Benno's Blog & More: November 2010

Wednesday, November 24, 2010

From Barrie to the SC Palace

Here's a quickie map of what I've found to be the best driving route from Central Ontario to the house in SC. Make sure you go through Asheville NC instead of going through Charlotte as that takes you way too far East. This will be posted in the SC info page.

Sunday, November 21, 2010

The quick and derrrty

Ok my friends. Yes I am really slacking on this whole blog thing. You'd think being that cycling is winding down that I would have lots of time to do all the posting I want, nay need! This doesn't seem to be the case.
So it's 9:45pm, 15 minutes before bed time. I will make this short and sweet.

Life after the GTi-R has been a whirlwind. Just as I was picking up the car I was also getting a cold. Now if you can remember from my posts way back (it has been so long since I've been sick) that it takes me for-ev-er to get over the stupid things. This time was no different. Kept sticking a toe in the training waters every once in a while only to find that I really wasn't ready for any real exercise. Well that is out of the way now, I think it will hold me over until after the holidays lol.

So the past couple weeks have been good for getting caught up on some stuff. I've done a bunch of preventative maintenance on the R which has been fun. Have a few show-no-go parts installed as well with plans for a few more. Mostly though just working on getting her up and reliable for daily driving.
Clutch started slipping yesterday which is somewhat unfortunate, but better now than in SC. Gonna tackle this one myself since I have no real need for a car for the next couple months. I can take my time. Likely getting an ACT heavy duty street kit for a nice mix of drive ability and performance. Oh cars, so awesome.

Went for a nice night ride tonight. Trails are amazing when they are frozen. Tons of grip and fast rolling. Getting back to the strength training tomorrow morning if I am well enough.

Also went to the Rally of the Tall Pines in Bancroft on Saturday. This is something like my 7th year in a row and it is certainly not an option to miss. Has a great time with the bro and Cory at the new spectator area. Seemed a lot more laxed for marshals, who let us stand close enough to touch the cars drifting by.

Ok so it is now 9:59.
That's it for now.
Night night,
Benno

Decided that was close enough.

Prob my favourite car there. R32 Golf.

For those that know, enjoy.

For those that don't.......sucks to be you ;-)

Tuesday, November 9, 2010

Benno's R adventures - Part 2

So there we were. Cory, Joel, and myself, sitting in the Civic in the middle of downtown Toronto. Cash in hand, heart in throat. Waiting for my new baby to arrive from the shop after being safetied.
It was 4:20pm. The license office closed at 5pm. I needed to get there with the signed ownership so that I could get the car plated and registered in order for me to get it back to Peterborough.
4:35 rolled around and my brother chimed in.
"We need to think of a plan B."
Hmnnn he was right. We were men, we could figure this out. One day I had fixed the exhaust on my Civic with a can of beans, that is the day I became a man.
Joel - "Don't you have CAA?"
Me - "Yeah I have premium. We could just get it towed, I get up to 200km's per tow."
Joel - "That's an option!"
Me - "Yeah right......."
Joel - "No seriously"

So we called CAA and did a dry run. Unfortunately my poor baby had broken down in Toronto and my shop was in Peterborough. I needed a tow. CAA informed me this would be no problem. Excellent. We left the Civic feeling liberated from our previous time frame constraints. After a delicious Subway meal we returned to the scene of the crime to see that my baby was back from the shop. It felt like I was finally getting my fix of a sweet sweet drug after being apart from her for a full 3 days.
With ownership in hand, my brother and I took her for a good rip around the block. Hilariously enough it was the first time that I really got a sense of the cars potential. Not so hilarious was the violent acceleration experienced. I instantly realised why owners of this car love it so much.
Coincidentally the engine would not start when we got back from our drive. We then called CAA and had it towed to Peterborough. We all sat around in my moms living room waiting for that damn truck to pull up with my baby. It finally did, about 25 painful minutes after we made it back to Peterborough in the Civic.
Luckily it fired right up no problem when we dropped her in front of moms, strange ;-)
The next day I got her registered and plated. My brothers (Joel and Joe) and I took 3 cars from Peterborough to Barrie. Joe in his Hyundai Elantra Car-Truck Special Edition, Joel in my Civic (rowing the gears to keep up, poor little guy), and me in my new GTi-R. A day that I had dreamed of for a loooooong ass time.

So that is the story of my GTi-R. A dream that I've had for many years now and the very car that I've wanted for about 12 months. So far she hasn't missed a beat. Sure she has some quirks and rattles, it gets 450km to a 50L tank, only uses 94 octane gas.......... but it does its job very well. The underside of the car is so clean you would never believe it is a 1991. She has a little extra mustard courtesy of an upgraded ARC intercooler (will keep the engine temps down when I'm boosting in South Carolina), massive upgraded exhaust, K&N intake, lowering springs.
She is on winter tires and rims right now. Hope to get some big ;-) 16" rims for the summer with some sticky rubber.

Taking my sister out in the R.

My real life Gran Turismo garage :-D