<VV> No Roll Call - what I did Oct 2

[Stan East]

Like Clark Hartzel I sat on my duff but in a different way.

 

Friday Oct 2 I took my road car (SAAB 9000 Aero 5 speed) to Shannonville
Race Track in Eastern Ontario for the SAAB Club of Canada's Enhanced Driving
School. The school consisted of 4 class room sessions, 4 skid pad practices
and on track driving with an instructor as passenger. I had 4 on track
sessions of 20 minutes each.  The 3 early ones were on a dry track and the
last was on a wet race track. I did well enough that by the end of the
second session I was signed off to go on track without my instructor. I did
pull the instructor back in for the last session as I wanted the knowledge
that a racer has of the Shannonville track in the rain. Even though I have
been to Shannoville many times it's been as a race official and I had never
driven the track until Friday. A full lap of the track is over 4 kms (1,6 km
per mile).  In the first classroom session the instructor's first question
to anyone in the first class was "Stan did you bring your Corvair?" I just
used that as the point to say it was the 50th Anniversary of the
introduction of the Corvair today. So I sat in class and in the driver's
seat all day. I did wear my CORSA blue jean shirt as the day started out at
1 degree Celsius at 6:30 AM! Oh and in the wet I passed the Porsche 911
Carrea! At dinner I rubbed the fact that the Corvair was fifty into some of
my friends in the SAAB Club. After dinner I had to drive 285 kms home in
pouring rain.

 

You don't need SAAB to do the schools anyone is welcome n anything that
licensed, insured and in top mechanical condition. To enter you do have to
have changed the brake fluid with a full flush in 2009. There were CTS-Vs,
Corvettes, Miatas, Hondas, Audis, BMWs, Nissan GT-R (my instructor's car),
Saturns, and a MB driven by former Trans-AM driver and SAAB School
Instructor Craig Fisher. Lunch was included.

 

Saturday I went to General Motors Canada's Regional Engineering Center in
Oshawa for the CORSA Ontario 50 Anniversary celebrations. I drove the SAAB
as the Corvair has not been running this year due to a dead battery and
insurance costs with an underage driver. Ermine white with regal red icing
birthday cake was served with Tim's coffee. GM left five nice 2010 models on
display for us to look at. And yes a certain member of CORSA Ontario gave me
some flack about not seeing my Corvair however this was the year that all
money for cars went into the SAAB (water pump, air conditioning, exhaust
manifold gasket, clutch, brakes and repaint) so no Corvair money. I had the
repaint done by fellow Corvair friend Dave Binne from whom I bought this
SAAB just like I bought my street Corvair from him.

 

After the event at GM I dropped by the Oshawa Mayor's house to see his new
"company car". Seems the City of Oshawa turned in the Monte Carlo for an
Oshawa built 2010 Orange Camero SS with six speed manual that his worship
gets to drive as the company car. He has even put some personalized white
stripes on it.

 

Stan East

CORSA Ontario

Vice-Pres Stock Corvair Group

Performance Corvair Group

Air Vairs

 

PS I have been known to drive my Corvair to some SAAB Club meetings. The
first time this happened I arrived about 5 minutes late for the meeting and
the tech session at the tire store came to a stop as the entire group
emptied the store to see the Corvair even though it is unrestored,
(translation needs a restoration very badly!)