Man have I ever been slacking when it comes to this site, but I’m back and the 2010 driving season is well underway, so here’s the scoop to date…

The first outing of the season was St. LAC’s traditional test and tune on April 18th. A few of us convoyed down to the Picton airfield that morning for a day of autox fun with our St. LAC brothers and sisters. I was running the same Hankook R-S3 (225/45R15) tires I ran all last season and things were fine. No big surprises except for the normal “rattle the car to death” issues that Picton reveals. In this case, the blow-off valve rattled off, then the throttle body inlet pipe did the same. It was a test and tune, remember? I didn’t pay much attention to times as I was more concerned with finding all the clamps I hadn’t quite tightened enough. Big positive? The brakes remained firmly attached to the car! (more…)

Finally got it in! I’m in the lowest notches and its plenty low. I’ve lost some fore-aft travel, but its plenty for me. It’s good to be 5′-6″ tall.

It was supposed to be an ice race, but the recent stretch of warm weather meant it was more of a slush/snow/ice/water/gravel race. Regardless, it was an absolutely amazing time!

During the morning, Protege2886, Aero, and I piloted Caboose (#33) through three single-car practice sessions around the snow-x track at Capital City Speedway. Caboose was riding on brand spanking new Continental Extreme WinterContact tires and the difference was remarkable — we actually had some control!
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Event 1 took place on January 16. Shawn did a write-up here. Event 2 was today, but I skipped it on account of being sick.

Holy Shit. Schumi is back: Schumacher signs with Brawn-Mercedes!

Tonight, Jeff and I agreed on a name for our new NX 1600. After careful reflection, and in consideration of its colour, condition, and mission, we have christened the little NX, Private Caboose. Yes, we named him after the lovable, if idiotic, Blue soldier from Rooster Teeth Productions’ hit series, Red vs. Blue.

After a few evenings of scouring the net, Protege2886 and I have procured a 1993 Nissan NX1600 for the purposes of improving our winter driving skills through participation in the MCO 2009-10 SnowX series. Yes, the car count is now 2.5 for our household, but this one won’t be insured or plated and cost us a grand total of $350 dollars, so $175 each. Her suspension, steering, and engine seem good and solid, aside from an exhaust leak that we will have to patch. Other than that, there is some rust from the trailing edge of the doors and through the rear wings, but nothing too bad. Remember, only $350.  Electrics work fine, T-top doesn’t leak, and interior is clean and even has a really cool electronic dash.

The car is currently still at the former owner’s house. All we need to do now is coordinate trailering the car to our rental property, complete the basic prep work (interior stip, check brakes, etc) and then wait for snow, at which time, we’ll be trailering her to track at Capital City Speedway where she’ll spend the winter. Needless to say, we’ll be begging the other partner at bdubracing.com (Shawn) for help with the hauling.

Here are some pics:

Thanks to James & Tracey for letting the conehead crew back into their home for Festivus 2009. There was Rockband on Wii, (more…)

While I stood in line at registration back in August 2008 for my first ever autocross event, I was pretty sure I was going to like this driving quickly through cones thing, but I never imagined that first day among the cones was going to be the gateway it has since proved to be. I never thought that within three months of that first event that I would own a second car and that I would be purchasing it primarily to be an autocross toy. I didn’t envision spending countless hours under that car (more…)

It was our first time to an MCO banquet and we picked a good one — the Club’s 60th Anniversary Bash. There were race cars on display, racing sims set-up, and tons of MCO members from all disciplines.

We sat with Don, his wife Marilyn, and J-P at a table with a few other folks I didn’t know. The conversation was good, the food was great, and the atmosphere was fun an relaxing. Then the awards came! (more…)