This weekend Nero and myself had the pleasure of heading to Las Vegas for the annual SEMA show. SEMA is an industry event that encompasses the aftermarket performance industry. After 3 days of walking the show and meeting with suppliers and contacts in the industry, I was exhausted. The gallery below has some of our highlights from the show.
Check out this great looking Porsche Carrera RS clone that stopped by the shop while I was away at SEMA. Everyone in the office could not stop talking about how great the car sounded after we installed a new custom exhaust. If the car sounds as good as it looks I can understand why they where so ecstatic with the results, I just hope I’m here the next time the car comes by for more work. I also wouldn’t mind taking pictures of the exhaust, as the only pictures of the car are while it was on the ground!
I Just returned from the SEMA show to find a good bit of progress to our Porsche Project. We are fortunate enough to have a small body shop located behind us called Pars Autobody. While I was away at the show they handled the wet-sanding, prepping, and painting of the door jams on the car. If all goes as plan she’ll get a nice coat of olive drab camouflage tomorrow night, with more pictures to follow.
As you may know, it is SEMA week and many of the worlds performance leaders have converged in Las Vegas for one of the worlds greatest automotive shows. Many shops have closed, as they have sent there staff their for the weekend. We will be posting pictures as soon as the team gets back. If you’re at the SEMA show, look for Nero in the crowd, I’m sure he will be lurking around.
Many people know Titan Motorsports from our history of drag racing and modifying Toyota Supras for straight line performance. While the Supra and quarter mile does play a significant role in our day to day operation, outside of work we are always looking to have additional fun driving or improving on our personal cars. Recently we have begun tuning European cars for our personal enjoyment and have been bit by the road course bug. As a result we have been enjoying DE or Drivers education events on our weekend, looking to improve on the most important aspect of a modified vehicle, the driver.
This weekend I had the pleasure of driving to Savannah, GA for a Driver’s Education event with the Porsche Club of America Citrus Region. Roebling Road is a 2.02 mile road course in Bloomingdale, Georgia. It is a great track to learn on as it has plenty of runoff and only 1 wall should a mistake occur. The PCA offers instructed driving sessions in a lead follow format that allows you to push the limits of your car, while minimizing risk of damage. It’s a great learning experience mixed with classroom education and on track driving with a qualified instructor sitting riding with you at all times, allowing you to learn the track lines and your cars limits. Once you have been signed off after a few events, Solo driving is available in a number of groups from intermediate solo to advanced solo.
I attended the event in my fiancés SMG BMW M3 (e46), which I had tracked once before in Sebring. This was my first time at Roebling and I was fortunate enough to have a great customer of ours Joshua Barnes as my instructor. Joshua has been driving Roebling for years in his Supra which we have modified to compete with Porsches. He is a great driver, and an even better instructor. From the first lap to the last lap I saw constant improvement, and by the end of the weekend I was maintaining great speed and had a great idea of the race line. I also had the pleasure of taking a few laps in the passenger seat of Joshua’s Supra. The car performs unbelievable and outperformed most of the Porsches and other prepped race cars on the track (with the exception of a Zotz prepped older RSR style race car with 14” slicks on the rear). Anyone who does not believe a Supra can handle the twisties needs to take a good look at Joshua’s car, and if you’re at the same event maybe even a ride. It’ll change the way you think about a race prepped Supra, and when you’re ready we can even build one for you.
A special thanks to Barbara for the great hospitality all weekend, Lauren and John for the great pictures and company. We are hoping to do another event at Roebling early in February, and I would love to see more of our friends and customers get involved and experience how much enjoyment and personal satisfaction a great day at the road course can bring.
Finally, after much testing, sweat, hard work and anticipation, Titan Motorsports set out for Ennis Texas for the ADRL world finals; Battle of the Belts. Team Titian had been running quite consistently in previous events and had been amongst the fastest competitors for the entire ADRL series. On October 24, Titan began qualifying for the biggest race of the year. In the first round of qualifying, Gary was able to run a 4.730 @ 172.28mph getting him safely into the 14th spot. In round 2 Gary went up against Michael Neal. White was able to get the better of Neal running a 4.235 @ 172.34mph to Michaels 4.328 @ 173.54 mph. It was a great race with close numbers. In Final Qualifying the Scion started running faster with Gary putting down a 4.208 @ 171.26 mph besting Alex Viscardi’s 4.567 @ 169.7534 mph. This put Gary and the Scion comfortably in 4th place qualifying.
Once the Eliminations round began Titan was full throttle, holding nothing back. Team Titan knew they had to lay it all out if they were going to be any competition against the racers left in the field. Gary White drew Steve Gorman in the first round. Gorman had engine trouble but Gary wasn’t looking back. He rocketed down the track with a 4.173 @ 173.54 mph. In round two, the Scion was up against Todd Moyer, one of the fastest cars in the field. Todd ran a 4.191 @ 180.45 mph resetting his own speed record and a new national record. However Team Titan was ready, dipping deep into the teens with a 4.137 @ 173.52 mph for the win. Now it’s down to the semi-finals. Titan goes up against David Janes; Janes was able to muster a 4.245 @ 175.71 mph, but the Scion, nearly busting the ET record, ran a 4.128 @ 173.63 mph with a .985 60’. So finally, it all comes down to one final round. As expected, Titan lined up against none other than Billy Glidden, Titan’s most consistent rival. Glidden got the jump on White with a .039 to White’s .099 light and snags the holes-hot victory with a 4.103 @ 175.98 mph! Ironically White actually ran a faster in the 1/8th with a 4.101 @ 174.91 mph and a .975 60′ setting the new national ET record.
It has been a great season of improvement for Titan and next year looks increasingly optimistic. The most completive year in Team Titan’s history, racing 25+ cars and ending the year with the quickest car in the field. The team is poised well for 2009 with less than 1 round out of first place in the 2009 points chase which started at Ennis.
The competition will still have to wait until next year to try to re-claim our national ET record and see what else Team Titan has in store for the ADRL!
If we’re going to have water bottled for us, we might as well have a water bottle as well. These bottles are great for bringing your favorite beverage to the gym or track. We will be throwing these in at random with new orders, if you’d like one just let us know in the comments field and we’ll include one with your next shipment.
Just got the paint in today for the Porsche project, it may not be what you think….
Standard Issue Diverter Valves where designed with the Porsche 997TT in mind, using a side vacuum pipe to allow for easy routing inside an already crammed engine bay. These units are a direct bolt-on to the factory VTG turbochargers allowing for easy installation. These valves dump charge-air back into the air intake system and keeps external noise to a minimum. Featuring a piston design which is superior to the factory rubber diaphragm, this DV allows for quicker throttle response, higher clamping load, and more reliable control of boost pressure.
The units are machined from billet aluminum and come in your choice of stealth black anodized or machined silver finish. As with all Standard Issue products we pride ourselves in function over form, with products guaranteed to perform.
Purchase them online at Titan Motorsports :
Standard Issue Diverter Valves where designed with the Porsche 996TT in mind, using a side vacuum pipe to allow for easy routing inside an already crammed engine bay. These billet diverter valves dump charge-air back into the air intake system and keeps external noise to a minimum. Featuring a piston design which is superior to the factory rubber diaphragm, this DV allows for quicker throttle response, higher clamping load, and more reliable control of boost pressure. The units are machined from billet aluminum and come only in a stealth black anodized finish. As with all Standard Issue products we pride ourselves in function over form, with products guaranteed to perform.
Purchase them online at Titan Motorsports :
**Will Also work in all VAG 1.8T engines, all VAG 2.7 Bi-Turbo engines.
