Tyler Tanaka talks about the new Turbonetics Forged Billet Compressor Wheels

1. Billet aluminum wheels are much stronger than cast aluminum wheels for a couple of reasons. The first is that there are no porosity issues to have to worry about. This means that there is no chance of minute air bubbles being in the metal. Turbonetics uses a special process called HIP’ing. Hot Isostatic Processing that virtually eliminates porosity in its cast wheels but because the wheel is cast and the metal is still smushed together (laymans terms) the hotter the wheel gets, the faster it spins and the greater the pressure ratio conditions it runs at the greater the chance of metal fatigue, blade straightening or in the worst case bursting. The second is the metal material that can be selected to be used is a much stronger grade than the same cast material. This is where Turbonetics forged billet compressor wheels shine. They are even stronger than standard billet wheels because the grains of metal have been moved in such a way as to align in a specific direction. See article here on forging (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Forging)

Turbonetics Forged Billet Comp Wheel

2. Because Turbonetics uses  Forged Billet to machine the compressor wheel on a 5-Axis mill, the nose and hub of the compressor wheel can be made significantly smaller to allow for a greater blade diameter for a givine inducer size. The nose is where the compressor nut gets fastened down and the hub is the area around the bore of the wheel that the impeller blades are attacheed to. A cast wheel has to have a certain size nose and hub to allow the wheel to be cast number one and secondly it has to be able to be pulled from the mold itself. So simply stated a 61mm Forged Billet turbo will flow more air and have the opportunity to make more power than the same 61mm turbo with a cast compressor wheel.

3. The specific metal material used in Turbonetics forged wheels also gives the wheel tremendous blade strength and lowers the chance of the blades straightening at high speeds (ie. high boost pressures). When the boost pressure is raised many things occur including causing increased friction with the air and thus increasing temperatures, the pressure the wheel is under and finally the great centrifugal force the blades are under spinning at such high speeds. These three factors can cause the blades to contact the compressor housing causing serious damage to the turbocharger and could possibly lead to immediate destruction or greatly decrease the life span of the turbocharger.

122mm Pro Stock Forged Billet Turbo

4. With forged billet impellers the blades of the wheel can be machined much thinner because they are so much stronger. This allows the wheel to have a greater efficiency range becuase their is less blade thickness to contact the air and heat it up. It also means that with less blade thickness and lower hub area that there is a greater area in-between the blades to squeeze more air and build boost pressure. The more efficient a wheel is the lower the intake temps and everyone knows the cooler the air going into the engine the more horsepower you can make.

5. Being a 5-axis machined part means that this wheel is not cheap as it takes a long time to machine these wheels and it is expensive to program the mill. Hence the increased price of the TNX line of Turboentics turbos but being a machined part allows Turbonetics to continually make improvements in a quicker manner and lower cost method than creating very costly tools and molds for casting compressor wheels. This gives us an advantage in that we can make small changes to the comp wheel and continually improve the airflow and efficiency of the turbo for specific types of applications.

Keep It In Boost,
TurboT2

Turbonetics Forged Billet Compressor Wheel

Fear has reared its ugly face more frequently than we all would like in recent months and we have seen both of the results mentioned above in the auto industry over the past 18 months and some companies like Ford have proven themselves worthy of their heritage. I think that Henry Ford would be proud about what his namesake has acomplished in the past 18 months. The brand continues to surge forward step by step making incremental improvemtents along the way, most importantly to its product offerings. Others have resorted to makeshift budget cuts, leadership changes, M&A attempts and silly sales promos to bolster sales and if it wasn’t for the Great American Gov’t Waste of Taxpayers Money Cash For Clunkers program they would be in even worse shape than they are in now. Mostly because they continue to ignore a very basic principle, to build quality cars that people actually want to own and drive. The 2008-09 decline of the Detroit big three and other world auto powers has obviously hit the aftermarket parts manufactures hard but as I prepare for the arduous task of working the IMIS (Int’l Motorsports Industry Show) here in Indianapolis for the next few days I am perplexed to understand how the aftermarket and it’s companies are making business decisions in the current economic conditions.

