935 Motorsports is kicking off 2010 by giving away a free set of brake pads.

All you need to do to enter is click the link below, and post your car’s year/make/model in the forum thread.

935 Motorsports January Giveaway

The San Diego Grand Challenge is back for 2010, and registration is now open.

In case you haven’t been paying close attention to the SDGC website (shame on you), here’s a quick breakdown of the major changes for 2010.

The budget cap is now $2000. You might think this is significantly more than what was allowed for 2009, but with the removal of the sponsored-gear-is-half-price and reclaiming rules, the overall amount spent on each 2010 challenge vehicle will work out to about the same as 2009. It also makes things a lot easier on staff members tasked with assessing each team’s budget.

The event schedule is going to be a little beefier for 2010 as well. In addition to the concourse, three autocross slaloms, and three drag race events, there will be a couple new additions. One will be an online ’show’ in which the general public will choose winners based upon the teams’ build logs. Build logs should be photo-rich, and posted in the SDGC forum. Sorry, secrecy won’t score you any points this year.

Finally, the 2010 season will be starting a bit later in the year, most likely July. This means all competing teams have approximately eight months to prep their entry – plenty of time!

Full rules and details can be found at www.SDGrandChallenge.com

Mobil1 – The Grid, an international motorsports show featured on Speed Channel in the USA, has broadcast a feature on SDRev’s Grassroots Motorsports San Diego Grand Challenge!

Here’s the link to the full video

Enjoy, and congratulations to the 2009 Grand Challenge competitors!

More than sparkplugs!

SDRev would like to welcome our newest sponsor, Sparkplugs.com!

Offering more than just top of the line sparkplugs from NGK, Sparkplugs.com provides a wide variety of products and brands to accommodate performance oriented vehicles, or to just help you find top quality OEM replacement parts.

Next time you need something from NTK, NGK, Bosch, Denso, KYB, K&N, or Gates, browse over to Sparkplugs.com and check out what’s in store.

2009 Grassroots Motorsports San Diego Grand Challenge Season Champions Ian Allegoran, Erik Allegoran, and Matthew Bonnell

After a hard-fought 2009 season, teams Quadruple A Race Team (’89 BMW 325i) and Screaming Yellow Zonkers (’67 VW Bug) found themselves tied for the series points lead. As a result, the championship was decided in a bracket race showdown at the Barona Drags.

The tension and excitement was at an all-time high as the two cars lined up for their first dial-in pass in front of a large crowd. The lights marched down the trees, the engines roared…

…and Zonkers broke an axle. Yes, that’s right, the season finale ended with a BANG – the bang of a snapped rear axle. QART sped down the track, sealing the victory with their first and only run of the evening.

The Zonkers and QART teams were equally gracious in defeat and victory. In the pits, QART team members were spotted helping to push the Zonkers Bug onto the trailer.

Both teams established early on that they were among the teams to beat. As evidenced by their dominating performances in the Concours event, these teams fully embraced the series concept of investing sweat equity and backyard engineering. Both cars were visually stunning – and they could hustle around the track, too!

Congratulations to the series champions, as well as all of those who competed in the first ever $1000 budget racing series!

The REV Network (REVNET for you who love catchy names) was born of the disorganization that was present at Extreme Autofest, and the amazing brain of a wise Yogurt Lounge manager.

The general consensus among competitors was that the event just plain sucked, or at the very least, needed to have some very serious bugs worked out.

Many competitors noticed that the Lowrider Fest side was very well organized and presented during the course of the show. This is mostly due to the level of organization among members of the lowrider community. They took it upon themselves to organize a council made up of representatives from the larger teams and vendors within their community. This council meets with EAF staff members several times before each event to make sure that they’re fairly represented during the course of the show.

EAF expressed a desire to meet with a similar council made up of figureheads within the import/sport compact community. Unfortunately, they also believe that such organization is impossible, and see the community as inwardly hostile and preoccupied with squabbling.

The REV Network is an attempt to collect the more mature and prominent members of the community in order to do what the lowrider community did, and possibly more. It is comprised of several import/euro/show/racing team leaders and shop owners in San Diego, all who would love nothing more than for the only show in town to be a success.

REVNET will be communicating directly with EAF in the coming weeks to cover a long list of complaints which was generated at our first meeting last week.

REVNET will also be working with each other, and eventually, other event promoters to make sure that things stay popping in San Diego.

If you’re interested in joining, please contact any forum member sporting a REVNET badge.

Forum discussion here

Point standings as of 8/6/09

The first Grassroots Motorsports SD Grand Challenge is approaching a very tense end!

With a single point separating the top three teams, anyone could walk away with the gold.

Don’t miss the final SDGC weekend and $2009 West Coast challenge, August 21-23 to see how the series unfolds.

Discuss here

Piss off your neighbors with the talking one

Solar Eclipse is expanding it’s available products and services to include mobile audio and security.

With a current selection showcasing some of the best products by Viper, Pioneer, Kicker, and other industry leading brands, this is definitely worth a look.

The shop is also capable of producing show quality displays and enclosures for your new gear.

Check out SolarEclipseSD.com for more details, or contact Solar Eclipse on our forum.

Discussion and reviews here

Ramsin Engineering Subframe Connector

The first of many innovations to come from SD local manufacturer, Ramsin Engineering, is now for sale at Heavy Hitter Performance.

The Ramsin Engineering rear subframe connector utilizes a one-piece design for superior rigidity and ease of installation.  No more brackets holding up brackets holding up your cupholder holding up your connector.

The subframe connector is currently available for the Honda EK chassis, with an EG compatible model coming soon.

Reviews and discussion here

Team Shopow @ EAF 2009

Extreme Autofest 2009 is in the books. The ninth annual incarnation of the event was held at San Diego’s Qualcomm Stadium, in conjunction with Lowrider Fest. The cars showing were among the best San Diego, as well as LA, had to offer up for public consumption. Of course no EAF would be complete without the usual bevy of hot bodies, as well as crowd favorite/drool magnet, Misa Campo.

Although spectators had little to complain about, the event brought a certain sense of dissatisfaction to the competitors. The award ceremony was beset by moans and groans as disarray in the event became apparent. By the time the dust settled and the July heat began to break, many competitors in the import/sport compact and euro categories had vocalized their displeasure with the event.

Forum member SouthpawE46 remarked, “We, as well as RARE JDM, EuroProjectz, and EvoluSCION got put on the OTHER side of Lowriderfest. So if people came to see Extreme Autofest, they wouldn’t even go into lowrider fest, so they didn’t see our cars”.

Dino (g0tsh0p0w619) of the highly regarded Team Shopow added “I felt the lowlow side was more organized and well planned out. Categories should be more specific… as long the minimal quantity of cars was fulfilled to open one.”

So what’s the final verdict on Extreme Autofest 2009? A good day for attendees, but less so for competitors.

However, this cloud does come with a silver lining. EAF staff members have begun to acknowledge the negative feedback from event participants, and are willing to work with them to ensure that the event’s 10th anniversary leaves everyone happy. Members of the organizing body would like to discuss EAF 2010 with participants in past events in a formal sit-down, at a time and place to be announced.

Until then, keep an eye on the front page for an official announcement, and enjoy some pretty pictures from Extreme Autofest 2009 in our gallery.