bmwohio

+100

 

Need to absorb more skill from you scca gods.

I'd love to get some Kale co-drive days in the BRZ done so we can go back and forth on stuff.

Would love to!

Absolutely. Unfortunately (I suppose fortunately?) I learned more at the last event of this year than I did all year with the "other" clubs.

 

Hope to get even better next year!

I enjoy driving just as much as helping others out. I'm glad some of the info stuck with you. Sorry I didn't get more laps in your car.

Damn that's dedication! You need a truck and trailer, 13 hours in the car you're competing in is SERIOUS

Nah....just more shit to break, and I have nowhere to store a rig and trailer

Major respect for not trailering your racecar.

http://www.freesmileys.org/smileys/smiley-eatdrink004.gif

Very cool build. It would take me 5x the time it took you maybe more, respect!

Thanks!

Congratulations and thanks for the updates, Kale! I can't see ever doing that myself but you never know. You certainly sell the Solo life well!

 

Are you going to do some modifications to the e36 over the winter (or just maintenance)? Will it still be in STX for 2015?

The Solo life is a passion and fun (to me)...so I guess that bleeds through sometimes.

Off-season plans are probably just maintenance items. May try a new spring combo set-up for next year....and I will be keeping it in STX trim for 2015 season.

OK, last event of the year....car will now be winterized and parked for the winter.

The year in summation:

The actual build went like I thought it would, but the set-up of the car was much tougher than I thought it would be.

I learned a HELL of a lot from actually working on the car and building it, to racing the car and learning what different changes to the car affect it.

If you have the chance to do this, I would suggest it....whether you are building a track car, drag car, or an autocross car it was definitely something i'm glad I did and would definitely do it again.

Thanks for following my journey this season and all the encouraging words.

Our last event of the year is usually what's called a 'Fun Event' where we set up the timers, but there is no acutal competition...it's almost like a test and tune. So this gives people the opportunity to drive other people's cars and just have fun overall.

Here's my compilation of the day (Our own Mr. Jones makes a few cameo's)

Enjoy!

If you're going to uproot your life and move, make sure it's for the right reasons. At the end of the day, where are you going to have the best work/life balance and be happy?

Not sure how close you are to your parents or if you have a family with grandchildren, but think about the time you would get to spend with your family too.

Only you can ultimately decide, but go where your gut tells you and where you'll be happiest....don't just follow the money and hype. Things can change at a moments notice.

Good luck with your decision.

+1 to what Andy said.....Remember the saying: When in doubt, stay out! (meaning most people tend to turn in early, but if you think you've turned in 'late' you usually haven't ) and look ahead look ahead look ahead and watch the gap open as you turn in....

Cool vids! I like the PIP of front and rear.

They had the Executive Producer on Talking Dead last night right after and he said they are going to play a lot with timelines this season and bounce around a lot.

This season opener was MUCH better than Season 4. Did not disappoint.

Carol was a bad ass in this episode, but I think something is going to happen with her and Tyreese.

Eager to see where they will call home again......

reminds me of Volvette .......

Enjoy

http://www.turbobricks.com/forums/showthread.php?t=151848

I was trying to juxtapose two opposing concepts:

 

1) the complexity surrounding any SCCA event, with the hard time put in by many volunteers along with the infrastructure needed to create and maintain a competitive racing environment.

 

2) A blatent lack of respect for those - like yourself - that commit to the process and succeed in your endeavors. Furthermore, inplying that the only way to enjoy an autocross event is to haphazardly participate only when there is no fee nor requirement to volunteer your time.

 

I wanted to explain my comment in post #13, since the internet is not a good filter for sarcasm and, indeed, Error 404: funneh may not have been found. :no:

Yup, never would have gotten that out of your response. Thanks for the explanation.

Here's a cool little time lapse video from the Start line on Saturday.

See if you are quick enough to catch a snippet of your car Enjoy!

Click me -->

Ok, one last update for the season. This past Sunday we had our annual Governors Cup. This is a 'knockout' style format where you get one run each round, and if you can keep going faster and faster, you keep advancing.

