When last we met with Nick Long, he was surprising anyone willing to take a run at his turbo Cobalt SS.  Since then, he’s made a slight upgrade to his garage.

He picked up a 1997 15th Anniversary Limited Edition twin turbo Supra after selling his Cobalt.  The Cobalt was cool, but this Supra is a thing of legend.  It’s the car people aspire to own, and Nick finally got his…  Then sent it off to get some work done.

The car got a full detail, a nice 4 inch straight pipe exhaust and a few under-hood “accessories”

A Precision T78 turbo sits in place of the factory twin turbos, with a K&N filter keeping the nasty stuff that could get sucked in to it or the motor out.  Custom piping feeds the charged air into a custom front mount, and then in to a factory throttle body and manifold.  A Greddy boost controller keeps the pressure at 22psi, which is a nice number but meaningless without proper fueling…

Which is provided by a pair of Walbro fuel pumps and kept in check with an Aeromotive fuel pressure regulator.  These few parts, and some careful tuning, yields 610 horsepower at the wheels, and 588 lb/ft of torque.  610whp on an internally stock motor.  The stoutness of the 2JZ is one of the reasons why people are still clamoring for these cars fifteen years after American importation stopped.

That, and because it is still a gorgeous car in factory trim.  This isn’t factory.  It’s been lowered two inches, had a set of BBS wheels fitted and has a VIS carbon fiber hood in place of the stock metal hood.  No crazy bumpers, fenders, graphics, wings.  Nothing to distract from the classic JDM lines.

Except maybe a little tire smoke…

Words and photos by Michael Chandler

*Article and Photos are copyright of CAMAutoMag.Com and their respective owners. Images and words may not be re-posted, re-distributed, modified, or copied without expressed written consent from CAMAutoMag.Com.

The rest of the crew will start to post their pictures as they get them developed and scanned. Click the pictures for full-size on Flickr.

Hope you enjoyed this look to show that you can “Instagram” your pictures in the camera with an old-school disposable film camera.

-Photos by Trent Bray

*Article and Photos are copyright of CAMAutoMag.Com and their respective owners. Images and words may not be re-posted, re-distributed, modified, or copied without expressed written consent from CAMAutoMag.Com. ]]> http://camautomag.com/trents-film-from-austin/feed/ 0 http://camautomag.com/rrm-lancer-turbo/ http://camautomag.com/rrm-lancer-turbo/#comments Thu, 30 May 2013 18:00:13 +0000 MChandler http://camautomag.com/?p=4558

These are some old photos.  Really old.  Two years to be exact.  We traveled to California to shoot photos of this and a Nissan Cube show car.  These didn’t see the light of day because, well, we had no idea what was done to the car beyond what we could see.  Our contact had something suddenly come up at the last minute, and wasn’t around for the shoot.

See, what used to happen was while one of us was shooting photos or video, the other was talking to the owner and getting a mod list or making arrangements to have one emailed to us.  Since our guy wasn’t available, we had nothing.  However, we did have some basic information on this Lancer GTS and the endless power of the internet.  Here’s what we’ve come up with

First, it’s turbocharged.  Road Race Motorsports developed a turbokit for the n/a front wheel driver Lancer GTS which is based around a 16g/GT3 snail.  Between that hair dryer, the front mount, Tial wastegate and other bits add up to 100hp over stock!

CarbonTrix provided a lot of carbon fiber parts: fuse box cover, radiator block off plate, hood, front and rear lips, grill, the Evo Extreme hood, the trunk lip spoiler and rear diffuser.  The fit and finish of these parts was top notch.

With the added power, the car needed to be able to haul itself to a stop and be able to turn properly.  So a Rotora six pot big brake kit has been installed, and sits behind a set of BBS wheels.  Brake cooling ducts keep the brakes at a safe temperature, and a strut tower bar in the front helps the Tein coliovers to do their job of letting this Lancer carve some corners.

The car was/is sporting a center exit exhaust.  It fit well within the diffuser.

