The ol' 1 day of ownership review.

I could probably go on for days, but I'll keep it to bullet points because long-winded shits are annoying to read.

• Torque- Going from the peakiest of motors (F20C) to this thing couldn't be any different. Power comes on low (and quick) and then about stays even to redline (maybe even drops off?). First few gears are crazy - I feel like I can't even really floor it because they go by too quickly.
  
• Space/ease of access- Nice to have it back.
  
• Visibility- Missed you too.
  
• Seats- Love the look of the cloth/alcantara two tone, but they're too wide for my skinny ass.
  
• Brakes- Awesome.
  
• Features I'll never use but are cool to show off- DCCD (Driver Controlled Center Diff), adjustable headlights, intercooler water sprayer.
  
• Build quality- On par for new cars, and at least 4 times better than the Honda. I know it comes with 'convertible territory' but those MFer's rattle like crazy.
  
• Shifter- MY05's have the 'short shift' (option in '04's I think). It's alright, but complete shit compared to the Honda. That thing fell straight from the heavens.
  
• Slow speed handling- I don't have the balls to fool around at high speeds yet, but it's not as nimble as the Honda.
  
• Sound- This one kind of goes either way. A tiny four banger revving 9k (particularly with an open cone filter) is a completely different beast than the boosted boxer. I can't decide on this one.
  
• Climate control- Never had an automatic one...it's a nice-to-have.
  
• Meh- Tacho goes to 9k? Cute, but kinda retarded. The shift light/ding thing is cool though (for now anyway - I can see myself turning it off later). After this first tank of gas doesn't know what hit it, I might set it down at like 4k to try and get halfway decent gas mileage.
  
• Stereo- Needs a little work.

• Top down
  
• Oversteer
  
• That 'wearing the car' as opposed to 'driving one' feeling
  
• Swattin' gears with that shifter
  
• Gas mileage
  
• Payment :roll:

Sup guys, if anyone wants to make some cash money fixing the brakes on my 77 corvette let me know. Feels like maybe master cylinder is bad (little braking power even with pedal all the way down). I pay cash for good work . I'll be in the burg this weekend. If you can fix my carbs too that would be awesome! If you are in NOVA and can hold the car for a while after fixing it let me know as well.

Ok so the bike did something weird tonight. As i was coming home, i stop at the red light next to the house... i hear a "click"... and bam i have no power for the bike... headlight, tails, it stops running. I push the stupid POS 200 yards to my house... and i find the main fuse, 30a, blown. anyone got an idea? fucking yamaha POS.

I really love supermoto and I figured a nice little thread would be for us to all do some searching for the best videos and post em up here. Search high, search low, but only post the ones you think are the best. The winner gets a Slip 'N' Slide from Toys R Us. Or maybe just a bucket of cold water to the face.

Cross posted from <!-- m --><a class="postlink" href="http://www.honda-tech.com/zerothread?id=1653752">http://www.honda-tech.com/zerothread?id=1653752</a><!-- m -->

Abbreviated Route
-Evergreen Mills West to Leesburg
-7 West
-9 North thru Charles Town
-480 East to Sheperdstown
-230 South
-340 East thru Harpers Ferry
-Points of Rocks Rd East
-28 East to Whites Ferry
-Jump the river Dukes of Hazzard style

Pace
Speed Limit +10 but you're welcome to ride ahead. No stunting please.

Duration
About 130 miles round trip from meeting place. Add your distance to meet up for your total. Math is fun! We can shorten if that's too long for the non-Corbin folks. If we leave on time and stop for lunch we should be back to meeting place by 3pm at the very latest.

Meet Up Details
10:30am - My house if you know where I live. Those that show will be rewarded with getting to sign as a witness to my Will and a tour of the house.

11:00am - Exxon at Centergate Dr & Loudoun County Pky (20148) right by VA-267 (Greenway). This is the "hostage situation" gas station where the SWAT sniper took out the bad guy.
Map -->http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&hl=en&q=...69773&om=1

Supplies
Cash or credit for lunch in Sheperdstown. $5 cash for the Ferry across the Potomac. Anyone have a video camera they can bring? It's about time I make use of the Sportbikecam for one of these but my camera is in the racecar at this moment.

Chad and I drove Watkins Glen this past Monday and Tuesday. I posted a recap to my Merkur Forums so I thought I'd paste it here. Chad has his own version I'm sure, so hopefulyl he'll post something too.

Best moment of the weekend - Both of us got Black Flagged at the same time for "racing" and "Scaring the corner workers".

This was my first black flag of the event... Can't say that for Chad ;-).


Here it goes:

..And.here's the summary! We really missed everyone! It was a great
weekend with great memories. All came back in one piece and better for the
experience.

Sunday evening we made the trip from Carlisle to WGI. It wasn't bad at all
and took us just over 4 hours while towing and stopping for gas once. Lots
of construction though! We got checked in to the Seneca Lodge, got our cars
tech'd and went to the room to watch some track videos.

Monday morning we were out the door by 6:00, went to the little breakfast
joint to fuel up for the day, got to the track and unloaded. I was
disappointed to see that I was in Group 1 for a "Pass Off" meaning that an
instructor was going to ride with me for one session to make sure I could
handle Group 2. Fortunately, the "Pass Off" went well and I was actually
granted solo access to Group 2.

Right before my session, TWO cars dumped oil on the track and ended up
covering at least 60% of the track with oil. When our group went out we
were skating on kitty little for most of the trip around.

