informal Wisconsin enthusiast rally: motley crew of cars inside
 

A friend of mine has talked about these informal cruises he's done in the southwest corner of the state. Hidden gem: the SW corner of Wisconsin, called the driftless region, was never flattened by glaciers. That means there is actual topography and some top-tier driving roads. There are no major cities in the area so traffic is nearly non-existent. There road condition isn't stellar but the scenery is fabulous.

We showed up early outside Milwaukee to meet up then drove to Madison.

https://i.imgur.com/EvNqLn8.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/fh3n8Lp.jpg

Side note - my friend has a pretty nice home shop:

https://i.imgur.com/rnIbs4v.jpg

We met one more guy in Madison, the keeper of the routes, and most attendees had to refuel. The host and I were the two fuel-sipping cars that didn't need it

https://i.imgur.com/vA1Fj9G.jpg

I didn't get any in-action photos (obviously) but the 997 driver did have a GoPro. We stopped for lunch at the middle-of-nowhere bar on the top of the hill, which I've actually been to several times before.

Some photos of the group at lunch:

https://i.imgur.com/9d7K8xl.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/c2AnlUC.jpg

The blue thing in the corner of ^ that pic? The beastly Urus. Dwarfed my BRZ.

https://i.imgur.com/9VIvOS8.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/2euUpf4.jpg

It was a blast. Everyone was safe, respectful, and talented which is not a given at "cruises." We were able to push it pretty good without being nervous about other drivers. Everyone slowed and respected other traffic when we encountered them. Pretty amazing driving with 200 (BRZ and RX8) to 600+ (S/C Mustang and the Urus) horsepower but we all hung together. The only real PITA was the C7 GrandSport, with Pilot Cup tires that threw EVERY SINGLE peddle and rock skyward. The following car had to leave a massive gap to avoid the shower of debris.

Like I said, these roads are mostly local and farm service road so lots of dust, sand, undulations, narrow bridges. The BRZ was in its element but my friend in the C7 said he was feeling the width of his car. The Urus driver said the car was amazing, leaving it in Sport/Auto rather than full race and manual. It just stuck and blasted out of the corners. The best car to follow was the 997 as the driver was an ex-racer (not going to put the car in the weeds) and the car was a full Fabspeed cup treatment and just wailed. I had to hold on to every mph I could as I didn't have the power to close any gaps on the straight sections. I really liked the narrow PSS tires - they just danced around and never surprised me. I could have done with more stick but the communication was great and honestly, that was fast enough to be cornering on the street.

This is awesome — I’m in Milwaukee. This posted anywhere before a cruise?