Horsepower Freaks (HFP) Is No More – UPDATED

Horsepower Freaks (HFP), originator of the turn-key E46 M3 turbo platform, went out of business in early May. I didn’t find out until just recently and the news came as a huge surprise. I’m sure everyone feels the same way. There’s not too much details because there has not been an official press release. It’s hard to differentiate between the facts and the rumors. From what I have pieced together, there has been an ongoing lawsuit against a former employee who has embezzled somewhere in the neighborhood of $200,000. HPF lost the battle and only got a small amount of financial retribution, not enough to sustain the business.

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I’m not familiar with the business but I don’t think $200,000 can sink a company. I think it’s just the last straw that broke the camel’s back. There has been increased competition from other tuners on a E46 M3 turbo package. Ones that are cheaper and equally fast. The E46 platform is aging and the R&D for the new E9x platform has been a slow ongoing process. Expanding the operation and facility probably didn’t generate enough revenue to cover the added expenses. Investing on the shop cars can be costly. There are a slew of other factors that could have contributed to HPF’s demise.

The real loss goes to the customers who has paid for service or parts. It’s a mess over at HPF and with the business shut down, it’ll be a difficult and lengthy process to sort things out. However, a handful of individuals (some ex-employee(s) included) have volunteered their time and effort to return refunds to the customers. Unfortunately, the person who should be taking responsibility of this is the owner, Chris, and he is nowhere to be found.

There are also speculations that a HPF customer, who has invested in the company, has the rights to the turbo kit design and he will be bringing it back to the market in one form or another. Also, an HPF employee has allegedly stolen/taken the R&D for a turbo E9x M3 platform and is collaborating with another shop/tuner. The kit is rumored to be nearing completion and will be launched within the year.

There’s a lot of drama revolving around HPF. Hopefully we can hear the truth and all the customers are made right.

UPDATE: I’ve been told that plans for the HPF turbo E9x M3 kit never materialized and hence, never stolen/taken by any individul/ex-employee. It’s just another rumor that has stemmed from the drama.

Fire Orange E91 Wagon

e91 wagon

Yea Buddy

E30 Yea Buddy

Liberty Walk/LB Performance E92 M3(s)

The Liberty Walk/LB Performance E92 M3 body kit draws inspiration from the late trend set by Rocket Bunny and RWB of bold over fenders and exposed rivets. There are already a few examples of this kit in the states. As a matter of fact, I was able to see all three that of I know of at AutoCon last week. This particular car belongs to Kato san, founder of Liberty Walk. The car was put together by LTMW in just a matter of days for the Mfest debut. It drew mixed reactions within the BMW scene. The kit is definitely a step from the norm, especially for those who are unfamiliar with this style. Some think it looks unfinished and expected better given that the base car is a BMW M3. Others simply love it. I reserved my judgement until I saw it in person and I got the chance to do just that at AutoCon.

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My initial impression was that it’s wild. I was attracted to the bold statement that it makes. It was refreshing to see something out of the box and that contribute to part of it’s appeal. There are a few areas that I believe could be better designed. I wish they integrated the body lines into the over fenders. The over fender is a simple curve which doesn’t flow with some of the hard edges on the car, like where the rear fender meets the side skirts.

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I don’t know the spec of the wheels but I’m sure they’re massive.

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I like the look from the rear 3/4.

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The rear is wide. I don’t like how much of the rear tires are exposed. It reminds me of Mexi-poke. I think it’ll be better with a proper diffuser, rather than the two bolt on pieces at each side.

I was there when the car was fired up and engine was revved a few times. I know the car is equipped with an ESS supercharger kit but the exhaust noise just blew my mind (and ear drums).

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This cream color example was at the Toyo Booth. It’s an interesting color but I don’t think it works very well in the car. The front wheels need to be more aggressive to match the kit. You can’t really tell from the pictures but there were some flaws in the body work.

I was surprised to see another one in the parking lot. This belongs to a LTMW customer. It’s painted in Diamond Schwarz which happens to be the same color as my E30 M3. It’s an unusual choice since it an “old” color found on BMW from the late 80′s/early 90′s.

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You can better see what I mean about the Mexi-poke in this shot.

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With all that said, the kit is priced at over $10,000. It seems pricey to me compared to the $3,000 Rocket Bunny 12 piece FRS kit. Is it priced up because it’s intended for the BMW market? Yes. Is it worth it? We shall see how many pops up in the future.

AutoCon 2013 – Part III

In this final part, I’ll show the rest of the pictures from AutoCon 2013.

