| As a first time Z convention attendee, I have some advice for the people that have never gone; go next year! I've had a big grin on my face all week because it is such a blast. I never realized what I was missing. Before I get to the pictures, I have a few anecdotes/opinions/observations. First of all, Damon and Greg are two of the nicest people you could hope to meet. We all owe them a big 'thank you' for providing us with this forum. I'm a nobody on tt.net and they both took all the time in the world to talk to me and make me feel welcome at the convention. And Damon is a lucky man to have Mindi. My son was the only kid at the tt.net dinner and she went out of her way to make sure he left with a twinturbo.net t-shirt. She's as sweet as can be....although she conspired with my wife to *completely* drain my wallet. ;) Everyone I met at the convention was incredibly nice. I don't care what all of you say, SactoTodd is a nice guy. ;) Scott, Bernie, Spencer, LJ, Eric, Ashley, Dave, Todd, Ahmed, Nazeer, Steve, Nick, Wayne, Jay, Russell, Ash, and everyone I can't remember at the moment, it was a pleasure meeting you all. Greg about choked me when at the tt.net dinner I pointed out to him that the driver's side wheel has an "L" stamped on it and the passenger side wheel has an "R" stamped on it. :) I'm exhausted....but it's definitely worth it. I have to thank my instructor at MSR, Chris Holmes from New York. I thought he did a fantastic job instructing me and judging by the number of cars I passed, I thought right. :) Seriously, he was nice enough to let me ride shotgun in his car after my first session and it really does help being able to ride with someone in a car they are familiar with. He said I "have some talent" and that seriously helped my confidence level. If you're out of shape, driving a road course will make you feel like you've been through a full body workout. Ni[x]it can effing drive. I was on the course with him while my instructor was driving and it seemed like everyone just needed to hang their arm out he window to wave him by. Seriously, very impressive driving in the Skyline. The interior door latch on the Z32 should have been located above the window switches, not right where my knee needed to be to brace my body during the road course and autocross events. I have a nice bruise on the side of my leg. Mad Mike sure can talk. I'm very fortunate to have been at the right place at the right time before the autocross event. I had the priviledge of walking the course with Damon. He took the time to give me specific pointers and his help is one of the reasons I did as well as I did. I made sure to walk the course twice since this was my first time to autocross. Anyway, that brings me to the pictures. Here are my favorites: 
I can't thank Chris and Damon enough becuase this was my first autocross and these times are a direct result of the knowledge they passed to me in the limited time available. Here are the rest of the autocross pictures my wife took: 
This guy had the fastest autocross time of the day. His name is Darren. His wife Jill also ran a 74.something. They are from Oklahoma. Very nice people. 
Here are the pictures from the Motorsport Ranch. This was an amazing experience for me. 
This was frustrating. For 2 or 3 laps this driver would not wave me by and I guess their instructor wasn't paying attention either. 
Passing LJ: 
Closing in on a 350: 
Off the brakes, making the turn toward the apex: 
DaveN in the foreground, me in the background. Dave was driving really well. He was one of the people I did not pass: 
A few pictures of the oval lapping. I wish they would have gone faster, but people kept ruining it for everyone by not pacing the pace car. 
Trying to wipe the grin from my face after the autocross: 
My ugly mug: 
My son daydreaming: 
Just a couple of the car: 
Pictures at the hotel/parking garage: 
Pictures from the car show: 
Greg's amazing car. My first time to see it in person and it is stunning: 
CollegeBoy standing by his car: 
J/K Michael. Your car really is beautiful. That paint job is incredible.
This is one beautiful car. I can't remember the owner's name because I'm horrible with names but I know he drove in from California with SactoTodd: 
Scott's beautiful car: 
Michael's car from Oklahoma...very clean. 
Beautiful old 2000: 
The parking lot at Texas Stadium: 
Woody's gorgeous car. It really is a beautiful car: 
The view from the press box where we had lunch: 
My son at center field: 
3 kids on the field: 
3 babes on the field; my wife and 2 Ashleys. Scott is definitely no babe: :) 
My son kicking a field goal at Texas Stadium....not that I'm proud. :) Yes, he made it. 
On the way to the tt.net dinner: 
Nick getting schooled about exhaust systems: 
My car in the parking lot at the tt.net dinner: 
Chung(Dallas) acting like he's not looking at Russell's gorgeous wife: 
Greg and Damon's choice for the show 'n shine. Can you blame them? This is one beautiful, low mileage TT. 
WHEEL POLICE!!!! :) 
Babes gravitating to Spee. Some things never change I guess. 
Watching car chase scenes at the tt.net dinner: 
More misc pics: 
All of the other pictures I have can be seen here: http://www.texasturbos.com/z/zcon06/All/ If I have pictures of you and you want hi-res versions, just send me a e-mail with the file name and I'll either e-mail it you you or upload it.
Dustin
 "I've contributed alot of good tech help to this site that no one here could have figured out" - JuniorTT 02/15/06 |
My Zcon '06 post. - 
