Thanks, Honda!

Don’t forget – the Indy is free all Friday.

Honda Canada invited me to Niagara Falls to test drive their new Civic Si HFP - their “tuned out of the box” Civic.

They put me at the cutest country inn (see this blog post), and Thursday morning I walked outside to 6 of their HFPs.  There’s only 400 in Canada.

HFP -Honda Factory Performance.

Non-car nerds: the Honda Civic has, for years, been a “Top 5 cars to modify” because of its good, strong base.   

Their HFP package provides a ton of modifications direct from the factory, at half of what it would cost you to do it.

In the morning we toured through the country.

It was very scenic, and more nature than I’m used to.

That’s good photo-staging there; my driving partner Kanishka set it up.

We were a good team; neither of us turned on the radio (let’s listen to the engine), and he also hides from the sun (no sunroof never).

The afternoon was spent on the track.  

Which turned out to be an airport COME ON.

See the airplane top left? It was a yellow bi-plane from the 20s that starred in the Amelia Earhart movie.  Hello from shangri-la.  Needless to say, I was out of my head all day.

I’m certain the automotive journalists of Canada think I’m this loud and hyper girl… opposite, guys!  That was a dream-come-true day for me, so there was no containing that amount of joy.

I like to think that was one of the fastest times of the day.

I’m not competitive :|

The engine makes that good grrrRRR sound, which I like.  Yes I want the car to move when I hit it, but I also want to hear it.  When I had that red Civic two weeks ago, I was superfluously revving everywhere I went.

My instructor Daniel Morad, the first North American to win a heat race at the Formula BMW World Final in 2007 YES dude.

There’s Zach Spencer (white shirt), who travelled all the way from Vancouver, and is the host of Driving Television.

Welcome to my blog, Clare!  Read Clare’s National Post column here.

Now meet Shea Holbrook, 22 year old racing professional who races a Civic Si in the True Car racing series.  She’s doing amazing this season.

Just yesterday Shea climbed the podium TWICE in the Pirelli World Challenge Touring Car division.  YES missy!

This is her mom Erin, and her dad was there too.  They’re the cutest family you ever met.

One of my favourite parts of the Civic, and

top 3 hazard buttons I’ve ever seen.

Big big fan of the hazard button. I used it three times during a 40 km highway drive yesterday.

I’ll make a video soon, to show you my technique.

Bottom line: I’m a fan of the Civic because it’s fun to drive.  It reminds you why you fell in love with driving in the first place.

Plus, it sticks to the road both in performance, and mechanically.

Then a trolley took us home.

Someone yelled, how fast have you got this thing up to? The driver yelled back, one time 90kmh! We cheered.

Thank you Honda, for one of the most fun driving experiences I’ve ever had.

I love shifting gears, you know this.

Most press cars are automatic. So this week was real refreshing.

Shift, rev, peel, skip from 4th to 2nd, lots of superfluous revving just because I can.

I use the hazard button a LOT when I drive.

It find it more effective than brake lights alone.

See the pink arrow above? Note the positioning, the clear path from wheel to engaging the alert system? That’s how you know this is a drivers car – Honda Civic SI.

Shifting gears is easy, don’t be intimidated.

It’s like learning a little dance routine: depress clutch, shift with arm, release clutch. See? Easy.

Even in 5″ heels.

Had to give it back Monday to Honda Canada.

This week’s car, an Acura MDX.

Acura is the fancy, higher-end line of Honda.

It’s making me drive slower, like the Navigator did. I guess that’s good.

It’s a challenge juggling blog jobs… keep it afloat with content, keep it afloat with logistics, planning and executing, travel, maintaining a steady internet connection, physical maintenance of my tools , this thing is supposed to make money how, and that’s not even the tip of the iceberg.

I love it. 

This is neat: if you watch TV in the Toronto area,

it likely comes through here, Telesat,

down in my beloved Cherry Beach.

Stay clear of these for a while too, the ‘Service Ontario’ kiosks, they were hacked today.

Cleaning up an identity theft is far more involved than a credit card; use a human teller until they get their machines secured.

Also – change your LinkedIn password… they were hacked Tuesday.

Me Today & Me Yesterday

Great action shot, eh.

It’s SO NICE to be shifting again, I haven’t since the fall.

Thanks for the PEN, Olympus.

Hope you had a great #ThursdayNight, best night of the week! 

Get out there and crush your Friday, TTY on Twitter.

That’s me, Robert (General Manager) and Richard (President), hi guys welcome to my blog!

I’m at BHG Media Fleet, one of Canada’s premiere press car and fleet management companies. They’re a class act.

And because they manage a variety of car brands, I’ve been able to return here each Monday, but not today.

Today was a trek… downtown Toronto to Mississauga, then Mississauga to Markham, a 60km journey involving six different buses. Uh-huh.

Luckily, SO luckily, I met Mike at BHG and he kindly drove me to Markham. Thanks, Mike!

We talked cars and the internet along the way, and get THIS: he does not own a cel phone.

Neat eh, because as I’ve harped on you before:  it’s good to take breaks from online.

Arrived in Markham at Honda’s Canadian headquarters, and picked up this week’s car, a Honda Civic SI.

It’s standard YES. Haven’t shifted gears since last fall.

See how simple and clean the interior is?  This is a driver’s car.

If you hear excessive and superfluous engine revving this week, wave hi as I blur by, wink.

Lastly – apologies for the heavy car-themed-posts these days, but I’m working on something here… remember when I told you:

That’s all I’m going to say for now; you know how jinx-y I am.

TTYT

I prefer standard, more control and fun. I learned on it.

Most of my cars have been manual, but remember when my car died last fall? It’s been press and rental cars ever since, all automatic, so I hadn’t shifted anything since the fall.

Still killed it.

That’s a Honda Civic SI, fully equipped everything, one of about 200 in Canada.

Full video coming soon over at KeriOnCars.com

It was my first time driving one. And I totally get it now.

And THIS is a hazard button set up. Top 3 I’ve ever seen.

It should be immediately accessible, no barriers. I have a thing about them.

The worst hazard buttons are on TOP of the steering column, are you kidding me. Put my hand through the wheel during an emergency situation. Have you ever got your arm caught while turning, it’s terrifying.

I say it all the time, and found further proof today…

#ThursdayNight best night of the week

A screenshot of Alen and I after our lap, which is good footage.

Thanks for a fantastic afternoon Honda, look forward to

driving your Civic in June!

It was bumper cars today at the 25th Honda Indy.

Dario Franchitti smashed his way to his 3rd Toronto Indy win, congratulations! Will Power is upset. Read about it here.

The weather was perfect, fighter jets overhead, it was a fantastic weekend, thanks again, Honda!

This is the first video I’ve uploaded to Google+

Add me     gplus.to/KeriBlog

Under the bleachers on the way out.

Here’s the editing file….. did you think there’d be that many cuts?? Exactly.  Smirk.

Here’s to a good and productive start to your week!!

Sometimes I wonder if, in olden times, horses were loved as much as we love engines today.

Engines are the new horses.

It was beautfiul out, a perfect weather day. Here’s your sunscreen reminder. Then Scott came out of nowhere, and surprised me.

Maybe my favourite part of any car race is the sound.

Those are NASCARs you hear.

But have you noticed too, that this year’s Indy isn’t as busy as past years.

I remember hearing cars for 3 days straight, and it’s now Saturday night and I’ve barely heard any races? Did it get scaled back and I don’t know?

One year I rode a giant razor like a mechanical bull.

Going again tomorrow!