The 2016 Chicago Auto Show through the eyes of a cheap track enthusiast

Austin and I were fortunate to be invited to be a part of the Media day the 2016 Chicago Auto Show yesterday.  We had an Interview scheduled with the ultra-interesting Ken Lingenfelter at 11am, which was lots of fun, and we spent a few hours walking around with friend of the show, and Gridlife staff superhero, Hollie Heiser, who was  there to work with a few firms with setup and media services.  EVERYONE there seemed to know Hollie, and it was like walking around with a celebrity.  Hollie rules.  

Auto shows aren't really my thing....but I enjoyed some aspects of the day spent there.  I'm not going to be buying a new car any time soon, so 95% of the show was basically irrelevant to me.  Its cool to see the effort and expense the OEMs pour into these shows, but I wonder how much much of it actually translates into real sales for them.  Some of the exhibits were WILDLY beautiful....its impressive to see the level the show has gotten to since I'd been there last (probably 9-10 years ago), and Media day was a good chance to take some pics without having a zillion people in the way.  We had some cool conversations with the Autobahn country club track staff, and met several fans of the show (SO WEIRD....you people listen to this!?)  Austin was most interested in cargo vans and Volvos, because he's odd and rad, and I mainly sought out the interesting, track ready, or racecar stuff... 
If you are looking to burn an evening or some time this week, the auto show is worth a look obviously.  Its a spectacle.  Its big. Its pretty..  

Ken Lingenfelter Street drives this. Good for him. That guy is neat.

The first supercharged new chassis camaro.

600 NA HP.  Nice. Good job Lingenfelter.

Hey.  Whatever.  It was weird

120k buys you a badass BMW track car .  It also  would buy you a big portion of the home I live in...but I'm glad this exists. 

Pic, just because it's PRETTY

Autobahn country club had a booth with some familiar cars.  They've completed a repave of South course recently, and I'm really excited to drive  there this year after talking to the President and PR guy for a while.  Great people, great facility.  And, this BMW was stunning

Hottt

If you dislike spec Miata, your a silly goose. And probably a communist

Supposedly around 600 hp.  And a beautiful build. 

Road America had a beautiful booth as well. 

But Paul Menard's stock car clearly didn't have the road course setup dialed in.  

The tech and redundance in cup cars is a cool blend of old school hotrod and ultra modern racecar.  I'll always want a stock car. 

Pretty rad . 

Formula SAE cars are neat.  So neat

Breathing through a restrictor, but figuring out how to make real HP doing it

Lots of homebuilder style ingenuity here. .. But, you can see the hours and days of thought put into the details

Tiny tiny ohlins shocks

ohhhh the new NSX is so pretty in real life. 

Supercars all seem to be looking like this lately.  Maybe its just me, as I'm stuck in 1980's econobox hell 

Former Slipangle guest Peter Cunningham and his Realtime Racing team were represented prominently in the Acura booth.

I love Acura more because of how the support this team, and have for decades. 

919 hybrid Porsche=well, you gotta look at that a few minutes.   This car also featured a very boring presenter rambling about it in the morning as we walked by. I'd not recommend the boring presenter if he is still there later in the show

cool , simple livery.  LOVE it

Good job Volvo.  Ohlins suspension and giant multi piece rotors... and probably the best seats I've ever sat in (in a wagon)... The v60 Polestar is a weird and rad thing.

The alternator is driven , on the v60, through the water pump it appears.  Neat

Old Alfa=I'd have looked at this all day if I could

blort

kiss.  Hug.  Miss you already. 

ford built a spaceship.  

gt350R is my favorite. 

Its the best mustang I've ever seen

This would look JUST right with number plates and rubber marks all over it in the paddock. 

From this view, the c7 vette looks just like your aunts Honda Crosstour 

at LEAST it'd stop better than a Honda.  It's a good time to be a corvette lover , from a performance standpoint

You saw pics of the windshield-less mx5 from elsewhere, but its so cool in person

Awesome color too, especially in person

The bikini top mx5 is a stunner in person too.

All Racers should check out the details in the global mx5 cup car.... And Austin's interview with the builder , Glen Long, on a former Slipangle Podcast

It's very cool

Prototypes are rad

It wasn't a real Racecar.  Booo

This was a real Racecar. YAYYYY

Well, heres an obligatory GTR pic

I don't know why they did, but I'm glad Nissan brought two of these. 

Lolz