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Sunday, January 31, 2010
End of the Off-SeasonAfter a long and fairly boring winter, I can finally see the light. Autocross schedules are starting to pop up, NASA
has opened registration for the first few events, and the days are finally getting noticeably longer.
I'll
be headed to Carolina Motorsports Park on February 14th for my first of hopefully many HPDEs this year. The MR2 got
some Axxis "Ultimate" brake pads (thanks NOPI!) to go along with the stickier R888s. I still need to bleed
the brakes and change the oil. Otherwise, it seems to be in pretty good order. It'd be nice if I could find
a nearby autocross for a bit of a shake-down, but I think the first one of those is on the 28th in Chattanooga.
As
a side note, I will be borrowing a trailer this year so I don't have a repeat of my VIR experience. Lessons learned.
-Wheelman out.
10:24 pm est
Monday, January 25, 2010
NOPIThanks to NOPI for allowing us to participate in their Club Sponsorship program. Please visit the banner link to the
right and support a great parts supplier.
5:41 pm est
Monday, January 18, 2010
I can see the light!After a long, and somewhat droll winter off-season, I can see the light. The first test&tunes and HDPEs start
up next month and I honestly can't wait. So the good news is the first events are only a month away. The bad
news is that the first events are only a month away. Scant time in which to assess any issues that may have cropped
up during cold-weather commuting, secure a few necessities, and knock the rust of of the driving skills.
At
least we'll see some sun and 50+ temperatures for a week or so. That should be warm enough to see if anything is
going to leak.
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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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