Mt. Hamilton Cruise

Having spent the last few weeks on the East Coast for work, I was really excited to get back to the Bay Area and the G8. To take advantage of this trip home I hooked-up with a few GTO owners today for a spirited drive up to Mt. Hamilton near San Jose, Ca.

I have been wanting to make this drive for some time, but have always been a little leery of doing it on a weekend. This is a road that the crazy cyclists come to test their muscle, and it can be quite busy when the weather is good. Fortunately, Friday turned-out to be a perfect day to make the drive… there were zero cyclists on the road!

The group met-up in San Jose and headed up towards Mt. Hamilton. I lead the cruise, not like anyone could have become lost, and it turned-out to be a good thing… the road conditions were less than ideal and having the car with the most tire sidewall up front paid-off. To the best of my ability I tried to radio back when I hit a big bump, but I don’t think it was enough sometimes… there were several occasions where the GTOs had to slow down to avoid the rough roads.

As we made the climb up Mt. Hamilton we came-up on a Toyota 4-Runner, which normally would have been holding us back, but it turned out he was a local who likes to drive! At the top of Mt. Hamilton is the Lick Observatory. The driver of the 4-Runner was heading to the observatory and had obviously driven the road quite a few times… he was actually giving me a run for my money up the mountain!

At the top of Mt. Hamilton we stopped at the Lick Observatory for some photographs and sightseeing. I had never been to the observatory, so being able to walk around and look at some of the memorabilia was very cool. They even have an original seismograph from the 1906 San Francisco earthquake! Before leaving we had to take advantage of the scenery and take a few photographs.

Rather than just driving back down the road we had just driven, we decided to head out towards the Central Valley and drive on San Antonio Valley Rd. and then out on Del Puerto Canyon Rd.

The descent from the Lick Observatory down San Antonio Valley Rd. was just spectacular! This is a smooth section of road that through a series of switchbacks drops almost 2000′ in less than 4 miles (at up to a -11% grade). If this road wasn’t in the middle of nowhere I’d drive it every day. What better way to explain… than a video!

The G8 really handled this stretch of the drive well, no matter how hard I tried to push it. The driver of the GTO behind me commented that he could smell my brakes as he was going through the corners! There were several times where I was locking-up a wheel or two… and I know if I had not been using the transmission to help slow down into corners I wouldn’t have been able to be as quick. I can only imagine how this road will be after I do my suspension upgrades!

After the wonderful descent from Mt. Hamilton we headed out into the middle of nowhere. The only thing you’ll find out here are some farms and the occasional cow, but it does lend to some nice “relaxing” driving roads. San Antonio Valley Rd. leads out to the crossing point for three roads at “The Junction”. Mines Rd. leads to Livermore, Del Puerto Canyon Rd. heads out towards the Central Valley, and San Antonio Valley Rd. to the Lick Observatory and San Jose. The Junction is also the home of a little bar, named “The Junction” (big surprise huh?). We stopped there to catch our breath, and after spending some time with the locals we headed back out to finish-up the drive.

The day turned-out to be a great outing. I had hoped to have a few more cars, but I think it worked out better than we only had the four of us… it allowed us to push things a bit harder. I wished I’d been able to spend more time with the G8, but it was great to get out and romp around while I had the chance!

NCG Mega Mod Day

NorCal GOATs had a Mega Mod Day today. What might you ask is a “Mega Mod Day”? Well, imagine having a full garage with all the tools you could ever want… a bunch of parts… and a great group of knowledgeable people to help get the work done. Big thanks goes out to Garage Works in Vallejo, Ca for welcoming us into their shop, and Big Joe for setting-up everything.

I didn’t have any work that I needed to get done on my car, but there were many impressive tasks going on. The big one was a stall converter upgrade, which I guess isn’t that complex, but anytime you have to remove the transmission from a car it’s not a “simple” job.

I spent most of my day standing around a G8 GT that was getting the Solo High-Flow Cats installed. Working under a car that is on jack stands isn’t one of my strong points, so I ran around gathering tools and parts. The HF Cat install process sounds simple on paper, but due to the location of several of the bolts and connectors (specifically those for the front O2 sensors) it took much longer than expected. Once the work was done though, the results were spectacular. The car went from be loud to a monster… so much so that the owner has since changed exhaust/mufflers to quiet things down. I think when I get my HF cats I’ll save some trouble and have them installed.

Other work that was being performed included the installation of a dual-exhaust on a ‘04 GTO (which is a factory single-exhaust), trans-cooler, headers, and a drive-shaft loop.

Like the previous mods days, I really learned a bunch. I’m still a little unsure about doing too much work myself, but the more of these events I get to the more confident I am getting about doing the “simpler” things.

NCG GTG: Marin Brewing Co.

Today the NorCal GOATs has a get together at the Marin Brewing Co. for lunch. As always, there were caravans from various areas of the bay to the meet. I connected with a few people from the central valley and a new CGM GTO owner from Castro Valley.

After a brief stop to get some fuel, the gang headed out. The drive up went smoothly (some random person in front of me even paid my toll on the bridge) and we made good time.

