Marc's Public Blog - Cars

Current Music: DJ Pi - Trance Empire Volume 10
Current Mood: Tired, but smiling :)

(warning, I'm tired, the following "prose" is somewhat readable, but barely better than the half non sensical raw stuff that comes out of my brain :)
Saturday morning, I woke up without wanting to go to step. Ok, I guess I went twice this week already (instead of boot camp) and that those classes were more fun than the somewhat lame class I take on saturday, but still... I figured I'd make it up with mountain biking the next day. (little did I know)
After some undetermined time on my laptop, I started installing the new wheels and tires that I had just received for my car.
At the same time, I took the opportunity to bleed all my brake lines (the most likely reason why I had uneven braking and why my front left tire would lock up first), and replace the entirety of my brake fluid with fresh stuff, in time for the track.
In the process, I swore in several languages while trying to remove the overtightened bolts that held my original wheels with the original wrench that came with the car (too short, not enough leverage), as I was actually standing on the tip of the wrench to use my weight for getting the damn bolts off. After getting one wheel out, I broke one of my socket wrenches while trying the breaker bar I had just bought as a result (I was tightening the new different-sized bolts for my new wheel).
Several trips to the hardware store later, I had 3 of my brake lines flushed, and the 4 wheels changed, along with their fresh, very gummy tires (I like the inscription "recommended for competition events only" on my Toyo RA-1s :)



(yes, I know it looks like a catheter, but trust me, it's not :)

I was never able to remove the 4th speedbleeder nut with my adjustable wrench though, as it was overtightened, and because I had prior plans with Meggin (movie: The Village, which turned out to be quite slow, and sushi & catching up after that, which was the better part of the afternoon/early evening).
My short ride to the movie theater and back already put a smile on my face due to the incredible grip my new tires have (and anyone who's ridden with me before knows that my previous tires, Toyo T1-S'es, weren't bad to start with), but trying them out further was enough incentive to get my sorry butt out of bed at 06:20 on sunday and meet Jason and some coworkers in Saratoga for a drive around the twisties.
Long story short, I beat the crap out of my car, and it performed absolutely perfectly. Its only downfall was its light weight and shaddy overall grip on a very uneven and baddly paved piece of the drive. The highlight was probably taking some air at 80mph+ on a nice bump :)
We didn't have that many cars, but it was also fun to have the fastest car in the group (in a straight line, it might have been close for a few of us, but in turns, with the grip I had, and my upgraded brakes with racing pads, I had a clear advantage in the foot down, brake hard, turn and accelerate to the edge of traction game :)
On the way down from skyline, I went to pagemill to ride that road that I'm now somewhat familiar with since I take my bike up and down it almost every week (in my other car that is), It was fun to drive it with my fast car instead of the poor beat up mazda protege :)

(the rest of the picts can be found here )

The only shortcoming from racing pads is the instant dust you put on your rims, even if they're brand new, or freshly cleaned (check the bottom part of the rim to see what I mean)


On my way home, I went to get more tools I was missing (including some very small open wrenches in order to get my last speedbleeder nut out, which I proceeded to do when I got home). I tried to find true distilled water for my radiator without succeeding, and got my oil changed (or refilled depending on how you want to look at it :)
At this point, my car is actually ready for the track Saturday. I can't wait.

The plan after that was to go mountain biking, back in the same place I just came from, but I felt just too tired, so when I finally got home after shopping (gosh, I even ended up at Fry's on the way), I took a short nap, and worked on my laptop instead.
Oh damn, I was supposed to get a haircut...