[AutoDowntowner]

Nice meet, nice pics.
How this meet happened? I missed it. I also stay in Detroit area.

[nikhilarni]

Originally Posted by vj123

[center]

2023 Spring meet

Seven of us met in AnnArbor (another member joined us at our destination) last sunday before driving along the historic US12 heritage trail


It was a good route considering the flat roads in the MidWest and was a great way to kick off our 2023 meets.

Thank you Vj123 for planning the meet to kick start the season, along with hosting me.

Congratulations on your new set of wheels ( The Camaro ZL1 ), she's a stunner.

This was one of the more relaxing meet and greet type meet-up.

This was my first long drive with new shoes, and I could tell the difference between the previous Pirelli Scorpions and the new Bridgestone Driveguards ( RTFs )

Come to think of it, I have only gotten to know this group since around Dec 2020 but it feels like we have known each for eons. There is a certain respect, joy and the camaraderie shared when driving in a group, is just very difficult to explain.

I drove from Pittsburgh the day prior to the meet. Vj123 was gracious enough to let me camp at his place.

The icing on the cake was the little drive on the speedway at Michigan Int'l speedway.

The banking angle caused my traction control, adaptive cruise control and brake mitigation systems to shut down. Clueless I was, about why it would do so. I tried turning off the engine and restarting, but had the same warning lights and messages come back on, until Rachit mentioned the same thing happened to his Infiniti as well. Till that point, I was stressing out thinking about the maintenance cost to fix it. Thankfully, once I got back on flat road, the systems came back on. Phew !

Wonder if anyone else has encountered something similar ?

Some pictures to do the talking.

VJ123's Camaro and Rohit's ST





Passing Shot of Scatpack392's Challenger 392



Rohit's Fiesta ST



Rachit's Infniti G37X



Vj123's Camaro ZL1



Yash98's VW Jetta



Nikhil's GLC 300

A funny little incident / conversation between a work colleague and me.

On my return, I took a little detour at Strongsville, OH ( Suburb of Cleveland ) for a coffee + fuel pitstop and decided to meet a colleague as well.

And when I told him, I was enroute from Detroit to meet this bunch of "Car Friends"

Conversation

Me: I am enroute from Detroit to Pittsburgh, and thought I'd catch up with you at the gas station

Him: Cool, I'll come.

At the coffee shop

Him: What was in Detroit ?
Me: Oh, nothing. I just went there to meet some Car Friends, meet them, drive , click pics of our cars ... talk ... and then drive and then click more pics and then return. Folks came from Chicago, Detroit and me from Pittsburgh. In the past, folks have driven from Philly and NJ as well.

Him: Blank Face
Me: Oh yea, one of them just got a brand new Camaro. She's a stunner
Him: Blank Face .... Oh nice ( when I showed him a pic )
Him: So you just drove to Detroit, and then drive again from there and then drive back home

Me: ( At this point, I was done with this topic. ) Yes. We just meet. Exchange notes and catch up. ( and then i switched gears to other topics ).

I sent him the links for some of the meetup up threads later.

Funny, how hard it is to explain the whole reason of meeting and driving to someone who isn't a petrohead.

[rohittunga]

First of many many meets of 2023. Last we met was in Oct 2022 when we drove on the Triple Nickel. We were all eager to join this one mostly because of the beast of car Vibin purchased. That Camaro ZL1 with 650BHP and making no attempts at being “green” or “environmentally friendly” looks sinister in black and its got the exhaust to match too.

The drive along US-12 which used to be the main route between Detroit and Chicago before interstates was splendid with rolling hills and pleasant scenery. And the icing on the cake was driving on an actual NASCAR track. Let me tell you this: the banking angle on that track is so steep that it beggars belief and has to be experienced once.

Of course before we left, we almost finalized plans for our next meet which will be in the summer and may or may not involve the Tail of the Dragon
People around the midwest area and are interested in joining better keep an eye on this thread.

Here are some pictures taken by vj123 & landcruiser123

This car will be a future classic


1100bhp with these two muscle cars........ and probably 1100 decibels in sound too!

[rachitagarwal]

Thanks @vj123 for yet again organizing a wonderful drive. The racetrack excursion was the gamechanger for the trip although I was troubled with the ESP light going over the banking, similar to @nikhilarni. Thankfully it went away soon after

Looking forward to more drives in summer!!

[landcruiser123]

Thanks for organizing the meet @vj123. As usual, it was great meeting all BHPians and having fun car talk for the whole day. Looking forward to the next meet already!

True icing on the cake moment :-
From almost being thrown out from the Michigan International Speedway parking lot (for suspected trespassing) to getting access to the podium to do our photo shoot!

Thanks to a very friendly security director! We shall not reveal your identity sir!

Sunday - I'll let the pictures do the talking:

@vj123 and his sweet new ride (congratulations!!!)


Resting in shade:

Nice and shiny:

Men and their machines:

Fair to say that gasoline runs in our veins!

I used the opportunity to visit Detroit after nearly after 5 years! Saturday-



Welcome to the Ford Piquette Avenue Plant: (their first ever)

The surroundings: (Diagonally opposite)

1909 Model T touring:
Would you belive this car costed the equivalent of $28k in 2023 and the roof was an optional accessory?



The Guided Tour

The 90 minute tour is definitely the highlight of the Piquette Ave Plant visit.

One interesting anecdote from the tour was the story of about how all of Henry Ford's investors wanted him to make premium automobiles so they could make returns on their investments. Old Henry had a love-hate relationship with premium automobiles and kept buying these investors out through the early 1900s. He then went on to perfect the art of mass production and then consistently delivered the most affordable automobile that sparked a revolution!

Another interesting fact is that final assembly of cars was done (by hand) on level 3 of the Piquette ave plant! Why you ask? Becasue the floors were made of wood! Heavy machinery to make parts dominated the lower floors.

Driving to the podium @ Michigan International Speedway:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sao5ZqBhUHk

[jeevadeepan]

Sounds like a super fun meet as always. Glad to hear about the Michigan int’l speedway surprise. All the pics look great and the track ones look classy and professional. Driving fast on banked curves in a track has been on my wishlist too. I missed it this time. So happy for all who were able to make it to this meet.

Congrats to @vj23 on the Zl1. Looks terrific. The supercharged small block v8 must be a joy to drive.

[Samarth parames]

Damn,
I Live in Ann Arbor, should have subscribed this space. Next time. Great Pictures

[vj123]

Rust Belt States Meetup #10 - Tail of the Dragon #2

Last summer, we drove along the roads around Smoky mountains including Tail of the Dragon (reported in pages 5 & 6) and it was one of the amazing drives i have ever had. We have been thinking about redoing the same trip again and briefly discussed about it during our last meet. Few weeks back, this topic gained traction and here we are with the below plan.

Date:
July 6 to 9

Place:
Roads along Smoky mountains (similar to last year)

Participants:
Few regulars might be missing this meet but several members have confirmed their availability. We have members driving from Chicago, Detroit and New Jersey for this meet. One member is flying all the way from Seattle to be a part of this drive and few non members are driving from Austin as well.

Accommodation:
We have zeroed in the below cabin which has amazing sceneries of the Smoky mountains.

It might be hard to explain the roads in the area by words but the recent video from Hagerty might give a glimpse of the whole experience.

Driving the Dragon