And these are the cars of our life-Chrissy's list

Mike and I always talk about our dream cars.  It became more of a topic because of all the money in Florida made most obvious by that $250k+ car in a Sarasota parking lot. 

So, I'm bored since we're in the car and I'm not the driver (DUH!!).  So, I figured I would list my dream cars and allow for Mike to post the cars I may have missed or that we cannot agree on.  

The cars are in no particular order because that considers brain cells I do not wish to expend.  And quite frankly, if any one of these were to come into my possession I'm certainly not to decline if provided in the wrong order or even got the color wrong.  Also, it doesn't include cars that we own because obviously that's a dream fulfilled.

Keep in mind that I will most likely start to use the same adjectives because those few words basically explain why its on the list.

1. E46 BMW M3:  this is undoubtedly the best M3 of all time.  Power, agility and class are just a few of its attributes.  If I had my way, it would be totally blacked out.  I'd accept it as a convertible but would rather have the sun roof because the convertible I want [back] is on this list too.
2. 2008 E88 BMW 135i Cabriolet:  I want the one we custom-built back.  I want to put our country stickers back on it (yes, I still have those).  I want to drive it on the tracks.  One day, when there is available coin, I will run a Craig's list ad and it will be mine again.
3.  Lamborghini Adventador:  It's a gorgeous, fast and powerful beast of a performance car.  And why not? This is the dream list after all.  This car I want in red.
4. Volkswagen Phaeton: With its W-12 and awesome appearance, this all wheel drive dub, this is THE Volkswagen super car.  I would also accept the V10 TDI version of this car.  This beast needs to be completely blacked out.
5. Volkswagen Passat Wagen: This is what wet my pallet for the wagens.  Any engine will do.  I think I would like this in gunmetal.
6. Audi R8: Another speedy, fun car.  And its just hot!  I'll take this in black too.
7. Saturn Sky/Opel GT: This American sports car (yes, it was manufactured in Delaware, not in Germany by Opel) was the last hoorah for the Saturn brand, even if it was underpowered.  It had gorgeous lines and had potential to rank with other American supercars (after you stick a turbo or a bigger, better tuned engine in it).  This car will be silver also.
8. 2000-whatever Pontiac GTO: There is one at work that I see when I work normal-people hours.  It sounds beautiful with its throaty exhaust note.  It was the last super car from Pontiac even if it was imported from the GM Australian brand, Holden.  I will take the one at work because it is blacked out.
9. New SS: It's only sold for police patrol cars but it's also a very awesome reincarnation of a classic.  And it's rear wheel drive.  Not white is the color of choice.
10. Corvette: I'm excited for the new one due out next year.  Fast, powerful and the ultimate of American driving machines.  I like it in orange.
11. BMW 2002: This is not a BMW built in the year 2002.  2002 is the model.  I took an interest in this '60s bimmer because it's a BMW enthusiast car.  It's a treat to see one because this car is few and far between in numbers, unless you're in NJ.  It was powerful for its time.  I think the only color it comes in is orange.
12. Cadillac CTS-V:  I like this in the wagon but will gladly take it in the coupe.  Actually, can't say that I would mind having both in black. 
13. Ferrari California: Italian super car and I want it for the same reasons as the first Italian on the list.  And it would also be in red.
14. Tesla S: It's the cool and more powerful electric vehicle that looks good too.  Not too sure about my preferred color on this car.
15. Jaguar xJ: Not too much of a Jag person but this happened.  It's sleek and fast Jaguar done good with this one.  Black is the color for this. (Because the animal is black)
16. Porsche Carerra 4s: Another fast German.  It was always a treat to see this on the tracks over there.  I think black is appropriate for this too.
17. Nissan GTR: Again an awesome super car but this time from the far east.  Silver to compliment the carbon fiber details.

I think that is all of them.  I hopefully will be driving after the dinner pit stop so Mike can provide his take on the list.

