S. Ontario Fun Run

[Christien]

So who's up for another fun run in this area? A nice sunny blustery fall day with leaves rustling... suddenly thrown into an updraft caused by masses of rubber and flashes of colours, bug-eye lights and whale tails...

(ahem, excuse me, just got a little poetic there).

Anyway, let's get some ideas thrown out. Apparently there are some great roads just north of Toronto - I know twobone mentioned Hockley Valley. Oktoberfest is another idea. I know Stef and I will be up at Deerhurst sometime for some big teacher's conference. Expensive, but might be a nice weekend thing.

I don't mind organizing it if nobody else does, but I know west-GTA and points further west. My knowledge of north and east of Toronto is pretty thin.

Chris

P.S. Anyone going to Mosport for the DE this weekend?

[coldstart]

Waterloo has some nice county roads if we decide on Oktoberfest. Sooner is better than later-- the woman gets cold in the targa........

[TCB]

Hi Chris

I'm certainly in for a run. It would be a blast. I'll be glad to help out also although I'm like you Chris, I don't know the area north of TO very well. It would be a great opportunity to meet more of the TO guys.

Send me an email about Mosport this weekend. What's happening there? any Porsche running?

Terry

[KatoKato]

I'm up for a run as well.

If we decide on Oktoberfest we could park on my street and make our way from there. The street is well lit and relatively safe. I'm located "over the hill" from Conestoga College.

Anything would be great though.

Cheers,
Mark

[imcarthur]

I can't say for sure until a date is fixed because of my sched at work (I drove 1000 miles in 3 days this week in Florida - some of it Rita-induced downpours).

I did do the PCA Caledon run last Saturday. It was a great low-speed run with great roads. Start was at Mohawk raceway - up to Caledon - end was near Milton - north of Oakville. I could fax the directions to anyone who PM's me a #. Took about 4 hrs with a 1/2 hr break mid-point.

Ian

[Kryptonite]

We would be in as long as it isn't Thanksgiving weekend. Looking forward to using the car a bit more before it gets stored for winter.

Keri

[Christien]

In case you haven't heard, the DE at Mosport this weekend was cut short by mother nature. Fog rolled in early Sunday morning and wouldn't let up. Finally about noon they decided to call it a day.

Needless to say, this left several people (i.e. ME) very disappointed (it was only my second track event - I got 3 lousy runs the whole weekend, though that was still a TON of fun!). It's a bit of a bummer way for the UCR to close out the season, but who says it has to be the end of the season?

What I'm saying is that we definitely need to put this run together, so I can put my girl away for the winter with a smile on her face!

[coldstart]

Chris, ****ty to hear about the DE. How did the tranny run with the new fluid?

I'm definitely in for a run (except this weekend, stone unveiling in NY).

[Christien]

The transmission with new fluid ran fine, though I didn't notice much different. Luckily the blue washed out of my hair (we had a bit of a mess Friday night) though I don't know, it looked kind of cool - might have to get some hair dye. (wouldn't be the first time I've had blue hair! )

[TCB]

Christien, your hair would look great in blue. My son Tao, who you met Sunday, had blue hair for awhile. He met Marcus and got all the info on his 944, plus Marcus had Tao drive his 944, and then gave him a "real" spin around the area. Needless to say Tao was hooked. That was worth the drive up there..


How about a Sunday for the October run. It looks to be a beautiful month.

[Christien]

I just checked the Oktoberfest webpage, and it looks like we might not be able to do that, unless we get in gear (pardon the pun) quickly. It runs from the 7th to the 15th. As for myself, the only free weekend date I have in there would be the evening of the 15th. The weekend of the 8th is Thanksgiving, and I'm guessing most people have plans already.

I do like Terry's suggestion for Sundays - let me throw out the suggestion of Oct. 29 or Nov. 5 - last Sun in Oct/1st in Nov. (Unless Nov. 1 is the storage date? I keep mine on the road until the first major snow or salt.)

Thoughts?

