Pickle’s Perspective

Some props still need to get brought in tomorrow.  Here’s a sneak peak.  Go to the show this weekend at the Winnipeg Convention Centre to See this awesome display!

Many may know that I belong to the Porsche Club or America. one of the events we host is an autocross. We make our event open to all who wish to participate. I wanted to take a few moments to tell you all why I think you should consider autocrossing your car. Whether you have a Corvette, Neon, Prius, Yaris, or an RX-8 (Yes that’s you Brad!) doesn’t matter, an unlikely car can be the overall winner in an autocross, and well even if you’re not competitive there’s benefits to trying it at least once.   In this photo  Leo  of the PCA  takes his 1983 Porsche 944 through one of the gates  at the  PCA Autocross held on the Springs Church Parking Lot in Winnipeg. (continue reading…)

More and more people I know are taking the jump from point and Shoot to dSLR. I believe that dSLR is probably more common now than 35mm SLR was when I was a teenager, although this could be because the people I know have more disposable income now than when I was in my late teens.

Although I don’t consider myself a great photographer, I do know a little about photography, and I wanted to dispense some of this knowledge for those wanting to move to shooting with a dSLR. Afterall…. Wayne Gretzky’s coach wasn’t a hockey super star. (continue reading…)

It never surprises me how inconsiderate some Winnipeg drivers are. I could probably do daily posts about driving habits and rants. Very few things annoy me on my commute than seeing a very typical Winnipeg driver trait. The speed up and block maneuver.

This didn’t happen to me, but rather the car in front of me. I’m driving down a divided multi-lane road, three lanes of traffic each direction. I am in the middle lane, and traffic appears to be keeping an average distance apart. The vehicle in front of me decided to move over to the right lane. There was a vehicle beside me, but there was clearly enough room to safely move over to the right lane without cutting off the vehicle in the right lane.

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I wrote this article about a month ago for the newsletter that a car club I belong to publishes. My article was bumped by a similar official press release sent by PCNA (Porsche Cars North America.)

I figured I’d post the article on my blog instead.

Since 2005 there’s been talk about Porsche building a gasoline-electric version of the Cayenne. At the 2005 Frankfurt Auto Show, Porsche announced that the Cayenne Hybrid could become available by the end of the decade.

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1985.1 Porsche 944,
originally uploaded by GermanPickle.

Yeah… I love my car. I bought it on my Dad’s birthday in 2001. It served me faithfully up to now. Sure I’ve had to put money and time into it, but heck who doen’t put money and time into a relationship.

So, after almost 4 years of owning my Porsche, I’ve decided to sell it. When I was 5 I told my family that one day I would own a Porsche, and I did. In fact I Owned 2 road worthy ones at once. But I sold the other one during the winter. (It was the winter beater.)

Since I’m so fond of the car, why sell it? Well.. My co-worker has a friend that has been sitting on a 1973 911T for a few years and hasn’t used it. The car has now become available. I’m hoping for it, but can’t go for it until, at very least, I know there’s interest in my car.

Let me know if you’re interested.

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Red Bull Racing – Monaco 2005,
originally uploaded by bigtallguy.

I didn’t take this picture, but I just thought this was the coolest thing I’ve seen in a while. Obviously Episode III completely ruled the Universe last week, but when I saw it invade Formula One; I had been put in awe.

David Coulthard and Vitantonio Liuzzi had their cars repainted in Star Wars fashion, but that wasn’t all, the pit crew were dressed as Storm Troopers and the Lollipop man was Darth Vader!

Chewie, R2 and Threepio made an appearance along with Mr. Lucas himself too. This was definitely one of the season’s highlights so far. (aside from the exciting racing this year too!)

Check out more photos at the Formula ONe website Formula1.com

Canadian Grand Prix is in in 2 weeks!!!!!!

Since I wrote about the Rally I wanted to touch on the rules.

1. Have fun
2. DO NOT speed or break any laws during this event.
3. You may call friends for help
4. You may use a Road Map
5. You MAY NOT use a GPS or other routing/ auto mapping device.
6. You need a vehicle with a functioning Odometer
7. You need a clip board and pen
8. Cell phones are recommended but not neccessary.
9. When directions are given on the sheets, they must be followed.
10. Have Fun
11. See Rule #1
12. See Rule #9

Hope to see you there!!!!!
-Pickle.

Spring is here, and I wanted to put on a car rally for the Car Club that was a little different than the one’s we’ve had in the past. In the past we’ve always hosted TSD Rallies, and although fun, they usually don’t draw the attention of many members. This time I decided to do a Fun Rally that was a cross between say The Amazing Race and a TSD Rally. The rally is partially clue based with stuff Like “Find the picnic table in Bunns Creek park with the following etched into the table Top. “E.H. + K.R.” You will find your next set of directions there.” That’s why I’ve named it the Amazing Winnipeg UnRace. It can not be a race as we can’t allow speeding so the emphasis isn’t on speed it’s on driving efficently. Complete this rally with the minimum amount of Kilometers driven! This will be tough as some things may be quicker to get to one way but WAY shorter to get to another way.

The Club’s Past President, David Grant has been the rally master for a few years now. It’s great that he’s willing to orgainize the rallies all the time, because it is a lot of work. But we wanted him to have a chance to participate at the rally for once instead of always hosting the rally. After discussing this at one of our monthly Meetings at Grapes, I decided to take on this challenge. Since I don’t want to steal the TSD Rally thunder from David, I wanted to do something different. David’s rallies are a lot of fun, and I did learn some things from him also.

This will be my first attempt at hosting a rally of any kind. I’m a little nervous about it, but I think people will really love it.

You may be asking yourself, how do I get involved? Well it’s simple. First Email the Red River Region PCA Editor at RRREditor@mts.net Members of the PCA get to participate for FREE. All others pay $5.00 per car to enter. (this helps pay for all the prizes.) Then simply show up on Saturday April 30th 2005 at Autohaus Porsche at 1PM. Sign your waiver, pay your $5.00 end enjoy the 2 hours of fun that await you. Since this event requires me to have remote clues stashed ahead of time it’s critical that those attending do email me ahead of time. I can accommodate some walk ons, but not too many.

Depending on how many people show up, there will be a prize for everyone. I’m hoping for a big success. If not, then at very least I’m hoping to learn how to make a better rally in the future.

Hope to see you there.

Photo Radar Stealth Device,
originally uploaded by GermanPickle.

We took a drive through the Prairie land this weekend on a quest to rate two of the mineral Spas in Saskatchewan. On the drive between Manitou Springs Hotel and Spa and Temple Gardens, this truck pulled onto the road in front enough. He didn’t cut us off, but I had to brake substantually. We had a good chuckle at what we believe this “farmer” may have done to make his truck “photo radar stealth”.

More on the trip next blog.