This year I was fortunate enough to make it out to Monterey for Thursday to Sunday of Car Week. It has been on the vacation list for a couple years, and with my cousin living out in San Francisco for the summer, the pieces fit together just enough to make it work!

I flew out on Wednesday night, and spent Thursday and Friday bouncing between shows, drives and auction houses in Carmel and Monterey. First thing to note about the trip... for the week of Pebble, Monterey Peninsula becomes playground for America's richest car guys. Cars are trucked in from all over the US for their owners to rip around town - Literally every open field in town is packed full of car carriers and closed trailers. As a result, seemingly every third car you see on the roads is some sort of exotic... it is obscene. At one point, while I was innocently eating lunch on a bench in central Carmel, a black LaFerrari absolutely tore ass up the central avenue in town... with a white McLaren F1 right behind him. Its really hard to avoid getting jaded. Oh, a red F430? Sorry you are so poor...

Thursday morning was the Tour D'Elegance, where most of Sunday's show field drives a loop out from Pebble to Laguna Seca and back through Carmel. It's quite the experience to see some of the world's most prestigious show cars cruising around 17 Mile Drive.... a lot of the participants like to dress in period correct clothing as well, which is pretty awesome. I checked out RM Sothebys auction lot on Thursday after the Tour - they had a ridiculous collection of cars to go across the block in the weekend. An F50, Enzo, XJ220, 959, McLaren F1 LM (sold for something like $14m?), MC12, Reventon etc etc, not to mention the bevy of obscenely priced 60s Ferraris... Also, I found a familiar-looking bald headed man checking out the Koenigsegg they had for sale - turns out Christian likes some summer California vacations like the rest of us!

Friday was the Porsche Werks Reunion, put on by the PCA. Pretty much any Porsche you could possible imagine was in attendance. At the same time, just a couple miles down the road they held the Quail Gathering - another one of the multiple shows held over the weekend. Tickets were a little pricey for the Quail, but I had heard the parking lot was show enough... it did not disappoint.

Here are some of the highlights from Thursday and Friday.... More to come on Saturday at Laguna Seca and Sunday at Pebble.

I know this is a long shot… so tell your friends and family too! 10.5 inch Pistol builds (you really should buy it and make it an SBR and add a suppressor) especially in 300BLK caliber aren’t every shooters cup of tea… but here you are. This project started a while ago and never got off the ground because 300BLK is more of a reloaders round. It’s never been fired AND needs a bolt carrier assembly to be complete. Any 5.56 BCA will work, but if you go with a suppressor and want to side charge, I ONLY use Young Manufacturing side charge BCA (they just wipe clean).

I’ve added some parts (and I’ll verify and update the post) since these pictures, if you are serious about it just PM me your cell and I’ll text you minty fresh pics. This pistol has over $1300 in parts plus machine time. I’m open to offers… I’ll need to see the right credentials to sell (standard gun sale stuff).

The Upper:
Mega Side Charge Upper
Alpha Shooting Sports 10.5 inch Melonite Barrel
Lancer 12 inch Carbon Fiber HG with front sight rail
Magpul MBUS Pro Front and Rear Sights
Russian Muzzle Device to simulate the weight of a suppressor
BCM Mod 3 Charging Handle (I think)
Daniel Defense Clamping Low Pro Gas Block

The Lower:
Billet Non Ambi Lower
Phase 5 Metal Bolt Release
Phase 5 Trigger Guard
KNS/Spike Tactical Anti Rotation Pins
Spikes Tactical Enhanced Parts Kit with Trigger
Battle Arms 45* Safety
Battle Arms Steel Take Down Pins
***as the build evolved some of the parts changed, not all the parts are in the pics but I can send a serious buyer pics***
Now for PICS:
KAC front sight vs. the Magpul Pro






MAG not included


Barrel is shorter than the HG








Does NOT have the Troy Claymore anymore

Behold, my second act of the turbo diesel variety:




Dafuq the headrest at? Nobody knows...


The story:
I got in trouble on the internet by tossing bids around nonchalantly that were so low, there was no possible way I could win - until I did. Shit - had to go pick this bad boy up in Connecticut. Originally a Massachusetts car, went to NH for a couple years, and now in WV.

