The GTS Chronicles - Getting Two/True Sportscars - Lead-up - 2020-2023

April 2023 - Preview

April. Three and a half months to go before delivery. Things were warming up - both outside and on The GTS Chronicles activity list. My Cayman had been built. With the broad outlines of the delivery trip understood, Luke and I had both booked our flights to Europe. We'd woven a complex set of dates where our crew would weave in and out of our grand adventure, and most of them had also now booked flights.

But there was much yet to do, and more organizational focus was needed. So, I drew up a list for us to tackle over the next month or two:

Develop a full gear list for the trip (plus order any remaining required gear)
Packing test session with Winston's Cayman (based on above gear list)
Ordering next round of swag (t-shirts, various stickers including door sill stickers)
PPF experimenting and testing
Decide on a "photography curriculum" of some sort for our crew and develop some rough training materials
Microphone testing (maybe some tests/comparisons in various situations so we are sure we have good audio for all scenarios)
Drone testing/practice (including a thorough shake-down of the resurrected drone)
Sell our existing sports cars via convenience sale through Porsche Centre London
Order protective grilles for our cars (that we will take with us to Europe and install)

April 2023 - Dave's continued support

We continued a background correspondence with fellow Porschephile Dave Renner from Porsche Motor City in Detroit. He's a little puzzled by the lack of response from Paul Gregor and his Global Community Management team, and gives them another ping for us in one of his monthly status updates:

Hello

Below is my email from yesterday to Paul and Mathias about the questions related to the 75th Anniversary Celebration in Zuffenhausen ( I believe). Also asked about the GTS Chronicles and the hand off to the PR Group.

In addition, I copied a group of Factory Folks that I am friends with. In addition, I added Miriam Pait she is the (hopefully still is) the Executive Assistant to Dr. Wolfgang Porsche.

Maybe this email will finally get some traction on your adventure?..will see.

Will keep you informed if I hear anything.

Best regards

Dave

Again, we were grateful. More than grateful, really - especially as we were knee-deep in final trip planning and couldn't really devote much time to GTS Chronicles media collaboration advocacy.

Apart from that, Dave was having an exciting delivery experience of his own, participating in the acceptance of his son's Shark Blue Cayman GTS 4.0 at the Atlanta PEC (Porsche Experience Center). It was kind of like a mini version of what they do in Germany for European Delivery. Apparently he even got his son to put a GTS Chronicles decal on his car.

In other news, Dave was also invited to Germany by Porsche to participate in various 75th anniversary celebration events in June. Too bad our delivery date couldn't have been in June also - perhaps we could have connected up over there!

Dave had gotten wind of our desire to order RGS protective grills for the front of our GTSes, and, wouldn't you know it, he said that he knew the owner of that enterprise (who doesn't he know...) and would be able to finagle us a discount - and purchase them on our behalf and have them delivered. Dave also said that he would be putting aside a couple of custom Porsche 75th vests for us, and include those in the shipment as well. Typical Dave greatness.

April 8th and 10th, 2023 - Fit Testing

Luke and I like tidy, functional cockpits - free as much as possible with the visual clutter of wires and devices. And we also know that efficiency and convenience are important. We undertook an activity, first to simply sit together and list out all of the gear we needed for the trip - including all of the little minutiae like wires, charging devices, sockets - into a comprehensive master list.

Then on the 10th of April, we headed over to friend Winston's house (and his GT Silver Cayman S) to do a little "test routing" - basically seeing how our existing gear could fit into the Cayman's (and therefore also the Boxster's) interior. We routed wires for electrical devices and for the radio antennae. With things in place, would we be easily able to insert and disconnect, power on and off, various devices without too much trouble or fiddling. It was a useful exercise, and we came away with a set of notes and further required changes/items:

Check Cayman storage pockets on Steve's Cayman GTS - are they lined? (Winston's are)

Front tow hook GoPro mount is too short - need a longer one

Need 12v to 12v extensions preferably w/ 90 degree for the under-the-seat 12v solution

Still need to test current

Need proper mount for interior Cayman bar for camera - more robust

HAM Radio set up seems good - need velcro tape to mount radio vertically on firewall

In general, there was lots of talk about wires and lengths and plugs and tidiness and ease of use in text chats around this time.

