John and Garry's Excellent Adventure of 2015

[John Tongish]

Admit it, after building your FFR beauty, you have fantasized about driving it on all those historically famous and currently challenging road courses around the US. Well, at least we did and since nothing is stopping us, we are about to depart on our quest to accomplish a major bucket-list item, we are planning to drive thirteen road courses in our FFR roadsters over the next fifteen weeks. We will probably drop and add tracks as we go along but who cares, this is going to be one hell of a summer outing.

We are Garry Bopp, retired Delta pilot, and John Tongish, retired architect, and our Excellent Adventure begins for Garry (June 6th) when he leaves the Atlanta area, and John (June 7th) when he leaves the So.Cal. beach area. Both are heading for Salt Lake City to join up with some like-minded Cobra owners for a five-day, fun-filled spin around the Flaming Gorge area of Wyoming/Utah. Garry will be trailering and driving his newly acquired challenge car from the garage of Bob Kay in Plymouth, Mass. John will be trailering and driving his track-worthy MKIII yellow roadster built with the help of his kids and friends in 2006.

Below are the tracks we hope to challenge over the summer:
MID-OHIO June 23, 24
PALMER, MAINE July 11, 12
WATKINS GLEN July 15, 16
GINGERMAN, MI. July 27
ROAD AMERICA July 31, Aug 1, 2
CALABOGIE Aug 8
POCONO Aug 16
ROAD ATLANTA Aug 22, 23
ATLANTA Motorsports Park Aug 25
SEBRING Aug 29
PALM BEACH Sept 5
NOLA Sept 12, 13
PUEBLO Sept 19, 20

Along the way we plan to drive through Yellowstone, see Garry’s family in North Dakota for a free meal, party with the folks attending the London Car Show June 25-28, explore the architectural works by Frank Lloyd Wright in Wisconsin and Pennsylvania, take in the Air and Space Museum outside D.C., enjoy some July 4th fireworks in Long Island with grandkids, savor some crab cakes in Cape Cod, say hi to Sally at FFR in Wareham, drive through some covered bridges in New England, and share wine and break bread with old friends and new ones we certainly will make along the way.

We look upon this Excellent Adventure as a kind of Senior Citizen’s Gumball Rally. When you think about it, if we run all the track days listed (21) and each track day puts approximately 100 miles on our cars, each of us will have driven a total of 2,100 miles as fast as we possibly could. For reference, it is 2,237 miles from So.Cal. to Atlanta. That is one hell of a lot of adrenalin rush for two old farts driving hand built cars. We wouldn’t have it any other way. Thank you FFR and IRA.

From time to time, we will post our observations and encounters in the hope you might be inspired to plan a similar trip.

Stay tuned,
John and Garry

[mikey likes it!]

Excellent !!!! Coulda, Shoulda, Woulda..... Dammit.... wish I was going with ya.......

[johngeorge]

WOW! what a trip that will be! congratulations guys on putting this together looks like a BLAST.

[Roy]

Stay safe in your travels.
see you both in a week! Wow it is creaping up on us.

[Pastenseverb]

Subscribing, this will be fun to watch. See you in a couple of weeks.
Doug

[JL1958]

What a great trip! have fun! take pics for those of us still working every day.

[TimC]

Obviously I don't have to tell you guys to have a blast but I will anyway; Have a blast you two! Make sure to post lots of pictures and videos. I'm eagerly looking forward to the reports and will see y'all in August.

[R Thomas]

Impossible to say how jealous I am of this trip. Sounds like a great time looking forward to seeing pictures of all this, stay safe and have a blast.

[ehansen007]

Have an awesome time Gents! I still want to be like you when I grow up. If I ever do.... :)

[Gumball]

Have a great trip!!! Shop with lift available at your convenience about one hour west of Chicago if you're passing through the area and in need.

[David Hodgkins]

I think maybe we should have a road-trip forum, dedicated to adventures like this. It is a true inspiration to see these cars used to the max as intended!

