What's your ideal car guy/gal day?

Just curious what the perfect car guy/gal day looks like to you. For me - it varies between a day a road america with a fast car (it's a long way around), some of Woody's PCA outings look amazing or something like an Orange Blossom Tour or Colorado Grand - the ring?

Garage crawls. Love heading over to someone else's garage to see what they are up to, have a few cold ones and brainstorm or do a fix on someone else's dime.

Exploring the Smokies.

Or PacNW coastal highway area.

We did the Smokies thing last weekend, and even in a Cherokee instead of a Miata, and with dreary/foggy weather, it was a BLAST.

NOHOME wrote: Garage crawls. Love heading over to someone else's garage to see what they are up to, have a few cold ones and brainstorm or do a fix on someone else's dime.

This, too. As long as it's not MY garage, not MY problems, not MY car, and bonus points for not being MY beer, i'll be happier than a pig in E36 M3.

The 25 hours of Thunderhill. Granted, that's more than one day.

Otherwise, a track day with fast cars to play with.

A term my wife uses, called 'puttering'.

Means going out into the garage, and doing small work. Tuning carbs, building a one-day project, test drives, taking something apart to clean/rebuild, etc. Basically finding little jobs that need done and doing them. Little jobs because you can literally knock a ton out in a day. Sometimes you don't do much work but you stare and think. With coffee. And make a good plan or a fabulous idea.

I'd finish the day by cruising over to friends or dairy queen with the windows or top down.

Crawling out of a cot in my trailer at sun up to the sound of race engines starting in the paddock at Summit Point (or Mid-O, or the Glen... etc). The business of unloading and making ready.

Coffee while the dew dries off the car ... more coffee at the driver's meeting where we are once again read the exact same script about blend lines and passing under yellow from a chief steward who has a mantra like "What do I hate? Paperwork. Who do I hate? People who make me do paperwork, keep it clean". I used to hate that guy - but now his familiar drill is like a tradition.

The small talk with everyone as we filter out to suit up for practice. "How are the kids? Car good? You got a shot today?"

Practice and qualifying where nothing needs to be done. The car just works and there is no angst about making the field. This is where many a bad day ends.

The lump you get in your throat as you come around the last corner of the rolling start packed together tight and waiting for the green to drop. Straining to see the starter's hand - trying to hear the radio earbuds over roaring engines for a "GREEN, GREEN, GREEN" from my friend's wife in the tower. It is amazing how much ground you can lose if you miss it my a fraction of a second.

The zone you fall into that somehow slows the pandemonium of turn one going 3,4, and 5 wide down to a manageable thing for the human brain to process. Overtaking here is a magic bonus.

The ice cold piss-shiver of the cool suit priming once you remember that you are roasting to death and turn it on around lap 3 when the field starts to spread out and you can wiggle your fingers, wipe the sweat out of your eyes and check the gauges.

If you are really lucky - a heart stopping battle for position for the whole race. But, just not blowing anything up or taking damage is fine.

The jitters of impound even though you know you did the math right and are fine over the scales. There is always doubt. Even at 50lbs over weight before the race. It's a mind thing.

Beer, grillin' and war stories by a campfire with good friends when the track goes cold. Maybe even a jam session to fix the car for tomorrow. I never sleep as good anywhere else.

Going for a long drive on back roads.

I wake up and look out my hotel window to see this as the marbles are cleared off the track at Sebring for me to spend the day on it. Could only be better if I didn't have to get up so damn early.

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Sky_Render wrote: Going for a long drive on back roads with the car running well and nothing breaking.

Fixed for those of us with British cars.

Any day in the rallycar. But preferably when I end up on the podium

Ian F wrote:

Sky_Render wrote: Going for a long drive on back roads with the car running well and nothing breaking.

Fixed for those of us with British cars.

I don't think the OP meant to include fantasies and Science Fiction in the option list.

man.....there are so many. Probably a nice cool day with the top down hitting some pretty twisting roads. Stopping along the way and then hitting an off the map little dinner for lunch.

The next favorite thing is watching a race track "wake up" in the morning. Seeing the teams getting the cars ready, the track getting cleaned and sorted, and the fans starting to come in. Nothing beats the sound of ferrari's first thing in the morning either. :)

Yesterday's autocross had a lot to recommend it. Decent weather. Good turn out, 12 cars in class, big lot, 50ish second course. Had my 14 year old "co driver" with me. Decent finish (4th of 12) Managed to beat 5th by .02 seconds to get this year's club "trophy shirt". $.99 slushies at Speedway on the way home. Nothing broke. Home by dinner time.

