<VV> Mosport, NECC, and Buffalo ...LONG
Louis C. Armer,Jr.
carmerjr at mindspring.com
Wed Aug 2 19:53:53 EDT 2006
Hello all, When I first read about our Buffalo convention, I was
immediately excited because of the location. Liz and I will be
married for forty years in August and have never even been close to
Niagara Falls. Then NECC announces that there will be races at
Mosport Raceway in Canada. Tours will be in the US and Canada,
multiple Dinner cruises, multiple tours to the falls and gearhead
tours at one Convention. How can it get any better? It can get better
when Scott Trunkhill will be able to attend both functions and
bring WTBRT for us to race at both venues.
Liz and I trailered Darth Vair along the western route from
Atlanta to Mosport which took us through Lexington and Detroit. We
met Cliff and Beth Tibbitts in Lexington where they treated us to a
great dinner and socializing with their family at a local restaurant.
We then checked out progress on Cliff's LM coupe. He will be ready to
cruise shortly as it is taking shape quickly and with good attention
to detail and doing things the right way.
We next drove to Detroit and stayed in Livonia before entering
Canada at Port Huron. Norm Witte and others had suggested that we
might consider the northern route to avoid having to go through
Windsor. Ironically it was a nice staff member at the Best Western in
Livonia who had just visited Niagara Falls with his sister and
friends, who said the roads and traffic were much better and easier
to travel and convinced me to take the northern route. We stopped
just outside of London, Ontario at a MickyDees to have a cheeseburger
and coffee. It was close to lunchtime and Darth Vair and Darth Voy
created quite a stir in the parking lot. An older gentlemen and his
wife struck up a conversation with Liz and I about Corvairs and It
turned out that he owned a LM Canadian Corvair for many years and of
course he loved the performance in the winter driving. Gordon and
Jean Rush are their names and he is still a car nut but has gone a
bit astray as his calling card he gave me has "Mustangs" on it. :-)
We filled up with gas at a "Flying J" where it took almost 15
minutes to accomplish a fill-up that normally takes maybe 5. The
gas price was low for Canadian prices and all the Canadians knew it
so the lines waiting were long. I was very happy that we topped
off in London as we hit nightmare traffic conditions in Toronto in
the rain on early Sunday afternoon. The downtown "collector" area of
401 was bumper to bumper for miles and miles and caused us to be so
late that we missed the Oshawa Car Show. That night Scott
joined us for dinner and said that he and the Beef car had arrived
without incident.
Monday was a magnificent day at Mosport International. The 2.5
mile road track is an awesome experience that makes Virginia
International Raceway and Road Atlanta mild in comparison. Darth Vair
was having mechanical problems in #6 cylinder and thus later earned
the "Canadian Goose" award for the fastest 5 cylinder Corvair at
Mosport. I learned an important racing lesson on how
to drive "slow",even with 110 octane racing fuel in your gas tank,
and finish. Now #112 WTBRT co-driven by Scott and I was a whole
different experience with drivers and vehicle both performing top
notch. This time the Old man took advantage of young "Mudflaps"
and drove the course faster. I was reaching speeds in excess of
110mph in the back straight of Mosport while Scott was cruising at
100 mph. As I drove this famous course I could only imagine what it
must be like with dozens of competitors so close they could
touch bumpers or fenders as they careened through the constantly
changing curves and elevations. An absolute wonderful experience
which I doubt I will experience again in this lifetime. Totally
rewarding is an appropriate description for having the chance to
drive both Corvairs on this track and in the process be able to add
"International" to speed event competition venues for Darth Vair
and for WTBRT # 112. A Very big Thanks to Stan East, NECC, Brian ( do
it my way or else) O'Neill and all the others who made this a a
totally satisfying day at the track.
Going to Buffalo on Tuesday was both pleasant and easy but let
me digress. Monday night Liz and I wanted to find a local restuarant
in Oshawa. The staff at the Host Holiday Inn gave us a heads up on a
local Chinese buffet near the Oshawa Airport.
