Thursday, May 10, 2007
Ever notice how.....
Nope, wasn't going anywhere at all with that title. Sorry.
There's only 2 of us in lab today. One guy's parents are in town for gradamation and the other's boyfriend is in town from her native US territory (it's the most well known one), so I doubt they'll be coming in today. So a nice quiet day in lab. Actually since the majority of students are now gone, it's going to be a nice quiet summer. Occasionally we'll get an undergrad working in our lab for the summer, but we're not even getting one of those, so lots of quality lab time that I will try and use to its fullest cuz it's only going to get more hectic.
Excellent additions by Tom to my last post. Definitely make sure all the wheels are round and not egg-shaped (wheel shop can take care of that if you can't tell visually), and if they are super fancy and you're concerned about their finish, make your concerns known to the shop owner and the guy mounting the tires on your wheels. Some places, I'm looking at you Wal-Mart, don't really give a shit if they scratch up your nice shiny wheels, so yet another reason to never set foot in Wal-Mart.
This weekend is going to be great! J is going with Protege and his fiance, we'll call her CL for Acura reasons, to a concert (is it still a concert if its a DJ and not a band?) at the Tabernacle in ATL on Fri. night and since CL is super hardcore like that, they'll be driving home that night. At least they'll have J's doctor prescribed uppers, just in case someone gets sleepy. Ah-ha! I knew the Tabernacle was a multi-level venue! I have personally never been there but I hear it's a great place to catch a show in ATL; much more cozy than a large arena show.
The DJ spinning is Paul Van Dyk of international fame, so it should be a very sick show.
I, on the other hand, will be traveling back to Fish Lake in Nowheresville, GA with Subaru after getting to Road Atlanta around 3 pm on Friday to catch practice and qualifying for Drift Atlanta! I'm sure it will prove to be a tire shredding, rip roaring good time. I missed it the first year it was down there but never again! The control those guys have over those cars is almost unbelievable. Personally I'm looking forward to seeing Tanner Foust, who is probably still in his AEM Memphis Audio 350Z, Rhys Millen in the Red Bull Pontiac Solstice and Samuel Hubinette in the new Mopar Drift Charger. Everyone puts on a good show but those are some of the more high profile guys. The word on the street is that there is also going to be a drift Porsche out there too, so that should be exciting and piss off lots of old rich guys too. I'm not sure how Jerry Seinfeld would feel about, but I think as long as its on a track and exposing the Porsche name to a different demographic, he'd be all for it. Oh yeah, Stephan Verdier will be there too. He's another amazing rally driver who is trying his hand at some hot slideways action action action.
Here's a link to the driver's page. Lots of skilled athletes in that bunch. Hopefully I'll get some pictures with some of them and if I can find something cool for them to autograph that isn't too heavy to carry around, maybe I'll get a few John Hancocks as well.
And that's just Friday! So leave Road ATL, go to Fish Lake, eat, hang out, sleep, wake up and then head down to Turner Field and autocross! Last year they had some really cool racing in the morning before Drift Atlanta (the drifting starts at 3 pm on Fri. and Sat.) but this year it's only a bunch of Spec Panoz race cars, which are cool the first couple times you see them, but if you go to Road Atlanta for any race series, odds are you're gonna see some Panoz cars flying around the track. So we'll be skipping that and autocrossing with the Atlanta region SCCA. I haven't driven Subaru's Suby since we installed the clutch and he got the tuning chip for it, so I'm EXTREMELY EXCITED! I like driving fast cars, what can I say.
I still remember the first time I autocrossed the Suby, I was still using Focus braking points in my head and didn't factor in the all wheel drive, AWD, or the turbo, so I was going way too fast for my late braking point and took a few cones down with me. So now in the back of my head the little guy is whispering "this car is alot faster than Focus, you'll have to brake sooner and maybe more often" which is true but with all the differentials and all 4 tires being driven by the engine, you can get on the power alot sooner than in Focus. Just remember that the car has to be pointed the right way before you punch it. Slow in, fast out is definitely the Subaru mantra, and it's also true for basically any car you're trying to drive fast.
I'll be in tomorrow morning and then on Monday we'll have a weekend recap! And maybe even a few pictures!
