Goodbye Robi

Robert Fuller was an artist and a genius.  He was also really good at setting up cars.  It’s been several weeks since he has left us and I am just able to write this now.  Robert or Robi as we all knew him had a gift for being able to see complex things and sort them out in his mind. He was not an engineer but perhaps not being constrained by things like math or formulas made him more creative and able to come up with out of the box solutions for things like making sometimes odd cars behave correctly on the track.

Besides being an artist he was also my friend.  Even though we were both suspension guys, you could not find two people who took as opposite approaches to finding solutions to problems.  He would have unconstrained thinking, coming up with ideas that I often through were strange and I was more by the book and conservative, sticking to answers I could find using stuff like math.  We were usually rivals working for different teams but we were both always willing to help each other. We spent a lot of time talking on the phone or side baring on the side of some pit garage exchanging thoughts. It was funny that more often than not, we would arrive at the same conclusions and solutions with our vastly different approach toward problem-solving.

Robi as I remember him mostly!

Robi was also very generous with his time.  He could be at the track dirty and sweaty from working on several customer cars at once but if you needed him, he would come to help in a flash, bringing tools and spare parts if needed. He would often work himself into a state of exhaustion. I remember finding him passed out under a car, next to a pit wall or in a track garage. One time he slept so soundly I thought he was dead as he hadn’t moved in over an hour and he didn’t appear to be breathing.  No one wanted to touch him but I finally shook him to make sure he was still alive.  He was.

The Famous Robispec Evo VIII.  In this car, Robi had the most success as a driver and a tuner.

Robi was also a good driver and could be a very effective driving coach.  He was also a winner behind the wheel of his Evo, RX-7, 370Z or FR-S.   I had the honor of racing him wheel to wheel in the MotoIQ MPTCC class.

The Robispec 370Z was perhaps the first track going 370Z’s out there.

The last car that Robi was known for was the Robispec FR-S.

Robi had a successful suspension business know as Robispec. He had a full line of parts for the family of Evo’s and my personal Evo has a few of his suspension parts in it.  Recently Robi had not been too active in the tuning world and was working as a driving coach at the Los Angles Porsche Experience Center.

Goodbye, Robi, I will always remember you and miss you!

9 comments

  1. I knew him because of the FT86 Community. I purchased from him his Robispec Dual Radiator for my FRS and I was able to speak with him a few times.
    Awesome guy, RIP Robi

  2. I always wanted to have Robispec supension setup on my Evo back in the day. But was not able to make it happen.
    What was the cause of death?

  3. Such a SoCal institution at the track. I remember running a Mustang in Redline at Fontana, was trying how to figure out how to stay ahead of Verena May in her Turbo 350Z (Billy Johnson was coaching her), he suggested a 1/2 turn of the rear adjustable trailing arm on the right side (changing the right side wheelbase slightly) 3/10s of a second. It also made the infield kink really hairy. I told him, he responded did you have to lift? I said no, he said “then thats irrelevant”. Have a pic in my office of him and I chatting at Miller Motorsports Park.

  4. This crazy old man got me to drive to middle of nowhere to set up my Evo for magazine shoots and to teach it tricks way above my pay grade…

    Rest In Paradise buddy! 🤙

  5. One could only hope that, when they pass, that they are remembered as being a good person. RIP Robi

  6. I met Robi back in 2005 soon after I bought my first Evo, a new 2005 Evo 8. He got me hooked on modifications with a suspension and exhaust package, and there was no turning back from there. 7 years later after many Evo 8 re-alignments and a 2-3 year gap since the last time I saw him, I arrived at Streets of Willow in my new basically stock Evo X SE for my second ever track day. By chance Robi had been assigned as my instructor.

    I remember him yelling at me to unwind the steering wheel and use all of the track on corner exit out of the fishbowl, “Release! Release! Release!” I yelled back “I dont know what you mean!” , Robi: “let the wheel unwind!”, Me: “Then just say that!” I month later I brought him my new Evo X to install his KW Clubsports , followed by a set of his trademark Enkei NT03+Ms with Robispec lug nuts.

    Robi was such a character, he loved to talk about controversial topics. I miss him. I was hoping to see him again at the track with my new ZL1 1LE. I was very sad when I heard the news.

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