"Shut it down....shut them all down"

My degree is in computer science from a (at least at the time) top-20 school in the nation for that discipline.  I went into government service knowing that, while I would never achieve the salary I could on the outside, it would at least be countered by job stability.  These last couple of years have been a trying time.  Government employees have been made out to be overpaid devils with pay freezes and furloughs, but at least there were always last minute deals that came through to keep things chugging.   It has gradually been chipping away at that feeling of stability though, and today is the last straw in that arena.  I made a promise that if a shutdown actually occurred, I would prep my resume and at least start looking around for other opportunities.  It is now time to put my money where my mouth is, so this evening I will start writing that up.

I love the job I am doing right now, and I have a great group of coworkers, but at this point, I feel I must at least look around to see what other opportunities exist rather than just chugging along as a pawn of Congress.  Will I leave?  I say the odds are still low at this point (I guess I am a masochist), but I need to know what is out there, and I am not alone in this feeling.

The government keeps harping on how we need to hire and retain the best and brightest, but really it is headed down a path of only keeping those happy to suck down a paycheck while taking up space, and those with impostor syndrome.   I place the blame for this shutdown squarely on the Republican party, my party, because they wouldn't even pass a continuing resolution without throwing poison pills in there.  I have little hope of what will happen when it comes time for the debt ceiling debate in just a couple of weeks.

I am going to take a co-workers advice and once my resume is together, I will attach it along with a letter explaining my displeasure to my representative in the house, Andy Harris.  I will also be sending a link to those post to him via Twitter.  Congress needs to know that their actions have consequences that affect their constituents and their own ability to get re-elected. There actions also greatly impact our ability as a nation to hire and retain strong talent which will only lead to further erosion of the view of our nations ability to serve its citizens as our quality of employees would decline.

I guess this was weighing on my mind enough while I slept that I work up in the middle of the night to find out if a shutdown was happening and then motivated me to write this blog post.  So, thanks Congress for making me sleep deprived.

Day 1 of our 4-day break

So frigging frustrated right now.  This will be a rather lengthy post so be prepared.  There will be a lot of capitalizations to hopefully express just the extent of said frustration.

Mike made a RESERVATION with U-Haul online.  There, they request the make and model of the vehicle you're using to tow said trailer.  They also request the details of the car that is being put on the trailer.  So of course he did exactly that:  2002 Ford F-150, extended cab 8-cylinder gas engine, 8,000lb towing capacity.  Then he needed to advise what the truck, with the trailer attached, would be hauling which is a 2007 5-cylinder, 2-door Volkswagen Rabbit.  With all of these details,  U-haul approved the reservation and said we'd see an email with pick up location in 2-3 business days.

On Friday, everything was in order to retrieve the trailer on Sunday.  Okay!  All the details are settled... Sweet.  In just about 48-hours we'd be in transit to Alton, VA!

Saturday after work, we knew what needed to be accomplished so that when we woke up we would be mostly ready to go!  The truck needed an oil change and we needed to load all of the crap that was making the trip with us: full set of wheels and brakes for the Rabbit (because racecar), camping gear, helmets per track protocol, camping chairs and a canopy to put over the makeshift "residence" for our weekend.

Around 9pm we were done!  Exhausted from being up for the last 19 hours, we went to bed.  The only details remaining were packing a weekend bag, gathering medications, packing the cooler, and of course sleep!

Mike woke me up around 9am.  I was still pretty groggy so I sorta took my time, eating breakfast, catching up on some DVR shows and packing the backpack.

By about 10 we were on the road and around 11 we were at the U-haul location.  This is where the frustration/aggravation/whatever-other-synonym-you-would-like-to-use began.

While Mike was doing whatever it is you do when renting the trailer, I fueled up.  After that I sat waiting for about 20 minutes, so I decided to go in and see what was going on.  When I went in, Mike explained to me that the worker pulled up the reservation and said that the trailer we RESERVED would not worked with the vehicles we had.  The guy was more than helpful and even tried putting in an older Rabbit (which were considerably lighter) with an F-250 or F-350 and that still didn't work.  Eventually, he made the car being transported a Geo Metro being towed by our truck and it finally worked.  So around noon we were ready to load the car.

