This isn't the toy I was talking about

That one was a 1/24 scale Tamiya Mitsubishi and yes that was like four months ago and no I haven't finished building it. I got like 3/4 of the way through and put it back in the box. I'll finish it eventually but I just really don't want to do it right now becaaaause

I got this :D

I've been wanting to get into karting since the ol' pre-teenager days and finally had the opportunity to pick one up with moderate parental approval. 

Specs and then I'll talk about it.

2015 ItalKart Rapido V 

125cc Parilla Leopard, 27hp, 17000 RPMs 

Magnesium wheels, MG Yellow tires

F&R Disc brakes

Fiberglass seat

Runs on a mixture of jet fuel and karting oil. 

I had a couple of my friends over about three weeks ago so I could swap their winter wheels over to their summers. My dad walked into the garage and said that my neighbor Doug was working away in his garage and that I should go over and talk to him about getting into karting if that was still something that I wanted to do. We finished up what we were doing so my friend and I walked over to Doug's to have a chat. Doug's the guy that owns the garage that I posted pictures of a while back - the one with the orange Cobra. He's raced for a good chunk of his life and offered to ask around to see if anyone was selling a package so I could get started. 

The next weekend Doug, my friend Steven, and myself were down at Sumas International Motorsport Academy checking out a few carts. Michael Valiante who'd just come back from racing in the 12H of Sebring showed us around and had a couple of strong packages to consider. Thirty minutes later I was getting my ass handed to me purely on the physical involvement in karting I never knew existed. Wasn't expecting the acceleration, stopping power, or the levels of grip they give. I was addicted before I was done my out-lap. 

Finished the day off and had the kart paid off a few days later. Michael and all the guys and girls at Italian Motors have done a fantastic job making sure that I feel comfortable in the kart and have led me in all of the right directions, pushing me to get into my first race as soon as I can. I was out on track yesterday for about an our or so over the course of fourish hours. My pace is mediocre at best but after watching my GoPro footage and comparing it to Italian Motors factory drivers footage, I have a good idea of where I can make up some time. 

The karts themselves are just too damn cool. The exposed spinning mechanical parts would be distracting on track if you didn't need to concentrate so hard on keeping your head attached to your neck anytime you give inputs through the kart. It's properly involving. I was running laps yesterday with a physician who was telling me that when he strapped himself up with sensors and monitors, his heart rate was hovering around 150bpm and was spiking 3g of force. I know I sound like a massive fanboy but you really have to try driving one of these before making criticism. 

Overall I'm super excited to head to the track whenever I can. Very well organized facility and a positive atmosphere around the entire paddock. I have tons to learn and still need to pick up a couple odds and ends but still pumped to finally be in the sport I've been wanting to do for so long.

Mike

things

Still not done with the toy that I said I'd post about in the last post. I'll actually post about it when I finish it. Or maybe not. I don't know if I'll ever bother fixing it.

Couple of new things. Various detail supplies that I hope to use over the summer. I'm still stuck with my PC 7424xp which is proving itself to be weak but reliable. For now I'll just relate it to my philosophy of driving; start with something slow as fuck and learn how to drive it fast as fuck before moving onto something fast as fuck. Rupes21 is tempting but I still have a ways to learn with compounding so I'm holding off for now.

I've purchased tickets to go to the Canadian Grand Prix from June 5-7th which I'm absolutely pumped for. I'm going with two close friends and we'll be sitting in grandstand 12 which is right beside the pit exit overlooking turns one and two. I need to stockpile some batteries for that trip.

Last weekend has been the only weekend since this semester started where I've looked back and not regretted spending time (and money) on useless shit. To be fair during the day I was either working or writing essays so whatever, but later on Saturday night Miguel, John, Eric, and Tim swung by my place and we went for a cruise, myself riding shotgun in Miguel's turbo SW20 and later driving Eric's EK9,

It was a good time even though riding shotgun with Miguel is enough to put you to sleep. Get some brighter lights, homes.

