Billy Joel Motorcycle Collection Auction!

Once upon a time we visited Billy Joel's 20th Century Cycles

There's a CHANCE that you've heard of Billy Joel, the "Piano Man" and his many hit tunes, albums, concert tours, etc. If you've read the NMS blog here, you might have caught one or two of our visits to his motorcycle collection in Oyster Bay NY. He had so many motorcycles that he opened a shop in the town there just to house them and have them worked on. It wasn't a business, and you could stop by at 20th Century Cycles and just take a look at all the cool bikes! 

Just a few of Billy Joel's motorcycles!

Well, time moves on, and Billy closed the shop, and the motorcycles will hit the auction block in NYC this November. Here's one article that describes the story much better than I can: 

    THE AUTOPIAN ARTICLE LINK

Danger sign in the Billy Joel shop!

There will be viewing available in October at Christie's in Rockefeller Center, and then the auction held by Gooding Christie's, the official auction house of Retromobile in New York at the Javits Center in November.  

Two Ducati motorcycles.

September Autocross Report from Michelin Proving Grounds

This modified Porsche Boxster (did you notice it's missing a roof, windows, original body, etc?) had the Fastest Time of the Day (FTD.) The 2,000 pound weight, big wing, and huge 14 inch wide Hoosier race tires are nice!

On a beautiful day for autocross out at the Michelin Laurens Proving Grounds in SC, the NMS Cayman set out to maintain first place in class, and to just see how fast they could make the car drive around some cones on 14 acres of pavement.  

Here's my dash view, checking on tire pressures mostly. The orange little car symbol reminds me that the traction control is off. 

While I didn't win my class, I'm still in first, now with one more event for 2026. Worst case scenario I've clinched a tie for 1st in class, so let's look at how the rest of the driving ended up. The course was big, lots of slalom sections, and during the lunch break it was tweaked in two spots to make it a touch easier, and a few seconds shorter. That meant that the morning times weren't going to be competitive, so it was a good reason to go out and drive faster in the afternoon. 

Here's a YouTube link to my fastest run during the afternoon: 

Michelin Proving Grounds September 2026

Driver meeting. 

In a field of only 30 drivers, NMS finished as 10th fastest, and with about  15 Porsches, we took the 3rd fastest Porsche on the day. The fastest car of the day was a highly modified Boxster, running on gigantic 14 inch wide Hoosier racing slick tires, and that driver was fast! Not far behind him was SCCA multi national autocross champion Randall Wilcox, driving a Golf R. It was fun to watch those drivers really wheel around the course, much faster than me!

Here's my view waiting to drive. I have a GoPro camera mounted on the dasy, and a dash mount for my phone to also record video with an app that shows speed and other info. The FTD Boxster is waiting to drive, keeping the seat cool with an umbrella over the open cockpit. That car is followed by the awesome red Cayman GT4 RS. 

All the drivers got five chances on course in the morning, and five more in the afternoon. With 10 runs on the day, there was plenty of time to try some different driving in spots, and see how much you could improve. I tried doing less braking in a few spots, but that didn't turn out so well, and on one run I nearly spun all the way around. That run was off course for me, so the time didn't count. On other runs I managed to wipe out five other cones, so I was definitely finding out how to go too fast in places. 

More of the driver meeting. 

What I really enjoyed was just talking to other drivers, meeting some new folks, and talking about car stuff all day! I guess some folks like to join a golf club, or a quilting bee, and some just want to be car people!

Miata

Salvage Yard Excursion

In Rock Hill SC, SRG U-Pull-It Salvage. 

Apparently, when you don't have to go to work or school every day you can pretty much do whatever you want! Today I changed wheels on my car at home before this weekend's Autocross, did a very small amount of yard work, went out for lunch, and then in the afternoon visited my local auto salvage yard. Work, work, work. 

There wasn't anything in particular that I was looking for today, and they didn't have any cars on the lot that I own, or plan to own soon, so I just walked around with my tool bag and looked for anything interesting. Hey, some folks pay big bucks to go exercise at the gym, but you can get a pretty good work out in the salvage yard for only two bucks too!

JACKPOT! A Nissan 350Z. Let's look for useful parts!

The find of the day was a Nissan 350Z that looked to be in reasonable shape, so I notified the 350Z owner-operator-racer down at NMS-South and asked if he was interested in any spare parts. We discussed a front bumper cover, some extra headlights, side mirrors, and a few other small items, so I checked out the car for those parts.  This is where I noticed that whoever owned this car had done a cheap paint job, as judged by the way over sprayed red radiator and oil cooler up front! Not only that, but the Z logos on the sides were also now all red. Oh well, if that's your thing, no problem. 

