Equiraptor's Journal

tl;dr: I won my class by 1.9 seconds

equiraptor@equiraptor.com — Wed, 07 May 2008 14:17:30 GMT

So, those "more details" about the autocross...

I drove up to Fort Worth Friday. I managed to arrive in time to get the car tech inspected and get a few "test and tune" runs in. I didn't really properly tune the car on the test and tune runs - that's still an area where I have a great deal to learn - but I still appreciated the chance to drive on the surface and get at least a bit of a feel for the lot. By the time I was heading off for the tech inspection, my codriver (greengalnblack) had arrived. She introduced me to some of her friends, we checked in with registration, etc., etc. Friday evening was Friday evening, hanging out with the Spokes group. As the sun set, greengalnblack and I realized we were going to have to head out if we expected to go to bed at a decent hour, and since we ran first heat, we wanted to go to bed at a decent hour. She brought me to my grandmother's and headed off to her place to stay.

In the morning, greengalnblack was running late. Me being me, however, I had planned in some extra time for "just in case," so this wasn't a huge negative. We made it to the site and found everything pretty much as we left it, which left us plenty of time. We walked the course one final time, checked grid spots, and brought the car around to grid. I actually managed to put the car in the wrong place, but the grid workers preferred where I put the car, so we left it there. It was cold - the temps weren't all that low, but the constant strong breeze meant any heat was blown away. greengalnblack made her first run and came back with tires only barely warm. It wasn't long before I was out for my first run. Though things were slick, the car was well behaved, and I instantly vaulted myself into the lead. I had a second over Iain Peebles in Chris's MX-5. But, as far as I knew, that was Iain's first drive in that car, ever, so there was potential for him to gain a lot of time through the three runs. Iain essentially matched the time of my first run in his second, but I knocked .8 off for my second run, putting myself back into the lead. On Iain's third run, a cone got in the way, so I found myself going into my third run already in the lead. With the pressure off and my third run just a "widen the gap for tomorrow" run, I knocked another .8 seconds off, and gave myself a 1.67 second lead going into day two.

Through all of this, greengalnblack, Iain, and I traded teasing and good-natured insults. We gathered for lunch with a few of their friends, and then made our way back to the site to work third heat. I spent third heat in the sun, having forgotten to apply sunblock, and got myself a bit of a burn on my face. The rest of the day went well enough, with event-provided BBQ for dinner, and chances to walk the course after.

greengalnblack had me drive her S2000 on the way to my grandmother's this evening. That car is a blast. It definitely needs to rev to find its power, but once you reach around 6500rpm, it's a kick in the pants. As an S2000, it revs up to 9000rpm, so there's still plenty of room to play. It handled well, and it was easy to control that power through corners, even on the bumpy streets leading up to my grandmother's. That car definitely needs to find its way into an autocross, even if it'll be stuck in a class where it's not competitive.

Sunday morning, remembering the chills of Saturday morning, I put on every clean shirt I had left. That meant three fairly small shirts and a sweatshirt. The breeze, however, was gone, so it didn't feel nearly as cold. I ended up shedding layers quickly and early, shedding one or two before any cars even started running! My performance this morning was... Less than stellar. On my first run, my brain just hadn't engaged yet and I wasn't looking ahead. I got lost on course TWICE! I didn't hit any cones or DNF, but I did end up with some rather boneheaded slam-on-the-brakes moments. Iain's raw time on his first run this morning was faster than mine by a second, but he hit a cone. My second run would have made up just over two seconds (not getting lost is GOOD!), but I had hit an early cone, adding two seconds to the run! Iain had hit a cone on his second run, as well, though so I was still in the lead. But on Iain's third run, he ran clean. That time left him with a 107.mumble over the two days, which matched the 107.mumble that I'd had. Neither of us were sure what our .mumbles were, so I went into my third run not sure if I was winning or not. I knew "a clean run" would win it for me, though, even if it was fairly slow, so I took a nice little Sunday drive around the course. "Don't hit anything and don't get lost" were my goals, and I managed that. The raw time was about a third of a second slower than my coned run, but since a cone adds two seconds, it was a great improvement in my standing. I ended up winning my class by over 1.9 seconds.

After everyone else got to run that day, awards were presented. Spokes had done rather well, so many of us ended up walking up to get trophies. I tore out of there quickly after the presentation was over, eager to get home, unload the trailer, and find a few minutes to relax.

Overall, it was a great weekend spent with fun people, driving a wonderful car. I'm eager for the H2R autocross this weekend, and I need to get my tires and contingency money!

Vroooooooooom

equiraptor@equiraptor.com — Mon, 05 May 2008 01:11:30 GMT

Ouch. Next time, don't forget the sunblock.

It was an absolutely wonderful experience. I'm glad to have "done that" now. I had a wonderful time hanging out with the Spokes group. I won CSP.

More details to come later. Probably.

Zooming in Fort Worth

equiraptor@equiraptor.com — Thu, 01 May 2008 15:16:45 GMT

This weekend is the Fort Worth National Tour (yes, that'd be autocross/SCCA Solo II). I'm heading up for my first National Tour event. I'm nervous, but not for any real reason. I've driven to Fort Worth countless times, I've hauled trailers thousands of miles, I've been to plenty of autocrosses. Still, it's my first Tour, my first event with contingencies, and I'm enjoying being nervous about it.

I'll be heading up to Fort Worth Friday morning, and I'll hopefully manage to get the car tech'd that day. My class (CSP) is in the first run group and third work group, so I'll be racing in the morning. There'll be a lot of tire changing, as I need the street tires on the car overnight, but the racing tires for, well, the racing (duh). There's two days of racing - Saturday and Sunday - and then it's back home to Austin for work on Monday. Weeeee.

Nugget will be with the Driver's Edge at Motorsports Ranch this weekend, instead of the National Tour. The track is more his car's style, while mine's more at home mashing through cones.

