I’ve been watching F1 since the 90’s but never thought I’d go to a race. In 2017 I was talking to my cousin and learned he was into it as well and he had a sister in Montreal we could stay by. So we loaded up in my truck and drove to Montreal for the weekend Lewis broke Sennas pole record. An amazing weekend.

I subsequently attended the Mexican and Texas GPs after. FFWD to 2024 and we had a group chat with my cousins two younger brothers and one of my best friends from highschool. After 2021 I had gotten a bad taste in my mouth and got most my updates from the group. In March we learned Lewis was moving to Ferrari, a move I didn’t think was going to benefit his career but I suggested we went to support.

Next thing I know we had an AirBNB booked and tickets to the race.

September 3 I boarded my flight from RDU to JFK where I encountered my first of many searches.

I had planned to land in Milan and take the train 3 hours north to Rome to see some sights I’ve always wanted to check out. Having studied Latin I was very interested in the Roman ancient sites. Thankfully when I missed my flight due to security I was able to change to a flight directly to Rome. The travel would have been entirely too much. I was tired by Frankfurt.

I landed in Italy and took the train to Rome city center. I tried to memorize some phrases on the journey but Latin, French, and Spanish kept melting into each other.

then took the subway to the Coleseum where I met up with my cousins and Jonny. 

Jonny was close friends with Dwayne but I had worked with him years ago at Camp Davis. He had gone to my highschool and college after me. One of the funniest smartest people ever.

Being at the Coloseum was unreal after studying it for years. Just imagining it filled with people, fighters, Christians, water and ships was unreal. It was smaller than I expected but the effect was still impressive.

Then we went to explore a bit and pick up thier bags. We used scooters to get around.

We boarded the train to Milan and knocked out. We hadn’t eaten most of the day but luckily there was a spot open late up the block from where we were staying.

Steve and Eli were already at the BNB so we grubbed and knocked out for the night.

The next day we woke up late. We went to Aldi up the street to get some water, drinks and snacks, then we booked an Uber to the track.

Out of all the tracks I’ve been to this one had the most Aura. Races have been held here since 1922 before F1 ever existed. So much history in one place. The Tifosi are the most notorious F1 fans and there is so much national pride for Ferrari. Even our driver was complaining the new cars aren’t V8 or V12. I could have spent a day just walking around the venue.

I had separate seats from everyone so we split up to watch practice. The last race I went to was about 5 years ago and although the engine formula hasn’t really changed the cars were much louder, especially the F3 cars. I was seated at the outside of the parabolica right at the breaking zone. My feet were killing me.  Adidas Sambas were a terrible choice. 

Hearing the cars backfire and seeing them occasionally spit flames on the over-run was amazing. I could just see about 1/3 of the turn so watching the different techniques of various categories was so cool. The Porsche GT cars trail braked until they were almost out of sight and you could see the back of the cars slide out as the whole thing rotated into the parabolica. The F2 and F3 cars went down 3 gears and seemed to brake right after the 100 ft mark. I could not tell where the F1 cars braked. But they went down what sounded like only 2 gears and their corner speed was insane.

Best guy, best cars.

Scott always cooking up heat.

Took my boy out for a ride cuz he’s been sick and stuck in the crib all week.

5 years ago when my SC was still purple a young cat named Ezekiel met me at a meet and asked to shoot my car. Life got in the way and the car went down for repairs and paint. FF to this past spring, the exact day Dru and Milton shot the Ten video I ran into him again.

He again asked to shoot the car and said if I drifted in the video it would be free. Again I delayed him due to the oil leak at the turbos and a misfire. FF 3 months later I fixed the leak and misfire and DM’d him. It turns out he was moving to TX at the start of the month and we had one chance to film.

Sat morning we would meet at Cars and Coffee then go from there. I woke up to rain but decided to go anyway because I had been sick and in the house all weekend. The SC has no wipers so I took my M3. Dru happened to go as well and brought some friends, one of whom, Tamarcus, worked in Indy and NASCAR. I totally forgot about the shoot until I saw a missed call from Ezekiel.

We picked a location and everyone went over.  It just so happened that between them they had two drones, a gimble, a 360 cam, and two go pros. We also had walkie talkies and enough cars to block traffic.

We didn’t have much time and I was still sick so we set up, changed tires (the ones on the SSRs tend to debead) and I warmed up in some random neighborhood.

Then we used the walkies to get the green light to run.

This was my first time sliding the SC this extensively since I did all the upgrades. Previously US Air 2021 was the last drift day. I did a few round abouts 3 months ago but the timing was off. The car felt amazing. I ran some old macho muchos that were on my 36 my last drift day at Spirit instead of Kendas because I wasn’t ready to full commit especially on the street. In retrospect I wish I ran Kendas so I could have gotten more agressive and a bit closer to the curbs. But the sway bars, solid subframe and diff bishings, electric PS, and all the other upgrades felt amazing. I can’t wait for a full track day.

