Targa California 2013-Day One
When I was a kid, I used to drive my 1971 Super Beetle up Angeles Crest Highway north of Los Angeles going as fast as 60 HP would take me and then race down to the bottom pretending my Super Beetle was the latest and greatest 911 Turbo. This was about 1987 and I was so obsessed with the fat fendered force fed monster that my license plate on the Bug was “1AB911S” or for those of you not hooked on phonics, a “wanna-be” 911S.
This morning I got to drive that very same dream car (my 1987 930 “Dirty”) up those same roads but this time amongst a gallery of cars that would make the average gearhead drop to the deck in a puddle of drool.
The day began with a drivers meeting led by our Chief Disorganizer Dave Bouzaglou where we heard about the rules of the road and the proper etiquette to keep the whole lot of us out of the cooler. With that out of the way, over 110 cars hit the road cutting through Glendale and La Canada on our way to Angeles Crest Highway. The field included an amazing variety of 911’s in all flavors from mild to wild, a gaggle of beautiful Alfa Romeos, some excellent C2 generation Corvettes, a pair of gorgeous E9 chassis BMW’s and more automotive goodness than you could possible imagine.
I spent the first leg behind a “fat tire” group slicing and dicing through the Angeles National Forest at a spirited but not insane pace. We eventually wound up near the Gorman fuel stops just shy of the Tejon Pass. From there we drove around Frazier Lake and down into the oilfields near Taft and Buttonwillow. Lunch was at the Highway 58 food bazaar and then we were off again towards the Santa Margarita stretches of 58 where it cuts cross country towards the coast.
At this point, I feel in with a “skinny tire” duo consisting of a 1958 Alfa coupe and a later 356C. I could have blown past these cars at any point with my considerable horsepower edge but I found myself simply enchanted and fascinated by watching the Alfa and its driver working gently around corners at a very brisk clip. The baby blue coupe would roll towards the outside of each corner demurely cocking its inside front tire in the air and waft through the corners not losing an inch to the 356 in front of it. All of my hurry up left me and I sat back to just enjoy the Alfa’s sublime dance through nicely canted switchbacks and whoop-de-doos that sent my stiffly suspended 930 airborne for a few seconds more than once.
After some time on 58, we hit CA-229 which is best described as a paved roller coaster. It is barely a lane and a half wide and boy is it a corker. Up, down, on camber, off camber, and simply bonkers. After a long day behind the wheel that was bringing on some drowsiness, this was like shotgunning a Monster energy drink with a triple espresso on the side.
Once we got off 229, the route took us through Paso Robles’ Vineyard District and finally to our home for the evening, the Adelaide Inn off Highway 101. The day finished with a tour of the Estrella Warbird Museum and the Woodland Auto Display along with a banquet dinner where the bench racing was at a fever pitch.
Tomorrow’s route takes us up the coast to the Santa Cruz area where we will visit the world famous shop of Bruce Canepa and then the tour will head back to Monterey for the evening. If you have the slightest inkling that you might want to do an event like this, you owe it to yourself to give it a whirl. Shops like event sponsor Auto Kennel can sort you out a bought or borrowed ride and you will make memories that will keep you warm and grinning long after the garage door closes.
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