ok i do a thread like this every year.
first and foremost thanx to Kieth and the gang for arranging yet another great vegas meet. in all honesty this meet is the ONLY reason to this day i still have my supra. if i didnt have something to look foreward to every year then the supra would have been sold and given up on loooooooong ago!!
this year for me was very tame. i didnt do much at all and if u can belive it i spent only a total of $190 including gas the entire weekend!!! sadly i had no choice since the new fuel setup drained my account and im saving up for Tokyo Auto Salon in January too! stayed at Brian Urbanos house which saved me on room and ate jack in the box and sonics! as well as Brians mom treating all of us at the shop to a saturday brunch at the Paris Buffet! mmmm mmmmm mmmmmmmm!!!
Show and Shine:
so drove in round 1pm. somewhat dissapointed in this years turnout. from what i undertand another event is taking place soon after so some are going to that rather than VEGAS. i have no idea how being anywhere other than vegas with supras can be more fun! anyway it was SUPER SUPER windy and unfrontunatly my new Stout CF hood wanted to blow away from the gusts. even with a jerry-rigged hood prop with zip ties it still wanted to fly away. one mkiv owner learned the hard way and his stock hood flipped back and hit the windshield and roof! OUCH!!! as much as i wanted to display the new setup in my engine compartment i couldnt risk my $1600 hood along with the windshield and targa top. so she remained closed for most of the meet. lucky enough i took home Best Exterior Modified. Brian Urbano brought Mike's mk3 out and took Best Interior, Exterior Stock and I.C.E. (i belive he got another one but cant remember off hand).
Drag Races:
Well all i wanted for xmas this year was to finally make a 13 second pass with my supra. i have treid every year and every year i either break somethign or get held back somehow. so i rolled out with my new T88 setup with a conservative 440RWHP tune with street tires. The Uchidas brought out there "Killer Whale" as i like to call it, and with thier new drag ready setup were shooting for low ET's. Brian Urbano took out the RHD mk3 and slapped some drag radials on as well. Ryan was the first to drive and did a nice burnout on his new Drag Radials suspended by a newly installed HKS Drag suspension and controlled with a newly installed TRD LSD. it was his first run of the night and Ryan decided to launch at 5000rpm. well, he ended up twisting the driveshaft off the line till it snapped in half!! i made a pass soon after and 1st gear had NO traction. second gear as well, off and on the gas at least twice. i was half way down the track slippin and sliding side to side. i hit 3rd gear and the clutch seemed to not grab very well. so a quik shift to 4th and a few seconds pause for the turbo to spool the car was off again. ran a lame 14.5@98mph. Since the Uchidas car was now out of commision they let me borrow there drag radials to see if it would help me. well i lined up and tried a burnout and failed miserably. asked the track official to go one more time and even then my burnout sucked. anyway i left the light with a great reaction time and the tires hooked up and i was out the hole FAST!! 2nd gear grabbed strong too. i KNEW i was finally going to make my 13 second or lower pass. then i shifted to 3rd and again saw the car hit redline and the mph stay at around 80mph. i shifted to 4th hoping for some grip there, but sadly 4th immdiatly redlined as well and i let off the gas and accepted the fact that my slipping clutch would yeild no rewards this year. Brian claimed to have the same problems on the track as i and let me drive the car to assure him if it were in fact a slipping clutch on his as well. driving a RHD car down the track is kinda different. but fun none the less. The car did in fact have traction problems in 3rd and 4th. it wasnt the clutch though, it was the suspension which was REALLY STIFF. so stiff in fact that Brian found out today that the ZEAL suspension setup on Mikes car is set to 20kg/mm in front and 18kg/mm out back!! hence no traction at the end of the track.
so to "wrap" it up, all in all happy i made it there and back without serious problems. Was able to save money in the hardest place in the world to save and spent some time with some good friends.
here are some pics. there are a grip more im waiting to get from Urbano. ill post more as they come in.
Me Supra...
