2558 miles, 86 mph average speed, 22.2 mpg, 0 tickets and 1 Evading Arrest State Jail Felony charge!

This story will be told in stages as I find the time. First off I have a very uneventful flight from Michigan to LA. I am in the airport waiting for Hani and he calls from Vegas. His plane has a broken window and he will be delayed. This should have been a sign that this trip was not going to be smooth!

I decided to check out transportation and find a van that will take me to GIAC. It is about 45 minutes away. When I get to GIAC there is this bald guy kind of looks like Kojak's son. Turns out it is Fred! (just kiddin Fred). Anyway Fred has the most beautiful Silver tt ever! I love everything he has done to his interior! You the man Fred!

I meet Garrett and Andrew and then a little bit later Todd from EVO shows up in the yellow supercharged 996. We decide to throw the red beast on the dyno.

586 HP 563 FT LB!

YES AWESOME! Then Fred puts his car on the dyno and gets 563 HP. Man sweet! We then go to dinner! Still no Hani! He finally shows up at about 10:30pm. He was suppose to be in LA at 1pm. This turns out to be an ominous sign of things to come.

End of the first day.

To be continued........

 

Oh, come on, that's it???? Find the time man for more of the story, I am dying here!!!

 

 

Me 2 - although NFL starts in a bit so that should keep me busy

 

DAY 2:

Wake up and head to GIAC for Dyno day! Slowly all the competitors begin to show up and man what a bunch of awesome cars! Fred's car was still on the Dyno from the day before so he was the first to have an official run. I will not post any numbers in respect for Euro Mag but most of you already now them anyhow.

Fred was in the lead and then the RED BEAST was about 6th to go. What a dissapointment when the RED BEAST only dyno'd low 500's after we had just dyno'd high 500's the day before. We hooked up a boost gauge and realized we had a problem.

Pulled the car off and began to work on it. Todd from EVO and Todd and his wife from Protomotive jumped under the car and began some serious wrenching! Man Todd's wife is awesome! She builds their motors! Thanks for your help Proto!

Anyhow we find a problem and fixed it and thought it was good to go. There was a metal bracket that was blocking airflow in one of the turbo hoses. We were not allowed to dyno again for the magazine.

We took the car for a drive and were making good boost. Just for our sake we put the car on the dyno again and were still having problems. What the heck!

Todd Z and I drove the car to the gas station and found a major problem. The main hose going to the intake was completely off! Looks like it must have been loose and finally came all the way off!

So Todd Z pulls everything off the back of the car and double clamps the thing in place. We are having to give Garrett a ride home and it is like 1am and we have a 3 hour drive to Buttonwillow. Finally we drop Garrett off and begin the trek north.

I am following Todd in the yellow supercharged 996 and we are making serious time! Doing about 115 and all is good. Suddenly Todd hits something and I am right on his tail and I hit it too. "Todd what the heck was that it looked like a 2 x 4?" "Don't know Budman".

About 5 minutes later Todd pulls over, we have a problem. This stupid 2 x 4 hit the right side skirt, took a chunk out of the wheel and flattened the tire! We are on the downhill part of a major mountain on a curve. NOT GOOD! We coast to the bottom and find an exit. There Todd changes to a donut spare and we throw his tire in the front seat.

I look at my tire and it looks fine, check the tire pressure and it is fine. Cool let's go! We got back on the interstate and we are doing a massive 55 mph! All of a sudden I am hearing a nasty sound come from my right front tire. "Todd I think we have another problem!" Pull over and my right front is gone! Crap no spare as the BUDMAN has too much stereo equipment in the front boot!

Todd and I jump in his car and travel at a blazing 55 mph up the road to a gas station. We buy 3 cans of fix a flat and head back to the RED BEAST. We put the fix a flat in and the crap is coming out as fast as it is going in! Crap! Now what.

We decide that we might as well try to limp Todd's car to the hotel and get some sleep and figure out what to do in the morning. We finally make it to the hotel and it is 4am we have to be up at 6am! Go to bed, man am I tired!

End of Day 2

To be Continued......

 

Ouch... did you just leave the Red Beast on the side of the road?

 

So you left your car on the side of the road???

 

This isn't fair lets hear the rest!!!!!!

 

buddy,
a left a PM in ur box & u never reply. i was gonna pick u up at LAX & give u a ride

 

We exited the freeway and left her on the side of the road at the end of the ramp. It was in the middle of nowhere but I was a bit worried. Oh well!