Turbonetics IMIS booth in Indy

I know it is not a simple matter to make good decisions when the future is about as clear as mud but c’mon already people! Stop basing everything you do on the sole fact that since your competitor decided to do something you better do it as well. “Keeping up with the Jones” or “So and so is doing it” were never more widely used than they are now albeit for different reasons. Instead of spending, it is reducing and cutting back or choosing to do something because you are more afraid to not participate than you are confident to attend.  The common theme that I keep hearing about this show is that “we waited as long as we could to not attend but too many other people were coming” or how about I am only exhibiting cause my enemies are here”. Well much like the strength of the economy, trade shows are built on confidence, for both the exhibitors who choose to attend and the attendees who register to be there. Here at the IMIS show I am caught with the normal butterflies I get before the  floor opens to the attendees. Will it be a successful show for us, will it be a successful show period, how many leads will I be able to gather, will I be wasting my time and my companies money by attending.   But unlike MANY of those exhibiting here did I decide to be here because my competitor was attending. Sure we looked at the exhibitor list but it certainly didn’t dictate whether to be here or not. I have confidence in the fact that we attended IMIS because the investment was worth the reward and risk of traveling to Indy.

Two quotes stick out in my mind as I think about our plans for next yeaer and how 2010 will take shape. First and most importantly is echoed in what Chet Atkins said “Everything I have ever done was out of fear of being mediocre”. I hope that I have the foresight and good sense to continue to drive forward to be excellent. The second is directed at my fellow industry associates to get some chutzpah and stop worrying about what others are doing, just focus on making good products and providing good service. After those two things are worked out the other decisions get a whole lot easier.

As H. Jackson Browne said “Don’t be afraid to go out on a limb, that is where the fruit is” and I couldn’t agree more.

Keep it in boost,
TurboT2

First I want to start off by saying that being on the show floor and getting our booth ready to open the show allows me to hear and participate in all kinds of conversations. I like to equate these verbal encounters to playing the game “pitching pennies”. You know where you are flipping coins against a wall to see who can get closer or better yet stand the coin up against the wall vertically. For three days everyone is guessing and “flipping quarters” out there as to how disastrous the show will be this year. For the past three years now all anyone wants to do is talk doom and gloom leading up to the shows opening and I am frankly getting kind of sick of it. The first thing out of everyone’s mouth is that there are less exhibitors this year or that there are a bunch of open spaces, and so-and-so dropped out and you know who didn’t come… GOOD! The automotive industry needed a good thorough shakeup to sort out the winners and all the others because when Tuesday morning came and the show began Turbonetics was off to a fantastic and very successful SEMA show.

Turbonetics SEMA 2009 Booth

As the SEMA Street Performance Councils Chair Elect  (find out more about the SPC here) I firmly believe in the good that the SEMA organization has to offer its member companies but it’s like going to church; until you get involved in a deeper more personal level and jump into the programs behind the sermons you will never get the full value of the church body just by showing up on Sundays. All too often people become disenchanted and feeling as if they are not getting something meaningful because they are just going through the motions. There is a tremendous push going on inside SEMA to really deliver valuable returns on the membership dues and for buyers and exhibitors alike, to have a successful show. The education and business programs that have been initiated in the past 18 months have been a long time coming and I am proud to say that the groups that Turbonetics and I are involved with are leading the way forward. But I digress so back to my original point, while I am not happy that the economy has struck a particularly mighty blow to many automotive companies and SEMA and CONVEXX won’t necessarily appreciate my opinion, I know that the org’s coffers don’t, but I am glad that there are less exhibitors and here’s why;

