SpeedLounge

This is your early warning, I don’t pull punches and I don’t blow smoke. I went to the SEMA show for the first time and I immediately started writing things down so I wouldn’t forget. For part 1 I’m going to just put up the notes I wrote down throughout the day as everyone and their mother has written about the show already. So here we go:

Early Afternoon

• I’m a huge fan of the new Civic Si sedan and the new JDM Civic Type-R. With that said, the Rays Seibon Civic with the Type-R front end is so hot. It’s my first time seeing it in person and it is more aggressive looking that a Si front end.
• There are a ton more muscle cars here than I expected to see.
• Subaru’s new WRX looks 10x better in person and 100x better with a set of rims on it. I’ve noticed this with the latest designs of bikes AND cars lately. I guess that’s just a product of evolution and me getting older.
• Surprisingly I’m seeing hotter women walking around than in the actual booths. We have only gone through about 1/4 to 1/3 of the show at this point but I’m not impressed.
• Wow Nick Hogan is here in the NOPI booth talking to Thalia and Tracy Nova.
• Ford’s new Focus doesn’t look too bad when it’s hooked up either. It’s definitely getting more styling cues from Ford’s european brands.
• People LOVE Carol Shelby which is evidenced by the extremely long line that is blocking multiple aisles.
• Ok, here we go! The NOS energy drink girls are pretty cute. (crossing fingers for more eye candy).
• Tokico’s Civic Si is really nice and very clean …….noticing a trend here.
• Alright, one of the hottest cars here, the Prototype Composites all carbon fiber Elise. All carbon, all fiyah!

Late Afternoon
at this point in the day, we finally made our way to the other half of the convention center

• Falken has the highest quality of models at the show so far; hands down!
• We just saw Loan & Norris at the Sony Xplod area; Loan is hot as usual and Norris is still a lucky bast*rd.

After the show

To end the day, a few of us decided to check out Honda’s Media & VIP Reception. We were tired but it was totally worth waiting around for. I got full on appetizers, enjoyed the open bar and listened to some hot tracks from DJ Aoki; it’s the little things that make me happy. Oh don’t let me forget to mention the jello shots, Steph Papadakis and more jamz.

In conclusion, after one day I have to say that the SEMA show, while cool, isn’t as big as the hype. It is really big but I’m kinda used to big trade shows and understand how overwhelming they can be. I was also surprised that the Tuner market appeared to be a smaller portion of the show then I originally had imagined. What seems to really make SEMA appears to be who you get to see and meet at the show and the after parties.