Pedal faster!

(before)

(after)

The stock pedals were an embarrassment and I replaced them with pedals of a competition nature, lightweight, drilled aluminum, etc. 

These custom pedals come in two flavors: with or without rubber blivits in the holes in the pedals. I, being a minimalist, chose the without blivits option. Naturally I have been regretting my choice for the last two years of ownership. Everywhere I see high performance pedals they always have blivits. 

So I have been finally moved to order the blivits as a Christmas gift to myself. And today, in the fullness of time, I have achieved pedal Nirvana, with blivits. And all is right with the world...

The pedals were custom made by:

Ultimate Pedals

990 Stinson Way #205

West Palm Beach, FL 33411

561-798-6588

http://www.ultimatepedals.com/

Audi RS5!

I got a call last night saying that there is an RS5 in blue sitting at the dealership unclaimed and available for sale.

Tempting!

But I decided to stay with my S5 because I have better brakes (Brembo), and better looking brakes, and it would be a hassle to switch them over to the new RS5.  There's not *that* much difference between my car and the RS5, except the extra few horsepower, the pushbutton start, and a handful of other minor differences that I can live without.  And, the blue is a bit bright for my preferences right now.

It's really just another shiny object, a toy, a distraction...

Consider the wise words of  Henry David Thoreau:  A man is rich in proportion to the number of things he can afford to let alone.  

Road trip!

Del Mar to Santa Barbara to 

Ragged Point (Big Sur) to 

Half Moon Bay 

along the awesome Pacific Coast Highway, CA route 1.

Spec-freakin-tacular!

New Logo for door

An updated logo has been developed using the collaborative efforts of 99designs.com and is being used on Double M Systems branded websites.  We expect to update the Audi S5 driver's door to reflect this change.

Photos by David Newhardt

all photos in this post are copyright 2011 by David Newhardt

David Newhardt is a good friend, and quite probably the best automotive photographer in the world.

He has more than 60 auto photo products listed on Amazon.com where he is either the sole author/photographer or a significant contributor with photo and/or text.  He's a great automotive writer too.

Lately he has branched out into TV appearances and even cameos in major motion pictures  (Ironman 2, for example).

Recently, Dave drove down from Pasadena for a visit, and to take some shots of my continuously improving Audi.

Here are a few of my favorite shots from that session.

Thank you, big time, Dave!

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This last photo, above, is a bonus shot by Dave Newhardt, of another car I used to own, way back when...  It is 1 of only 3 hand-built bodies for a 1959 Corvette, built by Scaglietti (Ferrari body builder).

The photo was taken while on display on Rodeo Drive in LA during the recent Father's Day car show.

The car is now in the Petersen museum in Los Angeles.

Read this neat story of the Scaglietti Corvette!

Brembo!

Yesterday was a big day for the Audi and me.  

We got Brembo brakes installed, front and rear!  

Wow!!

If you're going fast,

you need to be able to stop fast.

Calipers up front have 6 pistons, 

calipers in the rear have four pistons. 

Drilled, oversized rotors.

Brembo has lots of reasons why

their brakes are the best.

And most racing teams agree.

Ferrari too, of course.

Why would I drive with anything less?


Installation by Michael Kim at PURE Motorsport.

AWE cat-back exhaust sounds for Audi S5

Click Here

to download a sound clip 

of the new AWE exhaust system 

for my Audi S5

It was recorded on my iPhone,

and the recording is a bit weak, 

so turn your speakers UP!

Wheel spacers

Along with the exhaust system improvements, I took advantage of the pit stop by getting the wheel spacers added (20mm rear, 5mm front).  Just barely noticeable, but the overall sense of purpose of the car has improved.

Upgraded exhaust: AWE Tuning cat back

After two months of waiting for AWE Tuning to ship what surely must be one of their first of the new touring class exhaust systems for the S5 Audi... it finally arrived.

Totally worth the wait.  It's like a whole new driving experience, a whole new machine.

I selected the black chrome tips.  I'm thinking the tips could (should) be longer.
I'll post some sound files here soon.

All work done by Michael Kim at PURE Motorsport, San Diego.

Never enough horsepower!

Today I splurged for the APR upgrade to the control chip.  It's a minimal increase in horsepower and torque, as shown by the graph above, but what the heck, right?  You never have enough (or too much) horsepower.  The work was done by PURE Motorsport.

While I was there, I also ordered some wheel spacers and a slightly more aggressive exhaust system.  There's probably not a lot more I can do to this S5 while I'm waiting for the Audi RS5 to come to the USA sometime later this year...