The details:
2009 TDI Sportwagen, 6sp DSG, 147k miles. Tires are shitty on it, possibly has a bad TPMS, and is throwing a code for some exhaust valve sensor. Also, it was owned by a VERY DIRTY HUMAN who seems to have let their very dirty dog all up in this jank. This probably explains the missing headrest. Clean carfax, plenty of maintenance records on the carfax too, so I play on calling the two dealerships it was serviced at and see if they will send me what they have on it. Is this common request? Don't know yet. All the buttons and features work, so that was pleasantly surprising.

The plan:
Get it detailed, ASAP. Get new tires ASAP - or possibly wheels and tires if I can source some OEM better looking wheels. Under-tray dust shield is busted and hanging low. Need to remove it for now, or wire-tie it up.The front air damn is also not sitting square in the bumper, so I think i need to straighten that up and it will pop right back in place. Need to do some research and figure out what maintenance things I either need to do, or verify have been done. After all that, look into possibly painting those mud flaps body color, and painting that peeled up cover on the bumper. Then drive for lots of miles.

Impressions so far: Drove it back from CT and it never missed a beat over 340 miles. my calculation and the computer came up with 40mpg - so that was pretty awesome. The DSG takes a little bit of getting used to - seems like it wants to downshift pretty quick when you let off the gas at low speeds.

Hey everybody, my alternator has been the weakest link of my car for awhile. One of my very mechanically inclined friednds offered to help me so I bought a 300$ alt from Olympus. And since I went to Yurrup this summer for study abroad and he is now in FL to see his grandparents and bring back up his Polara, I was wondering if anyone could help or provide equipment to replace the alternator. Here is a guide that I need to follow,
<!-- m --><a class="postlink" href="http://www.saabcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=208735">http://www.saabcentral.com/forums/showt ... p?t=208735</a><!-- m --> ,
but I am still very much an automotive lightweight and any one-on-one help or equipment would be a massive help.
I live in Alexandria city, but Fairfax county.
Thanks for your time everybody

<!-- m --><a class="postlink" href="http://www.harborfreight.com/500-lb-capacity-deluxe-cargo-carrier-66983.html">http://www.harborfreight.com/500-lb-cap ... 66983.html</a><!-- m -->

$50, OBO

Since most of us like karting and will be at least asking about it this next year, I might as well throw this out there. I don't know if anyone has talked about it but a new karting place is opening in mannassas in October so for those that want to change up from Richmond you can consider this now.

http://www.autobahnspeed.com/manassas-va...-go-karts/

Hey everyone the date has been finalized for the Annual College Solo Autocross. Share with your friends and invite everyone to come out. It will be a fun day to burn up some tires as always. Online registration will be open soon and I will post in here when that is ready to go.

Location: Augusta County Government Center, Verona (20 mins south of Hburg via 81)

Price:
Pre-reg
Current SCCA Member: $30
Others: $40

On Site Reg
Current SCCA Member: $35
Others: $45

Reg/Tech: 8:30-10:00AM
Mandatory Drivers Meeting: 10:15AM
First Car Off: 11:00AM
Online Pre-reg: <!-- m --><a class="postlink" href="http://www.motorsportreg.com/events/brr-scca-college-challenge-autocross-augusta-county-government-center-blue-ridge-740613#.VgxndGeUM74">http://www.motorsportreg.com/events/brr ... gxndGeUM74</a><!-- m -->

People will be on site at 7:30 so arrive anytime between then and Reg/Tech.

There will also be an event thread going up on FB for this later today.

Lets bring home cones in every class MM runs in boys! :thumbup:

Just in case you're not already excited: <!-- m --><a class="postlink" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/22888754@N00/sets/72157648803916606">https://www.flickr.com/photos/22888754@ ... 8803916606</a><!-- m -->

Enough miatas!

Figured I would throw up a project thread to derail the invasion of girly cars, and inject some gold chains and hairy chests to the equation. I have had this car for a couple months now, but did not start a project thread. Hoping against hope that I wouldn't have to work on the damn thing. Hint: WRONG!

I bought this already prepared for SCCA's Autocross class SSP. Called Super Street Prepared. This has all the fun cars such as Porsche GT3s, corvettes, elises etc with some allowed modifications.
Quick Modification List:
-A/C Removed
-Stereo/speakers removed
-Sparco Seats
-Sparco Steering Wheel
-Vararam Carbon Fiber Intake
-Headers/cat-delete/stock Titanium cat-back
-Danny Popp Tune
-Koni 3013 shocks
-2x sets of CCWs, one 18x10.5 set all around, one 18x11F/18x12R.

