Smooth and Fast

On Saturday, September 22, there were a lot of smiles.  Our autocross event ran flawlessly for 28 drivers, who enjoyed 8 runs each, thanks to some great volunteers.  The timing crew smoothed the process to allow so many runs.  The crew included Rosalie Sinden, Cindy Vodermayer, Leslie Shelby, and Angie Langston.  Pregrid was led by Jeanie Robb and Eva Staley.  The timing board handled by Jack Langston and Ted Taylor.  The stop box and all round workers were Barry Cook and Stewart Heyes, whose help was key to the event setup.  Claude Larabie handled spotting duties, coordinating the course workers, and was assisted in the starter job by Doug Mitten (David’s father).  They certainly made my job easy and enjoyable.

We used the Justice Institute Course at Pitt Meadows, and modified it to allow the use of some Corvette horsepower at the start of each run.  The sea of cones made a unique environment for drivers, and added to the skill challenge of the event.  Autocross requires you to hone your concentration skills and work on improvements through the event.  Our participants were up to the challenge and everyone’s times improved throughout the day, with most fast times being set on the 7^th and 8^th run.  Very few cones were hurt in the process.

For the drivers, I saw lots of smiles.  While we enjoyed the usual mix of Fiero’s, Subaru’s, Acura’s, there was even a Chrysler Sebring and an 85 Oldsmobile Delta 88.  But, of course, the fast time of the day was won by a Corvette.  A total of 14 Corvette drivers enjoyed their ride.  Gifford Robb blazed his slick shod C6 to a 56.370 second fast time, other C6 drivers were Lorne and David Staley, Peter Resch, Brian Kulyk, and myself, Vic Nightscales.    Marj Bowen was the fast lady in her C4, or should I say she was the quickest lady.  C4 drivers included Ken Butcher, Blair Degenstein and David Mitten, with David being the fastest.  C5 drivers included Brad Shelby and Walter Vodermayer, with Walter taking the honors.  Nigel Wheway was the fast C5 Z06.

-Vic

Corvette Heat

It’s so much fun to spin your tires and feel that kick of power propel you down the Slalom course.  We had 31 drivers enjoy their cars, 18 Corvette drivers and 13 miscellaneous makes, including a brand new 2013 Scion FRS.  The Corvettes ranged from a 1969 C3 to 2008 Black Z06.  We used a slightly modified reverse Justice Institute setup just to vary the pace.

Fastest of the Corvettes was Paul McAlduff who set a sizzling 64.000 second time.  Other BC Corvette Club notables were Blair Degenstein, fastest C4, Marg Bowen, ladies C4, and David Staley, fastest C6.  Walter Vodermayer was fastest of the C5 contingent, Pat Watson was fast lady on race tires, and Brian Salisbury was fastest in the non-Corvette group, in a Miata on race tires.

The key volunteers that made this event possible were Garry Clarke, Walter Gfeller, Stewart Heyes, Rosalie Sinden and Cindy Vodermayer.  Great thanks to Paul and Terry McAlduff for providing some fun prizes, and thanks to all for coming out and making it a great event.

- Vic

I Bike For Pie

On the strength of last summer's wildly popular, I Fly For Pie cruise, I convinced my wife to bike (as in bicycle) out to the airport, tempting her with the famously good pie.  We biked for 35km, the last 10 minutes with drool flying from our mouths in anticipation.  When we arrived at the Abbotsford Airport, guess what we found?

Wrong airport!

Yes, we biked to Abbotsford, which, it turns out, is not Chilliwack.  And worse (for us) Chilliwack was another 60km away!

We had a smoothie and turned around for home...

Of course, the BCCC cruised out to Chilliwack for pie just weeks later, but I missed that due to, well, not have a working 'vette... and being on vacation.  But you can check out the photos!

Corvettes on the Water

In World War Two the Corvette was a fast machine on the water.  On June 16^th there were 14 drivers proving that their Corvettes were also fast on water.  Despite the challenging monsoon like conditions 23 drivers arrived at our Pitt Meadows auto slalom event.  We utilized the Justice Institute course which is designed to train and test Police on their ability to handle pursuit and emergency situations.  Fortunately our Corvette drivers were up to the challenge and all exceeded the benchmark times.  Fastest run of the day was achieved by Lorne Staley with a convertible C6 Corvette, but only a fraction of a second back was Nigel Wheway in his C5 Z06.   A Subaru WRX was a close third.  We had nine drivers in strange foreign machines, but Corvettes proved their worth in the wet, so don’t put away the Vette when the drops start to fall.

