Race Report #2 Pre-Super Chevy Shakedown, Plus Updates and Some News

Greetings worshippers at the altar of speed! Tuned is back, sort of. Some housekeeping first, I know I've promised you a new video, and it is filmed and edited. Youtube, however, does not want to upload it, for whatever reason. I'm trying one last time (it's currently telling me its 6% done and will be complete in 495mins!) but if (more likely when) this doesn't work, I'll have to break the episode up into two parts and post'em. But Tuned Ep. 2 is coming! Honest! I'm also trying to get Hollywood to do a "Meet Hollywood" post, but he doesn't seem interested. I'll brow beat him some more. Anyway, this isn't a video, but you will appreciate it nonetheless. My buddy Geoff came down to Numidia Sunday with us and took some photos. He sync'd 16 of'em up to create an awesome GIF of me doing a burnout. Enjoy! And check out the rest of the GAC Photo website!  

http://gacphotography.blogspot.com/2011/06/hey-yall-wanna-see-something-cool.html?spref=fb

Ok so, Super Chevy is coming up in two and a half weeks and we had just replaced the entire rear suspension on the Nova. Obviously, just going to a massive National meet with 350+ semi-professional and professional entries would be a joke, so we went to Numidia again on Sunday for a shakedown. Now there was much pressure for this lowly test session. Half of Plains went with us, so there were many eyes on us, Geoff and Amanda came to take photos, so we had to show off, and if we broke we had only two weeks to rebuild the car before Super Chevy, a near-impossible task. Plus Rags, one of my crew, had three stints put in his heart on Saturday and was calling in words of encouragement from a hospital bed, rather than the pits with us. We wanted to put in a good showing for him, but above all make sure the suspension was dialed in and the car went straight.

Well the massive amount of pressure wasn't on me first pass, as the Old Man decided to drive for the first run. I got to be Crew Chief, which meant I smoked alot, cursed, adjusted the carbs and air pressures and was just generally bossy. Much to my surprise, the Old Man, despite leaving at only 3500 rpms, ran the Nova out to a 10.526 at 125mph. The front end still came up, but not nearly as much, and the car went straight, more or less. I hoped in for the second pass, did a much better burnout (see above) and left at 4000rpms and ran a 10.535 at 123mph. While it was 9 thousandths of a second slower than the Old Man's pass, I had a better 60ft-time, so the suspension is really bang-on, even if the car still pulls a bit to the right on launch. After that, being so consistent, Mr. S. order us to pack up and go home, and my pleas to turn the bottle on and launch at the full 4500rpms our converter allows in an all out banzai qualifying lap were ignored. Oh well. Geoff got some stunning pictures of the front end in the air, which when you look at them, gives you a great idea of how high the car was last time out, as the Nova pulls wheelies less than half as high as before (why didn't we get a picture then! grrrrrr!).

When I retire, I'm totally becoming a team owner/crew chief. It was so fun ordering everyone around, deciding when and how we would run, and in what lane. And since the driver is always wrong, it was nice to not be wrong for once! And to have someone to blame. Yelling at the Old Man to focus when he was in the Staging Lanes was a nice ironic twist, one not lost on Mr. S. who laughed quite hard at it. I just need to train my replacement.........Any applicants?

Ok some news. The last (#300) Bugatti Veryon has been built/sold. And hear that? Yup, no one cares. Why because you can still get the convertible version, the Grand Sport, which is the same car, but a drop-top. And yeah, still nobody cares. In more interesting news Chevy has sent the Z06 around the Nurburing again, and it laid down a blistering time of 7:22! Trouble is, its not really a Z06. It is a Z06 equipped with a "Z07" package. Basically, put all the ZR1's suspension pieces on a Z06, tune the LS7 some more, and add DOT semi-slick tyres and you get the Z07, a crazy hybrid of the ZO6 and ZR1. No word on if Chevy will sell this car to the public, or for how much, but I hope so, as its badass. Probably won't happen though, because if that comes out, there is literally no reason to by a ZR1 anymore. Anyway there's a video of the run up on Youtube, but since my Youtube is trying to upload our video, I can't give you the link. Stay Tuned for it tomorrow!

And on that hideous segway, goodnight!

Another Movie, The New 300, and Turbo Heresy?

Greetings followers of Tuned, Wallio back with another video! (Can you believe it? I can't). This is a quickie, but it is what will hopefully be the first in a series of stupid PSAs. This one is kind of an inside joke, so you may not get it, but if you do, you'll laugh yourself stupid.

So here it is, PSA #1 Don't Buy From Royer! (should be obvious really.......)

Bit of house keeping on our first video: I forgot to post music credits at the end of it. That's obviously a no-no and was an oversight on my part. Obviously, they're not my songs. They are Nirvana's "Smells Like Teen Spirit" over the opening, and Bowling for Soup's "High School Never Ends" during the closing credits. Fear not as I gave appropriate credit for the music in this video.
Ok now the biggest new release from the weeks we were off was the unveiling of the new Chrysler 300C SRT8, as seen below.

First the good: It looks great, very badass. Its hemi engine has been stroked to 6.4Litres (roughly 400ci) and puts out a quite respectable 465bhp. It also has an adaptive suspension with active yaw control. So the suspension will be luxurious when you want it to be, but hard as a rock when you drop the hammer.

