Bullrun is over. And so this is going to be the last write-up of Team Darkcyd. Many thanks to the great work of Robb, who kept us informed during the Bullrun!
Click here to watch the complete photo-album of Team Darkcyd!
So we left off after a long night ending at about 5AM for us with half the Darkcyd crew in the pool, some with too much clothing, some with too little. As I reflect , I guess they were wound up from a long night that even included Geoeff (who we now call (G-OFF) and Sean (our silly half off the SEANPAUL clan) an honorary Darkcyd member breaking up a fight by jumping a fence where some poor slob was being pummeled to the ground and getting his head stomped in on Duval street. Thanks to our guys, this drunk avoided brain injury I’m sure. Alcohol just makes people so stupid, and yet people wonder why I don’t drink-Ha!
more pics at the end
So the next morning after only about 3 hours sleep I had a massage set up by the pool for me and half the Darkcyd crew which probably pissed off some others since I booked all the slots, as soon as I learned what hotel we were staying at. Proactivity pays off once again. The massage was good but the view around the pool was better. Anyway, since this is being Key West instead of just going back to my room and changing into clothes , I just went to breakfast in my robe to meet the rest of the Gang. Everyone was just recounting countless tales and figuring out the game plan. We were planning to chill for another day in Key west but Frankie had a better idea. Key west is nice but a little to slow. South Beach is better-much better and more our style. So we canceled plans and I worked the phones for rooms at the last minute, which I quickly determined was almost impossible. So I do the next smartest thing, and called my good pal Willy who lives on south Beach and gets us the hookup on some rooms right on Ocean which is completely booked. That works and as I text him the number of rooms we need, we get a visitor at the table which is Lexie from Bullrun. I admit I did not like this girl much at first because when I was dealing with all the problems with trying to get my cars across the border before the rally started , and both Grace and Chris at Bullrun were busting their ass trying to get me letters for customs, and official documents, she was just screwing around. If she had worked for me I would probably have fired her on the spot. She did redeemed herself at the last minute when she apparently was the only one to get the printer working when I needed the documents, so clearly she was not entirely useless. She also redeemed herself in Staunton Virginia, the place where I expect there to be a BullRun reunion in a little less than 9 months and made herself quite popular with everyone when her and Grace did an amazing show in police uniforms for everyone at the club. That and the British accent are strong redeeming qualities for me-lol. So on a whim I invited her to join us, while we were figuring out the game plan. We also got her flipping out by saying her show was already on You Tube, which was not true (at least to my knowledge).
Meanwhile, Sean and I were making plans to switch it up a bit, and since he is a proper race car driver and test track driver for Lotus, I wanted to see what the Murci could do. So the plan was to load one of the now infamous Crossfires ( the insurance company is probably calling the police after seeing the video on You Tube, which won’t work since our two Brits are now several thousand miles across the pond) that had a demolition derby contest the night before, on the Darkcyd Race Semi. The Darkcyd crew would run back to South Beach in a caravan and once on Card Sound road it was Everyman for himself.
We cruised in a convoy and I’m sure was a pretty cool site since people we passed kept giving us a thumbs up, except for the few police cars we saw. I was making fun of Sean who kept asking me if there was a problem with third gear since he grinded it so frequently. My responce was yea user error, and he just laughed and said not to talk when he was shifting because he had to concentrate. Pretty funny for a race car driver. To be fair he is used to right Hand drive, so he was not completely at fault. but also joked when I said to him he says “Yea alot”, he joked I said “Eh alot”and then we had some funny private conversations where we just looked at each other and just said “Yeeaaaaaaaaaaaaa when we agreed”, you had to be there to get the joke.
Anyway we hit Card Sound road and it was off to the races. The Darkcyd 430 and the other cars simply had no chance with the Darkcyd Murci in full Evil mode and Sean the Mad Brit Race Car driver who had been dropped on his head one too many times as a child, behind the wheel. Posting speed numbers numbers is ill advised, but our GPS verified numbers that would have expected us to fly. Lets just say it got so bad that Sean for no reason blurted out that if we crashed now we would die for sure, and I simply responded, “well I’m actually little scared” and the bloddy Brit just keeps going, and later commented he thought that’s what I wanted. O boy-bloody wars.