The motor i didnt get to show off
got hassled by South Point Hotel security for taking these pics on there property(stupid):
My final pass in Urbanos mk3
first and foremost thanx to Kieth and the gang for arranging yet another great vegas meet. in all honesty this meet is the ONLY reason to this day i still have my supra. if i didnt have something to look foreward to every year then the supra would have been sold and given up on loooooooong ago!!
this year for me was very tame. i didnt do much at all and if u can belive it i spent only a total of $190 including gas the entire weekend!!! sadly i had no choice since the new fuel setup drained my account and im saving up for Tokyo Auto Salon in January too! stayed at Brian Urbanos house which saved me on room and ate jack in the box and sonics! as well as Brians mom treating all of us at the shop to a saturday brunch at the Paris Buffet! mmmm mmmmm mmmmmmmm!!!
Show and Shine:
so drove in round 1pm. somewhat dissapointed in this years turnout. from what i undertand another event is taking place soon after so some are going to that rather than VEGAS. i have no idea how being anywhere other than vegas with supras can be more fun! anyway it was SUPER SUPER windy and unfrontunatly my new Stout CF hood wanted to blow away from the gusts. even with a jerry-rigged hood prop with zip ties it still wanted to fly away. one mkiv owner learned the hard way and his stock hood flipped back and hit the windshield and roof! OUCH!!! as much as i wanted to display the new setup in my engine compartment i couldnt risk my $1600 hood along with the windshield and targa top. so she remained closed for most of the meet. lucky enough i took home Best Exterior Modified. Brian Urbano brought Mike's mk3 out and took Best Interior, Exterior Stock and I.C.E. (i belive he got another one but cant remember off hand).
Drag Races:
Well all i wanted for xmas this year was to finally make a 13 second pass with my supra. i have treid every year and every year i either break somethign or get held back somehow. so i rolled out with my new T88 setup with a conservative 440RWHP tune with street tires. The Uchidas brought out there "Killer Whale" as i like to call it, and with thier new drag ready setup were shooting for low ET's. Brian Urbano took out the RHD mk3 and slapped some drag radials on as well. Ryan was the first to drive and did a nice burnout on his new Drag Radials suspended by a newly installed HKS Drag suspension and controlled with a newly installed TRD LSD. it was his first run of the night and Ryan decided to launch at 5000rpm. well, he ended up twisting the driveshaft off the line till it snapped in half!! i made a pass soon after and 1st gear had NO traction. second gear as well, off and on the gas at least twice. i was half way down the track slippin and sliding side to side. i hit 3rd gear and the clutch seemed to not grab very well. so a quik shift to 4th and a few seconds pause for the turbo to spool the car was off again. ran a lame 14.5@98mph. Since the Uchidas car was now out of commision they let me borrow there drag radials to see if it would help me. well i lined up and tried a burnout and failed miserably. asked the track official to go one more time and even then my burnout sucked. anyway i left the light with a great reaction time and the tires hooked up and i was out the hole FAST!! 2nd gear grabbed strong too. i KNEW i was finally going to make my 13 second or lower pass. then i shifted to 3rd and again saw the car hit redline and the mph stay at around 80mph. i shifted to 4th hoping for some grip there, but sadly 4th immdiatly redlined as well and i let off the gas and accepted the fact that my slipping clutch would yeild no rewards this year. Brian claimed to have the same problems on the track as i and let me drive the car to assure him if it were in fact a slipping clutch on his as well. driving a RHD car down the track is kinda different. but fun none the less. The car did in fact have traction problems in 3rd and 4th. it wasnt the clutch though, it was the suspension which was REALLY STIFF. so stiff in fact that Brian found out today that the ZEAL suspension setup on Mikes car is set to 20kg/mm in front and 18kg/mm out back!! hence no traction at the end of the track.
so to "wrap" it up, all in all happy i made it there and back without serious problems. Was able to save money in the hardest place in the world to save and spent some time with some good friends.
here are some pics. there are a grip more im waiting to get from Urbano. ill post more as they come in.
Me Supra...
The motor i didnt get to show off
got hassled by South Point Hotel security for taking these pics on there property(stupid):
My final pass in Urbanos mk3