This has been the busiest summer of my life. While I haven’t done anything in the way of racing or wrenching since June I must say that construction is coming along nicely on my new garage! I feel an excitement and pride that I’m sure Darth Vader felt while watching his Death Star being built. However, I won’t let my thermal exhaust port just hang out there for some rebels to chuck their proton torpedoes into. C’mon Galactic Empire, Duh!

I’ll post lots more progress pictures and details in the coming weeks. Thanks for visiting!

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Mitsubishi Introduces All-new 2008 Lancer Evolution With Turbo/Intercooled Engine, Super-all Wheel Control And Available 6-Speed Automated Manual Transmission

October 1, 2007 — Cypress, Calif. —

Each year, as the weather begins to warm up and the days start getting longer, I find myself grappling with an overwhelming urge. An urge so powerful, that it consumes my thoughts and causes me to lapse into daydreams far too frequently. No, I’m not talking about yard work, it’s convertible fever.

It all began back in early 1997. During the return-trip home (to freezing Pennsylvania) from a fun-filled vacation in Florida with my father, we made a gas stop in South Carolina. While there we picked up a local newspaper. We’d been casually looking for a clean southern car to bring back to PA and sell, but had no luck thus far. After browsing the classifieds, we found a good prospect, a 1991 Ford Mustang LX 5.0 with low miles. We called the seller and found out it was located just down the street.

After a test drive and some negotiating, we were on our way back to the frozen tundra of Western PA. I’d never driven a convertible before, but as the miles flew by with the top down, I was really enjoying it. When we arrived in PA, it was somewhere south of 30 degrees and the car was parked in the garage until we could clean it and put it up for sale. Over the next couple months, I felt myself become more and more attached to this car. It wasn’t the fastest thing in the world with its infamous Ford AOD automatic, but it sounded great with its Flowmaster exhaust and H-pipe.

When spring was near, it was time to sell the car. We’d had a few nice days that gave me the opportunity to take the Mustang on some great drives in rural PA, which didn’t make me any less attracted to this car. After holding out as long as possible, I couldn’t stand to part with it, and decided to keep it. A fun-filled, top-down year passed, and I added a nice stereo and some other small custom touches to set it apart from the crowd. I also kept it spotless inside and out.

Shortly after, I got the bug to move to Florida, which was the Mustang’s natural environment! No more parking it during the cold winter months! I still have fond memories of cruising up and down the Gulf beaches, the smell of steaks on the grill, the sound of the V8 and music playing, the warm night air. Man, I was on top of the world.

I wish I could say that the Mustang is still parked in the garage, but I eventually sold it in favor of a more “practical” mode of transportation. To date, it was probably the most fun I ever had with a car. That’s saying a lot if you’ve checked out this site at all. Oh, by the way, writing this has not helped manage the urge. There has to be another convertible in my future… it is my destiny!

My old 1991 Mustang on the Gulf beaches.

It was a perfect day for racing. 85 degrees and sunny, with a slight breeze to cool things off. We made great time to the track, only hitting a little traffic along the way. As we got closer to the track, cars were parked in every crevice possible. Below is a shot of our prime parking lot. It was a front yard that some old folks rented out.

As we walked to the track across the street, hordes of cars, trucks and campers were parked as far as the eye could see.

Sea of cars & campers, as seen from the speedway.

On the walk in, a great view of Bristol Dragway appeared. The entire lot was full of campers.

Getting closer to the track! The size of the speedway was truly a sight to behold.

Once inside, we got some delicious race food and headed to our seats, which gave us a great view of all 4 turns. The crowd was definitely amped, as they all got together before the race and coordinated this American flag pattern. Now that’s teamwork!

We had a great view of the pits and infield area, which was buzzing with activity all day.

The work in the pits was something to watch. Fast and efficient, each team made stops with amazing precision.

Restart! This was the first race of the “car of tomorrow” so the drivers seemed to be fairly cautious.
All told, we had a great time at Bristol. If you ever want to be in awe of the spectacle of NASCAR, there’s no better place to do it!

This was the view from the 41st floor conference room in the Hearst Building. What a palace that place is! It was kind of tough watching all of the activity down below while being locked up in a conference room all day. Hard to complain with a view like this one though.

Click to see Video

The only thing that kept me away was the lack of a 4 door model and the fact that it came from Australia. Were these reasons for poor sales or could it have simply been the name that doomed the GTO? What if they would’ve called it the G8 Coupe? Either way, it didn’t meet sales goals and it’s now a footnote of automotive history.

Months prior to the 2007 Chicago Auto Show, rumors were flying that Holden would yet again build a V8 car for U.S. consumption, but this time around, it would have a new, chiseled look and four doors. After all the speculation, GM made it official by announcing the arrival of the 2008 G8 GT Sedan at the Chicago Show, much to the delight of the automotive press.

My opinion? I like this thing! It looks great in and out, has room for friends & family and a 362hp 6.0L V8. So, what’s not to love? For me, it’s the portly 3995 pound curb weight. The GTO was no lightweight at 3725 pounds, but it also had 40 more hp. I like “tossable” cars, and 4,000 pounds sounds more like the curb weight of a rhinoceros more than a sports sedan. My notions aside, best believe I’ll be waiting impatiently for the first road test of a production G8.

It’s been 5 years since the original Turbomirage.com launched. In that time, I’ve received tons of great feedback and support from visitors all over the world. I’ve made attempts to add updates to the site over the years, but it’s always been based on when I performed major modifications on my car, which isn’t terribly often.

As of today, the site takes a step into a new direction with the introduction of “The Turbo Blog.” The Turbo Blog will be updated much more often with frequent updates on my personal cars as well as other cool car articles, pictures and videos from the Webernet. As with any blog, comments will be welcomed, and you can sign up for RSS feeds and the like.

The original site(s) can still be accessed using the tabbed navigation at the top of the page. Also, as time goes on I’ll be adding more new stuff to make the site more interesting.

Thanks for reading and welcome to The Turbo Blog!