Sunday I went karting with the Dori-Kaze guys and had a blast (as always with karting). I've been trying to fend off the temptation to buy a kart but that's a whole different story... that I'm too lazy to tell.

Automotive situation. Hm. I'm not sure about this. I went through my stage of regret of selling my car a few weeks ago but snapped myself out of that pretty quick. I've sold off all of the remaining parts I had for my RSX sub two sets tires (fuck me) and stock suspension which I'll probably end up giving away. I keep telling myself that no matter what car I'll buy that I'll enjoy it - and I know I will. In that regard I've contemplated buying Eric's EK9 or buying a Miata or some shit. My worry is that I'll end up starting a gigantic money pit that I'll never get anything back on which scares me because I'm poor af. I still have my material urge to satisfy my twelve year old self and buy a CP9A which at this point is leading itself to be a better and better idea other than the fact that it will drive me into bankruptcy. I've also decided I'm going to own a 997 GT3RS 3.8.

In regards to the video. I get a little cynical watching sports cars and race cars on TV and the internets and not giving enough credit where it's due. 6:50 onwards that was not the case.

If you've made it this far without wanting to kill yourself - high five to you.


Mike.

Hiatus

I'll post some life updates after Friday. I've bought myself a toy to entertain myself with over the break.

Like an actual toy - don't get excited.

Treated with more care than most cars

Work from home

Mustangs, Cobras, and Greg Moore

Inside one of my friend's garage.

The pictures speak for themselves. The owner's a die-hard race enthusiast. He was good friends with Greg Moore up until his passing years ago. The helmet, gloves, and wheel are all authentic gear used by Greg himself. There was another Mustang in the stall beside. The Cobra was built mostly in his garage over the span of several years. It's loud, driven hard, and thoroughly enjoyed.

I hope I can get into more racing.

Forza Jules

To the young man who gave us all hope that a drive could be earned by talent and dedication over money. You've lightened our hearts and the timing screens. We need you to push harder than you ever have before.

How many STI badges can you fit in 10 centimetres?

Two. Two STI badges.

I don't understand why people put cheap wheels on cars that come with such well made wheels from the factory.

Was also nice to see an STI that's driven off road. Not fun cleaning it though #shopbitch

On track

Thanks Willy for the pic, and Duy for sending it to me.

Really going to miss this car.

Exhaust sold quickly. Surprisingly K-pro is taking a while and isn't drawing much interest. Headlights and lips are popular, just trying to sort things out. Will probably sell the coilovers with the car. Greatly constrained by time and I doubt I'd get much for them.

RE30's and PSS. Fuck me. I have 700kms on these tires and I'm pretty much going to lose 60% of their value even if I separate them. Maybe I'll try returning them to Costco.

I've already watched it many times, but I just finished re-watching Senna. The last thirty minutes of that film are raw, surreal, and powerful. I managed to download a version with interviews from Prost and a few BBC journalists of the era. They offer incredible insight into Senna's endowment and depict how he was able to rationalize for his actions.

Dremmin'

Writing a Communications paper right now. It's due tomorrow morning and I can't focus right now so I'll post pictures of cars.

^dat dur rake, yenno?

I like the last one a lot. 6.5 TME, Juuuust right.

If it ends now, it's still a lifetime achievement

Well.

I'm sure by now you've heard that I'm stripping my car of aftermarket parts and reverting to stock to sell.

It's a little bit of a weird feeling.

This car has taught me everything I've come to learn about cars, the community, the science, engineering, and hard work that needs to be put forth to buy, build, modify, tune, and tweak any kind of object with wheels and a central power unit. It's overwhelming, but incredibly satisfying.

I'm not out of love for cars. I don't think DC5's are bad platforms. I don't think Honda's are bad platforms. Sure they have they're downfalls, but they easily make up for it elsewhere, and it's extremely obvious where they do.

So now. My car. Why am I doing this.

