Derracudas zermatt 20vt,6spd, 351awhp - July 4th drive vid

[audifreakjim]

Derek, it was great seeing you guys!

[quattro87]

:stupid:

Not only was it nice to see and meet you guys, but I enjoyed seeing your cars. I knew your car was going to be nice and it didn't disappoint. This car of Derek's really runs and runs well. It not only is fast, but well executed in the mods, solid, and really a very quiet ride as long as the no muffler exhaust isn't loaded up with 25psi of boost. Oh and most of all I appreciated the help on my car at 2am in the morning. I know you had to be tired.

[WRC]

Derek,

Nice work dude. I'm sure it was a lot of work to get this car going with a young family and then having food poisoning on top of that... Well done.

:woowoo:

[tbar]

Very cool post, Derek! Nicely documented!! This trip was an absolute blast! How could it not be, I got to follow the guy who's car basically got me into Audi's. :wink:

You guys can see how well put together D's car is is from the pics, but I got to hear it too. It sounds so sweet, extra good at a buck twenty!!!

Good times!

[derracuda]

Jim - It was good seeing you once again, and thank you for staying awake long enough to give me a ride in your car, it's unbelievable what you've put together there. Good work

John - You are welcome! I really do feel bad that I didn't press to get that trans back out before we left. I knew the feelings you had and it would've been nice to have an extra few hands to tear it partially back apart to see what's going on. Now you're still left wondering what's up. Not the end of the world, but I do know situation as I've been there.

Todd - We went a buck twenty? I was sure we never went above the speed limit. It just sounds faster doing the speedlimit in the top of second gear, right ?

Phil - Do it!

Wiley - Move back to the good coast so you can join us!

My goal for next year is to have the most swap completed cars attend could be up to 4 I have some good ones up my sleeve!

[speeding-g60]

good story...

i recall the food poisoning night pretty well. either dropping off or picking up stuff from Darnells (Christine) Derek had ZERO TIME TO SPARE TALKING. he had to go (literally) and did not want to dilly-dally.... he looked semi-ghostly. whiter than his already fair skinned complexion if that is possible.

and even only at 215 awhp the car ripped. i dont know if i want my next ride @ 350's. thats almost 70% gain, and backroads here are his playground.

[derracuda]

BBQ - Part Duex

So as we ripped up I5 late into the night, we came upon a little town called Lost Hills, and figured we'd find a place to crash for the night. Both motels we checked in with were full, the second one right after we just barely missed the room from the lady who checked the last hotel just before us she felt the need to take BOTH rooms that were available at the second place. So we continued on the shortcut to hwy99 via 46, and came into a small town which had another decent looking hotel, but we were too cheap to split that one, so across the street we go it seemed alright. The latino in the A-shirt leaning on his lincoln town car greeted me politely anywho. I was just hoping he wasn't sizing us up for his trunk.

It was hot, and the room wasn't much help, but it did have a small air conditioner, so on it went and off to sleep we all went. I woke up around 7ish? and wondered when we were going to land. It was cold and noisy in our room and felt like I was on a transatlantic flight. Great, we all woke up alive! We decided that taking turns showering from the previous days sweatfest was a good idea. As I took my belongings back out to the car, I look down the veranda and see this...


Soldiers, buddies, survivors. Our trusty steeds ready for another days flogging in the heat. Then I also noticed this...


It was a good thing none of us decided to go for a late night swim Though I kinda wish one of use would have put the air mattress down and laid out with a drink sitting on the dirt

Ok, enough of the hotel bidness, back to the road. We continued on down towards Bakersfield, got on 58 and headed toward the Tehachapi mountain pass.


There's all kindsa weird stuff to look at, factories, wind farms, red 200's





I must say the Mojave wasn't hot like I thought it might be, but quite nice. Better than Bakersfield at 9am. It's also beautiful there. Blue skies and a few white clouds to dot it's blank canvas.



Then we started to decend into Baker,CA. The heat hit us like big jerk with no mercy. 105F.



It slowly got better as we dropped into Vegas, but was still hot. Later that night Jim sent me a text going through the same area asking who left the heat on... and it was almost dark when he went through! wuss!


Enter, Las vegas. I've never been here. It's an odd sight, no lead up, just all of a sudden you are in the middle of a freak show.