Car weighs in around 2900lbs, about 400rwhp, and in autox runs 315/30/18 Fronts, and 335/30/18 Rear hoosiers (13" wide! hock: )

1st. My friend convinced me to buy this car saying it was all setup, ready to go. I could jump in and win Nationals. Well we know how that goes! I picked up the car and its A) Dirty as sin with almost a 1/4 inch of dust in the interior, nasty sticky stuff on dash about 3"x3", and on Hoosiers that are so old, you could barely sink your nail into the tire.

The irony is not lost that I picked it up with my new to me trailer that has "Ford Performance" on the side with my GM truck.




Naturally, as I do with most my cars I pick up, on Saturday in Tennessee and drove straight to Richmond for an Autox Sunday.
1st mistake, told Jake he should co-drive. :wink: 2nd Mistake, underestimate V8 power and shitty tires
The car is ALL over the place. In order to reign it in a bit, I am launching in 2nd gear, and still blowing away the tires till the first turn gate. And then any application was sideways. There was a slight offset straight, that at 50mph, I would nail into the throttle (going straight) and would pitch the car sidways. Instatorque = awesome. Unfortunately it scared the ever-living SHIT out of Jess and she refused to co-drive somehow thinking that the car would eat people. Not kidding, I have never seen someone so scared to drive a car before.

My reward for letting Jake co-drive ended with a large punt of a cone which cracked my front bumper, on my 6,300 mile car. Yay but that's how it goes when autoxing in 30 degree weather.

So I brought the car home and called Sam Strano, mr corvette autoxer extroardinare. He convinced me to not do any changes, but to throw on newer tires and give it another go around. So the car sat...outside right as we get a snow-storm.
Sad Car


The next autox was the one I Was coming down to JMU for the car show. I grabbed the CCW 18x10.5s and spent about 3 days cleaning/polishing/painting as they were pitted, scratched, and faded purple. They came out awesome!


I also :gasp: cleaned the car and much to Jess' chagrin, threw on the SSP spoiler. (actually does have a big effect on autox courses). But she would soon change her mind as after the car show we went for a drive. Jess has really only known me with track cars, and to not really just go on "cruises". She enjoyed the drive-in part, and just going for a fun drive.





The next day was the autox. After the last autox I bought some scrubs that had a bit better life and threw them on for the autox. I also didn't grab a codriver as I was worried about how nasty the car was at the last one. Throw some walls in closer and it was not worth the risk.

Well, the car changed dramatically with decent tires. A few small handing issues, but it was a rocketship. The wide Hoosiers providing tons of lateral grip on a crappy gravelly course and the 400rwhp blasting me to each corner. Many rides were had, all with huge grins





On the 1st run, I had already grabbed FTD away from another Hoosiered Z06 and the next 3 runs would extend my lead of Fastest Time of the Day to 2 seconds, and Fastest Time PAX by 1.2 seconds. Not too shabby!




I then prepared for the upcoming NJ Meadowlands Pro Solo. For those not familiar with this format, it is a Nationals autox with SCCA where the start is done by a drag tree. No "launch at your own time", you are losing time not coming off the tree. To make this even more fun, the course is split A/B mirrored courses, so you are racing heads up next to another person. Since this was a Nationals Event, competition was fierce!

And Yes, since it is a drag start, you are allowed to warm up your tires.



In-Class Competition was Saturday. I pulled out a win on the last run as I got adjusted to the car.



Unfortunately the car started to do this (diff smoking):

And this happend (broken header air injection port)


Quick surgery fixed the header


Unfortunately for Sunday, which was for the Super Challenge, I had qualified with a win on Saturday. I got knocked out as the diff was letting go and I just couldn't put down power, which also tripped ABS into limp mode. She was done, but I had won my class and 2 more Hoosiers!


That brings us to now. I ordered an OSGiken for the rear that I plan on installing in the next couple weeks. The car goes to SCCA Nats in Nebraska without me but with my codriver, as I will be on my honeymoon.

Pretty cool Q&A where he talks about the struggle to get the company going, his childhood, and how the Regera concept came to be.

<!-- m --><a class="postlink" href="http://koenigsegg.com/ama1-with-cvk-early-years-and-process/">http://koenigsegg.com/ama1-with-cvk-ear ... d-process/</a><!-- m -->

Opening Home Game against Morehead St.
Saturday, Sept 5th, 2015
6PM
Section: 404, top of section, under the pressbox
Seats: 15,16,17,18
Parking pass for Convo Lot

$20 per
If you do not buy all 4, the first person to purchase a ticket gets the parking pass.