My Dream Car List

Chrissy made her Dream Car post, so this is mine.  I wrote this up a couple of weeks after Chrissy's and never posted it.  Ooops.  I am going to do my alphabetically by brand to help keep it organized and let me not forget things.

Aston Martin V12 Vanquish - what's not to love?  They shoved a V12 under the hood of an amazing looking car.  I want! In silver of course.

Audi R8 V10 - AWD, a V10, and it catches fire less than other super cars...all win! Also in silver.

Buick Grand National GNX - Any color you want, as long as it's black!

BMW

• E30 M3 because it was the first.  In white.
• E46 M3 Love the styling - In black
• E92 M3 - I have driven the E92 on the autobahn....that V8 sounded amazing.  In blue
• E88 135i - Yeah that car was fun

Cadillac CTS-V - First generation in silver

Chevrolet

• 1969 Chevy Camaro SS - Blue with white detailing stripes on the side
• 2013 Camaro ZL1 done up in the Bumble Bee color scheme (yellow with black stripes)
• C7 Z06 Blue or Yellow.
• SS sedan - unlike what Chrissy said, it will be a consumer car (the police cruiser is called the Caprice)  Not sure on color till I see it in person.
• 1980's Monte Carlo SS Aero Coupe - Black w/ red detailing

Dodge -

• 1969 Dodge Charger R/T in General Lee orange (could do without the flag)
• 2014 Challenger RT Shaker - Plum Crazy Purple

Ford

• 1969 Shelby GT500 (aka Eleanor) - Silver
• GT40 - Black
• 2015 Mustang GT350 (Based on leaked info about the performance models to be available)

Lamborghini Aventador - Black or yellow

Lotus Elise - Yellow

Mistsubishi Lancer Evo X - Silver

Nissan

• GTR - Silver
• G34 Skyline GTR - Not available in US Legal to import starting in 2024 I think. Blue
• 300ZX Twin Turbo - Silver

Porche - 997 911 GT3 RS - I LOVE the orange color this came in.

Subaru

• 2002-2004 WRX STI - Blue
• BRZ Blue

Volkswagen - MANY

• Carmen Gia - Dark green maybe?
• VR6 Corrado - Black
• Mk4 Golf R32 - Blue
• Mk6 Golf R - Black
• 2008+ Sirocco w/ 2.0 FSI engine(Not sold in US) - Blue or Silver

I am sure I still forgot stuff, and left of some for a bit of brevity, but you get the point.

Last weekend was a long one...lots of on-track instructing

I was instructing at Friday at the Track on the 2nd and at the beginning of the day they asked if there was anyone willing to stay on for the rest of the weekend and instruct at the SCCA event that was Saturday and Sunday.  I didn't want to sign-on then, but I kept that in the back of my mind all day.  My morning run on the track with the other instructors went well (and Chrissy was happy to be able to ride along) and then it was time to start hopping in students cars.

The first car I hopped in was a BMW 750Li, which I would call strange except I have been in an A8 on the track as well before.  He was a first-timer, and I took him on two laps around the course with me driving to show him the line and poitn out the flag stands and other important items.  He took to the track pretty well, and that car stopped surprisingly well for something that big.  He was there with a group of friends and managed to pull a cleaner line than some of them.

Once that session was done, it was looking like I wasn't going to get a second student but a couple of people were late pulling up to the grid and I managed to hop in a 2010 Camaro SS.  I must say, the Camaro is not a great car if you are tall and wearing a helmet.  It is very lacking in headroom.  The car was damn fast though and he was a second-time track driver.  He was still a bit timid because he didn't want to ding up his beautiful car and had to clean up his line some during the early runs in the morning.

After lunch, the Instructors actually have a chance to take the students out which really helps show them some of what you are trying to explain.  Depending on the maturity and ability of the student there are different ways I drive my demo laps.  If they are mature and I think I can rely on them to keep themselves tame in the afternoon, I drive my normal pace, but if I am worried about them getting carried away, I will back off and drive more how I want them to drive.  Fortunately for me (and my students) they were both the kind I could show my regular speed driving rather than reduced.

First up was the BMW driver and I took that opportunity to talk about the two spots I was most concerned with his line, between 3 and 4 and 9 and 10.  He had a blast, and learned a good bit about the actual line to take around the track.  I pulled into the pits, swapped passengers, and took out the Camaro driver for a spin.  On the very first lap out of the pits, I managed to get a "Holy shit!" followed by nervous/joyous laughter as I entered the braking zone for Turn 1.

To understand why, you need to realize that both students were braking at ~ the 500 ft mark going into turn 1 (at roughly the same speed because they both would lift off the throttle and coast for a bit before braking).  I go from full throttle to braking at ~300 ft before the turn where my max speed is about 100-110mph.  Of note, the Camaro driver said "Your little VW is the best roller coaster I've ever been on".

The first session after the demo, both of my students still behaved, they both had a blast through the day and greatly improved.  The most important thing is they both left with their cars still shiny and fully intact.

