Author: Albert Roxas

Can’t believe it’s already September! This weeks marquee was Nissan.

Redbull brought out their Nissan F1 sponsored car.

That’s a lot of buttons…

Lots of modded G37’s…here’s a clean one on Project Mu brakes and hella concave Vossen’s.

One of my favorite wheels on this G37 sedan. Work Meisters.

Some really nice supercars people may have missed in the side lot. A lot of people walked right past this GTO.

Lamborghini Newport Beach brought “Generations” – Aventador, Gallardo 550-2 Bi-Color, Diablo 6.0, LP670-4 SV. No Countach? 🙂 NOTE: I didn’t take any more pics of the Aventador. It’s getting overexposed at this point – sort of like the Kardashians LOL.

SIIIIIIIIICK E36. Not really feelin the Mint colored wheels, but mad props for the complete setup.

5Axis Yaris Concept. Nutty.

Attention to detail…so badass.

Crazy Mad-hatter type Ford I caught on the way out…

If you’re a car enthusiast and you’ve never been on a organized rally, I HIGHLY suggest you run in one, co-pilot or driver doesn’t matter – just give it a try. Lamborghini and Ferrari Club drives don’t count. Come on, let’s be honest – most of these involve eating breakfast/lunch somewhere, asking how many “other” cars are in your collection, standing around your car with your sunglasses on and are quite boring to be honest. BMW CCA or PCA events are better, but too grass roots for me. An organized rally such as Gumball (Which is the grand daddy, gangsta real deal of em all) is often too expensive for most people to participate in unsponsored and I’m sure everyone’s been on their own midnight street runs. Then there’s Targa Trophy – $250 to enter, includes “party” access if that’s your thing and has a solid drive that is well thought out and organized, along with some fun checkpoint markers that are required to keep you in line.

Due to an unfortunate set of circumstances, we couldn’t run the Orange County event – which is rather funny considering I was dropped off by a pair of Ferrari’s (458 and 430) to co-pilot/navigate Tye’s GT3. Tye committed us to hit the LA one a month later and here we were.

I slummed it this time and had to drive my own beater to Hollywood – no Ferrari drop offs. LOL.
NOTE: I didn’t shoot a lot during the drive as I was actually busy trying to convince Tye that 1. We were going the right way. 2. To err towards the mountain since I was on the cliff side.
Shot of Tye’s 997 GT3. Interesting note, both times the TT staff wouldn’t give him his stickers or anything until I arrived. As soon as I got there we slapped these suckers on. 

Taj’s F458 on DPE’s – I should be in the military apparently LOL. 

Temp as we were leaving the lot. Appropriate song for the day…at this point Tye and I had figured 98 was nuts – we had NO IDEA how hot it was gonna get thru Angeles Crest. 

Bill Wu’s rented 458 (just for the event LOL)…now THAT’S GANGSTA. 

First checkpoint was a Gas Station in past Glendale somewhere. To be honest, I don’t even remember the city. I do remember holding 2 iPhones, the actual directions from Targa Trophy and a Nexus S. Tye and I were trying to figure out the best route with New Edition bumping in the background. Rather than take sidestreets as suggested on the Targa Trophy directions, we hopped on the 101 and figured we were WAAAAAAAAAAY behind everyone. We didn’t see any of the other cars – Tye and I were busting up saying we got owned, so he starts doing Mach 3 on the Glendale Freeway. We exit and what do you know, we’re right behind Bill and the boys.

Checkpoint 1: Take a picture of the driver putting gas (exactly $2.50 no more, no less) along with a receipt and upload to AutoHelix Facebook site.
You know how hard it is to upload a damn pic with subject and content line to type while sitting passenger seat in a GT3 going 90 down an uneven side road in a GT3? Let’s just say…it’s like threading a needle on colossus.
Here’s Tye mugging for the camera..and ladies I swear that’s not Vin Diesel LOL.

Bill Wu again – as we entered Angeles Crest. Tye was pushing on him most of the drive – he let us pass about halfway thru. 

