Storypost | 2008.04.28



A few photos from Saturday's session at the MB jetty, thanks Connie. The weather is hot, the water is cold.







Review | 2008.04.28



The Gumball Rally (7)

Movin' Too Fast (3)

Ronin (6)

Death Race 2000 (4)


2 Fast 2 Furious (5)

The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift (5)




Infopost | 2008.04.09


Great success: second place in the bracket, 120 wingwangs.

Chris
Chris
I'll download the xbox from my car this afternoon so Ty doesn't die of withdrawl - granted it'll be at 22:00 when the last baseball game ends. Also we can get Still Alive for free.
Kevin, you HOs must have Orange Box. I bet we could beat Portal in an evening. Ty might need some hints cause skientists tend to lack the critical thinking engineers take for granted.
You'll see me again when Fire Emblem is vanquished, that's how I roll with rpgs (20-sided).
Won't you technically upload the xbox from your car? And what does the rest of your email mean? I'll tell you how I interpreted it: Ty
Ty
You are going to the Padres game, you want Kevin to bring home a redhead's [ahem], for some reason being Portal is tractable in a four hour timeframe, and despite all this you will not be around due to dorking out on your glorified chess game.
I needs clarification.
Ty wrong as always. Kevin
Kevin
He is downloading the xbox from the car to the house. It makes more sense. The car has the xbox in it to serve and the house is going to download it. Anyway Chis is not going to a baseball game, he is just commenting on how Ryan and I watch the Padres game downstairs so you can't play Rock Band until its over.
Then he is asking me if I have Orange Box at work. Orange Box is a game compilation for the 360 that contains five games made by Valve (a video game company). One of them being Portal which is a puzzle game that Chris believes we can beat in a night. He is also saying you would suck at it cuz you're not a good critical thinker cuz you just look at water all day.
Finally he says he will be locked in his room until he finishes the RPG game hes been playing. He concludes with a clever RPG pun using the word 'roll'. See video game RPGs evolved from tabletop RPGs like D&D (Dungeons and Dragons) are usually associated with different sided dice that were 'rolled' to help figure out game events that involve chance.



Storypost | 2008.04.06

San Diego SCCA SCNAX autocross

Today was autocross. Here are some pretty pictures courtesy Connie and Ted.


San Diego SCCA SCNAX autocross Acura RSX
Jon in the RSX(-S) coming out of the first chicane into the fast left.


Christine: 'Jon drives like an old man. The oldest brother still holds the title for reckless driving.'
I have a feeling this directly corresponds to the controllability of our respective vehicles. Jon has a light fwd car, I have a heavy awd car, Ted has a heavier rwd car. But I'll test this hypothesis in May - provided Jon doesn't put his car in a lake trying to get to Country Kitchen Buffet.


San Diego SCCA SCNAX autocross Nissan 240SX
Erik in the 240sx right out the gate.


Connie: 'Ian's car felt a lot lighter than the vr4. The vr4 felt lower, like it had a lower center of gravity. I really wanted to ride in Erik's cause it had so much smoke, it woulda been a good ride. Jon doesn't have smoke.'

I'll be rerouting my exhaust from the turbos to the wheel wells.


San Diego SCCA SCNAX autocross Subaru STI
Ian in the STi with Ty calling the turns, handling the gps, and deciding on radio stations.


Connie: 'Spinning out is way more fun than being in a car that is controlled. The first ride I had with Ian, that was the best, that was when he spun out on the first turn and took out like half the cones and missed half the course. That was the best ride.'

'I'm surprised Ian spun out, because I heard awd doesn't spin out.'

San Diego SCCA SCNAX autocross Mitsubishi 3000GT
The vr4 through the first chicane.


Connie: 'You could feel the weight of the vr4 being thrown around.'
Like any worthwhile activity, this event produced numbers begging to be analyzed. The data is as impure as can be; there is no accounting for tagged cones, cooldown time in the grid, and other such inconsistencies rightfully ignored because the event was a practice.

But like all good analyses, the proper mixture of sketchy telemetry and unfounded inference can bootstrap you to a solid conclusion.

Notable sources of variation that may benefit future autocross efforts:

And though the color of his curve fit indicates otherwise, Erik was the one among us with prior scnax experience. And it's pretty easy to tell based on his solid first run and:
Standard Deviation (seconds)
Postgame discussions:

Chris
Chris
Jon says "Competitive driving is so divine".
Don't you just sleep better knowing that if you die before morning [ed: I didn't die before morning], at least you can say you have executed a four-wheeled power slide in your 320hp dream car? Doesn't the 15-year old playing GT1 on PS1 in the back of your conscious finally rest easy now that one of life's major goals has been achieved? It's sort of like coming back from surfing double-ohs last winter at Scripps. Erik
Erik
So, what did you think, Jon?
I feel sooo much better about driving on the street now. I know how to recover if I slide. I can control it. Jon
Jon
I mean that says it all. One less Sigalert for the morning commuters because Jon will not be the one getting a body massage from the guardrail when he hits that gravel patch in the middle of the onramp. And he's not scared of the top third of the tach anymore. Even if he never fancies himself a gearhead, at least he's not among the ignorant, and has more cred than 3/4 of the RSX(S!) drivers out there. Erik
Erik
For next time, I suggest different run groups so we can get ridealongs/crew for each other/throw things at your friend as they pass while working the course. Jon
Jon
In the end, it was nice to hear the birds on all four corners of my car chirp in unison, if not wayyyyy before they would have with the Kumhos. I can see why an awd road car can get away with two lsds when a rally car cannot.
That long left is on the list with the first turn on a wave, first knee on the ground, maybe something involving a girl but probably not. Chris: Oh mitzvahs! And now I get to change oil just like in GT3!!!
Next time: Yes different run groups. Allows ridealongs and I can shoot when I'm not on track. I'll bring my stash of smoke balls.
Ty. He lit up the kart track like a true Italian, it'd be a lot of fun to send Slash's 1400 lb through a tight autox course. Especially if he got tires.
First person to knock down a cone has to pick up our lunch order. This includes cones in the parking lot and ice cream cones.
Sleepover beforehand featuring a speed movie and video gamery. Maybe some practice photography.
Wagers, maybe older vs. younger brothers. For instance we compute our rank versus other cars of the same make and model. Whoever is lower buys boba. Say E is the first ranked 240sx and I am the third ranked vr4. Jon and Ian would have to average above second rank among Imprezas and Integras to win.
You get a lot less chirping when you switch to a lo-pro from an all-season. My canary never let me know the traction was giving out until too late on the Kumhos, although they were ultimately faster than the all seasons. I haven't committed to the R's yet, but damn it's tempting, I want to do 3-wheel turns! Erik
Erik
Funny, you ended up being the fastest vr4 there your first time out and I ended up as the slowest 240 out there even with my experience.
Chris
Chris
Sure I may have been the fastest vr4, but all the gto drivers were total noobs. The 240 kids were seasoned professionals.