Mitsubishi Owners Day 2015
Last weekend, we had the opportunity to check out the annual Mitsubishi Owners’ Day at the Mitsubishi Motors headquarters.
RRE Team Driver Canaan O’Connell and models Erika Ocampo and Olivia Korte talked to fans and signed all day, and we got to hear the Jem FX/Jet Black Racing car, and it’s crazy anti-lag.
The show stayed packed all day, and the dyno stayed busy.
Check the gallery for more photos!
JemFX-RRE EVO 7 Feature Video by Electric Federal
This video was shot earlier this year for the /DRIVE+ Channel on Youtube as a subscription only feature. It hasbeen released now to the public at large on the Electric Fedral Youtube Channel and here it is:
From Electric Federal:
Published on Jul 13, 2015After ten iterations, the Evo is about to kick the bucket with no real successor in sight. We decided to pay homage to a modern tuner icon.
In our latest EF release, which first aired back in March on /Drive+, we profile two significant players in the Mitsu Evo realm: Mike Welch, the West Coast’s premier Mitsu tuner, and Canaan O’Connell, an up-and-coming star in the racing world. RRE and JemFX Motorsports make for a fun, mildly chaotic combination.
We had so much fun that we decided to profile their race at Pikes Peak in 4K.No, we don’t just mean GoPro 4K. We mean all sorts of footage in 4K. We’ll update you on that soon.
Special Thanks to:
+ Mike Welch and Road Race Engineering: http://goo.gl/JgWFHD
+ Elia Popov and JemFX Motorsports: http://goo.gl/uQu5PB
+ Canaan’s parents for making Canaan (and therefore a cool subject)
+ Mitsubishi Motors for building (and then sadly killing) the Evo: http://goo.gl/AlVVWjCredits to:
– Matt Genesis as Director/Editor
– Rony Karkar (a.k.a. “Ronky”) as Colorist
– Ian Norum on Camera
– Chris Belizzi as Grip
– Andrew Montiveo as ProducerFacebook: https://goo.gl/1E6KmR
Twitter: https://goo.gl/DA9lsw
Tumbler: http://goo.gl/DJm4nq
Pike’s Peak Testing
We were able to get to Pikes Peak for some serious testing last week, and now we’re more ready than ever. Canaan had a good few runs on the mountain, and we’re confident in his abilities as a driver. He’s building a great driving record, and we’re happy to have him on the team.
Two very early mornings of testing is all that we get, so we made the most out of last Saturday and Sunday. We tweaked and made and adjustments as we went, and got the car as dialed in as it can be for the unique racing environment that is the high altitude mountain course.
Roy Narvaez wasn’t on the course this weekend, though he’s been making his final adjustments for Pike’s Peak as well.
With just 10 days to go, we’re looking forward to competing at Pike’s Peak. Keep on eye on our Facebook and Instagram pages for up to the minute updates starting June 26.
Hankook Tire to Sponsor Team Road Race Engineering
We are excited to be partnering with Hankook Tire for our four team cars covering four different racing series this year. With the right team and sponsors now in place, we’re looking for major successes across the board.
Hankook has graciously agreed to sponsor the following cars as part of our team lineup:
Canaan O’Connell pilots the Road Race Engineering Mitsubishi Evo 7 as an active part of the Road Race Engineering/Jet Black/JEM FX Motorsports Racing team. The car is currently running NASA, and will be at Global Time Attack events, as well as Pikes Peak this year. The left hand drive Evo 7 is running on Hankook F200 280/650/R18 tires, which will keep him planted on the track.
The Road Race Engineering Mitsubishi Evo 6, driven by Dr. Alex Marmureanu will run on Hankook F200 280/650/R18. Dr. Alex’s Evo 6 has been built and tuned Road Race Engineering, has been a part of the RRE race team for years, and has been featured at the SEMA Show as part of the team. Dr Alex runs with the Porsche Club of America and the Porsche Owner’s Club in both the Time Trial events and also wheel to wheel road racing.
The Road Race Engineering Mitsubishi Evo 8 is run by Roy Narvaez and will be competing at Pikes Peak this year. The Narvaez Racing Evo was built and tuned by RRE. This ex James Singer car is running a proven setup of an RRE 2.3 and Garrett GT3582R turbo with an AEM Infinity ECU, and will undoubtedly do well this year on the mountain. After running Pikes Peak, Roy is looking towards getting his road racing license with NASA and running wheel to wheel road race events. Updated livery is currently in the works.
