Emboldened by his success, Jorge moved his attention to the interior. He swapped the Corbeaus for Recaros and eliminated the rear seat to fit a Weichers roll bar. "Pat Cosgrove (et 2/06) and I were the only ones doing the motorsport theme at the time," he laughed. So once again, Jorge was riding the crest of a new trend that's still going strong.
When the rear seat was removed, Jorge created a false floor from wood. Below it he placed a 12" JL Audio W6 subwoofer in the spare wheel well. "It's covered by carpet, so passengers often wonder where the sound's coming from," he told us.
Recessed behind the front seats is an Optima battery. "It has side terminals," Jorge laughed when we questioned the unused terminals on top of the battery. "Everybody asks that! But I can use the top terminals to jump start the car if the main battery dies."
By '05 it was time to focus on the motor again. He started with a supercharger kit from C2 Motorsports, opting for the polished Vortech housing. He had all the brackets, bolts and pipes chromed before installing them.
At the same time, he contracted Perfect Polishing in Newark, NJ to create one of the car's standout features: its steel engine cover.
Cutting off the original cover, sheet steel was shaped, welded and ground down to create this incredibly smooth finish. The cover was then chromed for a lustrous shine and bolted to the inlet manifold through three holes in the front. Apparently it took two weeks to create but it was time well spent.
Right now, the highly polished motor is running a 12 lb pulley on the supercharger and producing in the realm of 270whp. However, Jorge plans to fit a 15psi pulley next year, along with a FMIC, to really get the VR6 humming. He also intends to pull the fenders and fit bigger lips on his Abt rims, which will also get color-matched centers. At present, the Abt A9 wheels are 17x8" all round, but he'll be looking for a staggered offset in the future.
These new plans mean Jorge and his VR6 should keep winning trophies and bringing him enormous satisfaction. "I've won trophies every year I've owned the car," he said. "It's either First Place, Best of Show or Best Paint.
"I don't want to sell it either. I'll never get back what I've put into it and now that I have a baby on the way, I want to pass it on to him if it's a boy. I'm just going to keep building, keep winning and keep dumping money into it!"