It's been a while now since our last drive + lunch. Only the AWD guys will be driving their cars this El Nino winter so we better get one last good drive in. Here's my proposal

Saturday October 24 - Stanford to Santa Cruz

We'll meet at Stanford Shopping Center between 9am - 10am. There's a couple of coffee shops in the the mall so we can grab some coffee/breakfast and hang out for a while. Around 10/10:30am we can head out to Santa Cruz for lunch taking the route below. 280 is just a dive causal freeway drive, then we head through Los Gatos downtown, and onto Highway 17. Highway 17 is a nice twisty drive but it'll just be cruisin since by 11am there will be enough traffic that you can't drive like hooligan. That should get us to Santa Cruz around noon-ish for lunch. LMK if you guys are free and interested, can start looking for restaurants with parking.

 

Sounds great and would love to T...but I'll be at the California Hot Rod Reunion that wknd in Bakersfield getting my fill of nitro!

 

Saturdays are always bad for me after about 12pm or so, but I might be able to join in on this. I need to see what we have going on that weekend.

Looking at the route, if you want a more interesting drive, why not avoid 280 and Los Gatos and just go from Stanford down Sand Hill to 84, take a left at Alice's onto 35 and from there head down to 17 and end up in Santa Cruz via the original route? That would be a lot more scenic and a better driving road for twists, etc. Will have its share of traffic on a Saturday but might not be too bad.

If I do join, I'd probably be open to caravan down to Stanford. Since I'd be headed back to Pacifica, I'd probably just take US 1 back to the SF area, its a nice scenic drive.

 

Honestly, I'd avoid the end of skyline just before 17. That's all single lane, which means running up against traffic coming the other way will take a while for a larger group going through. A better bet might be to skip 17. Ride skyline up to 9, then head to Santa Cruz over 9. Barring that, if you want to take 17 and avoid the single lane, take skyline to 9, take 9 to bear creek just before town in Boulder Creek, then bear creek to 17, but that will add a good 20 minutes at least onto the route.

Still, certainly more interesting than 280.

I've taken skyline for my commute when traffic is really bad (1:30 for a commute that takes 30m when clear, and Skyline takes about as long as sitting in traffic those days), and both the end of Skyline and Black Road kind of suck with all the single lane bits. There doesn't really seem to be a good route around them either while sticking the twists, but Black will be better than Skyline.

You could also go 9 down to Los Gatos, but the construction stoplight there kills that end of 9. No flow

(Also, I'm hoping to be in)

 

Regarding the route, I'm open to other routes. I picked that one because it's more of a "cruise" to lunch than spirited driving in the backroads. But if we want a more spirited drive than I think there's probably better roads on weekends that will have less traffic. Something in the Marin/Napa Valley/North Bay area. But that will require much more time commitment since it'll probably involve 2-3 hour driving, not including getting there and back home.

 

Ahh yeah, that makes sense. Though that sounds like like more work than needed... leaving from Stanford Shopping Center via Sand Hill Rd to Old La Honda Rd to 35 to 9 to Santa Cruz avoids the issues, doesn't require a huge amount of backtracking, and still offers what appears to be an interesting drive. I haven't personally been down 9, but from what the map shows, it looks fun.

More reason to try to attend then.

I don't necessarily see adding 35 onto the trip making it more "spirited". It does offer more scenery and a few more twists and turns but I'm assuming none of us will be driving like hooligans, so it can still be a nice cruise. I'd just like to cruise somewhere I can have my top down without having deal with highway exhaust and boredom.

Alternatively I wouldn't mind doing something in the Marin area as well. That is where I test drove my F-Type and there appear to be some great roads up there. Plus there are a couple of interesting driving circuits that the RAD folks run in that area that I've been wanting to try, I've just never been available when they were going on.

In any case, if this is happening on a Saturday that might preclude my attendance for a Marin venue since it will probably take the good part of a day with travel back and forth. Unless our plans are on Sunday instead of Saturday that week.

 

I'd be up for almost anything, since it's been a while since the last drive.

I don't have any trips planned for October, so should be around. Saturday or Sunday, either work for me.

Let's do it!

 

One other route option, not as twisty, but still very nice, might be to just hop on 84 over through Pescadero, then take 1 South to Santa Cruz. You're more likely to avoid beach bums that way, I think. Very pretty route, And even the boring part of the PCH is a cool place to cruise.

 

Agreed. I will be driving back up 1 on the way back in any case.

 

Regarding the boring 280 route...I do agree it's boring to drive, but if you guys were on the 1st F-Type drive...it's actually quite a scene to see 10+ F-Types cruising on the freeway taking up 4 lanes. Very good for video footage, whereas a more interesting backroad is typically 1 lane and you can't get good footage :-)

 

Hehe... I see. I was on the 2nd drive but not the 1st one. Doesn't matter that much to me, I am just making suggestions to maximize the experience for everyone. Particularly if this is the last drive event we get to do for a while. (Though I think the verdict is still out on that too.)

 

Well worth the price of admission...

 

You still get that opportunity, just not for very long Take 280 to 84.

 

I agree with Shift and Buick, the short F-Type highway cruise we took with 10 F-Types on the first drive last Dec. was cool. This was my favorite drive but they have all been great. The last two drives were more single file through twisty roads which were fun (except for the bicyclist obstacles) but not as good for photos and video. A combination of both would be ideal. My travel plans for Oct just changed so I should be able to attend. Shift did a great job of organizing the first two drives and coordinating the third one, so I am open to just about anything. No drive in an F-Type is a bad drive when there are other F-Types and owners along for the cruise!

 

Are we doing this thing still? Is there another thread where more planning has taken place?

 

No other thread...there wasn't much interested and I got busy so it feel off the radar. I'm out this weekend but if you guys are still interested in a drive do it! El Nino is coming! hahaha

 

Interesting timing! My wife and I are staying in Aptos through the weekend visiting family. If the lunch should take place in Santa Cruz, please let me know. I will "move things around" so we can pop-in and say hello.

Dave

 

We have a gym class we love on Sat am.... but this is interesting. Did it ever get confirmed as to when and where? Problem with people that can afford a nicer car is that their probably incredibly busy to be able to do so. =)

I am not hijacking this ride, by ANY means, just idle chatter.... 280 to the 85 through Pescadero to the 1 to SC is a gorgeous drive through Woodside's forest to the beaches. If you haven't finalized the best way to go.

Up here in Marin, Strawberry out to Tiburon downtown to take Paradise Loop to Corte Madera where you get back on the highway to Pt Reyes / Olema through Lucas Valley Road.... it's stunning. Same with running up to Petaluma and going out to Pt Reyes through the reservoir in Nicasio, etc.

We live somewhere amazingly beautiful.

=)



I *doubt* I can make it... sorry to miss this thread! But repost the plan and maybe it can work out. =^D

 

Since only a few of us replied originally we never got this off the ground, so it won't be happening this weekend. I'm still up for this kind of run in the future though... my FTR hasn't had much chance to really stretch its legs lately other than a quick trip up to Sausalito last week, so its overdue for a local roadtrip.

El Nino isn't really expected to impact us until the end of the year anyway. And even then it just means no driving with the top down.