Inside there are a pair of Aero Design carbon/kevlar seats, Sparco harnesses, and a harness bar/rear roll cage.

Is this story over due?  Very much so.  Was it worth waiting to have as much correct information as possible?  Also yes.

Words and photos by Michael Chandler

*Article and Photos are copyright of CAMAutoMag.Com and their respective owners. Images and words may not be re-posted, re-distributed, modified, or copied without expressed written consent from CAMAutoMag.Com.

Memorial Day Weekend brought tire smoke, friends and a contest to Miller Motorsports Park.  For what?  iDrift Round 3 of course!  The focus shifted back to the West Paddock where the barriers were placed, James Dean and Darth Vader were propped up (and subsequently blown down.  Damn wind…), and rides were given.  And look!  Jordan’s 1UZ powered S13 was alive and kicking!

Jordan approved of his vehicle’s performance.  Some of the drivers had to work the course, much like at an autocross event.  However, they got a golf cart which served many purposes.

Jordan used it as a chariot to spear cones, while Trent sat in judgement while at the helm.  What was he judging?

Jason Smith in O.P. Anderson’s car for one!  After some *ahem* difficulties, Jason started whipping the E36 around like an old hand.  He even took second in the competition!  Was it rigged?  Doubtful.  If it was he would have won.  Although, this would be the best cover for any sort of rigging…

Hey Nick, your thing is dragging…  He also blew up his rear diff, which is amazing because the former diff was a weak 1.6L piece that lasted years with the power he’s putting down.  Those usually break at slightly higher or sometimes even stock power levels.  He has a 1.8L diff now, and a new bumper on the way.

This guy took third.  I don’t know who he is, but the primered coupe was consistent all day.  Also, James blew over long before I got there and lost his head somewhere along the way.  A tragedy, I know.  But hey, he does approve of what is going on here.

Here’s your winner ladies and gentlemen.  Smoke?  Plenty.  Smoothness?  And how!  Fancy colors?  YOU BET!  His entries were also on point, and he wasn’t afraid to approach the barriers or clipping points.  He deserved the win.

There was also this: Brent Cheney’s old S14!  No longer Brent’s and no longer SR powered.  It belongs to Rob, and it’s packing a LSx.  How he did in the contest I don’t know, but it did sound good.

It was a good day for everyone who made it out.  Missed out?  Don’t worry!  THERE ARE MORE COMING!!!  Next one is June 22 in the Midway.  Don’t worry about not having a car, or astronomical ticket prices.  I haven’t had a car to drive for any of these, and tickets are only $6 at the door.  And those tickets let you watch whatever is going on at the track that day.  That’s a lot of entertainment for $6.

Words and photos by Michael Chandler

*Article and Photos are copyright of CAMAutoMag.Com and their respective owners. Images and words may not be re-posted, re-distributed, modified, or copied without expressed written consent from CAMAutoMag.Com.

No time for shenanigans, time to get to the…  Hey!  Thats an Aston Martin Rapide…  So pretty. The parking lot held some intense vehicles, but more on those later.

We were here for the racing!  Not the parking lot finds, and we managed to get quite a bit in on our last day.  We caught some of the SCCA Pirelli World Challenge GT/GTS race.  You know, the one with the GT3 cars in it now.  We saw a lap or two from ground level, but then decided to get a better vantage point.

We (Cherp, James and myself) climbed the Tower.  Well, we rode the elevator up because it was a lot of stairs.  We got some great shots up there of the GT/GTS guys and the Porsche Cup races.  We also got some touristy ones.

These guys were running hard, but in the end Madison Snow took the Pirelli GT3 Cup Trophy race, while James Sofronas won the GT class in his GMG R8 and Andy Lee put his Best IT Camaro on top of the podium in the GTS class.