Vid of another guy who let us pass – apparently his car was rubbing hard.
http://www.tubechop.com/watch/201022

Quick props and respect to my buddy Tye. HOMEBOY CAN DRIVE. I knew he had track days, lots of time behind the wheel etc. His previous car was a track purpose build – but I’m never one to sit idly by while someone takes my life in their hands in excess of 154MPH. It takes a lot of guts on the passenger-side especially for those of us who are USED to being in control. All I can say is I’m VERY verbal if I think someone is on the edge and I never said a word thru the twisties or flat out on the straights, even when we ran off a bit LOL (Tye blames the tires, I agree) – My only comment was to push towards the mountain since the majority of time I was on the cliff side. Mad driving skills man – I’ll be your wingman anytime LOL.

Yeah, it got hotter as we made our way out of Angeles Crest and towards Checkpoint 2 – an In & Out. LOL.

At the exit for In & Out in Sylmar…that’s the PoPo bustin a 458, Cali and CLS

Super Trofeo Style Gallardo cutting in – he didn’t want any from the PoPo either LOL.

Checkpoint 2 – In & Out: Buy a small drink, keep the receipt.
I wish I had some pics of this because it was legendary LOL. We pull up and there are at least 7 cars from the rally in the lot, people are running in…there’s a line since it’s right after lunch. I get in line and guys are trying to make deals with customers – “Hey, can I cut and I’ll buy you a medium drink?” etc. I’m just patient, figuring we’ll make up the time because Tye has been driving like I’m in labor. As guys are trying to wheel and deal, an In & Out employee walks to the front, opens a new register and yells “Which one of you is Albert?” – I roll up like I’m accepting an award, give the guy $2 – get my receipt and say thanks. At this point I figure it’s my ultra lee’s celebrity that he recognized so I play it off like I knew it all along…I walk out and Tye’s at the front with the passenger door swung open saying “You get hooked up? I asked this guy outside to help us out”….DAMN…wasn’t my SWAG apparently.

Did I mention it got HOTTER? Yeah, that’s 115 degrees…

Blasting thru to the last checkpoint – we passed a few cars at a pretty incredible rate of speed.

Final Checkpoint – Take a pic of the hotel sign where John Belushi died…yeah, I had to google this one. But we figured it was @Chateau.
Once again they wanted an upload which is just slightly challenging as we’re cutting down side streets LOL.

Finish – I had to take a shot of the Vette we blasted past at Mach 3. Passenger came out and gave me a high five and was like “HOW THE F*CK fast were you guys going?”. 

Results aren’t up so I’m not sure where we placed LOL. Somewhere in the middle probably, but we had a blast and that’s all that matters.
Special thanks to Tye, Taj and the Targa Trophy team for putting on a great event!

Car-filled weekend, let’s start with Cars & Coffee.

Lamborghini Newport Beach brought out 2 Aventadors – White and Black. Didn’t snap a whole bunch of pics of these, a bit jaded (as I always say) since I saw the pre-Geneva release back in Dec of last year and caught them again at Concorso as well. The car is still growing on me and you all know i’m a Lamborghini fanatic. The Reventon DNA along with the rear of the Estoque still takes some getting used to for me.

Shot of Mr. Jon Sibal himself taking some pics for his world renowned blog – we discussed design elements of both the Aventador and Zagato (coming up), always thankful to get some insight from one of the most respected guys in the aftermarket tuning industry.

Another guest – as cool as Jon would be Alois Ruf. You may remember him from the one shot of me smiling in a pic when I had the opportunity to meet him at C&C earlier this year.

I shot the RT12S from the rear since that’s the only thing you’ll ever see from it on the road if you mess with it. I still love reading all the legendary Yellow Bird stories…

A car that I missed at Pebble Beach last week happened to show up at a C&C a little over 3 miles from house. I was first introduced to this car by my buddy AW – he knows his cars and this is no exception. Can’t wait to see yours AW.

Aston/Zagato really hit the nail on the head with this one IMO. Gives Aston that true exotic/sports car feeling that is missing from the usual refined GT IMO. Love the front fenders and roofline.

I like big butts and I cannot lie…

Something about this 3/4 shot that I was really feeling, particularly with the Vanquish in the background…bloodlines.

Front 3/4 is no slouch either. Really feelin that hard cutout. For the love of god, please clear-bra that interior panel!

