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Hmm, thanks. The 25% thing is in the law that you yourself quoted, but that doesn't apply since the M855 round isn't designed for use in handguns. The ATF is citing the first part of the law, based on the steel core. My layman plain-text reading suggests that since the core is not entirely steel, it shouldn't apply. I'm not sure if I'm missing something or if the ATF will just lose a court battle over this, then.

I read that M855 is steel core, M193 is lead core and will still be allowed. Someone correct me if I'm wrong.

Yes, thanks, I missed it but I found it helpful. I also finally read the PDF released by the BATFE and found that it answered all of my questions. It's a very thoughtful statement, I suggest everyone read it if they're curious. Thank you, so for the consumer this mostly comes down to price. And, curiously, it seems like the allowed rounds are mostly lead, which have environmental implications (per the ATF), so it doesn't seem like there are many good alternatives. The PDF explains the decision making process in full. They point out that the "handgun" market has changed in recent years, and they held hearings in 2012 on how to handle rifle rounds that can be used in these new "handguns." I think they understand how ridiculous it is to treat an AR-15 pistol as a handgun, but they claim to be bound by law to enforce the statute this way in order to protect law enforcement officers, which is the primary intent of the legislation they're enforcing. The ATF makes the case, rather convincingly, that they are't overstepping the intent. The video that was posted accurately points out that many people in congress in 1986 clearly intended the law to cover handgun ammo, and not rifle ammo that can be used in a "handgun" but was actually designed for a rifle. However, the ATF points out that while the phrase "designed for" was in initial drafts of the bill, congress ultimately chose to use the phrase "can be used." Treating this logically, congress must have made that phrasing change consciously, so the ATF is enforcing the law as it's written and intended. Congress needs to change the law. Republicans have the majority, and I'd like to think Obama would let this one through. So they should change it. This is the sort of thing that shouldn't be partisan and should just breeze through congress, if congress weren't such a gridlocked clusterfuck.

I've been reading up on this today, but I'm still too much of a layman to understand the repercussions. Can someone educate me on some things? What's the difference between SS109/M855 and the other kinds of 5.56 rounds that won't be banned? Why is there currently an exemption (there is, right?) for SS109/M855, but no exemption (because it's not needed?) for other rifle rounds that can pierce standard body armor and can be fired from these sorts of "pistols." That is to say, what I'm hearing is that because there are AR-15 pistols, any rifle round can potentially be banned because they'll all go through armor, but the SS109/M855 is currently being discussed because it's sale has been permitted under some kind of exemption. Why was an exemption required for this round and not for any other rifle rounds? Presumably an AR-15 pistol can be chambered for pretty much any size, right? Or am I misunderstanding something? Thanks.

The S2000 is probably the more obvious choice given my love of the H logo, but it's still about twice as expensive as an NB for an equivalent car and I've sworn by the "If you can't afford to replace it with cash, don't take it to the track" motto for a long time. Plus I have a dozen 4x100 wheels with good tires on them that I can flip over to a Miata. Some day I'll have "S2000s for days" money and I'll probably move up the ladder again.

I love everything about this channel.

Thanks for doing the math, I thought I was nuts. I weigh 155lbs and if that's all I ate in a day I'd be craving a quart of ice cream. My undocumented observation is that people a) underestimate how much they consume in day (which is why there's all these overweight "calorie counters" who insist that they're eating like birds), and b) underestimate how much meals cost because they only hit the main ingredients. My wife thought that we kept to a pretty tight food budget before I sat her down and added up all of our grocery receipts for a month.

I'm wealthy enough to live within walking distance of a frickin' Whole Foods! Such luxury. And if I don't want expensive organic shit, I can drive 2 minutes over to Kroger and get all the cheap produce I want. But that's still because I can afford to live in a nice suburb. When I was in southeast DC I'd look for a grocery store within a 10 minute drive and.... shit, that's pretty hard. Fortunately we had the commissary, otherwise we were gonna be sitting in traffic. And of course, we'd sit in traffic because we could afford cars, otherwise we'd take a bus to the subway station to go to the Safeway on the other side of the river. Furthermore, I work a nice 9-5 office job and my wife stays at home, so we have oodles of time to prepare our fresh veggies, another luxury that many people don't have. I'm sure Columbus isn't as bad as Anacostia, but the concept of food deserts is nothing new. If you want food in many areas, you go to the corner store, and generally what's there is a bunch of garbage with an 80% markup. Or if you live in the hills, you drive 30 minutes into town because Super Wal-Mart has shut down your local grocer. So in a sense, you're right. Eating healthy doesn't have to be expensive, and anyone dedicated enough to the cause could probably pull it off. But it's just a lot harder for poor people, so on top of everything else they're dealing with, dumping this "incentive" on them without fixing the root of the problem seems destined to make things worse. (I've no idea if any of the above applies to Puerto Rico.)

