Yesterday (8/19) I met up w/ some guys from the South East chapter of NASIOC downtown. It was a great turn out, like 14 cars, and a beautiful evening. Columbia’s Subaru scene is happenin’! Some pictures:
June 1, 2009
May 18, 2009
I saved these photos from the One Lap of America to do a feature on this car. This was, by far, my favorite car of the day and I knew nothing of it until I did some research when I got home. The car is built by TC Kline Racing upon the 2006 BMW Z4 coupe and was driven by Eric Brum and David Flogaus (who ultimately finished in 16th).
TC Kline had Carbon Fiber Composites completely reworked the body in carbon fiber & managed to make it a few inches wider, to fit those 18 x 9.5 fronts and 18 x 10.5 rear monoblock wheels by Rays (basically re labeled Te37, right?). By using that carbon fiber skin over the steel unibody, TC Kline managed to shed over five hundred pounds off the original Z4′s weight! They also rework the interior using Recaros covered in world class leather. Gorgeous! You can see the bare carbon roof in this photo.
TC Kline had this to say,
“The Carbon Coupe weights 2,740 lbs., has 342 hp and corners with 1.06G grip. Take a minute to soak that in. The CC weighs less than a Honda S2000, has the HP of a Porsche 911, and has wider wheels and tires than a Ferrari F430. Incredibly, the CC weighs almost 600 lbs. less than a BMW M3 while maintaining the same power, drive train, and suspension.”
The CC listed around $96,000. One hundred were made. They also made a “Carbon Roadster” from the Z3. A full write up can be found here.
May 18, 2009
I picked up this bad boy from the Cigar Box last Friday, but I’ve been preparing myself for it for quite sometime now. The Ligero line by La Flor Dominicana (LFD) are straight powerhouses! These are easily some on the strongest cigars available in the N. American cigar market, and I had smoked a couple different Ligeros before jumping in the deep end with this Double.
There is a great interview with Litto Gomez (LFD’s founder & blender) on Zen & the Art of the Cigar (found here). In this interview, he was asked what lead him to start blending more full bodied cigars like the Ligero line; to which he replied:
“The change in the later blends came because of my own taste preferences, I started to blend fuller bodied cigars for myself and then I realized that it was unfair that I smoke something different than what our consumers where smoking so we released the rest of the lines on a more full body style until today blends that are probably the fullest bodied blends in the market.”
Really calling these smokes “full-bodied” is sorta an understatement. Numerous reviews of these have said things like “smoke on a full stomach” or called them “stomach movers” and these are all true statements. An Ecuadorian Sumatra wrapper covers this extra shiney stick . I paired mine with a Hop Wallop double IPA from Victory Brewing, which, in hindsight might have actually overpowered the cigar a bit. I just assumed this smoke would be spicy but, despite the strength, it was actually rather smooth. Def. leathery though. In the end this was a great smoke w/ a perfect burn.
May 12, 2009
Drifting is an odd “sport” for me. I mean, I love the original drift cars (AE86/Corollas, RX7s, 180 & 240sx/Silvias) and the whole idea of late night, high speed canyon runs (touge). Plus the amount of car control involved is ridiculous, but the subjectivity of the judging just reminds me more of… I don’t know… an Olympic diving contest more than a motor sport. Haha, thats def. an overstatement but, to me, when cars race there should be a definitive winner, always.
Anyway, I’ve held this opinion for far too long to have never actually seen professional drifting in person. So Megan & I set out on a road trip to Panoz’s Road Atl. last weekend for round 2 of Formula Drift. Good times, good times. Due to some confusion over the schedule we ended up staying both Friday & Saturday night. We both had a great time; Megan got to meet & take a picture with Tanner Foust which absolutley made the weekend for her! Oh & she asked him if, in Supercars Exposed, when he gets pulled over (all the time) if they fake those or not… Tanner said they faked the first one & all the others were just bad luck : ( Good to know thou, right?!
All of the drifting shots were taken by Megan as I was way more interested in the parking lot and paddock cars. We did get good seats. Ironically enough, we sat behind the Gittin family and the Drift Alliance “fan club”/ girlfriends. Chris Forsberg went on to win that round, w/Darren McNamara in 2nd, and Ryan Tuerck coming in third. Enough words.
There were a good number of dope turbo Z33s there. Here’s one.
Mmmmm Exige. Intercooler in rear view mirror? Yes, please!
Super nice modern resto. 510 pictured below.
350Z Roadster showcar, sitting on HREs.
May 11, 2009
On Thursday, May 7th One Lap of America came to Carolina Motorsports Park (CMP). The first cars were out around 8:30 that morning, so I had to weasel out of work for a few hours to catch the action. The battles at CMP were in the Time Attack format, and the Cannonball GTR driven by Will Taylor and Steven Rankins was the points leader at that time.
There were a few showers early in the morning (and a couple of cars went sideways because of it) but then the sun showed itself and the track began drying off. The paddock had an awesome mix of machines.
There were two hot GT3s out there (including this one w/ a full cage and Moton coilovers w/ external reservoirs) but these beauties were passed over by almost everyone who, instead, were focused on the Cannonball GTR.
Dinan M5
These guy were calling their Galant VR4 an Evo Zero, nice.
Cannonball GTR sporting Lizard’s Thicket livery, woot-woot!
I’m pretty sure this was my first time seeing a slant nose Porsche in person, hot!
I really like Victory series of Cadillacs but watching this one move on the track was lackluster to say the least.
Ummm ruff & buff Ultima GT-R. Yeah, sure this one’s seen better days but atleast the owner drives it hard.
I was able to catch most of the cars do their first run, but I did have to leave before 11 for work… My friend John W. said they later let spectators do Fun Runs w/ thier cars! My luck, right? I’ve still yet to drive CMP. But the LGT really needs a new stickier set of tires anyway…
(my car look like an SUV next to this lower 42 Autosports Spec B)
May 7, 2009
Welcome to my first blog. I’m Scott, live in Columbia SC, and work at a bank; but who cares… this blog will be primarily used to cover my hobbies & passions. For the most part this will be a car & motorsports blog with as much original content as possible. Don’t be surprised by posts about beer, style, and the occasional cigar review though. I’ll try to keep it mixed up, but it will mostly be Japanese performance cars/culture in & around the South East. If you have any questions, comments, or complaints then shoot me an e-mail, but (Haters listen up!) keep in mind this is my proverbial soap-box and I plan to use it as such.
Peace,
Scott
