2013 Spirited Drive

July 2013 – Tonasket, WA

European performance takes to Washington roads in search of Mexican food!

A huge thank-you to everyone who joined us on Sunday for our second Spirited Drive of the season; an extra special thank-you goes to Mark Fipke for waking up at the crack of dawn for the sole purpose of showing off his new Ferrari F430 (and waking up much of Kelowna on the way to our shop!) :)One of our most faithful Spirited Drive attendees, Ryan Fipke, had his “Hot Wheels” Lamborghini Gallardo LP560 out for some exercise; also adding to the Fipke Fleet was Charlene Fipke in her sleek and classy 2009 V8 Vantage. Dave MacKenzie (who makes EXCELLENT meat loaf for our Motor Werke team, by the way) brought his lovely wife, Jill, on the drive in their 2006 Caymen.

Attending his first Spirited Drive, James Matzke drove his 2001 911 Turbo which we just completed performance programing to on Friday. James was telling Chris that he didn’t realize that performing a performance tune on the vehicle would make so much of a difference! Linda Irwin, with her daughter, Steph, joined us in her 2007 911 C4S. Rafael Perini, with his three co-drivers, also attended our Spirited Drive for the first time – we finished work on his vehicle just in time for the drive and Rafael got to test out his upgraded intercooler, upgraded high-flow turbo charge and inlet pipes as well as his new QuickSilver performance exhaust.

July’s drive took us south along Hwy 33 where we stopped at Rock Creek Trading Post for a coffee break. From there we crossed into Washington State at Osoyoos via the wonderfully twisty Crowsnest Hwy.

Lunch was at Rancho Chico, a fantastic Mexican restaurant in Tonasket.

From Tonasket, we took the scenic route back to the border along the little-known Loomis-Oroville Rd. and crossed back into Canada at a little shack that is the Nighthawk Port of Entry. Rather than connecting back onto Hwy 97 right away, we deaked west to Keremeos then detoured along Green Mountain Rd. into Penticton. From there it was the standard highway trip back to Kelowna.

We had some great photos and video footage taken on Sunday’s drive and I’ll be posting content as I receive it from our drivers and passengers. Photos throughout this post compliments of Luc Schingh.