From their site:
Road Race Engineering by e-mail
PLEASE! - be sure your return E-mail address is valid !!! We have written many responses only to find out the return address is "not valid". A few of them we have found a combo from what was sent that appeared to work, but others we had to give up trying to send our response. The customer then probably assumes a very negative opinion of us -- and there is no way to let them know what happened.
Guidelines:
We receive a large volume of mail everyday (from various sources), so PLEASE put "To ROAD RACE", or something like that, in the SUBJECT field of your E-mail.
We will NOT be able to answer all the mail. PLEASE phrase your questions to be as specific as possible, and include all relevant specs needed (year, make, model, mods done, driving (street, rally, road-race, drag-race, etc.)). What we have found is that a very reasonable question can be asked, but we need MUCH more info. This leads to many back-and-forth mailings, that require a fair amount of keyboard time, that all could have been done in less than 2 MINUTES on the phone! (and done better/more complete). Short yes and no questions are usually answered the same day. Keep it simple. Story problems and essay questions can take up to a week to write, if at all. The more time we spend building race cars, the less we have for long answers. We read all the mail and check it several times a day. If you do not get an answer with in a few days, send a simple reminder. Some mail does slip through the cracks, cranky reminders usually get the delete button.
We can not do justice (via E-Mail) to questions like : "I want my '92 to be faster, what do you recommend". This is a long discussion, even on the phone. These will normally receive a "please review sections --- and ---- in the website", and then "call us" , response. Please use all the resources listed on our Tech Tips Pages and also at Club DSM and VFAQ.com. You will find that more often than not, someone has already been where you are going.
Parts Orders can be done by mail, fax or e-mail using the "Parts Order Form"
For credit card usage and shipping information see: "Credit Card Usage"
General Mail should be addressed to :
[email protected]
JIC suspension/StopTech orders
JIC suspension/StopTech quotes
JIC suspension/StopTech appointments
JIC suspension/StopTech tech questions:
[email protected]
To make an appointment for shop service or for a parts install price quote:
[email protected]
For major engine building appointments or major engine building tech questions:
[email protected]
For Volk or Gram Lights wheel orders:
[email protected] or
[email protected]
Road Race Engineering by Telephone
Bwahahahaha, you said "Telephone" (Just Kidding!) We now have four lines. That should help some. The best time to call is between noon and 7:00pm, California time, the hours we are technically open. Non-standard we know, but given our location (Pacific coast) and our local customer base, we have found this works best. Guys need to have a real job to pay for all these mods. It gives the people that drive from all over So Cal to reach us; to get off work, let traffic cool down, and stop by the shop in the evening. Bad time to call is from 3:00 to 4:30 or so since we are getting things ready to ship. UPS comes at 5:00. Since everyone knows we answer the phones between noon and 3:00, the phone pretty much rings non stop then. We do what we can to answer it when we are not talking to someone else. After four rings it goes to voice mail, we have a chance to check it only once a day so you will most likely be called back later in our day. Many people we call back we get an answer machine or because of the time difference, they are off work. Leave a number where we can reach you between 5 and 7pm California time or at least let us know what is a good time to call.
After 4:30 or so people start getting off work and stopping by to talk, have their cars looked at, pick up parts, drop off cars. We are located in one of the larger metropolitan areas in the US, and we ALWAYS have walk-in customers here. If we are all tied up talking to people that took the trouble to drive here, we may not be able to get the phone. The So-Cal DSM kiddies hang out until we close the doors after midnight. When the colleges are on break, it's pretty much the So-Cal club house here.
When you do get someone to answer the phone, the first thing everyone does is to ask for Mike. "I must speak to Mike, some magazine told me he is the guy" If I am not helping someone else, I'll get it. If you get someone else, give them a chance to do their job. I could get anyone to hand me the phone all day, I got these guys because they know their DSMs. They were all customers once and have all been where you are going. Between them they have personally broke every part on their cars twice and had to fix it themselves after fixing your cars all day. Ask them your question ! If it is over their head, they can interrupt me and get you an answer. Some guys will call 5 times asking only for me when anyone else here could have helped them.
E-mail works good as a way to let me know what you are after. We have DSL and the computer sits on my desk and is on all day. We check it several times a day. Essay questions life stories and story problems can take a week to answer. The best questions are ones that I can go through and answer yes, no, $100, Thursday, 25psi... We get 60+ e-mails a day that need to be answered, I have time for about 30 to 40 a day during the week. When we are racing that weekend things get pretty backed up.
Road Race Engineering In Person
We are open for walk in customers from noon till 7:00 for parts pick up. It is best to set up an appointment if you will be needing advise or having your car looked at. Before the UPS truck comes at around 5:00 we are extremely busy getting the shipping ready for the day, fixing cars that were previously scheduled, and answering the phone. Do not stop by before 5:00 with out an appointment unless you are the most patient person in the world or just need to pick up a few parts and run. Check ahead to see if we have the parts in stock. For driving directions, see MapQuest
Thanks for being patient,
Mike Welch