Yes, another car related post...

equiraptor@equiraptor.com — Fri, 25 Apr 2008 15:11:22 GMT

Maybe I need to rename my journal, "All MX-5, all the time!"

My car has a Tire Rack sticker plastered across the windshield. It has this because it needs the sticker for the divisional and national tour, and the divisional was last weekend, and national tour is next (not this, next - 3rd and 4th), and I decided to leave the sticker on for two weeks. Last night, I went for a drive up Lime Creek Road. I'd catch up to a car, and the car would pull over and let me pass. Catch up to another car, it pulls over. Another... it pulls over. I wasn't even going all that fast! I was just "having fun" not "pushing." Of course, me having fun in the MX-5 on Lime Creek is a good deal faster than a Saturn wagon just putting along, but I wasn't tire squealing or tailgating or anything.

It was a wonderful drive that really brightened my evening.

SOWDIV #1

equiraptor@equiraptor.com — Mon, 21 Apr 2008 15:11:46 GMT

If that subject made any sense to you, you should have been there! That was "Southwest Divisional #1", an autocross event. It was this past weekend in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. I went - Dan and I drove my car - and a few other people from Spokes were there, as well. I was second in CSP and Dan first, which was basically what we'd expected. Dan was gonna be first, because my car ain't slow and, well, it's Dan. Dan had told me some of the guys there would actually be competition for me - that I could take second, but I'd have to work for it. We borrowed 18" wheels with 285 width rubber for the back tires, so my car was running 285/30R18 on the back and 245/45R16 on the front. While this should be an understeer-inducing setup, we put a stiff sway bar on the back to balance things back out. The surface was grippy and the car very well behaved. The rubber was a bit too much in the back and was rubbing oh-so-slightly, so after day 1, Dan raised the ride height of the car just a bit. The car still has the stiff rear sway and the height increase, and I'm driving it around on the street tires now (which need neither), so the car's oversteery. And with my driving... Well, the car's a lot of fun! We'll get it put back together the "correct" way for both my street tires and my normal autocrossing setup soon enough.

As a female serious about autocrossing, codriving with a guy, I get a unique perspective of the events. I showed up at this Central Louisiana hosted event knowing very few of the people who would be there. But, hey, it's autocrossing, everybody's friendly, right? Well, not so much. Before my runs on the first day, I was pretty much ignored. If I struck up a conversation with someone, they'd talk politely enough, but people walking by didn't tend to say hi, or whatever. After I did a few runs, everyone was talking to me. All of a sudden, they figured out I might actually be interested in this stuff, and might actually have intelligent things to say about the course or the surface! Silly boys.

My runs on Saturday were rather bad, though. On my first run, I punted two cones in the slalom. Why? I dunno. I slammed into them quite solidly with the middle of the tire each time. I felt like my car was wider than I expected. After some advice from Vitek I went around again, and the slalom was fine. However, I managed a major "duh." I left traction control on. And because of how paranoid traction control is on the MX-5, and the shape of the course, the traction control kept trying to keep the car from sliding for a fairly significant portion of the course. AS long as the traction control was active (as in, adjusting the car), I couldn't turn it off. So I drove at least a quarter of the course with one hand on the wheel and one hand mashing the traction control desperately trying to get it OFF! And my third time around, I knew I could take the sweeper in corner 4 faster... So I did... A bit too fast. There was wonderful tire squealing as the car slipped to sideways, came to a stop, and stalled right in front of the next cone. Thankfully, we had four runs per day, and I relaxed a bit and took my fourth run slowly, which catapulted me into second place. Gotta love it. So frequently, in autocross, when you try to go fast you're slow, and when you try to slow it down, you end up going faster. It's about car control and smoothness, not flat out speed.

Saturday evening came around, and the group gathered in the host hotel, like they do, with booze and food. Being the evil non-drinker I am, I encouraged guys to drink more, drink more! The more your head hurts tomorrow, the slower you'll be... Mwhahahahaha! I don't think my plan worked, but I don't think it really needed to, anyway, as none of the guys I encouraged were in my class, anyway. ;)

My runs Sunday were improved, but I still wasn't driving my best. My first run was slow - I decided to take a relatively easy look around the course. On my third run, I completely botched the shift into third (yes, this was a third gear course for my car). After this run, a 46.49, Dan told me I could make it into the 45s... If I'd toss the car there, and if I'd give it just a bit more gas in the slalom, I could take off that half second. I responded, "Well, I totally botched the shift into third..." "You did? I heard it bounce off the rev limiter in second and then go in..." "No, that was it grinding going into third." "Oh, well there's your half second." So I went 'round again, and still managed to screw up the shift to third, though not as badly. I figured out how I was screwing it up, too, so at least I know for the next third-gear-using event. I tried to toss the car where Dan said I could, and over did it, so I lost some time there, and I took the 180° turn too tight (do not ask me how I did that... I have no clue) and punted a cone there. The raw time was a 46.0mumble - so close.

If I'm remembering the results correctly (I haven't managed to find them online yet), I was about 6 tenths ahead of third on the combined time. I'm content enough, but I feel like I should have been faster, and like I still have so very much more to learn and skill to gain. The National Tour in Fort Worth is but two weekends away, and there's a potential for money and/or tires at stake, here. Fort Worth is so much closer and so much more familiar to me - the drive out, etc. will be less stressful, at least.

Vrooooom

equiraptor@equiraptor.com — Wed, 16 Apr 2008 19:29:51 GMT

Today, nugget and I went out to Harris Hill Road in his Carrera. It was an absolute blast.

First things first: Carrera on the track: Wow. Oh, man, that's a fun car. We left PSM on the entire time, but in sport mode, which meant it let me have a little fun and only interfered when I was risking a spin. Unlike DSC (at least in my MX-5), which seems like the nun with the yardstick waiting to slap a stray hand, PSM feels more like a guiding teacher, pulling you back a bit when you try to let the back hang out a bit too much. And the car itself was a real joy. Feedback is great, it's responsive to all my inputs, the understeer I experience in autocross is entirely gone, and I can really control the amount of oversteer I get with the throttle. The Carrera on the track gives me the same grin my MX-5 does at autocross.

