A day with the NorCal GOATs

Last night I was reading about a GTO dyno day on April 25th (the same day as the Bay Area G8 meet). I checked-out the North Western section on LS1GTO.com and saw the NOR-CAL GTOS were having a meet and cruise leaving from Pleasanton! After getting permission, as I’d hate to crash a party, I signed-up for the drive.

Total Distance: 41.2 miles
Driving Time: 1 hours 37 min

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We started off meeting at the Stoneridge Mall at 10am. There were a crazy number of Cyclone Grey Metalic GTOs, like 5 of them! It seemed like everyone had something done to their car… from the mild to the wild. The G8 was receiving quite a bit of attention (probably because it was the only G8 there). I was able to show-off the progress of the mods, but I really wish everything was buttoned up.

After everyone showed-up, we headed out driving west on Dublin Canyon Rd. to Palomares Rd. I tried driving on Palomares a while ago, but didn’t get too far. I’m really glad we got a chance to drive on it, as it’s a great road. There was a large bicycle ride today, which didn’t help with ‘spirited’ driving… but at least the slower cars on the road pulled over to let the train of GTOs by.

After Palomares Rd we headed over to Calaveras Rd, another road I’ve been wanting to drive on. This is a really windy stretch of road with several one-lane sections. I found that the G8 was again spending too much time in higher gears, so put it manually into 3rd. There was more than enough power to come out of corners and no delay when getting back onto the gas. Like much of the day, there were quite a few bicyclists on the road… making for an interesting drive. So often I just wish that we could get a ‘one way for a day’ type of event.

The cruise ended at Dave & Busters. After some photos people headed in to get food and pay some games. Given the G8 was still in pieces, I felt my time was best spent getting work done. I headed to Livermore and kept going on the mods (all my electrical work is now done).

A special thanks goes out to the NOR-CAL GTOS for allowing me to come along on their cruise. It was great to meet everyone, and I’m sure I will be attending more of these sorts of events in the future.