Extreme Autofest down at Qualcomm Stadium in San Diego last weekend was tons of fun as expected. The car show was HUGE! The other drivers were great: the Slide Society boys down from Mexico, Bigwave Dave, Moe, Darren, Note, Melissa, Jason, and the guys from Arizona. As with any successful event, preparation by the crew chief Pat Ardon was key to making the car run as well as it did:

Pat spent some time with the car down at 5Zigen before the event to ensure it would run as perfect as it did

Keeping a high-performance motor like the MX5′s Cosworth 2.3L running perfectly takes a meticulous attention to detail.

After we showed up at the are designated to have some fun, we had to unload all the goods (and 3D glasses?) from our trucks.

First thing to do after unloading the car is walk the course…

Darren, Moe, and Dave gave me a quick tour of the gymkhana-esque cone course that they set up the previous day. Dave is flexing in this picture.

These guys are just out to have some fun!

and fun we had! The Mazda MX5 was excellent as always. The Allstars really know how to put on a show.

These dapper dudes (Moe, Darren, and Dave) were killing it ALL DAY! The s13 boys were impressive with how much they could do on low power and the sound of Dave’s car has still been haunting me. I need a 1J something!

After a couple ride-alongs with the folks that were putting together a little TV pilot we called it a day

Special Thanks go out to:
Team Allstars
BF Goodrich
Motul
Yoshi at 5Zigen Wheels
Mazda
Pat Ardon
Extreme Autofest
AutoWorld Magazine
Hiromi for lending out the car she usually drives (mine is currently a frankenstein!) 

and to my best friend… Costco Pizza.

Headed out to Grange with the nice folks at Allstars for a little filming early last week and had a great time!

The cars that ended up out on the little track looked great in the freezing cold weather. Clockwise from far right: Hurst Challenger, Dave’s SC300, Victor’s S13, and the Allstars MX5

This Microbus looked pretty ratty and cool but had its windows frosted up… temps were low enough to fill some of the cracks on the track with ICE!

Early and cold, no thanks.

as the day picked up we got to do a little driving.. (video after the jump) in the Cosworth Powered MX5 and..

This gorgeous Hurst Challenger that Evan and Regis brought out for some filming… what a blast! Over 500 supercharged horsepower, Eibach Suspension and an open track…. this car straight kicked ass.

More photos and hopefully video coming down the pipeline soon.. and I”ll post them as they come!

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The Team Allstars MX-5 that I drive is on display over at K1 Speed in Ontario right now, so if you’re in Ontario grab a race and check the car out!

http://www.k1speed.com/ontario-location.html

http://www.teamallstars.com

Got to do some driving last weekend with International Allstars at the home of my favorite team: Angels Stadium.  Event was great, cars ran great (thanks to Pat and Eric) and the guys from Mexico were super nice.  Unfortunately we didn’t have a lot of space to work with, but it didn’t stop us from burning through the awesome tires that Bridgestone provided for the team.

My ride for the weekend was the yellow-nosed car #2– a carbon fiber laden cosworth-powered supermiata.  It was the first weekend out on Eibach’s new coilover setup which felt like a great street/track setup.  On this unit the rears weren’t adjustable, but the valving that Eibach set up was a bit on the softer side, which felt great at higher speeds but was a little hard to transition at lower speeds.  It’s not much of a price to pay for a coilover that would also work well for a daily driver.  I’m betting Eibach has another setup coming the way of the MX-5 for the more hardcore enthusiasts.

As video and pictures come, I’ll update the posts, but here’s a promo video from Lexani that has a little action towards the end: