About luxury lifestyle

This week I went for lunch with my colleagues and we spoke about cars. We have many students working summer jobs or internships this time of year. One of the students mentioned that she is dreaming of getting a purple Lamborghini (Model? Latest model, definitely! Just make it purple, please). The older folks were making fun of her since we are driving Corollas, Civics and Elantras nowadays.
Yesterday we were out for lunch again and another boy, young developer from India, said that he hadn't seen a Bentley or Aston Martin in Canada yet.
So today I had to drop my Mudpuppy for service at the dealership. While mechanics were doing maintenance on my car, we decided to walk around. And guess what? Just on the opposite side of the street there was a Grand Touring Automobiles store. Could we skip the opportunity to visit it? Never!
Especially when they had a purple Lamborghini and black, white, brown (sunset orange), and red Aston Martins right at the window.

Let's go shopping?

It's all connected

5 years ago I had a job interview at FCA (Fiat Chrysler Group). That time the only Italian car they had under their Canadian umbrella was Fiat 500. I got to the last round with a really strong competitor, who deserved the position more than I did, so the job went to him. Though, visiting the plant and talking to engineers completely changed my opinion about American automotive manufacturing.
I was very skeptic about American basic cars and their quality until that day. After the interview, I got home spent hours reading about local manufacturing.
Those days the only way to get Alfa in Canada was a direct shipping from Europe. Nowadays my respect to FCA is even bigger. Because for almost two years, FCA is an official representative of Alfa Romeo in Canada.  Right now I see Alfa's all over the city, not too common, but they exist! I think, I'd be able to recognize a silhouette of Giulia and Stelvio even in the packed Toronto's traffic. It shows elegance and beauty of Italian engineering in every inch of the body and its movement.
One day I will take a blue Giulia Quatrifoglio for a test drive! It's too good to skip the opportunity.

By the way, long time ago I happened to stay in Torino, Italia for some time.Our apartment was in front of Lingotto building - former Fiat factory that was re-designed into a shopping and entertainment complex. If you are planning to visit Turin, just take a local train from Torino Porta Nova to Lingotto and visit this place! It's worth to get there. 

And just a random Alfa in Toronto's Italian suburbs. 

The Weekend with Brack Driving Concepts

I was planning to go to this event for more than two years. From my first look at their lesson schedule to my actual participation, I drove over 50,000 km on at least 8 different cars. To be honest, my initial reason was to become a more sporty driver, but my actual visit was to restore my interest in driving (I am simply tired of wasting time behind the steering wheel during rush hours on GTA roads).

Now I can pronounce myself as my own hero – I could wake up at 5-30 AM, drive to the Motorsports Park and be in the class by 8-30 AM!

Lovely morning at SMP

Driving experience

The big article about the weekend with Brack Driving Concepts is on the way. First, though, I want to introduce the school and the facility where we (my car and I) spent a beautiful weekend.

About two years ago my friend suggested me to connect with Ken Pavri, the founder of Brack Driving Concepts.
Ken Pavri and John Burnet are professional racers and racing coaches that decided to help everyday drivers improve their skills.
Currently, their school offers a High Performance Driving course, for anybody who wants to improve their confidence in driving and learn how to achieve better control over their vehicle; Advanced Racing Development for people that do racing and are working on improving their lap time; and Shannonville Race Academy for competitive  drivers (this was designed for experienced drivers and requires advanced skills). This school united dozens of car enthusiasts that are working as instructors here. From my personal experience, I can tell you that those people know what to do, how to teach and also have stainless steel nerves to deal with some students like me ;) Their web-site is http://www.brackdriving.com/

Brack Driving Concepts is using Shannonville Motorsports Park as their base.
Shannonville Motorsports Park is located between Belleville and Kingston just south of hwy 401.
The park had the long track (4.03 km, 14 turns), the pro track (2.47 km, 9 corners), Fabi circuit (fast circuit, 2.23 km, 8 corners), Nelson circuit (teaching track, 1.8 km, 6 corners) ; 1/4 mile drag strip; and go-kart roadcourse. The beauty of the track is in its design. It is a safe place to practice, as it was originally designed for training purposes. More about the Park : http://www.shannonville.com/

Stay tuned...