April 11, 2023 - T-Minus 100

April 11 may not seem like much of a day, but in our minds, keenly aware of all things related to our upcoming Euro Delivery adventure, it was a key moment. We were now exactly one hundred days from July 20, the scheduled date of our car delivery in Leipzig, Germany. I felt that such a moment could not go un-commemorated, and so I dreamed-up this theatrical little segment for the GTS Chronicles Instagram feed. It's got a very '90s vibe.

You can watch it directly on Instagram here, or directly in this page below:

The GTS Chronicles IG Post 068 - "T-Minus 100"

Luke had his own thoughts on the 100-day milestone (much like he did at the recent four-month milestone):

Luke's Thoughts

[on 100 days to go...]

100 days. It's an arbitrary milestone, to be sure, but exactly 100 days until the scheduled pickup in Leipzig feels like something meaningful, regardless.

Deep in the back of my mind is trepidation about the date as my car has not yet been built. Nervousness around what else can happen to get in the way of this. We've been through so many (albeit first-world) problems over the journey, that I'm experiencing a frisson of unease that will only be cured when I see actual movement in my timeline via the TYD app and its back end data.

It is immensely satisfying to watch Andrew's Cayman progress from V200 through to V300 and even to see that it had been transported from Stuttgart to Leipzig in anticipation of our delivery.

SO cool to see the images appear showing HIS car in various stages of completion, so I'm anxiously awaiting the same treatment for mine.

It's like we're in the final laps of a massive endurance race, driving smoothly and hypersensitive to every little nuance from the car, praying nothing breaks before the finish line!

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

Communication Troubles with Porsche Centre London

You may recall that back in February (February 21, to be precise), we had had a very comprehensive Zoom call with our salesperson Christina about items around European Delivery and about some promotional items for The GTS Chronicles. Well, here we were now at the beginning of April, and none of the actions itemized in the minutes from that call had been further mentioned, let along acted upon. We let slide the promo items stuff, as it appeared very clear now that Porsche Centre London had no interest or appetite or enthusiasm for it. For the remaining items - questions about how and when we would pay for our cars, our ability to go on the factory tour, how did the trade-in/convenience sale process work at her dealership; general logistical questions - Luke and I sent some follow-up emails. Several. Over the course of a few weeks. The responses were hit-and-miss. Sometimes no response. Sometimes a delayed response.

So, on the correspondence front, it was an unhappy several weeks, much akin to the pulling of teeth, to get timely responses and to get answers to specific questions. We learned that emails with multiple questions were a bad idea, since what would often happen is we'd get a response with an answer to one question and the others remained unanswered. I think the following exchange of text messages between Luke and I during the second week in April illustrates our frustration:

From: Andrew Lavigne - Apr 11, 2023, 12:30 AM
Christina never responded to my response-question

From: Andrew Lavigne - Apr 11, 2023, 12:30 AM
I will give her until Wednesday and then I'm just going to call

From: Luke Ward - Apr 11, 2023, 12:31 AM
You mean your factory tour question?

From: Andrew Lavigne - Apr 11, 2023, 12:31 AM
no

From: Andrew Lavigne - Apr 11, 2023, 12:31 AM
just the basic question of what does she want for documents?

From: Luke Ward - Apr 11, 2023, 12:31 AM
Or the documentation question?

From: Luke Ward - Apr 11, 2023, 12:31 AM
Neither

From: Luke Ward - Apr 11, 2023, 12:32 AM
Weird.

From: Andrew Lavigne - Apr 11, 2023, 12:32 AM
I call it sloppiness. That's the best way to describe it.

From: Luke Ward - Apr 11, 2023, 12:32 AM
Calling seems wise at this point, I agree.

From: Andrew Lavigne - Apr 11, 2023, 12:32 AM
She's not on top of her shit.

From: Luke Ward - Apr 11, 2023, 12:33 AM
Nope

From: Andrew Lavigne - Apr 11, 2023, 12:34 AM
I mean possibly she's got some sort of outside-work tasks that have come up, some issues needing addressing ... I get all of that - but there needs to be some minimal level of work performance, or ... then maybe you should be stepping away and giving your responsibilities to someone else.

From: Luke Ward - Apr 11, 2023, 12:34 AM
I agree, a Wednesday call is kosher

From: Luke Ward - Apr 11, 2023, 12:35 AM
I will feel a lot better when my car starts getting built

From: Andrew Lavigne - Apr 11, 2023, 12:35 AM
I think there's a good chance with all of our interactions from the past couple of years, that this general not-being-on-top-of-things is more likely the cause of our frustrations then some sort of intent to hide from us.

