Quick Trip to Diablo Lake

Pioneer Square Coffee Meets

Scratching the Audi R8 V10 inch was fun, but as soon as I watched my Spyder drive away at the dealer, I felt some regret. At my core, I’m an open top sports car guy, and I think the Spyder is peak convertible experience. This time, I wanted to see what the Spyder RS experience was all about. They are both 4.0 liter naturally aspirated engines, but the SRS has the same engine as the GT3 RS, revs to 9K RPM and brings a full 500hp to the party. Unfortunately PDK is the only transmission option for the SRS, but after living with it for a while, I think it is the right match for the nature of the car. There are times where I miss the 6-speed manual in the Spyder, but the frenetic nature of the car, and the lightning fast paddle shifts of the PDK make it feel like a true motorsports experience on the road.

I had so much fun watching the incredibly talented photographer, Maris Saulits, do an amazing photo shoot for my SRS. The outcome is amazing!

When it came time to sell the 2011 Audi R8, I decided to try something new. I’ve been an active watcher of so many car auctions, but I had never purchased from an auction nor sold anything at an auction. Low mileage, first generation R8s with the V10 and gated manual had done very well on Bring-A-Trailer, so I threw caution to the wind, and started a no reserve auction for the car. My research told me that a no reserve auction would encourage more bidders and lead to a higher sale price than if I set a reserve price…it encourages bad behavior when folks know the car is selling for sure! The risk of course is that for some reason, nobody sees the auction and you sell way below market value…something incredibly rare for a desireable car.

I worked with a great local photographer for photos and video, worked with Avants and BaT on the listing, and put it live. There was little activity until the last day, and at one point the bidding stalled way below my break even price. Thankfully the car was big from $100K to over $140K in the last two minutes of the auction. I was able to own a great car for a year, and still make a bit of money all in. Winning!

The Bring-A-Trailer listing – https://bringatrailer.com/listing/2011-audi-r8-103/

The last time I had the opportunity to visit the Brother’s Collection down in Salem Oregon, I made the trip solo, in a Jeep with no top, in traffic, in temps that hit 113 degrees. The collection was amazing, but the trip nearly killed me 🙂

This time, we went as part of the Porsche Club…but I took the Audi R8! I made sure to park it far enough away that I didn’t get too much grief from my Porsche friends. I was so excited that Meg came along on this trip, she doesn’t normally love to join car club trips. We made a long coastal drive down of the trip, enjoyed a few days there, and then bombed it home. The R8 did great and was both plenty fast/sporty, but also really comfortable at the same time. Meg even fell asleep on the way down there.

Gary Barklind is a friend, fellow Porsche fanatic, and one of the many volunteers behind our region’s award-winning local PCA magazine, The Spiel. I’m biased, but I think The Spiel is the best regional Porsche magazine in the country. I look forward to it more than the official PCA magazine because it’s full of locally relevant articles and our fantastic Pacific Northwest Porsche community.

When Gary heard that Shep was deep into karting and starting to get more and more into SIM Racing, he reached out to see if Shep wanted to write an article for The Spiel. We agreed on an interview format, I submitted a few photos to accompany the story, and now Shep is a famous race car driver 🙂 Okay, Shep is on his way to becoming a famous race car driver!

Link to the full PDF – https://chassis106.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/Spiel_2025_Issue_02_Digital.pdf

It was very exciting to partner with my local Porsche Club of America chapter, PNWR, and share part 1 of this restoration journey, from discovery to finishing body and paint. The Spiel is by far the best local PCA magazine in the country, and it was exciting to get this edition in the mail!

Link to the full PDF – https://chassis106.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/Spiel_2025_Issue_02_Digital.pdf

One day, when Shep is a famous race car driver, I’ll point back to the early days of his kart racing and sim racing as the source of his inspiration! Shep continues to impress me with his dedication to kart racing and his willingness to push himself with each session. The easy summer months are gone, replaced with freezing cold mornings and wet track days, but he continues to get faster and more consistent.

When Shep isn’t on the track, you can often find him practicing his racing skills on our SIM setup at home. At least when I’m not using it that is 🙂 Thanks to Calvin at GripWerx Racing for building and maintaining our SIM!