MBRP Brought a Buzz to Networking-Driven Happy Hour During SEMA Week

Photography: Mike Maravilla

Additional Photography: Neri Valenti

@neri.valenti

  • MBRP is a performance exhaust manufacturer for automotive, truck, and powersports communities.
  • Pit+Paddock (powered by Turn 14 Distribution) partnered with MBRP to provide a well-deserved wind-down activation for SEMA exhibitors and attendees to enjoy.
  • Turn 14 Distribution’s booths, in and adjacent to Central and South halls, respectively, hosted each Happy Hour event to allow a wider variety of guests to enjoy the festivities.
  • Happy Hour guests enjoyed a variety of builds in tandem, including the Turn 14 Distribution x SuperPro Sequoia TRD Pro, Turn 14 Distribution FL5 Civic Type R, and Bilstein’s Unimog.

Confession: I almost immediately want to leave when someone shows up at a bar and drops the trope that it’s “5 o’clock somewhere.” While objectively, that statement is true, it’s not as quirky and fun as people think. And neither is SEMA. I said this last year, but the SEMA Show is a grind despite how bright and shiny it may appear from the outside. Yes, it’s probably a hundred times more entertaining than a conference about book bindings, but ultimately, it’s still work. And any human being can only sustain work for so long.

That’s that same astute observation that Pit+Paddock (powered by Turn 14 Distribution) made a couple of years ago. The solution? Create a Happy Hour event that would help us all take a load off at the end of the day and provide a sanctuary from all of the other superfluous SEMA conversations to mix and mingle with some of the industry’s power players.

MORE THAN NUMBERS

The act of modifying anything is predicated on one thing: improving upon the recipe. This upgrade-driven mentality has been part of MBRP’s lifeblood since its founding. Today, that commitment hasn’t changed; MBRP strives to produce better sound and more performance within an accessible price point. Those quantitative measures are a baseline for a company like MBRP; however, it’s the qualitative things that help set it apart from its competition: the top-tier construction materials, brand integrity, and the “feel good” part of burying the go-pedal after a long day at the office.

MAKE THINGS EXCITING

Indeed, excitement and emotion are crucial ingredients for the aftermarket industry, especially in segments that help amplify those metrics for drivers. It’s why MBRP has been a go-to sponsor for some of our most enthralling projects, like rounds of the Ride with Dai series and the Turn 14 Distribution x R/T Tuning VR30-swapped Nissan Frontier. MBRP has been with us on a lot of good times, so it made sense to bring that flavor to SEMA in a different way.

THE MAIN STAGE

The first day of SEMA brought people into the conference halls in troves to take in all the new things every vendor, manufacturer, or distributor had to offer. To capitalize on this—and the attention it’d help bring MBRP—we set up our Happy Hour at Turn 14 Distribution’s Central Hall mainstay for Tuesday afternoon.

Timing was also on our side. We slotted the MBRP Happy Hour between an autograph signing session from Dai Yoshihara and a live drawing of the E91 GTS Tribute that Precision Sport Industries (PSI) built for us last year. With T14 current and prospective customers, build sponsors, and E91 fans congregated in Turn 14 Distribution’s booth, everyone got a small taste of the excitement, sales, and press one of our halo builds could generate.

IN THE ELEMENTS

For the rest of the week, we shifted the MBRP-supported Happy Hour outside—to Turn 14 Distribution’s truck booth outside of South Hall—to bolster the fanfare that our off-road-centric collection was amassing. Mercifully, the uncharacteristically cold and windy Las Vegas weather warmed up during the afternoon—just enough to make enjoying a cold beverage amongst company an enjoyable way to close each day of the conference.

As ever, Pit+Paddock’s (powered by Turn 14 Distribution) massive effort during SEMA was to bring the industry together and put Turn 14 Distribution’s name on a bigger map. As the sun set on the final day of the show, as with it, the final afternoon of our Happy Hour, we could rest assured knowing we did exactly that.

Thank you to MBRP for supporting our SEMA Happy Hour pop-up and we look forward to continuing our strong partnership effort in 2025.


OFFICIAL PARTNERS

OFFICIAL PARTNERS