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Archives for November 2010

The Garage US Thanksgiving Tour 2010

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The Williams clan was back on the road this Thanksgiving to visit family in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania this year. Diehard fans of The Garage may recall my last Thanksgiving post to Amish country where I heartlessly sent good friend Kevin “Crash” Corrigan of Carkeys fame back into therapy for posting pictures of derelict Jaguar XJ’s. So with the turkey in the oven and camera in hand, I ventured out to a couple of my favorite spots-Royal Motorworks of Lancaster, who specialize in maintaining and restoring Citroen SM’s, and European Imports, a small restoration shop in Maytown that caters mostly to British sports cars, and as an added bonus I was able to get into the shop to take some pics for your enjoyment.

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Default ThumbnailThe Garage US Thanksgiving Day Tour

Tall Pines stage A7: Up close at Iron Bridge

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Pat Richard storms the bridge!

Yes, I AM that close!

After A5, competitors head over to the Mayo Lake stage before returning to the Iron Bridge spectator stage for the final time. We switched up our shooting locations a bit and I positioned myself right up next to the bridge. Pat Richard was still pedaling the Subaru as fast as he could, which brought him past the lens closer and faster than anyone else. Even still, he was 3 seconds slower than the leader. Antoine L’Estage was running fast and smooth and Richard would have to push harder to catch him as the sun began to set and the temperatures dropped.
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NASCAR – How to Deal with Racing Withdrawl.

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Well here we are one week into the off season and I am already suffering from NWS (NASCAR Withdrawl Syndrome).  This is an affliction of racing proportions.  It makes you break into cold sweats every time a car races by you on the streets with a large V8 and a nice sounding exhaust note.  It makes the younger members of my household ask me every Sunday “Dad, what time is the race on today?”  I makes my wife say strange things like “We should make plans to go to a few races this year” and puts strange things like Curling on my television instead of the loud screaming sounds of race cars driving by. [Read more…]

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Gallery: 2010 Tall Pines Rally Stage A5, Iron Bridge

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Getting to the Iron Bridge stage proved to be a bit of a challenge for the team from The Garage, as our route was blocked by another stage. A tip from Andrew Harvey sent us to an alternate spot where we could gain access to shoot the next couple of runs through the Iron Bridge stage.

As they did for the whole rally, the Rockstar Mitsubishi of Antoine L’Estage and Nathalie Richard was the first car through the stage. While they were bombing along at a fast pace, there was very little drama as L’Estage was driving super smoothly. Their primary competition, Pat Richard and Alan Ockwell were a whole different story.
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Default ThumbnailRally of the Tall Pines on Friday Default ThumbnailGallery: Rally of the Tall Pines Stages A1 & A2 Default ThumbnailRally of the Tall Pines 2008: Friday update Default ThumbnailCanadian Rally Championship Comes Down To The Wire Default Thumbnail2010 Rally of the Tall Pines is next week!

2011 Cadillac CTS Coupe: One hot ride

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It is not uncommon for the boys at my daughter’s high school to gather around when I show up in an interesting new ride each week. Usually, the girls barely notice the cars and you can almost taste the disdain when the boys’ attention is diverted away from them. With the pearl white 2011 Cadillac CTS Coupe, there was a different response. There were girls screaming out to each other to check out the cool car. I felt like I was one of The Beatles. Ok, not really, but you get the idea.

For those of you who were around to experience the Caddy’s of the Seventies and Eighties: Did you ever think you would see teenage girls screaming with glee at the sight of a Cadillac? Maybe a scream while they ran away!

Over the past decade or so, the folks at Cadillac have been hard at work revising the brand and positioning their product in front of a different demographic. The popular CTS sedan was key to bringing more youthful buyers into showrooms, while the Hip Hop crowd took a shining (quite literally) to the Escalade. The interesting thing is that while high school age dreamers want a Cadillac, the oldsters are still digging the Caddy brand. Talk about a broad market!
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Ken Block’s ultimate birthday cake

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We don’t usually make a habit of celebrating birthdays here in The Garage, but super hoon Ken Block’s birthday cake is just too cool to pass up. Friends surprised Block with the edible Ford in Miami a few days ago. Will someone PLEASE make me a cake like this for my next b-day?