So, the day: We drive up and Bo and Eric are just finishing talking with another couple. The other couple leave and we introduce ourselves. Right away, it's, "Let's get out on the track!" Eric was driving a Mini S, and Nugget was driving the Carrera. I suggest Bo ride with Nugget and I with Eric, so each of us could have an "experienced" person in the car with us. So Nugget drove off with Bo and I hopped in the Mini. Eric and I talked about Minis and autocross and my Miata and... I realized I might want to hear about, ya know, the track, so coming around corner 4 I asked him to talk through the track with me. We got through corner 5, and were back on another subject already. Oh well. Nugget pitted, Eric followed him, and we swapped spots. Now it was me driving the Carrera with Nugget for a passenger, and Eric driving the Mini with Bo riding. We go out on track and I do about half a lap "slow" before I give into temptation and play a bit. I certainly wasn't trying to go as fast as I can, but I was trying to go at a fun pace, rather than a slow, "have a look around" pace. I did a few laps and found myself letting the car slide a bit through some of the corners. I definitely found myself wanting to push harder than I should on a "get to know things" run, so I pitted. Bo was grinning at me. Apparently, Nugget hadn't mentioned my enthusiasm for driving or my experience autocrossing to him, so he wasn't expecting the girlfriend to go play with the car that much. We went for a few more laps, with video running now, and then came back up. They asked if we'd gone around counterclockwise yet... We hadn't. They suggested we go, and gave some advice about going up the hill. As we walked back to the Carrera, Bo yelled to Nugget, "Don't listen to a thing Monica says until she's driven it!" Oh, THANKS! :-P

So we went around it clockwise a few times. I found I really felt familiar with corners 2 and 3 somehow, CW and CCW (I'm not re-numbering the corners for CCW). I also felt really comfortable with 6 and 7 CW. The hairpin (10) was great in the Carrera, as well, while corner 1 and I didn't seem to get along at all. Corner 4 seems like a very interesting, entertaining corner, both CW and CCW, presenting a different set of challenges each way. Bo and Eric were great to chat with, too.

Hopefully Nugget got some good video of the track.

Zoom Zoom

equiraptor@equiraptor.com — Mon, 14 Apr 2008 01:07:41 GMT

Well, instead of the autocross today *stabs AT&T* we went on a Tejas Miata Club drive. Around 18 cars made it, including an S2000, a 911, and a CLS55 AMG (that'd be a Mercedes). My instructor from my last track day, AC, was there, and I'm actually managing to recognize some of the regular Tejas Miata people now (I'm so horrible at recognizing people... I know those cars have gone on runs before, but which people belong to them?!?!). We had a great time driving down Texas roads of various sizes and states-of-repair, and more than once I was worried a rock had damaged something. That plastic lower lip on the front of my car makes a lot of noise when a good sized rock hits it. But I haven't been able to find any damage on the car.

My brakes are heavily worn, and that combined with the low water crossings made my left front brake just stop working for a bit. A few good presses on the brake pedal dried it out and got it working, but today's drive was definitely hard on the car in a way autocross and track time isn't. Low water crossings, cattle guards, and potholes definitely put different stresses on the car than relatively smooth pavement driven really really hard.

My mother made it out, too, with my old '94 Miata that's now hers. She seemed to have a wonderful time. She's always loved driving, and I'm so very pleased she gets to drive a car that's so fun to drive, now.

Autocross this Sunday

equiraptor@equiraptor.com — Thu, 10 Apr 2008 16:01:48 GMT

This time it's a SASCA autocross. It's at the AT&T Center in San Antonio (used to be SBC Center). Registration closes at 8:30 (with late registration, for an extra $10, until 9). It's a nice site, and SASCA is a fun group to run with. Time to get there isn't much worse than the Spokes San Antonio Raceway events, and it's an easy drive down I-35. You'll see a sign for the AT&T center at the appropriate exit, turn left onto AT&T Center Parkway (or drive or whatever it is), make another right to go in font of the center, and turn into the parking lot at the very last possible entrance. Make your way to the back, behind the trailers, and we'll be back there with cones and cars waiting.

Vroom.

Oh, if you decide to come race, bring a copy of your insurancce. They want proof of your (street) insurance on record. Some AT&T center thing. *shrug*

Nevermind. AT&T canceled it.

Zoom Zoom

equiraptor@equiraptor.com — Mon, 31 Mar 2008 00:58:30 GMT

I was able to get my car back Saturday afternoon. I picked it up at around 2:30pm and drove off the lot, DSC off, happy to be back in such a great car. As I turned onto the I35 access road, I noticed the back end slipped out. I wasn't trying to make that happen, but sometimes it does... The car was low on gas, and as I searched for a gas station, I noticed the back kept losing traction, even at times I wouldn't have expected it to. Then, it dawned on me. Recommended tire pressure for my car is 29psi. Those back tires seem to like closer to 26. So as I gassed up the car, I let a few pounds out of each of the rears. This was, of course, made a bit more odd by the fact that I was still wearing a dress with a rather short skirt (not indecently short, but short enough for me to watch how I bent over).

With the tires pressures returned to "sane for these tires" and the car filled with gas, I returned to the road, much happier with the condition of my car. I35 was obviously a mess, so I just turned down various streets, making my way toward the house. I decided to take Westlake Drive, a curvy road in west Austin, and so cut through downtown to reach it. On the last four lane road before the two lane roads that led to Westlike Drive, a rather large SUV decided he needed to pass me. He actually speed up to get around me after noticing me. I just got my car back. I'm looking forward to some fun (not dangerously fast, just fun) corners, and some guy in an SUV has to intentionally put himself in front of me. Thaaaaanks... At least the guy was speeding on the straights, so I could stick to the speed limit there and not have to slow to under the speed limit for the various corners.

