NMS Announces Project M2E!

NMS sits in an Exocet
Front hood not shown. 

We're here live at the NMS Center for Unknown Licensed Liveries (NMSCULL) with the unveiling of a new NMS-Racing project proposal. Code named M2E, let's join the announcement, already in progress. 

(NMS Spokesperson) Good morning, and welcome to the NMS HQ. Today, we are unveiling not just a new project car, but an entire project that will involve three different cars. We're titling this as PROJECT M2E, and will explain the name as we go along. This project will have four distinct phases. We've creatively titled these PHASE 1, PHASE 2, PHASE 3, and PHASE D. One of the guys in charge of titles isn't very good with numbers, so somewhere along the way the phase after PHASE 3 became PHASE D. Anyway...

PHASE 1: This is ground zero for M2E, and will provide the critical funding to proceed with PHASES 2 throughD. In PHASE 1, NMS will sell the current car number 77, which is a 2009 Porsche Cayman. The budget and number crunching team thinks that the math adds up so that we'll be able to proceed to PHASE 2. If their math is wrong, then we'll be transitioning to the "eat ramen and drink water" PHASE. 

PHASE 2: With the proceeds of PHASE 1, NMS will purchase a 1990-2005 Miata Mazda. Sure, sure, we all know that NMS has run three previous Mazdas in the past, but this time will be different! Trust me, you'll see. Also, never trust anyone that says "Trust me!" Starting with a Miata gives us the letter "M" in the project M2E name. 

PHASE 3: This is the real secret-weapon-double-probation-ghost-protocol part of this project, and this is where we take a RUNNING Miata, and disassemble it. At first we thought we'd just "take it apart," but the IT and Engineering parts of NMS say that "disassembling" is even better than "taking apart." Go figure. Hey, if nothing else, it's a bigger word, so maybe we can use it in the New York Times Spelling Bee or Scrabble some time. This gives us the 2 in the name, where 2 stands for "to" because we're turning a Miata into something else. Pretty creative, huh?

PHASE D: Purchase an Exomotive Exocet kit over in Atlanta, and then combine the Miata major parts (engine, transmission, suspension, etc) with the Exocet tube frame to make a 1,500 pound racecar. And that wraps up the nomenclature part of our briefing, turning a Miata inTO an Exocet! We probably spent a good 10 seconds thinking of this great name too!

The Exocet people have been building these kits for quite a while, and how else do you make a Miata even better than by reducing the weight? OK, yeah, more power is an option, so maybe we'll throw in a turbo, but the initial NMS M2E plan will focus on getting the Exocet to run, and then see how it drives in autocross and on track. The NMS Prediction Department estimates that project M2E will wrap up sometime in the middle of 2027, so stay tuned!

You can read all about the Exocet at their website here:   EXOMOTIVE EXOCET USA

MUSTANG WEEK Comes to Charlotte

This was my favorite, 1967 fastback!

You might have heard of the Ford Mustang, the eighth highest selling American vehicle of all time at around 10 Million. It's just possible you've owned a Mustang too! In my case, it was a 2004 GT convertible, and in addition to surviving a tornado directly overhead, was a great car! What I'm trying to say is that Mustangs are all over the place, and the Mustang Week event happens in various places each year, and this week it's Charlotte NC. 

Just part of the schedule for MUSTANG WEEK

One of the minor events was an informal Cars and Coffee in Fort Mill SC, just outside of Charlotte, and that's where I headed this morning to spot a few Mustangs. From what I read on the Internet, around 5,000 cars attend this event, with about 30,000 spectators, so they were not all in Fort Mill at the same time!

Cobra

The bigger events will be at ZMax Dragway, Charlotte Motor Speedway, and other big spots around the city. Many of these events charge admission, and include drag races, burnout contests, car shows, a track day, and lots more. For all the info check out their website: 

MUSTANG WEEK CHARLOTTE

One of the newer high performance models is the Dark Horse Mustang. Please ignore my legs. 

This Cars and Coffee was sponsored by Rally Point Detailing in Fort Mill, and they were supported by the great folks from Knowledge Perk coffee. 

Ford? Yes! Mustang? Yes! Cobra? Yes! GT 500? OH YEAH!!

Wild interior!

Nice wheels with Mickey Thompson tires. 

Thanks to Rally Point detailing, and Knowledge Perk coffee in Fort Mill for hosting! 
And yes, the coffee was great!

NMS Visits Discovery Parts at Atlanta Motorsports Park

NMS at Atlanta Motorsports Park

Atlanta Motorsports Park is more than a track, it offers club memberships. Think private golf club, but use the word "racecars" instead of "golf." Here's a link to their website, and while it's out of my price range, just one winning lottery ticket could change that little situation!

ATLANTA MOTORSPORTS PARK

2027 Corvettes at AMP

MORE 2027 Corvettes at AMP. 