When you're not sure what year a car might be, look at the Vehicle Emissions Control Information (VECI) label on the hood. Down in the last paragraph it references the 2004 model year emissions regulations, so it's a 2004 model car! A caveman could do it. Well, if the caveman could read. And had a car. 

After considering those parts, we decided to pass on extra Z parts for today, so I continued my walk around the yard. Another car that used the same 3.5 motor as in the 350Z was the Infiniti G35, and I managed to see two of them! As a bonus, they were both G35X models, which means that they were all wheel drive!

One cheap car part you'll likely find in the salvage yard, fuses and relays!

I also spotted this INFINITI G35X. Good to know: it uses the same 3.5 engine as in the NMS Nissan 350Z! On a phone consultation with NMS-South, I learned that the X in the model name indicates it was all wheel drive, an option on these INFINITI cars. 

AND THEN, I spotted a second INFINITI G35X! At the start of the day I'd never heard of them, and here's two in the same salvage yard!

Under the hood of one of the G35 cars was this, saying "Advanced Front Midship." That kind of makes it sound like a UFO or a Navy ship! After looking it up I learned that it just means they moved the engine backwards a bit to better distribute the weight towards the middle of the car. Sorry, no Dilithium Crystals or Cloaking Devices. 

UGO UGOCHUKWU

Formula 3 champion Ugo Ugochukwu

Over the weekend, the United States gained a new world champion! Nineteen year old Ugo Ugochukwu won the Formula 3 championship in Madrid Spain, and is now the first driver from the USA to win the title? What is Formula 3? Who is Ugo Ugochukwu? Glad you asked!

Formula 3 is part of the international driving competitions, that is lead by Formula 1 at the top. Yep, and Formula 2 racers are the next lower level, and Formula 3 is the third lower level. Believe it or not, there is also a Formula 4 series, and in fact there are many different Formula 4 racing car series around the world, since some countries sponsor their own version. This year Formula 3 raced at seven locations, typically with a Sprint race on Saturday of the weekend and the main race on Sunday. All the races were held as part of Formula 1 weekends, on the same tracks, so the fans attending these races usually have several races to watch during the days of a race weekend.

With the "minor league" Formula races below Formula 1, they try to hold down costs by requiring all cars to use the same body, which is built by Dallara. If you haven't heard of the Dallara company, they also build all the car bodies for Indy Cars! For more info, look up Mr. Dallara and read about his career too! Here's the link to Formula 3: 

FORMULA 3

As for the new champion, Ugo Ugochukwu is a nineteen year old driver from the US. He won two of the races this year, and took seven podiums (top three in a race) as well. This was Ugo's second season in F3, and in addition to winning the driver's championship, he led his team Campos Racing to winning the team title too. One challenge he faced was going into this last weekend in Madrid tied for the championship, and needing to have a good qualifying and races to win the title. That is exactly what he did by out-qualifying and finishing ahead of the 2nd place driver Freddie Slater in all three races. 

It's still too early to know what is next for Ugochukwu, but most likely he will move up to Formula 2 in 2027, and just maybe in the future we will have another American driver in Formula 1. Also of note, Ugo is tall, about 6 foot 4 inches tall, which is unusual for a race car driver!

Here is a short interview with Ugo after he won the F3 championship:

UGO ON F3.COM

Gastonia Cars and Coffee

This Camaro will get your attention!

In my search for new Cars and Coffee events, I drove up the road to Gastonia NC, and found a lot of folks at the mall. Well, in the parking lot of a mall, hanging out, checking out the cars, and enjoying a Saturday morning. Some of these events tend to have more 50s and 60s classics, like in York SC, but this was definitely the younger crowd, with tons of Hondas, Mustangs, Japanese market right hand drive cars, and lots more. Whatever your taste in automobiles may be, I'm pretty sure you're always welcome at any event. 

Hey, fun trivia, Gastonia NC is the home of Wix filters, ever since they started back in 1939 by Mr. Wicks! Now you know. 

McLaren 720S

Mercedes C63s AMG interior. It looks mighty comfy in there!

Nissan GTR

On top of those cars, there were a few more exotic cars, like a McLaren, a few Audi R8s, I think three or four Japanese market Nissan Skyline GTRs, and even a Dodge Viper. Here's a look around. 

Nissan GTR, AKA "Godzilla"

Audi R8

Right hand drive Nissan Silvia!