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Another S2000.

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It’s impressive how these S2000-ers run such aggressive stance and wheel fitments and still keep their fenders and front bumper from getting smashed up.

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Scion Racing is always giving out some cool swag. Their swag bag included a pair of ear buds, some soundtracks, a dog tag and a decent hat. It’s much better than the usual vendor lanyards.

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On display was the Scion Racing FRS with a widebody designed by Jon Sibal. This thing is wild.

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Mini pickup smashed between two R35s. Probably the least practical pickup with such a small bed.

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Serious camber.

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BRZ with a custom widebody. You know why I know it’s a BRZ? Because it doesn’t have a Rocket Bunny kit. I kid, I kid. The widebody design is a bit too bubbly in my opinion. It makes the car look fat.

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After walking around the entire show, I wandered back over to the LTMW booth to check out the Liberty Walk/LB Performance E92 M3. This is the car that I wanted to check out in person. More pictures have been surfacing since the debut at Mfest a couple weeks ago. It’s definitely a step out of the norm in the BMW community so it has received a lot of mixed reviews. I’ll feature and share my feelings of the LB Performance M3 in a separate post.

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I’ll conclude my coverage with my favorite shot of the day.

AutoCon 2013 – Part II

Continuing on from part I of my recap of AutoCon 2013.

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I’ve seen this Lotus before, at last year’s Bimmerfest to be exact.

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This NSX seems to be making the rounds lately. I’m always a fan of the white and Takata Green combo.

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This Subie is slammed. It looks like a red clone of the black “DAI LOW” Subie.

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This Rocket Bunny has an interesting execution. There’s weathers stripping at all the seams where the kit meets the body. It makes an outline around the entire kit, for good or bad.

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I like the fabric top on this Miata.

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Another bunny. These things are all over the place.

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Two G35 sedans. Equally impressive engine bays.

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One of the more recognizable NSX in the scene, especially with the gold Mugen MF10s. Show cars come and go so I wonder how much longer we’ll be seeing this car before the owner has other plans for it. That concludes part II and I’ll wrap it up in the next and final part of my AutoCon 2013 recap.

 

AutoCon 2013 – Part I

It’s been a while since I have attended a car show. Often times, they’re either too expensive or too far. I’m just cheap and I don’t want to pay $20~30 a ticket to see the same cars over and over again. I decided to go to AutoCon because it happens to be just a few miles from my house, entrance was only $10, and I wanted to see a particular car.

The show started at 1 PM but I decided to go later to avoid the initial crowd and the high noon heat. I made by way over at 3:30 pm, parked, and walked over to the main venue.

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This car in the parking lot immediately caught my attention. I’m fairly certain that it used to belong to the one and only JDMEGO.

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I noticed a some nice rides scattered in the parking lot but I didn’t bother walking around the entire lot.

There weren’t any lines but there were still plenty of attendees just arriving. The actual show area was pretty small but the location has plenty of space for expansion. I think they could have spaced it out better to give more room for foot traffic. The quality of the show cars was good, which is somewhat expected. There were a lot of BMW, VIP/Lexus and FRS/BRZ platforms or at least that’s how I noticed it.

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Digging this E65 Z4 at the Mfest booth.

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Caught this Lambo leaving the show. I still find it ridiculous that you have to sit on the door sill in order to see out of the car while backing out.

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LTMW had a strong lineup of cars starting with 1013mm’s E82. Over the years, 1013mm has become synonymous with superb photos of high quality cars, especially BMWs.

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This custom bumper really suits the F30.

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A WTCC E90 that is currently for sale.

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I believe this red E90 shares the same kit.

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First Rocket Bunny FRS for the day. I don’t know if this is my first encounter with one in real life. The kit has gotten so popular and I’ve seen so many pictures of cars with it that I feel like I’ve seen one before already.

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Nicely done 240Z.

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VIP E60.

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I’ve been more and more of this color combo, white and Tiffany blue popping up.

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You don’t see too many Supras nowadays. I think the Fast and Furious effect is finally fading…

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I’ll wrap up part I with the Bulletproof Auto S2000. I liked it better when it had the LE37s on it to give the car more contrast. Stay tuned for part II of my coverage of AutoCon.

Subtle Blue

A subtle widebody that would otherwise go unnoticed.

Blue NA2 NSX

On Track

E30 M3 On Track

Jezzica

Yup, she’s the owner of the Supra. “Don’t cha wish your girlfriend was hot like me?”