No event can be run without selfless volunteers, and these conditions certainly made stepping out of a warm home challenging.  Of particular note, were Don and Sue Williams bringing their motorhome to shelter the volunteers at lunch.  Also Terry McAlduff and Blair Degenstein brought extra tents to shelter the volunteers and drivers, without which it would have been virtually impossible to continue the event.  Non-driving volunteers also included Stewart Heyes, Leslie Shelby, Peter Resch, Walter Gfeller, Jack Langston, Sue Williams and Rosalie Sinden.  Of course all the drivers pitched in to assist, including club members Brad Shelby, Nigel Wheway, Paul and Terry McAlduff, Marj Bowen, Blair Degenstein, Chris Ckarogianais and myself, Vic Nightscales.

Despite the conditions, we were able to give all drivers nine runs on this challenging course.  Few cones were hit during all these runs, and every driver had big smiles and were surprising themselves with finding so much traction in the wet.  All went home happy for the experience.  We were still drying out tents, safety vests, equipment, etc. the next day.

We hope to encourage more members out for our July 14^th auto slalom event at Pitt Meadows.  Rain or shine it will be an experience that will allow you to more fully enjoy your Corvette, and be impressed by its capabilities, whether on land or water. 

- Vic

BCCC Returns to TRADEX

The club decided to participate in the B.C. Classic and Custom Car Show for the second consecutive year and I got volunteered to arrange the exhibit again (??)   This year’s theme was  “Drive-In Theater”.   The exhibit needed 4 cars (the maximum allowed by the car show) and drive-in props.  The cars chosen were of 4 Corvette classes:  Greg Ballantyne’s C2 1963 red roadster, Lenny Merriott’s C3 1980 white T-top, Roy Drewitt’s C5 2003 Anniversary red coupe and Peter Resch’s C6  2007 orange Pace car roadster.  The “props” used were Greg’s 2 1960’s “Ballantyne” drive-in speakers plus another pair arranged through Jack and Angie Langston ‘s friend, Joe.  Also a back up pair were located at the Twilight Drive-In and the owner, Jay, was willing to lend us his last pair if needed in an emergency (a nice guy).    

Nigel arranged a 59 “ TV and DVD player through Visions Electronics (Ray Miller helped set these up) and I supplied DVD’s of the original Route 66 TV Show to view at the “Drive-In”.  Al Frost brought the Club stanchions, the Club banner, the rope and pennants and……. for dispensing the Club and Event literature we had tables supplied by Gail and Lew Berry, Ted and Joan Taylor and Blair Degenstein.     

The actual car show went from Friday at 5 p.m. to Sunday 5 p.m. and the Club booth was manned by the Club members already mentioned as well as Brad and Leslie Shelby, Al Mandleman, Bryan Kulyk, Don Williams, Melinda Smith, and John Jensen (a minimum of 2 people at the display at all times).  Special note: Lenny Merriott was at the entire car show - wow!    

Anyway, the display was a success.  The Club talked to many past and many possible future members and distributed an array of Club literature and Thunder in the Sun materials.  An added bonus was Greg's ’63 took 2^nd in the Classic sports car category.  We also got a chance to see Don Garlits, the super hero of Drag racing, Chuck Barris, the Guru of Hollywood Specialty car designs and some very nice “tin cars”.   

Thanks to all who participated and helped out in this club event…. I’m pretty sure that I’ll “volunteer” to do it again next year, eh?   

Dan

P.S.   Oh!…we were well under budget this year, too.

Variety Children's Charity Presented with BCCC Donations

Our Annual Variety show taping was at the Global TV studios Saturday Jan 28.  A dozen club members braved the rain to arrive at 9am for coffee and some Timbits as the crew got the cameras ready.  With just one 'take' we had handed over our $1500 cheque with smiles all around.  Bob Leong and Dan Ward captured it all on video for posterity.  The group then proceeded to the ABC restaurant on Boundary Road for brunch where Eggs Benedict was a popular choice! 

Look for our 30 seconds of fame when the Telethon is broadcast on Global on Feb 11th and 12th!

Robin Nordman

100 Million Small Blocks

Hi all!

I just got a quick email from the Corvette Action Center letting me know that GM has built its 100-millionth small block engine!  It's been 56 years since the first small block was built, and the powerplant is still going strong.

By the way, can you guess what the 100-millionth engine is?  A Corvette ZR1 LS9!