Saturday Sharif@Forged attended the opening of Atlanta Motorsports Park with his brand new 2013 Black Edition GT-R! He brought along one of our shop cameras and made sure to snap some pics throughout the day when he wasn't participating in some partial throttle parade laps. Words and photos by Sharif:
Well, the unofficial soft grand opening of the highly anticipated Atlanta Motorsports Park (AMP) was undoubtedly the region’s worst kept secret. Despite trying to limit the marketing effort to AMP members and close friends, more than 300 people attended the festivities and had a chance to ride along with Jeremy Porter, AMP Track Manager, for some slow speed touring laps at the nearly completed facility.
As many of you know, Forged Performance is a Founding Member of Atlanta Motorsports Park, and we look forward to using this facility to test product and demonstrate our world recognized expertise in high performance automotive engineering. With our “Diamond” membership, our company will have maximum access and opportunity for testing, development, and demonstration purposes throughout the year and all just a short 50min drive from our Marietta, GA headquarters. And we’ve secured two large adjacent garages for just this purpose; the guys around the shop have already called it “Forged3″.
We arrived a bit early and found a place for our trailer and unloaded the two Forged Performance GT-R’s. This was also the first time my daily driven 2013 GT-R made a public appearance. I am falling in love with the GT-R all over again especially after Mike from Mirror Detailing applied his magic buffing, waxing, and sealing process to its finish.
Atlanta Motorsports Park offers the most extreme and radical changes in elevation most drivers will ever experience, and if this brief taste of the track is any indication, this is going to be an incredibly fun track with loads of technician challenges to master. Because track management and construction personnel were still putting the finishing touches on the track, we were carefully given a slow speed tour of the track as we familiarized ourselves with the terrain.
Jeremy Porter giving the big thumbs. It’s safe to say that nobody currently has more seat time, or knows this track better than Jeremy himself.
A great collection of cars managed to find parking as attendees basked in the sun and mingled among each other.
Friends and fellow AMP members, Mark and Hector giving their seal of approval on the track and test driving my 2013 GT-R
Kris (far left) served in Afhganistan and met Roy and I at a recent Road Atlanta Track day. After returning to Iraq to finish his duty, he returned to the USA and presented Roy with this American Flag that flew proud during the final days of the US military presence in Iraq. Roy was truly honored and touched by the gesture while 2011 Grand Am Champions Scott Pruett and Andrew Davis mingle amongst the crowd.
Alex@Forged and Briana@Forged enjoying the perfect weather that graced bucolic Dawsonville, GA.
The “other” Alex!
Russel and his sidekick in training.
Alicia’s baby is never too far away, and looks to have her eye on that tasty AMP Cupcake.
It’s never too young to start training!
The entire Forged Performance team wishes to thank Jeremy, Bruce and the rest of the staff at AMP for opening the track to us and the general public. The AMP team has worked tirelessly for more than 2 years to transform the dream of a Metro Atlanta private motorsports park into the reality that it is today. The official Members Grand Opening is tentatively scheduled for April 14th-15th and Chin Motorsports is hosting the first public HPDE Track Day on April 28-29th. Contact AMP, Chin Motorsports, or Forged Performance for details. For real-time updates, subscribe to our Facebook fan page!
One last note, for those of you considering memberships, the Pre-Opening prices officially end this Saturday April 14th so PLEASE make sure to sign-up by then. Of course, tell them that Sharif from Forged Performance sent you!
VISIT AMP!!!