Choosing the Right Tire

Let’s face it, the weather out on the West Coast is awesome. The conditions are more or less predictable, the climate is almost always in the ’70s and sunny, and it’s generally easy to prepare for changes in conditions if, say, you travel up to Tahoe for some skiing.

But for those of us that live virtually anywhere else, Mother Nature chooses to be comparatively more cruel with her distribution of weather conditions. Those of us residing in the Midwest and on the East Coast, as surely you already know, experience seasons; actual changes in temperature and conditions from winter to summer and vice-versa.

Whether you’re an automotive novice or expert, you know that tires are your vehicle’s direct line of contact to the road. Aside from monitoring your vehicle’s tire pressure, treadwear, etc., it’s essential that you also choose the right tire for the season and conditions you’re driving in. The circumferential grooves, tread blocks, lateral grooves, and even whether or not a tire is siped can have an impact on how a vehicle handles and brakes in both the wet and the dry.

Every kind of tire from all-season to all-terrain has specific conditions in which they excel, and this article will help you decide on what kind of tire to use when.

All-Seasons, Not All-Conditions

These are the most common kind of tire found on standard passenger vehicles and SUVs. As their category name suggests, all-seasons can be used in virtually any weather condition. Most vehicles that are equipped with these kinds of tires are used for commuting, not racing, have tread patterns with wider circumferential grooves (for removing water), more basic lateral grooves and tread blocks, have lower speed ratings (S- or T-speed), and longer-lasting rubber compounds.

For vehicles that are more performance-oriented, a performance or ultra-high performance tire isn’t necessarily more appropriate but will compliment your vehicle’s handling and braking abilities in dry conditions, while maintaining wider circumferential grooves to disperse water. These tires have a more intricate, aggressive tread pattern from the outboard to inboard shoulders, higher speed rating (H- or V-speed), and a softer compound, which tends to wear quicker than regular all-seasons.

The Milestar MS932 Sport and MS932 XP+ tires are great examples of this. Both are high-performance tires that feature optimized tread patterns along with wide circumferential ribs and grooves for improved grip and water dispersion. Compared to the MS70, which has both vertical and variable siping for inclement weather, the Sport features lateral siping while the XP+ features 3D, zig-zag siping, which are geared more for a performance grip. The XP+ has the addition of wider shoulder tread blocks for better handling and cornering.

When it comes to colder and wetter conditions though, the performance-oriented all-season tires aren’t as great. Their rubber compounds aren’t made for colder temperatures and the more aggressive tread patterns mentioned limit the vehicle’s ability to not only grip the road but also disperse precipitation when there is water or snow on the road.

…tires are your vehicle’s direct line of contact to the road.

In extreme cases, this could result in hydroplaning, which is essentially when water cannot effectively pass through a tire’s circumferential grooves causing the tire to ultimately lose contact with the road.

Condition Specific Tires: Winter And All-Terrain 

When temperatures drop below 40 degrees or the terrain becomes rough, rocky, or muddy, an all-season tire isn’t going to cut it. Lower temperatures demand tires with specialized, temperature-specific rubber compounds for better grip, while inclement weather conditions and rougher terrain demand specialized tread patterns for better grip. That’s why winter and all-terrain tires exist.

A tire which has met the required performance criteria in snow testing (like the situations mentioned above) will be branded with a three-peak mountain snowflake (3PMS or 3PMSF) symbol on its sidewall. Traditionally, this designation was used only on winter-specific tires, but as of late, more all-seasons have been receiving the certification as well.

Both winter and all-terrain tires have wider, deeper circumferential grooves for maximum water dispersion along with siping. This is where siping, tiny straight or zig-zagged grooves within the tread blocks, really comes in handy. As the sipes come into contact with a surface, they aid the tread blocks with better grip.

In more extreme cases, adding studs to or wrapping them in chains might be necessary. These studs are small pieces of metal that can literally be installed into the tire’s tread and help the tire dig into ice and snow.

When temperatures drop below 40 degrees or the terrain becomes rough, rocky, or muddy, an all-season tire isn’t going to cut it.

Milestar’s Patagonia A/T W is an excellent example of a studdable tire, which has small indents throughout the tread for stud installation and is supplemented with segmented wishbone tread blocks and silica compound for better overall grip.

Similarly, wrapping a tire in specialized tire chains also helps a tire dig to ice and snow, but can be harmful to the pavement when ice or snow isn’t present. Consulting both your car’s user manual as well as with a tire shop is highly recommended if you choose to go for either of these options.

When it comes to all-terrain tires, their inboard and outboard shoulders are typically comprised of lugs—extra large “chunks” of tread—in addition to most standard tire components. The Milestar Patagonia M/T is a great visual example of this. It features high void, lugged tread for maximum traction on rough terrain.

With All That Being Said…

No matter which brand of tire you decide to purchase for your vehicle, it’s essential to choose the right one for it as it could potentially have a huge financial impact. Driving on a winter tire year-round, for example, will yield much quicker tread wear along with poor overall gas mileage. On the flip side, driving on an ultra-high performance tire in inclement weather puts you at a much higher risk of hydroplaning and even crashing.

“The choice is yours, and yours alone. Good luck!”

Behind the Scenes With Chris Petruccio of Krispy Media

I’ll never forget my first impressions of Chris Petruccio of Krispy Media at First Class Fitment a few years back. This tall, lanky young guy was walking around the show with a “Production Assistant” (his father) and a homemade camera jib. I was a young, judgemental 20-something at the time, and I thought to myself, “Who is this kid and what does he think he’s doing?”

Not only has Petruccio become an extremely popular automotive filmmaker and influencer, but he’s also become a really great friend of mine. So when Chris hired me to act in an upcoming commercial he was shooting with Anthony Purcell for MSI Gaming, I knew I finally had the opportunity to not just work with them but also tell their story.

Don’t Judge A Book By Its Cover

As a young kid, Chris always had an entrepreneurial spirit. in his early teens, he was already taking advantage of Youtube’s Partnership Program, creating technology and paintballing channels with high subscriber counts.

Now, if my first impressions of Chris from earlier don’t sound bad, imagine what they were of Purcell:

“What’s this dude from New Jersey who never went to film school doing filming car shows?! A man who doesn’t have a four-year media degree and on-set experience like me surely won’t succeed in this business!”

That statement couldn’t have been less true.

Anthony progressed on the opposite end of the spectrum. Before making the transition to automotive filmmaking and photography, Purcell was pursuing a degree in accounting. To pay the bills, he worked at Starbucks and was fairly high up on the managerial chain.

…Anthony demoted himself and spent his newly acquired free time creating.

Photography was initially a hobby, but after developing an extensive portfolio and client base, he decided to drop out of college and pursue automotive media creation full-time. Why? According to Anthony, after attending school-organized career fairs, he realized that “no one looked happy” at them. Following this realization, Anthony demoted himself and spent his newly acquired free time creating.

In short, both Anthony’s and Chris’s respective career progressions were first-hand, rude awakenings for me to NOT judge books by their covers.

Seamlessly Working As One

I could spend even more time than I already have told you about how Chris and Anthony ultimately started working together, but instead, I’ll keep it short and simple: The two met at a car show and started hiring each other for wedding gigs. Both Petruccio and Purcell are firm believers in collaborating as a means of improving the quality of the creative endeavor. “We both really wanted to up the bar in our creative careers,” Purcell explained.

To hear about their collaborative experiences from them was one thing; to see it in real-time was a whole other animal.

Of course, the ultimate test of their collaboration theory and the working relationship would come in the form of a documentary Krispy Media shoot for an RWB build, where the two literally had to dance around one another while Akira Nakai San worked his magic. Needless to say, they passed the tests and have gone on to create a sizable portion of the RWB documentary films to date.

Symbiosis: On Set With The Masterminds

To hear about their collaborative experiences from them was one thing; to see it in real-time was a whole other animal.

As someone who’s been in the film industry for ten years now, I honestly can’t say that I’ve ever seen three (can’t leave out Cody Greenstone, their assistant) people work so seamlessly together on set before. Whether it was finding the cars to shoot, planning the next scene, or literally handing off the camera to one another to get as much coverage as they needed, everything was a dance. Whether I was taking direction from them to act in a scene or photographing them while they worked, the symbiosis between them was as clear as day.

It seems the three amigos have developed telepathy and can sense what the other needs on set at almost any point without saying a word.

In eerily similar words, both told me over the phone that they “know each other’s looks.” It seems the three amigos have developed telepathy and can sense what the other needs on set at almost any point without saying a word. It sounds crazy, but again, I’ve seen it first-hand.

Bright Futures

Chris Petruccio, Anthony Purcell, and Cody Greenstone are all talented in their own right. Individually, Greenstone’s automotive mechanical background and welding talents give him the ability to do things like fabricating Purcell’s Kia Soul camera mount—which, believe it or not, has helped Purcell attract Kia’s attention—while The Two P’s have their respective clients and social followings. But together, they are a trio of bright futures.