For me, its chasing the 'never enough time' problem. In my case, it would be a day of getting the garage sorted the way it should be.

alot has been done. But more is needed, reorganise 2 tool chests, lay insulation, 2nd coat of white paint, wire in new shop lights, re-wire the phone/lan cable runs, set up the stereo and speakers in the corners, etc etc etc etc.

A good car day is more about all the stuff I have for the car than the car itself... -_-

Early morning drive across the Dragon for breakfast at the Gap store. Drive a few miles back into Tn and find an appropriate pull-off to set up the chairs and read the Sunday paper as the cars and bikes parade by while the creek gurgles in the background. From there, you have the choice of driving back home thru the Dragon(again) or taking the long way home by driving into Robbinsville and either the Skyway or Cherokee back home. Such choices but the only way to spend an early morning in the Spring or Fall. Next weekend is MATG so we will make the drive to visit with old miata friends but the traffic will be too heavy and/or crazy to do any serious driving.

whenry wrote: Early morning drive across the Dragon for breakfast at the Gap store. Drive a few miles back into Tn and find an appropriate pull-off to set up the chairs and read the Sunday paper as the cars and bikes parade by while the creek gurgles in the background. From there, you have the choice of driving back home thru the Dragon(again) or taking the long way home by driving into Robbinsville and either the Skyway or Cherokee back home. Such choices but the only way to spend an early morning in the Spring or Fall. Next weekend is MATG so we will make the drive to visit with old miata friends but the traffic will be too heavy and/or crazy to do any serious driving.

Hey!

If you see the world's ugliest (and possibly loudest) 2000 SE Miata out there, flag me down.

Spending half the day pulling parts at the auto wreckers. Oddly enough, I find that very satisfying. Then, I'd go for a drive in the country, and finish it up with a nice wash and detail. It's the simple pleasures that I enjoy.

bmw88rider wrote: The next favorite thing is watching a race track "wake up" in the morning. Seeing the teams getting the cars ready, the track getting cleaned and sorted, and the fans starting to come in. Nothing beats the sound of ferrari's first thing in the morning either. :)

In the early 80's I was in college and there was a $5/night campground right across from comer 14. We always stayed up late and slept in and my favorite memories are waking up to cars practicing on Sunday morning.

Driving lots of miles in an old vehicle without an issue. Something incredibly satisfying about knowing how bulletproof your ride is.

Sky_Render wrote: Going for a long drive on back roads.

This is perfection for me. The car has to be something special though and the roads have to be interesting. That's what I miss most about east TN. I'm close enough to explore the Texas hill country but lack the fun car to do it in.

Find a car that is undervalued and within budget, buy it and drag it home.

It's best when I just stumble upon something that I wasn't even looking for. The kind of deal where I'm hooking up the trailer and grabbing tie down straps within half an hour of seeing the ad for the first time. I live for that.

Swank Force One wrote: Exploring the Smokies. Or PacNW coastal highway area. We did the Smokies thing last weekend, and even in a Cherokee instead of a Miata, and with dreary/foggy weather, it was a BLAST.

NOHOME wrote: Garage crawls. Love heading over to someone else's garage to see what they are up to, have a few cold ones and brainstorm or do a fix on someone else's dime.

This, too. As long as it's not MY garage, not MY problems, not MY car, and bonus points for not being MY beer, i'll be happier than a pig in E36 M3.

That's just the point. Most of the time it is NOT your beer or money being consumed and when it is, chances are you are getting your moneys worth by plucking the grapevine for talent and tools.

If it were not for the Garage Crawl circuit that I have built, I would have a much smaller selection of mechanical mayhem to play with. Here are some of the ones on my main circuit:

This one actually got drug out of a corner of the garage specifically to fulfil the "You must have a project and a task for hosting a Garage Crawl". It and its 29 Model A stablemate give me a Hot Rod fix that I would not pursue on my own.

Got two Healeys in the circuit that have been brought back from rust dust and oil stains on the floor. Learned a lot about sheet-metal fabrication and fitting from these cars. About 1500 cans of Stella Artois to get it this far. Not as involved in this one, but always a good night to learn about obsessive compulsive detailing of a restoration while drinking the mans beer. And yes, if you look around the shop space that this amazing work was done in IS that confined.

The GT is mine and what got me into cars. Here it is paying a house call on a convertible I restored for a friend. See if you can guess what the challenge was for that night.

While I would never want to own one, this 57 has been in our circle for about 20 years and looks like it will finally hit the road this year. It may actually owe me a liver from its early stages of the project

Last but not least is a Coyote engine with a six speed going into a 69 Mustang with the 2006 dash and IRS conversion. It is going to be a beast.

I learn something from each of these guys and it gets me out of the house and away from the TV.