Still has that very Vantage front nose – Jon pointed out the Skyline feeling window lines (he’s always right), love the overall aggressiveness this design adds.

Interior…What is this velvet? (Coming to America)

Jon has a great video of the startup at his site (click here) – I think I’ve reached my minimum Sibal mention, I only owe him $30000 now for mentioning my name in his blog 🙂 LOL.

Caught this friend of eGarage – GTS orange supercharged M3 towards the back.

Always nice to see the eGarage stickers on solid cars.

For some reason, I shot this walking out – back to the parking lot.

Oh yeah, that’s why…Finn McMissle 🙂 Go see Cars 2 if you haven’t yet.

Support my friends at Pixar. Hi Adrian/Edgar!

Targa Trophy LA up next…

Cont’d…

Green machine. So perfect.

Matching OEM “luggage” for the Diablo…Lamborghini fanatics would appreciate this, not sure how it’d all fit or if it was truly made to fit like some of the Ferrari luggage is

You see this a lot which is pretty cool. Valentino Balboni sigs on cars. Best one I’ve seen is on a CF console with an arrow pointing to “sport” and his signature with “Enjoy!”.

I believe this is the “Renown” car with Renown front bumper and rear CF OEM replacement spoiler. Fitment wasn’t so hot on the grills, maybe this was a prototype car.

Super Trofeo. NUTS.

Bare bones in the cockpit. Great stuff.

Would be so fun to tear this around on Orange County streets LOL.

Mansory SLR – the front is so choice (Ferris) but the rear is bunk, particularly unpainted – thus you only get this shot. But man oh man, this thing kills.

458 Challenge Car

This 430 is particularly interesting because I saw it almost 6 years ago (the last time I was at the Concorso maybe?) when the 430 was first released. Nice paint to sample color – not to mention…it’s Apple related 🙂 Employee of Apple apparently.

Guy had to have been on the iPod team…

But what’s with the Tubi exhaust with Supertrapp Silencers? SO CONFUSED. If anyone knows more about this setup – please email me LOL. My only thought is that it’s due to noise restrictions at Laguna Seca but I have no idea…

Gorgeous Grey GTO. Tough to look at this car the same now that the 599-VX has been released to be honest…apples and oranges but still.

That’s it for Concorso! Not a whole heap of pics I apologize, one again just soaking in the experience rather than the need to “cover” the event. Targa Trophy LA this Saturday (ugh, I need to get back to work this week though!)

Quick trip to the Bay Area to checkout the Concorso and catch-up with friends & family.

@the entrance…Clean matte orange Gallardo w/SL accents & Volk Racing GR2’s.

Oh yeah…this was next to it 🙂 Scuderia on HRE Monoblocs.

Immaculate example of a 1992 F40…I’ve never seen one this perfect.

Checkout that window sticker…almost 20 years old…zero depreciation.

BMCD|Lamborghini San Francisco had a white and black Aventador displayed at entry (Concorso Theme = Black/White)…a much more complete vehicle than the pre-geneva version we saw at the unveiling way back in December. Starting to grow on me LOL.

Matte Black is played but I would still rock this with a red-zipper jacket and sequence glove any day. LOL.

LP-560 Bi-Color…Lamborghini’s attempt to sell of the remaining Gallardos. The only car that could ever really pull of the two-tone IMO is the NSX.

Interesting 458 in the Novitec Rosso booth…some nice CF pieces and panels.

Menacing in all black.

Wall to wall CF.

This one is for my boy Ernie who drove up to scoop his first Ferrari (Challenge Stradale) and drove back with our friends the next day…great turnaround. Congrats again buddy and I hope to see it here next year 🙂

iPhone panorama of the Meguiars booth featuring my friends Enzo and the 599-VX from Vorsteiner. Thanks again Tom and RJ for the hookup!

Checkout Eric in that pic…so gangsta 🙂 Oh yeah, the 599-VX looking gangster as well!

That’s it for now, posting from the local Sbux so time to finish my vacation 😉 Part 2 when I get back…

Figured I’d leave you guys with a rare shot from my iPhone, taken the day before the release…note, something is missing from the car 😉
I snapped this before we stuck it on lol.

Lots of new traffic coming in thanks to the Autoblog article – will make sure to keep the content fresh!