In the city of Rochester, about an hour from where SFCN is based, there lies the "Little Speed Shop" (No pun intended). It’s owned by a great couple who we met at the awesome early winter installment of Rochester's Cars and Coffee event. Despite the name of this shop, the reputation of the cars that were present was anything but little. To list a few: Ferrari 488 Pista, BAC Mono, Audi RS3 LMS, and plenty of Porsches. The LSS as we’ll be calling it, specializes in German cars such as Porsche, BMW, Mercedes, and Audi, although they work on many more brands than this.
One of the most important parts of this show was the fact that they did it in the middle of winter, which no show nor shop in Buffalo does. So if you want a show that has the coolest stuff year round, come here, it's worth your time.
The owners of The LSS are Jillian and Kevin, and they were so kind and welcoming to all of us that showed up. There were free donuts, coffee, stickers and license plate frames. With shirts, mugs, and hoodies available for sale (couldn't help ourselves and we had to pick up a couple of hoodies for the SFCN crew).
After a struggle (I'll spare you the pictures of me loading myself into the car), I had the opportunity to get behind the wheel of their Porsche Cayman race car.
This gem has been raced multiple times at our local world class race track Watkins Glen International, and is decorated in the highly memorable Martini livery like the 935's of old.
The Cayman was a little tight for me, as the seats were specially designed for its owner and driver. Thankfully, the steering wheel comes off, which by the way, this was my first time taking off a steering wheel in a car! It was too cool.
Back to the rest of the lineup there. The Pista was sitting on a lift looking like it had been detailed within a hour of our arrival. Compared to all the local cars that people arrived to the event in that were encased in a hard casing of New York road salt, the Pista in its red paint was a welcoming sight as we entered the shop and show area. Past the Ferrari and Cayman, lay the legendary BAC Mono, one of very few ever made.
This is a real legend, with exposed suspension, open-air cockpit and no windshield. This rocket has a better power-to-weight ratio than a Bugatti Veyron.
Probably the most important part of the show was the people we met, some of which are becoming the people who I look up to for following their passions. Two of which were photographers named Bert and Jasmine, these two saw me right when I walked in, while I was taking the very pictures you're seeing in this article. Bert is from Huston Texas, and Jasmine is from the area. Bert is a car and model photographer while Jasmine loves motorcycles and all the photographs amazing cars with the unique street art in the Rochester area.
They both have different takes on cars and photography, but their knowledge and experience are incredible.
They gave me tips for the future and have awesome stories to tell. Look for interviews with them soon. Go follow Bert's Insatgram @moodlitimages. Another great person we met was Tanzil Sami. He had his own story to tell. He's 22, going to Rochester Institute of Technology and is the best realistic car artist I've gotten to meet in person. I ran into him while he was drawing the RS3 LMS that was present at the show, you can follow him @tanzilsami on Instagram and check out his drawings and maybe get one for yourself! Many meaningful connections were made at the show today, these are important people, and I will remember them as those who inspire me to keep doing more.
All in all, today was a great day filled with cool cars and awesome people. The next time you're visiting Rochester, go check out The Little Speed Shop, and follow them on Instagram for the best updates and the coolest stuff going on in the Rochester car scene.
Like their tag line states they are helping to "Maintain Passion for Automobiles". Thank you LSS and Rochester, SFCN will be back!
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