Day 3

Wake up borrow a spare tire and pump from Fred jump in Todd's blazing 55 mph 996 and head back to the RED BEAST. On the way to the RED BEAST Todd is suddenly wondering if they put the key lock back in the car after they had the tires off. He calls back to the shop they said the tire shop had put the key lock in the front trunk??? Not good only stereo equipment up front. Todd is getting worried and so am I. I am half suprised the car is still there when we make it to the exit ramp. We rush over to the interior looking frantically in the armrest, glovebox, driver and passengar armrest. NOTHING! HOlY CRAP all this for nothing! NO keylock NO way to get this tire off. I go over to the flat and start looking at the lugs. Amazing thing is there is no lock nut! Amazed but very happy we change the tire and start to caravan to buttonwillow Todd and his supercharged 996 with a right front donut and me and the STAGE 5 with a right rear donut. Boy we are a pair to draw to chugging along the freeway at our top speed of 55 mph!!! We got some strange looks to say the least!

We get to the track and I am trying to figure out what to do. Michelin was suppose to be there but guess what they are not. Now what? Mike who owns BY DESIGN and brought the tt cab in all black has stock wheels with the Michelin Pilot Cups on his cab. He offers to let me use his right front when he is done. Thanks man that was awesome! So all day long Mike would go first and then I would put his car up take the wheel and tire, put it on my car run the event and then give it back to Mike. I changed that stupid right front tire so many times I could scream!

But it was the only way I could compete and without Mike and BY DESIGN I would be out of the competition. Mike has a new loyal customer and friend.

We all watched Cort Wagner flog our cars around the racetrack, do the 80 mph braking test and then finally the 1/4 test. The most fun part of the day was everyone lined up watching Cort pound our cars of the line with 5000 rpm 4 wheel tire smoking launches. It rocked!

After the tests Euro Mag took tons of pictures. Then I took Tyson for a ride in the RED BEAST. You will have to get his impressions!

Then it was time to go.

When I first spoke to Mike at BY DESIGN earlier in the day I asked him if he might have a set of stock tires at his shop for me to put on the car for the long drive to North Carolina. I did not want to drive on the Michelin Pilots Sport Cups. The track had a tire changer and I figured we could put them on there. Mike had one of his guys bring a brand new set of Yoko's from LA, this is a three hour drive one way mind you. Thanks again Mike you ROCK!

So off to the tire shop we went. Got the tires on and packed the car to the max and headed out. Hani and I had decided that we would go to LA which was on the way, get a good nights rest and be at BY DESIGN first thing in the morning because we had a stereo with no power. I was not about to drive 2400 miles with no tunes. We meet some of the BY DESIGN crew at GRAND LUX and had a great dinner. Then Hani and I checked into the Sofitel Hotel and I got on 6speed to catch up on some posts. Went to bed anticipating the long drive ahead.

If I only knew what was in store!!

Stay tuned!

 

oh man, this all happened on the day where it counts....talk about badluck

 

This isn't fair!!!! It is like watching your favorite TV show only to find the good stuff happens in the next episode. Get on it Budman!!!

 

Its like watching 24 and losing power halfway through.

 

TOOOOOOOOOOOOOO Funny. Even though I lived through this with Buddy, it is just as fun to read about it again.

Come on Buddy, give us more................

 

Day 4

Hani and I wake up and head over to BY DESIGN to have them look at the stereo. Very nice store with a beautiful 996 tt in the showroom and wheels upon wheels. We head over to the building that does stereo work and they have a 360 coupe, 360 spider, several 996 tt's etc..

Hani and I unload all the crap out of the back of the RED BEAST so the guy can work on the stereo. Awesome, the guy looks at the stereo for a while and finds the problem. Meanwhile Hani and I are cruising the 6speed list in the office catching up on the latest. Everything is working and Hani and I reload all the crap back into the RED BEAST.

I fire up the Navigation system and plug in Asheville, NC.

2400 MILES

comes up on the screen. Man is this going to be a long trip. I load Cannonball Run into the DVD player and off we go! We make it to I40 and I begin to preview our route. I ask Hani if he has ever been to Las Vegas. He said no, and the wheels began to turn in the old Budman's brain. "Well Hani it really isn't much out of the way and we could use some spending money for the trip!". We decide to go. 3 1/2 hours later we are standing in the LUXOR hotel. LA to Las Vegas in 3 1/2 hours the guys at BY DESIGN cannot believe we made it that quick!

Sorry I got to go to the store for my wife I will pick up the story in a bit.