Announcement

Collapse
No announcement yet.

Sean & Iain's excellent (crazy?) adventure...

Collapse
X
  • Filter
  • Time
  • Show
Clear All
new posts

  • Sean & Iain's excellent (crazy?) adventure...

    Sean G. (goofygrin) is having an early mid-life crisis and flying to Sacramento next weekend to buy a car that's almost old enough to serve in Congress. I'm coming along because what could go wrong on an 2000-mile road trip in a 28 year old Porsche 930 Turbo?

    I've volunteered to be Sean's co-pilot and navigator, and I'll be documenting the madness along the way. As navigator, I'm trying to plan out a fun route for this trip - here's what I've got in mind so far for Friday (day 1):

    Day 1 - Sacramento to the Golden Gate Bridge, down the PCH to Laguna Seca and Pfeiffer Beach in Big Sur, then staying beachside in Ventura Friday night

    From there it gets a little fuzzy:
    • Route 1 - north through Flagstaff, Albuquerque, and Amarillo.
    • Route 2 - south through Phoenix, Tucson, and Odessa.


    While it sounds like the southern route would have more interesting stuff (we might have a chance to view a private "museum" of historic Porsche race cars in Phoenix, the Chaparral museum in Midland), it's going to be much hotter - 110+ in Phoenix and Tucson versus 80-85 in Flagstaff and Albuquerque. With an old air-cooled turbo car, I'm thinking it might be more prudent to go the northern route.

    Thoughts? Ideas? Suggestions? Don't bother to suggest a trailer (no sense of adventure) or tell us we're crazy (yeah, we're aware of it already). I'm interested to hear what you'd do or see if you had three days to make it from the left coast to DFW.
    Iain

    '01 Honda S2000 - extra crispy
    '05 Honda CR-V EX AWD - alphabet soup family truckster
    Always looking for a co-drive...

    "We don't stop playing because we grow old, we grow old because we stop playing." - George Bernard Shaw

  • #2
    Re: Sean & Iain's excellent (crazy?) adventure...

    Driven them both, my vote is the more northern route.

    Regardless, pics of the car, pics of the trip and a good writeup are hopeful to follow!!


    Costas
    cars and such...

    Comment


    • #3
      Re: Sean & Iain's excellent (crazy?) adventure...

      Northern route definitely. Also take pics along the way. Here's the gallery from my trip when I picked up a M3- http://mccall.smugmug.com/Travel/Dea...W-Trip/1643761
      McCall

      Comment


      • #4
        Re: Sean & Iain's excellent (crazy?) adventure...

        I hate Tucson with a passion, take the Northern route.
        '11 Mustang GT / '95 Frankenpreza

        "A turbo: exhaust gasses go into the turbocharger and spin it, witchcraft happens and you go faster."
        - Dr. Clarkson

        Comment


        • #5
          Re: Sean & Iain's excellent (crazy?) adventure...

          If you take the 'Northern' route across 70, you can stop-by for the night and keep the 930 in the garage. I'm about 20 minutes south of I-70 in Denver.

          Comment


          • #6
            Re: Sean & Iain's excellent (crazy?) adventure...

            Thanks for the offer John - I think we're going to end up taking I-40. We're hoping to make it as far as Albuquerque on Saturday, so that Sunday is a slightly shorter drive.

            Here's Sean's post on the car in another forum:

            Originally posted by goofygrin
            1984 Canadian Spec (still titled in Canada actually) 911 Turbo. 77 Canadian spec were made in 84, ~800 made for the ROW, 0 in the US (emissions).

            78k miles, more or less stock other than wheels, some minor brake work and it was painted from white to black in the 90's and the fender vents were added at that time.

            These cars made ~300hp/318tq from the factory (~3000# car). Major turbo lag, so you have to figure out how to drive them. At the time, they turned out ~5 second 0-60 which was incredibly fast. It's still fast today. They have 4 speed transmissions with really wide gearing. In 1989 they introduced the 5 speed and apparently it makes the car a lot better to drive. Typical changes to the 4 speed are to change the final output to tighten the spacing on the gears. As well the syncros and stuff are not a modern design so you have to be a bit more careful and purposeful with your gear changes (which I'm sure doesn't help the twitchiness in turns). A shifter update helps smooth out the shifters.

            Iain

            '01 Honda S2000 - extra crispy
            '05 Honda CR-V EX AWD - alphabet soup family truckster
            Always looking for a co-drive...

            "We don't stop playing because we grow old, we grow old because we stop playing." - George Bernard Shaw

            Comment


            • #7
              Re: Sean & Iain's excellent (crazy?) adventure...

              BTW, looks like Saturday is going to be the long haul day - we've decided to take it relatively easy on Friday, backtracking to San Francisco and then down the coast to Laguna Seca where, ironically, there will be a POC event on Friday. We'll stay in Monterey Friday night, then down the PCH through Big Sur to Cambria Saturday morning, before we turn east and head for Barstow and I-40.

              Looks like we'll be driving past Buttonwillow Raceway sometime Saturday morning/early afternoon, so we may have to stop there and see what's going on.
              Iain

              '01 Honda S2000 - extra crispy
              '05 Honda CR-V EX AWD - alphabet soup family truckster
              Always looking for a co-drive...

              "We don't stop playing because we grow old, we grow old because we stop playing." - George Bernard Shaw

              Comment


              • #8
                Re: Sean & Iain's excellent (crazy?) adventure...

                I have some suggestions.

                Dinner in Carmel. Forge in the Forest

                Breakfast in Big Sur. Best pancakes on the planet. I don't know the name of the place but it rocks. Right on the highway and there is only one restaurant in Big Sur.

                Buttonwillow is not pretty like Laguna Seca.