I made it to the Elite 8 in the bracket and then was knocked out by Eric's monster DSP BMW.

Here's how the breakdown went once the final 16 was determined. My brother did an awesome job in his GT3 and made it all the way to the finals. Funny enough, it was 2 GT3's on Hooisers for the finals.

http://i55.photobucket.com/albums/g135/1nFeCt1oN/DSC_0554_zpsf6591d97.jpg

Cars lined up for the start of the Governors Cup - It started with 64 cars and people started to get eliminated from there...

Thankfully, the weather cooperated and we had a beautiful day!

Here's my fastest run of the day to get me into the Elite 8 before I was knocked out. My 20 year old ABS sensor went wacky while on course and I locked up the fronts hard after a fast straight. Such is racing....

Is it free?!?! GO FUCK YO'SELF KALE...

 

umm, ok...

I've never used the mix myself, but something like this would probably work:

http://www.harborfreight.com/20-oz-flexible-spout-oil-can-1113.html

http://www.harborfreight.com/4-oz-flexible-spout-oil-can-1106.html

http://www.harborfreight.com/6-oz-squeeze-it-oil-can-96797.html

Not sure if this has been posted yet. But I use liquid wrench much more often now (sold at Autozone, Advanced Auto, etc).

Machinist’s Workshop Mag™ recently published some information on various penetrating oils that I found

very interesting. Some of you might appreciate this. The magazine reports they tested penetrates for

break out torque on rusted nuts.

They are below, as forwarded by an ex-student and professional machinist. They arranged a subjective

test of all the popular penetrates with the control being the torque required to remove the nut from a

“scientifically rusted” environment.

*Penetrating oil .......... Average load*

None ........................... 516 pounds

WD-40 ..................... ... 238 pounds

PB Blaster .................... 214 pounds

Liquid Wrench ............... 127 pounds

Kano Kroil .................... 106 pounds

ATF*-Acetone mix...............53 pounds

The ATF-Acetone mix was a “home brew” mix of 50 - 50 automatic transmission fluid and acetone. Note

the “home brew” was better than any commercial product in this one particular test.

Our local machinist group mixed up a batch and we all now use it with equally good results.

Note also that “Liquid Wrench” is almost as good as “Kroil” for about 20% of the price.

Steve from Godwin-Singer says that ATF-Acetone mix is the best and you can also use ATF- lacquer

thinner 50 - 50 mix.

*AFT=Automatic Transmission Fluid

I can see Paul's BRZ in one of those photos :shifty:

That joke never gets old, does it...... :gabe:

Finally, here are my two fastest runs from each day. The way Nationals works, is you take the fastest time from each course (east and west) and add them together for your ranking.

Day 1 - West Course:

Day 2 - East Course:

Having a celebratory beer after Day 2.....

http://i976.photobucket.com/albums/ae245/bmwohio/F4CF430C-A391-4307-91F4-2F0AD5EA0495_zpstji35cla.jpg?1410275483169

Some friends sent me screen shots as they watched me run on SCCA's Ustream feed, which was encouraging and nice to know people were rooting for me

Here I am at the awards banquet with my new hardware for the trophy case:

The drive home was, once again, uneventful and I made it back just in time to pick my little guy up from Preschool that I hadn't seen all week.

Car loaded down and getting some gas:

http://i976.photobucket.com/albums/ae245/bmwohio/3F801AC5-97D6-4B84-8ADF-32FA77A3FFD2_zpsgxtxcm6o.jpg?1410275483169

Obligatory shot of the World's Largest Truck Stop on I-80

http://i976.photobucket.com/albums/ae245/bmwohio/381A04A0-FCEC-4A04-A22A-B7374DA5FDB7_zpslsxmy1ip.jpg?1410275483169

I'm not sure what 2015 has to offer, but I hope with the development I've had of the car this year, that next year will have a little less, heartache, headache, and stress.

We have just a few more events left of our local season, but the National season is basically over.

Thanks for reading and following along this season!

