WHY TRY?

Just got PCS orders to Cali, and wanted to know how's the car scene in that area?

K B Vettin

great, driving weather all year long and lots of tracks close by. there is a track event at Auto Club speedway in Fontana that myself and a couple of buddies are hitting up on 1/10/15. other than that there are usually 2 Vette meet ups and curies a month.

WHY TRY?

Nice!!!!! I was just about to do Heads this winter, but since I know there's E-85 in the area I might run that idk. I don't want to be limited if i PCS back to east coast where E-85 isn't available. What tuner do you recommened over there? What Vette club meet ups are you referring too?

K B Vettin

Tom VanVugt tunned my C6 ZR1 and it runs great. i have heads, cam, headers, pulleys, injectors, and intake. 721RWHP on 91 and 789WHP on race gas. He tunes out of Izzy performance in the LA area. Block or Orange and the Valley Vettes do runs every month. Block is usually the 3rd Sunday and Valley Vettes are 2nd Saturday. Hit me up when you get here.

WHY TRY?

sounds good, and will do.

Varmit

Care stuff just about every weekend year round. Summer time so much car stuff going on you cannot possibly make it all. For you cruzin Grand in Escondido in the summer is a great car git every Friday evening!!

whalepirot

Alive and kicking, despite Sacramento's attempts to kill the industry. Hopefully, the registration is outside and will stay such to avoid SMOG restrictions.

Nearly every Saturday morning, check out Cars N Coffee in Irvine at the I5/I405 and Donut Derelicts in Huntington Beach. Both happen early, like 5ish but the array is diverse and ever-changing.

If you peruse this section, you'll find many recurring events and local clubs' activities, like the recent Vettes for Veterans right near MC Pendleton.

Treadhead

Cbad (carlsbad) cars and coffee Saturday mornings from 7-9. Lots of Vettes, hell, lots of cars most weekends. Like others have said, here in North County, there's stuff going year round, most weekends.

As far as tuning, go see Ryne at Cunningham Motorsports.

strand rider

You might enjoy checking out the SoCalCarCulture web site to get a rough idea of what you are heading into. It's mostly hot rod stuff, there are many other avenues available, but it should give you something to think about.

Since you will be coming into a surf spot, I will give you the body surfing basics. Then you can hang at the beach with a cover story, you are not just there to look for women. PLus if you are the nature loving type, you are no longer an observer, you are in it, learning by direct experience, instead of observing nature and figuring the lessons learned in that way.

All you have to do is position yourself on the front side of a wave, and get you *** higher than you shoulders.

I just jump into a lot of waves, I try to avoid as much swimming as possible, as it takes too much energy. A stick could go it, and they often do. You don't need equipment, unless you want to swim around in big water, then you need fins for take off speed, and skills, so you don't die. I am not talking about that stuff, I am talking about fun at the beach, with something to do besides just sitting around waiting for your skin to fry. I once showed a seventeen year old girl from Detroit how to body surf, in less than twenty minutes, she was riding fine with a big smile. Skinny arms, non swimming, hair spay girl, not some soft ball playing chick.

The old name used to be body whopping, before board surfing became popular. I will let you find out why. THis pastime served me well in my travels, I have a lot of good memories from various places , but, unlike golf, no equipment needed and it is at the beach.

As an old guy, I don't get into physical stuff like I used to , but still can get my fun at full function , it not like some old guy soft ball, where running to first base is a big deal cause you are old As my skills increased, so did my acceptance and understanding increase. It can be football or zen on the same wave, you set the dial. IF you are good enough, the waves come to you, just don't ever put yourself into the position of needing help in the water without the ocean on your side. But this is well beyond my original greeting, and the intended scope of my invitation. Most never reach that level of interest to take it that far. I would suppose in your training you might have observed how liars and cheats have a tougher road in a real crisis , same deal.

ONe of my joys last season was arriving at the beach and finding a group of young boys thrashing around in the waves, checking it out, trying to ride a wave . I walked out to the shore break where they were, and laid myself out onto a wave, to show the boys how to ride. The lead guy, about eight or so, picked it right up, and yelled to the others, "Hey, guys that's how you do it, take off backwards!", and mimicked my ride exactly. I threw in the upside-down take off just for fun, but they all copied that. Sophocles would have been proud of me. Now they all have fancy take offs to throw down if the girls are watching.

Just for fun, I will throw in a Cali surf story . you have probably seen an old movie with John Wayne as an actor in the lead role. The story goes that he was playing football for USC, but had broken his collar bone body surfing , so had nothing to do when his buddy Ward Bond saw him walking by the bus that was going to the studio, and told him to hop on, he could be an extra for the day and get paid, Bond had a hook up. He got on the bus , and since he wasn't playing ball , kept going back. One day , his looks and stature got noticed.

Hope it is productive out here for you. I also hope you get a nice safe assignment, something out of the way, in the back. I guess that last sentence puts the ribbon on me being old. Hope you enjoy your stay. The west was settled by people who were not satisfied by the old ways, so they moved to where they could live the way they wanted. Eventually that gene pool piled up against the western edge of the continent, and the only place left was the water, where the explorations continue. I hope that explanation helps adjustment a little .

P,S, Don't sleep on the hobie cat, another local exploration, they are strong around the San diego bay, easy to learn and tons of fun. I also have a twenty five words of less guide for learning to sail , if needed.

Lpe403

Yup Yup Yup

Lpe403

I'm biased as Ryne tuned my car, but CMS is a place where you can expect fairness, honesty, experience and excellence, bolstered by a substantial track record of satisified customers.

My car has a pretty radical set-up: LSX 454 with a monster cam and high compression that runs on E85. CMS tuned it and its easily a 750 or so HP all motor beast. Ryne knows how to set up E85 cars. Actually, I wouldn't have even bought my car without knowing CMS would be there if something went awry.

If you only follow one piece of advice today, call CMS - period. I'm sure others here will chime in and confirm my strongly held opinion.

MTPZ06

You're in San Diego, tons to do there; cars or no cars...Enjoy it! Lived there in north county for several years before moving just a little ways north into South OC.

I vote CMS on a tuner in your area as well...cant go wrong with Ryne and his team.

PLRX

You'll be glad to move out of that wilderness over there. There are car events all year around. Regarding tuners do a search in here, and tuners like CMS, and RPMs, and few others will pop up.

FYI, The base may make you do a California SMOG for car registration.

Have you been station in Camp Pendleton before?

Vet Interested

Welcome to paradise! It does not get better anywhere in the U.S.. Perfect weather that people on the east coast can only dream about.

JohnsC5

Yup, some of the best roads you'll ever see within 20 minutes of CP. You can do ocean, mountains, and desert in one easy day.

Welcome

NastyG

You will have to smog the car to get decals. As long as you keep your out of state registration you only have to get the smog done once though. If you register the car in California you will have to abide by the state laws on frequency of inspections. I've been here 4 1/2 years and there is no better place for driving and shows all year round.

ufso

Tim,

Maybe you can make it to The Block tomorrow for our Tour D'Orange...lotsa cars of every make and maybe a Z07!

Sparky

Blue Blood

With the right networking, help is out there if this is an issue.