The rain that hammered this area over the past week was sticking around just long enough to rain on our parade. It wasn’t too hard (nothing compared to this past week), but it was consistently sprinkling over most of the drive. I didn’t wash my car for this meet (again), and was glad of that when the rain was coming down. But on that note, I really need to spend a couple of hours washing and detailing my car!

When we arrived at the Marin Brewing Co. the rest of the group was already in the restaurant. It was a little disappointing not to get there earlier for the typical talk in the parking lot, but we were able to get some of that done after the GTG. We went in and joined the rest of the group just in time to order food.

After a GTG at the Marin Brewing Co. a few of us headed to the Golden Gate Bridge to take some photos. The drive to the bridge was terrible… being the leader, trying to keep everyone together, and not knowing the area is just a nightmare situation. After driving around and circles (at least three times) trying to get everyone together… I was finally able to find an area to pull over and regroup. From there, things went a little smoother, which was nice.

The parking area at the Coast Guard harbor was very wet and full of many puddles. One nice thing is that the center ‘road’ portion of the lot is paved, so despite having dirty puddles, it wasn’t too much of an issue. The parking lot was quite wet/muddy and I was really surprised that everyone came in for photos. I think it was the dirtiest place most of these GTOs have ever been!

The lighting was far from ideal (everything was backlit), but I don’t really think you can take a bad photo with the Golden Gate Bridge in the background.

Because of the earlier rain, people’s cars were dirty… so I wasn’t too worried about getting the perfect picture. I mentioned to people that we need to be here at sunrise to get the best light, and didn’t get many people who seemed interested. I totally understand not wanting to make an hour (or longer) drive before the sun is up just to take some photos, but sometimes that’s what it takes to get the really spectacular images.

The drive home from the Golden Gate Bridge was typical Northern California driving… patches of really heavy traffic even on a Saturday! A few of us stopped briefly at the Dublin Hooters to deliver a NCG jacket and calendar to a member who was unable to make the cruise.

The day was very enjoyable. Great conversations as always and really good to see everyone and what they have been working on since the last time. I think there should be a few good photos for those who made the trip to the Golden Gate, so that was cool too.

NCG Pyzano’s Pizza GTG & Cruises

The Pyzano’s Pizza GTG has been on the books for a while, such that we could distribute calendars, but I figured that it would also be a great day/location for a cruise. After talking with a few NCG club members I planned both a Pre- and Post- cruise.

The Pre-cruise met in Martinez and headed south along some of my favorite roads.

View Larger Map

There were between 10-14 cars with me on the cruise, unfortunately the weather wasn’t very cooperative. While it wasn’t really raining, the ground was wet and it was quite foggy. Because of this I kept the pace a little slower than I would have liked, but safety first! I was surprised to see there were even quite a few bicyclists out on the roads in the sub-par weather.

The trip through the Berkeley Hills was really hampered by the fog (and the bicyclists), so wasn’t all that much fun. When we made it to Redwood Rd. and dropped in elevation a little the fog cleared out and allowed for some fun. I was really happy with the way the route turned out… we never really found ourselves split-up too much and didn’t have to deal with much other car traffic. I think quite a few of the people on the cruise enjoyed the roads, and I hope we do something again when the weather is better.

After the Pre-Cruise the gang arrived at Pyzano’s Pizza. Everyone was really impressed with the number of people who made it out.

The gang headed into Pyzano’s for some really great pizza (their sauce is awesome and their crust is nice and chewy). After eating, we handed-out the 2010 NorCal GOATs Calendars that people had ordered. I was surprised to get a couple from the club in gratitude for all of the hard work that I put into the project. It was really not necessary, but greatly appreciated.

After talking-shop with the GTO owners the group headed-out on a Post-Cruise towards Hooters in Dublin.

View Larger Map

The group left Castro Valley and headed to Palomares Rd. The weather had cleared-up a bit and visibility was better. The temperature was still cool, but the roads were dry. Again I tried to keep the pace a little conservative, but we were still able to have fun. About half-way into Palomares Rd. we caught-up with a slow moving Honda, who was nice enough to pull-over and let two of us by, but didn’t want to pull-over to let the rest of the group buy. We tried to get the Honda to pass us but he just didn’t get the clue (I actually had to pull off the LEFT side of the road to get him to go by me). We stopped for a little before proceeding, but by that time there was only a mile left before we hit Niles Canyon. Once we left Sunol we had the road to ourselves, but Foothill just isn’t that exciting of a road (sure beats I-680N though).

Overall, I was happy with the way the cruises went. I wish the weather was better and people had more of a chance to experience the roads to the fullest. I tend not to have as much fun when I’m leading a cruise, as I spend my time thinking more about the pace and keeping everyone together, but it was OK.

NorCal GOATs 2010 Calendar

The 2010 NorCal GOATs 2010 Calendar is finally finished! It was a long process, but the results are well worth it…

Cover

January

February

March

April

May

June

July

August

September

October

November

December

You too can even order your very own, in two different sizes: ORDER HERE

NCG Christmas Party

Tonight the NorCal GOATs gathered to have a Christmas Party and celebrate the past year. I arrived at the event early to help setup, so missed the cruise out to Tracy, but it was quite impressive when everyone pulled-in.