We also asked about cheap (oxymoron) gas prices and the answer
dumbfounded me. The lady said that gas prices went down
every day after 9 pm and she couldn't remember the last time she paid
full price. Well they do go down between 7 and 10 cents
per liter. We had a great dinner at the buffet and filled Darth Voy's
gas tank at over 20 cents a gallon less than anticipated. Toronto
is a huge city and it seems to never end as all the satellite cities
are just melding with the population of Toronto. We finally got
through all the city traffic and enjoyed the open spaces of the
Canadian wine country before entering the bridge area for the
crossover into the US. Jeff Clark helped us navigate into the Adam's
Mark, we were able to register, unload clothes etc., drop
Darth Vair off the trailer and get out of the way before the caravan
of Yenko's arrived from Nelson Ledges.
We, like many others, had some issues with the host hotel
situation but almost all of the people we met in Buffalo were great
folk just like Corvair people. Later on Tuesday I was able to get
Scott to go with me to the clean up area at the Pierce Arrow museum.
We spent 3 hours cleaning and prepping Darth Vair for the Concours on
Wednesday. He was pretty dirty after being rained on during the 1000+
mile trip and racing at Mosport. We felt like it was our own personal
detailing area as no one showed up for over 2 1/2 hours. The building
gave us afternoon shade and we accomplished a complete detailing of
the exterior of Darth. Thank you Scott for all your help as there was
no way I could have done it by myself. Steve was the name of the
employee on duty at the museum and he was a native Buffalonian.
Towards the end of our cleanup he was busy loading portable tables in
his pickup. I asked him what he was going to do with them. He said
they were for our Concour show tomorrow and he was also providing
drinks and water for our judges as well as helping with the food
concession. The owner of the Pierce Arrow museum was a Guardian Angel
for the Convention and was indeed a benefactor that needs recognition
and a hearty "Thanks". ( Jim Sandoro ) www.pierce-arrow.com
Another "Concour in the Grass" was set in a nice park and had
ample display area for a huge turnout of Senior, Primary and Display
Corvairs. There were a few glitches but overall the show went very
well. I felt the Concour's judges did an outstanding job and the
Concour committee addressed all areas with efficiency. Rich Thompson
and Stan East were very capable leaders. Darth Vair scored very well
and achieved a point total of 96.77. I am very proud of the record
that we have now achieved. Darth Vair has been
a Gold Senior Corvair since being elevated to Senior at Daytona 2000.
We have now participated in 5 Convention autocrosses and
5 NECC speed events while maintaining Senior status in 5 Concour
competitions starting in 1998 at the St. Louis ( Collinsville )
Convention. We will be at Detroit in 2007.
I missed the VV meeting as Liz and I took the Wednesday Dinner
Cruise which we both enjoyed. It was great just being able to spend
time together and relax while having a nice dinner on the river.
Larry Claypool made the comment that this was the best
"Shrimp Boat" cruise he had taken. We agreed that it was very nice.
This year I did not run Darth in the autocross after
experiencing the engine problems at Mosport. However Scott and I both drove
#112 WTBRT and had a ball on the Lancaster Speedway. With our new
engine and our "ULTRA" exhaust resonators we were able to go fast,
make noise and eliminate our famous "mosquito fogging" for which our
previous "ULTRA" engine was famous. This time
"MudFlaps" was out for revenge on the Old man and achieved it, but
not without a fight. We have now completed 28 runs with the new
engine. 22 of those runs were 2.5 miles long as they were at Mosport.
Friday was our day to explore Niagara Falls and the
surrounding park. I was amazed when Miss Liz agreed to take the
Heliocopter ride over the falls area. We climbed aboard with another
couple and the pilot was off and flying. The flight only lasts a bit
over 8 minutes but what a view of this natural wonder it provides and
we will never forget our visit to Niagara Falls from the sky. Billy
Bruce ( "Slick Willie") had advised us through Tim and Debbie
Gippert, on how to save a few bucks at the falls. So we parked at the
Seneca Casino (free), registered as guests ($2 per person discount on
the outstanding lunch buffet) and then walked to the Niagara Falls
Park. Once again we were able to view the Falls after a stroll
through the park. We viewed the falls and the river from several
different areas, observed the "Maids of the Mist" from afar, took
several pictures and enjoyed helping others by using their cameras to
take family pictures which included the normally "leftout" picture
taker. It was a great afternoon and we had missed the later downpours
which were so heavy that we pulled off the road for awhile.
