Come join fellow Audi enthusiasts at the Carlisle Import Kit/Replicar Show for The Audi Club’s 5th Annual Carlisle, PA Audi get together. Since their first year converging as a group in 2004, the number of Audis registered with us has quadrupled! You can be part of the increasing popularity by showing your Audi with the group. In years past, Saturday tends to be their “big day” with a group barbeque (everyone contributes something!), games, and fun, but many come Friday and camp through Sunday.

We want to thank Morgan Evans of The Audi Club for her help in rounding up so many Audi enthusiasts each year. The following is a personal message from Morgan to all Audi owners:

“Whether or not you consider your Audi show-worthy or a well-used relic, we all park proudly together on the show field. Any year and model Audi is welcome to register with our club…new and old. Rows of Audis as far as the eye can see—what could be better? We take pride in competing with other clubs for numbers of participants in the Club Challenge, but having fun is most important to us! Come join our fun group by registering your Audi online: http://register.carlisleevents.com and when it prompts you, enter “The Audi Club” for the club name.” Any questions, and upon registering, please email Morgan at morgan@s4girl.com so that you can be included in all organizational emails regarding the gathering (we divvy up food, drink, snacks, etc.)! We look forward to having a great time and hope to see you there!"

Based on the pre-registration numbers the British are definitely coming this year! If it was manufactured across the pond there’s a really good chance you’ll see one here this year. Not to worry, the show isn’t just for British cars as we welcome ALL imports at the show. We’ve also been hard at work on the kit and replicar side of the show. Every year we look forward to seeing the latest offerings from the manufacturers as well as the cars that our participants are building. You folks build some amazing rides!!

This weekend you’ll have the rare opportunity to meet Bruce Meyers creator of the Meyers Manx Dune Buggy. Bruce and his wife Winnie will be at IKR all weekend to meet their many fans, sign autographs and generally just enjoy the show. Bruce grew up in Southern California during the early days of surfing, drag racing, and hanging out at the beach. Loving the lore of the sea, Bruce first enlisted with the Merchant Marines before serving his country in the Navy during World War II. After he completed his service in the military Bruce returned to SoCal and saw the crude and heavy buggies that were being run on the beaches. After a few attempts of his own he decided to create his own dune buggy design based on a shortened VW floorpan. The rest is history.

Carlisle Events Elite will be a coveted award that only 10 vehicles will be selected for at each participating show. In the inaugural year, 2008, two shows will offer the Carlisle Events Elite honor – Performance & Style [May 9-11] and Import-Kit/Replicar Nationals [May 16-18].

Carlisle Events Elite will be 10 vehicles selected by a committee formed by the Event Manager of the show. The group will include staff, special guests and car lovers who will traverse the showfield to select their favorite vehicle. There is no formal judging; this is a subjective selection of the vehicles that the committee enjoys.

Once you are selected as a Carlisle Events Elite you will be a part of the ‘Elite club’ forever. You will receive a small custom decal for your car, a specially designed award, a T-shirt, a hat and Elite status pictures on our website in our photo gallery. And the best of all, we will put you and your ride center stage to give a short interview to talk about the work that has been performed and history of the car. That interview will be recorded and downloadable from our website.

Every year we get more clubs and the clubs themselves are growing – and that’s OK with us. In fact, we encourage it! There are plenty of import and kit shows that are dedicated to a particular make but at the Import-Kit/Replicar Nationals you can spend as much time as you like looking at your favorite brand of car and then feel free to wander and check out all of the others. It’s like getting several shows for the price of one! Saabs @ Carlisle has been the consistent winner of the Club Challenge for the last several years but they’re getting some competition these days. Last year they beat the Volvo Club of America by a very narrow margin and I know there is at least one other club gunning for the top spot this year. To register your club and see if you qualify for the use of a FREE 20’ x 20’ (or larger!!) tent, please contact Toni at Toni@CarlisleEvents.com or (717) 243-7855 ext. 121.

OK, so you’ve put your heart and soul into your car as well as every last penny and you want to know what a team of professional judges think. If so, then you want to register for the Standard of Excellence Judging (SoE). This isn’t a popularity contest and the cars are scrutinized against a set of standard criteria. Your vehicle will be evaluated based on the exterior, interior, engine compartment, trunk and undercarriage. All vehicles that are eligible to attend the event are eligible for SoE. Register here for SoE Judging.

