McFly Motorsports

Vacations are neither fun nor relaxing when one spends the entire time driving. I present for your consideration the following.

First, there is the driving to your destination and the long wait sitting in your sweltering car at the U.S.-Canada border. Then, once you arrive, there's the drive all around town looking for your hotel and a nice, rat-free place to eat and perhaps relieve one's bowels. Finally, there's that long, 6-hour trip back home. Yes, driving can utterly suck the fun out of a vacation.

With one exception.

Returning home from Cedar Point, Suz and I made a pit-stop in Kent, Ohio. Nestled amongst other shops in an industrial strip sat an oasis of awesomnity: McFly Motorsports.

The owner/proprietor, Josh, who builds high performance engines for DeLoreans, was expecting me. I spoke to him earlier and was stopping by to pick up a part for my DMC-12. When we arrived, Josh welcomed us with open arms... and an offer I couldn't refuse.

The offer? To drive a high-performance, modified DeLorean.

Now when I say modified, I'm not talking a stinking little K&N air filter that adds 1 horsepower. (Okay, it's got that too) But I mean headers, exhaust, ignition and cams. And this was the "mild" performance upgrade offered by Josh.

This particular setup was worth about 70 extra horsepower. And if you know DeLoreans, that means a healthy output of about 200 hp. It was dynoed at 162 hp at the wheels and torque levels jumped almost equally. This much power in a reasonably light 2700-lb DeLorean translated to a very exciting driving experience.

I eagerly jumped in the driver's seat while Josh hopped in the other side. We pulled our doors closed and headed off into the countryside. This D was also lowered 2 inches with an Eibach spring set, seen here, specifically designed for the stainless wonder. I noticed immediately how much easier the car was to drive, and how much more civilized the handling was.

Acceleration was definitely brisk, despite the fact I couldn't bring myself to mash the pedal to the floor. And part of that reason was the sound of the exhaust. I'm not going to tiptoe around it. The stainless DMCH Stage I exhaust, seen here, was loud. According to Josh, the sound reverberates within the headers and can't really be muffled. It was too much for me, and takes away from the car's Euro roots. However, I can imagine many an owner out there revelling in the burbling, muscle-car sound.

We spent about 90 minutes visiting Josh at his fledgling company. But I can tell from the quality of his work and the kindness of his manner that he is going to be a staple of the DeLorean community for a long time to come.

McFlyMotorsports.com