AVAIL at The Otto Bar

Last night I went to see AVAIL and they did not disappoint! Beau Beau is still crazy, Tim looks pretty much the same... just older.

Of course I drove the 911 to the show, punk rock never dies... it just get buried inside... but always influences one's decisions.

I pulled up next to a JEEP, with 3 young rockers inside... the guy in the passenger seat signaled me to roll my window down and asked, "Pardon me, do you have any Grey Poupon?" I replied, "I hope not!" Funny thing is, the girls JEEP that the guy was in most likely cost more that my 911. Perception is everything. I talked to them for a bit... nobody in that car has ever seen AVAIL live... I forget that music lives forever and stories of the old days become folklore or VH1 behind the music segments. But I think they thought I was some poser, until I started to tell the all the places I saw AVAIL in the past... DC, Richmond, NYC, Seattle, Portland... in total at least 15 times (at the very least).

The show was great... unfortunately Tim and the rest of the band were losing their voices... but the crowd made up the difference (including me), shouting, finger pointing, slam dancing (me, just on the edge), crowd surfing (no thanks). One guy came over my head, and landed face first on the concrete, OUCH, knocked out cold, I had to drag him off the pit floor to safety. Once I could see that he was moving and some what alert I got back into it.

Dare I say the size of shirt I bought? Large (which i am sure they had a stock pile), medium and small definitely a staple for everyone else there (weather they fit in those sizes or not who is to judge). The an XL sweatshirt... it is a touch big, but I hate when you have a good sweatshirt and the sleeves are too short.

At the end of the day, or night... I had a ton of fun, even though I wasn't able to share it with any friends.

Autocross 7

The results are in for the Chesapeake Region PCA autocross #7. I again hit 2nd place... out of 3 people! I'll take it. I think my driving has improved quite a bit. Anyhow, it was a ton of fun and I can't wait until next years races. By then who knows how fast I'll be, Kimi Raikkonen watch out.

Chesapeake Region PCA Autocross #7

This guy is not tough.


The final autocross by the Chesapeake Region PCA happened today. I got to race the 911 and had a blast again. The Kimmy (aka the wife) and Betty (aka the friendly Pitt Bull) came. I loved having their support and every one fell in love with Betty.

On my way to the race, I popped into my "PORSCHE" tape deck one of the few cassettes I still own... Firehose, so that I could get stoked on "Brave Captain" aka the morning song, aka Natas part. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ptKi6pP5jGU

The day started with a little difficulty. Due to somebody not paying the monthly dues for the storage space that the autocross trailer was housed in the guys who put it together could not get the trailer out until 10am (instead of 7am). this set the start time 2.5 hours behind. Usually the event race starts running heats at 9am. Many of the people who showed up at 8am for check in heard the news and left. But about 24± cars/owners decide to stick it out.

So after an 2 hours of sitting around, a trip to McDonald's, and a few innings of a high school level baseball game (The autocross is at Ripken Stadium, Aberdeen, MD)... the event began.

I had to work the 1st heat, in the infield. Picking up cones (if knocked over) and calling in drivers "Off Course" (result is the driver DNF or Did Not Finish/Disqualified run). I thought that being out there was very educational... I got to see where people made mistakes and some ways to make faster lines. Being out there, I feel is very important and helpful to learning the track.

My first run was my slowest... 71 seconds. I got a little loose in some of the corners. The course was less technical than the previous event. I think that my best score was 67.888ish seconds... although I had a 67.377ish finish, but on that run I hit one cone and that is an automatic 1 second penalty.

Considering the more experienced drivers were about 9 seconds faster than me, I felt that I have improved quite a bit since last race (thank you PGR 3).

This is me:

Short Shifter Part 3

This weekend I spent a lot of time with the 911. Friday night I began working on the short shifter install. OMG was that tough. What I thought would take 2± hours (lead to believe by my signed copy of 101 Projects for Your Porsche 911, I ordered the book from Pelican Parts and it came signed, weird) ended up taking me 6± hours. Beyond an oil change, fuel filter change, tire rotation, replacement of air filters... I have zero experience fixing cars. But I decided that I was going to take on the challenge of installing a short shifter to the 911 and the recommended bushing replacement. Let's just say I must have put together and taken apart the shifter mechanism at the least 9 times (9 times), because of missed steps, parts that needed to be drilled bigger, stupidity, lack of attention to detail, and a few other things I am too embarrassed to talk about. But low and behold I did it and damn proud of it. She shifts like a dream now... tighter, more even more mechanical and of course shorter. Whew. I hope that I have the stamina to keep upgrading the 911.

Short Shifter Part 2

I disassembeled the old shifter last night... it was more or less pretty easy. I broke on of the contact points for the console. It is no big deal, since I don't intend on reinstalling it. I need more room for my feet so I can learn the ways of heel toe downshifting. And less weight on the car. Wow, I am becoming a car dork.

Could be worse... I could be tuning Hondas (A tuned Asian import is like the special olympics, you can win a race, but you're still retarded). I know I used to own a WRX and loved that car and still think they are great vehicles... but I left it as is with no upgrades or tuning.

My hypocrisy, has no bounds.

Anyway, I have a new bushings coming in today and that will be all that I need to finish the short shifter upgrade.

Short Shifter

Received my short shifter today. Unfortunalty, I did not receive the new bushings for the shifting mechanism. I may have to be a mechanic tonight... don't know if I can wait for the other parts.

I can't wait... autocross this weekend! I need the short shift! Bushings can wait.

Picked up Project Gotham Racing for the XBOX 360. OMG. Hooked. I want to buy the XBOX 360 steering wheel!

SSI

I picked up my car today from SSI, paid them $91.00 for diagnosis that my rear passenger torsion bar is broke, which I think is false anyway ($1200± was my qoute to fix it). I feel that they are not my type of people I want servicing my 911. They are a great bunch of guys, but I have zero tolerance for people who cannot create timelines and get back to you when they say they will. Among a few other issuse I have with them, I have decided to end my relationship with SSI... my car is worth it, they are not.

I am bringing my car to GT Performance. I spoke with the owner Gennady, the owner and I have an inital gut feeling that he is going to be a good fit, for me and my car. We will see.