After the twisty two-lane Westlake Drive, I end up on Loop 360. This is a four lane divided roadway with both lights and exits (it over-passes some busier streets, only requiring traffic on 360 to stop briefly for minor streets). I'm coming up on a stoplight immediately after one of these overpasses, and as I approach it turns yellow. I'm rather fond of stopping for yellow/red lights, as I like braking hard and I like getting to be in front at the light. I figure I can stop by the intersection and start to brake. But there was a (yet again) SUV behind me. I watched my rear view mirror closely and discovered the SUV didn't have a chance of stopping. They were tailgating me and had expected me to run the light, so they were totally unprepared for my Miata's extremely short braking distance. I stayed on the brakes, but modulated the pressure, avoiding being hit, and discovered myself entering the intersection at 20mph. I throw the car into second and jam on the gas pedal, frustrated that some idiot's tailgating forced me to run a light I hadn't been planning on running. Thankfully, this person seemed to learn from the experience and stayed very far away from the back of my car after that.

I continued up 360, planning to turn left onto Spicewood Springs road, another fun little two lane twisty road. As I pull into the left turn lane at the light, I discover the car there in front of me is a sheriff vehicle. Oooooh, goody. The sheriff remained in front of me for essentially the rest of my trip home. Still, I enjoyed the top down, the stream, the responsive car, etc. I was certainly glad to have the car back, and I enjoyed the drive, despite the annoyances mentioned above.

Today was another Spokes autocross. I had asked Dan if I could co-drive his Mini S, as I wasn't sure if I'd have the Miata back or not by then. I chose to drive the Mini today, even with my Miata back (driving different cars is fun!). Dan and I met at the shop this morning, and the already seemingly-full Mini acquired a bit more stuff and a passenger. The weather was... not great. It was misting and sprinkling off and on, and continued this on the drive out to San Antonio Raceway. The lot there is definitely not perfectly flat, so not only was the ground wet, but there were puddles of standing water throughout the course. I found my morning runs in the Mini very frustrating - I felt I had absolutely no grip on the front, and since the front is acceleration, cornering, and braking in that car, I felt like I couldn't do anything. But the weather cleared up and the course started to dry (except the puddles, of course), so before the afternoon runs, Dan switched the Mini over to the Hoosiers. During the first afternoon heats, I watched Lance (in a Corvette) and Dan battle for top PAX time of the day as I tried to make sure I understood the course well. Dan claimed top PAX of the day when he made a run in 46.1mumble (raw time). Lance struggled valiantly to reclaim top PAX, getting a 44.4mumble on a very impressive looking run, but alas, it was not enough to wrench top PAX out of Dan's hands.

Eventually my turn to drive arrived. My goal for the afternoon was, "Be less than 2 seconds behind Dan." My first run was a 47.7mumble. On my third (and final) run, I hit a dumb cone - I should have been able to easily avoid it without slowing down - and had a 46.5mumble... 46.5mumble.... .4 behind Dan? Why, oh WHY did I have to hit that cone! Yes, I did have the advantage of a drier course, but still, I was extremely pleased with the time and kicking myself for that cone.

I'm told my 47.7mumble was enough to get me 7th in PAX, which leaves me very pleased, and I'm wondering where that 46.5mumble would have left me had I just managed to dodge that cone! I'm eager for the weekend of April 19th, the weekend of the first southwest divisionals this year.

The Mazda 3

equiraptor@equiraptor.com — Tue, 25 Mar 2008 21:02:49 GMT

So I've had the Mazda 3 for over 150 miles and almost a week, now. This has been nearly exclusively city driving. The car is "Mazda 3i Touring 4 Door," a 2.0 version with a 4 speed automatic gearbox. It's white with cloth seats and a relatively pale interior (I don't pretend to know what Mazda calls the interior - I'm not an automotive journalist ;) ). The car does have power windows and locks, and AC.

As should be obvious from my journal, this is from the perspective of someone accustomed to a modified MX-5, set up for CSP in autocross, who autocrosses the car regularly, tracks it occasionally, and just generally drives hard. My "wants" from my car are very high - much higher than the general population - so many of my complaints won't be relevant for others.

Complaint number one: Front wheel drive. I know, it's a small sedan, get over it. It's still FWD, and it still sucks to have the front wheels trying to do everything. When it manages to try to accelerate through a corner, it ends up understeering.

Complaint number two: The transmission. It's automatic, yes, but that's not the real complaint from me here. The car has a 2.0 that actually manages to have some kick at high RPM. Though it won't be enough to call the car a "sports car" or a "sport sedan," it gives the car some life and some of that sportiness Mazda's "Zoom Zoom" implies. But the transmission ruins it. The four gears, the way they're setup, just don't allow me to use the engine to get that pep. If it had a lower first and another gear I could actually make good use of that engine, and the car would feel a lot better.

I have to say, though, I'm impressed with the turn-in on this car. It's more responsive and nimble than I expected, especially with the soft suspension and the amount of body roll. Direction changes happen easily and quickly. I'm also pleased with the car's response to correction attempts. It does understeer, as to be expected of a FWD sedan, but a minor change easily gets a bit of rotation out of the back of the car, correcting the understeer. Though I can't really accelerate through corners *cough* no power *cough* understeer *cough*, if I can enter the corner with some speed, the car will quite happily maintain it.

This specific car does not have ABS. Yes, a 2008 year model car without ABS. No, I don't know what Mazda was thinking. The first time I braked hard in the car I was shocked at how long it took to stop and how lumbering it felt. Then again, that's coming from my MX-5, which on OEM tires stops from 60 in 112 feet, and I'm accustomed to slaming on the brakes with R-compounds on. Not exactly a fair judgment. As I've grown accustomed to the car, I appreciate the good brake feel and the effective braking. Yes, it's not an MX-5 on slicks, but the brakes do a great job slowing the car, and it's easy to stop in a relatively short distance without locking up the wheels.