Professional BMX Rider Francisco “Coco” Zurita owns and drives the Road Race Engineering GT-R. The Nissan GT-R will be a part of the Gumball 3000 rally, Global Time Attack, and SEMA Show marketing efforts. Tire specs are undecided, but with consultation from the Hankook team, will be an improvement for the team’s racing efforts.
RRE and driver Carl Rydquist first partnered with Hankook for the 2013 Formula Drift season, and the successful partnership led to the continued relationship between the two companies. Road Race Engineering is grateful for Hankook’s continued support, and is looking forward to representing the tire brand this season.
For more information on Hankook, visit their website.
Bryce at Willow Springs Kart Track
“Dad, when do I get to go to the track to race?” OK, your turn buddy.
Bryce went to the actual Willow Springs Kart Track for the first time this weekend. Over the last year he has done lots of, well “free form” driving in parking lots, the shop cul de sac, playing on the ovals at Willow Springs and up on the Balcony when we’d go testing with the various drift cars. But this is the first time he’s been on a real defined Go Kart track with left and right turns.
I picked up a full size kart with a 100cc Rotax motor to chase him around and show him some lines. We both figured out pretty quick that you can’t turn and brake at the same time on a kart :-P He drove and drove until he ran out of gas. He pushed it to the pits, filled up and just kept going until at 4:00 we could hardly stand up in the Willow Springs afternoon wind.
Jet Black Racing – RRE – JemFX EVO 7 Fast Laps with Canaan O’Connell at Willow Springs
Here is some pure in car video of the Jet Black Racing RRE EVO 7 running with NASA at Willow Springs on the Big Track. Canaan worked through the weekend to get the lap times down to 1:25. That was good for First Place in the Open Class Time Trial class.
Video shot and edited by Electric Federal
Jet Black – JemFX – RRE EVO 7 at Buttonwillow GTA Time Attack
[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=reb2_0f6Dn8[/youtube]
Here is some video from the first round of GTA at Buttonwillow #13 CW. The event was pretty much blown out with rain but we ended up with a 3rd place trophy in the AWD Unlimited class.
We are working with Jet Black Racing and JemFX Motorsports to run this old EVO 7 ex rally car at Pikes Peak in 2015. It started out as a Rhys Millen rally car. Rhys retired it to fast movie car status and had it rigged to support a remote mounted roof top camera crane gizmo and provisions for a camera operator to ride in the back seat area. JemFX is a stunt car and epic fireballs shop and Elia there ended up with it through some horse trading with Rhys. Elia ran the EVO 7 at the Silver State Challenge a few times, getting the fastest 4 cylinder car trap speeds.
Now the car has been fully rebuilt from the ground up with a new cage, track oriented Muellerized Ohlins suspension, a new motor and drivetrain and ever developing aero mods. The goal is running Pikes Peak this year in July with Canaan O’Connell driving. We’ll be running the car at various NASA and GTA events from now through June to further develop the car, the team and the driver.
RRE Competition Stainless Steel Race Headers Eclipse GT V6
RRE Competition Stainless Steel Race Headers Eclipse GT V6
$630 plus $45 shipping within the lower 48 states. Contact us for shipping rates to Canada. Include your full shipping address. If you see a crazy price when adding them to the cart, it is because they are out of stock and in production. Contact us to get on the wait list for the next batch.
These SS headers free up the exhaust flow tremendously! With these headers, an intake and cat back exhaust you’ll be close to 300hp at the wheels. Price includes a pair of direct bolt on 3 into 1 stainless steel headers and all necessary fittings and adapters.
Made in the USA!
Not for use on public highways vehicles in the USA. Not for sale at all within California.
RRE GT Header Info, Install Tips and Pics
2G DSM Eclipse 1G Motor Swap CAS Harness
2G DSM Eclipse 1G Motor Swap CAS Harness
This is a cam angle sensor harness for those of you who plan on swapping 6-bolt motor in your 2G’s.
