Our second day at the SEMA – Las Vegas Convention Center was officially the first day of the show. Matt left early to pick up Dan at the airport; they would meet us later at the LVCC. During our bus ride Nolan, Paul and I started to talk about the new Honda Civic Si coupe. Honda was going to unveil the 2014 Civic Si Coupe so we were going to get a chance to see it firsthand. However, our conversation revolved around what we thought would be the ugliest thing about the new Civic Si. Paul and Nolan opted for the rear part of the car/rear bumper while I went with the front-fascia but I also thought that the wheels could possibly be hideous. Time will tell.
When we arrived at the LVCC, we met Matt and the rest of our group at the Mackin Industries booth. Matt was speaking to Brian Duong about some wheels and I decided to start taking photos.
Brian Duong’s personal EVO had red wheels on one side and blue wheels on the other.
Not sure what kind of taillights these are but they are different and I kind of like them.
R’sTunning Nissan GT-R
Volk Racing G27. Reminds me of some old school wheels, maybe TSW Hockenheim R.
Project-Mu FR-S on polished Advan RGIIIs.
The plan was to head over to the Honda/Acura booth and then work our way from there. However, on our way there we stopped and took some photos of anything that grabbed our attention.
I have never been a fan of the Auto Meter gauges. I know that they are a great product but visually they do not appeal to me. This is just my opinion. Auto Meter had this 1973 Chevy Camaro at their booth which had a digital cluster. Really nice set up.
C6 Corvette at the Hawk Performance booth.
I liked the 2 red-spokes.
This BMW ZM4 was at the KSport booth. Other than the big-brake kit, I didn’t know what else they made for this platform.
We finally made it to the Honda/Acura booth and I noticed that there was a lot of traffic around the new Civic Si, so I decided to walk around and let the traffic die.
Acura RLX on 21” AVS Model F15 wheels. A set of Project Mu 4-piston big brake kit sit up front.
The front had custom carbon fiber chin spoiler and bumper vents.
I liked the Acura RLX’s LED headlights.
Next to it was its younger sibling – The ILX. It was wrapped in a matte copper metallic film and had matte charcoal accents. ILX was wearing 19” TSW Max wheels.
I eventually managed to make my way to the main stage, if you want to call it that, to check out the 2014 Honda Civic Si Coupe. I walked around it a few times and as I started forming thoughts about the car, without thinking, I opened the door. As I was looking around Matt and Paul came over to check it out. I was talking to Matt about the shift knob and shift boot when a gentleman from Honda came over. He politely enquired if I had taken any photos of the interior and if so, if I could refrain from posting them since the interior was not done. He went ahead to inform us that the car would be ready for the L.A. Auto Show. I responded that I had not taken any photos and we were good. We closed the door and somebody locked the car. Now I understood why the windows were darker than night but I couldn’t grasp how or why the interior was incomplete.
The front fascia looked very aggressive but I am not sure this was a good thing.
The rear of the car is not as bad as Paul and Nolan thought it would be but they weren’t too crazy about it.
As of lately, I haven’t been a fan of the Honda coupes (Civic and Accord). The roof line seems to slope down too soon, it sort of looks like an Audi TT only worse. Gone are the days of smooth-body lines! I think that the last Coupe I liked was the 6th generation EM1. After that, it has headed downhill. I felt as though, Honda was trying too hard to come up with a concept/model that would revitalize and capture the market that it had with the models of the late 80s and throughout the 90s.
I was more interested in this Honda Mean Mower than the Civic Si. Honda (UK) teamed up with their title-winning British Touring Car Championship partner, Team Dynamics, to create this bad ass lawn mower. They extracted 109hp out of the 1,000cc engine and it can do 0-60 in just four seconds. Over-steer and cutting grass doesn’t come to mind too often. I think it’s safe to say if you owned this, the grass would either be the shortest in your neighborhood or the trashiest.
This Honda Odyssey will not only take you there in style, but it will get you there quickly.
After this we decided to start making our way out through the hall.
DC5 oval-tube exhaust from K-Tuned for the DC5 crowd at. We were told that since the exhausts on this model were usually low, they designed the B-pipe oval to allow more clearance. Very cool idea.
K-Tuned ITB set up for a K20.
