[s-cars] Off the Road...to sFest

[bill mahoney]

The journey to sFest began two hours delayed by the most rain Chicago has
seen in over 25 years.  With quattro and Springsteen as copilots I made it
safely to the holy Toledo Motel 6 by 2AM.  Happy to pay thirty bucks for
four hours sleep in a real bed seemed like a good deal.  The dimly lit lobby
was cluttered with 2 x 4's but what they really needed to start the
remodeling was a bulldozer.  A quick look behind yes the bullet proof glass
reveals no inn keeper.  However, there was a junk yard dog back there
staring me down.  I try to remember that sFest is journey not a destination
as the lobby is suddenly grand central station with all kinds of curious
looking characters appearing out of nowhere. Biker couples.  Oh they got
laundry to do (yes it's in the lobby,) chips to buy and mumbled complaints
about the old lady locking them out.  "Yeah man I hear ya."  Where's that
innkeeper?  A long ten minutes later she shows and I get the standard room
with the sand paper sheets and carpet not to be touched by human feet.
Not really finished sleeping, I rendezvous 6:30 AM at Waffle House with
Keith Maddock, Chris Chambers and Tim LeClair n wife to complete the mid
west caravan.  This meal is the usual Waffle House four stars..  Checking
out proves problematic though as Keith breaks the bank with a hundred $ bill
and Tim tries to run a non accepted Discover card.  15 minutes later we're
on our way on a perfect weather road trip day.
It's a very scenic PA I-80 though the "Pennsylvania Wild"(rolling oceans of
green trees) and gas up at the Sheetz (No sheetz) Gas station.  A sign out
front says "LSD use right lane" and "ULSD left lane."  I'm thinking Serge
and Pizzo would love this place.
We have a small detour up I-180 to retrieve Andrew Posto from school cuz he
surely doesn't wanna miss the sFest event even though the semester's only an
hour old.  We have a quick nearby campus lunch where I once again convince
myself that college girl's really dig me.  Crazy old guy.
Our arrival at Hartford is on schedule and since a meal at any opportunity
is a good thing, we meet up with Posto, Tom Green and Julian at Anthony's
(fine eyetalian dining.)  Awesome meal!
Next it's over to Coventry Motorcars where I find myself ... uhmm well,
"touring" through the CT countryside with Paul in Jim P's 200 Q Avant.  This
was the cleanest, tightest 200 I had ever laid eyes on until Saturday when
Chad Tobin showed up.  They must send their wives under the bonnet with
toothbrushes.
There is a purpose to this little night ride believe it or not.  We have to
pick up Pauls 57 TR3 and bring it over to the fest.  Only took me six years
to get a ride in it.  Hey I'm not pushy, but next year maybe I'll get a
chance at the wheel.  I'm not kiddin' whenst I say chance either.  The
apparently mandatory jump start is not so bad because as I settle into the
seat and adjust the WWI ace goggles, I also notice that I can reach out and
touch the ground.  Since there are no seat belts this is a good point of
reference to have for when you are hopefully thrown clear on any unfortunate
sudden stops.  Stop, drop and roll would seem to apply.
Shall we say Paul quickly warms the TR up and we continue "touring" the CT
countryside, ignoring that we're powered by "warm beer" electronics, a gas
gauge that's unlit and are running with headlamps that only yellow up the
road ahead.  It don't matter as we have now entered der PaullyRing, aka his
own private road course, aka a new housing development yet to have any
houses.  Nice!  A new road complete with nicely rolled curbs as rumble
strips to bounce off of.  Hilarious!
Somehow, someway when we arrive back at Coventry Motors where the TR is
unceremoniously "Serged" in a series of very dusty JNR donuts.  50 yr old
car took it like a champ.  "Hey, he gave me the keys;)" d'oh!
IIRC, most early arrivers turned in before 3AM as there were numerous
imported brews consumed  and Saturday is Fest day.
I don't recall when all the cars arrived, but suddenly there were about 45 S
cars, a number of vintage Audi's of various and modded flavors.. yes even a
number of them D2's.  Then, some special guest stars including a GT3,
GT3/RS, neu S6, a Ferrari (I forget the model, but it was red butofcourse.)

Butofcourse the stars are really all the fine folk's that show up year after
year of which there have unbelievably been six Fest's now.  Tech tips and
parts are swapped.  Since my sister has just recently rebuilt her '92, she
even shows up from 90 minutes away to have her car dusted up.  One upgrade
she had omitted, were the clear corners so I had bought a fine pair of
Chinese ones to install.  Oh what a seemingly easy install except it was so
hot out that just picking up a screw driver caused a full sweat followed by
a light layer of dust.
Most folk's dined on two rounds of finely barbecued burgers supplemented
with water and beer.  Posto did his usual fantastic job of not only selling
the raffle tix but also calling the winning numbers.  I'd accuse him of
arranging things in a smoke filled backroom except I meself won an AudiSport
license frame and a great Neil Swanson print of the R10 at LimeRock.  In
return I give Posto the "Best Drest at the Fest" award.
sFest evening winds up in the usual fashion of finishing every beer in sight
but this year there were additional attractions of a grand finally of
fireworks followed by Serge's effort to build the world's biggest bonfire.
The nearby woods was cleansed of every twig and any unsecured Coventry
Motors furniture.  I swear I went to sleep sometime but couldn't say
exactly.
I did awaken early Sunday AM to total silence and a garden hose shower that
really got me going for the long drive back to Chgo.  I ipod blosed some
Sinatra "My Kind of Town" prior to heading out but did it make a sound if no
one hears it?
Depart Coventry 7:30AM, arrive Chicago 10:15PM.  Not bad really considering
two power naps and leisurely one hour great lunch courtesy of the
Pennsylvania Dutch.
Thanks again to Brian (Coventry Motors) Paul K, Steve Young, Jim P, Posto
and all the organizers, workers contributors for making me take this crazy
drive once again.  It's alwaze  worth the effort and the old S pig loves the
stretch.
Bill~that's my story and I'm sticking to it~M