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So, the AWD Army dyno day was at Boostin Performance in Chicago this past weekend (that and being super busy at work and with the car can be attributed to my recent lack of activity) and I did some photography for the event since I'm on staff for AWD Army anyway.

Didn't get as many photos as I would have liked in hindsight, but I got some decent ones.

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Not every day you get to see a legit S15. It was awesome to have this show up.

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Kristin's Alpha 12 GT-R. Put down 1060hp even at 95 degrees with all the humidity.

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Kevin's Evo. 800hp.

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And of course no trip to Boostin would be complete without some love for the Red Demon, Devin's 7sec 2G DSM.

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Entire album is here on the AWD Army Flickr: https://www.flickr.com/photos/135250308@N05...157656003860163

A few non-Evo shots from the other day:

I seriously love this Miata. I definitely love shooting it.

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All photos in high res here! https://www.flickr.com/photos/29843549@N08/...157660044862035

Some may have noticed I disappeared for a bit, and the reason is VEGAS!

Specifically SEMA and the Optima OUSCI, and while I unfortunately didn't get an invite to race, I had plenty of fun hanging out and turning wrenches, helping with strategy, etc. We ended up having to replace a wheel bearing on our 3rd place finisher, and we swapped turbos (well, half of them, we moved the compressor and center sections and left the hotsides in their respective cars) from our 9th place car to our at the time 4th place car, which turned it into a 2nd place car. Not a single dull moment with us, I tell you.

Out of 125 possible points for the weekend, the spread between P1 and P3 was 1.8 points. That's ONE POINT EIGHT. That's how close this was, and how close we came to taking this home. Next year it's game on, and I fully intend to get my own invite as well.

Anyway, here are my OUSCI photos. I'll get SEMA stuff edited and posted in a few days here. There's bonus IDW member meetup stuff in there as well!





I'll be staring at this one longingly for months...

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Thumbs up! Good to go.

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Just a wheel bearing job in 40 minutes. No big deal for us. Grappler getting his hands dirty as well.

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The DuSold Designs '69 Camaro. Quite possibly my favorite car in the series.

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Andy's IX MR. Finished P2 overall despite our best efforts.

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Brandon's IX RS. Finished P3 overall.

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And walking to the driver's meeting for the road rally, I couldn't possibly turn down the opportunity to shoot John Lazorack's Conquest in that perfect light.

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And a link to everything! https://www.flickr.com/photos/29843549@N08/...157661044010195

Oh lord, that's a beautiful shot of the speedway & the mountains~ ♥

Really diggin' that ice block on top of the engine too!

Now the real question is... where's that pic of Spaz, Sideways, and Starion getting smashed inside the Evo with 50 shades of German beer!?

This post has been edited by xiao_la on Nov 12 2015, 08:43 PM

Thanks!

That STi is about at the limit of what a top mount can handle so that's the solution to keeping intake temps cool. It's surprisingly effective.

And there was no Starion present, unfortunately... Nor any content with my car, which stayed home. There is a pic of me, Grappler, and Sensation! though that I have yet to edit. There's also a pic taken by Sensation! of me and Sideways. And I have to say it's rare for me to be able to sit down with anyone and talk tech to the level that we did for as long as we did, both are awesome guys. I'm glad I had the chance to meet up with them, it had really been a long time coming.

You guys seriously need to make a couple of one-off videos shooting the breeze a'la Top Gear, with nothing but tech-talk man.

First episode...

'Replacing a cast-iron exhaust for some 9000 decibel headers + oil pan melting aluminium pipes + canon mufflers + scrapping those stock cats for, well... nothing~ huh, what's emissions!?'

Does Matt still have his Rolla? You'll have to excuse me, I was AFK for approx 5 years. xD

We certainly talked cars alright.

It's confirmed without any shadow of a doubt that Spazzy is what the IDW auto section needs and deserves. He's floh without being a big meanie.

And yes, Matt does indeed still own his corolla, however it's been out of commission for a few years now due to a mishap involving an acquaintance.


As for the pictures, well...I actually don't have my main phone at the moment, it's being used as a benchmark tool. Pictures of our very VERY late night dinner will be up as soon as I get my phone back in a week.

This post has been edited by Sensation! on Nov 14 2015, 10:47 AM

Haha. I'm pretty sure he does, but I'll admit, as connected of a life as I try to live, it's pretty hard to keep track of people who keep deactivating their Facebook.

In other news, the wifi chip in my Surface Pro 3 seems to have shit the bed (SP2 OP) so I'll need to move everything off of that in prep to ship it to MS for service, and that's going to take priority over getting more photos edited. I have all the RAWs on my desktop but it's just finding time around everything else (especially FO4) that's a bitch.

That better not have been involving any sort of Trigun cosplay with a real life Mateba!?

Y'all need to just switch to WhatsApp. That way you can spend 3/4ths of your work day texting nothing but cat car pics!

I totally missed this, something about hitting reply and then doing other stuff at work before actually replying...

Our meeting up was such a long time coming that a few more days won't kill anyone, ha.

And I'm honestly honored to have you compare me to Floh. Even with him having stepped away from racing entirely and taking up snowboarding for the past few years, the dude is still head and shoulders above me, both as a driver and as a knowledge base. But to be considered among the same company, I'll certainly take it, but I can't help but be humble about it.

^ We just need to enlist you as an AF tech for the next couple of years, move you to Japan, then Germany, have you rebuild a couple of SR20DET's in the middle of the street with nothing Deutschland brew, put you on the Nürb after a long hazzy night in Paris with nothing but a scratchy copy of Cowboys From Hell, and we're all set!

Seriously though, you do rock Spaz~ when I came back and saw you post, I'd thought Matt had changed his username, but then I saw you in the Evo & said, oh cool!

