[s-cars] SEMAhhhhhh...

[Frank Amoroso]

Yo!

Just returned from the SEMA show in Vegas baby.

Terribly fun and the usual suspects were on hand. Great show (better
than last year). Typical set up, tons and tons of wheel companies both
high end: BBS, OZ, Kinesis, HRE, etc., (dang it! <g>), as well as
bling-y, including tons of 26" wheel designs, plenty of elaborate
displays, loads of whores, I mean strippers, I mean product spokeswomen
(ohh the Pirelli girls! MA CHE FICA!!), plenty of good product out
there.

As an aside, caught the Blue Man Group on Thursday, and I was floored.
This show is the shite!! Had an utterly astounding meal at Zeffirino at
the Venetian yesterday evening. Senti, abiamo mangiato tanto, tanto
bene! Risotto di mare, filetto, etc.. It is soooo choice, I highly
recomend it, if you have the means. Also caught Cirque Mystere. It was
good, but no Blue Man.

Anyway, along to the show....

So what did I see of consequence? Plenty. Let's cut to the chase though,
what was the ne plus ultra of the show?

Enzo Ferrari

Sitting there at the Bridgestone booth (gotta give it for them) out in
all of her red on black carbon fiber glory. Fabulous, fabulous, looking
machine. Far more attractive in person (and prudence dictates that you
have to reserve your final opinion until you see a design in the
sheetmetal, or in this case, in the carbon fiber). It was parked next to
a F2002 F1 car.

Speaking of F1, there was an orange pearl effect McLAren F1 on a trailer
behind an orange pearl effect H2. Interstingly the neu Ford GT40 on
display was also orange. This beast looked goooood too (although I'd
change out the wheels myself). Plenty of modified Minis on hand, lotsa
Scoobys, tons-o 350zs. Not a great deal of Audi stuff, but there was
some really nice euro trash stuff: huge Brabus display (20+ cars), CEC
was out in force, with several neu A4s. Several AM Vanquishes (including
a black one that was the bad-ass of the day), including Bond's at the
Yokohama display. Tons of Murcielagos too (to die for in Anthracite).

There really was too much there to list here, but listen to these random
thoughts...

Pirelli booth. The P Zero Corsa looks like a very intriguing track tire
(almost as ggod as Michelin Pilot Sport CUP?). Picked up a copy of the
2002 PIrelli Calendar on CD, signed up for a shot at the '03 calendar.
The Playboy bunnies up front did thier job well, as did a group of about
seven Brazillian hotties who got friendly for photo ops.

H&R had a 500 bhp gemballa 911 cab on hand. They have also started
offering sway bars, and very trick camber adjuster for cars with
replaceable front struts.

Brembo, always one of my favorites, had added a few more neu Audi
applications, including neu S6 on the horizon.

BBS, only their forged wheels (that come out of Japan) will be offered
with the to dia for Diamond Black finish. Forged 18" RC, RG-R, RS-GT.
There are audi fitments.

TURBOS! Hundreds of 'em. Most of which would have made Hap blush.
Turbonetics, Innovative Turbo. Including a pair of wild turbocharged
unlimited dragsters thad had had turbo housings the size of a
basketball, with softball sized compressor wheels.

And everything else that you could imagine, from Aston to Z Car, euro
trash, to ricer, to muscle machines.

You can see more, as well as pictures, at Auroweek.com.

Peace,

Frank at s-cars.org