1. Dilution:
   1. Prior to the 2008 show the rate of growth was phenomenal. Truly staggering in my opinion. The parking lots were filled with tents and cars and the registration area for crying out loud was what seemed a city block away. There were chotski vendors and cheap overseas knock-offs, some of which splashed castings of my own parts and some potentially questionable booths that could be argued did not belong at the show.
2. Inflated Attendance:
   1. While I still think that the shows attendance gets a boost in some areas, the sheer number of people at the show was growing and growing year after year. Combined with the number of booths out there it made it increasingly difficult for people to get to my booth and then to conduct good meaningful, full value conversations once they arrived because I had a line of people waiting to talk to me about sponsoring their 1972 Gremlin… “it’s gonna be an insane project maaaan” 
3. Quality vs. Quantity:
   1. The same serious buyers are going to be at the show year in and year out because SEMA remains a wonderful place to do business. It is also the single greatest place to debut new products each year because the volume of purchasing decision makers present and press coverage is second to none. With less booths for them to be distracted by or in some cases not there at all the greater the opportunity I have to meet new people, open new opportunities and most importantly close new sales.
4. Return on Investment:
   1. With the general climate of shrinking marketing dollars and being forced to do more with less, a concentrated SEMA means that I get more out of the show. Our dollars are hard earned and I expect to get maximum value from them. With the SEMA show the current size or even 10-15% still smaller, it makes spending the massive dollars involved with exhibiting at the show an easier decision to make.

Here’s the thing about being an exhibitor at shows like SEMA and PRI and any other large trade gathering for that matter. You get what you put into it! Anyone that thinks they can just show up and they will automatically make rain is sorely mistaken. It is a combined effort for our engineering, quality, production, sales and marketing team to drive success to our business. You make your own traffic at shows sometimes, whether through revolutionary new products, sales promotions or fantastic PR and communications. If you are reading this and you are a buyer or shop owner, did you fly in on Monday to take advantage of the Internet Marketing classes? Did you attend any one of the myriad business seminars during the week? How about listen to the panels of speakers giving their advice and real world experiences that were making them successful in the current economic climate? As an exhibitor did you do everything in your power to make it a successful show? I know I didn’t and we had still had a great show, that’s why I am so excited to do an even better job next year. See you in Vegas in 2010 for what I hope is an even better and stronger auto industry and SEMA show.

Keep It In Boost,
TurboT2

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"Ice"

“Dear Ice – What do you find to be the most attractive part of the car (wheels, color, etc..) and and what is your favorite type of motor vehicle (sports car, big truck, luxury car, motorcycle, etc…)?” – Anton

My Anton,

I am soooo happy you asked me this question, tis a good one my friend. Let me ask you this first…Have you ever seen that Cadillac Escalade commercial that aired for a while last year? You know the one with the hot chick with the accent? Yayayayya…that one…what does she say is one of the #1 things women look for when buying a car? CUPHOLDERS!…She said it more like CCCCKKKKKKUUUPHOLDers…. You know what? After seeing that commercial I just couldn’t agree more that CCKKKKKKKUUUUUPPPPPHHHOLDers are probably the sexiest part of  any ride I am owning. I mean what is more important that having your drink in an extremely convenient location….and when I have a drink available I would say 27 out of 27 times I have had something to eat with it…whether it be snack or meal….I am a woman who embraces and appreciates a good meal. I actually wouldn’t mind bathing in slabs of ribs right now as we speak. To be quite truthful in some instances I would probably take a good meal over the sexy time. I don’t do this salad/leaf  ‘I want to look like a big sissy while I eat because I want to impress some guy who I realize in the first 5 minutes just wants to shack it up with me”….. but instead I will order that Lobster dinner that will make my  mouth water and burn a hole in his wallet.’  I win….

In other words the way to my heart is through my stomach and if a vehicle can provide me convenient capabilities for me to consume while driving a motor vehicle , then I cannot think of anything more attractive about a car than that….

“Dear Ice – I have an older friend that is close-minded and does not appreciate any car made after the “good old days” of the 70’s. How do you explain to someone that a fun car is a fun car, regardless of vintage or make?” – Brad

Dear Rad Brad..

