The Nightshift car show was back in Illinois yesterday, but instead of having it in Chicago it took place at Toyota Park in Bridgeview. I was really annoyed by that because it was in the middle of nowhere and we had to pay $15 to park in what could barely be called a parking lot. For the most part, Nightshift was the same offshoot of Hot Import Nights. The drifting didn't seem the same as previous years though. The breaks between sessions seemed like they were bigger. The Euros and American cars had a stronger presence this year. Bar Society seemed like a big reason the Euros were there and GM Tuner Source. This show was different because it had an R33, R34, and R35 (Skyline) GT-R. The blue Skyline was my favorite of the three. The models at the show were probably the best I've seen all year. The EuroProjektz booth was one of the most elaborate ones I've ever seen for a car club. I took hundreds of pictures at the show. Click here for all of my pictures from Hot Import Nights Nightshift 2008.

The second day of the CVO Midwest Treffen was dedicated to a huge Car Show. The parking lot of Oakton Community College was packed with over three decades of Volkswagens. The Autobarn brought out two racing GTIs that they sponsor. This was the first time I saw a Jabrio in person. That's a Jetta front on a VW Cabrio. One of the oddest matings of the day was a VW GTI with BMW M3 wheels. Another surprise was this Audi S4 with Lamborghini wheels. This plum Beetle was one of the sweetest cars at the show. Unfortunately, older cars were rare at this show. I think that may be a sign of the differences between Volkswagen owners. The car show was fun, as usual, but there wasn't much to do besides look at cars. The show is huge and basically free to watch so it's worth the trip. Click here to see all of my pictures from CVO Midwest Treffen 2008.

Over the weekend, CVO's Midwest Treffen took place. Treffen is a huge event put on by the Chicago Volkswagen Organization that occurs outside of Chicago. The three parts of Treffen are an autocross, drag races, and then a car show. I attended the autocross on Saturday, but I did not do any racing. The autocross was open to only cars from the Volkswagen Auto Group (basically VWs and Audis). The course was so large that two cars would run at the same time. At only $30 for a whole day of autox-ing, it was quite a deal. One of the most entertaining cars was a Jetta that took turns on three wheels. The best sounding car was easily this white R32. There was only one Audi I saw run the course, but it was impressive. The fastest time of the day was turnout by this black R32 with one of the nicest set of brakes I’ve seen on VW. I'd love to participate next year rather than just take pictures. Click here to see all of my pictures from CVO Midwest Treffen 2008. The results of the autocross are here.

I attended one of the stops on the AMG Performance Tour yesterday in Northbrook, IL. AMG, the performance division of Mercedes-Benz, is trying to prove that they are serious about performance. At this event, the C 63 AMG was the star of the show. The day started with a talk about C 63 and its incredible 451 horsepower engine and 7 speed automatic transmission. Next up, was a chance to get behind the wheel. The surprising part was that we wouldn't be going anywhere.

The C 63 was strapped onto a dyno so that users could simulate a drive to 0-60 mph and then one from 0-100 mph. This wasn't as much fun because we couldn't even see through the windshield when sitting in the car. The acceleration test that went up to 100mph was meant to show how cool and effortless the shifter paddles were, but to me, paddle shifting just came off as slow and boring.

I also got the chance to drive around in some AMG cars. The cool part of the AMG Performance Tour was that we only drove the performance models. The 6.3 is the backbone of AMG and every one of the cars they offered had this beast of an engine. The cars we could drive were the ML 63, SL 63, CL 63, C 63, and E 63. The first car I drove was the C 63 AMG. It wasn't a very impressive car to me because of the hard plastics in dash and the relative lack of leather appointments. The second car, the SL 63 had a ferocious snarl. The last car was the one that was most impressive. My last drive of the day was in an E 63 AMG. The E with the sport package had the nicest seats and, in my opinion, the most luxurious interior. The inside of that car was just a sea of leather and Alcantara.

The drives were all of public roads so there was very little tire squealing and staying under fifty miles per hour. It was still a great way to spend a Saturday afternoon.

The Mecca Supper Club Classic Car Show took place over the weekend in Chicago. This was a relatively small show that featured some more uncommon classic cars. One example is this red Ford Thunderbird. These kinds of shows are nice though because you have enough time to see everything and it's easy to ask the owners questions about their cars. I spoke with a guy who had a '91 Formula Firebird with just over 10,000 miles on it. It takes a lot of discipline to average under 700 miles a year in a car. All of the pictures are here.