There are steering wheel controls on the car. The steering wheel and controls have a very different feel than the ones on my MX-5, but the same basic buttons are in the same basic places. I find my left thumb does have to reach a bit more to change radio stations... I prefer the wheel in the MX-5, but this one isn't bad.

I'm not great with interior / comfort reviews. I tend to only notice something if it bothers me, and I don't remember any particular annoyances with this car. If you have any questions or particular concerns about things I haven't mentioned, ask. I just may not have thought of whatever it was.

Car Updates

equiraptor@equiraptor.com — Thu, 20 Mar 2008 20:20:41 GMT

I got a call from the dealership. My car apparently needs a new 3rd/4th shifter fork, new synchros for 4th, a new 4th gear, and a 3rd/4th housing. I'm not likely to have the car back before Wednesday. I'm pleased about the shifter fork replacement, as that fork was weaker on the earlier NCs than on the later ones, and some of the early 6MTs that were tracked have had issues with it. While I'm eager to have my car back, I'm pleased they're doing a thorough job, and I'm pleased they're not trying to fight me over warranty coverage.

equiraptor@equiraptor.com — Wed, 19 Mar 2008 16:30:00 GMT

Someone I do not know is driving my car. It's off to get a shifter fork adjustment (it's been intermittently grinding going into fourth). The Mazda dealership was kind enough to bring me a Mazda 3 and pick up my MX-5.

equiraptor@equiraptor.com — Wed, 05 Mar 2008 01:18:57 GMT

I'm here at my polling place waiting for the caucus to start. My polling place is my elementary school. Everything is so much smaller than it was when I was five!

Mmmm, Air...

equiraptor@equiraptor.com — Wed, 20 Feb 2008 02:16:49 GMT

We decided to drop by the Apple Store tonight, and I'm trying out a MacBook Air. What better way to try than a LiveJournal post! I really need to trim my fingernails, though. Typing with them at this length is just not easy, and it's not really a fair test of the keyboard like this. I really love the way Apple laptops handle the trackpad now, though, and I appreciate a lot of it being added to my old iBook in software updates.

Sunday, Sunday, Sunday!!! (vroom)

equiraptor@equiraptor.com — Fri, 08 Feb 2008 15:47:26 GMT

This Sunday is the first Spokes autocross of the season. At this point, the registration is a wee little bit full, so if you're not already registered, you probably won't be able to run. If you're interested in running, you're still welcome to register on the waiting list...

Even if you're not interested in racing, you're still welcome to come out and take pictures, take rides with people on their runs, etc. Any camera in a vehicle on a run must be mounted securely, rather than handheld. Helmets must be worn, but there are helmets that can be borrowed on site. It's fun and a great chance to see how tame my driving on the street really is!

A Choral Concert

equiraptor@equiraptor.com — Tue, 05 Feb 2008 02:15:23 GMT

My parents (Mark and Jean) are going to Rome (OK, OK, Vatican City) with their church choir to sing for the Pope. They are leaving in early March, and are holding a concert at the church here in town before they leave. My mother would like me to extend an invitation to all of you in Austin on February 25th to come! The performance starts at 7:30 at St. Austin's Catholic Church (2100 Guadalupe - the big limestone thing with the cross on the top).

I have been called a clown...

equiraptor@equiraptor.com — Wed, 30 Jan 2008 00:07:33 GMT

by an 18 year old with a baaaaad attitude. Don't mess with that girl, she'll really show you!

I hope she's either just trolling, or she grows up without managing to hurt anyone.

equiraptor@equiraptor.com — Tue, 29 Jan 2008 05:05:00 GMT

Before:

         Left   Right   Total
Caster:  6.49°   6.94°
Camber: -1.20°  -1.00°
Toe:     0.05°   0.10°   0.15°

Camber: -1.70°  -1.70°
Toe:     0.05°  -0.05°   0.00°

After:

Caster:  6.53°   6.81°
Camber: -1.27°  -1.24°
Toe:    -0.06°  -0.06°  -0.12°

Camber: -1.72°  -1.71°
Toe:     0.00°   0.00°   0.00°

For Austin-area people...

equiraptor@equiraptor.com — Wed, 23 Jan 2008 04:29:45 GMT

If you're interested in autocrossing some time this year and you're in town this Saturday, you should drop by John and Dan's shop for the Spokes annual tech day. Your car will get "inspected" (wheels pulled on, battery connections checked, etc.). You'll get an orange cone sticker with "08" cut out (vertically), and then you'll be responsible for "teching" your car before each autocross. It's also a chance for you to register as a Spokes member (helping the club and making it easier to sign up for Driveway events) and register for the first event. This will also be a chance for novices to register for the novice school. It's not cheap, but I suspect it will be great for novices... From the Spokes website:

By popular demand, the first "event" of the 2008 Spokes season will be a full day Novice School! Cost is $100 for the day and registration will be limited to 35 entries. Since we expect this school to be in high-demand, here's how we're going to handle registration:

1. First shot at registering for the Novice School will be at the Annual Tech Party at JCAutospec on January 26th (see sidebar for directions and times). Registration will be members-only (you can become a member that day as usual) and you must be present to register, no saving spots for your buddies, etc. Registration will be open to Novices only. If you were considered a Novice last year or have not autocrossed in several years then you are eligible.
2. The day following the Tech Party, registration will open to all Novice members and non-members.
3. If there are still spots after a week, then we'll open the registration to anyone else interested (i.e. experienced drivers).

As you can tell from the event name above, this school is presented by The Driveway Austin. Spokes is handling promotion, registration, and some logistics but this is primarily a Driveway function. Of course, the instructor pool will come from the best that Spokes has to offer so you can expect a top-notch program. Lunch will be provided by The Driveway.

