It’s Fall Fair Time, the Best Time

Sep 9 2015

I love them so much you don’t even know.

The scrappiness, how it appears overnight and transforms a field into a blinking nighttime wonderland. The people watching.

That’s why in my ‘Canadian Explorer’ days back in 2007, “Exploring a Fair” was my first ever exploration.

This video held up pretty good over time eh. It’s also how I taught myself Final Cut… there’s probably 50 hours of editing in there.

Shame its views are so low eh.

Then 2 years later I filmed, “Exploring the CNE”

Went to my first fair this past Labour Day weekend, and have 2 more lined up in September, see you there!

I even like how they’re tough to photograph.

Learned How to J-turn

Jul 6 2015

To J-turn – drive in reverse, yank the wheel to initiate a turn, the vehicle spins 180 degrees then continues driving in the same direction, but facing forward.

Listen for the clapping at the end *bows* ;)

To be clear, this is like a baby J-turn… note how the instructor is operating the gear shift for me.

Do it alone without coaching, now it’s impressive.

At the completion of the turn the car was so discombobulated it went into limp mode, how anti-climactic.

Learned during a BFGoodrich tire test event at Mosport, and that’s a 2015 Ford Mustang.

Read my review of BFGoodrich’s all-new g-Force COMP-2 A/S tires here.

Above is what the video looks like.

Testing BFGoodrich’s g-Force COMP-2 A/S Tires

Jun 2 2015

BFGoodrich invited me to Mosport racetrack to test their all-new tire, the g-Force COMP-2 A/S.

But while listening to the morning’s press presentation my breath sucked in, “oh no, A/S stands for All-Season, how did I miss that?”

Okay I know exactly how – when reading the invite email, “Keri, we’d like to invite you to the track…” my eyes glazed over everything after “track”.

But this was a problem, because how can I endorse an All-Season tire when I’ve been putting them down for years, both here and at the paper?

Then the spokesman said 2 things that won me over:

1 – they said an All-Season tire really means 3 seasons, “it’s not a snow tire.” Agreed 100%
2 – before sending me out, they gave instructions on how to cheat a tire test

In the hundreds of press events I’ve attended it’s rare to hear such honesty. Day is off to a good start.

Test #1 – Braking

Floor it to 70 km/h, then stand on the brakes and measure which tire brought me to a stop in the shortest distance.

Super fun to do, super erratic results that tell me nothing. It’s not the tire’s performance, it’s because the driver (me) braked all over the place, so can’t rely on results when the tester was so inconsistent.

Test #2 – Wet Autocross

Toss 3 identical Audi A4s around a wet autocross course while riding on the 3 competitors – Continental, General and BFGoodrich.

Continental – didn’t hold the corners as well as BFGoodrich
General – the most fun because they slid all over the place; this is not a compliment
BFGoodrich – grippiest, and I executed my smoothest lap on these. Winner

Test #3 – Dry Autocross

Floored 2015 Ford Mustangs around a dry autocross course. Same set up as Test #2 – identical cars, around the same track, riding on 3 different brands.

And guys my skills are improving, I’m getting smoother!

Watch:

General – sliding around again but less funny than the wet track, these grip poorly
Continental – better than the Generals, but…
BFGoodrich – I was able to get back on the throttle the quickest with these because the grip was already there. Winner

So BFGoodrich’s g-Force COMP-2 A/S won. And their price point is right in line with their competitors.

They come with a 70,000 km warranty, are on-sale now in 32 different sizes, then 52 sizes by Q1 of 2016.

I’ll leave you with the same thing I always tell you…

Don’t cheap out on the ONLY part
of your car that touches the road!

Writing a Country Song about Phishing

May 8 2015

My neighbour and I started writing a country song last night.

A video posted by Keri Blog (@keriblog) on May 7, 2015 at 7:33pm PDT

I had a virus, now nobody emails me”

Brian: I used to talk on email all the time, but then I got a virus
Keri: what did it do?
Him: told everyone I thought they were fat
Me: snort
Him: I told them it was a virus, but no one believed it and stopped talking to me
Me: (this happens)

Ahh Thursday night, best night of the week. Bet I jacknifed 4 times, got invited to a party and was even drunk dialled, my favourite.

(why it’s the best night, and blog tag = #ThursdayNight)

A Top 5 Favourite Car – VW Golf & GTI

Jan 27 2015

Volkswagen’s Golf and GTI, their signature hatchback.

I’ve loved it for years, almost bought a GTI back in 2011; like, deposit-down-papers-signed almost.

Non-car nerds: a Golf and GTI are very similar, the GTI is the faster sportier version of the Golf, and has a red accent stripe across the grille.

Both handle amazing and literally are the cliche – amazingly fun to drive.

It’s all-new this 2015 model year. This 7th generation Golf is lower, longer and wider.

2015 VW Golf
A 1.8 TSI turbo outputting 170 hp and 184 lb-ft.
Starting at $18,995

2015 VW GTI
A 2.0L turbo outputting 210 hp and 258 lb-ft.
Starting at $27,995

The interior is so me – minimal and ergonomic. And no touch controls, proper buttons and knobs only.

This will probably be the only time I ever recommend choosing a non-plain fabric, because the Clark Plaid is that sharp.

And doubles as camouflague.

All the features you’d expect – Bluetooth, add heated seats or cruise control, a new infotainment system and more, but VW is ahead of the game with its self-cleaning lens on the backup camera.