So the trouble with the Rabbit is that because it is lowered, it is a little more difficult to make it go up ramps.  The one helpful thing (at least at that time) we forgot was some wood to put under the wheels.  So over to the hardware store we went. 

With wood, car, and truck in place we could finally get this loaded up.  The first tito me the Rabbit made it on the trailer, we discovered that the trailer didn't attach to the hitch properly so the front of it went da couple of feet off the ground.  So back off the trailer it went.  When that was all figured out, we literally ran into another issue: the lip the front wheels had to get over.  So back to the hardware store to get more wood to put in front of the tires.  At this point I didn't know whether to laugh or cry so I did both.  My hunger also didn't help with the confused emotions.  But finally the car was on the trailer and secured.  This was around 1. 

Finally on the road we started our way out 50 to 95 south.  After a couple of hours, we stopped to top up the truck, get ice for the cooler and use the restrooms.  So while Mike was filling up, he noticed that the brake connector from the truck to the trailer were no longer connected.  As he tried to put them back together he saw that apparently there was too much slack so it had been dragging on the ground and got damaged.  That meant we needed to find a auto parts store. 

In Dale City, he put on a new 4-pin connector.  When he finished that, we were then able to get back on the road. Finally, things were good.  Except my cell phone was not charging so I wound up having to hold the USB in place for the last 2 hours of the trip.  So basically, I've been righting this blog post intermintently over the last 6 hours.

Finally we got to VIR around 9pm.  We started with pulling the car off of the trailer which actually resulted in damage to the front splitter.  But the car was unloaded so I suppose that counts for something.  Next was getting our accommodations set up.

Thakfully, it's not raining like it was the last time we camped so while it was dark, we got the tent up pretty quickly.  Once that was all done I went about getting the mattress blown up.  Well to add to the frustration, the batteries were on their last leg.  So right now we're laying on the ground with a little bit of padding beneath us since the batteries gave up before it was fully done.

So  that pretty much sums up our day.  I really hope tomorrow will be better.  Right now, I need to get to sleep.  I'm so exhausted.  Good night!

My affinity for car work

Two different people have asked me fairly recently how I learned how to perform car maintenance and repairs.  One of those two people who asked was my father, so that tells you it wasn't him I learned from.  My step-dad was handy with tools, but mostly for wood-working (he used to make wooden toys to sell at craft fairs when I was a kid).  I had access to tools, but no one to show me what I was doing, so I was on my own.

First, a bit of background.  From early on, I liked to tinker and take things apart.  I used to take apart GI Joes and swap body parts just for grins.  In fact, I took apart many of my toys.  In Middle School, I decided to take apart the computer I had at the time and built my own in high school, so obviously I was always fascinated with how things work and taking them apart.

I started small.  I picked up a Haynes Manual for my 86 Cutlass Supreme Coupe and started with the simple stuff.  Oil changes, and changing the fuel filter.  That is about all the repair I did on that car.  Then I was off in College and got my truck, but that meant I didn't really have anywhere to do car work, except occasionally over Matt's house. I stepped up to doing brake pads next, differential fluid and spark plugs.  At this point, it was a combination of Haynes manuals and the internet, but still heavier on the former.  It wasn't until we lived in Germany and I had regular access to a lift that I started to get more serious and was seriously bitten by the mod bug on the Jetta and the 325i.  Now I was at the point where I relied mostly on write-ups I found on the internet.  I even dove into adding OEM parts that were only available in Europe which required some wiring to the computer and reprogramming.

There are still some things that I take it into the shop for because I lack the tools or confidence to do it, but as of last year I am to the point where I am comfortable swapping out brake calipers, bleeding the brakes, and just this week, I changed one of my axles myself.  No lift at home, but 4 jack stands and a much smaller version of me makes it a lot easier now too.  Still not comfortable enough to do a timing belt job on the TDIs though, so I have a ways to go before I am self-sufficient car repairs wise, but I do save a fair amount of money both doing my own maintenance and doing my own pre-track inspections.

So, I guess that basically covers it.  If you have any other car related questions, feel free to ask.

