Draco-REX

Oh I forgot to mention.. McLaren dumping Perez is moronic. I can only think, judging by Perez's driving style, that his personality isn't working with McLaren's highly structured and controlling team atmosphere. Otherwise, I can't see why they would drop him. He's repeatedly shown himself to be at Button's level. It sucks that this was announced so late in the year since it'll be nigh impossible to get a good ride for next year.

I'm glad Massa got a ride next year. Though, that's mostly out of pity. He was a great driver until he took that spring to the face. While I appreciate Vettel's pronouncement that "these things do not last", it also makes me think he might not be 100% confident in next year's car. I certainly am not. Renault's current engines aren't the most powerful, and RBR seems to have bad luck with them. I think Vettel's getting the most he can out of this year. The thing with Webber is that he's a great driver. But he's surrounded by exceptional drivers.. I think if RBR wasn't running a one-stop strategy, and wasn't advertising their attacks over open radio, he would have passed Ro-Gro earlier. Ro-Gro is such a changed driver from last year. He was a running joke in my house "Oh Ro-Gro!", but this year he's kept cool and is proving to be a pretty good driver. I think he'll make a good #1 at Lotus. To be fair, 4th this weekend for Hammy is better than he has been able to pull off lately. I'll give him that bit. But he and Mercedes still can't turn Q1 pace into race pace. That needs to be addressed. The head of Mercedes F1 needs to have a long discussion with the chassis team. Botas was looking very good out there. It would suck huge for Massa to end up 2nd fiddle again. But Botas is really new. I think Williams will bring Massa in as Primary and encourange him to help develop Botas. Having only driven those tracks in video games, I'd go to COTA. Laguna Seca is great, and has real history, but as a driver I'd really only be looking foward to the Corkscrew. But COTA is a great track from start to finish. You get Laguna Seca's elevation changes with Suzuka's esses and Korea's(?) undulating straight, with Spa's 4-apex sweeper. It's no contest in my book.

The thing is, Vettel isn't cocky. You want cocky? Look at Hammy when he was winning. Alonso was also a cocky bastard when he was on top. Vettel's got nothing on them when it comes to self-entitled douchebags. If Vettel were the type that started treating wins like they should be handed to him, I'd be the first to jump ship. He's fourth (third?) overall in all-time wins in F1, and yet, every win he thanks the team and you can hear the joy in his voice. He knows that every win is earned, and that he would not be a 4-time F1 champ without the team. When he clinched this year's title he got down on his knees and thanked the car (and therefore the team behind it). Think hammy would do that after 4 championships? Hell no. It's these reasons why I'm a Vettel fan. There are a lot of douchebags in sports, but Vettel isn't one of them in my opinion. Though if you want to see fanboy-hyperbole from me, let's discuss Adrian Newey.

I may be there.

I agree. My other worry is the proposed track further west (New Mexico? I forget) making too many in the US. Three tracks in the US would likely mean Bernie would rotate the tracks each year like the Germany Grand Prix. That would mean less profits for all of the tracks. Let's hope Bernie can find room in the schedule for two US tracks.

I keeping my expectations of the NJ race low. They're setting their sights REALLY high, trying to promote it as the next Monte Carlo. Then they also want it to be the greenest track on the calendar. All this in a state that's not exactly known for getting stuff done on-budget and on-time. It's not like they can just use the existing roads either. The existing crowns are too high for F1 cars, so they won't even be able to save budget/time on the roads as they'll have to repave the entire track area. Between the track, facilities, outlying parking, and the transit system to get spectators to the track, there are a LOT of pies out there for people to stick their fingers into. I will be surprised if the NJ track is ready for next year, and shocked if it gets favorable reviews.

I hope Vettel takes it. I'm more of a Newey fan, but I like Vettel as a driver too. 4 world championships and he still appreciates every win. The COTA track proved to be a great track last year with the drivers almost unanimously calling it one of their favorites. I hope this year, and the years to come, are as sucessful. Outside F1, COTA's management has proven to be pretty cool also. Not just for bringing in racing series' that wouldn't normally feature in the US (Aussie V8 Supercars, and I think one of the Touring Car championships too) but for also renting the track for club events too. I'm glad they don't think they are "above" regular enthusiasts. I'd LOVE to go to a track day on COTA. I'm looking forward to the race this weekend.

