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March 2023 - Crew Vetting

March 2023. Spring was not long off. The long days of May and June were not long after that, and then, the lazy days of summer - and with them, the days of our exciting European Delivery Adventure. The time between now and then would seem both simultaneously long and agonizing and at the same time filled with a sense of urgency. D-Day... it was approaching!

As mentioned in the previous chapter, we needed to de-emphasize our media collaboration activities and start planning for ourselves. On the scheduling front, Luke started laying the groundwork for him to be able to get the necessary time off. We had agreed that in order to do this delivery trip properly, with all of the associated filming and recording, we needed a solid three weeks, minimum.

Co-incident with vacation-day planning, we had also started to think about support. We had long ago realized (right from the start, years ago now) that if we were going to self-document the delivery and road trip for two cars, there was no way we were going to be able to manage it just with Luke and I. With a single-car, two person Euro Delivery (like I did back in 2018 with my M2), two people works just fine. The person not driving is the person doing the filming, whether inside or outside of the car. With two cars, it is not at all practical to do that, unless you want to waste an inordinate amount of time, risk leaving your camera gear un-attended on the side of the road, and just plain not be able to get many kinds of shots (pretty hard to get a zoomed-in shot of two cars in the twisties from a vantage point partway up a hillside, if you do not have a third person present).

So that meant ... crew. We needed crew. And for a trip of this length, it was unlikely that we were going to find a single person willing and able to accompany us. I mean, for all intents and purposes, they were going to essentially be helping us out, pro-bono - with only the joy of our company as payment!

So the big first question regarding crew members was ... who? who would be suitable in a crew member role for The GTS Chronicles? Even assuming that a person wanted to accompany us, we couldn't accept unless they met several very key requirements. We had informally mentioned in passing to several people that at some point we were going to need crew members, but since we had no idea about when our allocations and the subsequent delivery would be, we always held off on specifics. But now it was a couple of months since we'd received our allocations, and things were definite enough to initiate a call-out. We sent out an exploratory email to several people we thought might generally be suitable, and happily, we received some surprisingly positive interest from quite a number of them.

Now we needed to formalize the requirements a bit more, and get moving on a selection process. Time was ticking. Arrangements needed to be made. Flights needed to be booked.

Luke and I came up with a set of basic requirements for a GTS Chronicles crew member. They were what you might expect, and then, in some cases, beyond that:

  1. Does not experience motion sickness (even in extreme twisty road scenarios)
  2. Is able to drive a car with a manual transmission
  3. Has at least a rudimentary skill/understanding of photography and video recording concepts
  4. Is able to keep the volume of their personal luggage down below a certain maximum
  5. Is able to rough-it for a least a night or two if necessary, without facilities (at-large camping)
  6. Is ok with last-minute schedule changes and uncertainty (is ok with "winging it").
  7. Has a certain level of understanding and enthusiasm for our project

Some of these are perhaps obvious, and others require a bit of explanation for those who don't know us. The first item is very basic - the requirement for no motion sickness - but it needed to be strongly understood. Luke and I have both experienced situations where a passenger has casually stated that they don't get car sick but ... when feeling real G-forces on a really curvy road, they are turning green and demanding for things to stop. We simply could not afford to discover someone had this reaction while on a road in Europe. And in this regard, we knew candidates who had previously demonstrated rock-solid stomach behavior would get extra consideration (over those who just claimed to be free of motion-sickness, without proof).

The second item - being able to drive a manual transmission - this was important because I knew there were going to be situations where I myself needed to be directly performing the filming / photography - situations where the technical aspects of the shot might be difficult for someone with only limited photography/videography experience. And on top of that, any drone work would have to be done by me, for safety reasons, operational reasons, and for the fact that I would be the only person with the required licensing. In all of these cases, someone would have to drive my car and essentially be my stunt double (that also meant that those with beards would be at a slight disadvantage).

The third item was also perhaps unsurprising: any existing photography/videography experience would be an asset - it would increase the likelihood of a "keeper" shot and reduce the amount of time spent on setup and takes.

The next three items were all kind of related: basically, could the person "rough it"? could they be without the accoutrements of a nice hotel, or in fact be without any facilities at all? We were essentially planning to wing-it with respect to accommodations from day-to-day, giving us maximum flexibility. Getting up early, staying up late, last-minute searching for a place to stay, camping, even possibly bivouacking on the side of the road, in the most extreme cases. A GTS Chronicles crew member needed to be ok - and happy - with all of it.