This will be awesome to follow!

:)

[Garry Bopp]

Thanks, everyone ... almost time to get started on the trip and still have a few detail items left and I'll be ready! Oh, wait, more than a few details ... better get out to the shop!

David, I think the "Road Trip Forum" would be awesome.

Garry

[wallace18]

Hope I can go see you with my coupe at Sebring.

[Mike Dey]

John, Have a great trip. It doesn't look like are paths will cross at the same time so be safe.

[John Tongish]

Hi Mike,
You and Rick will be covering almost as many miles driving the chase vehicle for the Wounded Warriors tour. Garry and I will be in the New England area the first half of July. PM us if you think there is a chance we might link up.

John

[H R Lucky]

John & Garry it looks like a trip of a lifetime, have fun and drive safe.

Nevin

[John Tongish]

Day 1

Garry and I met in Lehi, Utah, to join up with 8 other cobras for a five-day tour of northeast Utah and Flaming Gorge Recreational area. Here are a couple shots to prove it happened.

4257242573

The group took the backroads to Vernal, Utah, 250+ miles. It was cloudy, then sunny, then cold, then rainy, then hot, then we stopped for lunch. Living in SoCal, I have little experience in radical climate changes like what occurred today. Sure was fun.

Tomorrow it's Jurassic Park.

[JL1958]

Great picture!

[The Stig]

Whoa! An "Excellent Adventure" to say the least! Stay Safe, but Have Fun!

Looking forward to your updates, when you find time.

Mike

[avgjoe]

Most excellent! I hope to be at RA w/ NASA Midwest that weekend.Gonna try to catch a Wyld Stallyns show somewhere along the way?

[John Tongish]

Days 17 and 18 of John and Garry's Excellent Adventure

I thought I would focus on our experiences at the tracks since much of the time spent getting there was visiting with family and friends and seeing points of personal interest. That is not to say that the places, family, and friends we are visiting are not exciting, interesting, or potentially earth shaking. But once you have seen Old Faithful in Yellowstone the second time is kind of dull though you would never know it by the folks and kids hanging around to see the waterspout do its spouting. See picture evidence below.

http://i286.photobucket.com/albums/ll86/johntongish/b%205.47.06%20PM_zpsuu4yykv7.jpg[/URL][/IMG]

Garry and I stopped in North Dakota to spend time with his relatives. The town of New Salem was known for its dairy farms so they built a 40' tall cow and called her Salem Sue. You can see her from the highway day or night, quite an erie sight. Here are a couple of pictures to show we paid our respects.

http://i286.photobucket.com/albums/ll86/johntongish/c%205.47.06%20PM_zpsutud3rfi.jpg (http://s286.photobucket.com/user/johntongish/media/c%205.47.06%20PM_zpsutud3rfi.jpg.html)
http://i286.photobucket.com/albums/ll86/johntongish/d%205.47.06%20PM_zpse3ksc7yd.jpg (http://s286.photobucket.com/user/johntongish/media/d%205.47.06%20PM_zpse3ksc7yd.jpg.html)
Our first track experience of the trip took place last Tuesday and Wednesday at Mid-Ohio under just about all weather conditions imaginable. We arrived at 8AM, unloaded our cars and parked in the garage. Then it rained, or should I say the biggest deluge this southern California boy may ever see. The thunder boomed and the clouds were almost black.

http://i286.photobucket.com/albums/ll86/johntongish/1%205.47.06%20PM_zpsniuuekh4.jpg (http://s286.photobucket.com/user/johntongish/media/1%205.47.06%20PM_zpsniuuekh4.jpg.html)