From: Andrew Lavigne - Apr 11, 2023, 12:35 AM
Sort of an Occam's Razor type scenario

From: Andrew Lavigne - Apr 11, 2023, 12:35 AM
the most banal explanation is likely the right one

Eventually after much trying I managed to get hold of Christina on a telephone call (voicemails that I had left were also not being returned). Although, the manner of it was strange. After having received no responses to emails or voicemails, I started resorting to just calling the front desk at Porsche Centre London. And it so happened that on one of those occasions, Christina - surprisingly - answered. Apparently she was the only one at the dealership and was therefore answering the front desk phone. I wouldn't have gotten her otherwise.

In a few short moments of conversation, I got an answer for one of our questions, about what information needs to be sent in for Euro Delivery (scans of our passports and driver's licenses). I also learned that their voicemail system had some sort of misconfiguration, stemming perhaps from the now-year-ago transition to AutoCanada, and voicemails were not getting delivered/heard to the various extensions within the dealership. Like, seriously? I thought back to the number of voicemails that we had left over the past eleven months. How many of those, we now wondered, had gone to /dev/null? (/dev/null is a computer term for the situation where a piece of data is accepted but then ignored and discarded). First the email switch snafu and then this voicemail system issue. SMH. Wouldn't you have someone do a thorough systems test after a major event like a dealership IT system reconfiguration (to verify that everything was working smoothly)? Who knows how many important emails or voicemails from customers, suppliers, or partners got lost because of this.

April 20 - Production Celebration Gift from Porsche

On April 20, I received (in the mail, from Porsche Canada / AG) a nice keyring to celebrate the completion of the Cayman, and to thank me for my patience. A nice little touchpoint. Very appreciated.

"Your wait is almost over. We're thrilled to share that your Porsche has been produced, and will soon be arriving at your Porsche center. As a token of our appreciation for your patience, we are providing you with an essential accessory for your vehicle. The Porsche Crest Keyring."

[I guess this note was written targeting non Euro-Delivery customers, since my Cayman was not going to be delivered to me for three more months, and in Germany, not my local dealership; actual arrival at Porsche Centre London would be a couple of months after the Euro Delivery trip]

April 21 - Photography Lesson Planning

With only three months to go before delivery, we felt it vitally important to get cracking on some basic photography/videography training for the crew. We wanted to bring everyone up to a basic baseline level of skill around things like focus, shutter speed, frame rate, and exposure. It was important to get to the point where I could simply rattle off a few basic parameters corresponding to the type of shot I wanted to capture, and then that crew member would be able to head up a nearby hillside (or whatever) and be able to dial everything into the camera and get a desired shot. What we didn't want was a scenario where someone was totally unfamiliar with how to set up the camera, went through the trouble of getting a shot, only to discover later that the settings were all wrong and the shot was blurry, or too sharp, or too dark, or ... whatever. Luke and I spent some time on this and came up with a basic curriculum:

GTS Chronicles Crew Photography/Videography Preliminary Curriculum

Objectives/notes:

Focus: maximize on getting proper subject in focus (both for photos and video)
- skills around choosing right focus method
- one-shot AF versus servo (continuous)
- intelligent tracking subject behavior
- ways of changing focus subject or focus area
- the AF-ON button method of focusing
- when to choose manual focus
  
  Objective: By the end of this session, the participant will be able to select and apply the correct method of focus for a given situation.
Depth of field
- make sure to go over the concept of depth of field of focus and when we want a particular depth of field.
- how (a) maps to specific aperture values
- how the depth of field for a particular aperture varies with the focal length
- what aperture values are we typically likely to shoot at
  
  Objective: By the end of this session, the participant will be able to adjust the depth of field in a given situation to achieve the desired effect.
  
  (Note: list 'desired effects')
ISO and noise

Objective: By the end of this session, the participant will be able to make adjustments to ISO, aperture and shutter speed to minimize image noise for a given set of conditions / desired effect.
Something about composition

Objective: By the end of this session, the participant will be able to list the basic guidelines for picture composition.