STX results on page 26 --> http://scca.cdn.racersites.com/prod/assets/results/2014%20Tire%20Rack%20Solo%20Nationals%20Final.pdf

Race day morning.......

http://i976.photobucket.com/albums/ae245/bmwohio/A4E5EE02-DDEB-4DA9-88A9-39F67CDFB56B_zpswtkhckml.jpg?1410275476414&1410275483169

Was able to hitch a ride (since I probably wasn't fit to drive the night before) and car had a 'good nights sleep' and was ready as I'll ever be to drive.....

It was a beautiful day with not a cloud in the sky. The West course was very busy and very fast. As I said before, if you did not look ahead, you were doomed. I should have put the stiffer front bar on for this course as it was not very sweeper heavy and had more slaloms and fast transitions than anything else. Such is life, and I was only able to manage a time for the 21st spot out of 67 drivers on Day 1, which was 4 spots out of the trophies.

I felt like the car was doing well, but I just couldn't get where I needed to be with some of the faster guys.

Sitting in impound after day 1. For a 'Compliance Check' we all had to raise one side of our car and take 2 wheels off so competitors could check our cars for 'legality'. This was more of a visiting session, and no papers were thrown down for protest.

http://i976.photobucket.com/albums/ae245/bmwohio/048810B9-F140-46B7-858E-AAAD0576AE25_zpstjlruvvj.jpg?1410275476414&1410275483169

http://i976.photobucket.com/albums/ae245/bmwohio/D9C273D4-0734-45F9-994C-4AE7BA8C5EDE_zpslplfjnke.jpg?1410275476414&1410275483169

Now it was time to finally concentrate on the East Course and formulate a strategy for this course. It was much more open and sweeper friendly, so the softer front bar was definitely going to stay.

Day 2 too was overcast and very windy. Conditions were much different than Day 1.

Waiting in grid on Day 2

http://i976.photobucket.com/albums/ae245/bmwohio/508D0192-AE08-432A-BF68-B55E300C59AB_zpsdjuku97f.jpg?1410275476414&1410275483169

http://i145.photobucket.com/albums/r228/31rx7/2014%20SCCA%20Solo%20Nationals/IMG_0588_zps34584cd9.jpg

This course was easier (in a sense) but much harder to 'get right' for me. The car was very loose on my first two runs, and I thought to myself that 'slow in, fast out' was the best approach for this course. Sure enough on my 3rd and final run at nationals, I was able to shave half a second off of my time and climb back into a trophy spot on Day 2. I jumped 5 spots into 17th and thought it would surely not stick, I got knocked down one spot and nervously watched as I stayed in the 18th spot for the remainder of runs.

18th out of 67 drivers. Not my best showing, but I was happy to come back with some hardware out of one of the toughest classes at Nationals.

My friend, Andrew was able to clinch his 2nd National Championship in a Scion FRS. Very talented driver who I thought was going to win from the get go.

http://i976.photobucket.com/albums/ae245/bmwohio/1B377AEA-D5D6-4DF6-8B7A-8987CE55FC00_zpslzyopxyg.jpg?1410275476414&1410275483169

It's hard to explain the camaraderie and bonds that are formed throughout a season within the Solo Community. One minute your racing against each other and the next minute your drinking beers with each other.

This is (most of) the STX field at the 2014 SCCA Solo National Championships this year. It tied for the largest class in history, with 67 competitors from all 4 corners of the US (literally) and everywhere in between......not to mention, 15 different cars in the class.

Time for a Nationals Recap.......(Long posts and picture heavy warning )

As seen from the picture above, my trip started at 3:30 am on Sunday with a 12.5 hour drive ahead of me. Trip was uneventful and boring. Actually got a couple of books on CD and it really helped pass the time. I listened to 'The Art Of Racing In The Rain' on the way out and 'The Martian' on the way back. Both good books I would definitely recommend.

http://i976.photobucket.com/albums/ae245/bmwohio/C093DF81-A9A8-4122-B719-AA05DD6FCA68_zpse9rhwws7.png?1410275483169