All the guys have their respective aspirations for the future. For Anthony, “Every shoot I do is all preparation for a Super Bowl shoot for Lexus,” he told me confidently. Chris hopes to not be a “one-man-band” for too much longer. “I’d love to start doing bigger budget stuff so I can hire more of my friends,” he explained. “I’d like to pick up another camera and start a YouTube channel of my own,” says Cody. Greenstone still wants to work with Chris and Anthony but also wants to travel and do “in-depth install videos so that the novice car person can feel comfortable tackling bigger projects.”

Be sure to follow Krispy Media on their creative journeys as they’re all likely to be working on more awesome stuff together real soon.

COBB Tuning’s Mike McGinnis Shows Us How He Turned His Passion Into a Living

Mike McGinnis, founder, and owner of Innovative Tuning was always into mountain biking and computers. Originally from Manhattan, he and his family didn’t have much reason to drive, but when they moved up to Westchester in his high school years, driving morphed into a necessity. Mike would become significantly more interested in cars—and eventually, make a career out of tuning them—after witnessing the arguably blasphemous act of a ‘96 Subaru Impreza bombing the same mountain biking trails he was riding on. After that moment, it was both literally and figuratively “Off To The Races” for Mike McGinnis.

The WRX: The Gateway To ECU Tuning

Although Mike went on to study computers in college, he wouldn’t exactly stay with it for too long. After getting a comfortable full-time job in the computer world up in Rochester, McGinnis bought himself the highly sought after WRX; A highly anticipated car that finally arrived stateside in 2002. The bite from the Mod Bug came right around the same time that Mike was doing any and every form of racing he could get into.

As any car enthusiast knows, there comes a time when a modified WRX needs to be tuned to perform at its highest level or risk a quick and painful demise. The only problem was that there were no tuners anywhere near Rochester, New York…or was it a problem? Nope, Mike made a decision that day: Come hell or high water, “I’ll tune it myself.”

The Birth Of Innovative

Mike’s successful tuning of the WRX’s ECU didn’t go unnoticed. His friends got word of what he did (and saw the results for themselves). They asked him to tune their cars too. Word of his tunes spread like wildfire beyond Rochester and before he knew it, Innovative Tuning was born, and McGinnis was tuning cars full time.

As the business continued to grow, so did his racing career. Mike built an Open Class Subaru “GC8” Impreza (the same chassis he first saw bombing the trails)—lovingly called “Voltron”—which was as much of a record-breaker as it was a rolling marketing tool for Innovative Tuning. Not only was he able to destroy the competition on the track and make a name for himself as a driver, but the car itself also helped keep his tuning career alive.

Shifting Career Gears

Mike started a family relatively young and, as his kids got older, he wanted to spend less time at the shop and more time with them. Having met all of his initial goals in both the racing and tuning arenas, as he puts it, McGinnis started to plan his next move.

Around the same time that Mike was strategizing, the guys at COBB Tuning happened to be looking for a new Senior R&D Calibration Engineer. McGinnis had been one of COBB’s first Pro Tuners since 2004, and a substantial portion of his business was made using their tuning software. McGinnis and COBB worked out a deal and, a few months later, he and the family packed their bags and relocated to Austin, Texas.

Godzilla And The Confluence Of Passions

Although I had been connected to Mike McGinnis through various social media outlets for a while, I first met him when I toured the COBB Tuning facilities. Like any connection of this kind, it was great to match a physical being to a Facebook profile. A super down-to-earth guy, Mike invited me to a track day at Circuit Of The Americas, which was taking place a few days after the tour. I obliged not knowing what to expect.

With the change in both residence and jobs, McGinnis had also recently changed the car he races with. Although he still maintains Innovative Tuning, Mike decided he didn’t need an Open Class monster anymore (who’s transmission literally broke after every two races), nor did he need a dedicated marketing tool for the business either. And judging by what you’ve read thus far, you’ve hopefully learned that McGinnis often tends to be at the right place at the right time. So, when COBB had wrapped up R&D on their 2009 Nissan GTR, Mike just happened to be retiring “Voltron’ and was in the market for a new, more reliable track car…so he bought it from them.

The GTR that you now see still has the original, stock motor with mostly bolt-on modifications. Of course, McGinnis had to nerd out and add his own personal touches, which include an electronically-controlled, height-adjustable rear wing and a digital, heads up race display. When I met him at the track day, Mike was making adjustments to his car and preparing to compete in Global Time Attack’s “Super Lap Battle” at Circuit Of The Americas.

Although he’s met all of his racing and career goals thus far, I can tell you that McGinnis’s future in racing and tuning isn’t clear to him yet. Based on his personality, I can confidently say that he won’t ever be sitting back contently. Mike will continue to advance his tuning and racing careers for the remainder of his lifetime.

Born to Rally:
Rally Ready Driving School

So, you know how there are people who are so busy to the point where they’re difficult to reach online but, if you’re able to meet with them, are actually quite settled in person and are able to give you their full and undivided attention? Yeah, that’s not Dave Carapetyan of Rally Ready Driving School.

When I first arrived at the 137-acre ranch in Dale, Texas, Carapetyan was already on his porch with his five dogs and the guys from Global Time Attack discussing how he could help them make their first event at Circuit Of The Americas a successful one. It’s funny because, when we initially chatted on Facebook, I thought that his rapid-fast way of conversing was a result of him killing it in Mario Teaches Typing as a kid. After only a few minutes of sitting back and watching the meeting, it was clear that that wasn’t the case. He just doesn’t stop.

I decided I didn’t want to waste time asking him about what ultimately led him to found Rally Ready Driving School. Instead, I listened to the Do It For A Living podcast that he was a guest on recently. From this, I learned that he’s essentially lived in Austin all of his life and, as a teenager, was in a punk rock band. It was only after his band members introduced him to Gran Turismo 3 that he became hooked on rallying. 

Between the band’s introduction, a near-death experience with a cattle trailer, and a whole lot of growing up in between, Carapetyan decided to start Rally Ready back in 2010. With nearly a decade of existence in the books and having already taught some of his most famous students including Daniel Ricciardo, Bucky Lasek, and Aaron Kaufman (who you’ve likely seen most recently in Gymkhana Ten), Dave has created one of the most successful rally schools in the Midwest, if not the country.

But it wasn’t until 2014, when the X-Games came to Austin, that Carapetyan took Rally Ready to the next level. After networking at the games, Dave ended up meeting someone there who decided to help him buy the 137-acre ranch that both he and his school reside on currently. By 2014, Dave already had a fleet of about 25 cars and had taught a few classes, so having the business living on a dedicated space was really the next big step.

WELCOME TO RALLY-VANA

Pavement turned to gravel as I putted along on the 40-minute drive. As I drove along, I not-surprisingly observed that, compared to Austin, Dale was pretty desolate. My immediate surroundings were draped with a strange, golden hue as each house passed me by. In what seemed like an instant, I was at the Rally Ready ranch.

Making my way into what was the equivalent of the “Parking Lot,” I proudly parked my functioning Mazda Miata rental next to a bare, stripped out Lancer chassis. I initially thought that my rental was the only functioning vehicle in the immediate vicinity until I saw six-car fleet parked a short distance away.

Just beyond the functioning fleet sat a gated-off area filled with even more cars, or to people like us: A field of potential. Not so inconspicuously placed within what Dave would call the junkyard sat his Pike’s Peak-winning Evo (one of the many projects he says he might get back on the road…someday). After ogling over that car for far too long, I continued towards the house where I saw even more goodies, like the Rally Ready Subaru BRZ. By the house sat a few Yamaha and Textron UTVs, which Dave will claim, until he’s blue in the face, are the future of rallying.

Dave has a great sense of humor because, when people like Ricciardo or I say that he’s living every car nut’s dream, he quickly retorts, “Ehh, all I own is a bunch of stupid race cars. It’s not that glamorous.” Not true man! Not true.

Although there weren’t any classes going on while I was there, the track had just been used to film a commercial for COBB Tuning. But having said that, it was nice to walk around and photograph a “cold” track for once. The silence in the air and vastness of land really contrasted with Dave’s seemingly-manic life. And, although we weren’t able to rip through the woods, I could really get a sense of just how much fun you could have spending a day in one of his classes.

BUSINESS STRATEGIES & LIFE LESSONS FROM A RALLY DRIVING INSTRUCTOR

Dave Carapetyan is equally as fascinating as he is busy. I only spent a few hours at Rally Ready Driving School, but I learned so much about him, the sport of rallying, business, and life in general. He’s flying by the seat of his pants, and I already know that he wouldn’t have it any other way.

“I didn’t go to college, I went to rally,” Carapetyan joked on Do It For A Living. One of the many keys to success for Dave was learning as he went and not being afraid to fail. As cliché as that sounds, it’s helped keep Rally Ready alive and growing to this day. “A lot of us in this industry have this fear of failure,” he explained on the podcast. “The thing that helped me most was realizing that I already made it…according to my metrics, I’ve already succeeded.” 