Just a note, the Actron U-Scan bluetooth OBD-II scanner does NOT work with Torque and other apps.

38yo, 2 tickets, no DUIs, at-fault accidents, or claims. I do have a history of insuring some of the most expensive to insure cars (WRX, STI, BRZ). I was originally at around 1400/yr with all my cars. With the two tickets, I hit 1900/yr. It wasn't so bad until the year after I bought the BRZ. After all the FWD kiddies sent their limited production FRS/BRZ backwards into various telephone poles, my premiums jumped to about 2900. When I bought the Audi SafeCo cranked it up to about $6000/yr. (I think my premiums went up a bit after Liberty Mutual bought them too..) Now Geico just set me up for a little over $2000/yr. The funny thing is that I originally moved to SafeCo from Liberty Mutual 5 years ago because they were half the cost. Go fig.

Give it a shot if you haven't. Tickets or no, your base premium has probably been floating upwards.

Even so, it's painless to switch companies these days with everything online. But I don't think a new-customer incentive covers the sheer difference here. The guy at the new company was speechless at what my current one was charging me.

So I'd been with my last insurance company for about 5 years. Quite a few cars here and there, a couple tickets, and while I wasn't paying a stupid amount, my premium has crept upwards a bit. Then I got the Audi and it went through the roof. I bit my tongue and accepted it as it wasn't exactly a cheap car, so I guess it was correct.. Today, for S&Gs, I thought I'd poke at another company and see what they could come up with. 1/3 the premium. Over 66% less! Holy shit. I even called and spent a good half hour making sure every last detail and covereage was accounted for. I'm now paying $100/mo LESS than I was BEFORE I bought the Audi. I repeat.. Holy shit! girlfriend's response: So, dinner's on you? So yeah, if you haven't shopped for auto insurance, it might be a good idea; your rates might have been creeping upwards. It's all done online now, with little hassle.

Gonna have to pick one up...

Does VAGCOM cause a TD1 code at the dealership? There are some tweaks I want to make, but I don't want them to tag my car with a modified ECU code because I change a couple lights.

So the S5 is the first car I've owned with headlight sprayers, and I really like Rain-X washer fluid. But I'm worried about the Rain-X treatment discoloring or some other way hurting the paint on the hood. I haven't noticed any issues on the roofs of my other cars, but the Audi seems to get a lot more fluid on the hood than my other cars would get on the roof. So, anyone with a car with headlight sprayers use Rain-X washer fluid? If so, have you noticed any paint issues? Thanks.

Would a Colt be a Colt with a 2JZ crammed under the hood?

Not at all. It's a great build. I just think it's something else other a GT86.

Interesting, ok. For you, manufacturer matters then. Personally, I wouldn't quite call that a GT86. A small aluminum flat 4 is replaced by an iron lump inline 6. I feel too much of the car would be changed to consider it still a GT86. *shrug* Now if someone were to do it with a flat 4, even if it's a custom milled block designed off a FA20, I'd consider it a GT86.

Interesting, especially for someone into drag racing. I would think that the engine and transmission would be defining characteristics of a car. Here's a question then. If someone were to take the powertrain from your car and place it in a BMW 3 series body. At the track, would you feel it was a fast BWM, or your car with a new body/interior?

To be fair, True Full-time AWD > everyone else. Some "full-time" AWD systems are actually part-time systems that engage automatically. Once the car starts moving, the system goes back to being 2wd. Subaru's system is actually very simple. On a basic level it's like a 4x4 system you'd find under a truck. That's why it works so well. It's the fancy electronic systems that often get tripped up on simple tests like this. But I think any system that is a true AWD should work well on these tests.

So a swap like this is similar to a power-adder in your opinion?

Taking absolutely nothing away from this build, hard work is hard work... But.. 2JZs and LSx engines have been swapped into everything. Getting 4-digit HP figures from a 2JZ is pretty much a formula now as well. So at what point do these swaps become boring? I mean, that could have been any car. So why is it a GT86 doing work? Isn't it essentially a Supra with a new body? And we've seen plenty of Supras doing singe-digit 1/4s. So where is the line drawn? Just curious.

*shrug* Nissan is coming out with a car to directly compete with it, so it certainly can't be that dismissable, now can it? The proof will be in the pudding.

Vette doesn't have back seats.

He might mean that the closed-loop target in the ECU is 14.1 instead of 14.7