polarisman14 Posted May 24, 2013 Report Share Posted May 24, 2013 Hey all, I've been working on my car since I bought it in June of 2010. Since then I've had it repainted, replaced the frame rails, had all sorts of body work done, done a MPI conversion with Megasquirt, coilover suspension, full poly suspension bushings, and a laundry list of other stuff. I still need to revamp the interior a bit and add an amplified subwoofer, some more power, and I'll be satisfied with where it's at. Last weekend, I particpated in a cruise that was the culmination of that work. Every fall and spring, the New England Motorsports forum organizes a cruise that goes up into the white mountains region of NH. It's a day-long, 250-to-300 mile journey that is roughly half highway and half twisting, scenic backroads. I'm happy to report that my car handled the whole trip quite well, averaging over 20mpg and giving me 0 issues the whole way. I've been participating in this cruise since 2007-2008, and every time it's gotten better. The last time I took the Starion, in June of 2010, they decided to scale the event down and start charging an entry fee to try to discourage some of the less responsible drivers, after the 200+ car event got out of hand and there was a large accident in which one of the camera cars was totaled (not his fault at all, one of the smart ones riding a Kawasaki ZX-14 decided it would be a good idea to try and swerve around traffic at a high rate of speed). The entry fee is $25, and if I had to guess, I'd say $15-20 of that per car goes directly to Make-A-Wish NH. The rest goes into the event preparation, equipment rentals (PA system), and a souvenir T-shirt and goodie bag for each car. Here's the link to Matt Musto Photography--on every cruise we have 1 or 2 official photographers who take rolling shots and stills of the cars, professional-quality. Matt is one of the regulars. http://www.flickr.co...stophotography/ Here are the pics that have my Starion in it: http://farm4.staticflickr.com/3814/8809887050_810a25317e_b.jpg http://farm4.staticflickr.com/3781/8799379237_a7379e0ffd_b.jpg http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7370/8799380549_1400aa99f0_b.jpg The thread for the pictures is available here:http://nemotorsport....ead.php?t=13313 And here are the two "exit" videos that Steve Bucknam made: http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=6-kIwMB2M-shttp://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=bbyB_P9mb9w Anyway, wanted to pass this on! Enjoy! PS: The Ford GT40 is amazing. It isn't a replica, it's the real deal. It was imported from South America and it was originally built for Gulf for their factory racing team. It IS as fast as it looks. Matt Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
polarisman14 Posted May 24, 2013 Author Report Share Posted May 24, 2013 One of the other highlights of the cruise is a road called Hurricane Mountain Road. If you search on youtube you can find a number of good quality ones but the first half of this video, shot from a Mazdaspeed 3 (I think) really captures just how incredible the road is. It's a two-lane road, believe it or not.http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g8Ppzd932o8&feature=youtu.be Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
randy Posted May 24, 2013 Report Share Posted May 24, 2013 Your car looks amazing now to look at the videos. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mbruneaux Posted May 24, 2013 Report Share Posted May 24, 2013 Very nice job Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jszucs Posted May 25, 2013 Report Share Posted May 25, 2013 wow you guys need to get some organisation and control. all our rides like that, we have intersections blocked, group goes in line you can't have people pulling out infront of people like that, especially where you got people getting on it and clowning around. You also need to class the cars and drivers out, would suck to be behind the Vovo wagon or Fiat. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Burton Posted May 25, 2013 Report Share Posted May 25, 2013 Your car looks beautiful! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
polarisman14 Posted May 25, 2013 Author Report Share Posted May 25, 2013 What you saw was us leaving at the midpoint of the cruise and the final point. The organization at the beginning of the cruise was actually excellent--Instead of people just parking in the spots themselves, we set them up in "waves" as you would at a dragway. This way when leaving the initial meeting point we just released 4 waves of 20-ish cars and it was a real breeze. We were instructed to keep a 65mph pace on the highway and stay in the right lane as much as possible as to not block traffic. There weren't any intersections to block once we got going as it is mostly scenic backroads. In terms of classifying cars the people looking to take the backroads at a scenic pace were instructed to hang back a bit. The Fiat's were just as fast around the turns as my car--Abarth power . Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
taeisallin Posted May 25, 2013 Report Share Posted May 25, 2013 car looks real good!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ColdScrip Posted May 26, 2013 Report Share Posted May 26, 2013 What color is your paint? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
polarisman14 Posted May 26, 2013 Author Report Share Posted May 26, 2013 (edited) It's a black base with House of Kolor "Bluegrass" dry pearl sprayed over. Looks black, purple, or dark blue in low light, in bright direct sunlight it's almost STI/Fiji blue. Edited May 26, 2013 by polarisman14 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
polarisman14 Posted May 26, 2013 Author Report Share Posted May 26, 2013 (edited) . Edited May 26, 2013 by polarisman14 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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