That’s not to say that he’s complacent by any means. Quite the opposite. Dave has one and five-year plans for Rally Ready, which include UTV driving classes and, what he calls, the “Ultimate Driver’s Ed Experience,” where he hopes to provide first-time drivers with a more in-depth education. All this coming from the man who never went to business school and jokes that his business plan changes “just about every 45 minutes.”

Oh, and that’s the other interesting thing about Dave: When it comes to his business, Dave doesn’t keep secrets. He’s more than happy to divulge anything and everything he’s working on. Why? Because, in his mind, no one can replicate what he’s doing.

What initially sounds like an overly confident, bold claim is, in reality, a true testament to how much Carapetyan cares about the future of both rallying and motorsports as a whole. In an industry that’s primarily driven by ego (which, by the way, he argues also has its benefits in motorsports), Dave is happy to, not only share his business strategy with anyone but also, to help anyone in any way that progresses motorsport. To him, it’s crazy to think that other driving schools across the country are his competition. Carapetyan explained to me that he’d much rather join forces with other schools to not only refer business to one another but also to unite and grow motorsports as a whole.

What Remained of an Austin Car Collection: Dick’s Classic Car Garage

On the day I went to visit Dick’s Classic Car Garage in San Marcos, Texas, the weather weirdly resembled the mood of the visit. Prior to arriving, I had been corresponding with Thom Fortney, Museum Curator, who informed me that the owner of the collection, Richard L. Burdick (better known as Dick), had passed away almost a year prior to my arrival and that most of his collection had already been sold off. That didn’t entirely matter though because what I was able to witness during my tour was nothing short of incredible.

A LEGENDARY COLLECTOR

I may not have had the pleasure of meeting Mr. Burdick personally or seeing his collection at it’s prime but, as soon as Mr. Fortney unlocked the main door allowing me in, I instantly knew I was stepping inside the home of a legendary collection. It was eerily quiet, but the presence and quantity of classic, well-kept cars helped to block out the silence. Thom gave me a brief rundown about Mr. Burdick and what remained of the collection before leaving me on my own to tour and shoot for a bit.

As I walked down the aisles, it became quite clear that I didn’t know about most of what I was looking at. Rather than berate myself for not knowing, I realized that I could still get a lot out of the tour by appreciating just how well preserved each vehicle was. And judging by the pictures I took, it’s pretty difficult to argue that most of the cars weren’t in outstanding condition!

Continuing on, it quickly became apparent that Dick liked to collect just about anything, not just cars. Next to most of the cars that were on display sat all sorts of toys, posters, and other automotive memorabilia. Mr. Fortney explained that, in general, Dick was a very sentimental person, and when he started a collection, he usually added anything and everything he could to it.

BUILDING IT UP TO BREAK IT BACK DOWN

Seeing what remained of Mr. Burdick’s collection was saddening, but making my way into the shop was equally as upsetting for me. A space that was originally meant to repair monumental pieces of automotive history to add to his collection was now exclusively designated for reviving and preparing what was left for the auction block. As I finished that thought, the guys successfully revived Dick’s Bentley race car, which both my eyes witnessed and lungs felt.

Continuing to peruse the shop, I walked up to the loft space, which served as a reminder of just how passionate Mr. Burdick was for collecting things. There seemed to be manuals and books neatly organized on shelves for every vehicle he’d ever owned during his lifetime. With all the spare parts I saw scattered around the shop, I knew the guys had a lot of work cut out for them. Lucky for them, it looked like they had every tool and machine they needed to get the job finished.

GOODBYE FOR NOW

Dick’s Classic Car Garage will likely be closed well before anyone reads this piece. Normally, I’m not a person who believes in serendipity, but I do feel fortunate that I was able to see some of Dick Burdick’s car collection before the museum closed. On a more positive note, it’s reassuring to know that, since most of his priceless gems will be heading to auction, they should end up in better homes. It will be the responsibility of new automotive enthusiasts young and old to care for these cars and help preserve automotive history.

COBB Tuning Facility Tour

Ever since I got into Subarus, I’ve admired and respected the COBB Tuning brand for the products and services they’ve created and continue to create. When I first started the sponsorship program for my Bagged Baja project back in 2016, I knew I had to have them involved in it and was thrilled when they agreed. So when I decided earlier this year to visit Austin, Texas, I absolutely had to take a tour and share my experience with our readers.

MAKING GOOD THINGS EVEN BETTER

In the late ’90s, you likely wouldn’t have heard of COBB Tuning. But 20 years later, it’s become one of the largest aftermarket automotive performance tuning companies on the planet. Beginning in the Subaru market, COBB has since developed performance products and software upgrades for eight different automakers and counting. Using a specific brand’s car as a foundation, COBB’s mission is and has always been, to take a good thing and make it even better.

NEVER FORGET YOUR ROOTS

Like anyone visiting a place for the first time, I had no idea what to expect when I got to COBB Tuning headquarters. With as many shares of the various tuner markets as they have, and with roughly 100 employees to keep the company running, it’s not-so-surprising to see how large of a space the company needs to occupy. Oh, and trust me, they use all of it.

 When I walked inside, one of the first things I saw was a display case filled with historic COBB products. In addition to the one-off prototypes and diecast memorabilia, they proudly display the various renditions of arguably their best-known product, the AccessPort. It’s a nice reminder for not forgetting how they started and where they came from.

The reminiscence continued as I walked down the main hallway and passed by Customer Service, large banners and framed magazine features hung prominently on the wall. My tour guide, Marshall Glasgow, remarked that the framed features really needed to be updated; I politely disagreed. Rather than remove the classic features, I suggested they add more to the wall instead.

We made our way to the manufacturing side of the building. Having dramatically expanded over the course of their 20 years of existence, COBB creates the majority of their products almost entirely in-house. With CNC machines, tube benders, and a handful of staff welders, they do everything from R&D and prototyping to final execution and packaging all in one place. Continuing to walk along, there were shelves filled with what seemed like an endless amount of exhaust jigs for every make and model, reminding me of the company’s prominence in the industry.

There quickly became a running joke about how none of their doors seemed to work properly, and as we walked throughout the building and into the shop. There were lifts, tool boxes, and cars packed into the brim, mainly because they couldn’t get the garage door open. They managed to open it shortly thereafter but made for a good laugh nevertheless.

Adjacent to the all the car eye candy, sat a Mark VII Volkswagen GTI with enough exposed wires and contraptions attached to it to give me heart palpitations. Marshall managed to calm me down when he explained that, what looked like the explosion of the GTI’s insides, was actually a highly controlled situation. The way that they had everything hooked up to the car actually allowed the engineers and tuners to program in real-time without having to constantly go back and forth from the car to their desks and vise versa. Phewph!

Next to the GTI was the dyno room. The uniqueness of COBB’s dyno room is that it’s actually been divided into two rooms. The smaller space is used for their Pro Tuner training programs, where certified COBB tuners can study and learn from in-house engineers in person. Dyno rooms are somewhat notorious for not having a lot of space, and so using a live feed from the main tuning screen, students in the training room can see changes the tuner is making, without hovering over his or her shoulder.

THE FOUNDATION OF COBB: AUTOMOTIVE ENTHUSIASTS

The coolest part of the tour for me was seeing just how much of a role automotive enthusiasm plays into nearly every aspect of COBB Tuning. For the people who work there, it’s not just about going into work, clocking in, getting the job done, and clocking out. Most employees eat, live, and breathe cars and racing.

The conference rooms, for example, were all named after world-famous race tracks. The cars employees drove and modified really varied across the spectrum: A 5-series wagon with an M5 front end, an LS-swapped Volvo wagon, and a rear-wheel drive converted WRX, just to point out a few. Things got even more interesting when Marshall pointed out that a few cars in the lot were originally COBB R&D vehicles that had since been purchased by employees. The white Fiesta ST, for example, was one of COBB’s vehicles that ended up getting sold to an employee. If that’s not a testament to the quality of COBB’s products and services, then I’m not sure what is.

We ended the tour shortly after that and, as I headed back to my rental, I reflected on all that I saw. It was enough proof for me that having a passion for something can fuel a group of people to create something special. One thing became clear: Automotive enthusiasm isn’t disappearing any time soon.

Driving on Air: Why You Should Drive on Air Suspension

For anyone who is already into modifying cars, you already know that the possibilities for changing the look and feel of it are literally endless. Everything from replacing the factory wheels, headlights, and taillights to adding aerodynamic pieces like front lips and wings all play a part in a vehicle’s transformation. Lowering a vehicle is one of the best ways to change how your car looks and feels. Not only are you lowering the center of gravity, allowing for better handling (in most cases), it also makes for a more aggressive appearance, since the car itself sits closer to the pavement. This is where lowering springs, coilovers, and air ride suspension comes in.

In this day and age, there are a number of ways to successfully lower essentially any vehicle on the planet. Like @_.b7land.yacht._ (Frank Reichard), many choose to use air suspension as their lowering method of choice, which utilizes compressed air to inflate and deflate individual strut bags. With air ride, a driver can lower his or her car to “undriveable” heights and, in some cases, higher than stock all with just the touch of a button.

Air suspension isn’t always an aftermarket modification though. Many automotive manufacturers like Mercedes and Land Rover incorporate air suspension into their vehicles right from the factory!