But then it was time for the main events!  The first race almost saw Mark Winterbottom put his Pepsi Max Crew/FPR Falcon atop the podium, but a bad pit stop relegated him to a disappointing 7th.  Holden locked out the top six spots, with Coulthard, Lowndes and Whincup on the podium in the order.  Rick Kelly in his Jack Daniel’s Racing Nissan placed 9th and Tim Slade put the Heavy Haulage Australia Racing Mercedes in 20th.  Then we had an hour to kill between the races, so we wandered…

And wound up at the Start/Finish line.  We consumed energy drinks and water, purchased souvenirs, and then heard 28 cars bounce off the rev limiters before launching up the hill.

And what a hill it is.  It’s 150 feet of rise from the bottom of the hill to the top.  That makes it the most elevation change of any F1 circuit on the schedule.  See?  You learned something!  We then moved down the front straight, to turn 20.  The final turn of the circuit.

We saw plenty of action.

And also some inaction…

And then the checkered flew.  The big news?  A MERCEDES FINISHED BETTER THAN 20TH!!!  Tim Slade and the HHA Racing Mercedes came in 17th!  Meanwhile Rick Kelly was yet again the highest placing Nissan (8th), and Mark “Frosty” Winterbottom put his Flacon in 6th.  Holden took places 1-5, with the podium consisting of Jamie Whincup, Fabian Coulthard and Shane van Ginsbergen.

And that was it for the races, but the parking lots at CotA held a few gems themselves.  There was the McLaren on Saturday, then there was this SRT Viper that was being loaded in to a hauler.

And these!

Holdens!  We ran across two fellows who import Utes, then convert them to left hand drive by sticking Pontiac GTO or G8 dashes in them.  The best part is they then can be legally registered!

After ogling the cars, we packed up and made our way in to Austin for dinner, then shenanigans.  The next morning we returned our faithful chariot to the rental agency, hopped on the plane and made our way home.  It was an epic trip for the lot of us.  Nobody races like the V8 Supercar guys.

Words by Michael Chandler.  Photos by Michael Chandler, Nicholas Cherpeski and James Dahl.

*Article and Photos are copyright of CAMAutoMag.Com and their respective owners. Images and words may not be re-posted, re-distributed, modified, or copied without expressed written consent from CAMAutoMag.Com.

After a hearty, umm, breakfast, we made our way to the track to see our first V8 Supercars races!

By this point we’ve established seating in the rental mobile: Trent at the helm, Cherp in the navigator position…

…with Jamie and myself in the rear.

Today we all went our separate ways when we got to shooting.  I elected to go to the bottom of the hill where turn two is and the outside of turn one at the top of the hill.

Then I made my way to the turn three, four, five complex where the drivers were hitting the curbing hard.  They were putting a lot of air under the tires.

Then I made my way across the bridges to meet up with the guys after the race.  Jamie Whincup took the win, with Red Bull Racing teammate Craig Lowndes taking second and Fabian Coulthard rounding out the podium.  We then walked back across the bridges, watched Jamie eat a kolach, then settled in on the hill above turn eighteen for race two.

There was a lot of action in race two, unfortunately not a lot where we were…  But we did get to see some passing!

And even some three wide action that didn’t work out in turn nineteen.

It was mostly orderly and clean, which is good because having the safety car out every three laps would turn the twenty-seven lap sprints into monstrous endurance races.

The checkered flew, Jamie Whincup and Craig Lowndes took positions one and two with Fabian Coulthard taking third.  Holden shut out the podium yet again, and also took positions four and five with Mark Winterbottom putting his Ford Performance Racing/Pepsi Max Falcon in sixth.  Rick Kelly put his Jack Daniels Nissan Altima in eighth.  The Mercedes E-Classes didn’t fare that well, with one not finishing while the other two took positions twenty and twenty-six.

With the racing done, Trent posed for a delightfully touristy photo and we left.

But not before we spotted a McLaren MP4-12C leaving one of the dirt lots!

Two more races tomorrow.  Will Red Bull Racing continue their dominance?  Can Ford crack the podium?  Will a Mercedes finish higher than twentieth?  Find out tomorrow!

