PistonHeads, NZ midwinter run! - Details

[roger a]

Thanks HEAPS George & Kylie and all who came along today
I had fun in the wild west and can now see glimmers of what driving this thing half-decently might be like
See you at drivers' ed day, George. Have a wonderful time in Raro Kylie& Simon

[Kiwi XTR2]

Thanks very much to George & Kylie for organising today.

Had a great time Only got a little bit wet on the way home.

Found a few second-hand nut shells in the front brake ducts.

Great to meet fellow PHers and have a chat. Roll on summer

[kylie]

thanks to George for his suggestions on the run and what great weather we had!. Had heaps of time to relax and chat amoungst most of yas, so I was pretty wrapped. Just got little shower of rain around 4:30pm, so nice timing weather wise.

It was nice of XTR2 to offer to grade the nut shell driveway - very thoughtful of ya mate

And you TVR boys have your cars ready to pose all facing the same way sounding and looking lovely as expected

We will do this more often eh!!

[nztrev]

Sounds like you guys had a good day,sorry I couldn't meet the westside crew.
I'll definetely be on the next one,pressumming I won't have square tyre's again...

[Kiwi LE]

Thanks guy, great day, good to meet you all, I think we need a whos -who as I still didn't get everyone name/cars......get old !!!

Dean

[Esprit]

Thanks to all who came... was a fantastic day. Thanks to Kylie for helping to organise it and I was most impressed by the turnout! I think it's the sort of thing that we should do more often. The number of people prepared to just come on a "run for no reason" just as an excuse to get the cars out of the garage and have some fun is obviously enough to support having one of these every now and then. I was just impressed by the range of cars we had too.... was a nice turnout by the Lotus and TVR people but seeing your Westfield there KiwiXTR2 and also seeing that immaculate cobra along there with the XJS and alfa really is testament to the spirit of PH I feel I must say I almost wet myself when that Lotus Elite turned up... I'd seen it on show before but wasn't aware it got enthusiastic road-use... was most impressed. You got the owner's name Kylie? I'd love to catch up with that guy sometime
The couple in the Elan Sprint that came up from Hamilton (again, I forget names ) both said they had a WONDERFUL time and that it was well worth the trip up.

Was just great to see so many people having so much fun with their cars... and I had a BLAST..... of course now there's the downside, Kelly wants me to trade the Elise in on something more practical.... like an Esprit V8.... she also LOVED the Elite (there goes thoughts of saving for a house) and after a ride in Steve's blue Griff500, she wants one of them too! I can see this being a very expensive relationship

Will post some pics up tomorrow if I have time

Thanks again all

[JETFXR]

well looks like i missed it for unknown reasons

But seeing Esprit was on my case for not coming to this one, ill have to see you at the next one




>> Edited by JETFXR on Sunday 24th July 13:25

[kylie]

roger a said:

Thanks HEAPS George & Kylie and all who came along today I had fun in the wild west and can now see glimmers of what driving this thing half-decently might be like See you at drivers' ed day, George. Have a wonderful time in Raro Kylie& Simon

Thanks mate.. Someone else on hear also MIGHT be doing the same next yr in Raro!!
We could see you had no probblems on the twistys mate. Also could hear the lovely bark of shear grunt when ya pushed past that shocking crawling traffic we got. Simon got a ride in the V8 Esprit and nearly pooped himself. Lets just say Dean S takes no prisoners All the same I have someone who wants to buy my car, am not sure ?? Means I cant get a V8 till probably end of yr or early next....long time without a Loti

[kylie]

Esprit said:

Kelly wants me to trade the Elise in on something more practical.... like an Esprit V8.... she also LOVED the Elite (there goes thoughts of saving for a house) and after a ride in Steve's blue Griff500, she wants one of them too! I can see this being a very expensive relationship Will post some pics up tomorrow if I have time Thanks again all

HAHA, shes hooked...I could tell from yesterday she was enjoying herself which is great - more girly birds the better !!! Your gonna be poor, unless you could convince her to buy an Elite?!! I have the names written down on a card somewhere of the Cambridge people and will get back to ya regarding the Elite, or Dean might know.

[Esprit]

JETFXR said:

well looks like i missed it for unknown reasons But seeing Esprit was on my case for not coming to this one, ill have to see you at the next one

Hehe nice to see you in here mate... yes, you'll HAVE to come along for the next one, you'd have really enjoyed yourself

[Esprit]

Wow so you're into a V8 soon Kylie? And did I overhear that you're off to Rarotonga to get married? I was so busy trying to drink everything in and meet everyone yesterday that I didn't get time to catch up with you and Simon properly, or Dean or Graham either... I've loads more I want to know about that XTR2 mate

Will certainly be good if you get yourself into a V8 Kylie, Dean S's beast is lovely indeed, just a shame I didn't get to keep pace with you guys at some point throughout the day... there's always next time!