We tried to do some parking lot stuff but the PS locked up with some air.

I’ll need to rebleed it and double check for leaks. But the car stayed cool and felt very quick.

I got a call from Ezekiel Sunday night. His truck broke down on the way out of town to Texas. So Monday morning I drove to pick him up and take him to the junkyard to pull a part and get him on his way. He’s 24 and moving across the country on his own because he feels life has been a bit too easy for him and he wants to challenge himself. Picking him up and running him around to get his truck gave us time to talk and get to know each other. I have a lot of respect for him and I know he’s going to do well. Such a kind and genuine guy.

His media is called Flushed Films:

https://www.instagram.com/flushedfilms?igsh=MWFjYm1lbG80aHhrcQ==

https://youtube.com/@flushedfilms3469?si=e5rkOWofm7de_SHu

After replacing the plugs and dropping the gap I’m still getting what seems like a misfire, but I’m starting to suspect is boost/ fuel cut. So I dusted off my old gauges to try and figure it out. When I first went 1j I promises myself I would leave it stock and in an effort to do so I’ve kept gauges out of the car.

The last time these gauges were powered on they were in my RB25 S14 14 years ago.

Luckily I had a brand new sensor and just needed a few feet of vac lines. In my haste to sell the car I cut the wires and didn’t have the needed connector so I just soldered the wires.

The ATI pod was for the 14 specifically so I had to cut it to fit.

Everything plugged in.

The idle is pig rich. Once it stops raining I’ll take it for a drive and see where boost is and the AF at WOT. Boost cut I think is at 15psi so if it gets near there I’ll know that’s the issue.

I finally got the car ready for the Bottle Rockets event. I loaded the car on the trailer careful not to damage the aero or the wheels.  The SSRs have valve stems near the outside of the lips that are easy to snag and replacements are expensive.  I also loaded the truck with wheels, tires, and tools. The plan was to leave from work Thursday and stay in Charlotte by a freind then continue to Atlanta.

After getting the car strapped down I cranked each strap one more time. On the last strap I heard a loud hiss. My heart sank and I instantly knew what it was.

I had taken care to put the strap in front of the stem. How it snagged it was beyond me.

I texted my freind that I was no longer coming. After sitting and thinking I decided to push through. I’ve met adversity a lot before and I always persevered. I had spent weeks fixing this oil leak and getting the car ready and this was a great opportunity to drive with some folks I hadn’t seen in a while and at a new track. So the next morning I pulled the wheel off, put it in the G35, and took it and the new stem to a tire shop. I asked them to make sure they got the broken piece out the wheel because it would throw the balance off.

They called around lunch so I decided to take it home and install. On the way the lip fell off the G35 and was destroyed by oncoming traffic.

L.

I installed the tire then headed back to work. I ran into traffic and missed my afternoon meeting.

After work I went home. I had ordered replacement lug nuts and decided to leave after they were delivered. They were supposed to come the day before but were delayed.  Once they showed up I tried to install them but they immediately started stripping. They were the wrong color and length anyways so I decided to return them and head on my way.

On the road the truck was shaking like crazy. So I picked a spot just outside Charlotte to stop and get my tires balanced. When I pulled up I noticed the tire on he SC was flat again. So I disconnected the trailer and got the truck on the lift and also took the tire off the SC. It turns out the other shop installed the valve stem incorrectly. Instead of sandwiching the lip with the rubber pieces the did metal to metal.

The guys finished the tire and were rolling it back to the car when they felt something inside. The other shop did not remove the broken piece. They put it on the balance machine and it was way out. So they took the tire off again to get the piece out and then had to rebalance. The truck was finished by then as well so I decided to go get them some Redbulls as a thanks.

As I pulled out the shop the 4WD ABS lights came on and the throttle stopped working despite the engine still running. I was in the middle of the road blocking traffic. I turned the truck off then on. Same problem. I said a panicked prayer and tried the same procedure again. It worked. I decided to go home.

I was devastated. All that work for nothing. Drove 2 hours just to get tired balanced. Wack.

The next day I went to unload and as I was putting the ramps on I heard a loud pop and hiss. At first I thought it was another tire. But then I saw a cloud of mist under my truck.

The strut I replaced late last year had leaked internally into the airbag. The pressure burst the bag and was leaking all the fluid in the ground. Thank God I had come back home. I would have been stranded because he 33s were too wide to clear the rear quarters and would have gotten cut.

So I unloaded the car and went to see F1.

The next day I took it to cars and coffee and bought some rare HKS and Nismo stuff to console myself.

A few from Cars and Coffee…

No more exhaust or oil leaks.

Drove the car to and from work and the leaks are gone.

The new plugs also helped the top end misfire but there’s still some hesitation.