The food at the GTG was great… having a pot-luck is always a great way to taste what everyone is capable of cooking. My favorites included the “chocolate balls” and the deep-fried turkey.

At the Christmas Party we were finally able to take delivery of our NorCal GOATs club jackets (and hats).

They really turned out great! The quality of the jackets and the embroidery is just perfect. I know that I will be sure to wear this FAR more times than I did my letterman jacket in high school! I know there have been several cold morning meetings for NCG events in the past few weeks that the jackets would have been perfect for.

This was also the first time that the club was able to see the finished 2010 NorCal GOATs Calendar!

After spending several months working hard taking photos, editing, and selecting images… it was really great to see that people liked the final results. I also put together a slide show of the images that didn’t make the calendar that I had displaying on the big screen while people were arriving.

The event had a great turnout and I was really glad that everyone seemed to have a good time!

Winter Test & Tune

My last two trips to the drag strip have been on less than ideal days. The session at the Las Vegas Motor Speedway had a DA of 4569′ which really killed my times. The previous session at the Sacramento Raceway was better, with a DA of 1247′, but when I heard that the DA today was going to be below sea level (a negative DA) I just couldn’t pass it up! After the Toys 4 Tots cruise I headed to the Raceway and joined-up with two other people who were running.

I had not planned on running when I filled-up with gas the other day, so I had half a tank of fuel when I reached the track… way more than I’d like. I lowered the rear tire pressure to 29psi (similar to where I left off at the last Test & Tune), but left all the stuff in my trunk (full size spare, jack, bags/camera, etc.). After going through tech I headed to the line for my first run.

I spun the rear tires to clean them off and quickly staged… the other car staged really quickly, so I tried not to lag. I launched from idle when the third yellow light illuminated (my RT was a nice 0.247s) and proceeded down the track very smoothly. I crossed the line in 3rd gear (Drive mode) and was really pleased with the way the first run had gone. I had reason to be impressed, as I ran a 13.44s @ 106.4mph (DA -172′)… which is a new personal best!

I emptied out all the stuff from my trunk and spent the rest of the day battling traction issues. I had several runs (in both lanes) where I just couldn’t launch without getting nasty wheel hop as I went into the power. I was typically able to get-out and back-on to salvage a 14-second run, but that wasn’t what I wanted. On the last run I was even breaking-loose as I was shifting from 1st to 2nd! Because of this I was unable to better the time from my first run… looks like I’ll need to spend some more time learning how to launch!

I had hoped to get into the 13.3’s (what I’d estimated I could run with a nice DA), but I was content with bettering my personal best. If I would have been able to hook-up, I’m sure I would have put down a better time. I think the next time I come to the track I will be sporting an upgraded suspension, a set of drag radials, and more than likely a nice power-adder.

Toys 4 Tots Cruise

The NorCal GOATs joined together with several Northern California Corvette clubs to be part of a Toys 4 Tots cruise to benefit a few local charities. Groups gathered around the Bay Area and headed up to Sacramento for the cruise… I joined-in with the group of Vettes leaving from the Dublin Hooters (along with a couple other GTOs). It was rough waking-up at 5:15am, but the cruise was for a good cause!

The Vette guys seem like a good bunch of guys (and gals). The cruise up to Sacramento went quite quickly (catching-up with the faster driving Vettes really made the trip go fast). Unfortunately, the cruise route wasn’t the most exciting… but hanging out with a bunch of other car guys is always fun.

There were ~130 Vettes at the meet and quite a cash few donations were made. I picked-up a dicast Corvette for the Toys 4 Tots (I thought it was fitting), and I wasn’t the only one. I probably should have brought a ‘girls toy’ so that things were not so unbalanced, but I knew I’d rather have the dicast!

It was really great to see all the GTOs come together with the Vettes to do something charitable. It just shows how great all the club members are… we are about more than just having fun with our cars!

G8 advertising the NorCal GOATs

Today after washing my car for tomorrow’s cruise I added a little more GTO to the G8

I have been trying to figure out the best location to put the NorCal GOATs club logo and I decided in the bottom-center of the rear window would be a good location. It is in silver, to match the GoatRun decals, and looks really nice.

Photo in ‘The Legend’

The December issue of ‘The Legend’ (the GTO Association of America monthly publication) was recently delivered in the mail… and to my surprise one of my photos was in it! The Vice President of the NorCal GOATs was the subject of an article titled ‘A Tale of two Goats’ highlighting his 1968 and 2004 GTOs.

A little over a month ago (seriously, it seems longer ago than that) a few of us headed out for a cruise around the East Bay. After the cruise we stopped to take a few photos, and one of the shots with the car owner made the magazine!

This isn’t the first time that I’ve been published, but it’s still cool to see your work in print. It is also really cool to see my work appreciated by the GTO community (given I am the owner of a G8). It sounds like the NorCal GOATs will be trying to get several more articles into ‘The Legend’ in the coming year… I think I’ll try to put something together to highlight all the work that has gone into producing the calendar (I’m sure there will be a few photos that the magazine could use for that article).