First off I would like to thank you for writing in…Secondly, I am not quite sure what your friend is thinking but  the 70’s sucked…for God’s sake the Hacky Sack was invented in 1972.. I could have lived just as happily without years of seeing stoned kids who apparently forgot to wear deodorant let alone know what a bar of soap was standing in a circle kicking a knitted sack of rice or beads or whatever the hell it is in place of having to realize how much they actually all sucked at life.The only good things that came out of the 70’s were a few of my friends and ABBA. Other than that, it wasn’t even a part of history I need to read about in a textbook.

So what I would do to address this ignorance is to ask this ‘older friend’ what the hell do you like about ’70’s rides so much to think such an absurd thought?  Ohhh…it must be the fact that your  ‘Good ‘ol Days’ ride bends you over  when you drive her…..you fill her up, drive two blocks over 45mph  and turn back around to make your second trip to the gas station to get charged another $ . 95 fee for using your ATM card to spend another $50 to fill up and gain another 5lbs because you cannot resist the aroma of the glazed donuts  that seduces your stomach with goodness and the excitement you feel to see the Mountain Dew slurpee to wash it down with every single time you go inside to pay (damn that was a long sentence). To make it worse people will think you are just being “THAT GUY” driving his muscle car around in circles, revvvvving his engine just to make sure everybody saw him and recognized that his custom paint job and polished rims still look the exact same way they did 15minutes prior. We got it “GUY” and cause nobody cares and you for sure ain’t safe from getting made fun of….

Now,  not appreciating any car made after the ‘good ‘ol days is pretty much saying you think Sophia Loren is beautiful  but then you would turn down an X-Rated night with Megan Fox after you saw her Maxim spread and also heard that she likes not only men but wouldn’t mind a rendevous with the XX chromosomes…its doubtful you would…If you did that you might as well tell God his artwork sucks, however I do not recommend doing that. So despite age, color or physique a beautiful woman is a beautiful woman when you see one, there is no denying that… then why wouldn’t you give props to a bad ass ride when you saw one whether it be from the 1970’s or 2010…I mean you are a GUY after all and if you do not appreciate all forms of beauty not only in women but in cars of today and the yester-year then I guess your buddy should snatch up his MAN-CARD from his man purse, which is sitting right next to his hacky sack which would be conveniently located in his soft top convertible Mazda Miata….

“Dear Ice – I own a `91 Nissan 240sx, and for the last year or so i’ve been slowly rebuilding it… the Motor arrives tomorrow, and with any luck, i’ll have it on the road by the end of this month. My question to you is… What Power mods do you think would b best for my Ride, the Motor i found is the Original Ka24DE that came factory, with slight mods built into the redesign. I was Hoping i could get your inside Opinion on the Car… THnx…” – Whisper.

Hello Whisper,

I don’t know jack didly squat about  Nissans but what I can tell you is I am glad to see you didn’t do some retarded thing like throw a Toyota or small block Chevy engine in there. Way to keep it old school! What is up with taking engines and throwing them into things where they don’t belong. Call me old fashioned but you gotta have some serious manly issues if you need to “transplant” something artificially that you were’nt given from the start. The guys at T-Netics say that throwing a “red top” in, whatever the hell that is, is okay cause thats the way it’s done in the homeland but I am not so sure. I am into all nat-tur-al and that means enverything baby! You just gotta use the most of what God gave ya.

Since I am not the 240 master I am going to relay what the boys over at Turbonetics told me. They said that since you decided to keep the KA engine in to take advantage of its torquey (is that a word) qualities and bolt-on a nice mid sized T3/T4 hybrid like a GT-K-500. Speaking of hybrids I am liking this crowd, there are some hooooot half breeds in the automotive industry, I could do some damage around here….

Ice out!

Jessica Barton

We have actually been trying to work some modeling gigs out with her for quite some time, ever since she helped us to develop the turbocharger that carries her signature. The “Jessica” Mid-Frame is absolutlely rocking the 1000+ hp street turbo scene and has won multiple races on Supras and other vehicles that need big power in a standard size to fit under the hood.

