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Tuesday, April 28, 2009
Poor Racer's Fund.We had thought up a couple of (in our opinions) clever catch phrases for hot Volvos a while ago and thought they might make
for an entertaining T-Shirt. No one really caters to Volvo tuners. I did a search and couldn't find anything
that was not either "F-ing Volvo drivers!" or "I love my beige Volvo".
Thanks to the genius
of Cafepress, you can now have these things via the link at the top of the page. Please feel free to e-mail us feedback.
12:24 am est
Saturday, April 11, 2009
"spare time"...what is this crap??So the MR2 is still running solidly. I'm going to replace a clamp on the turbo-to-IC plumbing as a precaution tomorrow,
and drill some holes in the floor to mount the anti-submarine belts. I spent the morning today reclaiming
the garage and stowing all of the re-usable stuff that I have taken off the MR2. I ran some errands and played around
with the camera earlier this evening as it was getting dark. I needed a more stable platform for a 2" exposure...
 Click picture for more.
Friday, April 10, 2009
It's ALIVE!!!! (Insert maniacal laugh here.)
Since I am a slack of a website admin, I am posting this about a week after actually
re-firing the car for the first time in nearly seven months. So-far so-good. I have been driving the MR2 to work
and around and monitoring it fairly closely. I had to go back and take care of a couple of small drips where the oil
pan hadn't quite sealed all the way around, but otherwise we are looking good.
The real test will be on the
18th/19th when I will use it at an autocross school. Fingers firmly crossed.
9:44 pm est
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Nashville Super Speedway: End of an Era....for now.
I've only driven NSS
on one other occasion....one other not-very-successful occasion. So I feel
it's only fitting that the track that highlighted the extent of the problems with one of my cars also serve, in possibly
one of it's last-hosted events to fully vet the renewed fitness of my other car. 4 full sessions and a bit for fun,
nearly 70 laps, and a 300mile round trip to and from....with no issues what-so-ever (knock on wood out of habit).
Friday Nights in the Old City: The Knoxville "UTDM" meet.
You
may recall my last article describing the great atmosphere, massive turn-outs, and unfortunate dispersal of this meet in it's original manifestation
and wonder why it's cropped back up as a headline on the site. Well, it seems reports of the event's demise
may have been somewhat premature. A few enterprising folks took the initiative, moved the location to a public parking
area under a bridge, next to some railroad tracks, in the old city....and even went so far as calling ahead to KPD.
As a result, UTDM rides again! In honor of this momentous occasion (and as an excuse to play with my video editor, and
take more pictures of the NSX) I've compiled the requisite cheesy video:
Pocono 2011. Setting a new record for late updates on 3-Zero.net: So, amidst my own vehicular trial
& error, we arrive at the time for our annual pilgrimage up north. My plan was laudable: Take my lap-top,
run the usual mini-blog on Sports Car Frenzy and TennSpeed, then dutifully update this site shortly after returning. Well, 2/3 isn't bad I suppose. Much to the chagrin
of my hypothetical/imaginary readers here, I became thoroughly distracted with shaking-down my recently resurrected NSX and
consequently failed brutally at web-mastering. Ok. Enough with The excuses. The forum links above will take you to a general account of the proceedings,
and the pretty pictures below link to many more, nearly-equally-pretty pictures.
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Driving an irregular oval - Nashville Superspeedway: My inability, thus far, to crack
the mystery surrounding the MR2's cooling system has festered into a point of acute personal shame. History provides
a veritable cornucopia of solutions for such indignity: wearing a scarlet letter, becoming a hermit, Seppuku, etc...
However, since I'm really not handy with a sewing kit, the housing market is crap, and I really can't be bothered
to die right now, I figured I might have better luck just fixing the problem. However, I first must find that which
requires fixing, and the only way to find said "that" involves looking for the problem in the only environment where
it occurs: the racetrack. Enter a conveniently timed event at Nashville Superspeedway, hosted by the Music City Mustang Club. The 1.8
mile "road course" configuration provided a test bed for the cooling system. I trailered the MR2 to the event,
splashed for a garage bay, and brought the proverbial bag of tricks with me. After 3.1 sessions of driving, and several
hours roasting myself over the hot engine bay, the problems persist, but I eliminated numerous variables. Naturally,
it's nothing simple or easy. With that said, I did manage a little fun on the track, some of which I have shared
below:
Video:
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