[Kryptonite]

Sundays work great for us now that sailing season is over. I would prefer October though since we store the car at the start of November.

Thanks again for doing this Chris. Let me know if you need any help.

Keri

[TCB]

I think the last Sunday is Oct 30th and that would be a good one for me. I don't usually have anything on the go on any Sunday for awhile..
I also keep mine on the road until the first salting.. Hopefully January. I know I'm dreaming...

Terry

[Christien]

Oops, I was looking at the wrong "S" on the calendar - thanks Terry. The Sundays are indeed the 30th and the 6th.

How about this: Let's tentatively say the 30th. I don't mind assembling the list of names, planning the route, emailing maps, maybe even making dinner reservations somewhere if we want. But I'd like to get some input from folks on the good roads. I think a good idea might be east to west across the north of Toronto (or west to east). I know a lot of the east Toronto/Scarborough folks might be getting sick of all this west of Toronto/SW Ont stuff

Maybe start somewhere north of Scarborough, find some great country roads, and end somewhere west/south of Brampton, maybe down towards Milton, maybe find a good restaurant for all of us to have dinner at.

Another option, if we're feeling wealthy, would be to do something like the UCR fall colours tour - maybe a drive up to one of the Muskoka resorts for the night.

Opinions?

By the way, check out the autocross pics in the scrapbook at pcaucr.org from 2 weekends ago - a couple pics of yours truly, one of them carrying pylons, of all things!, but one cool shot of me driving, too! (And no, I did NOT knock those cones down, as Stef first thought - they indicate direction. Hell, if I could knock 'em down that perfectly I'd be impressed!)

[imcarthur]

Originally posted by Christien
east to west across the north of Toronto (or west to east). . . . Maybe start somewhere north of Scarborough, find some great country roads

That's a problem. There aren't any that aren't plugged with traffic & stoplights. Yeah, there are a few curves & a hill here & there & you might find a paved sideroad that you can cut loose for a mile or so, but not good cruisin' country. From Hwy 48 to Hwy 400, everything south of Cook's Bay (bottom of Simcoe) sucks for one reason or another. Especially on any nice weekend . . .

Ian

[Christien]

Thanks for the tip, Ian. Maybe that's not such a hot idea. I guess this is why so many of us live close enough to Toronto to have easy access but far enough to not have to deal with many of the problems

I'm trying to think of routes a little closer to the central Toronto area, for a change from last time, but maybe that's just not going to happen. What about maybe a Niagara wine country tour? There are lots of wineries to stop at and have a taste, and a couple of them have excellent restaurants - maybe end our day at one for a really nice dinner. Or there are several great places in Niagara-on-the-lake. I know the family that runs one of the larger wineries, so if there's interest, I'm sure I could book us a tour.

It's hard to pick a bad route in the Niagara area, so long as you stay clear of the 403.

[TCB]

Christein
That is a great idea. It's a beautiful drive, with a lot of winding roads. Niagara on the Lake has some great places to eat and it might be a good idea to make some reservations. It can get busy there.
I'd offer my place as a starting point but I have about a Kilometer of gravel road to my place. It is usually packed down but I don't take the old girl out if it's freshly graded and I never know when the road grader will come.

[Christien]

I'm going to bump this up to the top in hope of getting a few more names. I just sent out an email to everyone that was involved with the runs earlier this summer.

Chris

[imcarthur]

Hi Chris.

Count me as a possible only. Keep me on the email list. Earning money must come first . . .

BTW I did think of one 'clean' route south of Lake Simcoe. Maybe we can try an easterly or northern route run next season. I have had some fun exploring roads up in the Kawarthas - north of Peterborough - this summer. Too bad it's such a haul for the SW Ontario bunch but it would be nice to get more GTA & easterly guys involved.

BTW there is a steal on a Carrera on AutoTrader 86 134,000 kms 20K CDN if anybody's looking.

Ian

[KatoKato]

Christien,

Sunday Oct 30th would be ok for me.
I'd like to make this one as I missed the August run.

Kato