Ken Block & The Average Joe
Posted by mike | Filed under automotive, gaming, racing
What happens when you mix normal video game dorks (like me) and Ken Block who is one of the most talented drivers on the planet? You get a funny and entertaining video is what. Awesome video, and very funny reactions by the commonfolk.
Post-BIR Performance Driving Event
Posted by mike | Filed under automotive, news, racing
My goals for this past weekend when up at BIR were:
- Don’t wreck car, it’s a daily driver.
- Don’t get hurt, still need to work.
- Don’t break anything, still need to drive home.
- Don’t hurt or damage anyone else on track.
I’m happy to report that i was able to successfully avoid all of these items above…almost. Turns out the issue on the car had nothing to do with me but everything to do with the inept mechanics at Bloomington Acura Subaru. In December of last year, i brought the RSX in for service because it was making some horrible grinding noises when at certain speeds. They diagnosed the issues as cracked motor mounts and replaced them under warranty. What they forgot to do was torque to spec the bolt that holds on the stud to the engine mount. The result after a track day? A completely sheered off stud and missing bolt leaving the bracket completely separated from the front mount. Ridiculous, i could have incurred some severe damage should the other motor mount have failed. For those of you who own Acura’s, beware Bloomington Acura Subaru service department. There was a direct correlation in the previous service i had done on the car there and the result of this failure, i don’t believe it was random or part failure. Go up to Buerkle Acura in Brooklyn Park, they will take better care of you and your vehicle. I dropped the vehicle off at 7:30am today and picked it up at 3pm. I couldn’t have been happier with the service i received at Buerkle.
Now that the car is running like a top again, time to think about replacing those tires i used this weekend…they are now slicks.
I also had such a great time and am 100% happy and confident in saying that i will be a returning customer to BIR Performance Driving events. They host a great program. First and foremost, they stress safety at the highest level. They have a long history of no course incidents and after driving with their program, i can see why. I highly recommend anyone with a decent car to head up there to push the vehicle to it’s limits; you never know when the skills you learn at the track will pay off on the road. Thanks to BIR for a great weekend of road racing on the short course and spectating at the strip for the Muscle Car Shootout. What a weekend of machinery!
The full event photo gallery can be viewed by clicking on the picture below.
New Lens & Car Prep for BIR
Posted by mike | Filed under automotive, news, photography, racing
Got the new lens yesterday from Amazon but haven’t really had much time at all to play with it. I’m hoping i can teach my brother the basic functions of my SLR so that he can take some shots at the track on Friday. We’ll see. A quick shot of the box with the stats…exciting. Another sample shot below tonight of the car in the garage.
I also swapped the wheels out on the car tonight and she is all set to tear up the short coarse at BIR on Friday. Should be awesome. My goals? Go as fast as possibly without breaking anything. =)
Amery Airport Autocross
Posted by admin | Filed under automotive, friends, news, racing
I attended an autocross event yesterday that took place at the Amery Municipal Airport that was organized by the Minnesota Austin Healey club. This event was the most enjoyable autoX event I’ve ever attended…granted I’ve only been to a few so far, this one will probably be pretty hard to beat. The autoX section of the event was on the main plane parking area that was open and flat and after you were done driving that section, got a time from start to end, you got to go WOT all the way down the taxiway that the planes typically use to exit/enter the hangers to the runway. I think my best trap speed was my second run in the morning for about a 101 or 102. There was a guy with a radar gun at the end to register peoples top speed at the end.
I will post my lap times, penalties (for hitting cones), and top speed, and where i finished in the pack when i get it from the event facilitators. In the meantime, i have finished processing and editing all of the 400+ photos i took at the event. Click on the picture below to view all of the pictures.
UPDATE: Full autocross event results have been posted, click on the read more link to view the entire post including the results.
Post-Road America ALMS Weekend
Posted by mike | Filed under automotive, family, friends, racing, sports
This past weekend at Road America for the ALMS race was (as always) fabulous. Such a great time, money and time well spent. We got to meet, greet, and get autographs from the Corvette and Ferrari teams. I as able to get my Ferrari helmet signed by both of the Risi Competizione team drivers Jamie Melo and Pierre Kaffer (pics to be posted as soon as I’m done editing the batch).
We stayed in quite the shanty hotel…the Days Inn in Fond Du Lac Wisconsin is not highly recommended. We were fine with it but had i brought my wife it may have been more of a problem.
The weather was hot and humid every day with temps reaching 90 every day. That’s okay though and it beats severe storms and rain.
The GT2 Corvettes did very well in their second outing posting a 3rd place podium finish for one of the cars. Not bad for a team still working out the kinks of a new chassis. Very surprised about the Risi team who have been struggling as of late. The M3 BMW’s finished 1-2 for a very strong showing; looks like the sanctioning body will need to look at smaller diameter restrictors soon…the bimmers were dominating this weekend.
A full album of pictures will be uploaded shortly once I’m finished with all of the editing; i know you can’t wait. I also have a couple of short videos I’ve taken with the iPhone to share.
Click on the photo below for the full gallery on Flickr.