The "Jessica" Mid-Frame Turbo

We are at KAR Studios in Camarillo, CA working with the incredibly talented Kyle Richardson, known in the industry for his fantastic work with Modified Magazine and their ”After Hours” features. If you have seen any of Turbonetics posters in the past (see here for all the pics, there are multiple albums so cruise around) you know that we take pride on coming up with very creative and unique photo shoots. This year is no different and we are introducing the brand new TN Series of turbos and the Hurricane Series of turbos at SEMA.

Here are some behind the scenes pics of the the photo shoot so far. Make sure to stop by the Turbonetics SEMA booth # 22767 for a signed copy or hit us up after the show to order one. Enjoy!

WordPress Video

If any company (not blessed by the good grace of subsidizing) was run the way that Detroit auto divisions are they would cease to exist. The direction the US Govt. looks to be headed with the domestic auto sector makes me shake in my boots and Heaven help us when they move on to the next socialist agenda item. Ralph Schoeder of the AAE Group sent out a very good summary of quick and simple math calculations based on the official C4C numbers released. If you were responsible for making a company decision to spend 750% more dollars in charitable contributions than sales would you still have your job? Here is what Ralph had to say.

“Are these numbers correct?

A vehicle at 15 mpg and 12,000 miles per year uses 800 gallons a year of gasoline.

A vehicle at 25 mpg and 12,000 miles per year uses 480 gallons a year.

So, the average clunker transaction will reduce US gasoline consumption by 320 gallons per year.

They claim 700,000 vehicles CLUNKED – so that’s 224 million gallons / year.

That equates to 5.33 million barrels of oil.

5.33 million barrels of oil is about ¼ of one day’s US consumption.

And, 5.33 million barrels of oil costs about $400 million dollars at $75/bbl.

So, we all contributed to spending $3+ billion to save $400 million.

If these numbers are close, what economic strategy was really being employed by our government?

I have friends who own dealerships and they stated the “program” provided a needed injection of new business, given the alternative of the past months.

Not all of them have been paid (yet).

However, is this sound business strategy or simply throwing money at a problem, in the hopes it will provide the solution.

Look out public health care…”

Excerpt from Ralph Schroeder, President - AAE Group

Keep it in boost,
TurboT2

The Mercedes Benz C320 wagon should have been pretty simple, but every since they implemented the dyno smog check, your car had to do more than just blow out clean exhaust fumes. Because the Electronic Stability Program (their version of traction control) was messed up on my car and couldn’t be disabled, it wouldn’t let them run it on the dyno without the ESP kicking on. The guy at the Mobile station that I went to told me that he technically could still do the smog check, but would throw a red flag if they didn’t run the car on the dyno. Great. It’s not like my traction control has anything to do with how much emissions my car puts out. Or do the geniuses that set up these rules actually think it does? Somehow I managed to disable the ESP for a few minutes and just long enough for the dude to run the acceleration tests. For some reason, I always get nervous when I’m getting a smog check. Like I’m taking a mid term in college (Yeah, I remember college) or physical at the doctor. About twenty minutes have passed and finally the guy tells me that my car had passed. Here’s the dumbest (OK, maybe not the dumbest) part, in order to save time (or paper), the smog certificate is sent electronically. That doesn’t seem like a bad idea, but they still charge you $10 for it. That’s $10 for a piece of paper that tells you the results of your smog test: carbon monoxide, knock levels, hydro carbons, and all that fun stuff that 99% of the population can’t understand anyway nor do they care. Anyhow, my Benzo passes after I drop $40 (with a coupon) and now I have to go home and pay the DMV another $181 for that 2010 sticker. One car down – one to go.

