Getting Away From The Cold Part 6... Shaggin' Wagon

In a land full of bland Subarus, very few step outside the box and build something great... The quest for high horsepower and 1/4 mile times often overshadows the fact that you can build a perfect street car with nothing more than the right set of wheels and proper ride height. This wagon was set up flush, low, and loud... And it is daily driven in true gangster fashion:

Getting Away From The Cold Part 5... The FD Arrival

After a year of downtime, and several setups, I was fortunate enough to be in AZ when Carsey's FD finally arrived after it's time spent getting worked on a Banzai Racing in Indiana. I've seen this car and ridden in it many times, but hearing the distinct rotary 'brap' through a Buddy Club Spec 2 just never gets old. This thing has loud looks and loud sounds, and turns heads wherever it goes.

Getting Away From The Cold Part 4... Park's M3

To most people the M3 (especially E46 and newer) is a classy car, a businessman's sportscar if you will. To my friend Park it's not unlike any other car we build; it's built to be beaten to hell, while still serving daily driving duties... Most would call what he's done to this car blasphemy, but after driving this thing through some twisties I can only describe it as bliss... The PSS9's and non-staggered R-Compounds made this thing stick to the road so hard that I couldn't even come close to finding its limit, and the rasp of the Meisterschaft titanium exhaust through the gutted rear of the car sounded nothing short of orgasmic. Not to mention looking in the rearview and seeing the kirk racing roll bar felt very awkward knowing that I was cruising the streets in a luxury sportscar. Sadly, just a week after I left town his new buckets came in, I can only imagine what it's gonna feel like ripping through turns without sliding around on the stock leathers.

Getting Away From The Cold Part 3... Chillin Out Maxin, Relaxin All Cool

Right before the trip I picked up a fisheye lens that ended up seeing a lot more use than I thought it would... Here are a series of pictures from the trip when I was just loungin' around with the fisheye:

Meet the saddest dog on earth:

Keeping me going on those long afternoons, haha:

People in Arizona wear their hoods at night because they think its cold... haha:

Whataburger... While Chicago is known for it's food, I always find myself missing places in AZ:

Hanging out with some friends, relaxing, smoking some hookah... Who could ask for more than good people and good times?

Fisheye portraits.... Fuckin' goofy:

Carsey's FD... So hot right now. We just sat out enjoying the weather and staring at it:

Cruising Tucson streets in a benzo:

It almost looks like they know what they're doing doesn't it... They're very tricky like that:

Getting Away From The Cold Part 2... Touge Battle

As anyone who is from Tucson and into cars can tell you, no trip to Tucson would be complete without a drive up Mt. Lemmon... 28 miles of twists and turns, with hardly and straight-aways to spoil the fun. The end result is pure bliss.

The pack... Terrors of the night:

The Evo's manifold after our trip up:

The view from up top:

Hard driving and long exposures... Painting the canyon walls:

Getting Away From The Cold Part 1... The Arizona Landscape

I took a week off of work and went out to Tucson, AZ to visit my friends and parents... Not only was the weather perfect (especially since Chicago was seeing negative degree weather the whole time I was gone), but scenery is always incredible.

My parents' amazing view:

Took a walk through Sabino Canyon... I think I may have gone overboard with the fisheye, but I was pleasantly 

surprised with the way it handled landscape shots:

Twilight... Sadly I didn't capture any good sunsets since I ended up being busy around that time everyday, but

There's always next trip: