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04-08-2002, 10:38 PM
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| NW M5/850/Z3/Miata meet - (many pictures!) There can be nothing said except that the Northwest's first M5 meet was definitely a resounding success. There were a large number of showing with a total of 6 M5 represented in addition to 4 850 series (3 850i and 1 850Csi), 2 Z3 2.8's and even a Miata (The owner of the Miata also did a write-up which can be found here). To start things off, the route will be kept a secret so it doesn't get too crowded! All I can tell you that the route consisted of a number of whoop-de-dos twisties, roller coaster up and downs and high speed stretches! Jet Black M5 in Van summed it up perfectly when he asked how I found such an incredible route?! I just told him that I pulled out a map and looked for the twistiest, craziest and most fun route I could find before going out to test it out myself! EUREKA!  The day before the drive, I was talking to Jet Black M5 in Van and he had mentioned that he was heading back to the auto show at the B.C. stadium. I jokingly mentioned that I should come up and check it out for myself. He said that I should come up! So, on an moment's notice I dropped everything and just headed up there! It took me about 1 1/2 hours to get to the border where he was waiting. We headed back to his house where I left my car. We had a little over an hour left before the show closed so we had to move. In the parking lot I spotted this:  A couple pictures that I took at the show: 2003 Viper  A killer stereo system in the back seat of a Land Rover Discovery  Estoril blue X5 4.6is  Lemans blue M5  Topaz blue M3  BMW Display complete with a showing of "Star!" Everytime that show came on a large crowd gathered in front!  Imola red M3 interior with SMG2  The New SL500  360 Spyder   Customized Estoril blue 330i for BMW's own driving school  Titanium Silver Z8 kinggf  We stayed until just after closing...Jet Black M5 in Van took me for the ride of my life through Stanley park which has DARK winding roads throughout! He did this with almost bald rear tires! This guy is insane! I should have known that this would be a foreshadow of things to come.  Later that night we also went to check out all the various dealerships throughout the Vancouver area. Mini, Bentley, Lotus, Mercedes Benz, BMW, etc. How come I never saw those places before when I visited Vancouver last?  In the morning we did a quick wash before going to pick up Polvoronn at the train station and meeting the Vancouver crew at Safeway. Mine  His  At Safeway, others such as Lupo ///M5, alpywhite, sveilside. were already there. We waited a bit for more to show up but nobody came.  After a short drive, we made a stop at the border.  On the way down, alpywhite and Lupo ///M5 pulled off to get some gas. Jet Black M5 in Van turned around to find them and I kept going to meet the others in time. On the way I ran into this:  We played a bit before I had to pull off. Martin A. was already there waiting for us! I still wasn't sure who was going to show up yet. The Vancouver crew eventually showed up and we had 5 M5's.  A couple minutes later the 850's started showing up one by one. Two 850i's  A 850Csi and 850i  Of course we had to check out the engine in that sweet 850Csi!  Funny thing is that a couple Z3's along with a Miata showed up. See the story posted earlier here. When the last of our guests showed up, we all went on a short drive over to Snohomish for lunch. We had lunch at this authentic 1800's era saloon for lunch. Needless to say they were quite surprised to see 15+ of us show up at once! We had a good lunch. Group pix (sorry its a bit blurry)  After lunch we all regrouped before taking off. We didn't realize that we had accidentally forgotten about poor Jim Wald with the 850Csi! He got in his car and wondered where everyone was! We had forgotten to exchange cell phone numbers and the talkabouts didn't have much range. More on that later. After a FUN route filled with surprises at every turn...everyone was having fun. We made a stop in Snoqualmie Falls for pictures and a bathroom break. Some people couldn't wait...Lupo was one of them. When we passed through Carnation he made a prompt detour for a bathroom break! When we regrouped we realized that one of us was missing! So while everyone waited I headed back only to see Lupo heading the WRONG way! Fortunately, I was able to catch up with him! My radar was going off and I had seen a cop somewhere in the vicinity earlier. Thank god he didn't catch me going at hyperwarp velocities!  Some more pictures from Snoqualmie Falls: Lots of cars!  Is everyone having fun?  Snoqualmie Falls. 300+ high full of raging water!  