redkow97

I agree ;-)

found a 2005 Accord 4-door with a 5 speed manual for under $8k. Pretty sure I can get it for under $7k, given that there probably isn't much of a market for accords with a manual transmission. If I can get that free and clear, then my only obstacle is getting my wife to the point that she's proficient driving a manual trans... She did okay when I taught her 5 or 6 years ago, but I can't be in the car with her while she practices. It will drive me nuts.

so you're thinking buy a $15k replacement instead of $24k replacement, and have really low payments, or the ability to pay it off within a year?

I think I should have clarified in my original post - let's start with the question of "which option is best," and then once that's generally determined, move onto which vehicle(s) are the best way of fulfilling that choice. Tonik's point is quite well taken. I don't like debt, and I have more than enough of it from school and my mortgage. Adding a car loan is not appealing. That said, a good deal on "new" vehicles could sway me if I feel it's a worth while expense. I do not need "status" in my vehicle. I would like to be driving an M3 as much as any of us, but the Altima got the job done. I wouldn't have picked it out either, but I paid $5k for it... I think it's still worth closer to $8k, even after putting 50k miles on it.

Thought about this, but her car gets 22-24 mpg (I was getting 26 in my Altima), and anything I get her will be the 'new' tow vehicle. No reason to have two. Then again, maybe I could get a 4-cylinder turbo Ford Edge for the wife and make the difference negligible... hmmm. I would still get shit mileage, but if her new car still does better than 26, it might not be so bad. I may explore this angle harder.

I have dismissed leasing as an option, because I commute 400 miles a week. Perhaps I need to reevaluate that. As for my "fat attorney salary" John alluded to, the average starting salary for attorneys in Ohio is $45k/year. I am (and will be) in that range for the next 3 years at least. The job I have is fulfilling, and provides a TON of experience, but it is not lucrative.

left work at 3:00 yesterday to avoid traffic in the snow storm. 90 West curves slightly (to avoid putting you in Lake Erie), and there is a pretty tall concrete barrier between the Eastbound and Westbound lanes. Between that wall, and the blowing snow, I did not see the pileup ahead of me until it was already too late. I had been leaving a ton of room for the car in front of me, explicitly because the visibility was so bad. That doesn't really matter when he crashes into a 6 car pileup, and you catch up to him 10 seconds later... Anyway, I hit that guy, and two people plowed into the back of me. We were only doing 30-40mph, but momentum is momentum, and braking was virtually useless. My airbag deployed, although I don't think my face hit it. I had 2-3 seconds of sliding toward the car in front of me, saying "shit. SHIT! SHIIIIT!" so I was able to brace myself for the impact a bit. My first reaction was to reach for my phone (which had flown into the passenger foot-well), but I managed to take a second and think "hey idiot, put your head firmly against the head-rest, because odds are the people behind you can't see shit either." I don't know exactly how long it was before the first car hit me, but I had time to put on my hazards and think, "man, I really hope they see those and stop without hitting me." Nope. A civic wedged itself under my bumper, and opened my trunk the hard way. Then a Dodge Ram destroyed the rear end of the Civic. So with all that said - now I need to figure out what to buy to replace my Altima, and which route is the smartest to go. It's not a simple situation... I am anticipating $6,000-$8,000 for my car (2005 Altima 2.5 S with 86k miles). That is what it's "worth," but not enough to replace it with anything comparable... I NEED: - 4 doors - decent fuel economy (30 highway would be nice) - AC I WANT: - AWD - alloy wheels - a decent interior Then the question becomes "new, or used?" We just paid off my wife's car, and I was really looking forward to life without a car payment. Her 2007 Tucson V6 is also my tow vehicle (the trailer only holds 1100 lbs, so 2k towing capacity is all I need). So weigh in below - Do I: 1) replace the Nissan with something cheap and shitty, and just suck it up driving 400 miles a week in a car I tolerate, but don't love? (I.e. buy used for $7-10k) 2) replace the Nissan with something new, and put the insurance check as a down payment on a $20-$24k vehicle (the new price for Imprezas, Fortes, etc. - and then, which one? I am looking at any small car with 4 doors that can fit a car seat in the back when I take the wife's vehicle for race days) 3) Take my wife's Tucson to the dealer along with my insurance check and say, "we're looking to buy 2 new cars - what kind of deal can you make us?" 4) Take my wife's Tucson and the check to the dealer and say, "she needs a new Sorento (a step up from the tuscon size-wise), and I need a shit-box 2005ish base model forte. What kind of deal can you make us?" Options 3 & 4 are only on the list because the Tucson literally just rolled 80,000 miles on the way into work today. My wife has it in her head that she "needs" a new car once it hits 100k, or will be looking for an excuse to replace it anyway... thoughts? What would you do?

email support@n2td.org and ask them what the deal is. I know there are already a lot of people who are getting answer for scenarios similar to that. The most common seems to be "I bought a date on the NESBA calendar that isn't on the N2 calendar - am I going to get a 'refund' of my credits on that?" (because N2 is honoring NESBA credits) I just hope people won't be too upset if they don't get the answer they want. N2 is taking over operations because NESBA was basically bankrupt (or so I'm led to believe). How can everyone expect a startup corporation to be successful when it's having to dig out of the hole created by the predecessor? Their intention is to do things differently, explicitly to avoid going bankrupt as NESBA did...

from Yamaha? that may be accurate. I know Rob posted in the press release that they're honoring a LOT of what NESBA promised for 2014. At the same time, that is really not their obligation. I'm already seeing a lot of negative posts on the NESBA forum about how "N2 is screwing me by not honoring my NESBA season package!" No, NESBA screwed you by taking your money, and then turning over operations to a new, totally independent corporation... But as noted, Rob (N2 President and CEO) is a good guy. They are attempting to fulfill some of the promises NESBA hasn't lived up to.