Since we made such good time and Sean had never been to America before, I decided to take us down Old Cutler road to show him the Multi Million dollars houses, and we made a stop into Gables Estates which is about as exclusive as it gets for Miami. There is a Guard gate and they won’t let people in , but as the Murci rolled in all stickered up with Sean behind the wheel, I simply said he was a football star with Manchester United and was looking for some real estate, with him going “Yeaaaaaaaaaa -in a strong britsh accent, and poof-the gate opens. I showed him the famous Wackenhut house which is probably worth about $35 Million, got a nice picture of him in front with the Murci and he is checking with his accountant on an offer.
By the time we got to downtown there was some Haitian Festival going at the Miami Heat Arena and traffic was backed up for Miles. It took 20 minutes just to get to Bayside. from Brickell Ave. Tara, Adrian, Lexie, and Aaron were ahead in the Darkcyd Navi, and from the intel I learned I was glad to not be in there car. They had their own festival with 80’s music with Tara and Lexie as the lead performers trying out for American Idol, Adrian breakdancing in the car, and Aaron throwing out fake dollar bills to the crowd as many of the thousand of people walking to the festival ran for the money too soon learn it was only paper money. I surprised they didn’t get jacked.
I commented to Sean that I was concerned we were going to get jacked in such an expensive car in a rough neighborhood, he looked at me and commented somewhat truthfully “bloddy Hell-where would they go”. I also got a snap of a girl with the largest butt in history, and she must have been the inspriation for the sonf Baby got Back, because the darkcyd Navi also claimed they saw the same girl. she was quite poular at the festvial fromwhat I could gather.
We arrived on Ocean and had only a few minutes for the crew to quickly change and meet Gauthem and his wife at Nemo’s one of the best seafood restaurants on South Beach. When we got there they and Peter and his lovely wife Petra already had a great table for us outside, and I got to meet Gauthems father who must have thought all of us were nuts. The gods must have thoughts the same, and it started pouring rain , so we ran inside. Dinner was spectacular, the bill even more so, and we all could not stop joking about everything, including the fact that there was a pool inside the courtyard of the restaurant that was too close for comfort for me, since Sean is strongly attracted to water. We all got a picture by the pool, I cannot believe nobody went in , but this is when it really started to get crazy.
Keep in mind that normal people sometimes go a little crazy and you should judge them by their behavior as a whole rather than a night or a week.I repeat this to drive home the point. Anyway’s, certain individuals wanted to go to the Hustler store on Collins, and boy did that lead to trouble. First off we Packed the Darkcyd Navi with 12 people reminiscent of how many clowns you could fit in a VW bug from the 70’s with Mattie the enforcer driving after a quick Chinese fire drill because I was concerned of getting pulled over. He than guarded the car as a good body guard should, while almost the whole Darkcyd Crew minus our resident German, Turk, and honorary members from Montreal Gauthem and Karen parted early having no idea what they saved themselves from.(which was probably a good thing for them).
I demanded a repeat show of the Police uniforms from Staunton and after a little coaxing, the girls obliged and the entire Darkcyd crew was outfitted like only a picture could describe, and which will probably never be seen -lol. Adrian took the cake with a Pimp Hat, Boa , and robe, but even our resident 17 year old photographer got a Baseball cap with the words HUSTLER on it (I’m sure his parents would be proud). It was really just all in good fun and the most shocking things was it took two hours for everyone too get outfitted.
We then rolled like only the Darkcyd Posse could, to Mamba’s on Ocean Drive where we were stars of the show and had the best tables in the house to watch the girls dance. We even got our 17 year old photographer in (no he was not allowed to drink), and fun was had by everyone as I handcuffed Lexie and Tara as they danced. Yes they came off later, and no nothing happened.