Near the end of the day, I ran into another one of the instructors and mentioned to him that I was interested in instructing through the weekend, but couldn't remember who I had to talk to.  Well, turns out he is the membership chairman for SCCA Washington DC Region, so he took care of things. I had never done an SCCA event at all, so I had to sign up Friday night. Since I hadn't planned on staying on, we left the track car there, drove home and repacked to drive back Saturday morning.

Saturday, I ended up instructing a 19yr old in a Honda Accord. He was another first-time student, and at first I was a bit worried about his attitude but he showed himself to be very mature for his age and he picked up the line pretty well.  Just like Friday, he didn't REALLY understand what I was trying to teach him until I took him out in the afternoon, but he picked it up.  During his next to last session, he was overdriving a bit and I had to work on reeling him in, but before I even had a chance to talk to him for his last session, he had already made the decision to back off for his last session and work on his line.  That is where the maturity really showed through.  I will probably be seeing him on the track again at some point.

Sunday, after a stay in a hotel, I was back at the track, this time instructing an intermediate student with about 10 prior track days in a Honda Prelude.  He was a two-day student but his instructor left after day one.  Overall he had a really good line through every section of the course except 5-9 (the skill session of the track). He had managed to clean up turn 4 with his instructor the day before though, so he was getting a lot smoother.  I still had trouble getting him to understand exactly what he should be doing in 5-9 until I took him out for a demo, but as soon as I did that, it just clicked and he got much faster through that section.  Once I was sure he wasn't going to try and go nuts out there and try to run the course like an instructor, I let him off for solo for the end of the day and he was good for the rest of the day.

So, all-in-all, I spent about 4 hours on the track in my car, and 5 in student cars through the weekend.  I also spent a lot of time talking to other instructors and "networking" which might pay dividends in the near future.  Emailing back and forth with another one of the instructors who was there, I may be string instructing for yet ANOTHER group in the near future. (I am also working on instructing with Track Daze hopefully after next weekend).  So, I now have instructed for BSR/FATT, and SCCA, and am working on two other possible groups for instructing.  Yay free track-time!

Latest Happenings - Instructing, Driving, and almost spinning

I write this blog post from a computer with a broken left shift key, so if I miss some capitalization, it is because that is the shift key I always use, so I am having to retrain my muscle memory for this post.

It has been a few months since I posted, but a lot has been going on. I am, in fact, now a full-fledged instructor at Summit Point Motorsports Park for their Friday at the Track program and have another event coming up on May 2nd instructing there.  My first time out as a solo-instructor was a great experience, but due to the number of instructors we had compared to the number of students, I only had 1 student that day.  I also gave him a very interesting drive during the afternoon instructor session where I almost spun the car in turn 4 thanks to some remaining wet spots on the track.

Almost crashing on Summit Point Main

My next mission track-wise is to try and get certified as an instructor with TrackDaze because I really enjoyed instructing AND you get free track time when you do. This weekend, I just went out to expand my list of tracks I have visited with an event at Pittsburgh International Race Complex (formerly BeaveRun).  It was a hike to get up there, but it was a fun smaller track.  I registered for group 2 right off the bat due to my experience on track, but I still had to start the day with an instructor.  Well, I was first to grid up but me and the guy behind me ended up without instructors.  After waiting ~10 minutes, they finally tracked down another instructor and I was able to get on the track.  They made up for my lost time by letting me go out in one of the Group 1 sessions later as well, but that was a painful experience due to the low speeds and drivers who were COMPLETELY lost on the race track.

After that first run, I was cleared by the instructor to go solo there and had a blast the rest of the day.  The Lotus in group 2 ALMOST lost it in front of me dropping 1 tire off in the mud before a turn but he managed to save it.  My fastest lap (but fractions of a second) was actually in the second group 2 session rather than the 3rd, but the times on my laps not affected by traffic were very consistent in he 1:17-1:18 range.  All in all, I am glad I went up there to try it and will probably go back at least once when they open the second track at the facility, but the drive means a hotel is required, and I have to go near Pittsburgh.  The track really could use a repave though as can be seen by how bumpy the footage gets, especially on the back stretch.

Lotus making a save

I also was looking for an event in Florida when we would be down there for Christmas and couldn't find one, but did see an event on the 24-hour course layout at Daytona International at the beginning of November with NASA....umm...yes, please! So I am registered for that, and will hopefully have the truck up and running again by then and can get my hands on a trailer.  So, my upcoming schedule includes a Friday at the Track and TrackDaze event at Summit Point in early and mid May, and from there, it is mostly just instructing at FATT on my schedule for the next couple of months.  I will try to post a bit more often as I progress through instructing more.

Oh, another note.  I am using Harry's Lap Timer as my data recording source with a Bluetooth OBD-II dongle and combining that with footage from my GoPros in DashWare to make videos with cool overlays like are in the below video.

Session 3 on Pitt Race North Circuit

Ok, really, last note.  you will notice that the Rabbit is now matte grey with black roof and center line of the hood.  I covered it in plasti-dip in my garage, and that was the result.  I need to do some rework on the plasti-dip though.

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.