“BAGGING” A CAR

As the owner of a bagged vehicle, I can tell you first-hand about the pros and cons of the suspension. I primarily had it installed on my 2005 Subaru Baja Turbo to competitively display at car shows. Aside from the fact that virtually no one was “bagging” this kind of car, I wanted to get the Baja as low as humanly possible without having to semi-permanently leave it at that height. My previous car was a built “Bugeye,” which I had coilovers and, while I could theoretically lower it as much as I wanted, my height choice often resulted in punishing results to the car. For instance, I once had my Bugeye so low to the point where I naively (and stupidly) rubbed the passenger front tire through the car’s main wiring harness. But I digress.

My good friends Rich, Don, and Hans of Tuning Works were the ones responsible for installing air ride on both my and Frank’s vehicles (a 2018 Volkswagen Passat GT), among other customers. Air ride installations make up a substantial portion of their business, and they’ve done hundreds of installations for customers to the point where they can complete one from start to finish in as little as four days.

The guys will tell you firsthand that the actual installation of the strut bags, air lines, compressor(s), tank(s), and wiring is the easy part. It’s the seamlessness of how all of these components are installed along with the creativity in its display that is the real challenge. But with that being said, the guys at Tuning Works pride themselves on consistently completing seamless and creative installations for all their customers.

When it comes to the creativity side of things, the sky is really the limit. So when Frank asked for his trunk display to be Supreme-themed, they accepted the challenge without the slightest bit of hesitation. He provided them with two Supreme Tool Boxes, which were used as housings for the air compressors and water traps – devices used to keep water out of the air tank and lines. Tuning Works had the air tank powder coated Supreme Red and cut a matching Supreme logo sticker for the tank on their vinyl plotter.

In many cases, the challenge of creating a good trunk display lies installing the necessary components while maintaining as much of the vehicle’s trunk space as possible. A good portion of Tuning Work’s customers want to keep some storage space in their trunks and have easy access to their spare tire (assuming they have one).

To retain the functionality of Frank’s trunk, Don fabricated a two-piece floor. The piece sitting closer to the back seats neatly holds the tool boxes, while the piece closer to the trunk lid can be removed so Frank can get to his spare tire. The brain of the air suspension system, Airlift’s 3P Digital Air Management, was conveniently installed on a “plate cover” of sorts, which sits on top of the spare. So if Frank needs to take his spare tire out, his wiring, lines, and compressors won’t be disrupted. To finish things off, both the floor and cover were wrapped in matching trunk carpeting for that OEM look.

None of the aforementioned components can work effectively to inflate or deflate the bags without the air tank though. So to save even more space in the trunk, the team fabricated and installed custom brackets for the tank to sit on that sit nicely behind the back seats. The brackets make it look like it’s floating, which is super cool.

Frank’s Passat GT is (unofficially) the first model “GT” to receive the air suspension treatment, but certainly won’t be the last. With our show season coming back to life in the Spring, many car owners like Frank will be getting air ride and all kinds of other modifications installed on their cars in the coming months. Once the warm weather hits again, it’s showtime!

Driven to America

Question: How do you best pay tribute to a man who was responsible for not only designing some of the most highly sought after European cars in the world but who was also responsible for bringing them to America? 

Answer: By bringing every make and model vehicle born from his influence to one central location for enthusiasts of all ages to see. 

CIRCLE OF LEGENDS

It was a cool morning and one thing was clear: Fall was officially here. 

I had just arrived at the NYIT de Seversky Mansion to take part in covering my first-ever Driven To America – “A celebration of the air-cooled Porsche and tribute to Max Hoffman.” As I walked toward the mansion, I immediately noticed a 918 Spyder Weissach with Martini livery and thought, “Surely there are more cars here than this.”

Adjacent to the mansion was an outdoor foyer where “The Circle of Legends” were displayed in, you guessed it, a circle with a small group of like-minded enthusiasts young and old observing them. The circle included some of the most sought-after and influential European vehicles in the U.S. to date of which Mr. Hoffman had a hand in either importing, designing, or both back in the 1950’s. Now I won’t get into each car’s history or it’s relevance to automotive history but…for Christ sake, there was a 300SL, Gullwing, D-Type, and a 507 Convertible all within feet of one another…in the same place!

In Hebrew, the word “Dayenu” translates loosely in English as “It would’ve been enough if” followed by what theoretically would have. But this small yet breathtaking sight wasn’t enough…it was just the beginning.

THINKING OUTSIDE THE BOX

David Jacobson and James Barry are two of many Porsche enthusiasts from around the globe. Together they run Collector Car Showcase in Oyster Bay, New York – a museum that showcases some of the rarest classic and modern cars from around the world.

For most people, it would’ve been enough to have the privilege of owning some of the rare pieces of Max Hoffman’s legacy in their collection. But the two felt a sense of obligation to do more. “Mr. Hoffman is one of the many people in the automotive industry who go unrecognized for all they’ve done,” Mr. Barry explained in a phone interview. To them, Mr. Hoffman hasn’t received nearly as much credit or praise as he deserves for the incalculable contributions he’s made to our industry, and they wanted to change that…so they created Driven To America. 

BACKYARD SURPRISES

When it comes to family gatherings, there are those that take place between immediate family members who live in relatively close proximity to one another and occur on a more frequent basis. Then there are full-blown reunions that come around once in a blue moon and consist of nearly every living leaf from the family tree. The latter is the closest analogy I can make to explain Driven To America: One big, automotive, European family reunion.

Having mustered the strength to pick my jaw up off the floor of “The Circle of Legends,” I made my way to the backyard where substantially more enthusiasts were walking around. I was “greeted” by an entire field filled with nearly every generation and model of Porsche imaginable. I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t expecting the other spectators to stop what they were doing and yell, “Surprise!!”

Now, by no means would I consider myself well-versed on Porsches, but regardless of that fact, I knew I was walking among legends. It was the quantity and quality of cars that clued me in along with the wide range of body lines and aerodynamic features found on them. From the sweeping red rear “fins” of the 356 Carrera Zagato and the unmistakable “facial features” of the various versions of 930 Slantnoses to the omnipresent generations of classic Carreras and rare childhood hallmarks like the “Bad Boys” Turbo 3.6, there was no shortage of awesomeness no matter where I turned.

I could go on and on about the cars and the overall experience, but instead, I’ll suggest that if you’re able to, make your way to next year’s rendition of Driven To America. If you’re any sort of Porsche or automotive enthusiast, then it will definitely be worth it.

From Mello to Melodrama

The H2Oi International Story (Part Two)

The stages were set. On one, an automotive revolutionary war of sorts was brewing. Showgoers were about to land in a city they weren’t welcome in with a police force that knew they were coming anyway.

On the other, “generals” were in the final stages of “recolonization,” having lost the hard-fought “Battle of Ocean City” so to speak. It was official: Atlantic City, New Jersey was H2Oi International’s new home, and this new frontier meant new opportunities and challenges for the “settlers.”

CLEARING THE MUDDY WATERS

Before we get into my experiences of both events, I had an opportunity to interview Jay Shoup, owner and founder of H2Oi International. I’m sharing snippets of our conversation in an effort to negate the plethora of inaccurate statements that have—and continue to—come out about his show as well as the events preceding it. Here are the facts:

1. The actual sanctioned car show that is H2Oi International was never held in Ocean City, Maryland.
   Since the day of the show’s origination, H2Oi has always been held outside Ocean City. People attending the show would congregate in Ocean City because of its proximity to the show. According to Jay, it was local media that incorrectly associated the two events in an effort to put blame on him. “The media beat me down,” Mr. Shoup explained. “Why do they keep bringing me into this?”—a question he asks to this day.
2. It was Jay’s decision to take H2Oi International elsewhere.
   When I asked him about relocating, Mr. Shoup confidently stated that, “There weren’t – and still aren’t – any legal grounds whatsoever for Ocean City to shut down my show, even if I decided to stay put.” Of course, he wasn’t interested in fighting anymore and that’s why he opted to postpone the show in 2017; To find a new, more suitable (and welcoming) venue.
3. “Did Ocean City officials really do everything they could to keep the peace (and the people there)?”
   This is one of the biggest questions Jay continues to ask to this day. He argues that, when it came to the preceding events in Ocean City, “The minority were the ones causing trouble,” and that, “I don’t [necessarily] know the solution, but I do know how to handle them.” Jay, for example, told me that, in the 20 years of his show’s existence, Ocean City officials never bothered to call upon the Maryland State Police to help keep the peace – an organization that he made sure to always hire from for H2Oi every year. And remember, this was never Jay’s problem in the first place!

MY EXPERIENCES

So with all that being said, let me first preface by saying that the following are my experiences of Ocean City and Atlantic City respectively. Anyone and everyone who attended either or both events no doubt had different experiences of them, which are neither right or wrong. I actually wrote a post on one of the Ocean City attendees Facebook groups asking them to share their thoughts and experiences with me. You will occasionally see quotes from this post.

