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Sunday, March 28, 2010
THAT was CLOSE!The rubber damper on the NSX's crank pulley separated and came within probably a couple of millimeters of eating the
timing belt. As it stands, I have a new lower timing cover en-route from Barney Demonbreun (TN's only recognized
NSX Guru and proprietor of Asheland Motorsports) and a bit of work ahead of me, but potential tragedy has been averted.
Going forward I will have a new pulley/damper as well as a shield behind it designed specifically to prevent just
such a disaster. I've also taken the opportunity to pull the oil pan and have a baffle welded in.
Should
be back on the road by the end of the coming week.
whew...
Thursday, March 18, 2010
Driving the Dirty South3-Zero returned from Road Atlanta with all cars and persons in more-or-less one piece. TJ had a little issue with
an under-engineered coil bracket and I still had issues overheating. The good news is that is a pretty small list out
of the total failures that might have been possible.
A more extensive account shall soon be posted in the space
to the right as well as some media.
-Wheelman out.
Thursday, March 4, 2010
Into the thick of itI have a few items to catch up on this time:
-We hit up a Test & Tune autocross with the Chattanooga SCCA
region on the 28th. This helped me shake the autocross rust off a bit and to re-scrub the tires. This helped TJ
realize he needed an alignment. -The First ETR autocross will be this Sunday (3/7). TJ and I will both be there
competing. Come say hi, sign the SCCA waiver and bum a ride if you like. -I am knee-deep in updating the ABS system
in the NSX to the 2001 model. Write-up will be added to the project page once completed. -Road Atlanta is just
a week and a bit away, so final preparations are again underway for some HPDE action. I might not be flying solo on
this one so stay tuned for may be a more thorough update after the fact.
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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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