The bad? Well the 300C has always had a bit of an identity crisis. Its more like a European luxury saloon than a muscle car, but its was never well regarded in that bracket, as it was considered too MUCH like a muscle car. So Chrysler has said the hell with it and made it a full blown hot rod. But its not as easy as that. Its too big, too heavy, and too comfortable to be a muscle car. Its suspension is also far too complicated and there are too many electronics (muscle cars are supposed to be bare bones remember) and its 8-speed gearbox puts it in Grand Tourer territory. So does the rumored $65,000 price tag.

Even though it doesn't know what it wants to be, and even though there are prettier two door cars that will go as fast. I still want one. Because above all else its cool, and hey, its "Imported from Detroit".

Let's switch from imports to exports. I keep hearing that Detroit is going to get serious about exporting its flagship cars outside of the US. More specifically the Mustang and Corvette. This poses a problem, however. Europeans don't like American cars, more specifically American engines. Huge, pushrod motors just don't fly across the pond, where its all small displacement turbos with DOHC and direct injection. So to counter act this both Ford and GM are introducing smaller turbo lumps for their bread and butter before export.

Sources tell me the 2014 Stang (the 50th anniversary model no less!) will see a 1.5litre turbo I-4 as an entry level lump. It will produce between 230-275bhp. The V6 will remain, putting out roughly 325bhp, and the 5.0 and 5.4 V8s will round out the line-up (the 4.6 will be dropped and the Boss 302 won't be exported).  Also for the first time ever, you will be able to buy a right-hand drive Mustang.

Chevy is rumored to be putting a 3.0 Litre DOHC TurboV8 spinning to around 10,000rpm in the new C7 Vette. It will produce 450bhp and be the entry-level engine. This is also to boost Euro-sales and take on Jag, Ferrari, Mclaren and Lotus on their home turf. The C7 will also be available with right hand drive. However, both new motors will be sold in the US as more and more car makers move to a "world platform". Which means the days of building country specific cars will soon be ending. Whatever goes abroad, comes here as well, and vice versa. So tell me are small displacement turbos heresy in our muscle cars? Jury's still out, but I can't wait for the uproar over the C7 from vette enthusiasts.......

That's all for now folks, I'm editing a third movie (told you once we started, we'd be rolling) where Hollywood and I test our dailies. It had a rough outline (I hate to call it a script) so its much better than these two. It also features a cameo by the Future Ex-Mrs. Wallio!

Trying to make an 06 a 56 Part 2

To pick up where I left off, I was waiting for the UPS driver to deliver the goods. The stock steel wheels needed a slight coat of gloss black, due to the outer lip of the wheel being exposed. As soon as the paint dried the hubcaps were installed.
The HHR looked boss(to use a retro term for cool)! It still needed some extra pop. What better than the Moon Eyes behind the front wheels. The last touch during this time period was a set of blue dots in the taillights, the hot rods in the 50's and 60's had them in their lights to give them a purple glow(look for those at a later post).

The car is now a head turner! It was a ex-loaner for a local Chevrolet dealership. I am not used to getting looks in this car the way I do now. Amazing just what a few minor changes will do to a car to totally change the personality of the car.

Trying to Make an 06 a 56 Part 1

Good Morning Tuned subscribers I know it has been ages since my last article, but the end of the semester rush took alot of out of my free time. To continue, I did a little customization to my car. I am surprised to be talking about my daily before my toy on the blog. My daily driver is a 2006 Chevrolet HHR which was built for competition against Chrysler's PT Cruiser. Shown below is the car stock.

I was itching to do some customization but new wheels and tires were way too expensive. I believe if you are to customize a car you have to do it in respect to the car. This car is molded after a 49 Chevrolet Suburban the only way to go with this car is RETRO!

Just a few weeks ago I saw a truck with Bonneville Salt Flat wheel covers and asked my dad "How much are those?" He said about "30 dollars a piece". As soon as I arrived home and did my research. I found a site that offered them but upon reading the fine print I noticed "will not fit Rav 4, Element, or HHR. I was so hurt I didn't notice the finer print "For Hubcaps that will fit click here". I stumbled upon a page featuring "Full Moon Smoothie Hubcaps". I did not hesitate to place the order! The package was sent out the next day, but a disappointing one week until delivery was brutal.

With no work on the delivery day I figured I would clean the car and wait for the UPS driver to deliver the goods. Photo shown below on the black steel wheels.

"Tune" in later this evening to see an entire post on the retro conversion!

(Finally) Tuned Episode 1 Is Go!

Here it is! The long awaited and highly anticipated first video! No script, no rehearsals, no sense! Fear not though, as its not as bad as you think, its so much worse! But hey, no where to go but up right? I know a thing or two about bouncing from rock bottom. Anyway the "plot" of this episode is the three of us wandering aimlessly around a junkyard, commentating on whatever random shit we stumble across.

We didn't plan this one too well, so we didn't film any studio or filler bits, so bumper cards will serve the role of moving the video along. Not great but it'll have to do for this one. Don't worry, as our other projects have rough outlines that serve as scripts, so this shouldn't be a recurring problem.

We also filmed a PSA, which I'm editing so that'll be up soon. And we started working on a longer proper introduction video, the idea for which I stole from my days of working with [Aw Nutz] Productions. A "normal" post should follow, eventually. Anyway, enjoy.