Underground Racing's 458 Italia

[JB]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V7Yvt5Tz-2c

One of Matt's best video's to date! Don't forget to turn up the volume

[Mr.Rauq]

What is this General Manager position you got going on?

Beautiful car, can't wait to see some track numbers...

[Clemsons2k]

Damn that thing gets DOWN.

Your video guy is fantastic. Keep up the good work up there

[HKYStormFront]

*goes to change underwear*

[JB]

(08-30-2011 12:43 PM)Mr.Rauq Wrote:  What is this General Manager position you got going on?

Beautiful car, can't wait to see some track numbers...

What about it? That is my job title...

I believe it ran low 11's on the stock tires, which are sticky but not sticky enough...

I would love to see this thing on a track with a competent driver

[straight four]

Lol I got married about 1 mile from where he does that burnout...

and I think he means wtf does that job title mean?

[JB]

I manage the two shops. Really I just do whatever the Howeth brothers (owners) want me to do. I do all the detailing, both in and out, inspections, shipping/receiving, manage over 400 inventory parts, drive engines and parts back and forth, make sure both shops are clean, make sure all cars stay clean while they are there, file paperwork, create and manage spreadsheets for each car's process through production...New things still happen but that is what I am mostly concerned about on a daily basis.

And that wasn't a burnout, it was a launch

[Clemsons2k]

(08-30-2011 07:45 PM)JB Wrote:  And that wasn't a burnout, it was a launch

This. No smoke, just PWN.

[Mr.Rauq]

Gotcha, I thought it was a bigger operation than that I guess, so I was trying to figure out just how much you were running. I don't doubt that it's a handful, but I was picturing mass production type stuff I guess.

How big is your operation in comparison to, say, Hennessey?

[JB]

(08-30-2011 09:43 PM)Mr.Rauq Wrote:  Gotcha, I thought it was a bigger operation than that I guess, so I was trying to figure out just how much you were running. I don't doubt that it's a handful, but I was picturing mass production type stuff I guess.

How big is your operation in comparison to, say, Hennessey?

Exotic tuning shops have a way of making their operations seem more professional than they actually are...

I have never been to Hennessey's shop but I can imagine it is similar. They probably have work orders for each car similar to us (difficult to keep track of progress without), however Henessey has focused more on the American car modification instead of the Lambo scene.

[93redfox]

except I wouldn't call Hennessy professional. Go read about his customers and how many times he's been sued. sketchy. I'd never send him anything. I'd think twice about buying a complete vehicle from him. Even if I was loaded enough to easily afford it.

[JB]

(08-31-2011 08:31 PM)93redfox Wrote:  except I wouldn't call Hennessy professional. Go read about his customers and how many times he's been sued. sketchy. I'd never send him anything. I'd think twice about buying a complete vehicle from him. Even if I was loaded enough to easily afford it.

Yeah I was being pretty nice with my description lol. I have spoken with several car transporters and have heard stories of Hennessey calling a truck to come pick up a car but when they got there the car was no-where close to being finished. Nothing like driving halfway across the country to pick up vaporware!

[humjaba]

When you work on cars that cost as much as UR, you can afford to hire top notch production guys, and in general have to run a much nicer show. Nobody with the coin to drop on a twin turbo Ferrari 458 is going to leave his baby in the hands of Joe Tuner with his tiny garage that has tools lying out everywhere and some high school kid turning the wrench. It's a whole other level of professionalism. The OEM-like quality of finish shows this as well, at least from what I've seen of UR's stuff.

[JB]

(08-31-2011 09:30 PM)humjaba Wrote:  When you work on cars that cost as much as UR, you can afford to hire top notch production guys, and in general have to run a much nicer show. Nobody with the coin to drop on a twin turbo Ferrari 458 is going to leave his baby in the hands of Joe Tuner with his tiny garage that has tools lying out everywhere and some high school kid turning the wrench. It's a whole other level of professionalism. The OEM-like quality of finish shows this as well, at least from what I've seen of UR's stuff.

Half of the techs are younger than me

Kevin and KC hold everyone to a very high standard, it brings the best worker out in everyone to be challenged. Sometimes they ask too much though.

They are very good at picking employees. The technicians, while not Lamborghini certified, still can pull a Gallardo engine, starting from when the car drives on the lift to when the engine was out of the car, in less than an hour and a half. And they were not rushing it. The fabricators produce extremely impressive pieces with just as impressive welds. All of the exhaust work and most of the rear lid/support is made or modified by hand. Sorry to go off but the work some of my co-workers do is just amazing.

[Mr.Rauq]

I've heard over and over about how Hennessey doesn't have its act together, how dropping your car off with them subjects it to the risk of becoming a parts car to get whoever was on the list before you out of the shop, horror stories like that. I'd still like to see the place for myself sometime, it's only like a half hour from home. I don't know if I just want it to be ok but to some extent can they really be that bad and still be open?


On another note, what kind of trans work do you guys do? Can a stock Ferrari or Lambo trans hold the kind of power the cars are making without a lot of effort?