Denver lunch and shop tour Friday 12/10/04

[Grady Clay]

Denver lunch & shop tour Friday 12/10/04

Pelican Michael Elliott and I are having lunch and going to tour some shops; 3R and others.
Who would like to meet us for an early (11:15 AM) lunch at the Brewery Bar II at 150 Kalamath St. (best Mexican food in Denver.)
We should be easy to find, we will be the ones driving a 997S. I’ll bring the Pelican signs. Please post if you are coming to lunch so we can have the proper number of seats. BBII fills up fast.

Best,
Grady

[joefrantz]

Grady -
Thanks for the heads up.
I'll be there.
Joe Frantz

[porschenut]

I'd like to go, but can't get away from work. I'm looking forward to the get-together on the 18th though.

[Slider79SC]

Are these impromptu tours or something that you have scheduled with the owners?

I may be interested.....

[Grady Clay]

Very impromptu.

We had some prior discussions but I needed to get back from the docs this morning. All sorta OK (they keep scheduling more tests) but took enough blood to keep Dracula up for a week. So, I confirmed with Don about the 997S and posted for all you guys.

If this were an “Official Event” with 24 hour notice, someone would be pi$$ed. I think one of the best features of this Forum is we can have impromptu gatherings of the flock.

See you at BBII.

Best,
Grady

[mtelliott]

I know I can't wait. Will be good to be dropping in on some folks to see their operations. I know the Storz guys but it will be good to meet up with some of the other shops.

Of course, ariving in the 997 will be sweet!!!

Michael

[KobaltBlau]

Sounds wonderful, I wish I could go. have fun!

[Rot 911]

I'm jealous!

[88 Club Sport]

Hmmmm. Very tempting but the fresh powder in the mountains is calling my name. I'm going to head up to A-Basin and have a good day of skiing.

Have fun.

[Grady Clay]

Bump.

I'll check about 11 AM

Craig,
I understand A-Basen got over a foot yesterday and more last night.
Have fun.

Best,
Grady

[Grady Clay]

WELL,

Our 997 tour of Denver Porsche shops was a success except we didn’t get to them all by any stretch. Next time.

Thanks to Prestige Porsche for the use of one of their 997 Demo cars; a 2500 mile new 997 sunroof coupe, slate gray, black leather and an absolutely wonderful 911 as a 911 should be. It feels and drives just like a 911. It goes very fast, handles perfectly, and doesn’t overwhelm you with fancy “ge-gaws.” It is definitely just as much a regular 911 as a ’72S or an ‘89 Carrera.

It is definitely a “stealth” 911, which is wonderful. When we needed to change lanes in traffic, people signed us in. No one wanted to race us. Yes, there were many who gave thumbs up and appreciated the car. It is a very cool and subtle car and didn’t attract any unwanted attention from the law.

It gave me the impression it was a ‘73E only tighter, faster, better handling, and slightly more civilized. Perhaps we can take out their 997S for our next tour.


Our tour took us to Dart, Storz, Eisenbud’s, 3R, and Prestige Porsche shops. Of course 3R was the eye catcher with two 911 PCA racers under construction and many others being modified. Oh, yes, there were trick corvettes, their ’05 Viper IMSA team cars, and many others.

I’ll let Michael add more details while I recover. I’ll try and post pictures tomorrow.

BTW, lunch at BBII was great.

Best,
Grady

[mtelliott]

Of course, Grady is much more qualified to compare the 997 to past cars. He is dead on correct about the looks, the lines, the style. It's so much more a Porsche than the 996.

Driving in the city was a breeze. It has excellent city manners. The horsepower of the car allows you to almost pick any gear and drive it through city streets without constant changing. And the car shift like a dream, at least compared to my SC's 915. Very short throws between shifts make it simple and intuitive.

Handling is like any Porsche, with the exception of the incredible power. The 997 has a sweet power curve that comes on early and just keeps getting better and better. I’ve followed one on a track so I can attest to it’s capability from the rear but there’s nothing like being the pilot.

As for the shop tours.

First stop was Dart auto, the local Porsche recycler. Dave seemed impressed by the car. He's Denver's greatest resource for used parts, and a pretty fast driver on the track. Hopefully Grady can post some pictures of the car next to some of the cars he has in the yard.

Next, it was on to Storz. They were impressed by the car and came out of the shop to take a look. Storz has been a great knowledge base for me during my rebuild so I wanted to make sure to stop by so they could take a look.

