It was a great labor day weekend in Ottawa.
Russ (Toronto area) suggested we have a California-style Tech Weekend with lots of experts and cars and guys to make things go quickly. I said to him that I was buying the perfect place for it and if he would do all the organizing (which I can't do well) that I would host it at my new place which I moved into only weeks before our planned date. It was a mammoth task to get the place ready, the lifts installed, the beer coolers filled and food in the fridge, but in the end we were ready for people when they started arriving.
Flying in were Mike Drew and Lori Albino from California, Jon Haas and Vince (crazy blue GT5S) from Pennsylvania. Driving here were: John Christian from Detroit (9 hours drive EACH WAY!), Doug McIntyre all the way from Calgary WITH his Pantera (I can't remember how many days of driving that is, but around six or seven?), Richard, Russ and Fred (with his wife — our newest Members) from the Toronto area, David and Michel from Montreal, and of course the Ottawa guys: Me (and Yasmin), Andy, Denis and Bohdan. We were all very sad that Will was unable to make it at the last minute due to an urgent family crisis.
I was really worried the whole event would be a mess, but thanks to Russ's stellar organizing and the incredible efforts of Andy and Denis and David (it will take months to burn off the cinnamon-rasin-cream cheese French toast and sausage Sunday brunch) everything went very well. Having barely lived there a month, I was happy at how well my new home and garage accommodated such a large group. I was even more impressed with how tidy and clean everything was left afterwards. I had nightmare flashbacks of when my friends would come over to play with my Hot Wheels set as a kid. Invariably EVERY single connector, car and section of track would be spread over the entire house and five minutes to dinner my friends would blow out of the place leaving me to put it all away. Not this time. I even still have all the tools I started with (plus a couple extra bits and some folding chairs) — thanks guys!
Steering racks were rebuilt by Mike & Lori (with each owner helping out), headers were replaced (thanks Richard, Lori, Denis, Andy & Mike), drain holes were drilled, and thousands of miles of bad wiring was replaced with high-tech wizardry courtesy of Jon. Plugs were changed, carbs tweaked, timing set and so on. Lots got done and nothing got broken. It was three solid days of wrenching, eating and drinking and barely sleeping. It was easily the most fun I've had since the Rocky Mountain Rumble we did last fall. Perhaps it was because it was most of the same guys and we certainly get along like (better actually) family!
The only regret was that time and weather prohibited doing some driving tours, but we will make sure that we work some in next time we do this. Thanks again to everyone who travelled so far to help, and who came to participate. I think I speak for everyone there that it was a great experience for all of us.
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