What it does: It keeps you from digging around in junk yards for the connectors to make everything plug in. It allows you to not understand tricky wiring diagrams. It connects to a 91-94 1G Eclipse CAS on one side and at the other end it plugs into your 2G wire harness where your old 2G cam and crank angle sensors would have in order to give a cam and crank position signal to the ECU.
What it does not do: It does not help you deal with any potential random misfire codes. It does not read and understand for you all the information here and here. It does not make a 1G motor instantly magically start and run in your 2G. It does not explain you the difference between trying to use a green lid or black lid sensor. It does not work if you buy a ’90 CAS.
On ’97-’99 Eclipses, you need to grab this blue wire from the 2G CAM sensor plug and solder to the white wire coming out the CAS harness.
Price $70.00 Please specify _your_ vehicle year. Not the year of the motor or ECU, the year of the Eclipse is what we need.
Carl Rydquist 2014 Formula D Season Wrap Up
COMING TOGETHER IS A BEGINNING.
KEEPING TOGETHER IS PROGRESS. WORKING TOGETHER IS SUCCESS. IN 2014 WE WON OUR FIRST PROFESSIONAL DRIFTING PODIUM IN FORMULA DRIFT PRO2.
HERE’S TO RACING FOR MORE TROPHIES IN 2015!!
Mean Machine. Pre-Season testing with the new Garrett GTX 4088R installed as well as the new C&R Racing NASCAR dogbox, at Willow Springs Oval.
Giving tribute to my friend Paul Walker by supporting his charity organization Reach Out World Wide, I ran the ROWW crest on the hood all season, and #ROWW on the quarter panels of my 350Z V8 Turbo.
Long Beach was one of the best times of the season. Full of fans and friends, and I was excited that the car had become really quick compared to 2013. We also gave a lot of interviews and created a great video from the event.
MORE:
ETS Intercooler Piping for the EVO X (2008-2015)
Price includes standard ground shipping within the lower 48 states.
We use and sell only ETS for intercoolers and piping. It comes down to value. There are some Chinese pipes out there that are cheaper. But the quality of the hoses is horrible and fitment is random. For the upper pipe often the support bracket to the radiator support will break off creating a boost leak. There are more expensive pipes out there too. Maybe they are cuter, maybe the company has a fast race car that they need to pay for. But the expensive pipes won’t make your car any faster. Here in “Kalifornia” we need to keep things on the stealthy side so we only offer the black piping with black couplers.
Mostly we recommend upgrading the intercooler pipes and the intercooler all at once. If on a budget, do just the upper pipe for now and the rest later. For the lower pipe and the intercooler install, the front bumper cover pretty much needs to come off. Might as well do them together.
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- Upper and lower piping kit
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- Durable wrinkle coated black finish
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- 4 ply hoses and T-Bolt clamps included
ETS Upper Intercooler Pipe
The upper intercooler piping starts with a smooth mandrel bent 2.5″ stock turbo outlet pipe which connects to the remainder of the hot side piping. The stock turbo outlet pipe is separate to allow it to be swapped out with the installation of the ETS EVO X turbo kit to come so that the remainder of the upper piping can be retained. This ensures that you never have to “upgrade an upgrade” and spend more money on a new upper pipe when it comes time for a big turbo kit. Making the connection from the turbo outlet pipe to the intercooler is a single-piece mandrel bent 2.5″ upper intercooler pipe.
The ETS Mitsubishi Evolution X Upper Pipe removes the restrictive factory hose which is 1.75″ after the turbo outlet and replaces it with a full 2.5″ upper intercooler pipe which helps with throttle response as well as reliability. The factory hoses are prone to ballooning and blowing off under high boost over time.
Features:
- 2.50″ Mandrel Bent Piping
- Upper Intercooler Pipe
- Upper Intercooler Pipe Bracket
- 4-ply Silicone
- T-Bolt Clamps
- Includes all mounting hardware
Upper piping kit installed
ETS Lower Intercooler Pipe
The ETS Mitsubishi EVO X Lower Piping Kit removes the factory rubber hoses which are prone to ballooning and popping off under higher boost pressure over time.
From the intercooler outlet the 2.5″ mandrel bent piping continues around the core support, with only two smooth gradual radius bends in its entire length, to the lower intercooler pipe bracket before making a straight shot up to the throttle body. ETS 4-ply silicone and 100% SS T-bolt clamps are included for every connection to ensure that blown off intercooler piping stays a thing of the past.