I bought this car and I didn't know what it was. I don't like to admit that I bought it impulsively, because I didn't entirely buy it on impulse. I narrowed it down to three platforms: S-Chasis, CN9A, DC5.

 S-Chasis, at least, the few I was looking at, was a little bit of a letdown. There's a lot of hype surrounding those cars and I can see why. It has the right formula for a good car.

The Evo 4 I drove... holy fuck. 280ish horsepower and 300tq pushing around 2700 pounds is crazy fast. Combined with AWD, it's an absolute fucking menace. I was a bit ambiguous and looked at one with under 90,000 km's on it so the price was just out of my reach.

 And then there's the DC5, which doesn't really need explaining. It's a car that I saw myself growing with. A good introductory to the car world.

I don't really want to say it again because I've said it time and time again, but my intentions for this car weren't clear enough. In the end I was really only satisfied with the exhaust manifold, kpro, and RE30's. I feel like I've said it so many times before so I'll save myself from typing it again. If you want more on this just comment or whatever. Basically I built a gnarly street car when I wanted something more track oriented.

That's what you get for modding your car before going to the track.

If anyone is interested in parts, I've posted everything in the CRSX Canada West Buy & Sell.

http://forums.clubrsx.com/showthread.php?t=1052225




I'll leave you with the last picture of my car that I'll take of it with all of the parts still on.

Emo b&w

$80 tanks of gas. 

Trying to make this tank last four weeks.

Realistically I'll get two and a half.

Oil change yesterday.

Nothing else is new with the car.

I'm back at school now. Finding myself with little to no free time anymore. Sunday is my only day off and is devoted to studying and assignments. Four courses and thirty hours of work fucking sucks.

Still happy as shit, don't get me wrong.

Currently reading a good book. "The 5 Elements of Effective Thinking". It was a required text for my Communications class at uni. It's the first reading I've done at uni which I've enjoyed reading. Most reading are mindless course material related articles that seemingly never end.

I hate being asked what I want to be when I graduate University because I don't have the slightest clue to what I want to do. I fall asleep dreaming of racing cars. How will university help.

Bro, I tracked my car once and my tires have checkers on them.

Immature

A Lan-Evo sure would be nice.

Track Day

Car felt great out on track. Fairly happy with where it is but holy fuck I really would like:

Damper/camber adjustable coilovers
Stopping power
LSD
Rear sway bar
R-comps
Bucket seat
Steering wheel + extended hub
more noise.


Other than that it was perfect.

 Unfortunately I haven't found any on track shots. Only my ricer hard park pictures.

Only problem I had that day was one of my muffler hangers broke and the other kept slipping off. Got a nasty burn on the side of my hand from fixing it. I also had a rock get caught in between my caliper and brake pad (where there's a gap in the caliper closest to the center of the rotor) and it was rubbing against my rotor thus making a horrendous noise. Luckily it happened right as I was parking but still a PITA because I had to take my pad off to get the rock out.

The Michelin PSS handled just like the Star Specs and got better as the day went on. Some were telling me that they get greasy after you put too much heat into them but I didn't run into that problem. Maybe I need to drive faster.

HP+ started to fade in the final laps of my sessions. Held up well for an autocross pad. I was happy with their performance otherwise. I haven't pushed them much since I bedded them in a couple weeks ago. They do give and maintain bite as they get warm. Holy fuck were they loud after.

The black WRX belongs to my friend Stephen. To give you an idea of how hard this course is on brakes, we just put on new brake pads (albeit OE) two days before and within 3 sessions, only one of which we could actually push, he had to park his car due to overheating issues. Unfortunate because our cars are almost neck and neck with each other and we set times at Go-Karting within a few hundreths of a second within each other.

I'll be back for more. Uni starts again this upcoming week so I'll be busy juggling courses and work. I'll be pulling insurance off the car earlier this year.If I'm lucky I'll get one more event in before I do.

Ricer brake dust pictures

Also, this FD RX7 was next level.