After 8 months of sitting in a garage, Amanda’s has finally come back to life.  After the car sat stationary for over a month, it develeped what we thought was an electrical issue. It wouldn’t crank under its own power. Matter fact, the only reason we were able to get it from Aiken to Knoxville, during our move, was by push starting it and not turning it off the rest of the trip.
I spent quite a bit of time researching the issue to no avail. Well, last week I was a little bored so I decided to drop the dash under the steering column. And wouldn’t you know… there, starring me in the face, was a DEI Viper alarm system; aftermarket of course. We had NO idea that the car had been equiped with it. But looking back at the symtoms, it made perfect sense.  Regardless, I unplugged the alarm and she started right up. In desperate need of a tune, but started none the less. All Amanda needs is a diff, suspension, and a driver’s that isn’t held down with a zip-tie and she’ll be ready for some events.

I don’t know if its just me or designers in general, but I have a never ending urge for a change of scenery. And its since the office has looked the same since we moved in last year, I felt a change was due. Truth be told, I rearranged it a couple of weeks ago and forgot to post pics on here. Never the less, you can see what it used to look like here.
*Click on the images for a larger view*

Why not “drifting videos of the week”, you ask? Because, Team Rowdy has that on lock down.

The rally cars that produced the most memorable sounds of the late 1990s were definitely the notorious little hornets called the kit cars. Fast, nimble and light – no wonder the WRC class took a beating when these FWD bad boys were hammered to the limit on dry tarmac with top asphalt aces behind the wheel. This compilation features the best bits of the 1999 French Rally Championship with Citroen Xsara, Peugeot 306 Maxi and Renault Megane – with pure engine sounds of course.

Notice that during the 1999 season the FWD Citroen Xsara also won twice in the WRC with Philippe Bugalski clinching the grand prize in Rallye Catalunya and Tour de Corse.

Ive been meaning to post pics of this FJ ever since I saw it in Charleston, SC last year. Im a huge FJ Cruiser fan so when I saw this thing, I about shit myself. It encompasses everything that a FJ should be. I will own one and it will destroy souls.

Took Lily to the Dinosaur Expo at the Columbia museum this past weekend. The expo was kinda small but it was still a lot of fun. The Pterodactyl with babies was her favorite.

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I haven’t posted anything on this site about it yet, but Ive been working with the gentlemen at Riley Racing. And one of the projects they had me design was a hood wrap (see above or here) for their ST Class RX8 which raced in the 24hrs of Daytona a couple of weekends ago. This is big news because SPEED Channel will be airing the ST/GT race this Saturday (Feb 13th) at 7pm and because the Riley Racing Mazda was in the lead for a large portion of the race we can expect it, and the hood design, to get a great deal of screen time. I’d love to tell you what happens but Im not going to spoil the fun, so be sure to watch this Saturday at 7 and support not only me but the Riley Racing team as well.

In the mean time, here’s a quick video preview of the coverage

Reached 1,000 followers on Twitter. Not sure why you’re following me but thanks <3

After 3 months of neglect, the Corolla will finally have some work done to it. But not by me. LOL.  She’ll be back in a few weeks. That’s all the info you get for now.

RIP Atsushi Kuroi.

Veteran D1 driver Atsushi Kuroi has passed away after injuries sustained in a motorcycle accident. Kuroi was popular not just in Japan, but in all the countries where he drove. Anyone who’s seen him drive knows the kind of talent this man had behind the wheel of his Nissan One-Via. Besides being known as a great driver, he also made a name for himself with his River Side tuning shop in the Osaka area. [Source]