This was the final stop for most of us as some had to take off! It was sad to see them go especially Lupo ///M5 and alpywhite. Those two left while I was in the bathroom. Glad you guys could make it! :cheers: Only the truly die-hard folks kept going as we reached the final leg of the route. This consisted of a romp through the tunnels separating the East and West side of Seattle. The purpose of going this way is so we could HEAR the full fury of two sets of Dinan exhausts! Polvoronn was able to record things with my camcorder! As we approached our destination, one of the 850i had to leave. We kept going to Jack Block Park which offers a fantastic view of the Seattle skyline. Imagine my shock when I pulled into the park only to find a red 850 waiting for us! I wondered how he got in front of me when he was always the last one. As I got closer, I realized that it was Jim Wald!!! Turns out he couldn't find us and had left his map at the saloon. After securing the map he tried in vain to follow the route in hopes of catching up with us. Jim inadvertly took a wrong turn somewhere halfway through the route and ended up lost! He elected to just head straight to the last point and waited for over an hour for us to show up! We were all glad to have him join us again! Some pictures to end things off. A row of beauties  Looking good  Seattle in the background  Group pix!  Hard to believe that this 1993 850Csi has only 10,300 miles on it and is in excellent shape! Worthy of a concours d'elegance event!  A nice interior shot to end things.  Hope you enjoyed reading this as much as I did! I had a good time and I'm already looking forward to the next M5 meet! A special bonus! Some extra pictures + report from two other perspectives: DaneM Carrie And a write-up from the black M5 owner: I had an awesome weekend. On saturday, the BC autoshow opened and I was impressed by the BMW show floor this year. It was huge and filled with all the M cars and other regular 3, 5, and 7 series! I then took Jason on a ride in downtown Vancouver to show him what the Vancouver nightlife is (for me anyways) here. I had to take him in Stanley Park where thay have a sharp U-turn that is worth driving to if you know how to take it...I never realized Jason thought it was the ride of his life (I was busy driving ) I then woke him up on sunday and washed the car and picked up Paolo and headed straight for the meeting point here in Vancouver. I suppose some people who were to show up forgot because of the time change... We then headed on a deserted highway 99 towards the border. Jason and I both had a short high speed pass. About 2 miles further down the road, I see all of the three other guys (Danny, Jason and Toma) slowing down majorly while I'm still driving at a good pace ahead of them so I decide to slow down and what happenned next you ask? BC's finest trying to make some money off our back (No ticket this time)...I unfortunately didn't have a radar detector while the others all had one. Further down the road at the border, they all said stated that their detectors were going crazy Anyways, we all met up in Marysville and we were all impressed by the 850CSI that showed up. It clearly was a point of interest as well as the Dinan mods everybody had (except me). Then the drive started and our first stop was Snohomish for some lunch. I had an excellent burger with some french fries (I somehow knew I had seen those somewhere else before ). After lunch, we headed for the twisties and that's when the fun started. Jason knew exactly where he was going and it was clear from the first road we got on that this would be a fun drive. The group got stuck behind a pickup truck but Jason and I both demonstrated to the 850i guys the low end torque the M5 had when passing was required...needless to say we very easily reached triple digits speeds and I don't need to show you the 850i guy the look on his face when it was all unfolding in front of him! At the next stop, this is what he said "The M5 is awesome, I'm watching all of this from behind" and this was his face Next stop was Snoqualmie Falls, unfortunately, one of Martin A.'s kid got a ride in one of the 850i and it seemed too rough for him so we all had a surprise when we all pulled into the parking lot at the falls... ask Jason for the pictures... Then we headed back to Seattle for a final photo op on the West side of Seattle. On the way there, we got into the tunnels so Martin and Jason both got in front of me and floored it at the same time and the sound was purely orgasmic...two Dinan wailing at full throttle opening! That convinced me to convince my father to get one Perhaps one of the Z3 drivers summed it up better earlier during the day while following Lupo "your exhaust sound like pure sex!" I finally headed back to Jason's place so that he could show me and Paolo some proper waxing technique...Thanks to him my father's Black missile will have alot less swirls! I finally arrived home at 10 pm, about 14 hours later than the time I had left Vancouver during the same day...but I arrived home with a BIG grin and knowing that I had alot of fun with people who share the same passion I do and that's the passion for high performance BMW cars...the M cars I also wanted to thank everybody who showed up and a special thanks to Jason for puting together a great drive! We'll definitly need your help for the next drive this side of the border... Until next time, drive safe and have fun! --------------- Sorry for the long post!
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04-09-2002, 06:34 AM
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