SEMA this year was more of the same. I noticed that while there were more new companies attempting to enter the performance parts market, there were less new wheel companies this year. For the last 5 years it seemed like wheel companies were growing on trees. Most of them were of course the fake/shitty/heavy cast wheel companies copying everything from the Work, SSR, and Volk brands. There aren't too many people as hard working and successful as James Chen (Axis Wheel) in the world so I think that some of the smaller crappy wheel companies have gone away. As for the performance parts market, there were probably another 10 companies attempting to make shit in China and grow the brand through marketing. A perfect example of this would be Megan Racing, OBX, and E-Motor.
There weren't any real breakthrough products I saw that were worth mentioning other than the Cosworth Nissan VQ35 intake plenum and new MX-5 Miata supercharger, but I'm obviously biased. There was definitely more Chinaman shit though. Note: I can use the word Chinaman because I'm Chinese. Why was there more Chinese shit? Simple: the market is starting to demand shitty products. All the cheap asses in the world do not understand that the more cheap Chinese shit you buy, the less products the real engineering companies are selling. This does NOT promote true engineering, research and development, or customer service. What the consumer ends up with is an exhaust manifold that cracks in 200 miles because it cost $199, a muffler that blows out it's packing because the entire cat-back exhaust cost $149, an intercooler pipe that breaks through because it was rubbing on another part, a turbo that breaks in 50 miles, etc. You get the picture. The whole concept of something for nothing is appealing to everybody, but it does NOT apply when it comes to high performance parts. Think carefully before you buy some cheap Chinese shit. Sure, some of the big Japanese companies are manufacturing in China, but you have to realize that they have much stricter quality control and the products are still engineered with R&D making the product still much more reliable.
Anyhow, there were also the usual SEMA parties. Any party is acceptable with enough alcohol, but in general, SEMA parties are dickfests. There just aren't many women in our side of the aftermarket parts industry. My buddy Jimmy took some pics at some of the parties. I'll post them tomorrow.
The Cosworth booth with all the new goodies before the show started.
Subaru brought out a real Impreza 22B. I dig this car. I drove one back in 2001 when Dave Coleman brought one by the old XS.
JR Von Gittin's drift Mustang complete with 4 valve engine, dry sump, individual throttles, and shower injectors. The guys at Hasselgren did the engine. The motor looks good.
Here's an old Cosworth V10 F1 piston circa 2003 I think. The piston rings are super thin – somewhere in the neighborhood of 0.5-0.6mm thick.
The piston is DLC coated and uses a piston guided rod. Obviously it's lighter than shit. Yes, your Cosworth pistons for your 4G63, EJ25, EJ20 or VQ35 is designed by the same engineers and are machined on the same machines.
A small block Chevy in a S14 240SX complete with distributor, a double pumper carburetor, pro street hood scoop, and diamond plate engine bay covers. I should have put this in my “wack shit” post because it definitely falls in that category.