Beer.....?

This was handed to me while wrenching on the Lemons car. I started to drink it and it went down rather quickly, tasty water I thought, hmmm, if they added alcohol to that I'd be happy. Then they told they did, and it was actually called "beer". Funny. Tasted just like watered down drinking fluid. 

I think we've got most countries covered!

We've got the world covered just in this yard. Cars from Japan (Datsun wagon), Germany (E36 M3 with E46 M3 engine in it), Italy (Fiat 500) and of course America with the ex-cop car Caprice. 

 Yeah, Mobile one here is $26 for a 5 litre container, in Australia I think it varies between $75 and $97 depending on where you go. Move on people....

Passion!

What's the definition of Passion?

To me, it's these guys at HPD. They work all day on the factory race car engines, on call 24 hours a day, the live it, breath it, and work it hard. So to relax what do you think they do...?

 They prep and run their own cars in the 24 hours of Lemons race, a series held around the country where the price of the car can't be more than $500 purchase price. Here the little 1980's civic is getting a new Transmission.

 Spare car for suspension and parts was this sweet rust-free CRX, my job was to remove the suspension, with the help of the others, it was done in uick order.

Work all day professionally, the play all night enthusiastically. These guys epitomise passion for what they do, and what they love.

Indy engines

The Indy and ALMS engines are stunning masterpieces. huge ind detail and 650hp from 3.5 litres.

Some of the most technical and secret engines in the world in racing, these are simply stunning to look at.

Skelta gets due....

Skelta was officially recognised today (A HUGE step in any language) by Honda Racing. Im very proud of this moment.

Skelta gets a new skirt.

Sort of...

We had to make a new splitter for our Skelta with the help of the Honda racing crew and Brendan we located a company in LA that just does carbon fibre splitters, they even cut it to shape and then gave us the jig in the event we need more.

It begins!

I arrive in LA at 6:30 am on Tuesday the 19th, get through the 18 queues it takes to clear LAX and head out to the rental car company for the car Ive hired for the first week.

Most Aussies head to LA and rent the obligatory Mustang or Camaro or a new Challenger (my real choice), so what do I grab? How about a lil' new Fiat 500, just released in the US.

Loaded up with bags and a giggle, I squeeze in behind the steering wheel and head up to Honda's HPD Group (Honda Performance Development) who handles the engine production for the Indy teams and ALMS / Lemans squads. These guys were just coming off a serious high with success at the Indy 500 (a win) and the fantastic Le Mans race in France.

 Beautiful entrance to HPD where Im signed in and welcomed warmly and shown to the car where I will spend the next few days doing last minute work, splitter building/attaching and servicing.

 HPD's stunning Headquarters in Northern LA

Little Fiat 500 gets its California tan on in the Northern LA foothills

 Skelta sits in good company, the new Formula Honda (ex-Formula ford) sits behind it and behind that sits the ALMS winning Honda Powered chassis. Could this be our 2013 new over-all record Pikes Peak car....???

 Want. Me want bad. Im sure any of these would fit inside the Skelta. Or a Civic, with mild fabrication...

Im greeted by good friend Brendan Norton who's the Valve train engineer, his job is to keep everything balanced at 15000 rpm in a small 3.5 V8, Brendan is also the engineer Honda is allocating us and will be joining us at Pikes Peak as well.