The results are in! And it turns out that the 4th Annual CrateEngineDepot.com Sport Compact Meet was a resounding success! As we all know, it’s the people that make up a community, and luckily we have tons of great people that make up the GM small car family – and apparently some that have a little bit too much free time and access to tons of blue painter’s tape! Hit the jump and check out the mischief and fun that went down at CED this past weekend.

The party started with some good ole fashion drag racing Friday night at the Great Lakes Dragway. This was the first time at a drag strip for quite a few Cobalt owners who were anxious to lay down the best passes possible to show they had the goods before Saturday’s beauty pageant. One of the most notable passes of the night was by a 70 year old veteran who had not raced in over 50 years. That fact surprised a lot of those in attendance though because he was able to pull off a .089 reaction time and hit 14.1 through the whole 1320. Quite impressive indeed for 50 years of dust to shake off! You can check out all of the great shots of Cobalts taking on some classic drag cars in our image gallery at the bottom.

On Saturday, the festivities made their way over to Rockenbach Chevrolet which was the official gathering point of the meet. One of the best things about a large meet like this is being able to check out all of the unique modifications each person has done to their cars, and boy was there ever an eclectic range of ideas on display at Rockenbach. Everything from a Batman-inspired HHR and a Cobalt with Italian Police livery to lambo doors and grand sport stripes. The customization didn’t stop there either as the blue painters tape was out in force and even completely covered a Cobalt’s hood, which was good because it served as a message board to display some very descriptive and seemingly very important information about a few owners at the show (you can check that image out in the gallery and see if you can spot all of the not-so-subtle notes).

Something really exciting about this year’s show was the vast distances that owners came from. There were Cobalts from as far away as California, Florida and New York that made an appearance which only means one thing… The ION, SKY, Solstice and HHR groups need to step it up for the fall show! For those that did make it out, there were special gifts and deals available from GM Performance Division and GM Performance Parts. Never one to miss an event, Bill Duncan from GMPD was on-site to answer questions and bounce ideas off of which he seemed to never stop doing all day long.

If you couldn’t make it out to Rockenbach Chevrolet for the event, don’t fret. We have almost 60 pictures documenting the weekend that you can thumb through in our gallery below. Do you see your car in the coverage shots? Give us a shout below and let us know who you are!

 

Earlier this week we posted that while we were up in the motor city, we would be stopping by to grab a bite with a key member of the LSJ/LNF enthusiast movement inside of GM – Mr. Bill Duncan. Never to let an opportunity pass us by, we compiled a list of questions that you all sent into us via email or comment that you would like to see Mr. Duncan answer. Well, we’re back and we have our little black book out with all the answers to YOUR questions in it.

On Wednesday we posted some data about the amount of Cobalt SS Turbos built and how many were painted in each color. We’ve been hounded by Turbo owners about making that info available for quite some time so we were quite excited to finally get it out to all of you. Of course, when you give a mouse a cookie, he’s going to want a glass of milk to drink. Once we posted the year/color match up, we heard questions and comments about factory options like the RPD, Advanced Audio, G85 and just how rare each one of these packages were.

The Cobalt Stage 1 Kit is well along its way to being available at a dealer near you. As such, we hear more details weekly that we can then pass on to you, the Cobalt SS Turbo owner and fan. If you are the lucky owner one of these turbocharged monsters, you’ll be able to run out and buy the new Stage 1 kit from a GMPP dealer and instantly add 20hp and 60lb.-ft of torque to your Cobalt and keep your full factory warranty intact. In addition to the added power, the kit serves as the gateway mod for the Cobalt and will disable the “learn down feature” of the stock PCM. This nifty feature allows your Cobalt to fully utilize any other modifications (intake, header, exhaust, downpipe, etc) that you’ve may have or wish to add in the future – making your dream 350hp Cobalt a very close reality.

Well the time has come. The LNF Upgrade kit is almost upon us but there are a few more steps until the Cobalt SS Turbo can finally have the ability to completely terrorize the streets. We had a meeting today and they are pushing to get this out the door. We have told them of all the demand and how many people are ready to go, which has helped light a fire under them.

Many of you may not be familiar with www.RiceBoyTv.com, so let me bring you up to speed. John Naderi is a guy that has been in the market for many years. He has made his way through the famed site Overboost.com and eventually found himself at Primedia. This is where he became the editor of Super Street Magazine, which many of you are familiar with. John had a great run with Super Street and made a huge impact thanks to his contributions to the Tuner Marketplace. John recently took a chance at creating a new media outlet, which has given him creative freedom and a new perspective for the tuner market.

The new Chevy Cobalt SS Turbo has been causing all sorts of commotion lately, so Motor Trend decided to include the newest member of the ECOtec family in their latest handling test. In their October 2008 issue, the guys from Motor Trend put the new 2009 Cobalt SS Turbo through its paces by having it carve its way through the famous, 11 corner, Laguna Seca Raceway.

Intakes are the gateway mod. They are inexpensive, easy to install, give good performance gains and usually start you on the path to becoming totally obsessed with modifying ever last aspect of your car. But which intake is the one for you and what separates one from the other? In truth, intakes are a very complex part of your vehicle that are tuned from the factory to reduce certain resonant frequencies that your engine produces as well as keep water from finding its way to the filter of your intake all while taking in the coldest and cleanest air possible to help deliver good performance.

We all know that the ECOtec family of engines kick some serious tail, but how do you prove to your friends that you actually do own the best sport compact car on the market without constantly letting them see your tail lights? The Reconfigurable Performance Display of course! For 2009, GM has developed a special Reconfigurable Performance Display so you can brag to your friends with lesser vehicles about just how many G you were pulling in the last corner.