Obviously, the novice school will not be for everyone... But if you're a "novice" who's interested in seriously increasing your skill, it's a great chance.

Well, that was fun...

equiraptor@equiraptor.com — Mon, 21 Jan 2008 03:16:04 GMT

Today I joined beagleracing (Dan) for a SASCA autocross. Dan asked me if I was planning to go last night, and I said I wasn't... It would be cold, and I'm still not completely back from my arthritis flare, and I didn't want to have to deal with everything with the cold only making it worse. Dan's response? "Come drive the Mini." It turns out Dani wasn't able to go, so the Mini could handle another driver. That'd let me avoid the fuss of the tire trailer and changing the tires, which would mean a lot less strain on my joints. So I went.

It was very interesting autocrossing such a different car. Dan's car is a 2007 Mini Cooper S, the turbocharged sort. It's a small car, only a bit heavier than a third gen MX-5, with a slightly longer wheelbase and slightly smaller dimensions, but that whole "front wheel drive" thing kinda makes a difference. It was nice to mash my foot on the gas pedal as hard as I wanted and not worry about the back end of the car doing strange things. However, it was un-nice to mash my foot on the gas pedal and feel the steering wheel try to rip itself out of my hands.

Yet again, in my first drive in a not-Miata, the slaloms had me confused. At first, I tried to toss the Mini through the way I would the Miata. The Miata lets me get away with that, the Mini doesn't. It forced me to use smoother, more subtle inputs, but then I was worried about the car rotating too much. I was convinced it would end up backwards on me at the drop of a hat. It took until my last few runs (out of 7) to stop mowing down cones. Once I finally started to "get" the car, though... Oh, things got interesting. There was a decreasing-radius (at least the way I took it) right hand sweeper that was intimidating to me at first. But once I started not being terrified of the way the car was rotating, I drove that corner like I would in a Miata - enter it hot and gradually let off the gas pedal. The slowing shifts weight to the front, taking traction from the rear, letting the rear come around. So it turned harder, following the decreasing radius, and slowed so it'd be ready for the twist to the left at the end. I'm sure I still wasn't taking that corner as fast as I could have, but I was figuring it out.

Turns out, I was second out of three. Dan, of course, was first and, er, "someone else" was third. I was three and a half seconds behind Dan, and the other driver was another 5 and a half seconds behind me. If you know what PAX is, and you probably do if you read this far, Dan was second in PAX behind a shifter cart and I was 11th out of 71 drivers. I feel pretty good about that, coming from "never driven a Mini, never autocrossed FWD, and haven't even driven a FWD car in some time." Results PAX

It was a cold day, and I spent a lot of time shivering. Still, it was a fun day, and driving the Mini was incredibly rewarding. I'm very glad I went.

Slaughter

equiraptor@equiraptor.com — Thu, 17 Jan 2008 21:45:22 GMT

Thanks to decibel45 for showing me the links and encouraging me to post, and to drfardook for posting his thoughts on the matter, with the NYT link.

"Horses Spared in U.S. Face Death Across the Border"

Once upon a time, I rode horses. I started riding when I was nine. The place I rode was pretty low budget. They didn't have a stable or permanent stalls. They had a tack shed... And a round pen... And temporary stalls that they could set up if a horse was ill or injured and needed to be isolated. But the horses spent most of their time out in the pastures. There were a few pastures... Texas land, so not the best, but the horses received both grain and hay, so they weren't dependent upon the pastures for food. They were able to live in a herd with a social structure, pecking order, etc. The way horses would live in the wild (well, kinda. Geldings don't exist in the wild, but close enough).

Most of the horses were essentially "retired." They'd lived their first lives, mostly as farm and ranch horses, but sometimes as a person's horse (pet/competition animal), sometimes as school horses for a different stable. A few of the horses were born and raised on-site. They worked hard in the summer when they were used for the summer camps, and spent the school year mostly lazing around, with a few lessons. For a horse, it was a relatively good life. Not really any hard work, just long work in the summer, and lots of time to just be a horse.

If I'm remembering what I heard correctly, and what I heard was correct in the first place, most of this place's horses were purchased for $800 to $1000. They were given whatever re-training they may need to become the kind of school horses we needed, and then they lived this life. Some only had a couple of years, but many had around a decade with us. Once they were no longer able to work as school horses for us, they were sent to auction. A horse that could no longer be a school horse for this stable was, truly, a horse in poor condition. Most of the horses this place sent to auction were bought for slaughter. They tended to fetch $300 to $400.

I knew that this was the fate of the horses I'd ridden. No one tried to hide this from me. Knowing the horses were to be killed to be pet food, glue, maybe even people food, etc. did not bother me. At least they would continue to serve a purpose, even in their death. And most of these horses were in poor shape - at least their suffering would come to an end.

The NYT link talks a bit about the value of these horses. A working horse - whether it be a ranch horse, school horse, competition horse, or a child's riding companion - has more value than the meat and bones it's made of. Horses that still have a use, a purpose, horses that are wanted do not go to slaughter. I knew one such horse. Her name was Holly. She was a beautiful dapple palomino Quarter Horse. She had those large Quarter Horse hindquarters, that bulky body. And she had the most kind disposition. You couldn't upset that horse no matter what you tried. She wasn't young, but she wasn't "ancient" - somewhere around 18-23 years - when she foundered. The place I rode didn't have the resources to treat her so they sent her to auction, assuming she'd be bought by a slaughter house, and that would be that. She didn't. She was bought by a Quarter Horse breeder who recognized her potential as a broodmare. He had the resources to try to heal her, and he did. Around a year after she was sent to auction, this man came back and requested her papers - she was healthy and it was time to breed her.

No, the wanted horses do not go to slaughter. It's the unwanted ones who do. We should leave them this avenue of escape. If you're concerned about cruelty, support legislation that controls the methods of transportation, keeping, and slaughter of these animals. But making their slaughter illegal only increases their suffering in a myriad of ways.

equiraptor@equiraptor.com — Mon, 07 Jan 2008 19:51:51 GMT

Why don't zombies just go to the store and buy brains?