The final item was more fuzzy. But it was important to me. I really wanted to avoid having a person who would ... shall we say, "look down" upon what we were doing. Or to be apathetic; completely uninterested in the sportscar enthusiasm mindset. To feel that it was a waste of time, or somehow over-hyped, or ... I don't know ... stupid? They had to be excited, like we were, and appreciative of the cars and the whole journey in general. This would possibly be a tougher thing to suss out than some of the other items.

We wanted to individually interview each potential crew member, ask them a standard set of questions, and then review them all at a later date to consider which made the passing grade. We felt this was also a great opportunity to make a fun bit of GTS Chronicles Instagram feed content, so we envisioned a space kind of like a police interrogation room or an inquisitioner's cell. Or maybe a large, lonely hall with a single table and chair right in the center. Maybe we, the interviewers, would be hidden at a desk in darkness while a harsh light shone on the subject. You get the idea: "Vetting candidates for the crew of The GTS Chronicles ... Serious Business!!"
We cast about in our minds for several days: how could we get access to a big industrial space. Or maybe a school gymnasium. An unused prison cell? Maybe someone's unfinished basement. We didn't want anything too "cushy" looking. Nothing practical came to mind, and we had to consider that any place where we would have to set up and take down our little schtick-y mock interrogation set would be a pain in the butt. Ideally it would be nice if we could set something up and leave it in place over the week or so we needed to do all of the interviews.

Eventually it came to me: my good friend Julian had a century-old house that had a fairly large underground cellar room. I remembered seeing it a number of times at social events at his place and had often commented that it would be a great place to house the prisoners' dungeon. Or something. I hopefully inquired and thankfully Julian (and his wife Amy) were totally ok with us doing "whatever we wanted" in their dungeon - er ... cellar room.
Scouting out the Crew Vetting Chamber
We quickly booked a time to go have a closer look at Julian's cellar. It was indeed perfect. Cold. Dank. Cement walls and floors, with weird red lines scratched in a grid pattern. Large enough - roughly ten by fifteen feet dimensionally; more than enough to set up an interviewee table and a separate interview table. We decided to christen it "The GTS Chronicles Crew Vetting Chamber". Peeeeerfect!

We come up with a questionnaire that was half-serious, half-jokes-y. Some questions were directly related to expected trip logistics and some were intended to probe general enthusiasm and knowledge for stuff automotive and for Porsche in particular; some were meant to throw the candidates slightly off-balance; and some were specific technical questions, like for example about camera settings and what-not. Here is a sampling of the items in the GTS Chronicles Crew Vetting Questionnaire:

  • Are you prone to car sickness?
  • What does "ICE" mean, in the automotive context?
  • A souped up hot hatch is hounding your butt up the Stelvio pass. What do you do?
  • If the need arises, are you ok with wild camping next to the cars?
  • How will you handle "your business" if we need to camp/bivouac?
  • What is the significance of the 718 moniker for Porsche?
  • Imagine you are asked to take a panning shot the cars on a road - what shutter speed would you use to maximize the chances of keeping the cars sharp while showing wheel blur?
  • Here is a 3-D model of a Cayman. Place a sticker where the fuel filler is located.
  • What is the etymology of the name "Boxster"?
  • It is Porsche's anniversary this year - how many years?
  • What is the purpose of a clutch?
  • Observe these five photographs of Porsche models; identify the ones which are mid-engined.
  • Photography under-stress test (with simulated rain)
  • Driving test (with simulator)
The Questionnaire
Around the beginning of March, we carted over a bunch of gear to Julian's dank cellar: tables, lights, a driving simulator rig, tripods, signage, and various little bits and pieces to complete the "interrogation chamber" vibe. Spray bottles of water for the simulated rain. A 3D model of a Cayman so we could ask them mid-engine car trivia questions. GTS Chronicles cups so the interviewee would be able to wet their nervous, dry throats. That kind of thing.
Vetting Chamber Setup
Lighting, positions, walk-through
Camera Positioning
The warning sign posted to the door of The GTS Chronicles Crew Vetting Chamber.
We contacted our potential candidates and set up a schedule of interviews, which we held over the first two weeks of March. One by one, we led them down into the dank darkness and subjected them to the rigors of The GTS Chronicles Crew Vetting Chamber. It was all in good fun - everyone knew that much of what we were doing was to generate a bit of funny content, something to get us in the mood for the upcoming Euro Delivery adventure. But make no mistake, there was a slight streak of seriousness to the proceedings. Peppered in among the silly questions were points and discussions about what the expectations were for a crew member; what it would actually be like on a day-to-day basis. We really did want to identify the best possible candidates, both for our sake, and their own.