None of us had smart phones or NAV units, so we rocked it old skool and hoped for the best. The best meant with me leading, I had to be responsible for making directional calls, and turning off I15 onto Washington st, and then MLK, and it seemed every turn I took to get us to say, a restaurant where perhaps safety might await us, looked bleaker by the minute. I'm really not racist, though I sometimes find those jokes humorous for humors sake (come on, fat people jokes are pretty much racist anyway, we should all lighten up a tad and be able to take one for our respective color teams 8) ), but we passed some neighborhoods that didn't make any of us three white doods feel very safe. Large shiny cars with very big wheels, large groups of semi suspicious looking, gang dressed youngins all tatted up and eye'in what we doin' in their part of town, just all hanging around..... The last thing we needed was to get carjacked for looking lost, ha! So we hightailed it out of there and I got John Iroz on the phone to get directions to his place. He confirmed our thoughts about it not being a reputable neighborhood

We arrived at John's place about 3:30ish I think, exchanged pleasantries and had a few other guys show up with their Audis. It was funny to see them stop and ask if they were at John's place... given all the Audi's out front



We went over to the hotel around 6:30 to see who else was showing up and get some dinner. We met Sean (quattrov1.0) and Sean (foxbat) who are very gracious event coordinators, and then we hit the Buffet! Luckily it was "Oktoberfest" special and they had red cabbage, sourbraten, and TONS of other delicious food. I was a bit hesitant thinking about my recent food poisoning episode, but it all smelled so good 8) After our first round Jim showed up and joined us, we had a nice time of catching up in person and I really think that element is missed with the Forum. It's fortunate that we can all be connected via this forum, but I think we also miss out on a lot being so far away. I guess that'll make the gatherings that much more special! It makes me wish I could have been into Audis back in the day and be there at the races and in the pits while such amazing things were being accomplished in motorsports.

After dinner we went back over to John's place, and figured out what things needed to be done to wrap up his car, Jim helped out on the computer end while I put the front end back together. It seems all the old rusty hardware needed replacing and lucky for the car, John has a 200 parts car out back with plenty of hardware needing a new home. On with my trusty Laser LED headlight and some hand tools, I plucked enough decent screws and bits to put his front valance back on with *almost* all the screw holes filled we called it quits just before 3am, and of course had a good time talking.

Wake up time is just before 8am, Jims showering habits could be heard through my door and woke me up in time to get up and get showered after he was done, and then head back out to the garage to find Hank welding on the exhaust. My assignment was a crank case breather so as not to slosh oil on that pretty engine bay! I didn't take pics, but McGuyver would've been proud Once all that was in place and John teetered the car back onto the ground...




I snagged a couple pics of the vomit comet, and those flares are something else! Awesome work Jim 8)





Once we all were let down with John's car not being mobile, we headed over to the Shelby Museum to see what was goin on over there. Quite a few rides showed up!


Seans car is uber nice


and so is Seans car


One of the guys who showed up with an UR and a 2.7TT had a coolant leak and Jeff took one for the team and fixed it in the heat. I went and snagged some pics of some Cobras and listen to a guy who really has no idea what he's talking about give people a "tour" of some of the Shelby cars.



After the museum we all fueled up and got ready to tackle the mountain. For those who didn't attend, you shoulda seen everyone geeking out and taking pics of our group... I'm so glad I didn't stoop to that level





Darin

The lineup before we headed 5k feet up the mountain


Third installment to come later, I have no more time for tonight!

[PRA4WX]

Thanks for sharing/documenting. It's good to hear from you on here, Derek!

[Audilard]

I'm liking that picture of me driving my car!

[WRC]

Wiley - Move back to the good coast so you can join us!

My goal for next year is to have the most swap completed cars attend could be up to 4 I have some good ones up my sleeve!

Man, I'd love to but it doesn't look to be in the cards.

Looks like a great time.

PS - 944 handles, I've been eyeing doing just that but never had my hands on any. Any ideas/plans for the rear? How much trouble were the front doors?

[BarTender]

Thanks for sharing the pics and great write up Derek ! nothing better than great friends, and good cars !

[quattro87]

Thanks for sharing/documenting. It's good to hear from you on hear, Derek!

:stupid: Haven't heard much from Derek since he got married. Does my heart good to see he has his priorities in pretty decent order. 8)

[autoholic]

Damn, sounds like a fun trip. Your 4k is rockin, have always loved that thing. Nice 200 too...

[speeding-g60]

Thanks for sharing/documenting. It's good to hear from you on hear, Derek!

:stupid: Haven't heard much from Derek since he got married. Does my heart good to see he has his priorities in pretty decent order. 8)

yeah, John. in the 2010-2011 years he did it all. Married, child, house, shop, new business.

he has been a very busy guy. i see him quite frequently as we are only 5-6 minutes away now....

[EDIGREG]

nice writeup! Looks like a great time

and the car is looking sweet !