OCEAN CITY

I arrived in Ocean City, Maryland on a Thursday evening, and it took almost two whole days to see the sizeable crowds of years past reappear. By Saturday, the sun set just beyond the horizon, and the natural lighting illuminating our surroundings was replaced by the flashing lights of Ocean City Police cars. As we walked the strip, we’d pass groups of people yelling “SEND IT!” to cruisers waiting at a red light. Usually, these groups would be holding signs with lude messages written on them as well while they taunted. The light would turn green, someone inevitably would in fact send it, and would get pulled over immediately after doing so.

Interactions that would follow between car owners and law enforcement were either contentious or cooperative. For the contentious ones, it was about testing the limits – a mentality not unlike one from a first-year college student. “You go to OCMD for the chaos that ‘H2Oi’ weekend brings,” one person submitted as a response to my Facebook post. “I had even more fun [this year] haha. [I] felt like there was more adrenaline because you could get caught easier,” responded another. And, to be clear, I nor staff from The Dawg Box condone this kind of behavior.

For others, it was a jovial, crime-free game of “Cat and Mouse.” The challenge: Bringing a car down to Ocean City that is blatantly illegal and see how long they can actually drive it on Coastal Highway before getting pulled over. The results: Usually within minutes of the tires touching the pavement, drivers would end up assisting the tow truck driver in loading their own vehicle to be carted off to the impound lot. It’s a game they inevitably lost.

And then there were those who were there simply to hang out. Whether they were seated in lawn chairs on the sidewalk or on inflatable couches in the bed of a truck, it’s as if they went to set an example; showing residents that not all young car enthusiasts were there to act out. Sure they also cruised the strip in vehicles that the city deemed “Unsafe,” but at least they behaved.

ATLANTIC CITY

Now, I’ll be honest, I’ve never actually attended the actual H2Oi International show when it was held in Ocean City, so I personally can’t make a comparison to what took place at The Showboat. Also, I’d be lying if I said that I didn’t have my prejudgements about what the turnout would be like (that certainly explains why I traveled down on a Sunday afternoon and only spent two full hours there). I can and will, however, talk about H2Oi from the perspective of a 10-year veteran of the east coast car show scene.

For starters, it wasn’t an exclusively Audi/Volkswagen car show. All makes and models were there but thankfully, the 12 Top Dawgs were all European makes. To me, that doesn’t necessarily matter as I understand that businesses often have to adapt to new places and situations. And it was their first year at The Showboat, so I would’ve been shocked if there weren’t growing pains like this.

But, having said all that, what did surprise me was the general presentation of it all. The Showboat’s cul-de-sac, for example, was crammed with the Top Dawg finalists and as many vendor booths as they could fit, all while hotel guests were coming and going. To me, it felt like I was at a job fair.

And then there was the parking garage, where the remaining cars parked. “The idea was to separate general and show parking, but we didn’t really have the manpower to police it this year,” Mr. Shoup clarified. It made sense. Cars were scattered throughout every level with no real organizational structure whatsoever. Many were driving in and out of the garage freely while spectators were still walking around. It honestly felt like a cross between a scene from The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift and one from car meets I used to attend back home. “We’ll figure out a better solution for next year,” Jay said.

Look, I’ll be the first to tell you that it’s often difficult to embrace change, but I think that if we as enthusiasts, take the time to try to embrace it (and succeed), we can appreciate H2Oi’s new home while still reminiscing about the good times in Ocean City, Maryland. For all intents and purposes, H2Oi was a success. What do you think?

From Mellow to Melodrama

The H2Oi International Story (Part One)

It couldn’t have been a more perfect setting: A nine-mile highway running through the belly of an island. The Atlantic Ocean to the East and resort condominiums to the West. The name: Ocean City, Maryland. 

An annual Audi/Volkswagen-specific car show called H2Oi International would take place at either Fort Whaley in Whaleyville or at the racetrack at Ocean Downs Casino, and the closest area with enough hotel vacancies for the thousands to flood in was, for better or worse, Ocean City. In addition to the vacancies, only about 7,000 residents inhabited the almost 40 square-mile island. So there was plenty of room for things to get wild too.

What began as a pre-party turned into one of the most confusing, controversial “car shows” in the United States. But how did this happen…and why?

A SEASONAL CAR SHOW SEASON

To understand why there is a propensity to get rowdy before H2Oi International, you first have to understand how the East Coast car show season works. Unlike our western counterpart, we don’t always receive the nicest weather – for months on end – and therefore have a limited amount of time to enjoy our cars. When the end of September approaches, our internal senses remind us that “the end is near.”

The easiest way to explain this is to do a hypothetical experiment of sorts: Imagine Ocean City, Maryland as a small, fragile glass vial. Now imagine each car enthusiast as a molecule in the excited state – moving around uncontrollably without a final destination. Crumbier weather (i.e., rain and snow) serves as the catalyst, causing these molecules to increase their movements as the quality of weather deteriorates. Now imagine that, before the weather reaches “hibernation” temperatures for cars, more and more molecules get crammed into the vial all at once. Sound like a recipe for combustion, right?

A HUGE MEDIA OPPORTUNITY

Show car owners are inherently proud of what they have, so when you combine the opportunity to publicly showcase your car to other like-minded enthusiasts, with aspiring automotive creatives eager to shoot and ample scenic backdrops to shoot in front of, there’s one more variable to add to the aforementioned equation: The media.

Chris Petruccio of Krispy Media is one of many media professionals responsible for putting the pre-party-like festivities of H2Oi International on the map. Back in 2013, Petruccio created and released his now infamous “After Movie,” which garnered the attention of millions of auto enthusiasts to date. “I managed to create something that captured the attention of and resonated with the younger audience,” Chris explained to me in a phone interview. “It was definitely one of my big breaks as an automotive filmmaker, and I make sure to attend every year to thank my fans.”

In the years following the After Movie’s release, the days leading up to H2Oi International have become a time for budding automotive filmmakers to also try and make their mark. With many creators wanting to replicate what they’ve seen in the After Movie, burnouts, reckless driving, and, in some cases, vandalism have all become common practice.

SHOULD I STAY OR SHOULD I GO?

In 2017, the events preceding H2Oi were the equivalent of the vial from the aforementioned experiment of being filled to the brim and exploding. Ocean City Police responded to over 2,700 calls that weekend and, “While H2Oi International is not, and has never been, a city-hosted or sanctioned event…we still hosted thousands of participants, ”Chief of Police Ross Buzzuro explained in a press release. To make matters worse, nearly any method that both the city and O.C.P.D. used to try and contain the insanity, like increasing fines, impounding “unsafe vehicles,” and installing metal gates in the highway’s median, only fueled showgoers to further act out. Any effort put in to differentiate H2Oi International from this “pre-party” fiasco was essentially futile. O.C.P.D. had to find fault in something, so they blamed the show.

Jay Shoup, the founder of H2Oi International, never envisioned a weekend-long, laidback, car show resulting in the exact opposite take place. In fact, he wrote a lengthy public letter to distance himself and the real H2Oi from all of it. Unfortunately, fingers were already being pointed and there was nothing either Ocean City nor Mr. Shoup could do to resolve the matter. Both sides did, however, ultimately come to an agreement that the show had to relocate, and so it did…to The Showboat in Atlantic City, New Jersey.

This spawned a “Us Versus Them” syndrome in many showgoers. You were either: A “Loyalist” who would go wherever the sanctioned event was being held or a “Pre-Partier” who wouldn’t accept any location to congregate except Ocean City. The irony, of course, is that shows like H2Oi are ultimately designed to bring people together and not cause a divide between them.

Now that you’ve read the “Prologue” to the H2Oi saga, you can begin to understand why things have unfolded the way they have. Stay tuned for part two, where I’ll be giving a more in-depth description of each event from my perspective.

Hoodbilt

Kingston, New York – a city in Upstate New York sitting South East of the world-famous town of Woodstock. The Stockade District, located in the heart of Kingston, was New York State’s original capital back in the late 1700’s. Shortly after its founding, the capital and most of the surrounding buildings were destroyed by the British. Preservation has therefore been, and continues to be, a key part of its history as it says in the district’s Preamble:

“…it is in the public interest to ensure that the distinctive and historical character of this Historic and Architectural Design District shall not be injuriously affected, that the value to the community of those buildings having architectural and historical worth shall not be impaired…”

It’s no surprise then that both the district and Woodstock boast one of the largest populations of Hippies known to man – the modern day preservationists. It’s where the counterculture was born, comprised of musicians, artists, and environmental conservationists.

Ironically enough, The Stockade District was also the home to an arguably environmentally unfriendly thing: The very first Cadillac dealership in all of New York State. During the 1960’s, Cadillacs were being shipped to, sold at, and repaired in a building on the eastern border of the district – one that’s still standing today.

HOME TO AN ARTIST

Devin Larson, founder, and owner of Hoodbilt Co. grew up in a town close to Kingston. At an early age, he’d get dropped off at The Landesmans – family friends of the Larsons – and would be recruited as a helper on one of the many car projects the family was working on.