Words and photos by Michael Chandler

*Article and Photos are copyright of CAMAutoMag.Com and their respective owners. Images and words may not be re-posted, re-distributed, modified, or copied without expressed written consent from CAMAutoMag.Com.

It’s the inaugural Austin 400 V8 Supercars race, and as a group Trent, Cherp, James and myself decided to chip in and come down.  We’re going to be down here until Monday, and at the track today and tomorrow.  We flew in yesterday and went straight to the track.  Here’s a brief run down of events preceding and during our trip to Circuit of the Americas here in Austin.

Cherp flew in to Salt Lake from Seattle.  He did some prodigious foursquare-ing, and proceeded to creep on us at the terminal in Salt Lake until we found him.  Him, Jamie and myself grabbed some coffee before boarding.  Unfortunately we were separated during the flight, and they got a window on their aisle.  Cherp and I were left to entertain ourselves…

Naturally, when we deplaned, we were greeted by a bar.

It was then time to procure the rental mobile.  We were getting a Focus, or something “similar”.

The idea of the Focus gave Jamie a stroke… Or something…

…while Cherp seemed just delighted by the prospect of the Focus.

Similar?  YOU BET!  Similar price?  the BMW was $50 more PER DAY.  So we opted for the Focus, which we have claimed as our own.  And then we were off!

She’s a sight to behold.

You know who was excited to get in?  JAMIE!

We were greeted with raucous backfire from the Aussies and Kiwis during the practice session we watched.  We were then treated to a practice session from one of the support series: IMSA Porsche GT3 Cup, where we noticed some familiar cars from Miller Motorsports Park.

We’ll be back out there today, and tomorrow.  Follow the lot of us on Instagram and Twitter for more photos and shenanigans: @camautomag @cherp92lx @dubbindahl and @mchandphoto

Words and photos by Michael Chandler

*Article and Photos are copyright of CAMAutoMag.Com and their respective owners. Images and words may not be re-posted, re-distributed, modified, or copied without expressed written consent from CAMAutoMag.Com.

May 11 was the annual RallySport Direct swap meet.  What started as an opportunity for RSD customers to free up some garage space by unloading parts has turned into a sizable event where you can also meet people and eat some free food.

For the longest time RallySport was synonymous with Subarus and Mitsubishis, but they have since expanded their offerings to include Mazdas and even the new Focus ST has found a home in their stable.

Everything was there for you to ogle, from all out race cars to high dollar exotics (The LFA is an exotic.  Deal with it)

To classics and super stanced vehicles.

Even grocery getters found some love!

All in all it was a gargantuan success.  Multiple parking lots were filled, products were raffled away and most everyone got free food.

Did you miss it?  A tragedy that.  But good news!  There’s a Facebook album with some more photos and it’s only about another year until it comes around again!  Even better news?

Words and photos by Michael Chandler

*Article and Photos are copyright of CAMAutoMag.Com and their respective owners. Images and words may not be re-posted, re-distributed, modified, or copied without expressed written consent from CAMAutoMag.Com.

First up is the RaceCo R35 GTR, sitting on its air jack on pit lane in the fading light, waiting to add to the legend of the GTR.

Next is one of the original Gulf GT40s, one of the first cars to ever wear the now iconic livery.  This car’s legend was set in stone long ago.

Words and photos by Michael Chandler

Right/ctrl click on the image and open in a new tab/window, then right/ctrl click and save it.

*Article and Photos are copyright of CAMAutoMag.Com and their respective owners. Images and words may not be re-posted, re-distributed, modified, or copied without expressed written consent from CAMAutoMag.Com.

Miller Motorsports Park was a busy place on April 27.  Rally Cross was happening, iDrift was going off in the Midway, and there were a gaggle of Porsches on the East course.  Since I was conveniently standing between the Midway and the East course I figured I might as well snap some photos of the Porsches.

Words and photos by Michael Chandler

*Article and Photos are copyright of CAMAutoMag.Com and their respective owners. Images and words may not be re-posted, re-distributed, modified, or copied without expressed written consent from CAMAutoMag.Com.