Porsche 991 Turbo S 2014: Stage I

I can’t believe the 1st quarter of 2014 is already over… Just like that, we’re now coming up on the California Festival of Speed this weekend. We’ve been getting things all lined up for our title sponsorship role, and to display our full line of Porsche cooling systems, including the world debut of our new 996/997 Turbo radiators.

We’ve been working closely with event organizer Martin Lipp, and he really came through with helping us a CSF lead car for the event. What happened next was a real blessing for CSF.

About a month ago, Martin put me in contact with Lisa Taylor from Flying L Racing and Kyle from KI Studios. I had no idea who Lisa was, but Martin was confident that she would be willing to help CSF by allowing us to use one of her Porsche vehicles to display as our lead car for the event. Over the next couple of weeks, I spoke with Lisa and Kyle over the phone and through email to discuss incorporating her brand new Porsche 991 Turbo S 2014. A little small talk here and there got the ball rolling, and it was decided that she and I were going to finally meet and drive down together to San Diego to meet with Kyle for him to install the graphics on the car. Kyle came highly recommended by Martin to get any type of graphics done, and boy was he right! We’ll get back to Kyle later in the story.

I met Lisa at the Irvine Spectrum at 10:00 am. She told me where she was parked, and it was impossible to miss the “guards red” beauty waiting for me to jump in as I rolled up. From the moment I met Lisa, she had a sense of energy and kindness that was radiating from her and her bright red Porsche. When I saw the car, it all hit me that things were going to be changing for CSF. This title sponsorship was really going to work, and CSF was really about to hit the Porsche market strong!

Porsche 991 Turbo S 2014: The Interview & Prep Work

Lisa loves two things, horses and Porsches. She is the owner of Flying L Ranch in Yorba Linda, which is also the name of her racing team, Flying L Racing. She’s been raising horses for about 15 years since she moved back from Hawaii, and currently has 13 horses and 10 Porsches at her ranch. I learned a lot about horse racing during our drive. Lisa explained to me that she raises quarter hoses, faster than the ones you see on the derbies on TV. These horses run for about 350-400 yards in a straight-line race.

Lisa was a natural behind the wheel of her 550hp rocker. She told me that she absolutely loves racing. Everything that Lisa does revolves around speed. She is a nationally certified Porsche Instructor as well as the #1 female PCA driver. If she’s not out racing one of her trophy horses such as “Flying Top Fueler (5/130 at the Governor’s Cup), she’s out on a race track somewhere in the world with professional race driver/instructor boyfriend, Tom Ridings.

Lisa has owned thirty Porsches in her life. Her first one was back in 1982 and was a 1974 Porsche. Most of them have been painted classic Porsche red, but she loves her “Rivera Blue” with espresso interior. Her dealership of choice is Porsche Riverside. She said that they treat her like family there and that she actually bought 5 Porsches from them in 2013 including her new Porsche 991 Turbo S 2014.

One thing I loved about Lisa was her passion for racing, and her attitude towards using her cars the way that they are meant to be, driven, hard on the track. She’s not a car queen who drives it daintily down to the grocery store (she’s got her daily driver Cayenne Turbo Diesel for that) but tunes them to be even better. She definitely is all about experiencing racing at its finest. Her shop of choice is top so-cal Porsche tuners BBI Autosport in Huntington Beach. She is a big fan of Betim, owner of BBI, who comes from Porsche Motorsports.

While Kyle was working, I had a lot of time to admire the fantastic quality and details of this Porsche supercar. The big brake kit and center-locking wheels were something to marvel in. I loved the headlights too!

Lisa has been fortunate enough to race at some pretty incredible tracks, including the Nürburgring, the most famous racetrack in the world. She was actually able to pick up her new Porsche 991 Turbo S 2014 at the time and drive to the track herself. When I asked her to describe the famous track, “Exhilarating” is the response I received. Other favorite tracks of hers include Laguna Seca, Button Willow, Spring Mountain Club, and she loves Chuckwalla.

Let’s jump over to Kyle from KI Studios as he finished up the graphics and livery design for the new CSF Porsche 991 Turbo S 2014.

I usually use the spray wax on top to polish off the graphics when I am done. For Lisa’s car, the graphics are temporary, and she had the paint protection film on the hood. I put down a coat of spray wax to prevent the vinyl from entirely sticking and make it easier to remove.

Kyle, KI Studios

Kyle’s expertise was really shining through as the process moved towards completion. He’s been at graphics and design for thirteen years and has owned his own company, KI Studios, for 8 years now. Some notable projects and companies that he’s worked with have been Vortseiner, Falken Tire’s Race Porsches, as well as all the design work for Protective Film Solutions, a huge vehicle wrap company in Southern California.

Just as Kyle was putting his finishing touches on the vehicle, the drizzling rain had stopped, and we all decided to enjoy the beautiful car with an impromptu photoshoot.

After we were done, it was time to hit the road back up to OC. First, however, I wanted to treat the team to lunch. Being that we were in San Diego, the choice was obviously going to be Mexican food. I’ll tell you one thing about San Diego Mexican food, there is no better place in the world to get a California burrito (it’s gotta have the fries in it to be official). After a quick lunch, Lisa and I drove back up to our first meeting spot where we had met.

Both Lisa and Kyle are great people, and we look forward to working with them more in the future. We can’t wait for this weekend’s festival. Stay tuned for more coverage on the new CSF Porsche 991 Turbo S 2014 and full coverage from this year’s California Festival of Speed.