Features:
- 2.50″ Mandrel Bent Piping
- Lower Intercooler Pipe Bracket
- 4-ply Silicone
- T-Bolt Clamps
- Includes all mounting hardware
- Does not block the oil cooler ducting like some of the competitor pipes
- Works with GSR and MR transmission as well as the stock airbox and blow off valve. (Direct replacement of factory unit)
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- Lower piping kit only
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- Lower piping kit only
Mitsubishi Owner’s Day 2014
Road Race was excited to get involved with Mitsubishi Owner’s Day once again.
We hosted the dyno contest for the day, and were running cars on and off the dyno the whole time.
RRE Family driver Coco Zurita was in the booth, signing autographs and talking to fans all day, alongside RRE model Erica Ocampo. There was a little something for everybody, and we stayed busy all day.
Thanks again to our sponsors Turbo by Garrett and Turbosmart for helping us out with awesome raffle prizes!
Jet Black/JemFX Photoshoot with Erica Ocampo
To kick off the partnership with Jet Black Racing and JemFX, we invited model Erica Ocampo and photographer Fernando Escovar to the shop to get some awesome promotional shots of the Jet Black Racing/JemFX car, and support some of our sponsors, Lucas Oil.
It was an early morning, but it was all worth it. Erica showed us all the power of a good energy drink!
The guys got in on the action, and Fernando was able to get some awesome shots.
We’ll be using some of the shots to create a poster for MOD, so if you’re headed to Mitsubishi Owners Day, be sure to swing by and pick one up. Erica will be there to sign posters and take plenty of pictures.
Danny George Pikes Peak 2014
Danny George at Pikes Peak – Qualifying, Fan Fest and Race Day
Danny qualified in 7th place in Pikes Peak Open class on Friday. Open Class is a catch all class at Pikes Peak that pretty much anything goes as long as it still somewhat looks like a car.
Friday night in downtown Colorado Springs is a huge street party with all the race cars. We took the car there and handed out several boxes of Danny George swag.
Saturday is a day off for racing and practice. We did the final prep on the car and took it up to the start line to set up the pits in the forrest just off the main road. While there on Saturday, we took the time to try to make the mountain latrines from the start line up to the top smell a little better on race day :-)
During all the practice runs they had us running on the mountain from 5am to 9am. The weather was cool those days and also it was super early. We’d added the water spray system to hep keep his rear mounted radiator keep the engine coolant temps down and it was all working fine.
[MORE] (more…)
Danny George Pikes Peak 2014 – Prep and Practice
We decided to drive the RRE Rally Box Van to Colorado to help Danny George prepare to run his FD Miata up Pikes Peak. We met him at John’s house there in Colorado Springs to help make the conversion from drift to grip. We pretty much took over the driveway, garage and turned the basement into a dorm room with 7 guys all camped out on the floor.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=[HcqUu6j00TQ/embed]
Pics are in the gallery below. Once the car was ready, we took it to Pikes Peak Raceway to do some practice with the grip setup. Then up the mountain at 4am to be ready to run when the road opens up for practice at 5am. Then they run to 9am when the road is open to the public. They divide the course into 3 sections and each day you practice one section with your run group.
Carl Rydquist – RRE LS 350Z – Formula D Round 4 – Wall, NJ
Wall Speedway New Jersey… the 4th round of the Formula D Championship. For the RRE Turbo LS Powered 350Z FD Team featuring Carl Rydquist as the driver… well the team went into the wall so to speak :-P
First Carl’s mentor and inspiration Bryan from Berk Technologies decided he was off the team. He still sent his tent though. Sam was mean to him or something. So the weekend started with Carl out of sorts. Then Sam’s woman wouldn’t let him go so we were two men down. John Vick came to help out.
[youtube]http://youtu.be/gP9WJGCbspU[/youtube]
Problems with the sway bar clearance did not allow the car to run with the sway bar that they needed for the bank transitions so that put the car at a disadvantage. Add in that the video guy was a tooth off and the team was in for major disappointment.
So we just made this cool video and took some cool pics with the fans that didn’t know any better. Rossy called a team meeting and regulated so better luck next event in Washington!
