Hey, I am okay for Sunday around 8:00 AM. Obviously we can't make a time great for everyone, but I would like to give everyone a chance to come out. And yes youngturk I would love to start a monthly rally around town, to meet the forum members and try out some fun Austin Roads.

 

8am is fine for me too. now to get the lurkers to stop lurking and start participating.

 

Barton Creek mall is a big place. I'll swing by there tomorow after doing some work on my car and take pictures of a proposed meeting point. not sure how to describe where it's at so i'll take pictures.
I had considered trying to get something together and set up meetings but you beat me to it. after running lime creek last weekend I wanted to start getting people together to enjoy it as a group. hope you can make it, turk. it'll be good to see you and your old car again. what's the news from the BMW forums? any participation from the Bimmer drivers?

 

Hey folks, thought I'd stop lurking and create an account & post...

I'm an '05 G35 6MT driver up in the north area of town (I recently upgraded from an '04 -> gotta love how the residual values of our cars have held pretty high).

I wouldn't mind getting together for a drive some time, but planned to take a day trip up to Dallas for their club gathering on the 25th, since I bought my coupe at Grubbs up there. I'm heading up *early* Saturday morning for the long quiet drive up 35 & 35W and won't be back until Sunday afternoon. Guess there's always the next time...

 

Welcome to the board Gary. Sounds like we have about the same car! I would be interested in seeing yours with the clear corners and sub setup. Hopefully you can make the next rally. I would say it will be about the middle of July. Again, welcome to the club.

 

agree, welcome to our growing Austin G community. just got back from running lime creek again. a bit of traffic but I left at 11.30ish. mostly people in their suburbans and SUVs out driving around with the family. those things are the turtles of the road. big, bulky, slow and think they're protected in the big shell. I passed a county sheriff, first LEO I've seen out there (sorry to steal your word turk). he didn't have his radar on (V1 is my co-pilot) but when I was passing him he turned it on. he was in a line of 3 cars going the other way and I was only doing 45 at the time.
advanve info for those who haven't run Lime Creek before. most of the road out there is 40mph. the turns are about half 15mph and half 20-25mph warnings. my suspension is modified and turk's old car is stock but we both can run the whole road well over the posted warnings. currently I'm running the 15mph turns in second gear around 25ish, and the 20-25mph turns I run in high second at 40ish. so the turns aren't as bad as the warning signs would have you believe but they are a bit tight. and don't cut inside too hard, most of the inside turns don't have a shoulder or there're bushes there.
when was leaving and back on 2769, passed a turbo Porsche headed out to Lime Creek. I was doing about 30 at the time (behind another turtle and he was doing the same in the opposite direction, we both smiled and waved. I knew what he was about to go do and he knew what I'd just done.

 

I got family in the end of this month so I can't make it either.

 

G35_tx, we're meeting on sunday morning. if you can make it then it'd be great to have drivers from SA as well

 

I will the next time. Got family coming in town from Portland, so I can't go. Plus I am still waiting on Austin Infiniti to get my damn car to me!

 

I was thinking, maybe we could meet up around the Abuelos Mexican Restaurant at the Barton Creek Mall. It is easy to find and the parking lot will be empty that early in the morning. Plus it may be a nice background for a group picture before we head out. I don't know why I didn't think of this earlier, but could someone that belongs to some of the other boards (other G35 boards, Nissan boards etc..) post a similar message to let everyone in on the rally. I think we only have about 6 or 7 right now, I would like to see maybe 10-15 cars. I want everyone to have a chance to partcipate. One other thing, we may want to meet 15 - 30 minutes early so we can leave around 8:00am so the people wanting to get to church, will have adequate time. I am currently working on a list of directions for the route so everyone knows where to go. Thanks! See you all Sunday!

 

agree with the meeting point. was going to suggest the same place though more in the open parking lot in front of Abuelos. it's an easy to find entrance into the parking lot. I've been spreadingt he word among the drivers I know and a few people at work. another suggestion and turk can attest to the use of this one, everyone who has a motorola radio, bring it and a spare if you have it. those in the front of that pack can pass warnings back: cars, chickens, dogs, LEO, anything. and if you've got a radar detector, bring it along. got my V1 hardwired

 

I totally agree. Based on my personal experience with previous drives, people tend to show up at the specified time or later and it takes 20 minutes plus until you get on the road. If everyone can get there by 7:45 am, we can take some pictures and chat a little and then hit the road.

 

Liv, excellent point. I am so glad you brought it up. I must say that, again based on my past experience, the use of radios is not only very useful with communicating information (like trying to avoid hitting those big birds dining on public roads), it also contributes significantly to the fun. Some of my most vivid memories from past drives are spur-of-the-moment comments shared through the radios. I have noticed - with dismay - that people without them sometimes have no idea what is going on or what people are talking about when we stop, and miss out on a lot of the fun. If I could, I would make them mandatory at future Stampedes!

You don't have to spend a bundle to get these radios. They have become relatively inexpensive ($30 and up). So, if you don't have a pair, go out and get one. And bring the second radio to the drive so someone else can get in on all the fun!

 

Thanks for the idea about the 2 way radios! I plan on buying a pair of radios before Sunday. Anyone have any suggestions on which brand or which models to buy? I checked Best Buy, and they must have 25 different ones. Any help would be greatly appreciated!

 

i'm an overacheived so I purchased a pair of Motorola's high end radios. the range is something insane like 7 miles.
these are my set
http://direct.motorola.com/ENS/Web_f...roductid=29298
but I think nearly any of the two ways work together. Motorola makes great ones and they have many features (security stuff) that work together with other Motorolas.
agree with turk, the chickens thing is a reference to LoveThief03 announcing we had a rooster in the road. I thought he was joking until I came around a corner and sure enough, Colonel Sanders had let his products roam the roads out in BFE on the second Stampede. or better yet, how about hearing about a taxi in the road ginving the three of us behind the lead cars just enough time to anticipate and avoid what could have been an extreme accident.