It’s been an incredible day at the Canadian International Autoshow. Miles and miles of walking are done and my feet are killing me, not to mention that I’m exhausted and my shoulder hurts from carrying a backpack filled with laptop and 20 pounds of press stuff.
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While all the guys down south are in the windy city doing their best auto show reporting, we’re gearing up for the Canadian International Autoshow here in Toronto next week. We’re feeling all warm and fuzzy, because the media passes have arrived and our day is all planned out. We’re not sure exactly what the car is (though we have our suspicions) there will be a world premier on Wednesday. You can be sure that we’ll have a gallery full of pics up within minutes from the show floor.

With 850,000 square feet of floor space, it’s going to be a busy day!

There has been a lot of talk about branding here in The Garage lately. A really great brand is one that transcends language and culture barriers. Here at the dealership I’m about to leave, there is a VW franchise. Naturally, there is a parts delivery van cruising downtown Toronto with the above logo plastered all over it.

We just received a phone call from a heavily accented individual:
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It’s Father’s Day weekend and what better way to spend it, but in front of the TV watching the world’s premiere 24 hour race. Speed TV will be broadcasting 20 hours of the race, but there are other ways to keep up with the action. The official Le Mans site has up to the minute reports and pics, while Radio Le Mans offers live or by podcast.

Above, the Number 8 Audi is wheeled back to the garage this morning for a replacement differential after the sister car had problems in the warm up session.

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For years, the city of Markham, in the north end of Toronto has been known as a scary place to drive. With it’s very high percentage of Asian Canadian drivers, it is a community of expensive import cars that all sport road rash of some sort or another. Of course over the years, this phenomenon has been the root of many bad driver jokes. Personally, I’ve always found it rather amusing, rather than frightening. It’s incredible to see a little old lady who can barely see over the dash crash into something at 20 kmh, in a 50 zone.

This weekend we’ve had the opportunity to spend a couple of days on the other site of Toronto in the whopping big city of Brampton. Known by locals as Bramladesh, this place is frightening. The Holiday Inn is adjacent to the Bramalea City Center shopping mall. This mall is the size of a small city, so when I went to pick up some poolside beverages from the store on the other side of the mall I drove. Without a word of a lie, it took me almost 20 minutes to navigate the parking lot, while avoiding all the impending collisions. Unlike the Markham crowd, the driver’s here are gunning it across the parking lot and fighting to see who can be first across the many intersections. I could have walked faster, but then I wouldn’t have a steel cocoon protecting me. This is almost as bad as driving in Jamaica!