Carl Rydquist – RRE LS 350Z – Formula D Round 3 Miami Florida
Before this event we mentioned that we were ready to battle, and battle we did! Piloting the Road Race Engineering Berk Technology Nissan 350Z powered by Champion Spark Plugs through both the PRO and PRO2 categories at Formula Drift’s newest venue Homestead-Miami Speedway, our driver Carl Rydquist started off with winning 1st qualifying spot in PRO2, followed by a 23rd qualifying result in PRO, then Carl went onto win 3rd place in the PRO2 tandem competition on Friday night and finally capped off the weekend with a Top 16 finish in PRO.
Rossy Welch, team manager Road Race Engineering
Carl’s FormulaD Pro2 podium finish under the sunshine of Miami has made one of my biggest dreams come true in my favorite racing series. It feels wonderful to work with such a talented, young and passionate team. I’m so proud to be part of it and thankful for the opportunity. We can feel the love from our fans and with the support from our sponsors, that is what keeps us working harder.
Carl Rydquist, driver RRE 350Z V8 Turbo powered by Champion Spark Plugs
What an amazing weekend! The team behind this car consists of Road Race Engineering, Berk Technology and S-Empire, Carl explains, and it’s a strong combo that combines tons of experience with brains and competence to find solutions to the challenges we come up against and to execute the jobs that are needed. I am equally impressed, fascinated and thankful and I’m extremely happy to have won my first Formula Drift trophy!
Formula Drift PRO Rd4 in New Jersey takes place on June 20-21 and our preparations have already begun. The Z chassis, then powered by a V6 engine boosted by a Garrett GT3582R turbocharger ran well there last season so we have a great baseline and Carl did well in qualifying at that track, but still with today’s level of development speed in Formula Drift we have to work tirelessly on sharpening the competitive edge to climb further up the standings where we are currently sitting in 29th place in the PRO series and 3rd in the PRO2 standings.
Carl Rydquist – RRE LS 350Z – Formula D – Round 2 Road Atlanta, Georgia
We have amassed great momentum during the start of the 2014 season by excellent working relationships with our technical partners and with great support from fans around the globe, however we did suffer a no-points weekend in the second round of the 2014 Formula Drift PRO Championship by taking 34th spot out of 60 cars at Road Atlanta. Now how do you handle a gut punch like that? Answer: Like a Champion.
Mo Boost – Nic’s 95 Talon TSi
Long time RRE customer Nic sent me a pic of his personalized Indiana license plate with the RRE plate frame on it. I asked for a little more info on the car and Nic sent me this:
Hi Mike,
Here are some pics and info on my 95 Eagle Talon TSi. Some of my mods include:
MHI Big 16G turbo
Injen Intake
Punishment Racing FMIC/piping
3” Exhaust (Apex’i Dunk cat-back)
Mishimoto Aluminum Radiator
255lph Walbro Fuel Pump
AEM Big Rotor upgrade
NGK Iridium Plugs
NGK Wires
CX Racing Fuel Pressure Regulator
H&R lowering springs
Tokico adjustable struts
NXS Manual Boost Controller
Auto Meter Phantom Gauges (A/F, Boost, Oil Temp, Oil Pressure, Water Temp)
Wings West Aggressor front bumper
Z3 Fenders
18” Nippon Racing Wheels
HKS Turbo Timer
Kenwood touch screen head unit
Optima Yellow Top battery
Custom fabricated wing
There are a few other goodies here and there, but that is the big stuff. Thanks for supporting DSMers for so many years. I’ll be rooting for the RRE team when I head down to Road Atlanta for Formula Drift next month.
Thanks,
Nic Harnishfeger
Evansville, IN
Carl Rydquist – RRE LS 350Z at the Formula D Opener in Long Beach
Road Race Engineering’s 2014 Formula D Season debut happened in front of a sold-out crowd of more than 20,000 drift fanatics in Long Beach California last weekend. Our practice session ran trouble free and our driver Carl Rydquist qualified the Road Race Engineering Berk Technology 350Z into 24th spot among 64 professional drivers. This was Carl’s best result since his Formula D comeback (best previous FD qualifying position to date: 7th, 2009).