My first group 2 session was a blast. Managed to top the uphill esses at
110mph and ended the back straight at 120ish MPH. I knew I could do better
though. The biggest thing I noticed and enjoyed was the 40 minute session
time. That's a lot of track time! It really gave me time to identify a
problem, work out a solution, and practice the solution to commit it to
habit.

Life was good for Saturday. I had two more sessions and the car ran
flawlessly. I think the same can be said for Chad (White_2kgt).

That evening Chad and I bled our brakes after a good day of heating them up.
Then, we went to dinner with an M5 driver me met, and headed back to the
room to watch the in-car videos from the day. The first thing I noticed was
that I was not being aggressive enough, and I just wasn't pushing as hard as
I needed to. I also found a few turns that were pretty rough in hindsight,
so I had my task list for Tuesday.

Tuesday morning was the same morning routine. Check over car, check pads,
check lugs, check fluids, and give it a good shake down. My first session
on Sunday I had an instructor join me. He was a different instructor and
wasn't nearly as scared of the HP, and he was very helpful in many areas of
the track. He has a 400hp 2.3 SVO at home, so we could relate well. He
rode with me the full session and we worked on a bunch of stuff.

Session two on Sunday was my best session in my history of driving. The
first 10 minutes were accompanied by my instructor. I dropped him off at
puts and then waited for Chad in his awesome AI Mustang to come around turn
11. When I saw him fly by, I took off like a banshee out of pit row and
merged out just in front of him for the uphill esses. We both knew "it was
on" at this point, and we proceeded to wreak havoc on the track. We passed
every car in our group at least once, and some we passed twice in the
remaining 30 minutes. Thanks to the corner workers, their good
communication, and their proactive use of the blue flag we would come out of
the esses and fly by anywhere from 1 to 3 cars on the back straight. (FYI,
the blue flag is a signal to other cars that a faster vehicle is approaching
rapidly and will need by, to be aware and give the point now).

There were areas that the XR excelled, and there were areas that the Mustang
did better, but all in all we were really having fun out there. I managed
to take the uphill esses full throttle in 4th gear, exiting and just over
120mph resulting in a max speed at the end of the back straight of just over
130 - at 7200rpm in 4th gear (5th is useless at this time). My poor Fuzion
street tires were screaming for mercy and toward the end of the session were
so greasy that I was drifting most of the turns.

We had an unbelievable good time that session. So much fun, in fact, that
both Chad and I got Black Flagged on our last lap. They told us we were
scaring the corner workers because we were getting so close, and that we
were "racing, not playing lead-follow." They had a smile on their face when
they told us this however, so they knew we were just having fun.
Regardless, it's a war story that we'll tell for years.

My third session of the day was good. I did back if off a few 10ths so keep
the track workers happy. Chad was in front this time, and after a few
trains he was out of sight. I worked on pushing the car hard but sticking
to the proper line. My oil temp exceeded 260 Degrees F though. I was
running the car hard :-).

Chad and I opted out of our last session of the day. We were exhausted, the
cars were in one piece, and we just didn't want to push our luck. Plus,
with a seven hour drive ahead of us, we decided the extra 1.5 hour head
start was a good choice. We loaded up and headed home!

The track was great and both days were absolutely beautiful. Couldn't have
been a better two days for a track event. There was one hard impact in the
esses by a 300Z that closed things down for a while on Monday. We saw lots
of nice cars - two Ford GT's (one with 750 HP), an M5, a few Z06's, several
Mustangs, two Cobra R's, and a couple of vintage racers. There were even
some DP cars there!

The XR is back in the garage, still dirty from the fun. It's getting a
Mocal Oil cooler and remote dual-filter system this month. It also gets a
good going over before our next event at Summit Point next month.

I really missed all the XR's there. Jeremy Kemp had his XR and after a
looooong Monday night was able to participate both days - but I'll let him
fill the group in on his adventure. We did a good job at representing the
XR world though. Several folks came up wondering "what in the hell that
thing is." And we passed everyone enough times that they had a good
opportunity to see both my XR and his Mustang from both the front ("Up your
tailpipe") and the back ("see ya later!").

Phoenix CMR did a fair job balancing the drivers need for speed and the
track's rules and regulations. I really hope more can make it next year.
It was a great event, with great memories, and no casualties of either
driver or car.

<!-- m --><a class="postlink" href="http://washingtondc.craigslist.org/car/169291042.html">http://washingtondc.craigslist.org/car/169291042.html</a><!-- m -->

What you get:

Free Entry to Hyperfest
Free Floor, Air Mattress or Cot (your choice) at Hampton Inn Friday/Sat night
Chance to crew for an American Iron Mustang!
Inside knowledge of whats going on during the Thunder Races!

What you provide:

Help with tires/brakes
Spotting information via radio
Prepping car/driver before going on track
and many other fun things!!!

But really, if someone is coming up to watch and wants to get involved I would like some dedicated help for the sat/sun races. If you can provide this just let me know and please don't back out. You don't really have to know a lot about cars or mustangs, the kind of help I usually require is more of handing me stuff that I forgot after I'm already strapped in the car, gridding, checking results tire pressure/temps and most of all the spotting via radio. I have 2 crew radio's so I could use more than 1 person there.

so you know those washers that you're supposed to replace on the drain plug everytime you change your oil? i assume that its made of some sort of soft metal that expands to prevent leaks when its heated up. subaru uses these weird crush washers that have a sorta lip on them, but i was thinkin that i could just buy a handful of copper washers for a lot cheaper than the buck and change per washer for the suby crush washers. tell me why i shouldnt do this...

i have a car that has sat for about a year. I was wondering if the fuel in it needs an additive or some more fuel to stir it up or what. Any advice?