One by one, we interviewed our candidates. We bumbled through the first couple of sessions, before becoming more comfortable and streamlined. There were some hilarious moments, some intentional but many completely spontaneous. We were surprised by how many candidates thought the fuel filler on the Porsche 718 is behind the license plate. And everyone seemed cool with the idea of having to spontaneously camp (except for you, Lo - we know you were lying!). And it was clear, we were going to need to do some basic photography lessons. But in all, a really fun exercise and we thank all of the candidates who agreed to participate. Even those of you who weren't chosen!
The Vetting Process
Brian on the hotseat
Recording Responses
Jenn undergoing inclement weather stress test
We took a lot of footage, as you might imagine given the five cameras we had positioned about the set. There was therefore a lot of media to comb through, and it took me basically over a month to get it all assembled into something we could post on the GTS Chronicles Instagram feed. Nevertheless, it was a worthwhile exercise. This bit of content is a bit longer, at about seven minutes. I think you'll find it a fun and quick watch, nevertheless.

You can view the post on Instagram here, or you can watch it (in wide-format) inline here below:

The GTS Chronicles IG Post 069 - "The Crew Vetting Chamber"


The corny "official selection" emails we sent out to our chosen crew members.
And what about the candidates? Well, on the 18th of March, Luke and I held a working breakfast where we selected our four candidate crew members: Chris, Jenn, Brian, and Andy. Originally we thought three, but all four passed the basic requirements and showed an extraordinary keen-ness to participate. And it would help the logistics. We sent out some corny "official selection" congratulatory emails to them from the GTS Chronicles official email account.

We now needed to establish the start and end of our delivery trip. Something around which people could plan. I had secured my own time off, and Luke had also managed to complete a rather tortuous battle with his own employer, finally managing to nail down a 23-day stretch of time for him, from July 18 through to August 10. This was very good, because now we could proceed to the next stage of planning.

That next stage involved roughing together a timeline that would see crew members circulate in and out of rotation over the course of the delivery trip. This was harder than you might think. We had to fix a rotation schedule that would fit in with other plans that each crew member had in Europe, allow for an accessible dropoff/pickup point (as in, somewhere with a large enough airport or train station), and mesh well with the general road-tripping itinerary I had started to rough out for Luke and I. It wasn't trivial.

On March 23, 2023, the four likely crew members gathered at my place for a planning session. We projected a calendar grid centered around the delivery date of July 20, and worked forwards and backwards from that point, soliciting input from everyone about their plans and trying to find blocks of time that didn't overlap. We generally aimed to have a single crewmember travel with Luke and I at any one point in time, but in a few specific cases there was some unavoidable overlap, where two crew members would be briefly with us.
Planning Session.
Trip Planning
Trip Planning
The realization that we would likely have brief periods with two crew members travelling with us underscored the need to very closely understand our luggage capacity. Would two Porsche 718 mid-engined sportscars be able to hold the combination of luggage and photography/video gear for four people? It meant that we needed to do a detailed fit test - here in Canada - to be sure. More on that in a future chapter.
March 20, 2023 - Luke's Four Month Observation

While I was busy working on the wrap-up of the crew vetting activities, Luke was noticing that we had just past the four-month-to-go mark, and wrote down a few thoughts to mark the occasion:
Luke's Thoughts
[on four months to go...]
Time is now seeming to accelerate towards the big day. We're exactly four months away today from our delivery day in Leipzig and the anticipation is building. It helps that my vacation has finally been approved at work, removing what was a rather large stressor for a few weeks. I mean, to have come this far and then have that throw a wrench into the works? Unimaginable!

A few folks on the forums have given me great props for the "surprise my folks" idea, which is nice. That's going to be a key and fitting finale to this chapter of The GTS Chronicles, and I'm hoping that post-Europe, we are looking at sometime late September / early October for a Halifax pickup and NB visit on the drive back to Ottawa.

(to read more of Luke's thoughts from this moment, check out his blog post)
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