PDA

View Full Version : Thank You!



Geoff_Rex
08-07-2008, 06:46 PM
Hey guys,

I wanted to send out a "Thank You" to a bunch of different people. Not sure who knows, what about my (mis)adventure in Nova Scotia, but suffice is to say I ran into some mechanical trouble.

In order of appearance, as far as I can tell....


First of all, there's a guy, Colin, from the Halifax Subaru club who immediately got on the phone with John Paynter. (East Coast Subaru Rep) John managed to source a 'band-aid' part for me that would have got me home and was willing to part with it for very cheap.

In the meantime, I called Robin. Within 1/2 hour, I had 2 phone calls stemming from that call. First one from JoeT who had sourced a replacement part for me and was looking into shipping it. A few minutes later, I received another call from Roch Drouin (our local Subaru mechanical God) who had a part for me as well that could be on a truck that day.

Since Roch knows my car better than I do, I took that option and he shipped it immediately to Moncton. John Paynter, at that point, put in a good word for me with Moncton Subaru who started working on the car, even before the replacement parts arrived. Kyle, the mechanic in Moncton even stayed late to get me out of there on Tuesday evening.

Meanwhile, back in Nova Scotia. My car was un-drivable. Nick Hansen, of Hansen Signs in Moncton had his crazy turbo RX-7 at the track that day, and because of a overheating problem, he trailered it in. (Awesome shop that can make everything from huge signs on 100' poles, right down to car graphics and the design on the Slalom at Slemon trophies awarded.

Rob Stone (aka Old Guy) and Mike MacRea (of the Moncton Motor Sports Club) were able to diagnose and repair the problem with Nicks car, which allowed my car to be towed back to Moncton on his trailer.

Meanwhile, I had towed a trailer of tires/tools with me, which obviously wouldn't fit on the trailer. Gary (red RX-8) stepped up and didn't even need to be asked, and towed my trailer to PEI. After the event in PEI, again, without prompting, towed it back to Moncton.

So, my car is on its way to Moncton, my stuff is on its way to PEI. Rob Stone steps up and offers me a place to stay and carts my sorry a$$ all around Moncton for the balance of Thursday and the better part of Friday then out to PEI. Then, put me up again all day Monday and the better part of Tuesday till my car was done. And, Rob's son, Will (aka "Boy") for kicking my a$$ at go-karting, making fun of me eating an ice cream cone big enough for an entire family while he tried (horribly unsuccessfully) to pick up the chick behind the counter. (Getting her facebook ID doesn't count!)

Of course, I didn't have a car to drive at the Nationals, BUT I got another unsolicited phone call from Alain (Alf) telling me (not asking me) that I was going to be driving his car. No questions asked! (Almost beat him in it too, if it wasn't for the 5th run he scammed on Day 1. :-D )

So, I have a car to drive in PEI, while my car is back in Moncton for the long weekend. Alan Tam (Sir Knight) steps up and drags my sorry a$$ back to Moncton on his way back to Ottawa.

Behind the scenes, Robin had called Tonik Motor Sports as well. I didn't even know that until I spoke with Chris (Rex) later this week.

Moncton Subaru worked on my car from 1:00 on Tuesday until 5:45. I left Moncton at 6:00 pm and arrived back in Ottawa at 04:00! (I made pretty good time)

Bottom line.... Car runs like a dream. Better, stronger, faster than it was before. But, I'd still be stuck at AMP if it weren't for the incredible support of everyone involved. I'm almost certain that I'm forgetting someone. If so, please forgive me. Everything happened so fast and most of the time, I was wallowing in self-pitty.

I ended up having a fantastic time at the PEI National event, but only because of the efforts of everyone mentioned above and possibly a few others. It's not possible for there to be a more supportive community than the Canadian Subaru group.


THANK YOU!

tashko
08-07-2008, 06:54 PM
Great story and good to hear about all the help people were willing to offer!

I still think you went to a heck of a lot of trouble for an excuse to get out of running in ESP. :-P ;-)

Geoff_Rex
08-07-2008, 08:09 PM
You're lucky I didn't run in ESP!

Sir-knight
08-07-2008, 11:47 PM
oh the smack continues :lol:

I'm pretty amazed at how the community can pull together to help out in a pinch.


But dude, honestly, shit happens and good thing there were people around to help, cause if this had happened in pig's elbow quebec, we'd still be out there somewhere.


Don't forget Sandy from new brunswick who lent you the MAF from his STI so that alf's car could run over 4k rpm in the rain.


I guess the analogy of racer lore goes something like this:

Guys in the sport are separated into 2 groups... 'ones who HAVE gone off/broke down and guys who WILL go off/break down'


Hope I break down (not for a while I hope) amongst another fine group of gentlemen as were displayed this past week.

Geoff_Rex
08-08-2008, 12:06 AM
Oh yeah, forgot about Sandy. Alf's car was maxing out at 4000 RPM because of a bad MAF. Alf asked some guy from QC to borrow his and he said "no". Asked this guy Sandy, and let's just say, he was drinking for free on Saturday night!

Robin
08-08-2008, 01:11 AM
Good to hear it all worked out Geoff...

alf
08-10-2008, 08:46 PM
I got to say the guys from out east are the best!!! Thanks to Sandy and Old guy to help me with the MAF. Few guys from Montreal were just , well I'll let you figure it out!

It was a fun event and I can say how big this lot is...

Geoff_Rex
08-10-2008, 10:33 PM
Just to clarify on what Alf is eluding to... When Alf's MAF took a crap, we looked around to borrow one. Someone from Montreal just flat out said "NO" when Alf asked. Then, Sandy, a guy from New Brunswick, who we'd never met, basically said "sure, how do we get it off my car!". Great guy!

alf
08-11-2008, 08:49 AM
I wasn't just referring at the MAF part. I was also referring about the whining that some people did...

Sir-knight
08-11-2008, 10:33 AM
well the guy with the MAF I can understand, as he was also 1200 kms from home and if something should happen to it, he'd be just as stranded... but he could have at least said that and it wouldn't have been as bad as a curt 'no'

paulneartarga
08-12-2008, 11:30 AM
Lucky you "Flatlanders"never asked me for a loan of anything.....I would have given you a curt NO as well :lol: .


I'm glad it all worked out OK....a good time despite the problems.


PS Geoff....Sept 27 and 28....The run on the Rock at Bell Island.....can you make it?

Geoff_Rex
08-12-2008, 01:33 PM
That's two weeks before Thanksgiving when we were planning on going. Argh! I'll see what we can do.