rising sun, coupled with some dripping water from the trees, made visibility ZERO a couple of times. Even at the altitude, my car still felt quite snappy with turbo.
Arriving safely at the top, we all did the usual photo shoot, then decided to go for a nice stroll to the top of a small ridge. What a truly great morning, as we actually had some time to chat, and enjoy a brilliant fall day in the mountains. It does not get any better than this, hopefully the pictures show that. It was fun having Paul and his Gordini along, something different. This car goes VERY WELL! Paul is an expert on carbs, and it shows on how well this thing pulls. In all the years of being around racing, a carbed car that is actually well sorted, is a wonderful thing to behold . Last weekend, when we did that Classic car cruise, I noticed how well it took off, considering the power I have. On a twisty road, this would be a car to be reckoned with.
Lunch was the next order of the day, so off we went back down the mountain, figuring we would stop in Glacier. Malcolm and I were away first again, having a virtual clear road the whole way, again hitting some very slippery spots.
Lunch was your typical greasy spoon affair, but, the company made up for that.
I had figured the better way back for most of us was to cross back into Canada at the Aldergrove crossing. It is in the middle of the two major crossings, and tends to be the least busy. After a nice forty five minute cruise, and a 55 mile an hour secondary road, we were at the border. After the usual questions by the border guard..” Did you purchase any alcohol, tobacco, weapons, drugs, t-shirts, tanks, C-4, bio-hazard material, socks, weapons of mass destruction, Datsun parts?”…we were waived through without fanfare.
We did a quick regroup, then, set off for our various home destinations. I had just a great day, the social part was really nice this time, and we just had the best weather possible. Thanks to all that came out, for it is the camaraderie that makes our drives so great.
I did peruse a map when I got back home, and I see another route we could take next year, all in the back roads just south of us. Let me know what you think.
Time to put the car away for the season. My insurance runs out of Friday, so this was a bonus this weekend. I did some good miles this past season of driving, and will post up some numbers when I get a minute.

[bertvorgon]

the mountains

[bertvorgon]

the people....

[bertvorgon]

and some more

[bertvorgon]

why not..car pictures are always good...