On our recent visit to see the Exocet in northwest Georgia, we managed to stop by Atlanta Motorsports Park on the way home and visit Discovery Parts. To our surprise, the track was hosting an event with Chevrolet unveiling the new 2027 Corvettes! There were plenty of shiny brand new Corvettes all over the place. Somehow Brian just happened to be wearing a Corvette shirt that day, so he fit right in!

Yes, they have race seats at Discovery Parts!

Brian checks out one of the seats. They come in different sizes.

The Chillout system is basically an air conditioner that pumps very cool biodegradable coolant mix through tubes built into a shirt the driver is wearing. This is newer technology than other systems that pump plain old Bb cold ice water. This system is more expensive, but is battery powered, so you don't even have to wire it into your car's electric system.

Chillout also makes this cheaper system that uses good old fashioned ice cubes and ice water. The salesman told us that you could just strap this into your passenger seat, with no requirement to bolt it down to the floor of your car, although of course that would be safer. I think Chillout just released this item, because two days later I got an email announcing it. 

We went into Discovery Parts and the friendly staff helped us try out various driver seats for track use. Before you buy a new seat for your car you definitely want to sit in some different models and see how they feel. While your average car seat gets the job done, in a performance situation you really want to be wearing the seat, because it not only holds you more firmly to assist in having more control over driving, but it's also part of your safety system. The seat works with your helmet, HANS, and harness to hold you in place and reduce any injury if you have an incident in the car. 

Indy 500 Pace Car Vette? CHECK!

Full blown Corvette ZR1X racecar that competed on Pike's Peak? CHECK! Did I say "competed?" I meant to say it just set a new record for production cars!

AMP track from the pits, Racetrack Condos in the background. Sorry, but they are all sold out. However...

You can purchase a now under construction Motor Club Circuit Villa trackside, starting at only $649,999.00

Since we had just visited the Exocet shop and were thinking about Miata sized cars, there were a few seats that were small enough to fit in a Miata, and that's what we tried out. After looking at several brands, I'd summarize it to say that the price range went from say $1,000 or so up to the super light weight carbon fiber seat that was around $2,400. 

August Autocross Report

PICKLES? Well, we were driving at the Winston-Salem FAIRGROUNDS, so...

Welcome to our one and only autocross event for August! Why only one event? BECAUSE IT'S TOO DANG HOT OUT THERE!

Lots of Novices on a course walk. No, the cars weren't driving yet! They are getting some driving tips from an experienced driver and learning the course before driving it. 

OK, once again with the Triad Sports Car Club of North Carolina, NMS joined the competition at the Winston-Salem Fairgrounds for a fun-filled day of driving. This event was first scheduled for August 16th, but then the date shifted to the 23rd due to some other event being held at the Fairgrounds. Oh well, NMS was driving to defend their 1st place in B Street class, and here's how it went. 

One thing the Triad club does very well, reveal the run groups, and show you how if you're driving in the 1st group, you're working in the 3rd group! EASY!

In a field of 114 total drivers, the NMS #77 finished as the 50th fastest driver, and 50th fastest on PAX adjusted time also. This puts the ruby red car in the top 50% on the day, so not bad for a slow driver! There were 34 different classes at this event, so that groups similar cars with similar performance together. 

Can an Alfa Romeo autocross? HECK YEAH BRO!

NMS #77 set up in luxurious facilities (canopy!)

Taking a photo to track my tire pressures, temperature, time, fuel level, traction control is OFF because I'm crazy that way! I mean, the car does better that way. 

Can electric cars do autocross? HECK YEAH!

In the B Street class of only two cars, NMS once again takes 1st place, and retains 1st in BS class for the year. With only two more Triad events this year, NMS is gunning for that 1st place at the end of the year as well. The other car in BS only managed to complete one run instead of the five allowed, so I'm not sure if there was a mechanical or other issue. Regardless, 1st is 1st, and hopefully all is good with the other driver and car. 

NMS lined up on grid. I ended up driving first in the 2nd run group. 
Did you notice the pickup truck #44? 

Right behind these front cones you see one of the grates all around the fairgrounds, and the club set up the course to avoid them. In the background between the two people walking the course, those TALL cones are surrounding one of these openings that did NOT have a grate covering, so the club did the safe thing and did not have us driving anywhere near there. 

Weather wise it was very nice for summer, about 82 degrees when I was driving around noon, and the track was dry with only moderate goose poop around the site! Sometimes there is a LOT goose remnants around! As a bonus, a Scout troop was at the event selling hotdogs and hamburgers and drinks, so that was nice. The smell  of burgers on the grill most of the day was a nice touch too!