My Acura NSX isn’t nearly as simple to get smogged because it requires me taking it to a Test Only station. Those are state or government funded places that are only allowed to test your car, but not fix it if it doesn’t pass. Just in case you didn’t pick that up by the “Test Only” title. It’s lame because a lot of Test Only stations charge more even though they’re actually doing less. Isn’t that how things always work (See Mike Dunleavy reference above)? I kind of lagged on this one a bit because I hate having to find a Test Only station and one of my four O2 sensors was burned out so I had to get a new one from Hugh Le and have Will “Homer” Law install it for me when he was test fitting some DC Sports headers. I did pay the DMV registration fees in advance so I wouldn’t have any penalties, so I had to suck it up one day and go to whichever Test Only smog station had a coupon in the Penny Saver that week. That was a waste of about two hours of my life. Not like I have whole lot of other stuff going on, but I’d rather not chill at some grungy smog station. Because the C32A engine comes with direct fire ignition from the factory, a lot of people don’t know how to pick up the RPM signal on it. So trying to explain that to this guy while he clamping the pick up to every part of my motor. They could read it off of the OBD II as well, but their reader was old and kept showing a communication error. After three or four passes on the dyno, the technician pulled my car off because he still couldn’t get the machine to read the RPM. He tested an older car, I guess 1996 and under you don’t need to run on the dyno, and that hunk of crap passed. Then my car goes back onto the dyno, he finally gets the machine to read RPM, but the final stage involved linking up to the OBD II and their machine couldn’t do it. Ugh.

I didn’t want to, but I had to go to this old, grumpy Korean dude off of PCH in Long Beach to get my NSX test only smogged because I went there before and I knew he could do it. Yeah, it took me having to deal with him pushing me, grunting, and pointing at parts of my car, but it was worth it in the end. Of course, it wasn’t as easy as that. The first series of runs on the dyno, he forgot to turn the traction control off and kept messing up the acceleration test so my car failed because there were too many restarts. After another series of tests, my car finally passed and I was almost on my merry way home until I realized that he only took cash and with the $10 certificate I didn’t need, the total was $40. I looked in my wallet and only had $38 because I bought two tacos from Jack in the Box the other day and don’t carry my little bag of change with me in the NSX. I ended up having to bum $2 off some dude waiting for his car, which made me feel unbelievably ghetto. I’ll pay him back if I every run into him again. LOL.

All that hassle and this is every two years right now. I know that California wants to make older cars have annual smog checks. Not sure if it’s more the keep the air clean or just to make money off of people who can’t afford new cars. Whatever the reason, I know SEMA is trying to fight it. I’d be extra annoyed if I had to go through this nonsense more than once every two years. I understand that we need to keep this state clean, but how about putting stricter regulations on those trucks and busses that are blowing out black smoke? Just a thought. Then again, what do I know? I’m not the one who put California into debt and keep raising taxes.

My NSX at a test only smog station

Ricky “RikDaddy” Chu

rikdaddy@rikdaddy.com

Ice

We ran into this crazy girl who we will affectionately call “Ice” and she had some pretty funny stuff to say. She has an opinion on everything and you just never know what kinda stuff is gonna come out of this girls mouth when you start talking to her. Plus she’s hot so most of the guys talking to her just nod, laugh and agree with everything she says anyways.

Beginning this month we will feature “Ask Ice” on the Turbonetics Blog. But we need your help. We want to find out what topics you are desperately needing to get advice, opinions and insight on from our resident expert on everything. Let us know what you want to hear and the person whose topic is selected will win something each month.

Post a reply here with your ideas and hopefully yours will be picked. Here is a sample of what we are looking for…

Example Submission #1:

“Dear Ice – I have a 1974 Gremlin and I was wondering if fixing it up and repainting my car will give me better luck with the ladies?” AMCMan

Example Submission #2:

“Dear Ice – I have a friend who thinks that it is cool to have a rusty hood (referencing TurboT2’s latest Turbonetics blog post). What do you think? RustHater

How about rusty hoods? I know this might not be news to some of you hipsters out there but there has been a growing trend of sporting rusty hoods on otherwise perfect cars. It seems to have originated with VW owners and it has in fact been going on for quite a while now. I have included a collection of pics for you to sample and try your best to comprehend. My brain actually absorbs quantum physics and the theories of absolute zero more than this trend but hey I like to play golf too. No matter how popular that game is, it is still ridiculous to chase a stupid white ball around whacking it with metal sticks.

