Saturday, December 19, 2009

General Motors Canada - Vancouver Torch Run 2010

Today I had an amazing opportunity. Art Lewis, from General Motors, gave both myself and by brother a ride in the Torch Relay Convoy.
GM is the supplier of the vehicles (over 100 vehicles are travelling across Canada with the torch), and Art is in charge of making sure they are all working.
He stops at various dealerships along the route, to service, clean, and repair any damage to the vehicles. (One lost a mirror after being hit by a deer!) Art and his partner, Serge St. Louis (who work two week shifts on and off), and 6 other crew members keep the vehicles on the road.




Art explained that the vehicles were all shipped by rail to Montreal, than by transpor truck to Newfoundland, to begin the trip west.





All the vehicles seem to have personal plates, which was a nice touch, and Vancouver 2010 Olympic graphics.

Here's a few shots from Art's "mobile office", with phones, blackberries and GPS. He needs to keep in contact with everyone to know what needs to be fixed each nite. For instance, he is trying to get a compressor fixed on one of the trucks, which is pretty hard to do on a weekend! Hopefully a company in Hamilton will provide the help he needs!





Art really enjoys the crowds which have showed up to watch the event, and I admit, I'm really suprised at the turn out.





You can also follow Art and Serge on their twitter account.

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