Round and round and round and round...

equiraptor@equiraptor.com — Tue, 13 Nov 2007 19:51:48 GMT

Well, our Driver's Edge event was quite fun. We headed out Friday evening, made it to the hotel, ate dinner, went to the novice meeting, and settled in for bed. We were up early (the engines made a better alarm than the iPhones or the one in the hotel room) and headed out to the track. We found ourselves a place along the fence to park and leave our stuff. It was foggy this morning making visibility on the track quite poor. They decided to start with green group's first trip out, as this session would be driven by the instructors and under a yellow flag the entire time. It was intended as a chance for the novices to get a look at the track and see what was going on. And so out we went. I pulled my car into grid, which wasn't much different from pulling it into grid at an autocross, and waited for my instructor to come find me. We were not told who our instructors were, just that they knew our car models and colors, numbers, and our name. A red (well, orange) haired woman walked up to my car and introduced herself. She's Julia, and she'd be my instructor for the weekend. I hopped out of the driver's seat and she sat and re-adjusted. She had a set of speakers and microphones - she said it was a motorcycle communication kit - that we could use to communicate while on the track (the top was down, and the car is loud, and we were in helmets). She turned on my car, and was quite pleased... Apparently she heard my car drive up to the hotel the night before and hoped she'd get to drive it. "It sounds like a real car, not like a little ricer!" We talked a bit about my past experience - autocrossing, driving the supercharged '94, etc. while waiting for everyone in the grid to be ready to go. Eventually, it was time to head out... And she stalled. She restarted the car... and stalled again. I think she was just trying not to rev it very high starting out, but the car needs either a very delicate clutch foot or a few thousand rpm to get going well. After a bit of time on the track, she asked how I was doing... "Well, mostly good, but I'm a bit creeped out by how close you are to the car in front of us." "Oh, I'll pull back." "But isn't getting that close normal on the track? Stay close, I should get used to it." So she crept back up. Overall, not the most interesting 25 minutes of the weekend, but it was a good first look at the track.

Our first classroom session, as green drivers, covered things I'd already learned as part of autocrossing. It was things like seating position, look ahead, etc. A bit later, back out to the track we went. This time, the students got to drive. I asked Julia if I should leave DSC (the traction control) on, and she said to. I obeyed, and we went vrooming. It was difficult and nerve-wracking and I felt like I was fighting the car every step of the way. I did end up getting the car a little sideways, even with the traction control on, and I countersteered through it. Julia seemed very shocked and impressed by my recovery. We finished that session, came back in, did another class, and ran a slalom course.

They had a slalom set up on a straight set of pavement in the infield. A strip of tape was put on the windshield of our cars. We were not to look below the tape as we drove through the cones. There were two instructors managing this, rotating between the cars. An instructor would drive a student's car through the cones demonstrating the weaving pattern, and then the student would drive. While waiting for my turn, I talked about autocross, and how that slalom was much, much more open (and thus faster) than most of the slaloms I'd encountered autocrossing. The instructor who came with me heard this, and so teased me about me not being allowed to knock down any cones (all the students before me had hit a few). Then, he took my car through the slalom, and once through, asked, "Is the suspension stock?" heh.... "Nope. JIC A2" "Oh, ok. The weight was shifting strangely." He took it back through the slalom a second time, and then we traded places. I complained that the tape was on the horizon line for short little me, so he moved it down... Then decided to just remove it. "You autocross. You know how to do this," he said. Oh, ok then. I turned off DSC (he'd left it on) and went twisting through the cones. I hit precisely 0 cones, was moving faster than the instructor had been, and wasn't really pushing it. After a couple of trips through, he said, "Yeah, I think you've got it." *grin* After this was the parade laps and lunch. On the parade laps, we went around the track at a fairly slow pace. Anyone and everyone who wanted to come could, from the racers to tow vehicles, families as passengers, etc. The parade laps gave me a great chance to get another look at the line on the track.

In my third on-course session of the day, Julia let me turn off the traction control. This was a wonderful, wonderful thing. I no longer felt like I was fighting the car, but was able to work with it. I started driving faster and harder, and started passing more and more people. The only times anyone in the green run group kept up with me was when I either was trapped behind an even slower car, or on the long banked "straight" where the higher HP cars could reach higher speeds than my little Miata. When we came in from this session, Julia asked me how I'd feel about moving into the blue group for Sunday. "Would I be stuck in trains less frequently?" "Probably." "Then it sounds great." She talked with the people in charge while I went to another class. By my fourth (and final) session that day, Julia was working on getting me to be more smooth. My Miata's pretty twitchy, between the aftermarket pieces and the alignment that's on it, and this encourages me to become less-smooth. Julia was telling me I was doing ok being smooth while we had space in front of us, but once I caught someone (which nearly always happened quickly in green), I'd lose the smoothness. Julia noticed I was trail braking and managing slip through the corners. She said that's typically something she addresses with yellow students (the "order" is green -> blue -> yellow -> red, with "solo" approval possible while a student is still in the yellow run group.