On to Brewery Bar II and meeting up with some local Denver Pelican members. BBII is one of Denver's local lunch spots that has the best Green Chili around. You might find as good, but you won't find any better in the world. Just make sure to order a lot of water.

We next stopped by Eisenbuds. Unfortunately, he wasn't there but we did take the time to wonder around the shop to see some of gorgeous cars (couple of 356’s, a Mercedes, and what appeared to be a Carrera speedster.

On to 3R. An extremely impressive shop. We got a tour of the facility and a look at some amazing automobiles. Looking at the custom suspensions they build for the classic Porsches make you understand why their cars are so fast. These folks truly know their stuff. They were in the process of taking a classic Corvette stingray and fully modernizing it with racing suspension, modern Corvette engine, and modern AC. What truly showed their craftsmanship was how they extended the wheel-well to fit larger tires and the suspension setup. I wouldn’t have known that they extended it two inches to accommodate had they not told me. It looked like it came from the factory that way.

Finally, back to Prestige to hand in the keys and tour their shop. Got to see what happens to a 996 engine when you miss shift on the track. Number 5 cylinder was now an independent unit from the rest of the engine. $8000 will buy you a new engine plus installation.


Of course, whenever you gather a couple Porsche folks, you get to hear the stories. And that of course, is one of the best reasons to get together.

Don’t know when we tour the rest of the Denver shops, but can’t wait. Hopefully, Prestige will let us take out there 997 S. Maybe we should take it on a tour of the Las Vegas shops! I think I can get us there in 1/3 of the time it would normally take.

Michael

[Grady Clay]

Ok, while I’m not yet proficient transferring from camera-to-computer-to-Forum,
here are some images of our 997 drive last Friday (12/10/04)

Here is Michael as we start out.
Note the Pelican sign between the seats.




Here is lunch with other Pelicans at BBII.
Of course there were other cool cars.
As we went in, a guy in his Lexus parked next to the 997.
He took extroardinary care with his door.
Of course he had an audiance.




OK, off to 3R. Steve (left) is doing a test fit for the exhaust and rear bumper clearance.
It is a twin-plug 2.8 EFI.




This is a 3.2 twin-plug EFI with all sorts of cool stuff.




Of course we couldn't keep Bill from getting "up close and personal."




At the end of the day we returned the 997, no worse for the wear.
That is Michael's SC in the background.




We also sampled Prestiege Porsche's shop.
All sorts of cool tools and computers.
The single 997, in for something minor, was dwarfed by all the Cayennes.


It was a fun day.
I'll post more soon.

997S next. CGT?

Best,
Grady

[mtelliott]

Let me know when you are ready to take the turbo out. I think we could make a run to Vegas in 4 hours!!! I'm sure we could find some folks who wanted to check it out there.

Michael

[Jim Richards]

OK, what I want to know is, why is Michael smiling all the time? Did you toss him the keys to the 997?

[Grady Clay]

Jim,

Of course. Actually Michael drove the whole way while I studied the car visually, tinkering, and with seat of my pants.
While I am a terrible passenger, I can tell much from the passenger seat. I may have deformed the floor board and grab handle a few times. Michael did a great job and only got my attention once. I can’t wait to get him to his first DE event.

Perhaps next trip we can take the S to Second Creek or Pueblo. I feel much more comfortable on the track with no traffic idiots to abuse us. Besides you can legally speed.

I think we need to get our Eastern and Midwest Pelicans out here for a winter track fix. How about migrating out for a week at Vail or Aspen and some track time. You guys could rent an 18-wheel transporter for eight 911s. Fly into Denver and get rentals, ski for a week, and have several track days. The Pueblo track (2.7 mi, 11 turns) is usually just fine all winter. Vail is 2 hours from Denver and 4 hours from the Pueblo track.
For a 2-week vacation you could get 7 days skiing, 6 days at the tracks and low-stress travel time. Leave home early Saturday morning, return on a Saturday evening, 15 days total.
What do you think?

Best,
Grady

[Jim Richards]

Sounds great...too bad the engine's in pieces. I'll have to settle for karting this winter.

[jpnovak]

What a great way to spend the day. Now I wish I lived in Denver.

Grady, That sounds like a great vacation. I just wish I had enough time to take off from work. Let's see, its about a 14 hour drive from Austin... This spring I will try to get to the spings to see my Brother-in-law. I will make a trip to Denver to try and meet Grady.

[Jim Richards]

Jamie, I'm thinking of a trip that way after running Road America over the 2005 Memorial Day weekend.