July Coffee (and Cars)

 

Knowledge Perk coffee, Rock Hill South Carolina. 

The monthly Cars and Coffee in my hometown of Rock Hill last Saturday can be seen in the one and only photo above. It rained a lot the day and night before, and the morning of the event! Being a fan of coffee as much as anything else (Italian food, bicycle racing, cars, guitar playing, etc) I headed down to Knowledge Perk anyway. 

Sure enough it was a small turnout, with a lot of Civics, some trucks, two Miatas, and a nice Mazda RX-7. Since I didn't spot any million dollar cars or vehicles I couldn't identify, I headed inside and splurged big time on a decaf hazelnut latte. This made for a nice short morning visit, while I walked around and looked at the cars. That didn't take long, so it was time to head home and catch the live Formula 1 qualifying from Hungary. Not a bad day for a retired dude!

NMS Returns to the Winners Circle

FIRE!

Not FIRE, NMS #77. 

Driving with the Triad Sports Car Club at the First Horizon Coliseum in Greensboro NC, the NMS #77 took first place in B Street class from five other drivers! The Cayman took on the "Toyota GR" army of a Toyota GR Supra, and two GR Corollas, as well as another Porsche and a Corvette, so it was a good day of competition. At a lot of autocross events there might only be one or two cars in my class, so having six of us out there added to the competition level. 

Who doesn't love a purple Mustang!

Out of the 68 drivers, NMS came home in 21st fastest actual RAW time, and 20th on the adjusted PAX time. That comes out to about the 70th percentile, so our best time of the year with the TRIAD club. My goals for this year have been to finish in the top 50% on both RAW and PAX, so this was pretty good for the #77. 

This Jeep Cherokee was very fast!

Fueled by another round of NMS homemade lunch, the team Chief of Nutrition believes that the "crunchy" peanut butter, combined with a new homemade NMS Peach Jam recipe really made the difference. Unlike a previous experiment that got the steering wheel all messy, the Nutrition team really came through this time, and put the ingredients in between two slices of bread! This new food from the NMS Nutrition Department of Future Foodstuffs says it is what scientists call a "sandwich." This new to us configuration is sure to be a hit, so try it in your garage with your team!

The McLaren orange hat is out because while we were autocrossing, Lando Norris of McLaren was starting on pole and winning the F1 race in Hungary. He's the defending champion, but this was his first win of this year. Hey, I won my class and he won his race! We have a lot in common! Well, minus the salary, fame, and fortune part that only Lando has! Oh well, I bought a hat. 

Speaking of orange, I worked on course with Joey here, and his Nissan 350Z was quick!

On a tight and technical course, the NMS team saw top speeds of only 43.5mph, so there was a lot of tricky driving out there. Sometimes on autocross courses the set-up might be a lot more wide open and we see top speeds of 60, but not today. This type of course might favor the smaller and more maneuverable cars, and we can look at the fastest times of the day  and see that the top three were set by a Miata, then a Scion FR-S, and third place was taken by a GMC Syclone pickup! Well, maybe plain old horsepower and having a good driver helps too!

Let's go to the video of the fastest NMS run of the day: 

NMS FAST RUN ON YOUTUBE LINK

This version of the Toyota Celica with the wing always looks cool to me for some reason. They make a great birthday present...

I believe this is a Club Edition of the Miata, comes with the groovy Brembo brakes. This driver John had put these slick after market Enkei wheels on it too.

Following the competition, the #77 was cooling down, and the chief engineer came up with a new cooling package, by taking the leaf blower that we use to clear the course in the morning, and firing it up to high and aiming it right at the front radiators. This worked great, and was inspired by seeing Formula 1 teams do the exact same thing. Since this was the first time the team had tried this upgrade, there was a "teachable moment" incident, when the unattended leaf blower slipped away from the car, and while still blowing full blast, proceeded to race along the downhill pavement about 10 yards! There were no injuries, and we just might start a new form of LEAF BLOWER RACING! Watch for it on ESPN 8, THE OCHO!!!!!!

NMS tries out the Formula 1 team trick of cooling the car by aiming a leaf blower into the radiator. How about that for technology!

Here in the Carolinas we just had a few days of lots of rain, which was a good thing, so it was great to stay dry and not get too hot during this autocross event!

End of the day awards time!

This handy magnet was my trophy for 1st place in BS class. 

Upcoming Autocross Schedule

Today the NMS-North Autocross Executive Council announced their targets for the rest of the 2026 season, and it looks like they will have the NMS Cayman busy with events into the month of November. With the hot temperatures this time of year in North and South Carolina, a few of the clubs take a month off here and there, but NMS will still be competing in at least one event every month. 

With eight events spread across five different locations, the team Chief Engineer pointed out that they will be monitoring the tread depth on the Hankook RS4 tires to make sure the car can complete all these events. One interesting note is that some of these autocross events may only include four runs during the day, while others have as many as 10 runs. On the other hand, driving up to 100+ miles each way to get to the events adds to the tire degradation, but so far the team Chief Financial Officer has not released funds for a tow vehicle and trailer. 

Other than tire wear, autocross does not really wear out brake pads, so the team is sticking with their stock brake pads. The Head Brake Guy stated that "Of course we're saving the really good brake pads from Ferodo for the track events."

The NMS car is competing with three different club, primarily with the Porsche Club of America Carolinas Region, where the #77 is currently leading it's class. Also driving with the Triad Sports Car Club, our unofficial points standings show another first place so far. With only one event with the South Carolina Region SCCA so far, NMS is targeting a few more events with this club as well. 

