Not only is friend of The Garage Jon Emerson the Co-Piloto for Team California’s Best, but it seems he’s also a rock star motorsports photographer! While some of the denizens of The Garage are off gallivanting in Mexico chasing La Carrera, Jon was hard at work last weekend at Laguna Seca shooting race cars. I’m happy to bring you my pit lane coverage, but Jon goes straight to the hard core trackside stuff and he is just too damn good!

While Mr Emerson pokes his head into The Garage on occasion, you are more likely to find him on The Autobahn!

Thanks for the great shots from the finale of a great ALMS season Jon. Just one question? Where are all the California Patron girls? Seeing as you still have sun and we’ve had snow here in Ontario already, we’ll be expecting much more from you over the winter months!

Check out a big gallery after the break
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You could say it was sort of an ultimate customer appreciation night. Porsche Canada and uber dealer Pfaff Porsche invited loyal Porsche customers to Toronto’s Roy Thompson Hall to meet American Le Mans Series drivers Romain Dumas and Timo Bernhard and their steed, the RS Spyder. A handful of local automotive media types were also in on the evening.

While the current model line up was well represented, the star of the show had to be the bright yellow Penske Porsche RS Spyder. This 500 horsepower sports racing machine boasts the latest aerodynamic and technical details such as Direct Fuel Injection. A prime example of how racing improves the breed, the DFI system will be appearing on production 911 models very soon.
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Some photographers love nothing better than to stand trackside and grab thousands of shots. Personally, pit lane is like candy for the budding shooter in me. There really is no other spot that has the same energy and so many incredible photo possibilities. I could literally spend an entire day toting the camera around the pits.

ALMS rules prevent photographers from entering the pit lane when they are hot unless they are wearing a fireproof suit. I think that will be an excuse to sausage my lard ass into my old driving suit when the ALMS crowd visits Mosport next month!

Yet another gallery after the break
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Frank as in Detective Frank Bullitt. The Garage is heading south for Connecticut early tomorrow morning. Destination: Lime Rock Park to cover the American Le Mans Series event. If we make it the whole way with our licenses intact, it will be a miracle.

In fact, I had been behind the wheel a grand total of about 7 minutes this afternoon before I decided to attack an on ramp. Right under the watchful eye of the local constabulary. Fortunately, Oakville Ontario’s finest must have had more important things to do than question a fat old man about his driving habits and he left me alone. We will have to mind our p’s and q’s along the way, as while Frank may look stealthy he has a healthy bark that attracts attention at every stop light.

It’s just so much fun to open Frank up and hear his heart growl that I’m sure the side roads through the Catskills are going to be a hoot. As the weekend goes by, we’ll be blogging and posting tons of photos along the way. My co-pilot this time out is a former Mustang owner, who will likely put in a few comments here and there about the improvements Ford has made in the last 19 years since he bought his LX. We’re going to meet up with a few friends from the web over the weekend, so we should have a few surprises along the way.