[40v4kq]

Part 3 better include some video

[derracuda]

Part 3 better include some video

Unfortunately I have no gopro footage... in my sick and tired mind I forgot that you said there wasn't an SD card in the camera... and didn't think to check it :( so the only footage I have aside from the dyno with my carmera is one of the lineup on the friday night and then an accidental video where I forgot the setting on video, instead of picture


Link to video

Link to video


these videos will have to do until I can finish the rest of the trip experience 8)

[40v4kq]

That willl do. :thanks:

[Audilard]

Driving down an "on ramp" behind Derek's car is music to the ears. Espcially at WOT!! The sound in the video doesn't do it justice AT ALL!!

[ralleyquattro]

The pics from previous page are spectacular, looks like a trip of a lifetime.
Wish I could have been there!
Thanks for sharing

Cheers

[derracuda]

Lets see, where did I leave off....

Ahh, right, the mountain. Everyone got lined up on the gravel, most everyone was out taking pictures or getting their video cameras put on and ready. Some of us even put on their cameras without SD cards and furthermore went to the trouble of "recording' video footage of ripping up the mountain :frustrated: It would have been nice if everyone could have taken off at the same time, but other lame, slow traffic kept coming off the main highway to do nothing but impede a large group of testosterone filled Audi nerds from going all out on the mountain. Perhaps it was for the best though as no one had any accidents. As we wound up and up, it started to rain and the temps dropped drastically, I almost felt as if I needed a jacket up there. There was two routes to go and the first way we went led us to a lodge where we got out, took more pics (I didn't though), and bathrooms were used before going to the other side of the mountain. We rounded up and headed out. back down a ways, then turned north and back up we went. up and up and up. It was a beautiful drive, one that I might have had video footage of if I wasn't a complete dunce :frustrated: . Once we got to the next destination, we all lined up for pictures and then ate lunch generously provided by Audi Henderson. Sandwiches, chips, and drinks (though I think the chips were brought by the Leader of the Iroz clan). Out again for a bunch of pics...



Sean has a mighty nice interior. If this is what the URQ's interior looked like brand new, man, sign me up (I seem to get in them when they look like old raisins)


some of the rest of the cars on down the line









After hanging out, chatting, and finding a steep incline with lots of loose rocks to travers part way down and take a leak (since I opted out of the bathroom stop at the lodge), everyone started to disperse to go down and do whatever they wanted to until the Banquet. I was chasing John in Seans wide fendered CQ, and Jim was chasing me as we wound back down teh mountain. This time we didn't have as many slow pokes hanging us up
quite the scene to look up and see the front of Jims car get BIG and then small and then BIG and then small in my rear view mirror


Once we got back to Johns place, I thought this was a cool shot of the rain clouds in the background


We gathered at the Alliante' Casino/Hotel at 7ish and had wonderful food to choose from. I had the Chicken Parmesan and then afterwards Cheese cake. I had an a great time just sitting and talking with folks that I don't normally get to, plus made a new connection with a guy named Rudy, who came in his S8 since his URQ wasn't quite ready for the trip. Stories abounded. It was great. Then came the raffle and awesome stuff was to be won. Ben hit the jackpot and came home with Koni struts. I was sure I'd have to bind and gag him for the ride home, but he practiced self control quite well . I really wanted to win one of the service uniforms, but alas, I was meant for a shirt, a decal, and coupons. It's ok, I didn't really go for prizes. My prize was driving my own car all that way and back home again, I couldn't ask for anything else. well, maybe a ride in Jims car..... Speaking of which, he was super tired, had to get up at 5am to head out to the track, and I was slated to give Todd a ride in my car after dinner (we left the banquet room maybe 11?), so he went back to Johns to go to bed, and as I'm walking out to go for a ride with Todd, Jim calls me and says "man, it's killing me, you've driven all this way and last time you didn't get a ride"... LOL. I felt so bad because I knew he was really tired, his eyelids were hanging pretty low after dinner .

I gave Todd a ride and when we got back, Jim was waiting in the parking lot. Since Jim, Todd, Ben, and myself were staying at the Irozio (my spin on the Bellagio since I don't think I would have had it any better anywhere else in Vegas), I told Todd, "um, you want to take my car back ?" He's like "really", and I said " just don't wad it up or I'll be forced to kill you". I jumped in Jims car, we promptly broke any speedlimits and had some good laughs. That car is fast. Not just "wow my dads 350chevy has an RV cam in it and will smoke the tires in 2nd" fast, it's "holy cow, we're going how fast?" fast. I've ridden in Javads car with the 40R, and that had a boost hit that would mush your brain into the back of your head while taking your breath away from compressing your chest in, and you do all you can to hold your bowels and bladder so as not to soil the seat. Jims car isn't like that. It comes on and propels you with quite a different feeling. So usable, so solid. It's very impressive and a wonder that it's done on pump gas. My sights might be set higher in the future Thank you Jim for that ride!

