'Safety Car' Running

Is that a CRV in the lead?

Look closely.

What do you see? A sunny day? A straight road? Some Porsches?

Look closer. That's right. A morning drive with some Ottawa P-car friends out to some curvy roads just west of Ottawa. And no, we aren't stuck behind some slow-as-molasses SUV. Not this time. Leading the way in his trusty Honda CRV is our very own @alavigne.

You see, the morning roads were still damp from all the rains we've been having, and the factory Pirellis on his Cayman GTS are worn down to practically being race slicks, so he didn't want to risk it out there. Never one to be put off by a little hiccup though, he took it upon himself to be the best lead vehicle possible. I've not followed an SUV handling curves quicker, that's for sure, and I'm certain he was enjoying the challenge of not being too much of a hinderance to the three gorgeous 718s behind him. For fun, to spiritually bring the Cayman along with him, the safety car driver* had one of the bald rear tires on its rim sat in the trunk space of the CRV, as if to say, "See, I'm still here guys!"

It was a nice morning run, punctuated with a stop at the Pine Valley Restaurant near Griffith, for a pleasant meal with a cheerful proprietor serving up gallons of coffee and tasty basic breakfast fare. We ate, yapped, and then headed back out for a leisurely trek back in to Ottawa.

Not what anyone would call an epic road trip, by any stretch of the imagination, but nevertheless extremely enjoyable. After all, it was four fellows all motivated by the same thing - to enjoy the sunshine, some curves and some camaraderie around our shared passion.

Breakfast spot: The Pine Valley Restaurant

Between listening to the bark and snarl of the silver GTS in front of me (clearly in Sport mode and 'on it' whenever there was an opportunity), and feeling the road curving and undulating underneath me, well I was in a very happy place.

Watching the CRV ahead take a good set and lean into some of the corners made me think back to the days when F1 safety cars were sadly under-matched to the 1200+ horsepower racing machines trapped behind them. I'm sure those drivers were pushing like hell, hanging on by the skin of their teeth just to do their best to keep the tire temperatures up in the race cars, and I bet our leader felt a little of that as he carved his way along the route he'd mapped out for us.

Next time out will ensure we have a properly-shod Carmine Red Cayman with us - hopefully that day comes along soon, although sadly, once more this spring, moisture has descended on the region for the weekend. Perhaps we will all need a mid-week day off at some point...

~ Luke

* He preferred 'safety car driver' to 'pace car driver' as he definitely felt he wasn't setting the pace (even though we were all happy travelling along as we were doing).