Nissan Silvia, probably Japanese or Australian version.

Mustangs

Dodge Viper

Dodge Viper, what a classic logo!

Flames

Matthews NC Cars and Coffee

Packard automobiles started out in Ohio, just like NMS!

You will not BELIEVE it, but on a recent weekend, I visited a Cars and Coffee! This is a monthly event up in Matthews NC, which is part of Charlotte. This gathering seemed to be mostly older classics, so take a look!

1957 Corvette

1951 Ford F-1 pickup. I really liked the lunchbox, and used one just like it when I worked for Nixon Builders. The curved top holds your thermos!

Camaro RS

I'm sorry I don't know my 1930s era cars, but this thing just looked cool!

Another classic from Ohio, a Ford 351 Cleveland engine.

57 Corvette interior. I hope you like RED!

Another nice hot rod with FLAMES!

Let's go with "Ford V8" on this one!

Just another Sunday afternoon in Matthews NC!

Pontiac. We build excitement!

NMS Visits Exomotive

Kevin the owner says go ahead and sit in it. So, I went ahead and sat in it! Not shown is a piece that covers the engine compartment and front corner. 

We recently announced that NMS will be taking on an Exocet build in the future, so here's some more info about the Exocet. NMS drove over to Rome Georgia to visit the home of the Exomotive Exocet! All the team members that are NOT retired stated that they felt this was even more fun than going in to the office for work! All retired members concurred 100 per cent! 

Brian checks out the Exocet as Kevin explains. The orange car has one roll bar behind the seats, and other models have a full cage. Sorry for the glare from outside, things are just brighter in Georgia!

The Exocet is an exoskeletal kit car, that NMS will be building with a Miata running gear. We went there to learn more details about their Exocet kit car for the Mazda Miata, talk directly with the head of the company Kevin, and learn as much as possible. You can check out the company at this link: 

EXOMOTIVE EXOCET!

Rear view, with the cover over the gas tank and etc. in the back. Fuel filler port on top and of course rear lights in the back. 

Since you build it with your own Miata, plus the kit from Exocet, there are a LOT parts of the car that you can customize in dozens or hundreds of ways. If you don't like the round tail lights, try something else. If you don't need cruise control and air conditioning, remove them from the Miata. If you want to add a drink holder for some reason, fabricate something and add that too. 

Here you can better see the cover over the engine and front corner. The hole on top of this one is to allow space for a V-6 non-Miata engine. The number 27 is on a polycarbonate panel. Below the number panel is another longer panel that helps keep pebbles from coming into the cockpit. When we raced a go-kart on a gravel track, there were a lot of little rocks flying around!

The Exocet kit car started in Great Britain as the MEV Exocet, and Exomotive was founded in the US 15 years ago to bring this car to the US. Like other kit cars, the idea is that you can start with a basic running donor car (in this case a 90-05 Miata) and then use it's running gear to build the kit car. There are lots and lots of ways to customize it too. You can even put a V8 LS or V6 motor in if that's your thing. NMS plans on keeping the Miata 4 cylinder stock in our build.

This silver car is the race version, you can see the full cage over the cockpit. There's still room to slide into the seats from the side. With an optional wing on the back, you could leave that off. Yes, the sides are just the steel frame, hence the exoskeleton concept. 

Basically a full cage placed on top of a Miata. For driving on track, the race seats and full harness system are the way to go. The Exocet can be race only or made road legal, of course depending on your state registration laws. South Carolina doesn't have any vehicle inspections, so it should be fairly simple to register.

Here's a detail of just one way to mount the headlights and side mirrors. This light is clamped around the beefy 1.75 inch tube, and the mirror is bolted into it (out of view.)

The orange and silver cars are finished, and the yellow frame is ready to go to a customer. 

They can powder coat the frame if you want it, with tons of colors available.

The gel coat covers for the engine and rear can also be in color. 

Kevin with lots of steel frame parts in the shop. 

Close up of the top perch for the coil overs. You can build it with the stock suspension, or upgrade and modify as desired for track or off road use. Look for the NMS Exocet to be track built. 

Frame welding  tables. While Exomotive has the frames engine and gas tank covers built off site, and the metal frames get powder coated elsewhere, each frame gets welded together right here. This way you can order the frame in several different configurations. NMS plans on using the full Race set up, basically a roll cage with lots of protection for the driver and passenger. Combined with race seats and harness systems, this should make for as safe of a car as you can take on track. Well, unless you drove a tank on track, I guess that would be pretty safe.