Includes:
- Not shooting from standing height (crouch, kneel, get high, shoot offset from the direction of travel!)
- Look behind the car as well as at the car - what else is in the shot? Be intentional.
- Consider patterns, textures, lines, shapes, forms, color, tone, contrast, depth, frames, symmetry, asymmetry, depth of field, viewpoint, negative space, positive space, and visual tension
Something about exposure

Objective: By the end of this session, the participant will be able to differentiate between over, under and properly exposed photos and suggest possible setting changes to correct exposure.

Use the histogram to determine if a photo is correctly exposed?

Explain the effects of neutral density filters and decide under what conditions tin use them?

(also mention when to use neutral density filters)
video concerns
- frame rate and shutter speed for video
- transition focus during a video
- uses for manual focus while shooting video
- making sure audio is being recorded while shooting a video
- when to use neutral density filters while shooting video
Making sure Luke and Andrew's (and maybe Brian's) cameras are set up as identically as possible
using [C] Custom profiles to quickly switch between settings
Placing all of the most-used menu configuration items into the star menu
explaining how to use the gopro (and its limitations)

More re: Focusing situations:

picture, bright outside light, non-moving subject
picture, low light/indoors, non-moving subject
picture, bright outside light, moving (car)
- panning, blur effect desired
- stop-motion no blur effect desired
video, bright outside light, non-moving subject
video, low light, non-moving subject
video, bright outside light, moving car
- panning
- approaching / departing
- slow-motion

I also felt that it was important for our new crew members to feel comfortable with the controls they would have to manipulate (and likely manipulate quickly) while performing their crewly tasks. I was looking at my camera one night and thinking "this is going to be kind of overwhelming" - so I decided to take the Canon guide photos and create a simplified versions, with labelling specifically for the controls that we wanted to concentrate on: controls related to modifying exposure, aperture, and ISO; how to switch between video and photo modes; and anything to do with autofocus. I chose my Canon R6 Mark II's controls as the basis for the pictures, wanting the crew to be most familiar with that camera. We could translate these diagrams and instructions to the other cameras we were going to have (fortunately which were all recent Canon products, which meant they would be similar).

April 25 - Photography training session #1

We held the first of our photography training sessions with our four newly-minted crewmembers on April 25. In this initial session, We focused (pardon the pun) entirely on the basic act of focusing - when to get the camera to do it automatically, when to prevent the camera from doing it automatically (i.e. when is it necessary to manually focus), how to do the focusing, including how to smoothly transition focus when doing video (also known as "focus pulling"). It was a good initial in-classroom (held inside Chris' house) session. Everyone learned the basics of the control layout on the Canon R6 (and also on Luke's R7), and some key concepts. Next up, in a week or two, would be our first in-the-field session (with cars, in a parking lot).

April 30, 2023 - Swag top-up

Towards the latter half of April, we spent a bit of time re-stocking our supply of GTS Chronicles official swag, as well as developing a few new items. We ordered some new, slightly improved ball caps, some coffee cups with our latest logo designs, new business cards - with everything now in proper Carmine Red (our earlier swag was colored with Guards Red). Also, I started work on the design (and a 3D-generated cut-out template) of the vinyl stickers we will use to create a low-cost custom GTS Chronicles door sill plate sticker.

April 30 - A Sad Post

On April 30, I posted my existing "fun" car - my 2018 Long Beach Blue BMW M2 - for sale. I really liked that car - it was handsome, not over-wrought, comfortable, had a nice smooth and powerful inline-6 engine, and had a surprisingly useful and spacious back seat. It was a very nice sporty GT sort of car. It wasn't the bespoke lightweight focused sportscar that the 718 was, but it was still really nice. If circumstances had been more appropriate, I could have seen me keeping it. But I didn't really have the space for it and selling it did mean a significant chunk of money would be liberated for use in the purchase of the 718, so ... up it went for sale. Here are some of the promotional pictures I took of it for the auto trader / facebook martekplace / kijiji / craigslist postings.

The auto-trader canada ad for my 2018 BMW M2.

And so that about wraps up the account of what went down in April of 2023. If you scroll back up to the top, you'll see that we actually did manage to make fairly good headway on the to-do list we had created. We had not managed to experiment with PPF, nor did I get a chance to do a shake-down on the resurrected drone, but for everything else, we had either managed to complete the task or were partway through. Not bad. Better not let off the gas in May, though ... time was drawing short!