In the NMS-North Fuel Department, the Chief Head of Utilizing Great Gas (CHUGG) says that the team will "Continue putting gas in the car. This is the one expense we can't live without, even with the premium gas." Previously the CHUGG had announced a major breakthrough that "We don't spend as much at the pump when we refill at half a tank instead of waiting until it's empty." Scientists and Economic experts were stunned at this relevation. 

We also spoke to the Chief Analyst of Tracks (CAT) and the NMS CAT stated that "We're targeting big performance gains at the large 14 acre Michelin location, and looking for some high speeds there as well."

Rock Hill Cars and Coffee Anniversary

1975 Bricklin

  

My current hometown of Rock Hill SC Cars and Coffee just celebrated it's 5th anniversary, so it was a great morning to check out some cool cars! Sponsored by Knowledge Perk coffee, the Knowledge Perk folks were selling coffee right in the parking lot, which was nice, since usually you have to walk all the way inside their store to buy some brew!

From classic US models to unusual British, Canadian, and Japanese models, this show had a little bit of everything. 

The Bricklin was built in Canada.

Bricklin interior...welcome to the 70s!

The Bricklin model was SV1, for Safety Vehicle. Safety features included the fiberglass body, gull wing doors, and no cigarette lighter!

1996 Suzuki. Huge 660cc engine (less than 1 liter). 
The engine is under the floor in the rear. 
These tiny Japanese Kei cars can be imported once they are 25 years old. 
I know of at least two companies that import a bunch of them. 
This one is from MayberryMiniTrucks.com in North Carolina. 

 

McLaren Exotics and Caffeine

At the McLaren of Charlotte dealership last weekend, they had a huge crowd for one of their "Exotics and Caffeine." While I have nothing against your everyday Ferrari, Lamborghini, Porsche, or Rolls Royce, this event showcased some even more exclusive cars! Check below for a Czinger, a Koenigsegg, and a couple of $3M dollar cars from McLaren and Ferrari! Wow!

The Czinger 21C is built in Los Angeles, and starts at around $1,300,000. 
Oh, and this baby will move, with 1,250 horsepower!

You don't see these every day!
The "standard" model hits 217mph, with high performance models that are faster!
Hiding in the rear right of the photo is a Porsche 911 from Singer, another $1M plus car. 

I'm guessing it has some serious downforce!

The driver seat is in the center of the car, with the one passenger seat directly behind it!

More serious aero effects on the front end!

I was at the McLaren of Charlotte dealer, but they had a lot of Ferraris, and I just love the prancing horse logo!

Even in silver!

It's orange like  a McLaren, but it's another Lamborghini!

This entire row is Ferraris. 

Lamborghini

From what I know, the Lamborghini Aventador SVJ is a rare high performance model, and the 63 edition that salutes the first year of Lamborghini cars is even more rare! They made 63 Coupes and 63 Roadsters. 

This is not JUST a Ferrari 812, it's an 812C, which stands for Competition, so it's worth about $3,000,000. I could live with a white Ferrari I suppose! They made 999 of these hardtops and 599 A (Aperta, or open) versions. 

Since we're at a McLaren dealer, here's a McLaren P1. They built 375 of these 903 horsepower beasts!
Current value between 2 and 3 million dollars. Oh, and I'm so sorry to say that it is "limited" to only 217mph!

One of only 80 Koenigsegg Regera models! I'd like to thank Mr. Koenigsegg from Sweden for building cars! The Regera is a twin turbo PLUS three electric motors, for a total of  OVER 1,500 horsepower, and OVER 2,000 Nm of torque! In case you are wondering, those numbers are insane!

Brakes

Sorry, but it's limited to "only" 255mph. Other than an airport runway, Bonneville Salt Flats, or a big race track, I don't know where you could go that fast!

The classic Rolls Royce hood ornament. 

Fort Mill Cars and Coffee

Rally Point detailing sponsors this monthly Cars and Coffee event in Fort Mill SC, just south of Charlotte NC.

On the second Sunday of the month, the Rally Point detailing shop in Fort Mill sponsors a Cars and Coffee, and this was my first time to attend. They had a good turn out of some 50s-70s classics, as well as late model Dodge, Ford, and Chevy cars and trucks. While the day before I'd seen million dollar vehicles at the McLaren dealer in Charlotte, this get together in Fort Mill was more typical of events around my area of Rock Hill, Tega Cay, and Fort Mill. 

In the "Good Deed For the Day" department, I spotted a string or something on an older Ford Mach 1 alternator. It came off easily enough and wasn't connected to anything. After looking around, I spotted the belt above that is starting to shred on the left side! A piece had come off and wrapped around the alternator. I made sure the owner was aware of  this, so hopefully it's an easy fix. 

Nice old truck!

Chevy Biscayne!

Everybody loves a VW THING!

1968 Camaro. The owner showed me all the cool upgrades and modern stuff like his digital gauges! Even has cup holders now!

Mitsubishi Pajero. Did you notice it's right hand drive? 

One of three Mach 1s!

Toyota Land Cruiser

I would guess that the Man in the Yellow Hat from Curious George would drive this!

This label was on an MG, chock full of good info, like where to set ignition timing, spark plug gap, tappet clearance, and how to set the carburetter! Try finding all that info under the hood of your modern car!

MG

You've seen some cars, try the coffee! This was a cool set up in the back of their Jeep!

                                              I bought a coffee and it was really good!