SHOPAHOLIC> Lambo Lords of the Underground
The name that KC and Kevin Howeth picked for their werks -- Underground Racing – carries more than a whiff of irony today.
Like, how stealth can you be when two of the over-the-top, twin-turbo Lamborghini Gallardos you’ve built for your customers practically own the Texas Mile standing-mile shootout? (Longtime customer Kyle Bennet did 241 mph last summer and Richard Holt’s lighter Superleggera killed the two-fifty mark this past March.)
While the West Coast members of our crew spent the weekend surrounded by Ferraris, MotorMavens sharpshooter James Evins and I visited Underground Racing's Charlotte, NC headquarters last week. Immediately catching James' eye was one of Underground's signature twin-turbo dishes: a 2007 Lamborghini Gallardo LP 560 that produces 1150 wheel horsepower on 117-octane racing fuel and 850 wheel horsepower on 93-octane pump gas! That's right, I said ONE THOUSAND ONE HUNDRED FIFTY horsepower. Read more...
Like, how stealth can you be when two of the over-the-top, twin-turbo Lamborghini Gallardos you’ve built for your customers practically own the Texas Mile standing-mile shootout? (Longtime customer Kyle Bennet did 241 mph last summer and Richard Holt’s lighter Superleggera killed the two-fifty mark this past March.)
While the West Coast members of our crew spent the weekend surrounded by Ferraris, MotorMavens sharpshooter James Evins and I visited Underground Racing's Charlotte, NC headquarters last week. Immediately catching James' eye was one of Underground's signature twin-turbo dishes: a 2007 Lamborghini Gallardo LP 560 that produces 1150 wheel horsepower on 117-octane racing fuel and 850 wheel horsepower on 93-octane pump gas! That's right, I said ONE THOUSAND ONE HUNDRED FIFTY horsepower. Read more...
SHOPAHOLIC> GMG Racing Open House
This past weekend, there were far too many events to cover, but I decided to make a quick stopover at the Global Motorsports Group (GMG) open house event. Antonio Alvendia, Edward Uche and I made the trek out to Santa Ana, California to check out some of the race-spec Porsches as well as the other customer cars that made it out on Saturday.
For you MotorMavens readers out there who aren't familiar with GMG (a Porsche tuning company), here's a little info. Founded in 2001 by James Sofronas and Fabryce Kutyba, GMG quickly rose up in the ranks as a premier tuning facility through racing in the SCCA World Challenge GT Series and ALMS race series. The guys were able to draw on their extensive racing background (with knowledge gained through painstaking R&D) to bring racing performance to their customers' street cars. GMG's primary focus is Porsches, but their shop doesn't shy away from Ferraris, Audis and Volkswagens - they cater to all German/Italian automobiles. Read more...
For you MotorMavens readers out there who aren't familiar with GMG (a Porsche tuning company), here's a little info. Founded in 2001 by James Sofronas and Fabryce Kutyba, GMG quickly rose up in the ranks as a premier tuning facility through racing in the SCCA World Challenge GT Series and ALMS race series. The guys were able to draw on their extensive racing background (with knowledge gained through painstaking R&D) to bring racing performance to their customers' street cars. GMG's primary focus is Porsches, but their shop doesn't shy away from Ferraris, Audis and Volkswagens - they cater to all German/Italian automobiles. Read more...
SHOPAHOLIC> Walden Speed Shop
Earlier this week we stopped by Walden Speed Shop to observe what makes these world-class metalcrafters tick. Greeting us at the entrance were a beautiful '27 T-Bucket with a Buick Nailhead 425 and a partially built '36 Ford smuggling an L92 crate motor between its bulging fenders. A gorgeous collection of vintage gas station signs hung like tapestries of automotive art signaled good things in store. Read more...
SHOPAHOLIC> Nostalgic Cars at Simpson Design, Part I
We've had mega coverage of the Pacific Northwest's incredible drift scene lately, so how 'bout a stroll down the path less traveled with some Olde World European classics? You won't see these cars hanging their tails out in a wall-scraping slide, but that doesn't make them any less fascinating. To find these hidden gems, we hopped onto one of Washington's many state ferry boats and hitched a ride to Whidbey Island, about an hour north of Seattle and home of Simpson Design. Read more...
SHOPAHOLIC> The Vintage Racers of Racecraft
I was up in Seattle earlier this year and took the opportunity to stop by Racecraft, one of the northwest's premier vintage race shops. When I arrived, the men behind the operation were wrenching hard on a pair of BMW 2002 track bandits, each worth over six figures. But founder Jim Froula and his partner Terry Forland are not only immensely skilled at making 30-year-old cars go fast, they also don helmet and glove to get behind the wheel of their own old school race cars. Read more...
