Rfuerst911sc,
Nice working with you again.. You've been on my "waiting list" for 8 months now, so your turn is coming up soon.
You are the first person to have visited my new, rather top secret facility, that's not open to the public at any time other than during my training sessions...
Your statement that referred to this piece of Heaven as "a Fortress of solitude" is exactly right. This is a place where all my developmental efforts will be relocated to, as well as training. I will also design, assemble and install the engines that I personally build here at this facility. I have to focus, and the time that I spend here is all alone, I have no employees here, and there's nothing but dead silence out here in the country.
My production facility will stay in the same place that its always been. We have grown so much that my R&D lab was over ran by engine assembly positions, and I can't hold classes there now, because when classes are going on their can't be any noise. With a backlog so hefty I had to get the classes closer to Atlanta, so I could buy a shuttle bus and move people myself, and they don't need to rent a car, or pay insane "tourist trap" rates at hotels in Cleveland Ga, where the old shop is located.
I also had to stay way out away from civilization, too. I make a lot of noise. This new facility is a win- win- win, as I can now develop uninterrupted, I can hold one class per month without clogging up the shop schedule, and I can work alone again, getting more developments proven, and to market faster.
I've been working at the production facility 2 days a week, carrying out Quality Control, and testing new engines before the vehicles are shipped. The rest of the time I have been building this facility... Since July. A few of my friends framed it up, and I paid someone to do the electrical and drywall, but outside of that most everything I have done from scratch. Its just over 5,300 Sq ft, 2 stories. The lower portion houses my engine assembly clean room (still finishing now) as well as a service bay where I'll do installs and etc, and also has room for labs, along with storage for 14 of my personal cars.
The upstairs is Presentation rooms, more room to set up engine assembly jigs, and it also has an engine assembly room that will be used for classes. I built in a big kitchen area so we don't have to have meals catered in.
Here are some pics. It'll be 100% at the end of the coming week, and I can move in my tools and get ready for the February M96 Engine Assembly (102) class. Then we can get ready for the March M96/97 Engine Performance class, the 9a1 DFI class in April, and the Cayenne Engine Class in May... Then comes the M96/ M97 Enthusiast classes in June. Having a completely dedicated area for my R&D as well as training is something I have needed for a long time. This is a different kind of place, where you'll find lamps built from IMS shafts, vanities built from tool boxes (soon to be decked with used IMS bearings under glass) and all sorts of other unique things that only a crazed engine builder working in the middle of no where can think of..
There's no phone... There's no internet... There's no cell signal, and I don't even have a desk here. When I have classes I'll enable the Wifi, turn on the cell booster and enter the 21st Century, as soon as the class is over, it gets turned back off again.