As a kid, Larson didn’t initially understand why he was doing these things or appreciate the value of what he was doing with the Landesmans until he started Hoodbilt. At only 28 years old, and with no formal automotive technical training, Devin learned nearly everything about working on cars from The Landesmans, to the point where they repeatedly send him work to do for their clients.

You could say that there was definitely a mutualistic relationship between them, but that’s only the beginning of it. Their relationship would further cement when Hoodbilt was in its infancy. Larson’s work was becoming more steady and required a dedicated space for all of it. Of all the people that could’ve bought the former Cadillac dealership, who would’ve thought that it would be his childhood family friends?

It’s no surprise then that, when Devin was offered the opportunity to share space in the building now owned by the very people he learned so much from, he jumped at it. Devin jokes that he and Will Landesman are often physically in the building together at the same time working separately on their respective projects on different floors without actually seeing each other for months on end. It would be at a show months later that the two get to “hang out.”

WORKS IN PROGRESS

When I first met Larson, I observed an old soul living in a young man’s body. His work process is slow and methodical, with builds taking an average of a year to complete. Contrary to the popular belief of our social media-centric generation, “Doing things quickly never gets you good results,” Devin explained. This holds true for client projects like the ‘51 Chevy 3100 pickup truck he’s currently working on. The task at hand? Combining the subframes, suspension, engine, and ECU from a C4 Corvette with the Chevy cab and his one-off, custom chassis to create a working and driving truck.

“Everything we’re doing is so different, you know? We’re changing so much,” he explained. For these kinds of vehicles being rebuilt essentially from scratch, “You have to pay attention to every aspect of the car,” measuring hundreds of times and cutting or welding once. “You want to give [a finished product] to somebody so that they never have to worry again,” Larson explains. “My ultimate goal is to finish it and never see it again.”

As much as this explains why personal project vehicles like his Nogaro Blue Audi S4, Pontiac Catalina, and ‘69 International 1300 remain on the back burner, it also sheds a light on the methods to his madness of pushing the boundaries of what can and can’t be done. In the early stages of ownership of the S4, “Stance” and “Fitment” were relatively foreign concepts in the automotive world, and pushing these limits was more-or-less unheard of. So fitting wider-than-normal, 17-inch wheels to a static Audi was a feat that few had accomplished before let alone dreamed of.

Challenge accepted. Mission accomplished.

“I love being an artist with it,” Devin explained regarding his reasons for ultimately choosing to build custom cars full-time. It’s as much about the builds themselves as it is about putting his personal touches on things, like lowering the front half of a 60’s Ford F100 pickup’s roof an inch to give it more attitude. For the most part, his clients give him the total creative freedom to do these kinds of things.

The F100 is one of many client projects that eventually found their way into Hoodbilt’s possession, with personal touches including (but certainly not limited to) a procharger and custom intercooler that have both been fabricated to a big block motor – one of the many challenges he successfully completed once the truck was his. “I like when diehard chevy guys come to me thinking they know what it is,” Devin said after giving me the build breakdown.

Oh, and don’t worry, he’s got plenty of one-off touches that have either been completed or begun on his other vehicles too. For instance, Devin’s dream work truck couldn’t merely be revived as a bone stock restoration. No, he’s already made his own Beadlock wheels for it using Hummer wheels in front and Duallies in the rear. And the Catalina? The chassis is fully channeled with air-ride suspension allowing the car to sit on the floor.

But make no mistake, doing what you love as a career doesn’t always equate to being stress-free. It also doesn’t always mean that the traditional path is the only way to a goal either. Sometimes you have to take “the road less traveled,” as they say and, so far, that journey seems to be paying off for Devin and Hoodbilt. 

Just “Loose” It! Club Loose Drifting Experience

If you’re any sort of an automotive enthusiast, then you’ve likely heard of a style of driving called drifting. Controversially labeled as a “sport,” drifting has become a nationwide sensation over the last 15 years all across the United States. Whether you blame the third installment of The Fast and The Furious or Formula Drift for the increase in popularity (and for the infamous “Drift Tax”), it’s a sector of automotive motorsports that just can’t be ignored.

To many, becoming a professional drifting driver, let alone learning how to drift at all, seems like an entirely unattainable goal. The pros pilot high horse-powered cars competitively with full pit crews on-site and some of the biggest auto brands sponsoring them. Add to the fact that most of the drivers make it appear effortless and you start thinking to yourself, “How and where can I learn how to do this?!”

As easy or as difficult as drifting looks, depending on your perception of it, any professional driver, from veterans like Daigo Saito to Pro1 rookies like Ryan Litteral, will tell you that one of the biggest keys to succeeding on any level is this: Seat time.

And that’s where grassroots organizations like Club Loose come in.

GO DRIFTING OR GO TO HELL!

The closest events for me take place at Raceway Park in Englishtown, New Jersey – The birthplace of Club Loose. When you arrive, everything within your immediate surroundings suggests that you’ve made a wrong turn: The cars look destroyed and the organizers look like members of a biker gang with a motto that’s short and sweet – “Go Drifting Or Go To Hell.” Now, this all sounds like a recipe for a deterrent but it’s quite the opposite. Club Loose event organizers genuinely want drivers to, not only learn how to drift but to also, have fun doing it!

Over the course of the 10 years since it’s origination in 2008, people can sign up to drift at tracks as far North as New Hampshire Motor Speedway and as far West as San Antonio Raceway. Many of their events like “Freedom Moves” are over a two-day span, giving drivers plenty of seat time along with the opportunity to camp and party on track. Suddenly the Bloodmasters don’t sound so bad.

In order to avoid sheer pandemonium, drivers who sign up for an event are put into one of three groups: A (for the “experts”; the only group allowed to tandem), B (for those on the intermediate level; the ones who are starting to get the hang of it), or C (for those who are just starting out in drifting). With sessions for each group that last roughly an hour and 30 minutes each, everyone has enough time to practice…or fix what they’ve managed to break.

SAY WHAT YOU WANT

Providing people with an avenue to learn to drift in itself is pretty unique but what I think separates Club Loose from other organizations are the personalities. The people who attend come from all walks of life. The personalities of the cars are all so different in the way they’re modified. It all reminds me a lot of the skateboarding culture of the 80’s and 90’s.

With an almost anarchistic, free-spirited aura in the air, It was difficult not to walk around the paddocks without seeing something that made me smile. The “Pabst Blue Ribbon” 240sx and the makeshift attempt at a Bimmer pickup, for example, both gave me a good laugh. Sure, they’re both freedoms of expression, but they also scream the all too familiar acronym I.D.G.A.F. And that’s the best attitude you can have when it comes to drifting. It’s an attitude I wish I embraced more when attempted to drift at a few of their events.

TURNED UP TO 11

As someone who once attempted to drift in Group C (with absolutely no prior on-track experience), I can understand and appreciate now just how challenging it all is. With that in mind, when groups B and C are on track, I’m photographing of course, but there’s also a burning sense of desire in my gut for the drivers to “get it.”

But when their sessions are over and it’s Group A’s turn to drive, the best analogy for how the atmosphere changes are that things get turned up to 11. Virtually every inch of the track is now one long, driftable run (whereas Groups B and C can choose to drive on either the front or back course). Everyone driving is either in tandem or part of a drift train and, as a photographer on track, you can’t turn without seeing drivers fully sending it. There’s a rush you get that’s not easy to explain.

In short, there are many who choose to spend their weekends clubbing. Others train for and run marathons. But if you like to let loose, party, and maybe even learn to drift, then spend some time at Club Loose…or go to hell!

Mild, Wild, and Radical at Tuner Evolution Philly

Tuner Evolution is one of the few nationwide car show series that consistently brings the “Wow Factor” each year. Whether it’s freshly built (or rebuilt) cars or special guests like Formula Drift driver, Ryan Tuerck, the Tuner Evolution series doesn’t disappoint. With over 1,000 submissions to this year’s Philadelphia show, and just under half of those becoming acceptances, Tuner Evolution: Philly brought out the best of the best.

Founded by Jay Martinez, this year marked the 12th rendition of the show at The Greater Philadelphia Expo Center. “We provide an experience for competitors and spectators alike to compare to other shows for themselves,” Martinez explains. Judging is based on the quality versus quantity of the vehicles in conjunction with great execution and overall flow of a vehicle’s theme.

One of the coolest aspects of a show like Tuner Evolution is the fact that Jay and his team make it a point to accept a handful of newcomers. There are no special privileges for anyone who submits their build to compete, but Martinez explains that he likes “to accept newcomers with great builds to, not only give them a taste of our show but to also, inspire them to build their cars better than they already are.” It’s the extra attention to the finer details along with subtle additions and modifications that often have an impact on a competitor’s placement at Tuner Evolution – a philosophy that harkens back to the intensely competitive, “Mild-Wild-Radical” bracket-style format of Hot Import Nights from the late 90’s and early 2000’s.