On Saturday we took the famous self guided Buffalo Garden
Tour. www.gardenwalkbuffalo.com Every year this walking tour
attracts thousands and enables you to visit private residents and
view the side and backyard gardens presented by individual
homeowners. We toured the Pearl Street area and spent the afternoon
before the Awards Banquet with local homeowners and their labors of
love. It was a chance to meet local homeowners of all ages and to
view homes that were built in the 1850 decade. It was very enjoyable
and reminded Liz and I of the gardens in Charleston South Carolina.
The banquet food was excellent, The awards presentations were well
done with the exception of the autocross awards which strayed from
the other formats which had called all participants at once and
shortened the "dead" time in between individual recognitions. Detroit
take heed!
Sunday went very well with trailer retrieval and the loading
of Darth Vair. Jeff Clark was an exceptional problem solver and his
attitude about everything was positive and went a long way toward
making things more enjoyable. Thank you Jeff. We said goodbye
to Buffalo and headed out toward Erie, PA. Imagine my suprise when I
am cruising along and I see in the distance flashing lights
and The Lone Haranguer's tow vehicle being attacked by a flat bed
wrecker. I know he is in trouble and get stopped about 1/4 mile
ahead of them. That was the most frustrating attempt at backing a
trailer I have ever experienced. A narrow paved side apron with the
warning ridges in the paving, a slight curve to the roadway, and a
guard rail. It took me at least 15 minutes and several corrections to
finally clear the obstructing guard rail. Meanwhile Rick Norris aka
TLH was able to run up to were I was and inform me
that his Dodge pickup hauler had blown a tranny. He and Janet would
have to stay until they could get a remanufactured tranny on
Monday or Tuesday. I just received a call this afternoon from Rick
that he had arrived home. His is another story that he will post.
We had a trouble free travel day and once again traveled by
Pittsburgh (Beaverun Raceway) is nearby and continued into the beauty
of West Virginia. I-79 in WV is one of the most beautiful roads I
have ever traveled. "West by Gawd Virginia" as The Lone Haranguer
refers to as home, is country that easily inspires the feelings that
led John Denver to write "Country Roads".
Tamarack is a must see in WV. It is their state gathering of
arts and crafts of all sorts and displays them in a unique round
building that even has it's own interstate exchange. The items for
sale are endless and beautiful and of course many are one of a kind.
The food court is maintained by chefs and cooks which are trained at
The Greenbrier Lodge. This is of course the world famous lodge from
which our Corvair FC gained it's name. The food was outstanding and
we had brunch. We shared several items and our bill was under $11.
www.tamarackwv.com . We continued on home through Bluefield VA and
toward Atlanta via I-40 to Gastonia
and then down #321 to I-85 to bypass Charlotte. Well I tryed a
shorter shortcut and ended up missing a turn which led me to Denver
which is close to Dallas ( NC) :-) but heading back toward Charlotte
instead of Atlanta. We stopped for a final gas fill up in Spartanburg
SC. Sometimes it just amazes me how small a world it can be when you
have a Corvair in this day and time. I am pumping gas when this young
man pulls up in an older Honda civic and asks me if Darth is a
Corvair. I say yes and ask him if he owns a Corvair. He says no and
tells me is from Chicago and is into "Minis" and asks me if I know
Bill Elliott to which I reply
yes and that Bill is a close friend of mine. He knows Bill through
the internet, chats about Minis frequently and is following closely
the story of Marianne and Katies cross country adventure in "The
Whale". I should have written his name down but thought I would
remember it. The rest of our return home was uneventful and
progressed without incident. We traveled 2,376 miles through 12
states/provinces without any major traffic delays and saw no
accidents during our travels. We met new friends, saw old friends,
saw many new places and talked about Corvairs every single day with
many admirers of Corvairs and Darth Vair. We had a great vacation and
Convention. Hmmm, we ought to do this next year.........see you in Detroit???
Chuck and Liz Armer
CORSA Member
CORSA Tri-membership Chairman
Corvair Atlanta Member
Corvair Atlanta BOD
Corvanatics Member
SECC Member
1965 Corsa Coupe
1964 Greenbrier
1966 Monza Convertible
1966 WTBRT #112 xcrosser 1/2 owner
http://carmerjr.home.mindspring.com/
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