Another oldie but goodie is Sobaer~ I wonder what happened to him... having a kid must've taken up quite a bit of time; but he was a pretty hands on techie guy. I think he lives somewhere around Arizona, so I should probably organize a southwest meet or something & include the IDW ppls in SoCal while we're at it... Bubs too, but I've no clue where he lives; last post I saw from him he was going sideways on the dirt like a true rally art Bob Ross~

But yeah, we're really blessed to have someone that knows his Brembos from his Bilsteins in Spaz!

The military doesn't want me due to reasons of mental fitness, specifically ADHD, so getting shipped all over to turn wrenches (and play with cars in my free time) was never an option, though I did consider it.

Sobaer did indeed disappear, haven't seen him around in a long time.

Bubs is indeed living the rally life, or as close to it as he can. He and I keep in touch via FB. He's in the Northeast, so if I end up racing in NJ this year I'll try to convince him to come hang out. Should be a pretty empty (and double points as a result) event so it may actually be worth the trek on those merits alone.

SEMA stuff, finally. Didn't take as many as I'd have liked, as per usual.

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Everything! https://www.flickr.com/photos/29843549@N08/...157661566620451

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Yessss!! Now I can finally frame him on my wall of anime characters~

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Is that a wrench or a Ford F-150 window crank!?

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Ruff ruff ruff, bow wow... ruff ruff?? !?

That's a connecting rod!

That Supra is damn sexy.

I rephrase my question to: is that a connecting rod to an LSX, a Dragster, an Army Tank, or a Patriot Missile!?

Also...... I'm getting some slightly devious ideas thanks to that 4WD Army polo you're wearing...... namely a prospective design for an 'IDW 軍' polo for all our IDW members that want one...... mwuahahaha~

That's the connecting rod from my pants.

As long as they're staff only polos like they are for AWD Army!

hahaha! like a rock~ ohhh like a rock!! ♪

Yours is gonna say My Little Pony Fanclub on the back in bright multicoloured letters man~

http://i.imgur.com/Z5DTOdI.jpg
Yessss!! Now I can finally frame him on my wall of anime characters~

haha oh god hahaha!

It's more or less the attitude and passion.

Flohs downside of course seemed that he was blinded by it and refused to consider cars as hobby other than going out and setting fast lap times. Aesthetics? blah!

5 years ago, I would've agreed with him, but my POV now is that ANYTHING involving non-collector cars as a hobby is a huge waste of time and money.

And therein comes the passion. Going out, working on your car, studying the mechanics and the physics, then taking that knowledge as a sum and putting it to the test you better yourself as a driver? That's top notch stuff.

Spending money on it and doing it proper with the knowledge that it might never net you monetary wealth? Even more hardcore, that's real passion.

That's where the respect comes from. Since you're nicer in floh, you've probably surpassed him in some ways. Its important to lead people into the right direction when it comes to this industry/hobby, there's a huge difference between people who like cars and people who are passionate about them. You're easily the latter, and we could use more of the latter, less of the former.

Granted, I don't think I thought much of cmspaz back when he owned a DSM. But ever since that 2nd evo? It's a total 180. Take that knowledge, lead some of the younger people into the right direction if they wanna be into cars, just as it was done to me. While the aftermarket is not where I want to be, I seriously can't imagine myself not working with cars.

The friendly local guy willing to share knowledge is the best start for anyone willing to set foot into this world.

This post has been edited by Sensation! on Dec 2 2015, 05:21 AM

Bonus points if you include your kuro neko with ya in the next pic~!

That's the difference between a professional and a hobbyist. I've never seen a video of a professional driver, engineer, designer, mechanic, race queen unwilling to share their secrets of the trade to us the next generation. Most hobbyists you see strutting their stuff in big-time boards like RX-7 and Foot~Hachi Club have their e-personas so far up their butt, they act like movie stars. But those lucky few putting bread on the table with their professional nine-to-five jobs they... well they're secure enough in their passion, that even showing a newbie the ropes on how to change their oil is a joy for them. Spaz is definitely a diamond in the rough, with the heart of a pro ☆

Thanks guys, really.

The best way I've found to put it is that among all those stacks of tires, I found a slice of humble pie. I don't think much of who I was as an enthusiast back when I owned my DSM or my first Evo, either, for the record. Not that I wasn't a nice guy, but I had a chip on my shoulder with no real experience and little knowledge to back it up. I'd never competed above 60mph in a parking lot. I didn't know how actual racing worked, or how actual prepped cars came together from a blank canvas. I would even now argue that I still don't have a complete picture. My deflated ego and fresh reboot were what opened me up to learn all that I have, however.

Year after year I made stupid mistakes and never learned because I never wanted to listen, not that there was anybody there to do more than make off-handed comments. Not until recently were people willing to sit me down and drill into me that I was indeed being stupid. I just want to be able to make sure others don't repeat my mistakes. The funny part is that it's always the little, one or two line trivial things you learn from those more accomplished than yourself that stand out the most, regardless of how much all of it sinks in.

Then again, anyone that I get into this hobby is repeating my biggest mistake; getting into this hobby.

Yay for Spaz love

I think a lot of us envy you and your endeavours in amateur racing, I hope one day I can attend an event with you.

I don't envy me... Almost 30% of last year's take home was racing budget. Ouch. I was telling a coworker the other day that I'd own a house already if I didn't do this shit.

One of us will head the other's direction for an event at some point here... It needs to happen.

Might be a while though. With the oil prices falling to bellow $40 its going to be a tough time here in Alberta. Gotta pinch my pennies for the time being.

Huge OPEC meeting tomorrow though so we'll see.

WOW severely off topic