INCREDIBLY, for a second tour date this year, great weather for our drive was sandwiched in between hazy inclement days. Luck? Perhaps. Sheer force of will from dedicated Porsche enthusiasts? More likely. Upon the staggered arrival of the drivers of the day to Porsche Centre North Toronto for the dealership’s third annual Enthusiast Cruise Driving Tour, visible wide grins were on the faces of one and all. Why not? A showroom filled with shiny specimens of performance. A vision of wonder, with other fans to compare and contrast impressions.
A feature of the PCNT tour is its sending off a couple of the dealer vehicles to lead and trail the group. In past years, 2021 for example, we had a Taycan to silently lead the pack. A strategic decision for this tour was to select SUVs to participate as the bookends. A wise, considered decision as all the participants’ cars barely measure up to the height of the hood crest of the Cayenne. This strategy rendered a crow’s nest view of the whole group.
For this tour we were provided tutelage from Gerry Cornwell and Jeff Millman, who jointly invested a good deal of time and planning for the day. And whatever any may say about preference for more twisties, this straighter route was more than adequately made up for with the variations in elevation. It’s quite possible, absent the controlled speeds of the group, several cars could easily have launched into the air from atop some of the road crests. As with many of our planned tour routes, Gerry and Jeff found there are always intended route segments that prove unusable due to construction or degraded surfaces. There were several adjustments needed, and still, the route was outstanding — they hoped, and if not, their plan B would be to lay blame at the feet of Stefan.
The new vistas offered by the route planning were not unnoticed by our drivers. Plenty of feedback of how much the route delivered came from Carmen and Joanne Mastroieni from Dundas in their Cayman R, plus John and Caroline Hume from Toronto with their 911, also loving the perfect weather. Adding their reports of the excellent vistas were Lesley Thouret from Toronto with her gorgeous new 992, which notably came after her discovering the empty gas tank when heading out, and with echoed appreciation from Marcelo and Emma Regen with their Macan. Apundeep Lamba, driving his Cayman GTS 4.0 commented the route was excellent, and added that the fraternity of the group is special. Sharing similar thoughts on this were David and Lucy Adams from Unionville, driving their ’10 997 Targa, and joining their impression were Eugen and Olympia Nicolcev from Toronto with their 718 S. The group happily welcomed Monica Leone for her first tour. Perhaps her ’18 Cayman in Miami Blue enhanced the experience. Plus, other than this writer, she may have been the only person noticing the two grazing horses that took in the sight of all of our collective 10,000-plus horses.
We often have an opportunity to see Eshel Zweig, our PCA UCR designated photographer, at some of our group events such as monthly socials. As well, we see Eshel’s masterful Porsche shots in the pages of our monthly magazine here. For this event we were fortunate to welcome his joining the route as we meandered through the picturesque countryside. Ever present along the route, he was there to capture some of the essence of the experience, the photo-ops of our cars, and the gathering at some of our stops. He took a frunk full of shots of the day and some of the best are inserted with this article — perhaps even you and your steed made the cut.
Your Porsche anecdote: “I am not a car. I’m fast, loud, and a little crazy.” </>
Story By Marc Etherington | Photography by Eshel Zweig