Part of what spawned this was on Saturday during Dub Deliverance, after my first session, I immediately jacked up the car and started looking in the front-left wheel area.  I knew SOMETHING was off, just wasn't sure what at first.  Turned out to be a failed CV boot.  My friend who was with me said he didn't think there would ever be anything he would experience in a car that would make him immediately jack up the car and look at the front drive-train.  Of course, much more is at stake on the track then on the street in terms of speeds and forces on the car, so hence my desire to immediately investigate after the session.

I have now driven my car on an actual NASCAR track

This weekend, I attended the first day of the NASA (no, not that one) HPDE event at Pocono raceway.  I registered for HPDE 2 (which is intermediate) because I only had one prior track day with NASA (my other experience was through other programs or just the track days in Germany).  Chrissy and I drove up Friday night and camped on the grounds for the night.  It rained all night, which was a bit annoying, and then in the morning it was foggy, rainy and overcast.  It was so foggy that we couldn't start the event :(  It didn't look good all the way up through about lunch time when the fog suddenly started to burn off, and burn off quickly.  This meant that we had to cram a full days worth of events into half of a day though.  This is where things got crazy.

They had two different track configurations running in parallel.  The North course, which uses turns 1 and 2 of the tri-oval and a road coarse section through the infield on the north end (duh).  And then there was also the brand new South/East course combination in the other end of the infield.  The North course was 2.5 miles, the South/East course was about 2 miles.

NASA muddled with the schedule and my group ended up being third to get onto the South/East course that day (after the Hyper-Drive and Instructor Groups).  That course was windy, off-camber at times, and fun as hell (especially in the Rabbit).  Because of the screwed up schedule, while we were supposed to have an instructor for our first session, we were given the permission to go out without an instructor if we were comfortable (I was).

After we finished that session, we had to meet with our group coordinator/instructor, Steve Van Blarcom, who has what must be the sickest M3 in the states.

Our reprieve from the track was short because 10 minutes later, we were on the North Course running clockwise.  My first lap I joined the line following Steve to see the line through the infield section, and then was off.  I was hitting about 112 mph before braking to turn into the infield.  I was hitting close to the same between turns 2 and 1, but I was slowing to around 90-95 entering turn 1.  Because my car is short on horsepower, I wasn't able to build much speed at the top end going down the straight, hence the small differential between Turn 1 and infield turn-in.

Upon getting off the North Course, I found out that we were already supposed to be on the South/East course again because the North course was behind schedule (since for the second weekend in a row, a white lotus crashed during one of the sessions.  I booked it over there, and did my next session.  After that one we had a brief reprieve.  During that reprieve I talked to our group-leader to see if I could get a check-ride to move up to HPDE 3 during one of the last two runs of the day.  I REALLY wanted to get moved up so that I could run the full tri-oval course with groups 3, 4 and instructors at the end of the day.

Steve didn't make it out during our next to last run, so I was a little nervous about making sure I got the check ride, but my bigger issue was with another driver on the track.  His car was MUCH more powerful than my little Rabbit, but i was kicking his ass up and down the skill areas of the course.  A train was forming behind me (while I followed him) so I would point one of them by on the back stretch, and he would point that person by on the front stretch, and this repeated for 3-4 laps.  That was very frustrating, but we talked after the session and everything worked out.  (you will see it once I upload that session).

The last session of the day, Steve made it out on the track with us (and blew the doors off of all of us) but he saw enough to give me my checkoff and get me my HPDE 3 wrist band.  With that all squared away, I was supposed to have about 30 minutes of downtime before running the full oval, but then they announced it was happening immediately so I had to go hop in the car and go.  Unfortunately, this meant I didn't have time to change the battery in the Go-Pro so as I am sitting on pit-lane about to pull out on the track, hit record, and it died about 30 seconds later. :(

During that last run, I found out what the practical top-speed of my car is: 120 mph.  The car just didn't have anymore pull in it after that.  Braking into Turn 1 and Turn 2 at that speed is an awesome feeling, but the fact that the car just couldn't accelerate much the last half of the straights just showed that the car needs MORE POWER!  All-in-all, it was AWESOME.  I moved up to HPDE 3 with NASA, I was able to run THREE different track configurations at Pocono, and I was able to drive on a super-speedway.