Through Illinois and Iowa there are some MASSIVE wind farms. Pretty creepy to see at night, as there are only simultaneous blinking redlights as far as you can see.....If you don't know what it is at first you wonder what the heck it is.....Don't have a shot at night, but here are some daytime shots

http://i976.photobucket.com/albums/ae245/bmwohio/8510295A-C54D-469D-BE98-82A360277B5B_zpsxacpskwr.jpg?1410275476414&1410275483169

http://i976.photobucket.com/albums/ae245/bmwohio/139676E3-88BB-4E3F-BC35-587852B9F167_zpsieg5gyav.jpg?1410275476414&1410275483169

http://i976.photobucket.com/albums/ae245/bmwohio/BC4D0EC8-1CDD-40B1-87CA-213042F660FD_zpsv3ar6vhd.jpg?1410275476414&1410275483169

http://i976.photobucket.com/albums/ae245/bmwohio/858DE8BC-D87A-467F-9D7F-1BFB0AA93A53_zpsfpi3kaw2.jpg?1410275476414&1410275483168

After numerous hours a coffee and 3 Monsters drinks, I arrived at my location

http://i976.photobucket.com/albums/ae245/bmwohio/08DC76ED-82AB-49DB-AE9E-E25E922069C0_zpskw8zw4vz.jpg?1410275483169

First night there I was greeted by a pretty nasty storm that involved heavy rain and hail, luckily we were eating dinner in downtown Lincoln where there are plenty of parking garages to take cover while we ate.

Was in bed by 9pm that night to catch up on some sleep and then up and at em at 630am

Monday I was able to unpack all my crap, swap wheels and tires and get some time in on the test and tune course.

http://i976.photobucket.com/albums/ae245/bmwohio/F103900C-B0B6-42AD-B5D9-8BDF42FB92B9_zpsciz6syot.jpg?1410275483169

http://i976.photobucket.com/albums/ae245/bmwohio/6F4946F7-8575-4112-8784-4045623D448B_zpsddgiwcbw.jpg?1410275476414&1410275483169

I brought different sway bars for the front and rear to try out and this was the time to try them. I ended up going liking a softer front bar and a stiffer rear bar which is the set-up I went with for both days. In hind sight, I should have used the stiffer bar for Day 1, which involved alot more fast transitions and quick offsets.

After the test and tune, I just took a lot of course walks and made notes for my 'optimal' run that I wanted. The West course was a VERY busy course and if you didn't look ahead on this course you were screwed, so the numerous course walks helped a lot.

Early morning course walks:

http://i976.photobucket.com/albums/ae245/bmwohio/711E10D6-F468-45F8-93B2-E23E542969AD_zpsmxcg2ifk.jpg?1410275476414&1410275483169

We had about 20 or so competitors from our region and the Northwest Ohio Region come out and we all paddocked together. A local guy typically hosts a dinner on one night and this year was not different. He brought a smoker and about 30lbs worth of meat for the crew. Someone else brought some tri-tip steak and smoked that as well. The meal was delicious and many beers and margaritas were had by all Needless to say, dinner was delicious and one of the highlights of the trip getting to eat and spend time with great friends.

http://i145.photobucket.com/albums/r228/31rx7/2014%20SCCA%20Solo%20Nationals/IMG_0592_zpsebf5fdc5.jpg

http://i976.photobucket.com/albums/ae245/bmwohio/174F572C-4320-41EE-820F-27329CBFF092_zpsiwzo4qjc.jpg?1410275476414&1410275483169

Later that night there was a Welcome party on site hosted by the SCCA with free beer and a talent show. Didn't stay long for that, but it looked fun.

http://i976.photobucket.com/albums/ae245/bmwohio/1270EE3C-5489-4E70-8A47-D62E26166C88_zpshlvadauo.jpg?1410275476414&1410275483169

Been on the road since 3:30 am....next stop, Lincoln, Nebraska!

http://i976.photobucket.com/albums/ae245/bmwohio/E36%20STX%20build/27F18E84-2974-4F56-8326-B954FFD77BDC_zpssclfyyqa.jpg

http://i976.photobucket.com/albums/ae245/bmwohio/E36%20STX%20build/ABC4C8E9-D739-426F-A3E6-CB47B93350C2_zps8eddxb1q.jpg