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Journal 2002

Nov 3rd Buttonwillow Raceway! Applekat & I go road racing: Yah.. fun stuff.. we towed Applekat up to the stinky cow town they call "Buttonwillow" in central California.. and you bet it smelled like Butt.. This was a definite fun adventure. The first time I've taken my car to a real road racing track. I was hoping there would be toads to play with at the inn but no little friends today. =(. 

Pics from the event wow it was awesome still my #1 fave track.

When we got to the track it was already buzzing with cars and people. We started the day with the mandatory driver's meeting and went through the tech inspection. Unfortunately my stuffed animals couldn't go for the ride. I took my first session solo as I cruised along in the Applekat warming up the tires, people started to creep up on me.. which i then assumed it was enough to warm up my tires. FwooSh, zip, dart, slide.. the wonders of understeer on front-wheel car couldn't have been more debilitating.. 

Instructor Scott drove my car around a bit and determined that my tire pressure was too high and lowered it down for me (what a pro). Then Scott's little brother, Instructor Colin sat in the passenger seat to watch my race lines. He noted that the cones marked the apex of the corners.. a very helpful comment!! He also found that i was braking too late, not enough and turning too soon. Colin emphasized the "smoothness" when taking the line.. he also made an example of my braking too late and let me slide off the track and make a dust ball.. then it was time for instructor Frank, he hopped in my car & really got on me for holding my hand on the steering wheel correctly, braking hard enough for the corners and using the whole track. He also got mad at me for giving it too much gas and forcing a dirtslide off on the Mazda Star turn.. Mom timed me on my last lap 2:34:03.. 

between all this i went for multiple car rides.. all adventures in themselves.. Colin's red hot TT and Frank's yellow EG6 were both impressive. I can't imagine how long it takes to achieve such a skill level.. wow.. i was anticipating a ride in Scott's M3.. which is always a blast.. but he was a lil busy that day.

the aftermath: one bent rim, chunk torn out of the sidewall, dirty car, sore shoulders & a very tired race crew.

Race Practice Preparation: My bf decided that i should do my own oil change at the shop.. he let me do all the work while he smoked.. as the oil drained i did my usual.. i decided to swing from the suspension bar under my engine, spin/inspect rims for bent sections, picked off the animal fur from the piping... fill up the tires with air, windshield wiper fluid among other things messy.. easy as pie.. 

Thursday night.. since i did my servicing(@71250mi).. i decided its time for the ITR jdm gauge cluster install.. swappity swap.. all done.. we went amber! i rolled the miles on the cluster to 56,200km.. cuz i was too lazy to roll it into the 117,000's.. then me and my dad swapped on my junk bumper/corner lights..

Friday i visited the tire shop to get the tires mounted & balanced.. the Nitto 555's set on the rear rims.. but I figured since my Yokohama Avids were of a harder compound they should go on the rear.. 

All Fixed August 7th: ahh i can't believe this is what $1330 + 212 looks like.. noo.. i swear.. she's a whole new car again. cept minus the front emblem holes.. darn i should have shaved off the license plate holes. i'm happy happy.. see the bad page to see what she used to look like.. 

Devil Day for the Teg.. we're all going to hell.. That's waay too many 6's.. 

Wed 3/27/02 Palmdale Round 4:6 cars 9 runs.. lots of wind, chance of rain.. another 15.977@86.7mph whoo hoo.. a whole .009 less than my best time. i can't believe i deleted the picture of my car(it had the #195 like the ITR's 195hp).here's some of my friends who went with us. [timeslips]

Wed 3/13/02 Palmdale Round 3: 3 cars 3 runs.. so  windy they even closed freeways.. i'm actually really glad we made it up there.. i discarded my GReddy header and went back to my stock headers w/bored out downpipe. well i was really mad that there were waay too many cars but i did score a 15.986@84mph! i'm very happy with that time.[timeslips]

Wed 2/19/02 Palmdale Round 2 +GReddy header: 7 cars. This trip to palmdale is my third to join in on the fun.. but the second time i've taken my car to run.. the best was the last run with a time of 16.216 @ 86.853 I'm assuming because of the IDRC coming up this weekend everyone is preparing for Palmdale. There was a 10s silver Supra.. it made so much smoke.. I don't think i got to see the run. Funny thing is.. Palmdale has a sort of ash that floats about the sky and leaves small specs of things on my camera lens. i think i'll call them "Palmdale bugs". [timeslips]
   

Tue 2/18/02 Condensation: argh.. dont you hate it when there is condensation in your lights. first it was a spider in my passenger headlight.. now when it rains.. it gets all foggy.. my solution: take out the bulb, bust out the hairdryer.. apply heat to the front of the headlight.. the water will evaporate and exit via the hole in the back. 

Wed 2/6/02 Palmdale Camera Crew: this time we had 12 cars that came with us.. we were about half the cars running. it was great.. i got to videotape because i got germy/sick from the car clean/foglight install ordeal.. i'll post up some pics for all to see in the next few days. 
 

Thurs 1/31/02 Car Clean & Foglights Install: Spent 3 hours on the wash, polish, wax job for my teg.. undenting the hood..yea.. someone stupid decided to land their backpack on it last year(jerkoff).. yea i neglected the interior again.. but at least my car is clean..  then had to do two sets of factory foglight installs for 99 civics.. i got to do the wiring.. which only my hands would fit underneath the power steering reservoir and behind the windshield fluid reservoir.. fun stuff ey.. well that's my 2nd and 3rd 99' Civic foglight install and counting..  it was real cold.. now i'm sick and germy.. what a great way to start midterms.. hope i'm better for another go at Palmdale Friday Feb 8th.. 

Fri 1/11/02 Palmdale the first time..: Ok Ok.. so i can't stop racing now.. went to palmdale to run my car last night.. i can't decide if the drive there is better than the actual racing. my car had a new name that night.. #201. found some other sonic blue teg just like mine.. he had a test pipe, cold air intake, and something else that didn't sound like a stock gsr.. cams or something. his fastest that night was 15.3.. lets see.. since my engine looks like the picture when i went.. plus an exhaust.. the first run 16.767. Second(redlighted didn't know what the hell i was doing) 21.039. Third16.329. Fourth 16.509. The last run i did a 16.329.. not too bad considering it was PALMDALE cold as heck and i couldn't feel my hands. full interior, 16" rims.. he he.. i wonder how my car would do at lower elevation..  I went with like 8 other guys who were all faster than me.. SAAD.. but we had loads of fun on the way back. too bad i didn't catch the top end adventures on film. off to work i go! here's some of my racing buddies. [timeslips]
Palmdale Friday Night Grudge (1-11-02)

Sun 1/6/02 New Camera!: i just got a new camera i'm having lots of fun charging batteries and taking pics.. so i should have lots more to add to the site. stay tuned.