On Fridays I usually meet up with Mario and a few others to hang out, which gives us the chance to relax, catch up, and have some fun after another week. Last Friday – the 19th – some of us had also coordinated a small meet at Deerfoot Mall at the same location as the Calgary Mazda Meet from a couple of weeks ago. For tonight I have a quick post just to share some photos from that evening.

While at work on Friday, heavy rain paid us a visit around lunch time which made me worried that the evening’s gathering would have to be postponed. Fortunately however, as quickly as it had arrived it also left. It meant the sedan was a little bit dirty for the meet as I didn’t have time to wash it but it was just a relaxed get-together anyway. Once again I tossed the camera in the car and made the trek over to the mall, this time to meet up with some Mazda and Focus owners.

I arrived in time to see Brent’s Mazda 3’s new look. The exterior was now sporting bolt-on flares and a wrap in some incredibly sparkly vinyl!

Ian attended with V6MISTAKE, which I hadn’t seen out in a while.

With Brent having vacated his spot Dominic filled it with his Mk3 S.

Another car I hadn’t seen in a while was Colin’s Mazdaspeed 3.

The evening sun was exaggerating the difference in paint shades between some parts on my car…I’m used to it.

Brandon’s ST had its new ST coilovers in as well as a new front lip installed – which is Mario’s old Triple R piece. It was a little rough around the edges (the dealership had damaged it) but Brandon fixed it up and it looks great once again!

Keith’s Mazda 3 was…out of focus. Actually, that’s not the Mazda’s fault. That’s me being a noob and failing for this photo. Sorry Keith!

Bringing the count to an even 4/4 split between Mazdas and Fords was Yolanda’s 3.

While we chatted we also got to see Colin’s new puppy who came with and was happily wandering around.

Following the meet I sent Mario a text to see where he was and wound up driving down to Garage Box, where he was just finishing installing the new lip on Ketchup. After that was taken care of we made one more stop so he could grab some food.

The Triple R lip (Mario’s old lip/Brandon’s new lip) is a common choice for ST owners – and rightfully so, because it looks great – but Mario wanted something different. He opted to fit a Maxton Design lip for a subtle change and to be a bit more unique. Compared to the Triple R part this more closely follows the outline of the bumper and features three additional mounting points in the middle. See the oddly-coloured ST emblem? It’s actually glow-in-the-dark!

I don’t believe I had mentioned it before on the blog but prior to Driven Mario added wing risers to space the stock wing away from the body. While they’re small parts they make a huge difference to the appearance of the car and seeing them installed is making me think the new 5-door could benefit from them as well. He also fitted a new downpipe which has made the ST is much louder, as I could tell from several cars back. With the windows up. And the radio on.

After that it was an evening of video games and YouTube before it was time to head back home. Even though having to call it a night can be a bummer, there’s always the trip home to enjoy. A cruise home on nearly empty streets, in the race car, with the radio playing, is always fun.

I’m really hoping that tomorrow’s weather will allow for a large turnout at the casino, and if it’s nice you can bet I’ll be there! I also will have an update coming on the sedan as yesterday I fitted a new part which had been sitting in my garage for a little while. I’ll be making note of how I like it as I drive the car around this week and put together a post documenting the install as well as sharing my impressions.

-Bill