I want to give a big thanks to NASA, Pocono Raceway, the NASA staff, volunteers, flaggers and our group instructor Steve for an incredible weekend.  Photos from the weekend are posted on Flickr and videos from the weekend will be gradually uploaded to my YouTube account.  Enjoy my photos and videos from other track days at well.

"I feel the need..."

"Hello everyone, I am glad to see you all here today.  We have a new person joining us today.  Why don't you introduce yourself"

"Hi, my name is Mike, and I am addicted to speed"

"Thank you Mike. It takes a lot of courage to admin you have a drug prob.."

"I never said I had a drug problem.  I am addicted to driving fast."

"You need to leave now"

I have a problem.  Well, it is really more of a hobby, but it is an expensive, time consuming hobby.  You may have gathered from my blog that I am a bit of a car nut (and I will be writing another post about my "car problem" another time) and that I like to go to the track and drive.  Well, last year was my first 3 trips to the track stateside, and this year, well, I am going to be spending a lot of time driving around in large, jagged circles.



So far this year, I have done a TrackDaze event at New Jersey Motorsports Park, and a Seat Time event at Summit Point Motorsports Park.  I have a TrackDaze event next weekend at Summit Point, a NASA event at Pocono the following weekend, and a Summit Point FATT event on the 27th.

And that just covers July.  To make the Rabbit handle the track better,  have updated the front brakes to R32 brakes with Racing pads and slotted rotors, the rear brakes to GTI brakes and I put in high performance brake fluid and stainless steel braided brake lines.  I will be changing out the rear sway bay are sway bar end links in the near future, and I removed the back seats and the spare tire surround from the car for weight reduction.



The car has spent a fair amount of time the past few weeks up on jack stands as I prepared the car for the track season, and then performed the pre-trackday inspections before heading off to the track, which I have to do later today for next weekend.  It has also spent a fair amount of time at the gas pump too.  After July, there are three at least more track days I want to do this year:  one I am booked for in September at Summit point, a TrackDaze event in August at VIR (which would be my birthday present), and a NASA event at Watkins Glenn International in September.



The last one of those will be hardest to work out (I want to do the full weekend but Chrissy's work schedule may not allow it) but those are my plans for the year.  I might also look into the NASA fall finale at Summit Point as well, as I hope to continue to move up the ranks in NASA HPDE to possibly be an instructor in the future (because instructors get free - as in beer - track time!).  Shorter term, I may pursue becoming an instructor for Summit Point FATT, and I will think about that more after I see how I handle my lines next weekend.

Prepping Klopfer for Another Year at the Track

I have been suffering from track withdraw since my last track event of last year, and this recovering from surgery crap has made me miss a few this year already, but I am almost all healed up and I am registered for 3 track events already starting in June, so I need to finish getting Klopfer ready to hit the tarmac.

First, a recap of what I have already done to the car performance wise.  Unitronic Stage 2+ chip tune, APR Carbonio intake, AWE Tuning exhaust, JOM Coilovers, and R32 front calipers with slotted ECS Tuning rotors.  Just this week I had to swap out the engine speed sensor since it had gone bad and was causing misfires.  NGP Racing has the car right now to check on a vibration (which was mostly fixed when I swapped out the damaged tire last week) and to raise the front end to eliminate the forward rake and give the front suspension a bit more play.

Things I have planned for the coming weeks include GTI rear brakes, stainless steel brake lines, racing brake pads on the front of the car, racing DOT4 brake fluid and an oil change.  I missed out on getting some GTI sway bars cheap, but eventually the sway bars will need to be swapped out.  I am also going to start investigating having a roll-bar with harness bar put in the car.  And, if we won the lotto last night (haven't checked the ticket) I will be putting a C2 Motorsports Turbo on the car....but that is highly unlikely.

All that said, I am considering giving Klopfer a name change.  Given all of the performance enhancements, and the fact that I am still pointing out that it is a Rabbit (and not an R32) I think this might be appropriate.