My Group Drive (With Photos)

v0od0o

Well-Known Member
Joined
Oct 25, 2004
Messages
1,979
Location
Washington
Car(s)
981 CS
I went on a group drive this last Saturday, it was the first time I participate in such a thing, and man, was that a blast!

Honestly, I never thought I can drive this hard, I never thought cars can do what was done, I never thought I can be around so many excellent passionate drivers, and I never thought I can be around that many nice cars at once. It was all out of this world.

The route was real twisty, for 2.5 hours we were driving on really narrow twisty roads with a bit of everything. 1st, 2nd, and 3rd gear corners, long sweeping corners, elevation changes, everything you can think of.

The thing I just can't get over till now is the 5 series BMW. We had a couple 540s (the group leader drove one) and I was right behind them. It's an experience watching these cars driven hard. I have no idea how BMW managed to do that. I mean, I do adore Ferraris, Lambos, and many other sports car manufacturers. But BMW is just different. They made a hippo walk a tight rope, no rather dance on tight rope. The car weight 3950 lbs (1.8 tons) and still handles like crazy. I really had to work my engine and gearbox hard to keep up with those guys.

I was also surprised many people were heel-and-toeing through the corners, I thought this was more of a lost art of driving.

So anyway, I took a few photos in the parking lot before you took off for your viewing pleasure. I was planning on doing a stop midway and taking some nicer group photos with the cars with a nice backdrop but we didn't stop for photos so maybe next time.

I'm also thinking about setting up a video camera for the next time, the whole experience has to be seen to be believed with the awesome soundtrack coming out from all the cars and the beautiful scenes blazing by.

Without much further ado, I present to you photos of some of the participants:
http://img502.imageshack.**/img502/8695/IMG_3544.th.jpg http://img502.imageshack.**/img502/1154/IMG_3576.th.jpg
http://img502.imageshack.**/img502/4451/IMG_3556.th.jpg http://img502.imageshack.**/img502/5783/IMG_3546.th.jpg
http://img502.imageshack.**/img502/6504/IMG_3582.th.jpg http://img502.imageshack.**/img502/7924/IMG_3543.th.jpg
http://img502.imageshack.**/img502/4695/IMG_3552.th.jpg http://img502.imageshack.**/img502/5861/IMG_3548.th.jpg
http://img502.imageshack.**/img502/6986/IMG_3555.th.jpg
 
Nice! I'm :drool: at the M5's... wait those aren't M5's. Still nice though.
 
Wow awesome, awesome day. Looks like it was a lot of fun!! You have such a sweet car for doing that sort of thing too!! :thumbsup:
 
Now you know why the 5-series is such a good car. I'm planning for a used 530 because it is lighter and from what I hear, even more pleasurable to drive.
 
That Elise looks the same as the one I saw today, different rims though.

Nice pics, looks like fun.
 
Nice, sounds like a good day. Is yours the navy Z4?

Salar, are you talking about a yellow elise? I saw one yesterday, in West Van... might have been the same one. I didn't notice the rims, it was going the opposite direction, and I was concentrating more on the Gallardo that I was trying to keep up with. :) Speaking of cars being driven the way they're designed to be... :thumbsup:

Now, to go and get a decent car so that I can go to days like this... Unfortunately that day may be quite a while away... :|
 
What color was the Gallardo?

Yes, it was yellow, and I'm uploading pics in "I saw with pics" thread.

BTW, saw a RED one the other day downtown. SEXY.
 
flamingice said:
Nice, sounds like a good day. Is yours the navy Z4?
Yes, the official name of the color is "Toledo Blue", it looks much better in reality actually. And it's a 3.0 with sports package. And am I thankful for the sports package. The sport mode alone makes the car feel completely different. As fast and responsive as it is without it, it's a whole other level in the sport mode. Try as I might, you just can't touch the throttle pedal in sport mode without causing the back to dive down, the nose to pick up, and the car to thrust forward.

I now know that I'm probably using 1% of the car's capabilities on everyday drives. Even though I'm not the type of guy who drives slow.
 
ARH_twilightblue said:
Nice! I'm :drool: at the M5's... wait those aren't M5's. Still nice though.
Yeah they are. The silver one has just had an all new suspension fitted in. And it has hamann wheels. The black one has the M5 wheels and a carputer. Both of them very clean.

p0w3r said:
NSX!!! :shock:
Yep, I was thrilled too. Here is another look at it:
http://img517.imageshack.**/img517/689/img35475gp.th.jpg

Also the carrera was not just another 911. It was a C4S:
http://img502.imageshack.**/img502/8229/IMG_3578.th.jpg

The Rx-7 was the only car that needed a refuel midway. I was talking to the guy about its consumption and he told me he'd be very happy to get 15mpg in a best case scenario (cruising maybe).
And suprisingly mine did 22mpg during this drive. The 540s did around 13 :D I hardly ever get 20mpg in the city actually, it was weird geting 22mpg while I'm never driving below 5000rpm. This baby loves to be driven hard apparently.

It was an awesome day indeed. Next time my gf would like to join as a passenger. I'm really looking forward to seeing how she handles this :lol:
 
zenkidori said:
Nice. Heel-toe a lost art? I don't see how you could think that, but hey.
Well, among most people at least. Most people I know never even heard about it. The good news is that I was wrong and there still are many people who enjoy driving and not just think of cars as a way of getting from point A to point B.
Actually there were around 6 of us who watch Top Gear regularly, including a girl!
 
v0od0o said:
And it's a 3.0 with sports package. And am I thankful for the sports package.
I'm thankfull you got the 3.0L :mrgreen: It makes the difference in a sports car like that although I hear the 3.0L can be a tad noisy.

Anyways the NSX looks nice and I like the way you have the 'clear' lights on the rear of your car. Must be the updated version or did that come with sports pkg?
 
wow, you have some friends with some money :D nice rides for sure.
 
Well, what sounds like noise to some people is music to others :D
Actually you can drive the car relatively quietly. On the freeway at 60 or 70mph in 6th you can hardly hear the engine.
And I know BMW could have silenced it, the E90 325 has a 3.0L engine, and the E47 330 has the same engine and neither sounds like this one. To me though, this 3.0 is the best driving mix ever.

The clear lights come with the sports pkg yes. As did the adorable 18" wheels. They changed them with the 06 model though (the wheels), I like mine better actually.
 
yeah, i agree with you there voodoo, your wheels are nicer than the '06 ones. :D
 
v0od0o said:
Well, what sounds like noise to some people is music to others :D

Yep, when I was test driving a 330i, I told my mate to turn down the radio and open his window... ;-)
 
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