In unrelated news, Chris just sent around a cool video which I’m going to link up here… The Highcroft Acura ARX-01C going around Laguna Seca. I happened to have attended that race and am still editing my pictures. Hopefully I’ll have those up this year too. Enjoy your laps around the famous Mazda Raceway…

The car has 81,000 miles and has been serviced regularly. It will come with documentation of those services. The car does need to have the dash replaced, but the current owner thinks he has the part and if he can find it, he will include it in the sale. The radio display is also missing pixels (another common problem with the Viggen). The front bumper could use a respray. It could use new tires. The front emblem needs to be replaced. The title is clean and it has been in no accidents. Mechanically the car runs great and pulls hard. The clutch is responsive and transmission engages all gears without a fuss. This car is perfect for someone who wants a car that is great to drive and also extremely limited. You run a long shot of even seeing another one of these cars in the States.

3/9/10 Edit: The car is now sold!

On Saturday, Chris was on a drive and had the misfortune of writing off his Ferrari to an engine fire. Here is his transcript of the events:

So I am out for a Police Charity drive with a group of Exotic Cars. Great day, great weather, enjoying the car, all is good. Heading home and get a smell of fuel inside the car. I look at the cars in front of me to see if there is an old clunker running rich and making that smell, but no they all look pretty new. That smell is coming from me! I look in the rear view mirror where I can see half of the engine and compartment and it looks normal but I start trying to change lanes so I can pull off to the side of the freeway and check it out. Nobody wants to let me over so by the time I am one lane away from the side I look back again and now there are flames in the engine compartment. I  crank the car over to the shoulder and know in my head that the car is bad and I probably have 3 seconds to grab whatever I can from the car and jump out.

I decide to grab my briefcase from the trunk and hit the button to release it on my way out of the car. I get to the trunk and it is still locked. The car is starting really flame up but I go back inside and hit the button once again and I hear it release. I open the trunk and grab my briefcase and start running away from the car.

As you can see in the picture it took about 3 minutes to fully engulf in flames.

Of course it is insured but it is sad to watch your favorite car that you pamper and enjoy just burn to the ground. It is like watching your dog get hit by a car.

So like the old saying. “Other than that, how was the play Mrs. Lincoln”. It was a beautiful day in So Cal but ended on a sad note.

Chris Hundley

Even worse news than that, however, is the news of Payman Engheta’s death. He was driving his Lamborghini on Bouquet and lost control. A news clip regarding the crash can be found here. We are already trying to put together a memorial drive to commemorate his life and establish a way to donate to his family. Dr. Engheta will be missed greatly. Rest in peace, friend.

Update: You can donate to us directly through Paypal and Brian and I will deliver the funds personally.

In the mean time, I’d like to announce the first club contest. As the Formula 1 season is almost upon us, I have purchased and scrounged up some giveaway items to the most predictive person amongst our ranks. That is to say, the person who can tell me the first, second, and third place drivers in the opening Grand Prix at Bahrain will win a wonderful Waterblade from California Car Cover (you know, the same one I said would be an excellent gift in our Christmas time Gift Guide). If you feel up to the challenge of telling me the first, second, and third place drivers at the conclusion of the World Championship, you will take home Meguiar’s Clay Bar kit! Just the thing you need to finally de-grime your car. The fine print: to be eligible for these awe inspiring prizes you must follow some simple rules:

• First, you must be registered with our club through this site. You can do that here.
• Second, you must post your prediction as a comment to this article and only this article. Scroll down to the bottom of the page to the big white text box. That’s for comments. Put your prediction in the text box in a legible way. If I can’t understand your prediction you are disqualified. Hit “Leave Comment”. Good work!
• Third, all of your predictions must be in the right finishing order. Something your predictions don’t need to be is: correctly spelled. You may spell Jarno Trulli as Yarno Truely and we will accept that. Seriously, though, Jarno isn’t going to win anything this year so don’t pick him for either or we will consider you pretty daft.
• Fourth, submissions will be closed on Thursday, March 11th at Noon exactly. If your prediction is submitted later than that it is disqualified.
• Fifth, one prediction per person. If you choose to submit more than one, I will only consider your first prediction.
• Lastly, if no one guesses Bahrain’s finishers correctly, the prize will be given to the winner of the Championship prediction. If those aren’t predicted correctly the prizes will be put up for grabs in another, less difficult contest.

Good luck to everyone!

In other news, Brian and I are still trying to come up with a better location for our meet ups. Paul has an unhampered fervor to be seen at the Valencia Town Center right on Town Center drive. Brian and I love that idea but it has been proving to be a nightmare to organize. We would appreciate any suggestions for alternate locations to get together. Ideally, somewhere with good food or snacks nearby in addition to nice exposure.

I’ve also had autocross on the brain. I personally would love to hold an autocross competition here in Santa Clarita. I’m still gauging interest as well as seeing if it would actually be possible to organize. If you are interested in helping out with getting this going as a monthly or bi-monthly (the once every 2 months variety) please let me know and we can work out some details.

Anyways, for the time being this page is going to be under development and its going to get hectic.