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!

SF Bay G8 Cruise

A couple of G8’s from the SF Bay Area got together this morning for breakfast and a cruise. We met at Lou’s Coffee Shop in Palo Alto for a nice breakfast and then headed-out across Palo Alto towards the hills south of San Jose.

This was the first time I’d been on a cruise with my HD GoPro Motorsports Hero cameras. For the first part of the cruise, through town, I had both cameras on the back of the car to get footage of the other cars on the cruise.

Before we headed into the hills we stopped so I could reposition the cameras. We took advantage of the stop to grab a few photos.

The second half of the cruise was much more fun, driving wise, and really gave the group a chance to push their G8’s to towards the limits. The roads that were selected to drive were really fun and quite challenging. The start was very tight and twisty with quite a steep ascent. As the road continued it became much more sweeping and much quicker.

I had one of the video cameras mounted to the front bumper and another on the rear bumper. This produced a bunch of great footage and did quite a good job capturing the sound from my exhaust.

The cruise ended at a parking lot and the group spent quite a while talking about just how much fun the drive was. Many of us had our hoods open trying to cool things off… we were really pushing things, and the cars showed it (my IAT and Trans temps were well normal).

While I had hoped we would have more cars attend the event, it was great to spent some time driving with friends. Maybe someday the G8 community will pull together like the GTO community has…

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.

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

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).

Infineon Raceway Photo Shoot

In an attempt to get some additional photographs for the NorCal Goats 2010 Calendar (yeah, it’s November and I’m still working on it) I put together a photo shoot at the Infineon Raceway in Sonoma, California. Having shot professional events at the Raceway for several years, I have developed a good report with many of the media relations personnel. They were graciously willing to let me have free-range access to the facility for photography!

Given the Raceway’s busy schedule, we were somewhat limited on the days that would work for the shoot… basically weekends were out. After a poll on the boards I scheduled the event for today (a Friday) and it seemed that quite a few people were able to have the afternoon off for the shoot!

Unfortunately, the weather was not very cooperative. After a week of just beautiful weather, the forecast for Friday was 100% rain. There was a rather large storm moving down from the North… and a single band of intense rain swept across the Bay Area. As one person put it, “Mother Nature stuck her middle finger out at us”. Because of the rain, many of the cars canceled.

I arrived at the Raceway at 10:30am to check-in and do some scouting of the facility. The rain at this time was incredibly hard… so much so that I even told someone to not bother coming out. I drove around to places I’d never been before, which is always fun. I was able to narrow down some of my ideas into a half-dozen nice shooting locations. I also headed down to the garages and setup my studio lighting in the case that the rain didn’t let-up.

This was the first time that I used the Vagabond II power system (basically a big battery). While there was power in the garages I wanted to test out the new toy (and I wasn’t tall enough to reach the overhead outlets). I arranged my lighting to take advantage of the sun light that was entering through the windows (which I needed a polarizing filter to control the reflections of). After drying off my car and taking a few photos (just because I could) I was all ready to start shooting… I just needed a car to shoot.

As the afternoon progressed the rain passed and the sun came out. I was really surprised, I figured the day was going to be a total wash-out. As things started to dry out I even needed to go put my sunglasses on! The post-rain light was just incredible… Infineon Raceway is situated on the East side of a hill, which results in a long shadow that passes over the grounds well before the sun would ’set’ other places (one of the spots I was planning on shooting was in shadow as early as 2:30pm).

The first car arrived around 3pm and we quickly started shooting with the light that was remaining. I needed to get some photos from in Victory Circle, as the ground is painted with a great checker-flag pattern. We then headed down outside Turn 7 for some shots with the Raceway in the background.

Yeah, it’s great to be able to get cars trackside during a hot-session (there was an open test at the track today). We then headed into the studio to get some shots from there.

Jut as we were finishing-up with the first car, the second car arrived! This was what I was hoping was going to happen over the entire day… one car after another until everyone was shot from all sorts of locations.

The second car was the one that I had planned for the Victory Circle shot. Something about a caged, tubed, straight rear-axle, leaded fuel (116 octane) running, NOS breathing monster just begs to be shot on a checkered-flag! Unfortunately, the sun was quickly setting… so doing many other outdoor shots was not going to be productive.

A third car had arrived, so we headed back into the studio to get some a few shots now that the light had all but gone from outside. Let me say, I was really happy with the results from the studio set-up.

Very moody, but not over the top. The background is slightly busy (doors, girders, etc.), but I think it goes well with the car… and the lighting focuses the viewer’s eye to the car.

When I finished shooting the studio stuff, one of the owners commented that it was too bad we couldn’t do something on the drag strip. I made a phone call and a few minutes later we were setting-up the studio on the drag strip. The light was really going fast (like I wish I brought a flashlight so I wasn’t going to be tripping over cables/wires). By the time we moved the second car into position the light was GONE. I even had to use the modeling lights on the strobes (which shouldn’t be used with the Vagabond II) just to get enough light to focus the camera. The results were very interesting… and I took the chance to play with some light painting (everything was crap, but it was fun).

I cleared-off the drag strip and headed home around 7pm (right on time). It was a really long day with all sorts of complications (rain, lack of cars, lack of light, etc.), but in the end I did come away with a few good images that should help fill-out the NCG Calendar. Now, I just need to find a solution to a quarter of the Calendar being Impulse Blue colored cars!

Goodguys Autumn Get-Together

The NorCal GOATs made a presence at this year’s Goodguys Autumn Get-Together. I was planning on taking the weekend off from car stuff, but I just couldn’t turn down entering the G8 in the show-n-shine at a big event like this… Throw-in that the event is in my backyard, and it became a no-brainer.

It had only been a week since I’d washed the G8 last, but it was a long week (~600 miles of driving), and I needed to put in some quality time to make sure things were ’show worthy’. I wasn’t feeling very well, so decided to leave work a little early on Friday. It worked out well that I was able to get the car fully detailed before the sun went down.

It has been quite cold here lately at night, and to my disgust there was a light layer of dew on the G8 before I could get back home and into my underground parking garage. One the drive home the water was flowing down the rear window… tarnishing the perfection that I worked so hard to achieve earlier. I seriously debated re-detailing the G8 once I got home, but decided that I would leave it for once I arrived at the show.

The group met at 6:45am to get to the fairgrounds early enough to get a nice spot at the show-n-shine. The weather was very overcast and there was even some mist. As we approached the show the weather worsened to the point that all of our cars were covered in water. I was really glad that I hadn’t obsessed the night before, as I had to re-do everything anyhow. It made for good fun… it was nice to see how each person details their cars in slightly different way.

The group was able to get a spot right on the ‘main drag’ quite close to the Auto-X. There was also a cool barn that we staked a claim to, which resulted in some nice photos once the sun broke-through the clouds. In addition to the cars, we had a tent with a nice NCG banner. There was also a BBQ and all sorts of food and drinks.

I was originally hesitant to enter the G8 into the show-n-shine, as I’ve never considered it a ’show car’, but the G8 received a very warm welcome from everyone that I talked with. From other G8 owners, to those who wished they were owners, the comments almost always ended with “it’s really too bad that they stopped making these”. It was really fun talking with everyone… and for once being on the ‘owners’ side (rather than just the photographer).

I was able to set-up a few photos around the barn and think we may have another couple candidates for the NorCal GOATs Calendar. I also talked to a few NCG members and it looks like there will be a photo shoot tomorrow afternoon!

I think attending these events in the future will become a regular thing. Not only is it a great time hanging-out with the other NorCal GOATs, representing the club in a public forum is important too. We met several new people with GTOs and G8s… hopefully a few of them will join-up and participate in future activities.