But perhaps I have sparked something in you from reading this post and you now can’t wait to transform your rice or kraut mobile… well here is the link that you will need to git ‘er done. How to turn you cars hood into a rusty piece of junk art.

Personally, I think it is about as cool as a cat playing a keyboard. Perversely funny and unique in a very strange way!

Keep it in boost,
TurboT2

WordPress Video

Obscenely bright and early on Tuesday morning, which worked out well since I needed to move my car for street sweeping anyway, we met up at Mitsubishi headquarters in Cypress and got a quick rundown of what was going to be happening for the next six or seven hours. The main thing was that we would be stuck in traffic. Come on, hitting the freeways at 7am in Southern California is like a death wish, but we managed to creep along slowly while shooting video and trying to figure out how Billy Mays died and what they plan on doing with his beard.

Less than two hours into the drive, we had to make a premature pit stop because somebody needed a potty break already. Needless to say, all of the Evolutions lined up going anywhere brought tons of attention regardless of the fact that they were all stock. Unfortunately, the lady working at the gas station didn’t appreciate the engineering that went into these cars as much as everyone else and told us to get out of the parking lot. Back onto the 5 freeway for another few hours. Because we got a late start, which is amazing because Moe actually showed up on time, we had to skip eating breakfast at our next stop in ultra sexy Button Willow. I tried to avoid the three-hour old donuts, but I couldn’t. My stomach was grumbling and nothing could taste better at that moment than the combination of a donut and a small carton of orange juice, both warm from sitting in the car. Yummy. Rolling on the on ramp, Will tried to get a cool shot, but Mitsubishi’s Laura Arbios’ failed attempt at keeping all of the cars lined up and together made it for a less than dramatic video clip. Sorry, Laura, but I had to call you out on that one. LOL.

More crazy angles for Will while he tried to suction cup the Sony EX-1 to any flat surface on the Outlander. Oddly enough, the suction mount wouldn’t stick to the roof and Will was sticking his head out of the sunroof for quite some time trying to make it happen. Whiteman’s frohawk is back again. Our lunch stop was supposed to be at Wendy’s in Los Banos, but we ended up at Carl’s Jr. Damn. I was looking forward to square burgers too. Corrrect me if I’m wrong, but doesn’t “banos” mean bathroom in Spanish? Pretty fitting name for this city considering it smelled, looked, and felt like a bathroom at an old, rundown truck stop. Utilizing the small amount of time we had out of the cars, we grabbed quick interviews with Melvin Bautista, Christine “C Jew” Jew, and Moe Durand. C Jew is great because she just bought an Evolution 9 and got challenged to a race by Elliott Moran. Weight factor aside (C Jew = 100lbs, Elliott = 230lbs), it should be a pretty good race. They just need to bet big on it. I say loser has to tattoo “I <3 Los Banos” on their forehead. Moe was being Moe. I had to remind him to put on a Mitsubishi shirt because he was rocking a bright yellow Zankou Chicken one with some dolphin shorts. Reminds me of the days at Super Street when he’s go into meetings and round tables with his shirt buttoned up wrong and the collar folded in. Ah, the good old days.

While we continued our drive up north, it reminded me how crappy Central California was. Nothing but a lot of dirty and dead grass. Oh, and garlic.

It didn’t seem like it would happen, but we finally made it to Infineon Raceway where we were greeted by the Jim Russell staff. Head instructor Chip Pankow gave the group a quick tour of the future classroom, a breakdown of what the Lancer Evolution Experience was all about, and then told everyone to grab helmets for some hot laps with the instructors. Just before that, Moe busted out the Lancer Evolution Experience birthday cake.

Will and I went outside to shoot the stickered-up Evolutions next to the FJR50 racecar, which uses the infamous 4G63 motor. After grabbing some more clips and filling up on pizza and Mitsubishi cake, we decided that it was time to go for some hot laps.

