2000. 10. Till Now.

As an interjection to DC Pro stories, let's catch you up, shall we?

2010 started off with (another) bang:

I think NER might rename the first event of every season to "PJ's Speedy Dry Shuffle."

We somehow learned from our mistakes, and instead of going with just a spare, and bolting everything on, there was some engine building going on:

Eagle rods and a fully built bottom end to try to combat the monster known as torque:

Finally painted the engine bay:

Needed MOAR downforce, so splitter to split the air, and because it was looking a little wide around the ass area, we put the car on a high carbonfiber diet:

In the meantime, my old clutch had finally reached the end:

Replaced it with a Stage 1 and a lightweight flywheel:

No Sweetiepies were harmed in the installation of this clutch, but there was one casualty:

Due to stupid OBDII, and stupid sensors, and stupid RI inspection laws, I threw a code and failed inspection. Apparently the sensor likes my old 109-tooth flywheel, and the new 108-tooth one just isn't going to allow me to pass.

And for the record, replacing FWD clutches sucks.

G-Failboat Continues: We return to our normal bad luck

So, Saturday at DC went marginally well. The car ran fine, but the new splitter added more downforce than I expected. Apparently I forgot that a small amount of force over a large area creates one big force. That force has been unofficially named "Oversteer". We attempted to fix it for the afternoon runs by setting our rear wing more upright, but I still haven't trimmed it to work at its steepest position. Anyways, after banging out some left side runs, Dave and I were sitting first and second going into Sunday.Unfortunately, Dave and I forgot how to drive, and the result was not gaining much time. I managed to shave around 0.024 sec to maintain a 0.014 lead over Sam Krauss after his Sunday runs initially pushed me back by 0.008, but it wasn't qutie enough. Although Sam tried his hardest to break Martin's car on him, the Celica All-Trac eventually ran again to put up a couple amazing runs between a couple odd DNF's. It literally came down to the last run, but in the end, Dave and I sat 2nd and 3rd respectively, pretty much solely due to right side failure.Watching some video on the way home, we realized where we were going wrong: pushing the car too hard around the inside loop, where the left side slowed you down with a rally-style jump. It's a lame excuse, but things might've been different if we had remembered to charge up the cameras for Saturday to do some course analysis overnight. Lesson learned: make a checklist for Toledo.

Also: Don't forget how to drive.

Further, beware the paddywagon icecream truck. Why do you need bars on an ice cream truck?

Scott and Dave don't seem to mind the ice cream trucks as long as they aren't armored....

For some reason, the cops in the DC area aren't as fond of Dunkin Donuts as the ones up north. For example, here they are at iHop, who Apple is currently most likely preparing a lawsuit for over their concept jump rope and/or sneakers.

I'm out of content. I need to start living a more interesting life.

Dc pro heat > me. iPhone + blogging = failboat but at least we got the biggest shitter in the whole hotel.

DC is cruel like wearing metal pants in magnet factory

After spending 4 or 5 hours on the dyno getting nowhere....
After installing a new alternator in tick infested weeds....
We get to DC.

After finding out the alternator is dead....
After finding out no one stocks a replacement alternator....
After finding out a junkyard doesn't have an alternator they listed on the shelf.....

After being told to go to another junkyard that has the alternator....

After being told said junkyard is closed....

After going to said junkyard anyways and getting the alternator....
It's the wrong fucking alternator.

After filing out the wrong size alternator mount hole from 8mm to 10mm....

After banging out the wrong size alternator mount bushing from the crappy NAPA unit....
After spacing out the tensioner to clear the wrong (presumably 89-90 240sx alternator)....

After firing up the car and finding out the alternator works....
After stealing a practice start so we can test the car.....
It's still blowing out spark.

Looked over the wire harness.

Redid the power supply to the coils.

