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.

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…)

Couldn’t have asked for a better afternoon! Sunny, eight or nine degress C, and not a lot of on traffic. Ginger made it clear she would have preferred 94 octane fuel, but she still managed to hit 177kph on the back straight. For my part, I think I drove the best I’ve ever driven, taking five to six seconds off my best laps from October 18. Data logged most of the day and yes, cooling mods will be needed for 2010.

Back on the 18th, I spent a couple of hours on Shannonville’s “Long Track” layout (much more fun than the Fabi lay-out). I’m happy to report that the Big Enchilada sure made a difference in horsepower. Back in June, pre-mods, Ginger topped-out at 145kph on the long back straight. This time around, she hit 180kph — a 35kph increase is pretty huge, I would say.

Another interesting comparison was that in June, I was taking the turn at end of that straight at between 110 and 120kph, which I’m told is pretty respectable. This time around, the higher approach speed, coupled with my braking much later, appears to have driven me to brake more than needed, thus reducing my cornering speeds to the 90 to 100kph range.

My last outing with Ginger will be November 1, again at Shannonville. I’ll be using the time to work on that corner entry, which might be even more interesting if my new boost controller profile increases that terminal velocity even more.

October 17th was our 11th wedding anniversary and we celebrated with a weekend-long excursion to the Kingston/Prince Edward County region that culminated in a day of driving adventures. (more…)