There's only 2 of us in lab today. One guy's parents are in town for gradamation and the other's boyfriend is in town from her native US territory (it's the most well known one), so I doubt they'll be coming in today. So a nice quiet day in lab. Actually since the majority of students are now gone, it's going to be a nice quiet summer. Occasionally we'll get an undergrad working in our lab for the summer, but we're not even getting one of those, so lots of quality lab time that I will try and use to its fullest cuz it's only going to get more hectic.
Excellent additions by Tom to my last post. Definitely make sure all the wheels are round and not egg-shaped (wheel shop can take care of that if you can't tell visually), and if they are super fancy and you're concerned about their finish, make your concerns known to the shop owner and the guy mounting the tires on your wheels. Some places, I'm looking at you Wal-Mart, don't really give a shit if they scratch up your nice shiny wheels, so yet another reason to never set foot in Wal-Mart.
This weekend is going to be great! J is going with Protege and his fiance, we'll call her CL for Acura reasons, to a concert (is it still a concert if its a DJ and not a band?) at the Tabernacle in ATL on Fri. night and since CL is super hardcore like that, they'll be driving home that night. At least they'll have J's doctor prescribed uppers, just in case someone gets sleepy. Ah-ha! I knew the Tabernacle was a multi-level venue! I have personally never been there but I hear it's a great place to catch a show in ATL; much more cozy than a large arena show.
The DJ spinning is Paul Van Dyk of international fame, so it should be a very sick show.
I, on the other hand, will be traveling back to Fish Lake in Nowheresville, GA with Subaru after getting to Road Atlanta around 3 pm on Friday to catch practice and qualifying for Drift Atlanta! I'm sure it will prove to be a tire shredding, rip roaring good time. I missed it the first year it was down there but never again! The control those guys have over those cars is almost unbelievable. Personally I'm looking forward to seeing Tanner Foust, who is probably still in his AEM Memphis Audio 350Z, Rhys Millen in the Red Bull Pontiac Solstice and Samuel Hubinette in the new Mopar Drift Charger. Everyone puts on a good show but those are some of the more high profile guys. The word on the street is that there is also going to be a drift Porsche out there too, so that should be exciting and piss off lots of old rich guys too. I'm not sure how Jerry Seinfeld would feel about, but I think as long as its on a track and exposing the Porsche name to a different demographic, he'd be all for it. Oh yeah, Stephan Verdier will be there too. He's another amazing rally driver who is trying his hand at some hot slideways action action action.
Here's a link to the driver's page. Lots of skilled athletes in that bunch. Hopefully I'll get some pictures with some of them and if I can find something cool for them to autograph that isn't too heavy to carry around, maybe I'll get a few John Hancocks as well.
And that's just Friday! So leave Road ATL, go to Fish Lake, eat, hang out, sleep, wake up and then head down to Turner Field and autocross! Last year they had some really cool racing in the morning before Drift Atlanta (the drifting starts at 3 pm on Fri. and Sat.) but this year it's only a bunch of Spec Panoz race cars, which are cool the first couple times you see them, but if you go to Road Atlanta for any race series, odds are you're gonna see some Panoz cars flying around the track. So we'll be skipping that and autocrossing with the Atlanta region SCCA. I haven't driven Subaru's Suby since we installed the clutch and he got the tuning chip for it, so I'm EXTREMELY EXCITED! I like driving fast cars, what can I say.
I still remember the first time I autocrossed the Suby, I was still using Focus braking points in my head and didn't factor in the all wheel drive, AWD, or the turbo, so I was going way too fast for my late braking point and took a few cones down with me. So now in the back of my head the little guy is whispering "this car is alot faster than Focus, you'll have to brake sooner and maybe more often" which is true but with all the differentials and all 4 tires being driven by the engine, you can get on the power alot sooner than in Focus. Just remember that the car has to be pointed the right way before you punch it. Slow in, fast out is definitely the Subaru mantra, and it's also true for basically any car you're trying to drive fast.
I'll be in tomorrow morning and then on Monday we'll have a weekend recap! And maybe even a few pictures!
Labels: autocross, camping, concert, drift, Drift Atlanta, Subaru, wheels
# posted by Seth @ 8:09 AM 
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