England, and an Audi R8.

Where to begin?

Sunday night at 4.50pm I left Rochester.
Arrived at EWR at 5.30pm.


Left EWR to Heathrow at 9.25pm. Arrived at 9.05am Monday, London time. Got picked up by Charlie who is a great guy, also new at the company. We drove for something silly like 6hrs due to some road closing.
Got to Milltek at about 5pm.


Hung around, checked out the car. Pretty awesome.


Day two: all sorts of messed up from jet lag. Saw the stock exhaust.


Helped put on new exhaust.


Walked around the area for a minute.



Did some testing.


(Exterior Noise testing)

What an awesome looking car.



Got back, watched some tv and developed a headache.
This tv show, I guess, the premise is that you text your number to them, then they text you back and let you call in to offer words that may include the word they provide. You win cash.

It seemed so ridiculous. Like wheel of fortune without a wheel, or being there, or any hints. Basically, said actress stood there for half an hour at a whack and just took calls every 5 minutes or so.

Day three: Tore new exhaust off and made some new silencers for it. It needs to drop 1 decibel in order to be track friendly. All these racetracks over here have a restriction on car noise. Seems silly, like, arent these the places you go to play with cars you dont drive on the street? Ah well. I'll find out this weekend, as I'll be at said track, Castle-Combe.
Here is a 2nd gear acceleration/interior noise test. 0-5000rpm.


Further testing shows that, uh, the car is fast.


Oh, and sounds awesome.


Back at the shop, the exhaust was checked out. nice heat coloring. only 10 miles to get that effect!



So Kev and I made a jig for it. Which, to summarize, involved an epic battle between myself, a 1/2" piece of steel, and a playskool drill press. Look at my glove. thing is tiny. but i emerged victorious.


We drove to a tuner shop nearby to pick up some goods. I could not resist snapping a photo of this audi B5 rs4 2.7l bi-turbo V6.


Once again back at the shop. This is some intricate stuff. But tomorrow we'll reinstall the whole thing with the bumper and all... And then on to revision 2.


On my way home, I noticed this huge nuclear power plant in the distance.



So, this one is fairly short, but I'm beat. Lets check the schedule:
Thursday - reinstall system onto R8, check noise levels on an audi s3 as well.
Friday - prep for weekend at the track, trailer R8, kev may leave friday night with that.
Saturday - Test track cars, do recordings, get a feel for these sweet cars.
Sunday - return from track or something. might be a day off, in which case I'm headed to London proper.
Monday, tuesday, wednesday, thursday -make second system for R8 - this one is going to be shipped stateside, first one, and end up on a brand new R8 at the SEMA show. Wild. I'll be the only person in the USA with first-hand knowledge of it. Sweet.
Friday - Audi Driver awards dinner in the city. Car will be there, so will myself and the owner of milltek. Who knows what that entails.
Saturday - charlie takes me back to the airport.. or maybe phil? in the R8? Come on...

I'll do some more updates obviously after that track event.

story with pics!

we'll go backwards this time. I started my new job - it rocks.

Day 1: Design a shifter knob.


Day 2: Design wheels for the not-yet-available-in-the-states-yet Audi S5. (on the right)


Day 3: Showcased product to the left of my desk. Installed new shocks via a lowering kit, and fresh exhaust on a car. not something we normally do, but we opted to do it so everyone could learn some kinks about installation.


On to other things-

Read this at starbucks the day I recieved a call saying I got the job.


Then read this back at the shop. its the first page of the new pearl izumi catalog. The rep is john florey - one of the best reps I know, and a great all around guy. We had a nice chat about me leaving the shop one afternoon, he may have been like the second person to know.


Whats with all the new minivans and center consoles? this thing is like piloting a spaceship. Way to live on the edge, soccer mom.


Stopped out to the vineyard to see the bridging we made. I walk up, and its been like 2 weeks, but hey, our signature is there: plasma-cut stainless steel and a beer cap. that about sums things up.


Saw this wild Porsche, gt3rs! Hate the orange, but baller car.


too bad the rotors are cracked:

but I suppose that means he actually drives it?

Does anyone know what they are building at manhattan square? they tore out an ice rink.. but it looks like they are just putting a new, fancier one in.


I picked up my passport forms at city hall. its a nice building.


Here is a funky mercedes that I didnt know was available state-side yet! Half minivan, half vw golf. wierd.


My parking adventures allowed me to see this burb with big wheels.


Then I noticed the badge for it!

On that note, I had been considering going back to 26" wheels from the 24's... And I think that settles it.

Su Yi from work came down to meet a friend at javas. I could not resist parking him right out front:


A bunch of us went out friday night. Andrew, Daniel, Mike, Mark, Sarah, and myself all showed. Salingers was the start. Dear god. shots and a beer. that was the deal. When we had hit 5 beers, that meant we did five shots too, so of course, the logical choice is a long island ice tea. Which of course led to "Cheers like a man" and broken glass.


So we left there and walked to montys. Colo had to do a standing backflip on the way.

he made it. pretty awesome.

Now of course we are all pretty rolled, and so its time to cheers like a man again. I held steady for the first one, but sarah destroyed my glass on the second. I nonchalantly continued to drink it which at the time, was quite funny.

Til I got glass in my mouth. So, thinking back to a max customer (and sarah and andrew know who I am talking about) I ate the piece of glass in my mouth. Crunchy. Well, why not? if its small enough its not gonna do much. Right?

Right? I'll be ok, right?!??

oye.
There is only one thing to do when this group gets drunk, and andrew and sarah are involved: Head to daisy dukes like we are on a mission. We all hate the place any other time, but now, the bull must be ridden.

Andrew and sarah go for it.


It was short lived.

We contemplated going to buffalo at 2am. instead, we ended up on daniels fire escape throwing nearly 2 dozen eggs into the empty street. Oh! and carrots too. I ate one.
I walked home, and was later informed that I called amy to keep me company on my walk because I did not have any headphones with me. She tells me it basically went like this:

her: you're drunk!
me: yep!
her: how far are you from home?
me: one block.
her: ok, i'll talk til you get home.
(15 minutes later)
her: how far are you now?
me: twoooooo blocks.
her: you're going the wrong waaaaaaay!

Right. Been like... 6+ months since ive been that silly.
If it starts again, andrew says he's taking my phone away.


Saw a cop car that had been t-boned at like 40mph, in the hood, by a pickup truck. Terrible shot but what can you do when they wont let you stop to gawk?


Words to live by. Theodore Roosevelt.


Words to learn to spell if you work for specialized in taiwan:


Swarovski... man I like that store. Mainly, the physical store. I could care less what is in those cases, If its in those cases, I want it. Best displays/lighting solutions ever.


Did I mention I leave sunday for London for business and its covered by them, for two weeks? Well I do. See you when I get back, but i will be updating this thing for sure while I am there.