The modern equivalent of “Never look a gift horse in the mouth” is “If somebody invites you to race a C5 Z06 in Colorado, you shouldn’t ask too many questions about whether they brought enough tires and brake pads for the whole event.” Which explains how I found myself looking at six shredded Yoko A-0052s just seven hours into a 24-hour race. How many tires did we bring? Ten. Also, the brake pads were down to one-eighth. How many extra brake pads did we have? One used set.
Needless to say, we didn’t exactly set the world on fire for the rest of the race. Still, something good came out of it. Ross Bentley was one of my teammates for the event and I was able to convince him to spend an evening in Ohio working with John at Circleville Raceway Park. The results were immediate and obvious; the kid is now confidently sliding through turns with the throttle pinned.
Click the jump to check out what Bark and I wrote last week and also to see a picture of my rear tire after ninety minutes — it will help you understand why I found some of the fourth-gear corners a bit unsettling!
Brother Bark told the world about his Civic Type R experience at SCCA Targa Southland.
At TTAC I suggested that hot hatches could cool the planet, discussed the shrinking ecology of new cars, and asked the readers how they would rock a hurricane.
For R&T, I reviewed the Camaro SS 1LE and reminisced about the Macho T\A.
This weekend we’re hoping the weather will let us go racing — kart racing, luckily. No more tires will be delaminated. I hope.
I hope you explained to John that him getting karting tips from Ross Bentley is like you learning how to play bass from Victor Wooten. Though, I’m sure you’ll say that John is better at karting than you are at playing bass.
Very brave of you bringing up the AGW. The topic always fascinated me. I want to believe stupidity over malice, so I assume all the panic over the AGW is people’s attempt to exert influence over something they have no influence over. If we wish really, really hard the AGW to be real, then maybe there’s something we can do about it. After all, we have SCIENCE!
On the other hand, if the AGW is not real, and if we have no control over the global warming trends, then who knows what can happen next. I mean, Sun could start burping solar flares that knock us back into the Middle Ages, technologically speaking. Oh no! What if there are things we cannot control via fake grassroots movements, or by manipulating the search engine ratings, or by controlling the media? Maybe the ocean waters *will* rise, and that beachfront property I spent *so* much money on will become worthless. It better be real. The AGW *must* be true.
Apropos:
Michael Crichton, The Lost World 429-30 (1995).
I hated that passage when I was a kid (the entirety of which can be found on the internet). I thought it ruined the entire book since it appeared to be so blatantly anti-science. But, in the twenty plus years since I first read that book, I’ve grown to realize Dr. Crichton was on to something. We all think we’re so damned smart, but we’re never quite as smart as we think we are.
“Science is the Belief in the Ignorance of Experts” — Richard Feynman
There’s a reason why the science humor magazine was named The Journal of Irreproducible Results.
Many who ascribe to religious beliefs that they think are scientific would have us believe that scientists are some kind of high priests whose words are gospel, when in fact the scientific method presuposes mistakes and fraud. An experiment must be reproducible or it’s worthless.
If you haven’t already seen this article, you’ll enjoy it: http://theweek.com/articles/443656/how-botched-understanding-science-ruins-everything
This is stellar work on the part of the writer and I’m going to feature it separately here.
CAGW isn’t a hoax; it’s a scam.
When I encounter someone who wants to harangue me, a member of the single most versatile and adaptable complex species this planet has ever seen, about how a changing climate will make the world unlivable, I point and laugh at their transparent attempt to push a nonexistent moral dilemma on my conscience.
While his statement was much more verbose, Max Planck stated science advances one funeral at a time as older, entrenched theories fade away through their adherents’ passing and are replaced by newer theories espoused by younger scientists. Hopefully the green scammers, guilt trippers, religious nutcases and watermelons won’t reproduce in significant numbers and thus allow the entire sham to fade away along with themselves.
I don’t know how robust our electric power grid infrastructure is, but another Carrington Event would be more than a major inconvenience these days.
Those Vette’ tires look like operator error to me, kind of like us at the track last weekend, except our operator error seized the engine when we ran it out of oil. Oh well, VW ABA motors are easily obtainable at every junkyard. The next one should be ready to go back in the car tomorrow, plenty of time before the next race.
We shouldn’t have had a square setup. It leads to obscene rear tire wear. And our fuel economy pursuit meant that I was passing Boxsters and E46es in the corners, not on the straights. 🙁
Great article on the trans am, always wanted a meacham t/a, was fortunate to drive a 75 t/a with the 455 ho and a four speed, that car formed the rest of my automotive dreams for many decades, yes it was smother down, but for a 17 year old kid, it made lasting impressions, torque was still present. I think these cars stock handl d as well or better than the corvette as well! Just bought the spousal unit an max-5 Miata nc-1, not as fun as the trans am when you put your foot down, but very responsive when you nudge the steering wheel.
Smother should read as smogged down, efn IPhone
The funny thing is that the sentence works both ways!
These brakes have 20mm pads but caliper must be removed to change them. https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10154651944671854&set=pcb.10154651946266854&type=3&theater
These can run 25mm pads and replacement pads load from the top. Not cheap, but they won’t get tired.
https://www.essexparts.com/essex-designed-ap-racing-radi-cal-competition-brake-kit-front-cp9668355mm-c5-corvette147
I’ve heard very good things about that Essex kit.
Danger Girl’s Vette has Stoptech ST60s up front. I’m not impressed.
You can sell the Stoptech’s. They’ll bring more money than you would think if cleaned up. I’ll bet you can score a good discount on the AP kit from Essex.
I’m guessing you still enjoyed your weekend at HPR because - well, it’s
HPR. A wise friend pointed out during a Lemons weekend to not try and gain a few thousandths in Turn 1, because waiting to set up a perfect Turn 2 can turn into an additional gear in Turn 3 and gains of whole tenths by the end of the back straight. There are several other tests of both driver and vehicle capability, including constant radius corners to stress test lubrication systems and descending hairpins to ensure one’s chassis and brakes are set up correctly.
My SO’s daughter thoroughly enjoyed visiting HPR for a Lemons weekend a couple years ago, although I am definitely worried she chose the 928 as her favorite car out there. She always seems to unconsciously pick the most expensive choice when we’re engaging in activities away from home.