We got back to Johns and all crashed to sleep after midnight. A much needed night of sleep for me. The next morning after we all woke up, Jim was gone, no one knew where Darin was, and John made special pancakes for Ben, Todd, and myself (thanks John for the recipe!). Then out of nowhere, Darin comes walking across the room..... Still half asleep, looking like he was ready to sit down and watch cartoons for a few hours . turns out he didn't feel well and decided to bail on the track event. After breakfast Ben and I were ready to head out, and Todd was going to stay in Vegas for a "paper packaging convention", and head out monday. We said our goodbyes and thanked John and his wife for their hospitality, took a pic of the "Audi Ranch" for posterity's sake...


and hit the road... the open road of the State of Nevada. Wow is there a lot of it.

you're allowed to go 85 right?

and take pics out the side while going 85?


Thanks to Ben for this cool shot


We ran up hwy95 towards Tonopah and in the middle of nowhere, on a perfectly flat, straight section of road, came across this..



I don't mean to throw salt on an open wound, but how do you end up on your side out in the desert, off such a simple road? It also represented the largest gathering of police cars we saw in all of NV. Other than these, we saw maybe one other lawman out dealing with a customer.

Barreling onward to Tonopah




I'm really not a big desert kinda guy, but I just couldn't seem to get enough of the views. There's nothing to see, but you can see it all. Quite the conundrum. Then there's McDonalds


20 chicken McNuggets, 3 BBQ sauces, and a large fry later, back on the road to Reno




I didn't, but Ben probably got some pics of when we drove through a town called Hawthorne, and there is all kinds of military stuff there. Bunkers, playgrounds, Water training centers? stuff that makes you really curious....

Good bye Reno. I have family in Sparks and I've been through/to Reno enough times to not really care anymore.


Up and over Donner pass


and wound down I80 to the Sacramento area. We went to my Dads shop and he had the lift free so I could poke around under my car and just see how things looked... and I found this


I didn't take the time to double check the alignment guys work before we took off from Salem, but I'd wager that was loose for quite a while. A little scary TBH, but I'm glad nothing happened. I decided not to flip out and rant at the tech, but I am going to show him this pic and see what his reaction is. If nothing else, a reminder to really be sure that you double check your work, especially when other peoples safety is on the line.
Otherwise, everything else looked great. I did notice a bubble/kink in my alu. exhaust just aft the SS/alu. transition. It appears I had a bit of tension on the exhaust that sorted itself out with heat from sustained high speed driving . there appears to be no other issues with the exhaust and all the rest of my hardware seems tight and good to go. So we went out and grabbed chinese food for dinner, then headed back to Dans house for the night.

Monday morning we got up, loaded up and were ready for the last stretch. 580 miles back to salem (for me anyway, poor Ben had 300 more on top of that to get back to La Grand). We were both tired from all the driving and this section of road I know so well I didn't think much of taking pics. Just one of Lake Shasta


We got back into Salem about 7:30ish, loaded Bens goodies and bid goodbye. Like the adventure for me and the last Zermatt 4kq going across the USA, this is an adventure I'll never forget, and hope to make again in the future. There was a lot of thinking time while driving, and many of the places we drove I've been a few, or several times before since I was a young boy, and it reminded me of the things my dad used to do with me growing up. Going places to look at cars, hunting the next exciting car find, hurrying to get a deal on some special parts, going places that are rediculously far just for Ice cream or coffee. For all the car influence my dad had on me and everything he's facilitated to help me become who I am and my passion for cars. Not just Audis, but the automobile. Such an adventure wouldn't be possible in this time frame, and convenience without cars. Who'the thunk a 26 year old german sedan that was an old lady's daily driver, would be turned into this car, and make such a journey in the name of Love for a hobby, keeping alive the history that was made and the successes and excitement it brought to so many back in the day.

One day, I can't wait to have adventures like this with my son Gabriel. Cheers to everyone who made it, and to those who couldn't, try again next year, it's worth it 8)

[40v4kq]

Your dad told me about the loose nut on the tie rod end. Very scary stuff. If I were you i'd get my money back for that alignment

[quattro87]

Nice writup Derek. Im impressed. You pretty much hit it all. You know that once you passed that party of troopers out in the middle of nowhere, you probably could have jacked the 85mph up a few notches.......how many HP's can there be on duty?

One day, I can't wait to have adventures like this with my son Gabriel.

I have to admit, Hank and I enjoy these kind of things together. :-)

[seanriv]

Dont post much, but I loved reading through this! You are a great writer. Start a blog, Im sure a lot of us would always take something positive from it. I hope to attend this next year with my coupe and experience this.
-Sean

[derracuda]

Some 5cyl lovin'. 40v4kq and I went for a drive last night.


Link to video


There's more, but it needs editing