Having “grown up” in the show scene interning for The National Custom Car Association – the official judging company for Hot Import Nights at the time, I think it’s these finer details in the judging that draws me to Tuner Evolution: Philly each year. It’s reminiscent of when competitors used to travel all across the country with their cars in hopes of grabbing a big win and overtaking the points leader, not unlike the Formula Drift series of today. 

With that in mind, I asked Martinez if he thought the “old ways” could make a comeback. Martinez hesitantly replied that, at the moment, “The three-tier style of competition can’t exist with the way most cars are being built today.” To be clear, this is in no way suggesting that people aren’t building “Mild” or “Wild” vehicles. It has to do more with the fact that very few owners build their vehicles in enough ways to make them “Radical” – a class designated for builds that have quite literally left “no stone unturned.” 

Of course, judging of show cars is inherently subjective and certainly open to interpretation but, Jay used Muzzy Yousefi’s Nissan 350Z to try and illustrate his point. Although the entire vehicle has gone through countless renditions and attended SEMA multiple times, at first glance, most enthusiasts might think it’s merely a lowered Z with a full Veilside body kit. But Martinez explained to me that Yousefi actually took a four-year hiatus to completely redo the car – and by redo, we’re not talking about just getting the car resprayed a new color. Muzzy apparently lengthened the entire front end of the Z itself using the front portion of an S2000 frame. It’s insane and arguably Frankensteinian ideas like this that elevate a show car to “Radical” status. Only at Tuner Evolution!

Now having said that, Martinez made it clear that he feels “the industry is at a good place,” with the caliber of cars that compete at his shows…and I agree. But the reality is that the show scene has morphed dramatically in the last 10 years and Jay happens to be one of the many that are adapting to the changes. When asked if the “Mild-Wild-Radical” bracket-style competition structure could make a comeback, he replied that “with the right players,” it could. So let’s see if Radical builds start showing up next year at Tuner Evolution: Philly!

7’S Day 2018: A Day for the RX7

For car enthusiasts all across the globe, the 7th of July (7’s Day) has become one of the most meaningful days on the calendar: A day for the Mazda RX7. The rear-wheel drive sports car is best known for it’s infamous (or famous, depending on which school of thought you subscribe to) rotary engine and has become a collectible classic 40 years later. The founders of PRIME, my good friends Pravan and Edwin, are two of many that created a tangible, visual experience for others to enjoy in the car’s honor.

KEEPING IT A SECRET

It’s no secret that, if there isn’t a solid plan, things can quickly get out of hand in the densely populated city of New York. An overcrowding of residents combined with the constant flooding of tourists makes for very busy sidewalks and streets. But that also makes for arguably the perfect scenario to show off and make a statement.

When first creating PRIME’s 7’s Day, both Pravan and Edwin recognized the aforementioned challenges. With three completed events, the success of 7’s Day can be attributed to PRIME’s invite-only policy as well as the secrecy of route information. Of course, what’s made it equally successful is the fact that attendees recognize and truly respect the sacredness of this information. 

…and with that, here’s a taste of what went down.

A NIGHT OF UTTER ROTARY

As the sun was setting at an undisclosed location in Manhattan, a few friends and I arrived at the address provided to us. A gorgeous R34 Skyline sat quietly on the narrow city street. We knew that we were early, but we anxiously waited for more people to arrive.

Within 30 minutes, cars of all kinds poured in like a monsoon. I don’t think the guys at PRIME expected nearly as big of a turn out as they got because, within minutes the meeting spot was completely packed from one avenue to the other. It was then that I realized we should probably move on to Times Square…and that our car was probably blocked in.

Now, having lived in New York all of my life, the idea of spending any amount of time in Times Square sickens me. I’m not claustrophobic, but the overwhelming amount of foot traffic quickly chisels at my sanity and, as we waited impatiently to see something other than a taxi or a bus, I could actually feel excitement building. Considering my disdain for the place, it was actually pretty awesome. 

Out of the corner of my eye, I spotted a white FD3S RX7. I ran towards it and saw that there was a beautiful FB RX7 right next to it. I began to shoot.

The RX7s disappeared as quickly as they came in. I thought it was odd and, as I ran up a block, I saw that they were being diverted. The cops had caught on to what we were doing and wouldn’t let anyone from the group through. It made no difference though because enthusiasts and tourists alike were already making their way over to where they were going. As the cars turned in, they snapped pictures on their phones and stopped drivers to ask about the cars. The appreciation did not go unnoticed.

As the group moved on to the final spot, my friends and I decided grab dinner and head home. We were all overwhelmed by the experience and needed to digest…literally and figuratively. Should we get invited next year, we will most certainly attend and, if somehow you get invited, I urge you to go as well.

Astoria Park Alliance Car Show

When people think about iconic, scenic, New York City backdrops, the list usually starts with either the city skyline, the Brooklyn Bridge, or The Statue of Liberty. But Astoria Park, in Queens, New York, is one that isn’t always readily thought about, but definitely should not be ruled out. Located across from Randall’s Island and the Robert F. Kennedy Bridge, the one lane roadway running adjacent to the East River makes for the perfect backdrop to display some of the most well-kept classic cars in New York.

This year’s Father’s Day, the Astoria Park Alliance hosted their first-annual car show to raise money to help restore the park. When I spoke to the creators of the show, I couldn’t help but chuckle at the fact that they openly admitted to not knowing much about cars (after hearing my credentials, they asked if I wanted to help judge the show), but noticed that there were beautiful cars driving around the neighborhood whenever the weather was nice. “Meeting all of the wonderful people in the classic car community was really the highlight of the experience for me. These men and women put so much love and care into their cars, and were willing to share their prized possessions with our community in Astoria,” said Vice Chair of the Astoria Park Alliance, Anthony Liberatoscioli. “When my colleague Miriam Fodera and I were first brainstorming about the event, that notion of bringing different communities together is exactly what we were hoping to achieve, and the Father’s Day Classic Car Show exceeded our hopes.”

APPRECIATION BY OWNERS AND SPECTATORS ALIKE

As someone who’s lived in New York all his life, the appreciation for and ownership of a wide variety of vehicles never ceases to amaze me. The number of roads within the five boroughs that are less than ideal for even “normal” cars to drive on is pretty depressing, and the indescribable amount of cracks, potholes, and bulges in our roads makes even a stanced car owner like me wonder how anyone could keep a car together here.

But to my surprise, when I arrived at the show, the strip was filled from end to end, and late show competitors were getting turned away left and right. The owners that did make it in showed off a wide variety of American, European, and Japanese classics. As I walked towards the bridge, I was quickly reminded about how each one of these cars had a different story to tell. Unfortunately, I didn’t have time to hear them all but I did learn, for example that, although this ‘67 Mustang Coupe was resprayed, the brownish cream color was actually offered by Ford for that model year (apologies to all the classic Mustang enthusiasts that knew this already). And that gorgeous Copper Nissan 280Z… that was purchased by the original owner and currently only has about 50,000 miles on it.

What made the show just as enjoyable was the amount of appreciation the owners had for their cars. When I walked up to this immaculate Saleen Foxbody Mustang (which, by the way, I had never seen in my 32 years of life), the owner made sure to point out that it was signed by Steve Saleen himself on three different parts of the car (It’s also worth noting that an ASC McLaren Foxbody was parked directly in front of it). Although I didn’t get to meet the owner of this ridiculously clean 240Z, I did notice the signature from Yoshihiko Matsuo on the passenger sun visor–something I’m sure most Z owners can’t brag about.

“While the Father’s Day Classic Car Show was created with only a commitment to be a one-off event, it was such a massive success that I think we will almost certainly be bringing it back in 2019,” Mr. Liberatoscioli explained. He went on to say that it was the last car to make it in, an absolutely stunning Impala, that took home Best Of Show. All together, the show raised $1,320 and, after covering the show’s expenses, the remainder will be put towards improvements for the park.

AutoCon New York 2018

It was only a few hours after leaving PRIME 7’s Day that I was heading back out to attend my first-ever Autocon. When I had first arrived at Pier 94 on the west side of Manhattan, there were already hundreds of cars rolled in and on display. At first, the spectator line to get in looked pretty bleak, but when the doors finally opened to the public, fans of all ages started pouring in.

The Hudson River provided a nice cooling breeze that flowed through the open doors of the large tented area. The skylights and overhead lighting scattered throughout the space produced nice dramatic lighting on many of the cars. Friends that had attended the year prior were continually remarking on how much better the show was this time around and, although the “Lineup” layout was a bit strange, it actually seemed to allow for more owners to put their vehicles on display.

THE INFLUENCER ADVANTAGE

The recipe for a successful car show has morphed dramatically over the past two decades. Innovations in technology and changes in how we interact with one another have altered the landscape, for better or for worse. Not surprisingly, the success or failure of a show that’s put on in the present day depends heavily on how the creators adapt to these changes.

One of the strongest ingredients Autocon used in their recipe for success in New York was having Social Media Influencers in attendance. With both T.J. Hunt and Chris Petruccio of Krispy Media at their show doing meet and greets along with selling their merchandise, the guys at Autocon were no doubt able to pull in a larger, wider audience. Spectators had the added bonus of checking out awesome builds while also getting autographs from and taking pictures with their favorite automotive Youtube stars. The results showed with lines at both T.J.’s and Chris’s booths being consistently long throughout the show.

