This last weekend, I was so fortunate enough to gain entry into the DWA! Coastal Range Rally. This is the group that is responsible for Radwood, and they also run a podcast. These are our guys, they're all about the 80's when it comes to cars. I've done some of these road rallies before, but this was like none other. First of all, there were no requirements for vehicles. As long as it was a cool car, they would consider you. I was sharing the road with everything from an early 60's Lamborghini Jarama V12 to a brand new Porsche Cayman GT4 Sharkwerks. In between were a couple of older Volvo's with LS swaps, all years of 911's, some Ferrari's, Corvettes, and VW's.
The rally started in central California, due to the overwhelming interest and limited entry spots, the organizers kept location secret as to discourage privateers from joining in. I was unable to make the first day's shenanigans, but pulled into Paso Robles at the exact time the group dinner was starting. Plenty of adult beverages and tacos to go along with the days war stories. I saw a few familiar faces, where most of them had asked if I had brought the 911. I was pleased to tell them that my co-driver and I would be piloting the GLH-T for the weekend.
This would be a good time to stop and thank AJ for stopping by the house replace the passenger side motor mount at the 11th hour. The passenger side mount, the front mount, and a few other things had been broken in Mexico a few months ago after having all four wheels in the air. AJ gave it a thorough once over, and even tossed in a first gen Johnny poly mount. Thanks!!!
The morning of day 2 was "brisk". 23 degrees as we left the hotel room and gassed up. We met in the town center of Paso, and backed in next to a friends Porsche 911. The GLH had not been running well on the 101 north the day before. With some advice from AJ over the phone, we chose to regap the plugs. While everyone was walking around enjoying the 100 plus cars that were now taking up the town square, I went to work. It was at this time, I realized that we are among friends here. For the most part, and I'm sure anyone on this board can attest to, most people will comment on what a nice GTI or Rabbit the GLH is. To my surprise, not one person said that. Quite the opposite, most came by, knew what it was, asked if it was a real one, if it was numbered, what mods were done, how much it weighed, and were very excited to see a TD as they have run scare in recent times......It was a totally different experience than I was used to. Shortly after, we got our route book and where headed into the hills of central California.
After a few hours on the road, we ended up in the Carizzo Plain. Some national landmark. This was taken from atop the only hill on the plain and only shows half the group. We parked and that was when the crowds came by. Everyone was complimentary on the GLH. I think it surprised people on how fast it was. As a matter of fact, after a few miles in, most of the other cars would pull over and let us through. It was on this dirt road, probably during my exhibition of rally/e-brake/Ken Blockish driving skills that i broke the rear exhaust hanger. Safety wire to the rescue and away we went.
We ended up in Ventura for the night after 300+ miles of backroads and fun. Our hotel for the evening was a favorite with the local prostitute industry, and had either cigarette burns or meth pipe burns in the carpet. It did have a peek a boo ocean view though, and our group pretty much owned the hotel parking lot. There's nothing quite like having a few adult pops, and bench racing after a long day. We had about 30 cars of the group in our hotel, and we would gravitate from one car to the next, checking out mods, meeting people and just BS'ing. Easily the best thing about doing these group drives. Later than evening, we would all venture over to a local bar, where the organizers had taken over and handed out awards and recognition.
Day 2 we awoke to the sounds of modded cars firing up for the day. Checking oil, tire pressures, and coolant levels. I was a little nervous as I had been getting some smoke billowing through the hood vent. As it turns out, the power steering pump had exploded, and with some help over the phone, again thanks to AJ, we chose to cut the belt and go old school. The driver's meeting that morning was at a local donut shop. Co-driver and I decided to forego that, and wait for coffee at the first stop. The first part of the run was a 30 mile, top speed run up 101 North, all along the coast, to the Santa Barbara cars and coffee meet up. While traversing this first leg of the journey, several "throttle checks" were conducted, and all was good. We got several thumbs up as we were running side by side with much higher powered cars.
Several hundred miles later, we stopped at an overlook for lake Castaic. An impromptu meetup for about an hour, again with bench racing and catching up on the days drive. We soon dropped down into the lovely quaint town of Nipomo and had our last dinner with the group. From there, it was a short 4 hour blast down 101 South, to arrive back home in the OC.
Drives like this are amazing, and the end all be all to our hobby. I love standing around at Cars and Coffee meets, and group gatherings, but driving is why we are all here. Events like this are what this hobby needs. No one in this group was the typical douchey, "dont scratch my car" or "I don't want to put miles on it" type of guy. There was not one person in this group that light footed. Everyone was there for one reason, to drive, and to drive hard, seemingly WANTING to break something. So as you read this, write down what parts or labor your TD needs to run. Then buy the parts or do the labor (or in my case) have someone do the labor. Get your TD out of the garage, drive it, break it, fix it, repeat!!!!!!
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