                Brian
                Brian Hanchey
                AST Suspension - USA

                Comment


                • #9
                  Re: Sean & Iain's excellent (crazy?) adventure...

                  Yeah, I didn't think it was. But we're driving right past it...

                  Looks like we'll be driving right past Infineon Raceway on our way to the Golden Gate Friday afternoon. Might have to stop and see if we can get a few pics of the Indy cars before we head out.

                  This little jaunt is quickly turning into a tour of west coast tracks. Now if I can just wrangle the Porsche keys away from Sean...
                  Iain

                  '01 Honda S2000 - extra crispy
                  '05 Honda CR-V EX AWD - alphabet soup family truckster
                  Always looking for a co-drive...

                  "We don't stop playing because we grow old, we grow old because we stop playing." - George Bernard Shaw

                  Comment


                  • #10
                    Re: Sean & Iain's excellent (crazy?) adventure...

                    Originally posted by altiain View Post
                    Yeah, I didn't think it was. But we're driving right past it...

                    Looks like we'll be driving right past Infineon Raceway on our way to the Golden Gate Friday afternoon. Might have to stop and see if we can get a few pics of the Indy cars before we head out.

                    This little jaunt is quickly turning into a tour of west coast tracks. Now if I can just wrangle the Porsche keys away from Sean...
                    Infineon is worth stopping at.
                    Brian Hanchey
                    AST Suspension - USA

                    Comment


                    • #11
                      Re: Sean & Iain's excellent (crazy?) adventure...

                      Day one of the great Porsche adventure is in the can! After a 3:30 am wake up call to catch a shuttle to the airport (ugh) we arrived in Sacramento without issue, then headed north to pick up the car. When we got there… the car wasn’t there. It was down the street having the A/C system recharged. Bad omen? Guess we’ll find out tomorrow when we cross the Mojave…

                      Here’s the car once it got back to the shop:







                      It’s a Canadian spec 1984 Porsche 930 (911 Turbo). The car is solid, but it’s a driver, not a show queen. Overall, it’s in very good shape, with about 75k miles. Being Canadian, the speedo is in KMH, not MPH, so some mental math is required when there isn’t any traffic to pace.

                      Once we picked up the car and took it for a test drive to make sure everything was as advertised, we back tracked from Auburn to the coast to traverse the Golden Gate Bridge. We passed Infineon, but we were running a bit behind schedule so we didn’t stop.



                      Driving to the Golden Gate:



                      Unfortunately, it was a bit foggy by the time we got there in mid-afternoon

                      We stopped at a park near the Golden Gate to stretch our legs and take a look around. Some interesting local graffiti:



                      Our home for the next 2000 miles:



                      We drive through downtown San Francisco south of the Golden Gate. Crazy hills, but some really cool houses:



                      Once clear of San Francisco, we headed south to Monterey on the PCH. Lighthouse in the fog:



                      Once we got closer to Santa Cruz, the fog lifted and we got to enjoy some of that famous California sunshine:





                      This car photographs really well. It’s absolutely gorgeous:







                      Yes, I was almost killed taking one of these shots, but that’s a story for another day.

                      Unfortunately, our earlier delay meant it was dark by the time we reached Monterey. So we skipped Laguna Seca today. We’ll swing by there on the way out tomorrow morning, before we head for the PCH and Bug Sur. Then it’s inland through Barstow, hoping to make it to Albuquerque tomorrow night. The car is solid and should make the trip without issue, but we’ll see if we’re up to 1000 miles in a car with marginal A/C and no cruise control tomorrow.

                      Higher res versions of the above photos are at the following link: click me.

                      Until then!
                      Last edited by altiain; 08-27-2011, 02:05 AM.
                      Iain

                      '01 Honda S2000 - extra crispy
                      '05 Honda CR-V EX AWD - alphabet soup family truckster
                      Always looking for a co-drive...

                      "We don't stop playing because we grow old, we grow old because we stop playing." - George Bernard Shaw

                      Comment


                      • #12
                        Re: Sean & Iain's excellent (crazy?) adventure...

                        Good stuff Iain! Drive safe and keep us updated!

                        BTW, what size wheels/tires are those?
                        McCall

                        Comment


                        • #13
                          Re: Sean & Iain's excellent (crazy?) adventure...

                          Ruf 17x9 / 17x10. They're pretty nice!
                          Iain

                          '01 Honda S2000 - extra crispy
                          '05 Honda CR-V EX AWD - alphabet soup family truckster
                          Always looking for a co-drive...

                          "We don't stop playing because we grow old, we grow old because we stop playing." - George Bernard Shaw

                          Comment


                          • #14
                            Re: Sean & Iain's excellent (crazy?) adventure...

                            That car is SWEET. Those wheels are SWEET!

                            Keep the updates coming, keep the pictures coming!!

                            Costas

                            Comment


                            • #15
                              Re: Sean & Iain's excellent (crazy?) adventure...

                              Yesterday, Reader's Digest version: minor earthquake, breaking and entering at Laguna Seca, sea lions in Big Sur, the Mojave is f***ing hot, a 28-year old Porsche is rock solid cruising at 100+ for hours at a stretch, Didn't quite make it to Albuquerque. Stopped last night in Grants, NM after 1014 miles. Lots of pics, but too tired last night to upload.

                              On the road again now - 700 miles to go. So far the car has been rock solid, and the a/c even worked well enough in the 116+ degree desert temps.
                              Iain

                              '01 Honda S2000 - extra crispy
                              '05 Honda CR-V EX AWD - alphabet soup family truckster
                              Always looking for a co-drive...

                              "We don't stop playing because we grow old, we grow old because we stop playing." - George Bernard Shaw

                              Comment

                              Working...
                              X