As someone who’s been in the show scene since the early days of Hot Import Nights, it was particularly cool for me to have seen R.J. De Vera, a legendary competitive builder, not only in attendance but also serving as a judge.

ROLL OUT > ROLL IN

By around 6 o’ clock, the award ceremony was finished and competitors started up their cars to leave. Spectators that stayed until the very end were rewarded with a roll out that was just as good as the show itself. As cars exited the building, crowds of people with phones in hand formed on either side of them. Competitors certainly didn’t mind the attention and often gave thanks with a few revs. As the last of the cars merged onto the West Side Highway, the crowds dissipated and the show was over.

Wicked Big Meet: A Subaru Addicts Anonymous Meeting

Picture this…

The clock strikes eight on a warm, foggy morning in Stafford Springs, Connecticut. Chances of rain are sporadic throughout the day. Main Street is barren with hardly a person in sight. The town’s population of almost 12,000 people is mostly sleeping as they rightfully should be.

 As you pass through the town on your way to Stafford Motor Speedway, you can’t help but ask yourself, “Why in the world did I get up so early?” As you approach the entrance gate and see hundreds of Subarus all lined up and waiting to get in to what looks to be a Subaru Addicts Anonymous meeting, it hits you: “Oh right, today is Wicked Big Meet.”

Welcome to “America’s largest Subaru enthusiast festival” in the country and possibly the planet. In the last few years, Wicked Big Meet has consistently gathered over 8,000 enthusiasts and spectators to celebrate Subaru and connect “the community with other members, performance shops, parts vendors, and Subaru itself.” This year was no different with a recorded attendance of 8,400 people. 

The meet (as it once was considered to be for it’s originally small size) was founded in 2005 and, after being acquired by Robert Champion of SubieEvents, LLC, it laid the groundwork for their six other shows that now take place all across the country. You essentially can’t go to a region of the U.S. now that doesn’t have an annual show to celebrate Subaru.

But wait, you’ve never been to Wicked Big Meet? Here’s what it’s like to attend:

THE WICKED BIG MEET EXPERIENCE

Ok, so you’ve successfully acquired your ticket while keeping your jaw intact. As the attendants direct you to your parking spot, you ogle over and critique the cars that are already parked and not in the show: An actual right-hand drive Forester STI, a great looking “Saabaru” wagon, and…oh great, another plasti-dipped “Bugeye” WRX. Snap out of it and park already!

As you walk to the entrance, you notice multiple spectators standing on top of cars, all of which who are trying to capture the breadth of their surroundings…and to make those that couldn’t make it really jealous. The line gets longer and, as it wraps around the lot, you get a better view of cars rolling in. 

It’s 9 o’clock now and the gates are officially open. Let the madness begin.

From Google’s satellite view, the speedway doesn’t seem that large, at least compared to some of the more famous tracks in the U.S., but as you walk through the gates into the show, it feels like every crevice is filled with something to look at. There’s almost literally a Subaru of every kind – from rally-prepped to “ruined” – wherever you look and you’re obviously not complaining.

INNOVATION COMES NOT-SO STANDARD

Wicked Big Meet is a great show to attend if you’re looking to see innovation from both vendors and competitors alike. Although vendors are allowed to use display vehicles from other manufacturers, many chose to show Subarus and the boundaries on what can and can’t be done change continually with each passing year, thanks partially in part to them. 

Take this flared, 2JZ-powered BRZ (pictured above) for example. Although it certainly isn’t the first of it’s kind, there’s no doubt that the configuration wasn’t plug-and-play by any means. Long nights and extensive fabrication was no doubt involved, but the simple fact that it exists proves it can be done and will surely inspire other horsepower junkies to do the same.

When it comes to one-of-a-kind innovative car however, the Billetworkz RB26-powered WRX is a whole different story. As far as anyone knows, the owner had to move the firewall back just to get the Skyline motor to fit in there…and to make a mid-engined WRX, obviously. It still retains an All-Wheel Drive system and is the first of its kind, making it another example for what can be done to these cars.

A TRUE FAMILY-FRIENDLY EVENT

One of the greatest things about Wicked Big Meet is the fact that it’s such a family-friendly show. To be clear, when using the term “family-friendly,” it’s more about the all-inclusiveness of it rather than its alleviation of childrens’ boredom. But make no mistake, plenty of families that attended were made up of three generations…but I digress.

The best part about the family-friendly aspect of Wicked Big Meet is that, at a time when vehicles have become more automated and “handicapped” than ever, the young children brought to these kinds of shows are being exposed to “real” cars. Cars that, not only have gearboxes but also, were often built by the people that own them. The “Saving of the Manuals” is real my friends!

SUBARU LISTENS!

Over the past 13 years of Wicked Big Meet’s existence, the involvement of Subaru of America, Inc. has steadily grown. In the last few years, they’ve not only helped sponsor the event in some form, but also incorporated all the regional shows into their marketing strategy. Not only do they promote all the shows that SubieEvents LLC offers, they also use them to surprise enthusiasts.

In addition to their traditional offerings of ride-alongs with sponsored rally drivers and roped off displays of their rarest gems (including, but not limited to, the highly-acclaimed Impreza 22B and #001 STI Type RA), Subaru went even further this year and put their infamous, bruised and battered “Boxersled” STI on a vertical display. They also unveiled their limited-edition 2019 Series Grey WRX and STIs to spectators. Since it was the 30th anniversary of Subaru Technica International, the roped off lineup of gems also included an example of each generation of STI – a real treat for the most diehard of Subie Fanatics.

So, with all the being said, if you have even an ounce of enthusiasm for the Subaru brand and want to share it with other like-minded people, then you’d be hard pressed not to go to at least one event put on by Champion and the gang.

Formula Drift New Jersey

Formula Drift hosted their 100th round of competition at Wall Stadium Speedway in New Jersey and it was nothing short of exciting. With Round 4 being the midway point of the eight round series, spectators and live stream viewers alike are used to the carnage that “The Gauntlet” dishes out…and there was no shortage of it this year. Even the highly consistent “Norwegian Hammer” – Frederic Aasbo – collided with Forrest Wang and sent them both into the wall. 

Fans came out in full force to be a part of Formula Drift history with the first 100 fans in line receiving a special edition key chain. With tons of other giveaways in the paddocks, including used tires, few fans left disappointed. They came to the autograph sessions in droves with fenders, dashboards…literally whatever they could get their hands on.

Of course, no round of Formula Drift can be complete without the interactions between Jarrod DeAnda and the crowd. They connect with him in a more personal way, whether it’s through their hilarious signage that he spots while announcing – see the “Deane For President shot as an example – or heeding to his calls for a giant “Wave” in The Great Eight. One spectator even managed to catch Jarrod’s eye with a sign made to sell a used BMW!

THE (NEVER ENDING?) HORSEPOWER DEBATE

As expected, there were some notable battles that took place. The Worthouse Drift Duo of James Deane and Piotr Wiecek were door-to-door in both their leads and chase runs, making everyone practically forget that they were even teammates. Another wild battle between rookie Matt Vankirk and veteran Jhonnattan Castro – a driver who’s been making noticeable strides in the last few years – resulted in Vankirk getting the win, and bringing him into the Top 16 for the second time in his career as a pro driver.

But Vankirk’s win doesn’t just improve his driver standings in the series, it also brings into question a topic of much debate: The necessity of super high-horsepower cars in Formula Drift. Do drivers like Chris Forsberg need such a technically advanced, 1000+ horsepower, twin-turbo, VQ-powered competition car that, so far, has had a slew of issues, when drivers like Vankirk can make it just as far with one of the lowest horse-powered engines in the series? Can Dean Kearney rely on a twin-turboed Viper if midway through the season he needs to use Forrest Wang’s spare car just to stay in competition? For Forsberg, a current ranking of third overall and 39 points shy of points leader James Deane suggests otherwise. What’s more is the return on investment for this new engine setup has the potential to be pretty high if Forsberg can clinch a fourth championship. 

PROGRESSION OF FORMULA DRIFT

With the competition continually getting fiercer, and battles becoming more exciting at every round, it’s difficult to ignore how Formula Drift has progressed as a whole over it’s 15 year lifespan thus far. Along with the increased amount of coverage sources, advancements in drifting journalism from the Maximum Driftcast podcast in combination with Laurette Nicoll’s improved on-site reporting has no doubt helped. Ryan Lanteigne’s explanations of the more complicated judges’ rulings definitely doesn’t hurt either.

There’s also no question that more teams in Formula Drift have had better budgets in recent years, resulting in more families on both the driver and spectator sides attending each round. Pros like Ryan Tuerck used to drive competition cars to each round by themselves with all the spares and tools they could fit in them. Now many drivers trailer their cars, and bring their family and friends with them too.

Although these are obvious statements, they are worth mentioning, not only for those who’ve only recently started following the series but also, as a benchmark for how the series will surely grow in the future. Here’s to another 15 years!