Maggie Mod Day

Today was the second day in a row doing car stuff. This time I had to wake-up early as I needed to be in Tracy by 8:30am. After loading-up the car with the majority of my camera equipment I headed-off. Like always, I had some extra time so decided to take a leisurely drive down Altamont Pass Rd. I was again reminded of the cold cloudy morning when my Father and I drove these same roads in the RX-7 chasing after trains. It would have been a perfect morning to have a NorCal GOATS club jacket!

After meeting-up with two other people, the group headed South on I-5 towards Merced. Unfortunately we had to make a brief stop as one of the group was pulled-over by the CHP for having tinted windows (Seriously, doesn’t the CHP have something better to do?). The remainder of the drive went smoothly and we made good time.

While driving down I couldn’t stop thinking about photography. The weather was partly overcast and the parts of sun that made it through really made the countryside look gorgeous. The recent rain has resulted in the hills starting to turn green… very photogenic!

The shop where the mod day was being performed was incredible. When I think of my ‘garage’ (which is actually just a parking spot) I am reminded just how awesome a workshop could be. Not only is there a huge area to work on whatever you could imagine, there is even a lift!

The work on the Magnacharger (MP122) was going well, without my help, so I decided to look around for something to do. Given I have had photography on my mind, I quickly set-about trying to find some photo locations around the shop. Looking outside was OK, but the inside of the shop was just perfect to setup as a studio!

I don’t have much (any?) experience lighting something as large as a car with studio lights, but figured today would be a good time to learn. When I purchased my strobes I decided to go with the more powerful monolights just in case I wanted to do something like this (and I’m glad I did). I also picked-up a Vagabond II battery pack for the ability to work in remote locations… today I had power, so it wasn’t needed.

After some experimenting I found a lighting setup that seemed to produce some nice results. I probably should have done some more shots with less ambient lighting to create a more dramatic mood, but a nice evenly exposed image is more usable (and I can always add the shadowing in post). All-in-all I’m sure I was able to get a couple shots that will be potentials for the NCG calendar.

The drive home was fun, being joined by one more GTO, and went smoothly. I decided to take Corral Hollow Rd. just to add some spice to the trip. There was the typical traffic around Carnegie Park, but I was able to get a clear piece of road to have some fun.

The weekend has turned-out to be quite a bit of driving… I’m guessing I drove over 500 miles in total… but like always it was a blast!

NCG Calendar Photo Shoot

In a quest to get photos for the NCG Calendar, I organized a photo shoot in the Livermore area on one day’s notice. Most of the locations I have shot myself in the past, so I know there should be some good images… the biggest variable is just how many people are going to show-up.

Sunday came about and after a great night sleep (spending the whole day drag racing really wore me out) I woke-up and headed out for the photo shoot. We met at the Livermore Harley Davidson dealership, 1) because it’s close to the freeway, and 2) it has several nice cinder block walls that should work well for photography. Three GTOs were present for the first location. After some quick shots (and a few minutes showing-off the G8 to a spectator) we headed out to the next photo location.

I had spotted this location (a wall with graffiti) yesterday morning on the way to Tracy and figured it would make for a good background for panning shots. After trying to describe what I was after from my cars/drivers a few times, I was able to get some good shots. We were also joined by another G8 and one more GTO.

I learned a few more things about logistics of photo shoots… like making sure everyone had a working radio. Also, people need to understand that I’m accustom to photographing cars traveling at racetrack speeds… so they don’t need to drive 10mph under the speed limit just for me. Honestly, the faster they go the easier it is for panning (being safe is still a priority).

The third photo location was quite impromptu. We ended-up stopping at the Summit Garage, which I have since found out to be a historic landmark on the old Lincoln Highway.

After a brief talk with the owner and Zeus (the guard dog, who is really a total sweetheart) I set about to getting some photos. We did a few two-car shots, which turned out nice… including a few shots with two G8s together. I’m really glad that I noticed the old cars that normally find a home in front of the garage were not present. A very cool location!

