At 14:00 there were some surprised people passing by the parking outside CERN (Building 33).
The reason for this was a tight formation of SAABs parked with enthusiastic owners talking
mostly about their favourite subject; SAAB. After the last SAAB team arrived, we were off for
the scenic drive in (mostly) the wineyard areas of Satigny and other places.
The first pit-stop was done at a nice little resting area by the small road in the middle of the
wineyards, overlooking the valley in front of the Jura mountains. Here one (1) small glass of
nice and chilled "Cabernet Sauvignon" was enjoyed as everyone was "formally welcome:d"
to the more or less historical event of "The First GASE Meeting".
Leaving from the winefields, an individual picture of all participants at their SAAB:s was taken
with the GASE logo in front of the SAAB. Ah yes, there was also the Jura mountains in the background.
Then followed the main part of the "scenic drive", taking the participants along small paved roads
in the forests, as well as through small villages. At around 15:30 the SAAB formation arrived at the
goal, the CERN Prevessin site. This is where the next points of the programme were to take place.
The SAAB formation was led to a bigger paved place at CERN, where a "car-slalom race
against the clock" forwards AND backwards was performed. The results from this event,
as well as the results from the other games can be seen later on this page.
Having enjoyed some inspiring zig-zag SAAB driving, the formation arrived close to the
BBQ area for the mandatory group photo. (The one seen on top of the page.) That done,
the SAABs were moved even little a bit closer to the BBQ area where some snacks, coffee and
other refreshments were served. Close to the BBQ area there were also some other SAAB:s
parked that did not participate in the scenic drive, but were just waiting for the rest of the
GASE cars to arrive. These SAAB:s included for instance one 1967 SAAB 260-3 "SAABO"
camping caravan, and one 1947 SAAB boat. Of course there was also some easy background
music, this was mainly a SAAB 9-5 promotion CD, and the chart-topping "saab.mp3 or
tvataktare.mp3" you know, the "Rrring-ding-ding-ding-ding-bam-badam-baaaa..." -modern
classic. And, also to give some credit to the SAABO camper we also had the "Galenskaparna -
Man ska ha husvagn." (= One must/should have a caravan.) Special thanks goes to Georges Casaro
from Charmilles SAAB in Geneva for kindly lending GASE some nice SAAB flags, and for
giving away the new 2002 model year SAAB brochures!
During the several breaks in the game programme to follow Magnus was taking one GASE
SAAB team participant at a time aside to ask the 10 questions of the GASE quiz.
See the questions AND the correct answers here.
Between the snacks the "GASE Games" continued. The zig-zag theme continued, and this
time the idea of the game was to run a small slalom between some cones while rolling two
tires at the same time. Here we could clearly see that "practice makes perfect", since
one of the GASE members previously working at a tire shop won in good style...!
After a short rest to catch one's breath, the next game started. This was a slightly
modified athletic game, the "Brake Discus", where a disc was to be thrown as far as
possible. To ensure the same launching direction and everyone's safety, no spinning
start was allowed. :-)
The third game was another tire-game, this time the idea was to make the tire land on a cone.
This turned out to be quite difficult, but luckily three participants managed to get one point each!
After all the games and a lot of relaxing SAAB talk, the GASE members continued to a
local restaurant on the Jura mountains, Bois Joly, where we had a table reservation made.
But, before leaving Prevessin, there was one more game to do, the "Headless driving"!
The idea of this game was to drive about 10 meters and stop as close as possible to a
pair of cones, with a paper bag on one's head! This game was an easy win for Mikaela,
stopping 15 cm from the cones! (This made Magnus wonder if his fiancée really keeps her
eyes all the time open while driving...? As we know, practice makes perfect. Oh well.) ;-)
After some more fun performances from the members, we were off to the restaurant.
And yes, now we could keep our eyes open! ;-)
During the nice dinner up at Bois Joly, Magnus also made some "official news" to all GASE
members, distributed the minutes from the Club president's meeting at the international
SAAB meeting in Finland, as well as pointing out that GASE is now listed in the international
SAAB club address database. GASE is growing! Another issue that was made public is
the question to if / when GASE is to make / order some club polo shirts. This was recieved
quite positively, so the conclusion was to investigate further where to make these nice shirts.
The approximate price was estimated to be about 30,-CHF or about 120,-FF / shirt, and
the members present made some "pre-fabrication reservations" for shirts.
After a good meal it was time to go on to the prize ceremony! See the results lower down.
The procedure was quite simple. The #1 got to choose a SAAB care product first and
then the #2 chose prize, and so on.
After this and a coffee, GASE left the restaurant and everyone went back home,
happy after a really good meeting.
On behalf of the organizing committé, Magnus & Michael, THANK YOU all for
attending the meeting. It is the participating members that make these kinds of
events special. Looking forward to seeing you again soon on the next GASE event!
Take care and may the SAAB be with you, always!
Magnus
To start with; A picture of the members lined up by (one of) their cars.
Below you will see a lot of picture thumbnails, as usual, to get a bigger view, just click on the small
picture to see a version with higher resolution. The sequence of the pictures correspond to the story
told earlier on this page.
Take care,
Magnus
<<< This was the timetable for the meeting. It was actually quite accurate...! >>>
( The cost turned out to be; Own fuel + own food @ B.J. + 15,-CHF )
Here is the preliminary programme for the first GASE meeting. Some surprises will
also be included, and if we told you now what the surprises are they would not be
surprises... Be there. It will be a great meeting...!
Timetable;
14:00 Start at CERN, Meyrin, Geneva. Scenic drive.
16:00 Arrival at CERN, Prevessin. Separate programme.
( Games, coffee & snacks. )
19:00 Dinner at restaurant "Bois Joly"
Results of games, prices.
Cost;
-Own fuel
-Own food @ Bois joly
-Calculated share of prices
Questions;
Magnus; +41 79 2014526
Michael; +41 79 2010906