With the GT3 and Boxster

Now that I’ve finally gotten the hang of driving the manual Boxster GTS, last Sunday I decided to take the kids along and head to the Royu Driveway with both the GT3 and the Boxster. When we climbed up to the Royu lookout in July, I hadn’t applied sunscreen and ended up with a severe sunburn on my arms and décolletage, like this↓(see photo below)

This time, I slathered sunscreen “like there’s no tomorrow” on my face, arms, neck, and décolletage, and on top of that, I bought a serious straw hat for farming use at the home center, so we were fully prepared.(At this point, fashion didn’t matter)

Actually, this was my first time driving the Boxster all the way from home to the Royu Driveway completely on my own, but I figured I could manage if my husband followed behind in the GT3.

However, the driveway out of our home parking lot is a tricky slope, and since the auto-hold didn’t work, when I took my foot off the brake, the car rolled back more than I expected… My husband, watching from outside, said,

You almost hit the block behind you! (ﾟдﾟ)!

Not the best start… Although I didn’t hit anything, I was pretty nervous as I got the car moving.

That said, I’m used to driving manuals, so I actually managed fine, and the drive went smoothly without stalling or breaking into a sweat. We arrived safely at the Royu lookout. Phew ε-(´∀｀*)

By the way, there was a tweet that morning saying, “It was full by 7 a.m.!” so we were worried there might be no parking when we arrived just after 8 a.m., but luckily a spot opened up just in time.

That day, we met owners who had previously taken me for a ride in their Roadster, Twitter followers, my husband’s Instagram followers, and many new faces. Some even said,

I saw on Twitter yesterday that you’d be coming up Royu with the Boxster and GT3, so I wanted to be there for this special day when you brought both cars! (laughs)

Thank you so much!

We also had the chance to meet a famous air-cooled Porsche owner who was featured in 911DAYS. Apparently, they had been reading my blog for some time, and I had heard about them from various sources, so it was truly a “finally meeting you!” moment.

The Charm of Royu Driveway

Once again, I deeply felt, “Everyone at Royu is so nice.” I recall a reader once commented about the Royu Driveway:

The road is fairly fun to drive. Motorcycles are restricted on Sundays, so it’s safe. Until around 11 a.m., there are fewer tourist cars heading to Arima, so it’s not crowded. Also, since it’s a relatively expensive toll road, traffic volume is low. For these reasons, it’s an ideal environment for a drive on the driveway. Thanks to this, many true car enthusiasts who drive for the joy of driving gather here (this is important, haha).
If you gather with people who treat their cars as fashion icons or just love showing off, you won’t have much in common. In that sense, regulars at Royu are genuine car lovers who enjoy driving, regardless of car model or age, and everyone welcomes each other, making for great conversations.
That’s the vibe here, lol.

Exactly, exactly!!!

What a spot-on analysis. It’s not that owning a car as a fashion statement is wrong, but among the many types of car lovers, Royu attracts those with good manners and respect who purely love cars and driving, so conversations flow easily and it feels comfortable here.

Next page → A two-shot of the Boxster and GT3, and even a Boxster Spyder…!