When doing a photo shoot in the Altamont Pass one has to get some shots with windmills. Unfortunately we spent more time than I had planned shooting the other locations and the sun quickly ducked behind a hill. I was able to get shots of one car, and it happened to be the one I thought would look best at the location (and I was right). I guess sometime we will have to re-visit this location for some more photos.

The last photo location I wanted to shoot was “The Top of the World” (at least that’s what I call it) on Patterson Pass Rd. I knew this location, being at the top of the world, would be one of the last places for the sun to set. I also figured the drive on Patterson Pass Rd. to the photo location would be really fun for all the participants. The shots from here really turned out well. The setting sun was getting a little low, but it made for nice contrasty images with very golden reflections. There was also an area where I could get shots looking down at the cars, which worked great for those with custom paint and stripes on the hood.

The logistics here worked out quite well. With one person on each side of the bind corner with radios keeping an eye-out for traffic, we were able to have the cars park across the road. When cars approached they were slowed down and waved-by in a controlled fashion. This process really worked well, and should be used for future shoots on public roads (with low traffic volumes).

Overall, the day was very productive. I believe we have several calendar shots in the bank from today’s activities. The biggest issue now is choosing which of the images to use… and how to use just one image from each car.

Sacramento Raceway Test & Tune

After the drag racing experience at the Las Vegas Motor Speedway, I have been wanting to get back to the strip to see what the G8 can do now that I know a little more about what I’m doing. I was feeling slightly disappointing with my times/speeds from Vegas, but understood that the elevations and temperature really played a big part in how I ran. When the NorCal Goats planned a trip to the Sacramento Raceway for a Test and Tune, I knew I had to go along.

Sacramento Raceway (elevation 30′) is a great facility to get the G8 out to. A group of us were heading-out from the Manteca area, so I drove the back-way over to Tracy to scout out the photo locations for tomorrow’s shoot. Several of us got together and then headed-up to the track. We arrived when the gates opened and had some time to relax and let the engines cool off from the drive. I also took the opportunity to empty my trunk of all non-essential equipment.

When the track get hot I headed over to tech (which wasn’t really an inspection at all) and then into the staging lanes. Having spent some time reading about different launch techniques, I decided to just let the G8 do it’s thing. I turned off TCM, left the car in drive, and launched from idle… the resulting run was the quickest pass I made all day… a 13.53s @ 106.4mph (2.12s 60′, DA 1021′). The launch was perfect (no wheel spin at all) and I accelerated all the way through the 1/4 mile… holding 3rd gear through the end (without hitting the rev limiter).

After the first pass I wanted to see how Sport mode would work, and to my surprise the run was slightly slower… a 13.64s @ 106.1mph (2.168s 60′, DA 1021′). I think the slower time came from the chirp that was caused when shifting from 2nd to 3rd. While it sounds cool, the loss of traction doesn’t seem to make for a faster time.

I then spent the rest of the afternoon experimenting with different launch techniques, but was never able to better my first run. The last run of the day I used the same launch technique as the first run, but had aired-down the rear tires to 30psi (they were at 40psi to start). The temperature had increased a little, resulting in a DA of 1247′, but I was able to pull-out a 13.62s @ 106.9mph (2.224s 60′). I think that if I would have run the same PSI with the colder air from the morning I could have squeezed out a tenth or two.

Spending time working over the numbers, I was really surprised to see that my times were very consistent. When correcting for the DA run, my best from Vegas was within a tenth of a second and 1mph of what I ran in Sac. Given there was nothing changed with the car, it’s expected.

I am content with the 13.53s @ 106.4mph (I even put it in my signature on the message boards), but I think if the temperature gets a little cooler I will be able to run in the low-13s. I don’t think I have been bit by the never-ending faster ET bug (yet), but spending time at the track with the rest of the GOATs is a blast.

After the day at the track, a group of us headed-out to Sacramento for some photography. The goal was to get a few shots for the NCG Calendar I’ve been working on, and I think things worked-out well. I’d share some of the photos, but they are a secret until the calendar comes out!