As I drove back to the hotel, I felt like the brakes on the MX-5 were... well... Mushy. They were certainly still stopping the car, but normally they're very twitchy (like so much of the rest of the car), and they felt... more like the brakes on the '94, or like the brakes on one of the Camrys. NOT like the 06's brakes. There's a tech group on site, so I'd have them take a look at it in the morning. And eventually morning did come. I left the car with them and went to the driver's meeting, and then the blue lesson. I cut out of the blue lesson a little bit early so Julia and I could make sure I was switched to the blue run group by a sane time, and because I was concerned about my car. My car was apparently late in line, and they didn't have it ready by the first blue session of the day. Julia suggested we run it in the second green session of the day, then join the blues with the second blue session of the day. I crossed my fingers that the car would be ready in time, and in an effort to stop worrying, rode with Julia in her Spec Miata for her second session of the day. That was great for me. It did get me to stop worrying about my car, and it was a great chance to see the track at Miata-speed without the cones (there had been cones up to show the turn in, apex, and track out points on the corners on Saturday. They were gone Sunday). We returned, and my car was up on the rack, in progress... but just "in progress" so far... I went back to where Nugget and I had parked that morning and grabbed a drink. I turned and looked at the flag, and it was green! This meant it was time for the green run group to go to grid! And my car wasn't done yet! I walked back to the tech area and saw them putting the wheels on! Yay, car almost finished. I asked the woman handling their customers what I should pay, and she said she had to wait for the paperwork, that I should come back after the track time. Finally I get to go out on the track this morning! Julia and I just have time to settle in and the get headset going before the green run group is off. I don't remember a great deal about this session. My goal was to return to following the line like I should, and to drive smoothly even when trapped behind slower traffic. I did manage to re-find the line, and even started getting a bit creative with the transition between the banked track section and the "infield" section.

It wasn't long before I was out again with blue. I had a lot of learning to do about corner 8 and was consistently having troubles timing my braking and turn in well. I had one rather frustrating turn through 8 and responded by turning into 9 sharply... very sharply. Too sharply - the back of the car started to come around. I overcompensated and some snap oversteer brought the back end around the other way and took us off the track to the right. My first spin on a track, joy. I'd managed to stall it, too. I restarted and found an empty patch to re-enter, and Julia asked me what went wrong. I had no clue - I was still getting back to driving. I was black flagged, as expected, and turned into the pits so they could do a quick check of the car. It checked out - no grass between wheel and tire, or anything like that - and I was let back out. I re-joined traffic flow and started making my way around again. The car felt really slippery - Julia told me I'd probably overheated the tires on the spin. I tried to take it a bit easier without slowing too much, but then corner 3 got me. I was having troubles braking like I should for 3 - I kept braking too late. My braking was much too late this time, and yet again, my turn-in harsh. Off we went again. Back into the pit, and Dean came over. He asked Julia, "Where was the spin, same place?" "No, corner 3 this time." "Ok, off you go," and he smiled. Had I spun in the same place, I suspect we would have had a talk about what was going wrong in that corner. I returned to the track, again, and was driving much more slowly. I was giving passing signals quite a bit, at first, but then found myself passing someone I'd just given a passing signal to. The session was over very quickly after that, and I breathed a sigh of relief.

Right after this second blue session was lunch, which included more parade laps, clockwise (the opposite direction we were running) this time. Julia had suggested I go on the parade laps and try to relax, so I did. I returned and grabbed some food, and then had a realization. We're allowed to go to the slalom course pretty much whenever. We should try not to cause a huge line there, but other than that, whatever. The slalom course was my "comfort zone." I knew it, it felt safe, it was a way to get my head back into driving hard without feeling the pressure I felt on the track. There was one car out there and no one in line, so I headed up. It wasn't long before the one car out there stopped, and onto the slalom I went. On my first three runs through, I knocked down cones. I was really out of it. I slowed down a bit and started going through the other direction, and things settled into place. I gradually sped up and pulled my curves in tighter until I felt comfortable with the car and the slalom. Calm and confidence returned, I parked and tried to snap some pictures of green and yellow runs before going out for blue's third session of the day.

In my third and fourth sessions, I did better. There were no more spins, and though Julia said I was slowing down (I didn't notice that...) I was becoming more smooth. I was especially gaining confidence about coming off of the bank, and corner 3 was no longer worrying me. Corner 8 remained as close to a terror as that track had, for me, especially since I'd frequently pass people on the straight between 6 and 7 and I was worried about over braking and having them re-catch me. I managed to pass a Cayman S, and he couldn't quite keep up with me (though he was faster on the straights, it wasn't quite enough to make up for his slower corners, and I gained on him slightly each trip around). There was an Elise in front of me that just barely gained on me through each corner until, after a few laps around, he nearly stopped on the straight between 6 and 7 and let me and the Cayman pass. I came in feeling good about the weekend and wanting to come back soon.

Lamest Game EVAR!

equiraptor@equiraptor.com — Mon, 08 Oct 2007 00:56:43 GMT

But I love it anyway. :D

I few days ago (ok, something over 30 days ago), saffron_zephyr made a post about Howrse. It's a horse sim - You start with one horse for your "breeding" farm and can breed or buy more (or both... And you can sell, feed, train, compete, etc.). I made an account, just to see what it was like.

At first, I only had one horse, Mika. It was a bit boring with just one horse - there was very little I could do each day - so as soon as Mika was old enough to breed, I bred her. She gave birth to Vikra.

Now I have 5 horses, 3 of which are descendants of Mika, one of which I purchased. I decided to buy Painted Hitachi so I could start breeding some paints, as well as Arabians. She's a fairly poor filly, but that's ok. I'll start with the poor quality filly and train her, improving her. I'll breed her to a decent stallion and get a better second generation... Train that one and get a better third... Etc., etc., and so forth.

I've also sold one filly, Dancer. I accidentally bred her to a stallion who was not a purebred Arabian, and I'd like to stick to purebreds, at least for now. Dancer ended up being 75% Arabian, 12.5% Thoroughbred, and 12.5% Paint.

Though I suspect most of you won't care, if any of you do decide to create an account, or maybe even actually play, please credit equiraptor as your sponsor. I get things if you sign up, and I get nice things in the game if you actually play for a while!

Spokes Autocross on the 21st

equiraptor@equiraptor.com — Fri, 05 Oct 2007 20:16:42 GMT

For those of you who come to the Spokes autocross events but aren't members, non-member registration for the next Driveway event (October 21st) opens Monday, October 8th. I'll make a note on IRC. As always, see spokes.org for more information, directions to The Driveway, etc.