Another great Team Darkcyd update:
Well I have to say leaving the W hotel in San Diego was difficult to do because we all enjoyed the hotel so much. The private party held on the second floor on the special rooftop bar was truly an experience I will not forget for a long time, and this comes from someone who does not drink. These events for me are not so much about driving, as about sharing a common experience with like minded people, from various walks of life. Bonding over stories about cops, speed, mishaps, all bring people closer together and this is the epitome of friendship. It really felt like the W was our final destination even though we had one more day to go , by heading to LA.
The day started with a big mishap. The previous night which ended quite late for us that ended up at “the Beach” in which we had the equivalent of a private cabana in the corner of the area where we had a video camera, and camera bag was left by Peter and Bulent. All the pictures they had taken on the rally were on that camera, and more importantly both of their passports. While I gassed up the Bentley, Peter and Bulent tried unsuccessfully to find the bag with lost and found. since I was driving the GT3rs for the fist checkpoint it was their responsibility to gas up that car, which proved to be somewhat problematic later on.
Our first checkpoint was California Speedway in Fontana , which I was at on the Players Run event. as usual everyone broke from the hotel like a shot out of a gun racing to the speedway. Bart who was not familiar with the Navigation system , was having trouble getting the stupid device to even turn on , as I am racing up on ramps at Challenge Cup speeds hoping I am even heading in the right direction. Traffic is pretty dense, but flowing and the only way I can describe our driving was being in a video game. Keep in mind the guy is to be ahead of the pack, because if you are not the police who will have had time to organize, will reign you in regardless of whether you are speeding or not simply because you are part of the rally with sponsor decals all over the car, and numbers. The Navigation is still not working, so Bart is working the phones while I am barreling in and out of traffic, like some version of So based on the police scanner, we clearly determine we are one of the front runners as they are organizing to grab cars about 8 miles behind us. We also hear on the scanner they are requesting air support and although they would normally be only a couple minutes away, they need to refuel before doing so, thus allowing us about a 15 minute windows to make it before we have any issues.
This is where the previous morning events come back to haunt us. As I am driving like Sterling Moss trying to procure a a victory, I see the gas alert light go on. now we started with a half a tank which Peter assured me would be enough, but traveling at such speeds we have emptied the tank, and not only are the police going to catch up with us, we are going to be pushing the car. It is also about this time when Bart gets one of the funniest calls I can remember. he gets a call from Kylie his daughter and very calmly informs her that we are currently busy being chased by the police and could he call her back in a few moments. What was funny is the even keeled non chelonte manner in which he informed her, compounded by the absurdity of the situation. Two upstanding productive member of society with no criminal history racing a Porsche in La to get to a checkpoint, for no other reason then we enjoy the thrill of the chase. now in reality, to clarify we were not specifically being chased ourselves, and had a cop caught up with us I would have pulled over immediately.
At about the same time we hear on the Scanner, that they are on the look out for a Black Navigator traveling at a high rate of speed which I can only assume is Jason. It is really weird to have your car mentioned on the scanner , but such is the nature of these events.. So we pull off after informing Jason that we believe he is a wanted man so he can take a detour. We then pull off for gas which is not close to coasting on fumes. As soon as we make a right off the exit, we see a motorcycle cop who looks at us like we are aliens but does not stop us since we are not speeding. I then call Peter, curse at him for not leaving enough fuel in the car and hang up.
Because of the fuel stop, we are now behind everyone and it would be dangerous to continue on the same route, so we take a detour, and arrive at California Speedway about 15 minutes behind the main pack with no issues. After about an hour we have the requisite drivers meeting and do some laps behind the pass car in with Aaron and I in the GT3Rs. The girl behind me was Anabelle who got arrested, although her twin brother was driving and he could use some driving lessons. and had that z06 not had stability control , he clearly would have lost it entirely. Instead he just offroaded the car sideways. Tara tracked the Bentley and then we were off to the final destination which was the Beverly Hills Hilton. Unfortunately, the final checkpoint was supposed to be on Wilshire Blvd but because the group wreaked so much havoc running from one side of the country to the other, the city of Beverly Hills pulled the permit.
Based on that info we planned just to roll into the hotel nice and slow since it was already anti climatic. But adventure begins when tires start going as planned. The tires could take no more on the Porsche and Bart noticed the tire was going flat quickly. We immediately pulled off and got to the first gas station. The problem was the GT3Rs is a car not even sold in the US and the tire on it made for only two cars in the world. So 15 miles from the hotel we were stuck. To make a long story short, we called a flat bed and 2 blocks from the hotel we put Peter and Bulent in the car on the Flatbed put the Bentley in front , rolled down the windows with our arms hanging out, turned on the best track number 6 which was rap music from the entourage Cd, and rolled in style to be seen by nobody since we were 2 hours late. Ha- how anti climatic is that.
We then had a great party at Social holly wood on Sunset blvd. we had a crew of 12 so with no ability to grab a cab Alex rented us a Black stretch 600 Benz, and we rolled in with style. We had Kevin from Players run join us and the funny thing was since it was a party closed to members outside of the event, we gave him a lanard to get him in and they gave him an award as a driver. Ha! We drove 4000 miles and he gets an award for driving to the party. It was disappointing that Jason did not get an award for his efforts and to some degree it was politcal. Such is life. We then rehashed all the stories and heard new ones. Tara was exhasuted and Alex and Danyell wanted to party so after seeing the Cuban Brothers perform, we took the limo to drop them off at another club and called it a night.
I currently sit in the lobby of the Beverly Hills Hilton with the whole Darkcyd crew and we are getting ready to roll to lunch . I will later do a write up comparing the events and my thoughts.
Until then,
Robb
From the guys here at GTspirit – thanks for the great e-mails kindly shared by Team Darkcyd throughout the event. Penny P is currently in such a state of shock that the JaseMeister didn’t get an award for whoop-assing the posh cars with the Navi, that she is unofficially presenting him with the Inaugural Pitslap Pasta-Rocket-Ass-Kicking Award. Cheers boys!
