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Long Beach Grand Prix Toyota Celebrity Race - Preparations

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  • Long Beach Grand Prix Toyota Celebrity Race - Preparations

    For the past few years Meguiar's has been fortunate to be part of the Toyota Celebrity Race as part of the Long Beach Grand Prix, and this year is no different. A group of various celebrities are chosen to compete against a group of professional racers on the temporary street circuit in Long Beach, CA during the weekend of the IndyCar race.

    As part of the program we help maintain the cars (Scion tCs with TRD superchargers, reworked suspensions and brakes, plus all the requisite safety gear found on any race car) on both qualifying and race days. But before we can maintain them, we need to prep them. And so, yesterday, a group of six descended on Toyota's race shop here in SoCal and cleaned up 25 of these little hopped up Scions. Plus a couple of pace trucks.

    Mike Pennington, Tom MacDonald, John Keeling, Ash Erickson, yours truly, and Derek Bemiss of DetailWerks handled the task. Oh, and we got a bit of help from Cass, the shop dog.


    Before we could start, a plan of action had to be determined:


    These cars were dirty!




    The tires and wheels were hit with APC....


    ...Ahhh, much better!


    The rest of the car was then pressure washed and soaped up with Ultimate Wash & Wax.


    Drying was aided in the tight spots by a leaf blower.


    Supercharged!!!




    These aren't show cars, they're race cars, so we don't need them perfect. Still, we did address all this stuck on rubber later in the day. Can't have the Meguiar's logo covered in gunk now, can we?


    Teamwork!


    Derek's mobile detailing rig. Fittingly, it's a Toyota!


    After washing we moved all the cars inside, and came up with a plan of attack for the exterior, windows and interiors. And check out the historic Toyota racers that stocked the shelves around us!




    The cars were all treated to a body solvent rub down, as needed, on the front bumpers and rocker panels to remove rubber thrown out by the tires. Then an application of Ultimate Quik Wax, QID for the interiors and a thorough glass cleaning inside and out.

    Mike Pennington demonstrates the two towel method to quickly remove the dried UQW. When you're doing 25 cars (and 2 trucks) in one day, you do things to speed up the process!


    Derek works his magic on the door glass.....


    ... while Tom attacks the windshield....


    ....and I hit the door panels, dash and center console....


    .... and Cass takes a break to play with the hose. Lucky pooch.


    And clean and shiny, and stuffed in like sardines until race weekend!





    Race weekend is April 16-18, 2010 and we'll have more pictures from the event.
    Michael Stoops
    Senior Global Product & Training Specialist | Meguiar's Inc.

    Remember, this hobby is supposed to be your therapy, not the reason you need therapy.

  • #2
    Re: Long Beach Grand Prix Toyota Celebrity Race - Preparations

    Very cool Mike! Thanks for sharing! It would be awesome to participate in something like that!
    Rasky's Auto Detailing

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    • #3
      Re: Long Beach Grand Prix Toyota Celebrity Race - Preparations

      Great work, guys. The teamwork really paid off. Beats each one doing a vehicle and so on.
      quality creates its own demand

      Comment


      • #4
        Re: Long Beach Grand Prix Toyota Celebrity Race - Preparations

        Again you California guys have all the fun! Awsome job!!!!
        Professional Automotive Reconditioning Services
        "You scuff it-I buff it!"

        Comment


        • #5
          Re: Long Beach Grand Prix Toyota Celebrity Race - Preparations

          Very cool indeed!!!! Hey is that a gallon of PRC151 I spotted there that I didn't see mentioned? Great work guys!!!

          Andy
          Keeping MOL family friendly! If you need help or have a question, don't hesitate to shoot me an email or PM. 101impala@gmail.com
          Andy M. Moderator

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          • #6
            Re: Long Beach Grand Prix Toyota Celebrity Race - Preparations

            Looks like a lot of fun to be doing that. Wish I could join you guys haha
            Hello, I am Isaac

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            • #7
              Re: Long Beach Grand Prix Toyota Celebrity Race - Preparations

              Mike, every time I see the special projects you guys get to take on, I'm jealous. They always look so neat For me a special project is quarterly reports and forecasts. Not nearly as much fun as what you guys get to get your hands on.

              Comment


              • #8
                Re: Long Beach Grand Prix Toyota Celebrity Race - Preparations

                Very cool to be a part of. Looks like you guys did a nice job as if that wasn't expected.
                Jesse

                2009-2014 Meguiar's/Car Crazy SEMA Team
                www.ShineTechAutoDetail.com
                Facebook www.detailing.com

                Comment


                • #9
                  Re: Long Beach Grand Prix Toyota Celebrity Race - Preparations

                  Very colorful cars....
                  Shane
                  1995 Oldsmobile Cutlass Ciera SL

                  If you trim yourself to fit the world you'll whittle yourself away. - Aaron Tippin

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                  • #10
                    Re: Long Beach Grand Prix Toyota Celebrity Race - Preparations

                    Looks like you guys had fun. Sure is great to step out of the office to do some work. I love Toyotas!
                    Learning new things everyday

                    Comment


                    • #11
                      Re: Long Beach Grand Prix Toyota Celebrity Race - Preparations

                      Sweet! I'll probably watch to see the shiny paint in action.


                      Can I help next time? I'll play fetch with the dog to keep it busy. lol.
                      -James
                      2012 Chevy Silverado ECSB. Z71 4x4. 5.3


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