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Saturday, October 23, 2010
Quick Update on an off-weekend.Since I'm not racing anywhere this weekend, I figure it'd behoove me to toss something at the website.
I've been chasing a coolant vaport issue on the NSX which I hope to resolve between a new thermostat and a new
expansion tank in the coming week. The plan is to have the car ready for a PCA track weekend at VIR on the first
weekend of November. I'm still wait-listed for that one though.
In spite of this nagging issue,
the car seems to be in good form from a performance standpoint. I've won my class at every autocross I've entered
with it since the updates. It's not national-level competition, but It's a positive sign at any rate.
The MR2 needs tires to be autocross competitive, but it's difficult to justify the expense this close to the end of
a season, so unless I can beg or borrow some live rubber I'll just have to make do. The good news is that other
than that, the car is running well.
So there.
Tuesday, October 5, 2010
Progress...of sorts.
I've been a bit busy lately feeling out the changes I've made to the NSX, as I've documented to the left
of this column. However, I've still had time to fiddle with the MR2 as well.
Having bypassed the heater
core to hopefully eliminate the overheating problem I've experienced at the track, I'll be putty my splice to the
test a bit this coming weekend at an SCCA regional.
Come out and say Hi if you're near the Pellissippi
State campus noon-ish on Sunday.
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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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