In Part 1 of this Road to Born Free series we touched down in LA, picked up our GMC Sierra and shook off a little jet lag with a trip to the Petersen Museum.
Here in Part 2 we start to head south, first picking up the bike from the shipping yard and then seeing some sights along the way.
The best way to see it all unfold is through this video series, but keep reading for more.
I didn’t have too much time though as I was on a pretty tight schedule, a quick dip at Laguna Beach and then into Costa Mesa to have a meeting I was very excited about.
My meeting was with Toyota Racing Development’s General Manager Tyler Gibbs, over the next hour we toured the facility which involved a comprehensive look into the teams development of their V8 engines that is used in Nascars, Sprintcars and the complete billet 4 cylinder engine used in the Midget race cars.
Unfortunately I cannot show you all of this as there were no cameras allowed past the foyer but the facility was impressive and you can see this in TRD’s official video HERE. Seeing the parts being machined, assembled and tested on the dyno was an experience I will never forget.
The reason I visited TRD and met with Tyler was to investigate an opportunity for a new build I have been planning over the last couple of years, you will read and see more on this in the coming months but to cut a long story short this time my Toyota build wont have an SR20 in it.
With my head buzzing from all the TRD inspiration we hit the road again.
Something that you will see more of in the future is fast boats, you might remember last time I was in the USA I visited the Colorado river to catch a meeting of Hot Boats, I knew Lake Elsinor was renowned for fast boats too so I called in on the off chance I might see something. God bless America!
It’s always cool to see/ hear these things.
We dropped the bike off at the showgrounds where Born Free was held (which you will see in the next post) and with a few hours to kill we headed back up into Pomona to visit the NHRA museum.
This is one of my all time favorite places to visit, the drag cars of the 1960’s and 70’s have such a unique appeal to me.
1,000+HP no gears, sitting on the diff, drop the clutch and hope you don’t die in the next 6 seconds.
Roland Sands had a pre party and it was cool to check out his shop.
With that complete we headed to Cooks Corner to checkout the Peoples Champ contest, this is a pre party for Born Free and the last chance for one lucky builder to be named an Invited Builder for the Born Free Show.
There were so many cool bikes to see.
It’s a good chance to get acclimatised for Born Free.
Thats it for Part 2, stay tuned for more Born Free coverage.