The Next G8
 

Well the reviews on the new Impala SS are in & they are glowing to say the least, but its still a variant of the last holden & styling isn't great even with a 5 year absent it doesn't look quite as good as a 09 GXP. I heard GM is halting production of the holden in 2017 bad news for the Aussies, & the new SS costs between 40 & 46K with limited production. They may do a manual before its done & maybe just maybe a 2 door.

It's not an "Impala SS", it's just an "SS". Yes it's a quote-unquote a spiritual successor to that car from the early 90's but it has nothing to do with the current Impala at all. The Impala SS was based on the same car as the regular Impala of the time, just hopped up on performance and looks. Holden is done in 2017 but the new VF platform is supposedly done either next year (2015) or the year after so the SS will be even shorter than that. Supposedly they are targeting 2k or so SS' imported a year so looks like 4-6k max depending on sales. I'm not sure where you are getting this info but GM has clearly stated recently there will not be a manual transmission option nor any two door variants. The two door variant is the current Camaro. Why would they make a two door SS? It's the same platform.

The importing thing is based on a promise GM made to Holden that they would export X,xxx number of cars to other countries to guarantee enough sales to sustain development of the VF platform for Holden. That's why Europe gets the Vauxhall version of the car, etc. Sadly, the SS will probably be one of the last big displacement RWD V8 sedans likely to ever be sold in the US. Sure we'll have small displacement turbo cars but it's not going to be the same, especially with auto and dual clutch only cars. I love a good dual clutch transmission but I prefer the driver involvement of 3 pedals, one of the biggest reason I wanted one of these cars!

My father ordered me an dash plaque from Third Shift Studios as a Christmas gift. It was finally delivered today in the mail. Here's some pics, came out pretty nice I think!

http://jpmcgphotography.smugmug.com/...MG_5458-XL.jpg

Before (above the air vents)
http://jpmcgphotography.smugmug.com/...MG_5461-XL.jpg

Installed
http://jpmcgphotography.smugmug.com/...MG_5462-XL.jpg

After!
http://jpmcgphotography.smugmug.com/...MG_5465-XL.jpg

When I first saw it, I thought it was a second screen that was showing it's boot image prior to showing other things like gauges. Nice clean, stock looking install. :tup:

I like it, I'll try to get some more "natural light" pictures of it at some point. Unfortunately, like interior lighting, it's hard to capture it in camera the way it looks in person.

Finally got a tag for my car on Friday. Long story but a lot of stuff got screwed up on the bank's side of things and had to get resolved, protracted by the holidays and vacation time people take towards the end of the year. Regardless, the car is now street legal and just in time. The driver I shoot for in Pirelli World Challenge, Brian Kleeman, flew down Friday night to hang out for the weekend. We took the car to an AutoX over in Clemson to finish off the OEM Bridgestone RE050's which were pretty much shot when I bought the car. We had a great time tossing the car around and I think we did pretty decent considering. Times have yet to be posted but I'll follow up on that along with a video (we had all three of my GoPro's going). Here's one and the album if you want to see any of the other shots:

http://jpmcgphotography.smugmug.com/...MG_5554-XL.jpg

Clemson Sports Car Club AutoX - 1/25/14 - JPMcG Photography

After the AutoX, we drove down to Z1 Motorsports in Georgia for a meeting about the upcoming year in Spec Z racing and hung out with our ATL friends the rest of the weekend. Capped it off by meeting up with some G8 owners in Duluth on my way back home last night (excuse the poor photo quality, Facebook upload here) :

https://scontent-a-atl.xx.fbcdn.net/...64029272_n.jpg

Nice car! the G8 GT and G8 GXP were relatively unknown in North America. Canada especially. I recently sold my G8 GT which was an absolute beast. 6.0L V8 with 361hp factory. I had the Rotofab intake, ARH LT's SOLO exhaust and VMS tune. That car could move for its size, and even regardless of its size.

Enjoy your GXP.

Thanks man! Most people seem to go with that combo (Rotofab, SOLO, tune). I'm gonna get a VCM over-the-radiator intake, Kooks headers and tune after I get it paid off.

On the wife's I put the Intune diablo sport tuner, Roto intake, Magnaflow non-res exhaust (cheap I know) but I have to split the mod money between the Z and G8. When the warranty is up i'll do the Kooks long tubes for sure.

GXP or GT?

Same GT in this pic.

ah ok, i'm getting old... i had forgotten lol

Here's the autox video!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c_BfDK_jQzs

Read below video for description of laps.

The SOLO axle backs sound amazing if your looking for something that will make your car have a nice DRONE FREE rumble and not break the bank. I might be wrong since I had the 6.0 V8 but I'm pretty sure you might need that tune done at the same time that you get the headers ...

The SOLO HFC's do not require a tune though and add almost as many ponies as the Headers.

Again Enjoy! One of my all time favorite cars!

Yup, that was the plan. Do the intake, headers and tune all at the same time.

After finishing off the OEM tires last weekend, I ordered a set of 255/35/19 Michelin Pilot Super Sports for my car and they arrived today. I got them installed after work, gave the car a quick bath (you know... 2.5 hours or so), and snapped a few pictures to show off the new shoes:

Weird reflection on the front fender by the headlight, not a mark on the car
http://jpmcgphotography.smugmug.com/...MG_6084-XL.jpg

As it should have been factory...
http://jpmcgphotography.smugmug.com/...MG_6086-XL.jpg

http://jpmcgphotography.smugmug.com/...MG_6089-XL.jpg

Rear view
http://jpmcgphotography.smugmug.com/...MG_6092-XL.jpg

Mileage: 17,1xx