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NASCAR – Dale Jr to Get a Crew Chief Swap – RPM Finds New Funding

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For all their talk all season long about not making a change for the sake of making a change it seems that Rick Hendrick has decided that change must be exactly what he needs.  3 out of 4 of the Hendrick owned teams are getting a shuffle on the pit box.  Dale Earnhardt Jr, Jeff Gordon and Mark Martin will all swap crew chiefs for the 2011 Sprint Cup Season.  In the announcement made on Tuesday  this week has Steve Letarte moving to the #88 team of Dale Jr., Lance McGrew moving to the #5 team of Mark Martin which leaves Alan Gustafson who will be Crew Chief for the #24 car piloted by Jeff Gordon.  The team of Jimmie Johnson and Chad Knaus will be left unchanged due to their incredible success for the past 5 seasons.

Fans are hoping that this should breathe new life into Earnhardt’s racing efforts after suffering 93 win less starts over the past 2 seasons.  Earnhardt’s last win came at the spring race in Michigan in June of 2008.  He has had a few top 5 finishes, most recently his 4th at Daytona in July at the Coke Zero 400, 4th at the Sylvania 300 in September at Loudon and his memorable 2nd place finish at the Daytona 500 where he drove from 10th to 2nd looking very much like his Daddy as he moved through the field determined to get to the front. [Read more…]

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Gallery: Rally of the Tall Pines Stages A1 & A2

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When the alarm went off at 6 am the day of the Rally of the Tall Pines, the old hotel was moaning under the strain of a wicked wind and the wavy 105 year old windows were rattling as the trees banged against them. It was not promising to be a very nice day to shoot Tall Pines but at least it was warmer than the last time I shot the rally. Fortunately, the winds subsided and the sun warmed the air nicely to provide a great day for shooting. Until the evening, that is, but that is for another post.

The first car Jay Tomchuk and I saw on Saturday morning was the black Mitsubishi of Antoine L’Estage and Nathalie Richard. They were to remain at the front of the order for the entire day, while the rest of the order made some interesting changes throughout the day. We heard that Pat Richard was missing at one point, while Crazy Leo and several other competitors vanished altogether.

After the break we’ve got a rather large gallery of my shots from the first two stages, as competitors made a loop and attached Upper Old Hastings twice in a row.
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Tragedy strikes rally community following Rally of the Tall Pines

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I have long believed that more racers die on the way home from an event than do while actually racing. Sadly, that belief was supported once again on Saturday night following the Rally of the Tall Pines.

37 year old volunteer worker Sabina Sima, from Hamilton, Ontario was killed in a 2 vehicle collision on Highway 28 just east of Bancroft. She was a passenger in a Subaru that was being driven by a fellow volunteer when the vehicle crossed over the center line and collided with a Dodge pickup that was travelling in the opposite direction. The driver of the truck received minor injuries while the driver of the Subaru was airlifted to Kingston General Hospital with non life threatening injuries.

Our thoughts go out to Sima’s family and friends.

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Red Cloud arrives at CN Tower 30 years later

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When I heard that Garry Sowerby and Ken Langley were going to be celebrating the 30th anniversary of their drive around the world by doing a round the World tour of Toronto, I just knew The Garage had to be there. While I was able to make it to the starting point, the big celebration was going to happen on Friday while I was at Tall Pines. I asked friend of The Garage, John Walker, if he would do me the honors. Of course I mentioned there would be free beer, so he was all for it!

Here is John’s story:

Got a call form Gary Grant saying he was a way and needed someone to cover this historic Red clouds car…I said ok, but WTF is a Red Clouds car? He said it’s this Volvo 245 DL that has circumnavigated the globe in a record breaking 74 days-shattering the previous record of 102.
And they are Canadians based out of Nova Scotia. Garry Sowerby(Original drivers suit and navigator sunglasses) and Ken Langley; school mates and travelling companions. Is that the same car that was on the Guinness Book of World Records?? I asked . Yep it is! Gary responded.
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Default ThumbnailRed Cloud rides again!