During the Top 32 tandem practice sessions it was clear that the car was significantly quicker now than last season. The tight turns and close walls of the Long Beach Grand Prix circuit isnt necessarily known as one of the higher speed drift events. But it was obvious that Carl was able to chase down several other big power cars.
In the battle for a spot in the Top 16 bracket, Carl was able to pull out a gap in his lead run thanks to the Garrett GTX4088R turbo powered LS2 V8 and our sticky Hankook Ventus R-S3 tires, however being fast also turned out to be a challenge in the follow run behind opponent Forrest Wang.
Carl comes from a road racing back ground and said: “I am used to being in front and racing hard to leave the competition behind so that part went as planned. While I was following Forrest, I started out too close too soon and simply bogged down behind him and he was able to maintain great angle and line at a relatively low speed.
The Road Race Engineering Berk Technology 350Z, (Carl calls the car “Animal”) ran flawlessly. The 830hp turbocharged LS V8 motor didn’t miss a beat all weekend, so this one’s totally on me. It was frankly one of my worst tandem follow runs I can remember. Nothing that I can do about it now, but something to draw experience from. The good news is that the car is quick and controllable, I can charge close and battle for tandem wins this year.”
Thanks to the qualifying result Carl and the team are moving onto Round 2 at Road Atlanta in 19th place, tied in points with among other drivers former champions Daigo Saito (2012) and Daijiro Yoshihara (2011).
Rossy Welch our Team Manager said: “I could see that Carl didn’t want to damage the car at this event, which is good, but you also have to go for it 100% to win. We’ll focus and push harder at Atlanta next month. But this is a really good start for us, we made important points and we met so many fans that love the car that this awesome team has built and we feel very blessed and happy for the support from all of our sponsors. This is already becoming a really exciting year!“
See you at Road Atlanta on May 9-10 or on the FD Livestream!
Danny George’s Driveby at RRE
The RRE/Berk Technology LS Turbo powered 350Z was all ready for the show and safely in the pits the night before the FD season opener in Long Beach California. Danny George had some last minute parts challenges and a long haul from Las Vegas and needed a place to spread out and finish up some details the night before the race. We opened up the shop, the dyno and some sofas to crash on for our 2nd favorite Formula D team for an all nighter.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=[tTUCtgXAglI/embed]
Motegi Calendar Photoshoot at RRE
Gary from Motegi Racing asked us to use the shop after hours to shoot some pics for their upcoming calendar and FD Posters. Ummm…. sure! Dont have to ask us twice! :-) Olivia Korte (Rockstar Energy Drink girls) was in front of the camera with makeup and hair by Elfie Simon. Watching Aaron Okayama with the setup, shooting and lighting was a treat. Oh yeah, there was a car, almost forgot. Looking back at the video I guess it was blue or something.
Bryce 50cc Kid Kart
5 year old Bryce’s first day on a track. Before he was the parking lot king on his little kart. We went testing with Carl Rydquist’s FD 350Z and Bryce was able to get on the oval at Willow Springs to pick up his speed some finally.
Carl Rydquist Formula D 350Z Test Day
We have the rebuilt refreshed respiffyfied repowered 350Z up and running after the off season rebuild and overhaul. Time to go testing at Willow Springs Raceway.
Last season Carl’s 350Z ate it’s VQ turbo motor half way through the season. He made the decision to simplify things and go LS2 V8 power. With some higher flowing cylinder heads and a little Nawz it was running high ~400 whp to the wheels. Enough to drift on but not enough to make mad smoke on demand and put the car sideways at will.
So in the off season Art (S Empire) and Sam added a Garrett GTX 4088R turbo to the mix. With Sam’s tune using the AEM EMS Seris 2 ECU we now had all the power we needed and then some. Time to make some smoke and dial in the suspension for the new power.
Carl Says:
This thing’s getting quicker now. First time out with the Road Race Engineering (official) 350Z with this mad S-Empire turbo V8 setup. Turned out to run solidly so far in the SoCal sunshine (knock on wood!), so I started to play around with it. Small but crucial chassis setup adjustments by Berk Technology ended up giving me a really good car. Great feeling in the car, very solid feeling and completely different sound with turbo and straight cut gears. Love it. Going to have a lot of fun taking this to the Streets of Long Beach.