Before we knew it was almost 4AM and some could not last while others made one last stop to the diner on Collins for an early breakfast. Sean never heard of grits and needed an education, I personally needed a vacation, and the rest of the crew needed reeducation. It was a funny site regardless and at just before 6AM we officially called it a night. Although some minimal level of discretion is in order about this night I want to reiterate nothing really naughty happenned, so nothing to worry about. Although Sean and I did look at each other more than once and simply said “Yeaaaaaaaaaaaa.”.
The next morning, the girls went shopping, Frankie and I got another massage, and the rest of the crew went home. Aaron forgetting his was no longer on Bullrun almost got arrested for speeding in the Darkcyd Jag on the way home, and I was both spooked and mad at him for such stupidity while he texted me his concerns as the police figured out what they wanted to do, also forgetting the valentine 1 was in the glove box which if he found it would have saved him a lot of grief, and although it was one of the best weeks of my life, the event ended on a sour note for me. An important Darkcyd member Bart Colson, who had to drop out of the event at the last minute because of his father, informed me of his fathers passing on the last day of our adventure. I met his father who loved racing and even did race school with me and Bart at Bob Bonduarant. This was a man who lived life to the fullest, built an empire from nothing, and somebody I know was quite special and respected to the fullest. My heart goes out to him and his family for their significant loss.
Last I wanted to select a few people to thank to make this adventure possible. I know I am forgetting many people but here goes small list. Jimmy Lowry for one- for handling all the car prep, Linda and Patrick in the Darkcyd race Semi without which I would not have had a spare car and been able to fix the Murci on a moments notice, Ben at Wheels Boutique who got me the spares I needed, Bill at Lincoln for prepping the Darkcyd Chase, and handling arrangements in Vermont though we didn’t end up using it. Big thanks to Rob Ferreti and Steve at Milano motors for getting the Murci fixed in 48 hours when others said it simply could not be done, Grace and Chris at Bullrun, who handled every single request of ours with top priorityand without complaint, making the event the best I have been on. to the expanded Darkcyd Team which now includes honorary members Frankie and Lynn in the Darkcyd 430, Seivie and Mattie (the enforcer) in the Darkcyd M6, Peter and Bulent in Darkcyd DTM. G-Off and Aaron in the Darkcyd Navi, Gauthem and Karen (Honarary members in the Darkcyd SCAGLIETTI), and SEAN and Paul who collectively are called SEANPAUL who started in a 550HP 1800 pound rally car, but ended up racing in twin crossfires. Big thanks to My Mexican friend Joaquim for keping th Dackcyd Murci on the road and both of us out of the pokey with his Mexican drivers licence, and the M3 boys for the escort down to Orlando. Clause Ettensberger, the mad German who does not ever quit, or take no for an answer, and last and most important to my wife Tara. This all started in a huge fight back in 2004 when I announced my intention to do they Gumball in Europe that was supposed to be a once in a lifetime event. Well 5 events later she still put us with me and I in turn have made her into a pro Cannonball rally Navigator. Not exactly something she envisioned when we got married over 10 years ago, but something to be proud of none the less, earning her The Claus Ettensberger Navigator award- which includes a bent up rim from the TechArt Cayenne.
Pictures will be posted soon, as soon as we sort out the ones that are better left offline. Till the next event, which will probably be the Players Run from Calgary to Cabo, and then my repeat participation in the 06 baja 1000 on the way to my ultimate dream to take on Dakar.
Until then
Cheers
Robb
P.S I just received by fax the final result from the Moroso speedway, and am proud to announce that both PeterKolb, Alex Fima and I all reached the top ten in fastest times never being on the track and allowed only one lap for time recording. so the darkcyd team is strong. All of us were in the 1:47 area. .On a separate note, our times were within a second of top 3. The award for the hot lap went to Nick Frankel who broke the track record that day for a stock car.
