Some of you may be familiar with my ///M5 Heidi and her sad fate at the hands of an uninsured motorist. I won't go into details about her in this thread, (if you really want to read it the whole story is here: http://www.r3vlimited.com/board/show...ighlight=heidi), but once the dust had settle and insurance had been handled, I decided I couldn't just give up on owning an e28 M5. After a bit of searching I got very lucky and I found Clara in SF. An insurance check and one way plane ticket later, I had 2400 miles on some of the best roads in the country to get to know her.
To make sure we got off on the right foot, I picked her up and went straight to Highway 1 heading down to L.A.
If you want to feel true driving bliss, I believe Jeremy Clarkson said it best: "Straight six in the front, manual gearbox in the middle and drive going to the rear". Though the S14 in the M3 that photobombed me would work too (the Prius not so much).
If you ever have the chance, Highway 1 through Big Sur is truly one of the most scenic roads in the world.
Once in LA I stopped by Ireland Engineering to pick up some parts for my dad's 02. I also got to meet the whole crew, and Andrew was nice enough to take me 'next door' and introduce me to Ron Perry and his amazing shop/collection. Sadly, as tempting as it was to just stay there in the glow of vintage BMW's forever, Clara and I had to hit the road again and get back to Ohio. She more or less performed flawlessly for the whole journey, which is more than I can say for the weather. The next day the temperatures peaked above 100 as we crossed the Mohave, and headed north into Utah.
On day 3, instead of sticking to the Interstate, we took a detour through Capital Reef National Park.
Beyond the NP, I kept to mostly 2 lane roads crossing the vast Utah desert. As we ate away the miles, I realized just how good of a GT car she was, and how modern she felt for being 25 years old.
Crossing into Colorado, we were greeted with a surprise May blizzard ad we rose up into the mountains. Luckily the sky's graciously parted around Vail, and I began to wish I'd brought my snowboard.
Once we passed Denver the rest of the trip went uneventful, aside from near monsoon rains that met us at the Ohio border. But just like everything else, she handled those with grace and confidence above and beyond her years. And even through the pain of losing Heidi, I could tell this was the start of a great relationship.
To make sure we got off on the right foot, I picked her up and went straight to Highway 1 heading down to L.A.
If you want to feel true driving bliss, I believe Jeremy Clarkson said it best: "Straight six in the front, manual gearbox in the middle and drive going to the rear". Though the S14 in the M3 that photobombed me would work too (the Prius not so much).
If you ever have the chance, Highway 1 through Big Sur is truly one of the most scenic roads in the world.
Once in LA I stopped by Ireland Engineering to pick up some parts for my dad's 02. I also got to meet the whole crew, and Andrew was nice enough to take me 'next door' and introduce me to Ron Perry and his amazing shop/collection. Sadly, as tempting as it was to just stay there in the glow of vintage BMW's forever, Clara and I had to hit the road again and get back to Ohio. She more or less performed flawlessly for the whole journey, which is more than I can say for the weather. The next day the temperatures peaked above 100 as we crossed the Mohave, and headed north into Utah.
On day 3, instead of sticking to the Interstate, we took a detour through Capital Reef National Park.
Beyond the NP, I kept to mostly 2 lane roads crossing the vast Utah desert. As we ate away the miles, I realized just how good of a GT car she was, and how modern she felt for being 25 years old.
Crossing into Colorado, we were greeted with a surprise May blizzard ad we rose up into the mountains. Luckily the sky's graciously parted around Vail, and I began to wish I'd brought my snowboard.
Once we passed Denver the rest of the trip went uneventful, aside from near monsoon rains that met us at the Ohio border. But just like everything else, she handled those with grace and confidence above and beyond her years. And even through the pain of losing Heidi, I could tell this was the start of a great relationship.
Comment