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.
Far Infrared Sauna
Posted by mike | Filed under family, news
This is our newest health item in the quest to find everlasting piece of mind, positive spirit, and a slender body. Well, i know one thing is for sure, you can easily produce a gallon of sweat in 30 minutes. It is really cool actually, i was very skeptical at first as it was Vizma’s idea but this thing is really growing on me. I sweat more in the sauna than i do running 8 miles. That’s got to be doing something positive right?
So, here’s the story. We (wife and father in-law) pick up the sauna at the FedEx storage facility, drive it home on a huge pallet in the back of a pick-up truck. They unload it into the garage. I come home on Saturday night to see all of this all over the garage. I immediately realize that i have a new project. For how big the unit is, it was essentially 6 pieces. The base or floor, four sides, and the ceiling. We had it assembled in under an hour. The build quality is very good, i was very skeptical of this as well at first.
Anyone wonder what this is supposed to do (or cure)? 
- Reduction in joint pain and swelling
- Detoxification
- Weight loss
- Cardiovascular health
- Stress relief
- Relaxation
- Clearer skin
- Tissue elasticity
- Cancer therapy (controversial)
- Chemotherapy
There you have it. What a list. I’m reserved about the majority of the list but i do believe that I’ve had visibly clearer and smoother skin in just 3 days, some weight loss, and certainly feel completely relaxed after using the Sauna. So, the others i will just have to see about but so far so good. I suppose i should thank my wife now for this monstrosity in our basement. ;-)
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. =)
Songs That Make You Stop
Posted by mike | Filed under multimedia, music
Have you ever had your whole music library playing on random and a song comes on that you haven’t heard for a while but makes you stop whatever it is that you were doing and focus in on that subject whatever it happens to bring back for you? Happened tonight to me while i was working on the Mac. 4/20/02 came up on my playlist by Pearl Jam from the album Lost Dogs (Disc 2). It’s a hidden track after the last song called Bee Girl that most people have probably never heard before but it was written and recorded on the day that Eddie Vedder and the members of the band (and the rest of the world for that matter) heard the reports that Lane Staley of Alice in Chains had been found dead of an OD.
I’m fortunate to say that i’ve grown up really apprecaiting the grunge era style of music and the artists. This song that was by Eddie is a such a sincere song that it brought me back to thinking about Lane again and how much i miss new Alice in Chains material with Lane. If you want to hear this song you can hit the youtube video below.
embedded by Embedded Video
RIP Lane, you were the one for sure.
————————————————————
Lyrics & Music – Eddie Veddar – Pearl Jam
so all you fools
who sing just like him
feel free to do so now
cuz he’s dead
using, using, using
the using takes toll
isolation
just so happy to be one
sad to, sad to think
sad to think of him more
lonesome friend, we all knew
always hoped you’d pull through
no blame, no blame
no blame, it could be you
using, you can’t grow old using
so sing just like him, f***ers
it won’t offend him
just me
because he’s dead
Belgian Beer Tasting ‘09
Posted by mike | Filed under cigars, friends, spirits
One interesting outcome i can always depend on with a high alcohol content beer tasting is by about the 6th round, i cant seem to remember what the previous beer was to compare it to. What i do know though is that we went through some of the finest Belgians available for import here to the US. Thanks to all who attended to make it a great evening….the next day was a tad rough for me but all worth it in the pursuit to find the best Belgian. The photo is of the aftermath of the tasting.
Minor Upgrade to RSX
Posted by mike | Filed under automotive, news, technology
In an attempt to extract a few more modest horses from an already ample performer (that’s my RSX Type-S, for reference – see autocross times from last week) i received and installed a new AEM v2 short ram intake this evening. Nothing special here, it’s just a more efficient way to cram gobs of air down the intakes throat; thus producing more power to the wheels – that’s the cliff notes idea anyway. Many people on the auto forums (who have no lives) will squabble over the benefits of a short ram intake (filter inside the engine bay) versus a cold air intake (filter outside of the engine bay). It’s obvious that a CAI (cold air) system will produce more power consistently as the SRI (short ram) systems tend to suffer from something called “heat soak”. This typically occurs when it is a very hot day outside and the engine heats up to normal operating temperature…it doesn’t take a doctorate to figure out that if the air filter is sucking in piping hot air next to the engine that performance will suffer. Yes, a bit, however anyone running an SRI also doesn’t have to worry about water getting sucked in by the filter in a CAI setup and ruining their engine. Anyway, this is more details than i’m sure anyone cares to read about but i chose the SRI type of setup for a couple reasons: A) don’t have to worry about water B) easier to clean the filter, do not have to take front bumper of car off every time C) heat soak will really only be a factor on very hot days, probably over 90 degrees, which there are not too many of these types of days in MN D) Finally, the new v2 system by AEM is dyno proven to produce nearly the same level of power as a cold air system without the issues stated above.
Now, enough with that, here are some pics of the car when i bought it with the stock setup, the new setup, and the box filled with the heavy plastic crap i took out. I bet it’s a net weight savings of nearly 8lbs, which also helps. 
Below is for those of you who need to be actively involved in your blogging. 
Loading ...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.
Brake Crazy
Posted by mike | Filed under automotive, friends, news
Last night we worked on the RSX. Like most Japanese cars, not the easiest to work on and i expected that given that I’ve worked on plenty of Acura’s up to this point. Brake pads and speed bleeders went in without much of a fight however, a good thing to know when doing rear pads in an Acura is that you don’t compress the caliper piston back in after putting the pads in like the front, you actually need a brake piston tool that will allow you to screw the rear piston back in. Strange for this procedure to be so much different than the fronts, but after we figured this out via clubrsx.com we were able to get them back in. Exciting. Another tool we did not have that hindered our work on the brake lines were line wrenches that are speccifically designed to remove brake lines. So, we had to pass on upgrading the lines for now.
Also, if anyone was curious about knowing if the Motive Produccts Power Bleeder system works on an RSX, the answer is no. The universal pressure adaptor you need to put onto the brake reservoir did not seat properly and ended up losing pressure while blowing brake fluid all over the place. These power bleeders work awesome on some cars where an adaptor has been specifically designed for the car. In my case, we had to try to use a universal adaptor which didn’t work. Old school brake bleeding worked though.
My ride is now over at Z-Tech auto with my buddy Ken (owner) who takes good care of me. Their shop is excellent and their customer service is top notch. If you ever need any work done on your ride, i highly recommend them. They didn’t even mind installing aftermarket/owner supplied parts. Most shops bawk at this.
Now, what to do about these black fingernails and hands…tried every kind of cleaner around and they are still nasty. Anyone have recommendations?
Surly Darkness & Stuff
Posted by mike | Filed under news, spirits
First, let me say that yes it’s my birthday, i received a lot of wishes from people on FB, and some nice cards; thanks everyone! So, i guess being 30 feels like 29…never knew. So, i was lucky enough to pick up 6 bottles of Surly Darkness last October on D-Day at the brewery. The last time I’ve had the pleasure to experience this beer was October of last year, on tap at the Muddy Pig. Well, i decided it was time to crack one of these bad boys. Well worth the wait, it is as amazing as i remember. This is still definitely a top 3 beer in my opinion. Liquid chocolate candy bar. Hit the read more link below for an impromptu review.