• Register Now

The Susquehanna Region of the Sports Car Club of America (SCCA) and its Chapter Club, the Appalachian Sports Car Club, will conduct an Autocross on each of the three days of the Import-Kit/Replicar Nationals at the Carlisle Fairgrounds. The event will be conducted on the Fairground’s quarter-mile six-turn mini road course, located on the North Field adjacent to the Turnpike. Each entrant will get three runs of three-laps against the clock. Scoring will be done on an overall basis using an index designed to adjust for the performance capabilities of the different cars. The experience is designed to allow you to test your performance on the course, but it will also be useful if you simply want to learn more about your car’s potential, and your ability to manage it. If you have never put a wheel on a track before or if you do have some track experience, this will give you the opportunity to improve your performance. Instructors will be available to ride along with you and help you explore new levels of performance for you and your car.

• Results for Saturday 05/17/2008
• Results for Saturday 05/18/2008

Harold Pace is very well known among kit car enthusiasts. He is the author of The Big Guide to Kit & Specialty Cars and he is a writer and photographer for for Kit Car Builder magazine.

Buying and Selling a Used Kit Car
Since these are not assembly line built vehicles and many are built by amateurs Harold will teach you what to look for when purchasing a used kit and help you avoid the common mistakes. He has also expanded this topic to include information on the many online resources that are now available to both buyers and sellers.

Throughout the weekend John Twist of University Motors in Ada, Michigan will conduct a variety of seminars for British car owners and enthusiasts in Building R. A brief synopsis of each topic is listed below.

Lucas Electrics
This seminar will take you through the Lucas Electrics that were used on many British vehicles. You’ll learn how to diagnose and repair the more common problems that people encounter with these systems as well as have your questions answered by The Guru himself.

Tuning for Speed
Follow along as John explains how to get the most performance out of your British sports car. There’s hidden potential in your car and John will carefully explain how to find and unleash that power and performance. There will also be opportunities to have your specific questions answered.

How to Restore Your British Car in an Hour
If you’re about to embark on your first restoration or you’re seasoned veteran and just want to learn a few pointers from one of the best in the business then you won’t want to miss this informative seminar. In just one hour John will tell you what you need to know to restore your own car.

Talking Tour of the MGB
Whether you own an MGB, are planning to purchase one or just want to learn more about one of the most popular British cars in America this seminar is for you. For the tour, John will have an MGB in Building R to use as he walks you through the entire car from bumper to bumper.

Join Carl Heideman of Eclectic Motorworks, LLC of Holland, Michigan on Saturday as he talks about Power Tuning for your British car. His other seminar covers welding basics and beyond.

Power Tuning
British car performance expert Carl Heideman will discuss how to make your British car run well and increase performance. Carl's 20+ years of tuning experience combined experience and data from 1000+ dyno pulls give proven methods to make their cars more reliable, enjoyable, and powerful. Ignition, carburation, emissions, and drivetrain issues will be discussed as well as advanced concepts like fuel injection, supercharging, and engine swaps.

Welding--Basics and Beyond
Carl Heideman's Eclectic Motorworks LLC shop specializes in panel fabrication and welding for classic sports cars. In this seminar, Carl presents easy ways to improve welding skills for the beginner and expert alike. In addition to the work at his shop, Carl has given welding seminars for hundreds of people and has written numerous articles about welding skills in Classic Motorsports, Grassroots Motorsports, Classic MG, and VW Trends Magazines. This is a must-attend for anyone interested in welding!

Jak Stoll is the proprietor of Jak Stoll Performance in North Carolina and he is a 22-year master level automotive technician and diagnostician. He holds many certifications in automotive repair.

Performance Tuning 101
Although Jak is best known for his tuning skills on Saabs by altering the engine management system (ECU) as well as cylinder head and turbo modifications, the techniques that he will show you this weekend can be applied to just about any car. If you want to maximize your car’s performance, then you’ll want to attend Performance Tuning 101.

Kim Walter is a Citroen enthusiast who also teaches design at a college in New York. He also uses Citroens in his classes when teaching his stundents.

Flaminio Bertoni: Form For Function
Mention Citroen to an automobile enthusiast and you’ll most likely here, “Oh, that’s the strange-shaped French car that goes up and down, right?” Citroens are known the world over for their mechanical wonders, most notably a hydraulic system that controls the brakes, the transmission and the suspension of the car. But they are also known for creating cars with startling and remarkable forms--shapes that stand out as being made by no other car company than Citroen. This seminar will concentrate not on the mechanical aspects of the cars, but rather their forms. In this seminar, Kim wil focus on four automobiles that Flaminio Bertoni designed, the Traction Avant, 2CV, DS, and the car that Bertoni felt was his best effort, the much-underappreciated Ami 6.

In the controlled environment of Quarter Aces Drag-O-Way the racing is very safe but it is still a major thrill. The best part is just about any car can be raced and there are classes for all levels of drivers. It doesn’t even matter how fast (or slow) your car is because in bracket racing anybody can win! It’s all about consistency. For more information check out www.QuarterAces.com.

• Quarter Aces Drag-O-Way