That had to be the best meet yet--- weather co-operated, most had their cars out of hibernation and the turnout was impressive:

Three RX8s, seven 3rd gens (a new record I think, and included Scott and his Montego blue ride from Red Deer), eight 2nd gens (including at least three T-IIs, one of which was Max's monster and another was Nubian's 10th AE), five 1st gens (one of which had a supercharged 12A putting somewhere north of 170 hp to the rear wheels), one brand new Miata and five Mazda 3's, for a total count of 29 cars.

For those counting rotaries, there were 24: 23 in the above-mentioned RX's plus one more that came in a box and was an air-cooled single-rotor from a 1974 Arctic Cat snowmobile.

Gary was able to make it to the meet, but unfortunately without his immaculate GSL-SE, which is having the (supercharged) engine overhauled. Karla and her '85 12A didn't make it either due to prior commitments, which is too bad because she's a new player and hers is a very fine example of a stock 1st gen.

The BBQ got under way at about 2pm and went till 4-ish, after which we cruised to Cochrane via Glenmore and Hwy 8. Then we found a patio/ steakhouse for another hour or so of hanging out and shooting the breeze.

BTW, Sean: thanks for allowing my wife to test drive the Miata; and Gavin: thanks for allowing that same wife to test drive your RX8. She hasn't made up her mind which one she'd rather buy yet (Pssst... Honey, get the rotary!) but she now has more to base her decision on.

There would have been 8 3rd gens if I didn't have shit parts #$@%@!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!1

You counted wrong we had 11 Mazda 3's ;)

Sorry we left all of a sudden we were gonna come back after we went for some pictures in an empty lot but you guys had already cruised away. :(

wouldnt there be 32 cars? there were three Rx-8s there. The silver one, the blue one with no mods, the other blue RX-8 with the side skirts and goldish blackish rims on it.

I feel for you Edwin..... if he was there I was going to kick him in the jimmy... lol You missed a good turn out. I had a great time today. It was very nice to see all the cars, especially the 3rd gens. Dont get to see that to often. Looking forward to the mountain run. Thanks to everyone for the fun time and the cruise to Cochrane..... nice idea Ed ;)

Great time guys! Thanks for the food , I was starving! LOL...

It was good to put faces to names on here!

And thanks for the food guys! That was awesome.

Shit job I have.

I would have been there if I wasn't called to work by a kid who did
a header on his bike and smashed his two front teeth up. Good thing he was
wearing a helmet.
I had the car all waxed up too!

Man that could have been 9 FD's.......staggering. Usually there is 3000 FC's and 1 or 2 FD's :)

Good show the meet was fun

Thanks to Nubian who I assume brought the food, or to whoever did. It was a great meet, too bad I couldnt go all the way to Cochrane. It was nice to see all the cars there, they were all really nice. It was definitely an awsome meet. Thanks to Chris for the info too, it was a big help.

No problem! I fell in love with the 8 after my first drive, not by looking at it. In fact I didn't really even like the feel of it when I sat in the seats at first, but once you get on the road, you realize those seats are perfect for the car. I got to sit in one of the 3rd gen cars (that blue/green Montego or Monterrey??) and it felt very similar, but with more room (no back seat might be helping that out).
The one thing I felt about the console is that it seemed to take over the experience. Probably just me, but I prefer the lower profile of the 8's console. Mind you possibly it might be nice too once getting used to it.

Thanks everyone for inviting us 8's into your shin-dig. I had a great day, learned a lot, met a ton of very nice people!

Montego Blue is correct, even though it's actually a dark metallic blue-green shade--- one of the nicest colors. That would have been Scott's car. (He drove down from Red Deer).

Yeah, the higher console in the 3rd gen is typical of all-out exotic sports cars. It's not so much that the console is high as that you're sitting so low and are more reclined than in the RX8. It's great once you're used to it.

As for invites, yeah, it's an RX7 forum but any and all rotary-powered vehicles are always welcome, including RX8s and old-school rotary Mazdas from the '70s.

I like the 7's console ..... like flying in a jet ;) ( that's for the Aviator) lol

I included my miata because waaaaaaay back in the day, the original Miata concept was powered by none other than a 13B. Never produced with a rotary because of its poor Gas Milage at the time.

4 Years and there may be a rotory under the hood. Guess the smart thing to do is wait for the warrenty to run out.