Wilwood TC6R 6 Piston caliper and 16.00” x 1.38” rotor
If you need something that can take more abuse, you can step up to their Carbon-ceramic kit. Caliper is a 6-Piston with a 14.00 x 1.25” Carbon-Ceramic rotor.
Old school and new school.
Audi S5 at the Vogtland booth on Rotifom SNAs
Ford Fiesta ST Competition Car at the Eneos Motor Oil booth. The 2.0L engine has somewhere around 550 hp.
By the time I got to the other end, I was alone. I had no idea how everyone split up but we were all on our own at that moment.
2013 Toyota Camry or has they called it CamRally. As you can see the V6 gets help from a Turbonetics turbo. No sure whether or not this is an AWD set up.
TRD had a cut-off display of one an engine and driveline.
Toyota Tacoma built for some rugged terrains alright.
The aggressive FRS from Evasive Motorsports.
This is an interesting way to mount a bike but I liked the idea.
At the Garrett booth, this Mk VW Golf was making a lot of noise. Forge Motorsports’ Golf competes in Group B rally and it is tuned to around 400 hp. It is very interesting to see how there are subtle differences among tuners who run wide-fenders.
This massive GT5541R 100mm Turbocharger looks as if it exhaled the VW Golf.
As I approached the Akrapovic booth, I noticed the Audi R18. At the same time I heard Nolan calling my name; I think that we both got there at the same time. This was the first time that I had seen an Audi from the LMP division up close and personal. If you follow the 24 Hours of Le Mans, you would know that Audi has been a force to reckon with and basically have been dominating all challengers. Because of this, I always want the underdog/challenger to challenge the Audi and basically I root against Audi. After I spent some time taking photos and observing the details, I had to confess that this was an amazing car. I could see why they are so dominant. Audi, you got me.
Akrapovic was the supplier of exhaust for the 2010-2013 24 Hours of Le Mans’ LMP1 cars. The number 3 car was driven by Marc Gene, Romain Dumas and Loic Duval and finished 6th overall in the 2012 race.
Aerodynamics, the underneath of the car is basically a tunnel channeling air from the front to the sides to produce down-force. You can see all the way though in this photo.
All the small details like the carbon fiber mirrors, the latch and the louvers in the front fenders are amazing.
The R18 was the first ever LMP car to race with full LED headlights. The fenders are high to accommodate the tires. You always hear commentators talk about the drivers having a hard time seeing over the fenders but you don’t get the full effect until you see it in person.
Tail lights also run LED and though they are razor-thin, they are super bright.
From this view, you can almost see how the air will flow through the entire car. At least I could, in my head…yeah I am weird.
The brakes are one massive brake disk-duct. You can only see a small part of the rotor.
As you can see, we spent a long time talking and admiring the R18. Once we walked away we got to see the Akrapovic’s exhausts and wow, no wonder Audi chose them! Quality is ridiculously good! Exhaust system for the Porsche 911 Carrera Titanium Slip-On Line. Exhaust is 19 lb. lighter than stock.
Carbon-fiber tips just WOW!
This exhaust system is for the Ferrari 458 Italia and it is 31 lb. lighter than stock. Also, I never would have thought that these exhaust systems were made in Slovenia.
Turbo Veloster at the Hyundai booth.
I was a big fan of the Genesis ARK Legato Concept. They even went with a wide-body kit, the lines are still very smooth, they don’t appear as aggressive as other kits. The engine has been stroked to 4.0 liters and pushes around 400 hp. The interior features a sleek AiM Sports Strada GT steering wheel and a digital cluster that reminds me of one of the Lexus LFA – very well executed.
Another Genesis Coupe, maybe somewhat toned down than the ARK Legato Concept but still a good looking car.
Compuware Chevrolet Corvette C6.R runs on E85 ethanol fuel.
The 2014 Chevrolet Corvette C7 was new to us; at least in person. I still like the C6 better (maybe it hasn’t grown on me yet) but I really liked this Corvette. Loved the color.
Another Corvette C7 on HRE P101 wheels at the Mobil 1 booth.
OS Giken’s TC24-B1Z super engine, from what I heard this engine revs to 10,000 rpm.
I will end this post with Bisimoto Engineering Porsche at the NGK booth. The Bisimoto name was seen on more than one car at SEMA. The cutting of the rear bumper has become increasingly popular in this case, it makes sense as to why this was done.