If nothing else, the Jim Russell school does rock some pretty dope looking helmets and head socks. They looked like Snake Eyes from the old GI Joe cartoons. Wait, isn’t that movie coming out soon? I probably won’t get to see since I still haven’t gotten to watch The Hangover because it’s sold out by my house. I guess I could go in the daytime by myself, but then what kind of loser would that make me? Oh yeah. I’m jobless and sit around all day watching the NBA channel and writing complaint letters. I guess it can’t get any worse than that.

I’ve been to Infineon a couple of times for Super Lap Battle and Formula D, but I can’t recall if I’ve ever driven on the track. Will did last time with the Ford GT500 event, but that was nothing compared to this. I’m pretty sure Chip was driving, hard to tell with the helmet on, and he tore that track up in the black Evolution X MR. The class has both the MR and GSR Evos and we’re told in Super Sport mode, the MR will be faster. However, there are always people that want to go with the conventional five speed so that’s why they are there. Just some info on the Lancer Evolution Experience: it’s a one-day class that costs $1,000 and will start in August while early registration begins in July (this month). Not a bad deal if you have $1,000 and a day to spare. Most other classes out there cost a lot more and you don’t get to drive an Evolution X.

We had one more stop at Works Rally before we headed towards San Francisco and SFO where our hotel was. Fortunately, their facility was at the track so it didn’t involve more driving. Because so many people rolled up in the Evolutions that got left at the track, we had to cram everyone into the few Outlanders we had. Somehow, C Jew was the only one who jumped in our Outlander and I ended up driving down to San Francisco. Did I mention that I was really tired from waking up at 5am and driving the entire time? Driving always makes me sleepy for some reason. Someone should have penciled in a nap time somewhere in the schedule.

We finally checked into the Crowne Plaza and I noticed that I was in “murder central” – the last room on next to the emergency exit is called that because it’s an easy getaway for the killer. I saw that on an old episode of CSI (the OG one in Las Vegas, not the lame Miami or New York ones).  I also noticed that I didn’t bring any moisturizer. Yes, I’ll wait while you make bodily fluid sexual references to me needing moisturizer for my face. For dinner, we headed out 20 heads deep to BJs where I pretty much put myself into a coma by consuming Crown Royal, clam chowder, meat loaf, chicken fried steak, mashed potatoes, and some giant ice cream and cookie dessert thing. On the way back to the hotel (why was I still the one driving?) C Jew called me to tell me that she needed a bag out of the Outlander and they had to rush back to the hotel because Moe had to drop a deuce. Love

By midnight I was knocked out in my room and waiting for my 5am alarm clock and wake up call for the second morning in a row. Our fight was at 7am to Long Beach on Jet Blue. That would land us at around 8, at Mitsubishi by 8:30, and back home by 9 at the latest…or so we thought. Right when we checked in, it showed our flight was delayed for two hours. Wow, I think everyone could have used that extra two hours to sleep. And it’s not like you can just go back to sleep now that you already woke up. Just like you can’t force yourself to sleep at 9pm if you need to wake up at 5am. Though, how cool would that be if you could do both? I guess the flight wasn’t delayed because of the weather, but because the flight crew got in late last night and they get a specified amount of time off before they are allowed to work again. My goodness, I’ve never had a job like that. Everything we used to do was on a work now-sleep later basis. Their routine sounds pretty cush to me. Kind of like being a failure of an NBA coach like Mike Dunleavy who is also his own boss as the GM so he doesn’t have to fire himself. OK. Maybe it’s not exactly like that, but I had to throw that reference in there just because.

On the short, empty flight back we didn’t even get to enjoy the DirecTV because it kept freezing up so Will and I used the time to do some business planning. Will is going though all the footage right now and the video should be done by Mitsubishi Owner’s Day next Saturday. Speaking of which, does anyone want to hit Vegas on Sunday and Monday for some NBA Summer League action?

Ricky “RikDaddy” Chu

rikdaddy@rikdaddy.com

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