It’s the final week! It won’t be long now before we’ll be setting up our cars at the Olympic Oval for this year’s edition of Driven. Overall I’m still fairly calm but I won’t lie, the stress level is rising a little bit when I look ahead to everything that still has to be done.

Today I spent the afternoon with Brandon, Mario, Brenda, and Derrick; Brandon’s car is now completely ready for the show save for a detail and Mario’s saw a bit of work as well. Mario’s actually won’t be in Driven this year (I’ve seen a number of questions asking about that) but expect to see it out at other events later on. I grabbed a few photos which will likely make up the next post and I’ll try to get them edited and live before long. I expect for that to be my last post prior to the show, but stay tuned to the Instagram account (@ officialthreetwenty) for extra photos during the week. Over the next few days I need to focus on all of the final preparation for myself and the group, so I probably won’t be able to spend too much time on the blog.

Moving on to today’s entry now, you’ll see a bit of an overlap with the last post (on Brandon’s ST). The final photos in that post and the first ones today are all from Grey Eagle on Wednesday. I decided to split them up and have those which focused on Brandon’s ST in the post dedicated to his car, saving the rest for today.

The week prior had seen a really impressive turnout at the casino, but this time around it was a bit chilly so most skipped. Also, the red ST here isn’t Mario’s, it’s Rob’s. He was on his way to the Menace Rides meet but saw us in the lot and pulled in.

I’m still super proud of having Nakai-san’s signature on the car. Some of my neighbours have noticed it and asked about it, and think it’s pretty cool.

Dustin showed up then almost immediately left again to go wash his car. Look for this at the show on Saturday! It’ll be in our group.

Extra shot of the trio together – Mustard, Mayo, and a substitute Ketchup.

After a little bit our group split up – some went home, while others (myself one of them) headed over to Menace Rides’ meet. This is the first time I’ve shared photos from one of these new meets, which also take place on Wednesday nights.

They’re hosted in the large parking lot (of Tim Hortons and other businesses) at the corner of Blackfoot Trail and 46th Ave SE.

The turnouts have been really good it seems, and the variety too. Two meets in one night brings back memories of the old Beyond meet days, when we’d go to Grey Eagle first and then cruise over to Chinook.

On to the cars now though – David’s ER34 should be familiar to anyone who follows LOWCALS.

I didn’t even recognize this Miata at first because of the new wrap. It used to be black and now sports a satin red and black two-tone.

Maybe it’s just me, but I swear I’m seeing way more R33s now. I know R32 prices have gone way up (because of US enthusiasts) so perhaps that’s leading more to pick up R33s instead? Nothing wrong with that, mind you.

Speaking of R32s…

This Mustang was pretty cool, and clean too. White on white always works.

J’s fenders and C-West bumper on a DC2 – yes please! I recall seeing this at Sunday School; still don’t know who owns it but I still like it. A lot.

Subie crew, all in the ‘proper’ colour.

Stan’s Miata, tongue hanging out as always. Side note – LOWCALS are rocking new banners on their cars now, for which they came to me. Thanks guys!

Last but not least tonight – Kanji’s BRZ. I was happy to finally get a chance to see it in the light with its new Chargespeed bumper. Note the chassis-mounted wing too!

Along with the photos from the meet I also got a little bit of video footage, which I combined with some footage of Brandon’s car and posted on the YouTube channel a couple of days ago. Click the play button above to check it out (and please subscribe if you haven’t, haha)!

That’s it for tonight! Looking ahead to this week, I don’t yet know if I’ll be attending the meets on Wednesday but Cars and Coffee resumes on Tuesday (at 180 Quarry Park Boulevard) and I intend to stop by that. Whether or not I go to Wednesday’s meets will depend on if I’ve already started detailing the Focus yet or not. Once it’s clean, it won’t be leaving the garage until roll-in on Friday.

I have a feeling Friday will be here before I know it.

-Bill