The Concours Club

Street Racing Illustrated | The Concours Club

Opalocka is now home to South Florida’s premier Auto-club?

Story | Phillip Pratt

The Concours Club

The Concours Club

I humbly introduce to you, The Concours Club. Home of South Florida’s luxury, private, driving experience. Nestled next to Opa Locka Executive Airport and equip with over 2-miles of rubber melting, smooth pavement, it’s the local speed track of our dreams… but with a $125,000 membership fee (not including annual dues), 99.9% of us probably can’t even begin to entertain the idea of utilizing its many services and perks.

 

“The amenities are what set us apart” – Neil Gehani, Co-Founder; Bloomberg.com

 

The Concours Club

The Concours Club

The project is a $220 million dollar endeavor and obviously aimed at catering to an affluent crowd. Designed by Alan Wilson, it is set to open in May of 2019. Amenities, outside of the mouth-watering driving course, will include; a restaurant/bar, spa, infinity pool, jacuzzi and… whatever a hammam is. Members will also be able to store their toys on site The developers plan to roll out 40-founding memberships for $350,000, unlike the $125k one, will exclude the yearly annual fee. Chances are if someone isn’t already some kind of super and hyper-car connoisseur, or makes a habit of collecting GTRs, The Concours Club is going to be little more than a dream for most. What a sweet dream it will be.

 

The Concours Club

The Concours Club

Pagani Zonda R in Miami Condo

Street Racing Illustrated | Pagani Zonda R as a room divider

There is a Zond R in a condo.

Story | Phillip Pratt

 

The Pagani Zonda R in Pablo Perez Companc’s Miami Condo Instagram page: @pperezc

 

Yeah, someone installed a Pagani Zonda R into their 8-million dollar, 4200 sq-ft, Miami condo and that someone is Pablo Perez Companc (pperezc). This isn’t a home and garden page so we won’t go much further than that, but we will admit putting up the Zonda R is quite the statement piece. Probably because only 15 of these beasts were ever made, so putting one up on a wall is really saying… something. To be clear, the car isn’t actually “up on a wall”. It took some truly ingenious engineering not to just get it up into the ocean-front property (they used a crane) but to then safely and securely fit it into place; that is hovering between the ceiling and floor smack dab into the middle of the open concept dividing it into two workable spaces (sorry, too much HGTV…). While on the concrete these things are blessed with 740HP, 6.0L V12, Mercedes-Benz CLK GTR engines. While in Mr. Companc’s living room, it’s dropping jaws and confusing people. Beats my vinyl Ryu Pop! figure.

 

The Pagani Zonda R in Pablo Perez Companc's Miami Condo Instagram page: @pperezc

The Pagani Zonda R in Pablo Perez Companc’s Miami Condo Instagram page: @pperezc

McLaren 720S

Street Racing Illustrated | McLaren 720S totaled 24-hours after Purchase

$300,000 1-day old, McLaren 720S collides with tree en route to Katie’s Cars and Coffee in Great Falls Virginia.

Story | Phillip Pratt

 

Wrecked McLaren 720S

PHOTO COURTESY OF FAIRFAX COUNTY POLICE

 

Cars and Coffee isn’t just a South Florida thing, it’s a worldwide event that happens pretty much in every large metropolitan area. The concept is simple enough; wake up early, wash your car and drive to the location and park it. Last Saturday a resident of Northern Virginia was doing just that with his freshly purchased, 24-hour aged $300,000 McLaren 720S. That is before he smashed it into a tree in Great Falls. Presumably, on his way to the well known Katie’s Cars and Coffee event that was close-by, the driver lost control of the exotic sports car, for reasons as the Fairfax County Police Department described simply as “speed”. Fortunately, the driver escaped the wreck and was taken to the hospital with “non-life threatening injuries”, as reported by the Fairfax PD. Check out the gallery below to see what it this thing tragically looked like prior to meeting its destiny with the Oak.

 

Wrecked McLaren 720S

PHOTO COURTESY OF FAIRFAX COUNTY POLICE

 

Mighty Car Mods | Marty and Moog breaking down the S30's journey

Street Racing Illustrated | Mighty Car Mods’ RB26-powered S30

The guys at Mighty Car Mods get ready to transplant the heart of a beast into a legend.

Story | Phillip Pratt

 

Mighty Car Mods | The MCM S30

Photo courtesy of Mighty Car Mods

 

With well over 2.6 million YouTube subscribers, you’re probably aware by now that the guys, Marty and Moog, over at Mighty Car Mods recently got their hands on a beautiful Nissan S30 (or Datsun 240z… or Nissan Fairlady Z, whatever you like best). After purchasing it online, they flew to Japan to check it out, whip it around on a track and ship it back home to Australia. I think there are a lot of folks out there that would have been fine to leave it in its original gorgeous form, but like many great things in life, there was a catch. The original motor that rested within the Fairlady held components that weren’t allowed in the country due to some of the materials they were constructed of, mainly asbestos. Trying to get it in the country legally would have, in their words, potentially costed ‘tens of thousands of dollars’. That doesn’t sound like much fun, at all. Not letting little things like importing regulations stop them, they stayed true to their names and decided to swap in another power plant. Namely, an RB26 sourced from the S30’s relative, the almighty GT-R.

 

Mighty Car Mods | Putting the car through its paces in Japan

Photo courtesy of Mighty Car Mods

 

The original engine that was removed from the S30 was a 1,998 cc, inline 6-cylinder, single overhead cam, and sported a casted-iron block with a 12-valve, alloy head. It was good for about 143 HP or 107 kW of power. Not bad for the engine size in its day. However, the guys will be bumping up the power, as we all know the RB26 out of the GT-R was substantially more powerful. Like the L20 that this S30 formerly owned, the RB26 is an inline 6-cylinder engine. But outside of also having an iron block, that’s about where the similarities end.

 

Mighty Car Mods | The first of several test fits for the RB26 transplant

Photo courtesy of Mighty Car Mods

 

The RB26 is a 24-valve, dual overhead cam, twin-turbo heart of a legend. It pumped out about 276 HP (206 kW) from the factory but it’s been known to do a whole lot more than that once modified, even if just turning up the boost on the stock set-up.

 

Mighty Car Mods | The RB26 that will power the MCM S30

Photo courtesy of Mighty Car Mods

 

If you’re not indeed caught up with the guy’s current endeavor, you’ll be happy to know that there is not one, but two episodes up on their channel at the writing of this article. So go carve out a nice 40-minute chunk of time from your busy day and enjoy!

 

Mighty Car Mods | Test fitting a plenum from Hypetune on the RB with Turbo Yoda

Photo courtesy of Mighty Car Mods