Well, what a run, I'll say that much...

We started off at about 9:30 from Tim's place, then headed up the hill. Handful of holder-uppers, but we made it alright, a few outstanding sets of turns really lets you open up your Z! While on our way up, we got to wave the nice CHP officers who were sitting there waiting for us - but I think 13 Z's were just too many for them to want to deal with.

We stopped off briefly for a stretch, then moved down the mountain headed for Julian. This time we were a little more wide-open, enjoying a great drive down the mountain, followed by a sweet straight all the way out to Julian Pie Shop. Enjoyed meeting people a little more out there, and we sat down, had some lunch, talked shop for a while, and then figured out who was going which way. At that point we were losing both J and T, and without our lead cars, about 10 of us made our way to the reverse of what we'd driven before.

Unfortunately it wasn't a perfect day, one of our crowd lost traction coming off a very long straight going in to a turn, and careened off the road in to a barb wire fence on the side. Actually damage was pretty minimal - a few major scars on the front bumper, and a sizeable dent on the right rear quarterpanel, but the real horror was the effect of the barb wire on the car. As one person described it - it was like having your car wrapped in a barb-wire spider web. Not a single body panel was left undamaged, as well as the front windshield, both mirrors were pulled off, and more. It was a tragic sight to see, but fortunately he walked away without a scratch, and handled it a lot better than I know I would've. AAA showed up and flat-bedded her off to the closest dealership they could find.

Anyways, I've got some awesome video, but I won't have it ready for a couple of weeks (need access to my family's iMac w/iDVD up in the bay area)... All in all, it was a fun time, great to meet many of you out there, and I look forward to seeing you all in the future.

ps-I will have some stills from the meet (from the video), don't know when they'll be up.

 

It was a really good meet!! Great turn out!! 15 Z's all together. (I think I counted 15, not 13.) I just got home (5pm) and I'm really beat... I'm ready to take a nap. *zzzzz*

Anyhow... here is a sneak preview of the pictures that I've taken.

T leading the pack follwed by J and me.

 

Oh yeah... and my brakes started smoking!!

Two reasons:

1. My car was not broken in... meaning, I had to keep the RPM under 4K... so I could not double-downshift and ended up using my brakes a lot more than otherwise would have.

2. I was driving a bit too close to the car in front of me... my bad, J.

My car, now, is officially broken in. So I had some fun driving back home. Man this thing has lots of power/ torque past 4K RPM!!

And...
You may quote me on that, Dave. And here is a pic of how scratched up the car was.

 

These are a bunch of pics captured off the camcorder (analog) through a little USB doo-daa that Sony included. Image quality sucks, but gives you an idea of our turnout!

 

and another one...

 

The incident...

 

Well, first off let me just say that I feel terrible about Dustins car.
It makes me really depressed because I had to leave early and couldnt lead the drive the rest of the way.

Dustin I owe you dinner at the resturant of your choice. And to look on the bright side, the repaint should get rid of any orange peel... :P

I do want to thank everyone who came out. The first half of the drive I thought was fantastic, really brought it home for me what owning a car like this is all about. But Dustins run in with the barbed wire fence sours it quite a bit for me.

At least the CHP gave us a wave and a pass!

 

...Followed by a close call...

 

...towing in action...

 

...one more - those S curves Anna & I got ahead on... Like I said, the entire (edited) movie will be up and ready probably early January, soundtrack and without me sitting there yelling "F%*@ Green MINIVAN!" ... He he ... Thanks for inviting us out to your stomping ground Jason, good times, good times...

 

That Silverstone Z's me dodgin Dustin's car. I feel bad for you, Dustin. But look on the bright side, you'll get your car back in no time.

 

I told dustin to get his car painted midnight blue. That way his car will be unique. he had his car towed to nissan dealership in san juan. he should be up an running soon. dunno if he will want to go on another palomar run tho....

 

How much does a tow cost to go all the way up there? Man, what a day, seriously buddy, we all feel your pain. Good luck, keep us posted on your progress, I hope parts availability doesn't become too much of a concern.

Also, after reviewing the video, here's what I can say about what happened:

1) Speed coming into corner looked like a bit more than the cars before him, BUT, he had given himself space. I think that might've thrown off his perception of the angle of attack on the turn, because he was sort of judging speed by the cars in front.

2) Entry point was deeper than the two cars before, meaning I think he came to the turn, and then spotted his apex before the main turn.

3) Multi-Apex'd turn - it really had a sharp turn right where that house's driveway was, which is where he lost traction and began that drift, and then I think the curve was just slight enough to push him off the side of the road, and then there was no recovery.

Once again man, I wish you the best of luck, and I hope that everything works out for the best.

 

it only cost him $200. I think he went to work today... I am sure his increased insurance will be a lot worse tho.

 

looks like you guys had a nice drive..well..except for the incident

man dustin, i feel bad for you...but now you have an excuse so u can just buy the nismo front bumper... also paint your car blue midnight blue like patric said! set yourself apart from all the silver and black

damn too much school crap, maybe sometime during christmas break!!!

again only one blue!!! hehe, nice job jason for being "unique"

hmmm....now i have to remember to control myself when i first go there, this is just a painful reminder of how you luck can change in just an instant...

 

Dustin...

Sorry to hear about the incident. That's one of the reasons i stay away from that area...i get carried away, and bam! (especially on my bike)

Anyway, it's a chance to get customized.

 

I lived in San Diego in the early 70s. I used to make that exact trip with a bunch of other guys on our motorcycles (Triumph Bonneville for me) Great run.

To bad on the skid out; that one pic sent a shiver down my spine.

 

Thanks Jason for putting together a great run, except for the incident (not your fault). Thanks to all for being good team players all day, and specially to those that stayed with, and helped Dustin.
Dustin you got heart! You kept your cool and all your parts too. The Z will be well soon, maybe with a new "special" color.
And one more thing, did we not have the biggest showing thus far? Let's break the record again soon!

 

Looks like a great run.

Wish I could've gone but cross the lack of will power to wake up + going to sleep at 4am kicked my butt this morning.

I woke up at 12 thinking, aw shucks... they're eating lunch right now in Julian.

Sorry to hear about the Z.

 

OUCH....Sorry Dustin but car parts can be fixed a lot easier than skin & bone...glad you're OK

You guys had a beautiful day..wish we could have been there