Pictures and story by Wilson Tai

Friends and all car enthusiasts welcome to join. Just a fun & casual trip in the Moraga backcountry outlining the East Bay Regional Park. Our business was to have fun and hang out with our friends and teammates. Nothing could be better on this cool lazy Saturday. Check out the pictures - it was so much fun to go out on the streets as a team which is evident in the pictures.

It's rare these days to roll with such a group of tuned rides at one time. We received enough attention today to last a long time - people turned their heads, and the California Highway Patrol (CHP) set a helicopter on us. Oh, you want to hear about the CHP? At the end of the day, I felt that the Bay Area CHP were professional, realistic, and understanding in their relationship with us.

We were spirited as we cruised:

We were introduced to the highway patrol after reaching the end of the Canyon run. Someone had called in and said there was a group "racing at high speeds." Maybe it was my ML320 screeching its tires in the back of the pack, lol. He was cool with it all and wanted us to go because we were parked in a long line on the roadside. Fair enough. Later on the freeway, our R's and hybrid hatch matched up to our Turbo WRX's. It wouldn't be exaggerated to say that eye-tearing velocities were reached. Enough so that the CHP introduced their helicopter to follow us and as we exited to Emeryville, CHP was waiting and actually drove up the off-ramp in the opposite direction to personally invite the ZTY B-series guys to a 'lil conversation. "You can run but there is a helicopter in the air watching you." They looked at all of our cars up and down and in the end, they gave us tickets that we actually appreciated (minor infractions like front license plate), it was very cool of the CHP. It could have been a lot worse. They were fair, wanting to insure our safety and the safety of the motorists on the freeway. One CHP officer asked if we raced on the track and offered that Koji's hatchback would benefit from a rollcage for structural rigidity and also for his seatbelt harnesses. Cool ...