Would be nice to dig out some names of the others who attended if anyone's got them.... and yes.... I'm already thinking of a "PistonHeads, NZ Early-Spring run... sometime in early september might be be prudent? What say you all ?

[kylie]

Yip signing the life away! The V8 thing has been lingering on my mind for quite a while. Problem is I have fond memories of my current car and got it just how I want it for looks and the colour, so id be hard pressed to find a V8 thats still going to do it for me. I dont want to buy any V8, it has to be the right colour, model/spec etc, so I will see whats available when I am ready.

[Esprit]

Congratulations! Sorry I didn't get the chance to give them to you in person

what time are you away for? (can't plan another car run without you in the picture m'lady )

Fari enough... A V8 would be nice... I don't see why you can't do both really.... It'll just take a little longer... keep black beauty as a plaything and then get a V8 down the line.... I'm sure now that Simon's had a taste of the V8s he'll be most keen to get one once he's finished that little project of his in the garage

[Kiwi XTR2]

Were you guys looking in your rear-view mirrors ?

Out of the little freight train I was in, I was 6th to the roundabout at Parakai.

1st - Esprit
2nd - Esprit
3rd - Elise
4th - Elise
6th - Westfield

So what was 5th . . .

A White Telecom Van giving it absolute death ! ! !

I have never seen a van lean over so much on the corners and there was stuff flying all around the rear compartment

Nice to see that Telecom places such a high priority on rapid response to customers

[Esprit]

Kiwi XTR2 said:

Were you guys looking in your rear-view mirrors ? Out of the little freight train I was in, I was 6th to the roundabout at Parakai. 1st - Esprit 2nd - Esprit 3rd - Elise 4th - Elise 6th - Westfield So what was 5th . . . A White Telecom Van giving it absolute death ! ! ! I have never seen a van lean over so much on the corners and there was stuff flying all around the rear compartment Nice to see that Telecom places such a high priority on rapid response to customers

"White Van man" is alive and well in NZ!!!

[Esprit]

Alls I know is that we were WAAAAY back... navigator and I made a bit of a hesitation and when the TVR boys turned off to find a more interesting road we decided to folow them and then thought better of it and joined back to the main road (about 5 minutes behind the tail of the pack).... the fact that we turned up to the Mac Nut Farm only about 10 seconds after the last of the pack indicates the sort of driving that was done to make amends

[kylie]

Kiwi XTR2 said:

Were you guys looking in your rear-view mirrors ? So what was 5th . . . A White Telecom Van giving it absolute death ! ! !

LOL - bet he thought it was christmas!!

At the start of the run I got intercepted behind me by about four cars pushing in, pain in the arse literally!!, so I spent half the time trying to let these people pass so we could keep together. Going through the twisties was nice apart from a few real Sunday crawlers that just wouldn't let us through

[Esprit]

Indeed, most of the run to the mac farm was spent with Kelly and I being very very lonely :P Was good though because we got to bring up the rear of the field and would have been on-hand to help anyone who suffered navigational issues or breakdowns. Was most rewarding to see everyone together having so much fun

Pics are up.... I've hosted them up on Kelly's site for the time being, hopefully noone has issues about me posting them up so everyone can have a look, I can pull them down after everyone in here has had a chance to download them.

All of the images are 800x600 resizes of an original 6MP image so if anyone out there wants full res images I can organise that for a small fee ($0)

Clicky Here

[kylie]

Esprit said:

what time are you away for? (can't plan another car run without you in the picture m'lady ) Fari enough... A V8 would be nice... I don't see why you can't do both really.... It'll just take a little longer... keep black beauty as a plaything and then get a V8 down the line.... I'm sure now that Simon's had a taste of the V8s he'll be most keen to get one once he's finished that little project of his in the garage

Such kind words as always mate

Yeah I dont fancy putting one of the Lotis outside, unless we build a garage over the park area to the side, which is an option. It just sparked me yesterday when they asked if I would sell it to them, opportunites dont come like that everyday esp when I can sell at the deserved price. The old mixed emotions were starting to hit home last night though, thinking am I mad slap slap dont sell it! Then I have Dean S on my other shoulder saying sell sell.

Anyway dont let me change your plans for a run, but if you do go with out me ill boot ya bum
Nah - lets see fly out on 14th Aug which is the LBJ driving day and come home 2 weeks later which is around the 29th I think.

[Esprit]

Good stuff.... I'll get planning for early september then sounds good to me

Yeah would be a shame to see ti go, but if you think you can swing a V8 do it.... you know it makes sense You could go bonkers and import a 350Sport! Although I'd kick your arse, because I want the first one in NZ :P Let's put it this way.... the situation you're in isn't really a bad one... I'm happy with my Elise and will probably spend a few years working this one up before getting an Esprit as a companion, but I still envy ya