I do what now?

Nearest I can tell, the original owner was a VT engineering grad who bought it in 1989 and put in an aftermarket sunroof () and roof rack (). With the manual trans it was a total yuppie sports sedan. For those who remember 1989, it couldn't have been more stereotypical, right? A few years earlier he had a daughter, who grew up and took the car to college in New York, blew up the engine and sold it to some ricer kid, and then I came along. When I had a built motor in it and it was making 230whp, I wanted to contact the guy and be like, "Your car, it lives on!" But I didn't figure he'd care.

It's not going to fetch much, but it's continued existence in what is effectively a 1-car garage will definitely cost marriage points.

Replacement car would be an 01+ NB Miata, hard dog roll/harness bars, I'd use my Kirkeys and harnesses and get some proper neck protection for HPDEs and still be able to drop in the stock seats for weekend driving. The Honda is gutted, leaks, is loud, vibrates, creaks, clanks, and is therefore never driven except to and from the track. The Miata is pretty close by the numbers, but I'm fairly certain it will be a couple seconds slower around most tracks.

I think the decision's been made, but it'll be easier to let go if you're all ragging on it

I bought my Integra as a shell on eBay back in 2007 after being fed up with all the problems my CRX had as a result of a douchebag PO. It was a little riced out but pretty clean. http://steronz.com/random/build/1_ebay_picture.jpg The next year I took it to VIR and discovered how awesome bendy racetracks are. Then Autobahn CC, Summit Point, BeaveRun, Nelson Ledges, Mid-Ohio, Putnam. I even drove it down to Mississippi for tech school in 2010 and drove it, twice, to No Problem Raceway in the middle of a sugar cane field in Louisiana. It's home has always been on the racetrack. It's humbled supercars, and sometimes not so much, and even though it's taken some abuse it's never left me stranded, at least not outside of towing distance Which isn't to say it couldn't do a little towing of it's own It's fast and it's fun, she'll do a 1:48 around Mid-Ohio with a chump like me driving. But for the last, oh, 6 years or so I've felt that it's a little too unsafe for a breadwinning father of 3. I've been very close to having a proper roll cage installed multiple times, but it's never happened for various reasons mostly outside of my control. As I'm on the cusp of another such moment, getting older, wondering if I should drop 3 grand on my 100 FWHP tin box, I think I've finally decided that it's time to move on. I'll post a FS thread within the next month, this pointless thread is just me looking back, wondering if this is the right call. Now come on CR, make fun of my Honda.

Going with some sort of chain drive in the back like your inspiration pics?

Sharp knees tho.

Motorcycle helmets aren't necessarily made with fire retardant materials, which is part of the Snell SA standard because you may find yourself trapped inside a burning steel cage at some point. That's why SA helmets cost so much more. Overkill for an auto-x? Probably, but that's the justification. Safety standards are different. eta: Probably overkill for an HPDE as well considering they let people show up with t-shirts, but whatever.

For the life of me I can't figure out why anyone would do that. "Oh no, I need to file an insurance claim now and get a new car!" Unless this is just insurance fraud.

Don't panic, I'm sure it's just a senior year visual arts major who will be working at Whole Foods for the next few years.

Or Flavor Aid, at least.

I was like, who the hell is setting good laptimes in February. Nice work!

They lost the left engine on takeoff.

Yes, I'd buy that for a dollar.

Ugh, you squares wear shoes? /IT Dev

This and this. One of my buddies was working as a grunt in medical research with a 4-year degree, but really wanted to be an engineer. So his wife bankrolled a mech E degree and now he's making the exact same money he was before (high 60s low 70s? In the DC area) working at DeWalt, except he's finally doing what he likes. Which is designing parts in CAD and doing material analysis and stuff. It's not a particularly hands on job. If you like what you do and you're good at it, then look for a job with better growth potential. If you don't like what you do and want to wear a dress shoes to work every day, then talk to some engineers.