By the time this issue goes through the production cycle, hits print and is in your hands, it should be around mid-December, early January. Happy holidays/new year from a month or two back, circa Halloween. Thanks to the print space-time continuum, it's currently 2:37 a.m. on Saturday, October 31st, and I'm sitting at the cramped makeshift desk I have in my room, writing my editorial. By the time the six, maybe seven of you read this column, 2010 resolutions will be under way and the 2009 SEMA show will have been a forgone memory. But for me, it still hasn't happened yet-there are still 72 hours till the first day of the show.
Being this late an hour, post-Friday night, one would think I just got home from partaking in pre-Halloween festivities. Far from it-unless you call working on a car a party. Instead of a bar, I just got back from Tein, where manager Philip Chase and Elliott Moran, Mr. Super Lap Battle himself, and I spent the last five hours applying graphics on our project 370Z. Yes, you heard me right, five hours on stickers. And that was with three people. I'm not big fan of stickers, so prior to this evening, I've never attempted to lay out or apply a vinyl scheme, which was why Philip and Elliott were brought, er, begged to be on hand.
Meticulous and with an unparalleled work ethic, Philip was the first person I thought of asking for help-he practically built our project IS F single-handedly last year. When I pulled the Z in to Tein's garage at 8 p.m., Phil had a spray bottle filled with soapy water, painter's tape, two squeegees and tape measures ready. Great with designs and always down for the cause, Elliott not only volunteered to do a composite of the sponsor logos on Adobe Illustrator, but his Friday night. And bless them both, otherwise I'd be still working on the vinyl and not my editorial that's already past deadline.
By sheer nature, this job keeps you busy, but this past month has been completely nuts. On top of the normal monthly workflow, last week I was in Japan for the Tokyo Motor Show and now I have to make sure our SEMA projects-the 370Z and Suzuki Kizashi-are buttoned up, because come Monday, November 2nd, both cars need to be in Vegas for the show. Meaning the Z, which up until a week ago only had Tein Mono Flex coilovers, a Greddy exhaust and twin turbo kit (the first one ever, for those who relish in such facts), and a twitchy body control module, not only has to survive the four hour jaunt up to Nevada, it has to be built to show and time-attack status, since we're taking it to Buttonwillow for the Super Lap Battle Finals the week after SEMA.
Luckily, I had help from friends like Phil, Elliott, Freddie Fernandez from Autofashion, and Stephen Rhim from G-Dimension who lent a helping hand and wrench, sorted out the body control module issue and swapped in a SPEC clutch and flywheel, while I was out gallivanting in Japan. That left the Volk G2s, FK452 Falken tires, Project Mu brakes, Bride Cuga seats, Sun Line carbon body kit and Carbonetic clutch that still needed to be put on. Let's just say the last few nights were sparse on sleep for Stephen and I.
With just a few hours left to finish up the car, and a whole week of SEMA ahead of me, wish me luck! Scratch that. It'll already be too late. A "happy new year" will suffice.