It hurt to see all that water going down a drain and not on So.Cal. soil. After a couple of dumps, the sky cleared, the sun came back, and the humidity set in. Fortunately the wind helped dry the track and out we went at 11AM. Unfortunately Garry's rear suspension locked up going in to Thunder Valley and around he went and kissed the metal barrier. The right front tire took the hit bending the steering arm and scrapping the right fender. With the help of many, Garry worked the rest of Tuesday resetting the tow-in and repositioning the shocks to eliminate the binding.
http://i286.photobucket.com/albums/ll86/johntongish/2%205.47.06%20PM_zpsubfkvaki.jpg (http://s286.photobucket.com/user/johntongish/media/2%205.47.06%20PM_zpsubfkvaki.jpg.html)
He made it back on the track late Wednesday morning and ran well the rest of the day.
http://i286.photobucket.com/albums/ll86/johntongish/3%205.47.06%20PM_zpsew8d7ovv.jpg (http://s286.photobucket.com/user/johntongish/media/3%205.47.06%20PM_zpsew8d7ovv.jpg.html)
As for me, I put 253 quality miles on my Yellow One over the two days! Every expectation for excitement, adrenalin rush, professional instruction and assistance, and driving a championship course was met. It will be hard to top Mid-Ohio. We are now in Columbus, Ohio, for the London Cobra Show and that troublesome rain cloud is threatening Friday and Saturday's activities. Brake out the Rainex.

Sunday we start our drive to Long Island to visit my son and his family for the July 4th weekend. Then it is up to Palmer, Mass. to drive the new Palmer Motorsport track July 11 and 12. Since we will be 111 miles (=/-) from FFR, we plan to stop in and say hi to those who helped give birth to our cars.

That's it for now.

John

[jayguy]

Links to pictures aren't working.

Sounds like a great trip though, the kind I dream of doing myself some day.


Jay

[ehansen007]

So amazing! Keep the updates coming! And upload to photobucket and copy pics over. The attachments aren't working but even when they do the pic viewer isn't as good.

[Jacob McCrea]

If you find yourself in or around Pittsburgh and need lodging, a well-equipped shop, a place to drop a trailer while visiting the area's Frank Lloyd Wright structures, or whatever give me a call (412-six five one-four six three four). We have plenty of space here at the house, we're always looking for a reason to cook, and my shop is a few minutes from downtown Pittsburgh. Safe travels!

[John Tongish]

Thanks Erik for the suggestion, I figured out Photobucket and redid the pictures of my post #21.

Jacob, we appreciate the offer of the bbq and a room at the McCrea Inn but are diverting our route to visit Mark Dougherty next Monday and make more permanent repairs to Garry's car.

Tomorrow is the London cruise, hope they can find some California sunshine. More later.

John

[cjcnj01]

A quick google search showed an August 16 "Hooked on Driving" at Pocono... This looks like it could be a lot of fun and probably take all day to learn the full course. Have you done any of their HPD events before? Are they run well and safe? I'd love to jump in the coupe and meet\join you guys for the day (about 90mins from home).

Chuck

[John Tongish]

Chuck,
I am planning to run Pocono August 16. Garry has a previous commitment that will interrupt his travels the first two weeks in August so he will be missing. Hooked On Driving offers a great program, very similar to NASA's HPDE driving experience. You can get a ride with one of the instructors or ride with me if they will let you. Either way it will be a fun day.
Let me know what your plans are and will try to meet up.
John

[IMLost]

Safe travels. It's fun keeping up with you guys!

Chuck,
I am planning to run Pocono August 16. Garry has a previous commitment that will interrupt his travels the first two weeks in August so he will be missing. Hooked On Driving offers a great program, very similar to NASA's HPDE driving experience. You can get a ride with one of the instructors or ride with me if they will let you. Either way it will be a fun day.
Let me know what your plans are and will try to meet up.
John

[cjcnj01]

Sounds good... My son and I did a week long advanced driving course with Bertil Roos at Pocono last year in their formula cars, but we only used about half of the track configuration... so if we go, we're going to be driving the coupe.... and if our second coupe is still here (its for sale) we'll bring both of them.. I'll let you know..

Chuck