I sit beside Toner Creek on a bench, regarding building 082, or as I call it, The Crystal Palace. It’s chilly (!) in the shade today. A light Northerly breeze combined with a persistent cold front–we had a record low of 53 degrees this morning.
Lunch today is a banana and some ABC-123’s…yep I’m on the Dave Ramsey diet again.
Decided last night to plow some more money into the E30. As Whitney said, “It’s something you love. Enjoy it!” So, I’ve planned:
or “Man, do I need a swaybar”
Six runs on a ~70 second course where you hit 60mph before a 10mph right-hand hairpin. YEEEEEEHAW.
It was a good day, except: I came in second, I forgot to pack lunch, and I forgot to pack sunscreen. I’ve a nice beet-red thing going on on my arms, legs, and face.
I think a front swaybar (at minimum) is in my future, if not a full STX-compliant wheel & tire package. I’m a tad tired of playing on (and destroying) my all-seasons.
Jeff Roberts - Apr 1, 2008
Wow, I understood like 25% of that, but the happy happy joy joy I got :-)
You win your first event in 2 years
In the cold, in the rain, the Beamer was awesome. I set the tires at 35psi front and 40psi rear, and let ’er tailslide around the 4 on-course sweepers.
This was CKR’s first points event of the year, and it was an inspired and safe course design, using the small dump-truck training pad to the utmost. Braindump of me out there:
_
First gear, rev to 4k…sidestep the clutch. Okay, wheelhop, wheelhop…HOOK! Pick-up your slalom cone, now BANG second. Both hands on the wheel. Floor it into the braking zone for the first left hand sweeper. Brake, okay now crank your neck left to pick-up the second cone on the slalom. WOOOO…feel that rear come around.
A: Cold turkey.
First you realize that you have no spiritual, familial, or financial ability to do said hobby. Realize that it’s costing you money you don’t have, destroying the only car you have to get your butt to work. Moreover, understand that you don’t have the time or funds to compete at the (obsessive) level to which you’re accustomed. Realize there are more important things in this life and what comes after it to occupy your (limited) time. You have a son to raise and food to put on the table, and the coming years will likely be harder than even your history-savvy brain can imagine.
It felt so weird not typing ‘…in the MINI’ just now. My old car’s gone, and my old ways of autocross are gone.
Well, 55 more horsepower and rear wheel drive do NOT make for a faster car, at least not without magical, R-compound race tires. There were some great moments though:
- Being second in class, despite having 100 fewer hp than one of the cars (Mazadaspeed 6) and no race tires (E36 323i w/Kumho Victoracers)
The Pup, my one and only, my truest automotive love, my daily driver, my autocross mount, my introduction to all things BMW, is up for sale.
Rationale
I’m trying to cash-out the equity I have in it, pay off CC’s and Whitney’s Intrigue (“Sharkey”) and get something fun, but lots less pricey. Full coverage insurance + $600/year in property taxes suck. I really don’t want to begin the new year living AT my means the way I have been. When you’re a Dave Ramsey follower, and a Christian in general, there comes a time where you have to make hard decisions–decisions about following God and securing the lives of your family.
I call this blog Harry’s Ruminations, because I think alot, and right now, I’m obsessed with how much things suck and how little I can do to stop them from sucking.
First, let’s get it out of the way: I lost yesterday. I had a good, fun day, but I lost, finishing 3rd out of 6 drivers. Interestingly, all of us were on r-compound tires, so this isn’t a bad showing, and I actually lead the class for most of the runs, but I never improved on my 63.7 time, so I got beat by a 62.4 on the last round, then knocked out of 2nd by a 63.4.
Bella reports that the MINI’s current tires are about worn-out (well, the 3 that are original…had to buy a new one when I took it to Cincy a few weeks ago), so I’m looking around.
Rather than buy another set for the 15x5.5" rims I’ve got on the car, I can do this:
Get a set of Kosei K1 Racing wheels, 15x7"
And the wrap them with a set of Kumho Ecsta 711’s in 215/55R15:
After rising with the sun both days this weekend and working outside both 95-degree days, Monday finds me exhausted. Case in point: I staggered into work, broke out our fresh-roasted coffee beans and made coffee. Only problem is, I put the RAW BEANS into the coffee filter. Thankfully, I realized this before turning the machine on.
This weekend’s theme was exceeding expectations. I expected to have a light day of packing on Saturday. Instead, my whole apartment is packed and cleaned, and 75% of it is already moved to my new house.
I won my SCCA class for the first time since Last May :-) And I beat my arch-rival.
Here’s a pic to illustrate just how hard life is for the outside edge of the front tires of an AutoX MINI;
My Mini weighs ~2500lb in autocross trim. I’d say 2000 lbs of that is on that right front tire in this sweeper. I need some CAMBER dang it!
Mark Rivera designed a great, fast course at the LFUCG dump truck training pad, and this time I brought the MINI instead of the GTO.
I was #6 on PAX. Had a really good day, in a 3-way battle for the HS trophy. I kept getting better throughout the day, starting with a 41.2 and ending with a 39.8xx. Only .18 seconds separated first from 3rd :)
Well, I ran into Mike while taking Patrick to the car dealership, and he said he’d price me the install of a new clutch, pressure plate, throwout bearing, lightweight flywheel, AND 4 shocks to replace the worn-out units on my MINI, and only charge me 10 hrs of labor. Plus, he only charges $45/rate-hr for labor.
:-) Cars. They giveth, and yet, they taketh away.
Muhahahaha: link
(WARNING: 15 MB download)
Check out the F-Stock results here
Thor crushes the nearest competitor by 2+ seconds on ALL SEASON STREET TIRES :-)
Dang, it was fun.
Thanks to my friend Ben Pullen (“3WheeledWonder”) for some vids (Windows Media req’d):
The second one was taken on my fastest run of the day, a 41.1xx, which was good for #4 on PAX. I still needed another .762 seconds to get Scott though, grrrrrr…
Overall Results: link
***
Ah, what a glorious day. Started with a pitiful 44.xxx time, which I cut down to 42.075, then 41.7. I got over-agressive on the next run, and caught a 42.6, then had my best run of the day: 41.1xx
Ah, a whole 48+ hrs w/o working. This weekend thing is great!
Friday, I drove to get Whitney from Louisville and we went out to eat at Smokey Bones BBQ. Awful. Contacts clouded over, and I blinked my way in Thor back to G’town.
Saturday, we once again missed a mtg with our (now former) pastor, Dwight, but we did get to spend quality time with two old pals, Jamie and Andy both of whom work at Z103 here in Lexington. I enjoyed it much more than I anticipated; their house is awesome, and they received us with open arms. Then, Whitney and I went to see Revenge of the Sith together. She really enjoyed the movie, and intuited this: There was a Sith Lord who could influence the midichloreans to create life AND to keep someone alive (he was Darth Sidious’s master). Perhaps it was HE who influenced them to impregnate Shmi with Anakin, setting the whole prophesy in motion.
No races for CKRSCCA at Commonwealth Stadium this year.
Basically, all little lots where you can have only a 25 second course, or lots where it’s sealed asphalt (EKU)
Ugh…
