Week one, England. (Sweet)

A summary since I have not updated this since I got back.

Worked on the R8. What an awesome car.


Spent a day at the Castle-Combe racetrack.
This is like a mini-commercial!


Gumpert Apollo. Kev and I's lap in the R8 was faster than this car... Maybe its the driver...


Our cars all piled out front.


Don't like the blue so much.


But this little blue car, an old NSU, ripped!


Hard not to love a track day.


My phone is as tall as an iPod.


New Audi S5


Audo TT tdi!


True.


Big showing of TT owners.


A silver R8.


Milltek S3.. Fast little car.


Loudest RS4 Cabriolet I have ever heard. Adrians car!


Tim and Charlie managed to squeeze 27psi of boost out of this stripped down and worked up TT.. They also managed to squeeze oil into the intake. Cut the day short.


And, because I am a nerd and secretly want to be a photographer, here is my only themed bit:







No S6 there at all. So I didn't include it. But the new ones are hot.

Don't complain about fuel prices stateside. Do the math:

($8.26 a gallon)

This is where it gets interesting and fuzzy. We had to go to Audi Driver International's Gala Awards dinner in Swindon. Apparently its like the oldest and highest ranked Audi dealership in the UK. I rode with Lucy, the bosses daughter, in the S3 from Castle-Combe. We had rooms at Hilton Swindon, and after everyone got cleaned up and dressed up (black tie affair, you know), we met downstairs for drinks.
Everyone looked great! We had a drink, and then we walked over to the dealership, opting to cross a 4-lane major highway rther than wait for a shuttle bus. We were recieved with served hors d'oeuvre's and popping bottles of champagne. I had to play international business rep for a bit with a crowd of folks... and lets face it... its not my shining area, so I 'wung' it. As Greg and I have actually had some practice with that in front of a crowd, it was fun.
This dealership had everything. R8 on the floor. RS4's in stock. Recaro Baby Racing Seats.
Sorry for the glare, its tough to be inconspicious.

Same here. Class event!

Our reserved table was no less than the RS4 table. It was Phil, Debbie, Louise, John, Adrian, Lucy, and myself. Lucy and Louise are Phils daughters. Luoise is married to John, who works for Phil. Debbie is his assistant, and Adrian is a friend of all of them. Awesome people.
It was fantastic food, wine, drinks, and a general good time. It did get a little long.

The awards started, and we won Best Aftermarket Product. How awesome. Phil gave a little speech. A bunch more people got industry related awards and mention. A scottish guy named Jim gave a speech, and apparently all of my south england friends had a hard time understanding him. I however, did not, and they all thought it was fantastic that I was able to translate. Maybe it was the multiple glasses of champagne. Maybe it was the gin and tonic. Maybe it was the wine. Maybe it was the girl to my right. But anyway it was cut, it was fun.
The night wore on.


Contemplating sleep, Adrian, Lucy, and myself opted to get something going and have a little evening. We started with some Audi-sponsored gambling.

We won several times in a row, without trying. Pissed off the rest of the table so, off the the bar we went.

Peroni. Quality Iti beer. I may, or may not, have texted andrew to mention this to him.


We drank. It was good. We got rounds for company heads that were there. They returned the favor. I talked to them. I introduced myself to the scotsman that was Jim Curry. He was like, "Do AH know YEH?" and I said, no sir, but I know about you from my friends here. And chat we did.

We reached this point.. You know, that point where you decide photos are good, and maybe you and Adrian just argued over shots of Jack Daniels until you each ended up with a glass full of it. ANd you drank it.


And then maybe, maybe lucy was quiet and watching me. So I talked to her. And without getting into it, I found she knew exactly why I was there, and what I was up to. And she wanted to talk about it right there... For fun of course, but dear lord this is an incredible british girl the same age as me with a firm confidence about her.. so we went outside to talk. Must have looked ridiculous, both of us dressed to kill and rolling around this parking lot loaded with nice cars... drinks in hand, laughing and talking and running around. 5 hours later, I woke up in her hotel room. Now, I am stating right here that I am not insinuating anything. After laughing about the evening having gotten out of bed, I decide to opt for a shower and a change of clothes... In my room. I open her door, step into the hall, close the door, turn around, and run smack into her father.

oh god.

he asked me if i had fun.
I told him yes, yes I did. Never had thta much fun in 24hrs ever.
He said that was great! And that he needed to run, and if Lucy and I wanted, we could do breakfast and head back of our own accord...
ok? sure!

Back into her room to laugh about it. A shower, a change, I walk downstairs a couple minutes before meeting her again. But I bump into just about everyone I talked to last night. Jim sure remembers my name, laughs it up with me, etc. So apparently, even though I am unsure as to what I did to get this, if I am ever in Scotland I had better call him to come visit.

Lucy and I drove back the 2+ hrs to Derby, piecing the evening back together and apologizing for whatever had happened. Then we just chatted about everything else, as is the trend with kids these days. She, is awesome. An independent, confident girl, schooled in psychology and using it, who likes cars as well. Upon dropping me off, we decided to make plans with everyone for friday before I left.

Whew. totally beat, I hit the sack at 3pm, and it was good.

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.