The club trailer, with that website again:
WWW.AUTO-X.COM

NMS Fantasy F1 League Update

The Formula 1 racers have hit their mid-season break, so it's time to see how the NMS Fantasy League is going. Racing starts again this Sunday from Zandvoort in the Netherlands, and there is a driver change that could impact any fantasy teams. Red Bull driver Isack Hadjar has a wrist injury and will not be driving. His replacement will be Liam Lawson from the Racing Bulls team, and then Lawson's replacement for RB will be reserve driver Yuki Tsunoda. In the F1 Fantasy rules this year, you lose big points if one of your drivers does not drive, even due to injury, so if you have Hadjar or Lawson, you need to update your team!

NMS has been running an F1 Fantasy League again this year, and 2026 has been very unpredictable, because the cars are totally different than the last few years, with all new engines, hybrid power, dimensions, aerodynamics, etc. This has introduced more cars breaking down, good drivers not finishing races, and like I said, more unpredictable results than last year. 

On the good news front, NMS leads the league in 1st place with one team, but my other two teams are not doing so well. With each fantasy team you can split your 100 million dollar budget over two teams and five drivers. My theory was for one of my teams to be made up of cheap drivers and expensive teams, and another team the opposite. To keep track of those strategies I cleverly named them "CHEAP DRIVERS" and "BARGAIN BASEMENT TEAMS." Based on those two teams being in 4th and 8th place, I'm starting to suspect that these strategies aren't very good!

Gotta Have AIr!

Try to spot the Old vs. New air filter!

Yes, your gas engine car has to have air to breath, just like the driver! Once the air gets into your intake and heads for the engine, it really needs to get filtered just to weed out any particles of what scientists call "not air" before going on the engine. To perform this critical weeding out, thank goodness we have car air filters!

Looking into a spaceship?
Nah, just the inside of a new air filter. 

On the NMS Cayman, we just replaced the old filter with a new one, and I had the enjoyable experience of learning that the very cheap mail-ordered filter I ordered first really didn't fit. With the big oval shape of this car's filters, it HAS to be a certain size to fit over the mounting point, and, well, the cheap one just didn't fit. The oval was too small by just a little bit. 

Name brand Mahle air filter made in Turkiye. Good!

First I tried to bend it, then I trimmed some of it down, but since even that didn't work, I bit the bullet and ordered the more expensive OEM type filter (like I already had on the car) and guess what? IT FIT EASY!  

Discount air filter made in China that didn't fit. Bad. Very bad. 

Part 2 of this adventure, and the good news part, is that I ordered the good filter from FCP Euro. They specialize in parts for European brands like the Porsche, and within a few days the new filter (THAT FIT) was on the car. 

From the passenger rear, looking into the engine bay, where in the world does the air filter go?

BINGO! The main intake is behind the driver's door, into the side of the car, so the air filter is over there behind the driver's seat (top center of photo.) Easy!

The really GOOD NEWS part of this is that FCP Euro offers your money back when you buy the next replacement part, and ship them the old part! It is true, and in the past I've done several sets of brake pads this way! Lucky for me, my old air filter came from them, so I'm shipping them the old one (since I ordered a new one) and I'll get my money back from the old filter! I don't know how they afford to do this, but it's a good deal in my book. 

New filter in place, just need to fasten the screw in the upper right, then put the cover over all of this and screw that in with two screws at the lower right and lower left. 

If you own an Audi, BMW, Jaguar, Land Rover, Mercedes, Mini, Porsche, VW, or Volvo, NMS says to definitely check them out and learn about the lifetime money back deal! 

FCP EURO LINK 

NMS Visits US Legend Cars

There are a LOT of different car racing series in the world, and one of the funkiest is Legend Cars! The home of Legend cars and where they are all built is just up the road from us, and not far from Charlotte Motor Speedway, so we stopped by for a visit!

These cars have been around since 1992, and of course the first thing you notice about them is that they are small! The basic chasis weighs about 1,100 pounds, and they use a 3 cylinder Yamaha motorcycle engine that cranks out 135 horsepower. Another sign of how small they are is the gas tank, which holds 4.1 gallons! Dang, that's less than the typical 5.5 gallon fuel jug like the Bunch of Idiots team uses! Of course the cool factor is that you could tell your friends "Yeah, I just filled up the tank for 14 bucks!"

For all the inside scoop on Legends cars, check out their website:

     US LEGEND CARS DOT COM

Old (and New) Cars (and Coffee)

Here's a few cool cars from this month's Cars and Coffee sponsored by Rally Point Detailing in Fort Mill SC. Coffee wise I visited the Knowledge Perk located in the same shopping center and enjoyed a delicious beverage! 

What's the word?
It's THUNDERBIRD!

Sweet Thunderbird valve cover!

Hot Rod!

Toyota Corona 1900

Ford Falcon

Right hand drive Japanese Honda NSX, which was the Acura NSX in the USA. 

Mercury Monterey, note the "Mercury" in the rear bumper!

Mercury called their automatic transmission "Mercomatic" from around 1955-1968.

Honda NSX interior, and sure enough the steering wheel is way over on the other side!

Another Japanese market right hand driver, a Mitsubishi van, the WASABI WAGON!

Mitsubishi interior