NMS Top Ten Highlights for 2025

Probably the Cool Car of the Year we spotted, a Czinger! This was at the annual AmeriCARna show in November.

The year isn't over yet, so there is a very small chance that something spectacular could happen before we ring in 2026, but the odds of winning the lottery, driving in NASCAR, or buying an IndyCar team are very small! So, just before we head into 2026, the NMS teams figures that just maybe we had ten noteworthy events in 2025, let's count down the hits!

10.  Car Spotting

Every day of the year can be car spotting day, because you never know when you might see something unusual. I was about to say "RUN INTO something unusual" but that didn't sound right. Sure, you're going to see interesting vehicles at a car show, in a museum, and on a race track, but sometimes it's the every day "WHOA THERES A CAR I'VE NEVER SEEN BEFORE" moment that make things interesting. The other day I saw a Buick with a badge that said "Avenir." I'd never heard of this, so I had to look it up, and I learned that Avenir is a trim level on a few Buicks. Hey, we're learning new stuff every day over here. 

Lamborghini racecar at the Lamborghini Charlotte "Exotics and Espresso."

9.   Car Shows/Cars and Coffee Events

These are the easiest type of car activity for anyone to do, because they are free, and typically involve drinking coffee and just looking at cars. Unlike social media, you can even TALK to REAL PEOPLE! Or you don't HAVE to drink coffee, so how easy is that? Go ahead, drink some water or tea, it's fine! My theory is that these events really caught on because the CARS AND SCRAMBLED EGGS, or CARS AND TOAST events weren't so popular. Hey, if there's two things I've learned how to do, it's to look at cars and drink coffee! Heck, at my advanced age I can transfer those skills and look at just about anything and drink about anything too. Anyway, at events in Rock Hill, Concord, a Porsche dealer, a Lamborghini dealer, York Technical College, Gaston County NC, Lake Wylie, and the big Luftgekuhlt 11 in Durham, we looked at, photographed, and talked about cars all year long. 

NASCAR visit at team 23XI, mechanics prepping for the next race!

8.   Visiting NASCAR Teams 

This is another oddball category, and I'll say it's one step better than your local cars and coffee. A NASCAR shop is part museum, part cars and coffee, part race weekend, but not the same. Living near Charlotte it's easy to visit NASCAR teams, so we've done that a few times, this year included the Joe Gibbs Racing and 23XI. Again, it may not be your thing, but if you're interested in racing and cars, it's worth visiting a real race team. If you live in Europe you can probably visit some F1 teams. Live in Indiana? Maybe the IndyCar folks have tours. 

LATE BREAKING NEWS: The 23XI team (and others) just won a big lawsuit against NASCAR, so was this due to NMS visiting earlier in the year? NMS can neither confirm nor deny that we "made them an offer they couldn't refuse" for the good of the sport. 

Automatic Transmission class at York Technical College

7.  Automotive Technology School

NMS-North finished a second year of Auto Tech courses at York Technical College, and spent a good time of the year at school in the auto shop. All the classes in the spring and fall were five days a week for three hours every day, so that's a bit of time spent trying to learn more about working on automobiles. While taking a couple of electives like Math and Economics might have resulted in earning an Associates Degree, NMS has called time out and is more than happy to have just stuck with the car stuff! That's all the school I'm planning to do for now, although they are starting up an Electric Vehicle Certification program next year too, so you never know.

NMS ready to autocross at Michelin Laurens Proving Grounds in SC. Seven autocross events this year, and the NMS Cayman racked up seven class wins!

6. NMS-North Autocross

For the second full season in South Carolina, the NMS Cayman won their class over all six events with the Porsche Club of America Carolinas Region. NMS also managed a top ten placing of all Porsches at all events, with a best event of 2nd fastest Porsche at the finale at Hickory Motor Speedway. For good measure we threw in one event with the Triad Sports Car Club and took first in SCCA B Street class there too, but, yeah, there wasn't anyone else in that class! That's beyond my control, so let's say 7 wins in 7 events this year! 

One of the biggest Porsche events of the year is Luftgekuhlt, and this year it was in North Carolina.

5.  Luftgekuhlt 11

OK, this could fit under #9 with the other car shows, but a Luftgekuhlt is a few tiers above your average local car show. Since it's only held once a year, it's kind of the Superbowl of Porsche Car Shows in the USA, and luckily this year it was held nearby in Durham NC. The previous 10 events were all on the West Coast, so this was cool to have #11 just a few hours up the road from NMS. 

We recommend you visit the Savoy Automobile Museum in Cartersville GA, north of Atlanta.

4.   Museums: 

Visiting an automotive or transportation museum may not be your thing, and it might be just about as easy as visiting a cars and coffee event, but usually you see some even more interesting stuff with the additional fun of learning something in a museum. This year included visits to four museums in three states, and they all were worth the time to visit. North Carolina included the Estes-Winn Antique Car Museum in Asheville and the NC Transportation Museum in Spencer. In Georgia we toured the Savoy Automobile Museum in Cartersville, and while driving a track weekend near Birmingham Alabama saw the Barber Vintage Motorsports Museum. While it's not a contest, I'd say that the Savoy and Barber museums are definite "must-see" level museums for any car and motorcycle fan. For a great list of top museums across the USA, check out this list from Car and Driver: 

 Car and Driver Must See Museums

Brian takes the NMS #86 on track at Barber Motorsports Park in Alabama.

3.  NMS on Track 

Now we're getting into serious driving, which means taking your car on track and really working on those driving skills over a part of a day or a 1-3 day weekend event. You should be looking at other cars on track, but NOT DRINKING COFFEE! What's more fun than driving on track? Driving on track with your friends or even family members at the same time! NMS teamed up at Carolina Motorsports Park and Barber Motorsports Park this year, and that turned these weekends into memorable events all around. Maybe it was more memorable for Brian, because he was faster than me and now holds NMS best lap times at both of those tracks. 

Work continues on this 2002 INFINITI I35, AKA "PROJECT INFINITI."

2. Project Infiniti

This is our project to get a working car (2002 Infiniti I35) to a young relative that is soon to get their drivers license. With big help from our SC car community friends Shellie and Justin, Adam, and Phillip, we're just trying to do what we can to make the world a better place. Maybe it's not world wide peace and a cure for cancer, but you do what you can. 

Brian with the NMS #86 Nissan 350Z, our CAR AND DRIVER OF THE YEAR!

1. Nissan 350Z Racecar

NMS-South has been working on this car over a few years, and 2025 was when it hit the track a few times, and most recently it's had two great outings and has become way more track ready and reliable than when it started as a humble street car. Some highlights this year included suspension work, brake caliper rebuilds, and a Cool Shirt system installation. After a not so successful weekend at Virginia International Raceway, the #86 came back strong and ran great at Barber for two very hot and humid days with both NMS drivers taking it on track. The #86 continued to run well closer to home at CMP for three days at the start of November, setting a new NMS best time for this track too! We're looking forward to see how the #86 does in future time trials and track days.