Checked voltages everywhere.
Puked in my Cheerios.
Cleaned up, and here we are writing shit down while watching Blades of Glory. Fuck my life. Fuck it hard. The 240 better boost some poundage into the competition for those uphill effingtastic straightaways. FML!!!! It took like an hour in the shower to powerwash all the grease off. And now I'm hungry. At least my Android phone lets me post how much of a waste of space we're being down in DC. Someone wish us luck, boost, and where the fuck is my drink?

Pics tomorrow if I'm not dead.

Lonely...I'm So Lonely.

I am NOT in DC. I am sad.

But I had sushi for dinner and am now drinking beer at the local bar, so I guess it's not all bad. They don't have Belhaven so it's not all that good either.

I miss you guys. Good luck getting everything running. Kick some ass and represent G-Fab well.

2010 DC Prosolo or Bust!

Waiting on E to get to the house in a few hours. Got everything together except for clothes. DC Pro, clothing optional?

should be hitting the road around 11pm tonight, stopping for food at the store and making it to FedEx field by 9ish

is it too early for road soda?

433miles to go

2009 All Over Again

As PJ has become delinquent in updating this (if you consider two years delinquent), we have a lot of catching up to do, and I've elected myself chairperson of updating...in the most concise fashion possible. And in the order I remember it...not necessarily the order it happened. It was a long time ago.

The 2009 season began with a bang. Literally.

The first event of the 2009 season was at Horseneck beach, which is ironically on a nature wetlands water preserve thingy. And we had an asplosion. Wiley happened to be driving (as my codriver in SSM), but we still maintain it wasn't his fault. He does, however, win th G-Fab Most Catastrophic Failure of 2009 Award. Plusses: I learned how to really swap an engine (because I didn't get it the first time?), Keith Casey to the rescue after AAA left us stranded, and we cleaned up all the oil on the nature preserve. Minuses: We needed a new engine. And Jennapower=/=horsepower:

We bought the new engine, fully built, from Jeff at CIP. It was Ryan Tuerck's old D1 engine...woo hoo doriiiiiiiiiftoooooooooo!!!!!!!!!! After the engine swap, we painted the car white. Looks good from 50 feet away at 50mph. Otherwise, it looks like it was painted with a house painter....oh right....that's because it was.

The clutch died once, and we replaced it with a Competition twin disc, which meant I stalled more than I like to admit. I finally got the hang of it, and we had a super awesome Divisionals. Wiley missed out on the win due to the new paint job (white), and its uncanny ability to attract cones. Or maybe it's because wearing white makes you look fat, and the fatter rear end was closer to the cones than normal.

We needed more downforce, we built a giant fiberglass wing. It took 3 attempts littered with polyurethane, a fleece blanket, and a poorly welded steel frame, but we finally scrapped those ideas figured out the exact combination of foam, 1x2's, fiberglass, and epoxy to generate 100lbs of downforce at 40mph. Or something like that. Following our giant wing of doom, Dave ended up winning the Toledo Pro Solo, despite PJ's blistering right side run.

Following this, Dave went on to win SM and Wiley won SSM regionally. Yay for codrivers winning, and car owners taking second and third.

And it was off to Lincoln, Nebraksa for all three of us! I tried to convince Wiley to dress in drag, get some snipping, and codrive with me in SML, but it was a hard sell. Dave bonded with the 240 and ended up winning the Finale. Pro Solo SM National Chaaaaaaaampionnnnnnnn!

And then Nationals began: Allow drama to ensue: The fitting on the oil cooler decided to leak right before my first day. Awesome. And it rained. Awesome. I came in DFL. Awesome. People were mean to me. Awesome. It was pretty cool to see the whole NER camp. We're a cool group.

Dave ended up trophying, and a BMW edged PJ out of trophies on its last run. But all in all, I was pretty happy I went. Good stuffs.

Back in the New England, Wiley and Dave were out of the Moss in the first and second round. Damn PAX. We didn't make it to the Team Challenge, but we were so very exhausted by then.

And the offseason began! Bring on the beer...oh wait. No.

More stories and the 2010 Season Beginnings to come....