22 years!!! Mom and Dad’s 1998 ES 300 fully lived up to Lexus’ legendary reliability, but all good things come to an end. While Toby visited Mom and Dad in Montreal, they went on test drives.  First stop was at Mazda – one of Team Shum’s favorite brands! Mom found the CX-3 easiest to get in and out.  Dad and Toby test drove the car, … Continue reading Farewell Old Trusty, Hello Zoom Zoom

It took all of 22 months for Theo to get behind the wheel. He has been riding alongside Oliver.  But as Oliver was distracted with something else Theo took over and promptly found the “go pedal”. Another Natural! Continue reading Theo’s First Drive

Toby could not wait to take Kate out on track so he immediately signed up for the Labor Day DE at Virginia International Raceway.  Jonathan and June also signed up to make it a “Team Shum East” outing. Kate was still completely stock when she arrived at VIR.  We gave her racing brake pads and GT3 brake cooling ducts and off she went!  Unfortunately Jonathan’s … Continue reading Kate’s First VIR Outing

After an 18-month hiatus, Toby began to look for his next fun car. After much research and many WhatsApp messages with the rest of Team Shum, Toby found Kate, “Dirty Molly’s Dirty Sister“. Kate is a 2009 Boxster S. She retains a balanced mid-engine layout with track worthy Brembo brakes, but gets the (then) new direct injection “9A1” engine and significantly revised rear suspension.   … Continue reading Kate (Dirty Molly’s Dirty Sister)

For Kenny’s “Bachelor’s Weekend”, Team Shum met in LA for the Porsche Effect exhibit at Petersen Automotive Museum. The exhibit was the most comprehensive outside of The Porsche Museum in Zuffenhausen.  It included many Porsche street cars as well as its most iconic race cars: 550 RS Spyder 906 908 910 917 935 Kremer (K3) 1983 956 (in Toby’s favorite “Newman” livery) 1985 959 Group … Continue reading Porsche Effect – Petersen Automotive Museum

Toby and his family spent his birthday weekend in Berkeley Springs, WV.  In addition to hiking in Cacapon State Park and cooling off in the spring water, they also checked out the local classic car show. As they walked in the They were greeted by a beautifully maintained Hudson Hornet. Toby recognized it immediately as this is Doc Hudson from the movie Cars and Oliver … Continue reading Doc Hudson

Designed by Oliver.  (He got to keep the toy and added to his fleet of McQueens.) Continue reading Lightning McQueen Birthday Cake

Oliver outgrew his crib and we saw there is a car bed for sale on the neighborhood board.  We beat everyone to it and it was an easy move and the big 4Runner barely broke a sweat.  The “race car” stayed in our garage while Oliver was sleep trained.  When he was finally ready (and when we really needed to crib for Theo) we moved … Continue reading Oliver’s Big Boy Bed

  While Mommy and Baby Theo visited Chicago, Daddy and Oliver had their speed thrills. Oliver was finally tall enough to reach the pedals for his tricycle.  After a few quick lessons, Oliver got rolling his tricycle himself!  His giggling was infectious.   Two inches of snows fell overnight and turned our lawn into a sledding slope, so the sled Toby and Mary bought at … Continue reading Need for Speed: Slippery Slope