I asked that question as well. I'm not sure, but I'm being told N2 was organized very quickly, so I doubt they have had the time to set up a non-profit. the not-for-profit status cut both ways. On the one hand, it allowed NESBA to be harsher with their evaluations, preventing people from registering over their heads. Doing that was a flat-out acknowledgement that they were leaving money on the table when "B" and "I" were full, and "A" had a bunch of open spots. They were turning customers away instead of moving people up out of "I." On the other hand, because of the scenario described above, the club couldn't sustain itself, and went under. That doesn't do any of us any good... I think a for-profit model works better in the long run.

will that accommodate a 16" wheel? I know it works on larger wheels, but never seen one used with smaller.

I think there is potential for that to grow considerably. Remember, they are needing to re-draft contracts with each of the tracks NESBA had on their schedule. It's a lot of the same people, but a different business entity.

yeah, when I started doing track days in 2008, NESBA was at BeaveRun at least once a month. Usually more like twice a month. The dates decreased a lot when NJMP was completed. NESBA did a few days at the private car club in NY (the name escapes me), and also had dates at the New York Safety Track last year. That pretty much killed their presence at PIRC. NJMP isn't going anywhere, but the NYST is tied up in litigation. I don't foresee (m)any dates there...

...and I just realized that I know a third person on the N2 management team.

just read the release on NESBA's facebook page. NESBA is ceasing operations. Most people here are aware that I have always been a fan of NESBA's events. I've also really liked a lot of their staff and management team. That said, I have always felt as though they treat their "club members" as second-class citizens, keeping a lot of things secret for whatever reason. N2 will retain a lot of the NESBA volunteers, which is a good thing. I think this might be a great re-boot of what was once a really awesome organization. I'm familiar with two of the names on the N2 management team, and if they're any indication of the rest of the management group, N2 is in great hands. Seems like they're concentrating on NJMP, Road Atlanta, and other Eastern tracks for the time being. We'll see if they move back into PIRC in the future.

I wasn't disagreeing with you, but I think "compromise" is an over-simplification of the situation. I just expounded upon your point.

No tire will become "defective" if over heat-cycled, they will just get harder and not grip in the same manner they onc did. No harm in giving them a try on the street, but be very careful in the rain.

it's not a compromise, it's a flat-out acknowledgement that they're building it to a price point. Frankly, I applaud this decision, since the stock stuff will be more than adequate for 75% of the riding population. The other 25% will replace the stock suspension anyway, and would even if it were nicer stuff. I guess what I'm driving at is that I'd rather they give me "PB & J suspension" rather than charging me $2k more for "hamburger suspension," when I'm going to replace it with "filet mignon suspension" in either case. It's just cutting down on the initial cost...

I confess that my knowledge of local riding roads is pretty much limited to the Brecksville metroparks, but that alone is good for some decent (albeit short) routes. I'm sure someone will organize a meet/ride in NEO once the weather breaks. I'm going to make more of an effort to involve myself in those events now that I have a street bike again.

I guess it depends on how "average" they are, and on how the bike is lowered. I think most people just lengthen the rear suspension linkage, which is what increases the rake of the forks, and makes the bike turn-in so much slower. If you did what someone above suggested, and lower the rear AND front equally (but by half as much), the effect is reduced. You still lose ground clearance, but the rake remains constant. Ground clearance really can be important though. You really start to notice it at the track, but I dragged a toe on the street before I had ever been to the track. That was mostly due to shit body position, but I did it. Lowering the bike itself by an inch reduces the possible lean angle by quite a bit though. I can't adequately explain the math, but it would be easily demonstrated with household items. **edit - I think the best example would be to use a bicycle. Lean it over with the inside pedal at the top of its rotation, and then lean it over with that pedal slightly lower. The effect on the potential lean-angle should be pretty pronounced.

I grew up in Broadview Hts., and I'm not that far away now. If the street bike maintenance schedule is accurate, I'll be out and riding in May. welcome.

4 days of track use for a rear race-compound tire on a liter bike is about a full day longer than most people will probably get... If you flipped it, or the weekends were opposite directions, I could see 4 being more likely. The wear bars are just that - if they show it's spent, it's spent. I would bring new tires to the track next time you go, and ride the morning sessions on that rear, then change it at lunch. I never ride well in the morning anyway, and there's no point in wasting new tire on putting around.

Billet and roush branded billet are two different things ;-)

You should get one so I can borrow it. ...or we can look for matching supermotos to race/get arrested on.

I appreciate a "sleeper" more than most, so this is just completely contradictory to my taste. It's a beautiful car, but not the way I would have gone with it. Some tuner group shoehorned the GTI R32 motor into a 'new' Beetle back in 2002 or so. It was supercharged beyond 400hp and painted purple. Nothing would please me more than irritating Mustang and Camaro owners with that thing.