View Full Version : The Vancouver Olympic Committees wild ride!
k-swiss
05-01-2007, 09:38 AM
Well thats what I'm going to call the Sea to Sky highway from now on! :laugh:
Last night on a whim my plans for the evening were cancelled. Therefore I found myself with a tank of cheap 94 octane(Thanks Point Roberts) and some time on my hands and the willingness for a random roadtrip.
I found myself in Pemberton at about 9:00 that night(I left at 6:30). I must admit this... the construction has not completly castrated the Sea to sky. Its still a seriously fun road! The only sketchiness that I encountered was two sections that were quite rough.. However that can be blamed on my coilovers. Two things to note... Driving through the night and enjoying twistys and then coming around a corner in the dark and hearing the "Thud" of construction equipment through the sunroof is something else... Getting stopped for road closures for 40 minutes on the way back is boring. Finally my satellite radio was down for about a quarter of the trip... Wasn't too bad though my car sounds amazing!
I've been on that road a couple of times when a driver going the other way had crossed the centre line and was a couple of feet in my lane. Once it was a blue Chevy Sprint, and the look on the driver's face was very disturbing; he was deathly scared. That idiot almost killed me. That is defintely the highway of death.
Dean
murphymurf
05-01-2007, 11:27 AM
For nine years I called whistler home and the sea to sky became what seemed like my personal driveway. All the road improvements they are doing are only going to make it better. Of course I'd like to see a middle divider run the enitre length to cut down on the accidents since most of the fatal ones involve lane drifting. Everyone has a scary story about that hwy. But apart from that it is one damn fine road to take your bimmer on! What you really need to do is drive it at 5am on a lazy summer day. No trafffic, good light..... and the cops are still in the donut shop... he he
Last week I took an e90 330ix up around midnight, caught up to one of those new dodge srt8's. The other driver and I had some good fun with our "spirited" driving. No racing here, just two enthusiast driving their cars in a controlled manner. Those things have a lot of power...... but alot of weight I noticed ;). A road like the sea to sky will level out the power balance and put a premium on skill that's for sure.
My old e30 M3 on that hwy........ what a dream. And what a ticket. LOL. Again this was around mid night and on one of the higher speed sections. But I was relieved to hear the cop tell me I was "only" doing 150km/hr...around the bend..... he he, good thing I had just slowed down from doing, well.... let's just say the tach was buried in that little four banger.
Currently I take my e36 M3 up there on a regular basis if the conditions are good. I sneak out by myself at night just to enjoy the ride. And the bonus is I get to go snowboarding in the morning..... I mean come on does it get any better than driving and snowboarding nirvana??? ok ok, there is one other perk I can think of but I'll keep it PG......;)
Blakeoffire
05-01-2007, 12:53 PM
I suggest we have our next drive/meet in Horseshoe Bay at 3:30am on an early weekday morning. I'm in... anyone else?
The 6 loves that Highway... :bowdown:
The upcoming improvements will surely decrease the number of idiots oversteering into the oncoming lane (thereby nearly killing you). It'll be amusing to watch the evolving splashes of paint-scrapeage and rubber marks that'll inevitably transpire over time on the more challenging center-divider sections of the road.
Good on ya Kirin for enjoying your car... :thumbs:
B.
murphymurf
05-01-2007, 06:42 PM
[QUOTE=Blakeoffire]I suggest we have our next drive/meet in Horseshoe Bay at 3:30am on an early weekday morning. I'm in... anyone else?
I'm in, if I can only come up with a good reason why I need to run to the store at 3:30 am and take 3 hours to pick up the milk he he......
Mark D.
05-01-2007, 06:55 PM
How about meet in Hbay at 5am, then up to SQUAMISH for brekky?
Im in, now which car do I take? damn it........ :rolleyes:
man, if only my car was insured, and the fuel pump worked :(
Blakeoffire
05-01-2007, 07:35 PM
How about meet in Hbay at 5am, then up to SQUAMISH for brekky?
Im in, now which car do I take? damn it........ :rolleyes:
Good idea...I'm in :thumbs:
pfft... the M5 of course!!
B.
You know, I have a lot of good stories about that highway, too. I think I've driven it just as the sun was rising, but I've been on so many good BC highways at various times of the day that I can't remember them all. But that look in the eyes of that Sprint driver really changed things for me.
Yeah, the E30 M3 is a great car on that highway, too. It's Light, torqueless and an excellent driver's car. It's actually better than the M1 on that road because it changes direction faster. So, Mark, I would recommend the 318 over the M5, believe it or not...
Dean
MikesJo
05-02-2007, 01:28 AM
7 or 8 in the morning :). I'm up for it!
bimmer_adam
05-02-2007, 11:45 AM
i take it you guys will be doing this before july 6th haha damnitt! :violent:
unless your not :bowdown: then im in :woohoo:
bcbimmer
05-02-2007, 06:35 PM
i believed we have done our spirited drive up to whistler eh bimmer adam :)
VtwinVince
05-02-2007, 06:44 PM
Things only get fun up there once past Pemberton. I especially like the run from Lillooet to Hat Creek, then lunch in Cache Creek at Horsting Farm (recommended). I've done some of my most entertaining driving on this stretch, on the bike and in cars.
Blakeoffire
05-02-2007, 10:36 PM
Things only get fun up there once past Pemberton. I especially like the run from Lillooet to Hat Creek, then lunch in Cache Creek at Horsting Farm (recommended). I've done some of my most entertaining driving on this stretch, on the bike and in cars.
2nded on the Horsting Farm in Cache Creek... :thumbs:
I was just up there in Cache Creek last weekend (en route to a wedding in Tatla Lake) and we stopped at Horsting farm for breakfast/lunch.
On the drive back (I rented a 2007 Audi A4 for the trip) we veered off the Hat Creek junction towards Lillooet/Pemberton. That drive is stunningly beautiful, yet quite choppy and harsh in places where you don't want it to be. It's in need of major repair. Vince, have you noticed the same thing? Are there other roads you could recommend from your travels...?
Damn glad that I wasn't driving the E30 though... that road would've shook up the suspension/chassis pretty badly along certain stretches... massive potholes and deteriorating tarmac at almost every other turn. I would've been *wincing* the entire time.
B.
k-swiss
05-02-2007, 10:45 PM
Horstings farm rocks... It certainly is A class.
Talking about e30s I need to roll my fenders... Had an incident of bad rubbing yesterday...
bimmer_adam
05-03-2007, 08:42 AM
shweet haha ya bcbimmer...good thing i got a fuel pump this time so thats one less thing that could go wrong....just have to replace the transfer pump in the tank and ill feel confident haha
VtwinVince
05-03-2007, 03:15 PM
Blake, you're right, there are some sketchy sections of that road. Alot of it was repaved last year, about half distance. I think my two favorites are Highway 6 from Vernon to the Needles Ferry (don't forget to stop for lunch at the Goldpanner Cafe) and the run from Rock Creek to Kelowna via Anarchist Mountain a.k.a Antichrist Mountain. An honorable mention has to go to the Apex Mountain loop out of Keremeos as well as the more local Pemberton to Birkenhead Lake route.