https://download.yousendit.com/1D26E972486F0942

 

Well... for an update, I got another radiator and put that in today and drove the car around a little. It doesn't smoke when I rev it up like it did friday, and I dont have a clue why. But the exhaust doesn't smell sweet, so I'm happy for now. Hopefully the odometer will see 250,000 in the next 2 or 3 months And the overflow nipple is broken, so the hose doesn't really wanna stay on there. Anyone have one of those?

And how was that autocross today Crit and whoever else went there? I wanted to come...

 

Autocross sucked. I won't get too high on my soapbox, but they're so damn disorganized and disrespectful of everyone else's time that I'm just done. We ended up staying so long and leaving so late that ridiculous sunburns were the norm again for this weekend.

In any event, it's entirely unprofessionally managed and I won't be wasting my time with them unless several of us go as a group or maybe to flesh out the RX-2 down the road. Once.

 

Crit,

Please keep in mind that the event is not professionally managed. It's volunteer. The money only goes toward paying lot fees, insurance and equipment upkeep. Nobody gets paid.

Yesterday was probably the worst event of the year (maybe of the last 2 years). With it being father's day many of the organizers were absent - and the fill-in's that volunteered were very green. A few of the team members also succumbed to heat exhaustion and had to leave early (without getting to drive), further reducing the staff. To top it all off, the timing system suffered fits in the heat, requiring constant changing of (cooler) parts to keep it going.

Of course all of that is largely irrelevant. If you had a bad time and won't come back that's all that matters, and it's a shame. If any individual person did something inappropriate, I would appreciate a call with specifics so we can try and correct the problem in the future. And thank you for the comments. I will pass them on to TeamSolo before next weekend.

PS - I wish I'd known you going to sign up. Tim didnt tell me until that morning. I would have recommended running in the morning instead of the Novice group for this particular event. I was going to stay and see if I could instruct for you, but after 30 minutes of trying to find you on the lot (dont have your cell # and Tim didnt answer his phone to give it to me) I gave up and went home (I was also starting to suffer from heat exhaustion).

Toby
678-628-2423

 

By professional, I mean demeanor. Every time there's a 3-minute gap between junior karts and pro, that's a huge waste of everyone's time. If the grid chief can't keep 2-3 cars lined up, then she needs to consider the man-hours wasted because she's not on the ball. It's disrespectful.

Additionally, if one wants to run his kids in junior karts, that's really a great way to spend an afternoon. The same person, however, shouldn't grid first such that we're all waiting for them to pat their kid on the back, discuss the run and provide feedback and fistpumps, put the kart in the air, remember that he has a race to run, get in the car, get the helmet and seatbelt hooked up, and only THEN proceed to the starting line. It's all symptomatic of the same thing, and hugely inefficient.


That's not true. Running 2 hours late is routine. It's not unreasonable to think that people have evening family plans on Father's Day, which is all the more reason to stay organized.


I'd have loved to have you as an instructor. As it happened, I went without for the first run because grid wasn't moving fast enough to keep cars lined up. When working with novices, nobody moves until they're told to because they don't know how to fill in the gaps if there's not a guy in front of them directing traffic. When the announcer called for cars and nobody on grid was waving, I just drove around and ran solo for the sake of getting the workers off-course that much sooner.

When I ran points 4, I was way off the mark so I could use the instruction. When my instructor bested by time by 10-sec it was wonderful, except that the tach needle was buried and the over-rev bitching far too much for my liking. There's no rev limiter on the car, and if driving it like that is the only way to be competitive, then I'll just decline.

Between the lack of organization and my own car's limitations, it just doesn't justify the work necessary.

/rant
/solo2

 

OK Stu, I finally figured out where those zip files ended up on my computer and was able to open them, thanks that's a nice set!

I know that you've been having a worse day than Crit lately (4 tickets in 1 hour??!!!) but when you get a chance and if you haven't decided to make FB's a permanent part of your history, could you post some of those videos? I'm particularly interested in the one's I took of you on the jet ski and any road action videos you might have taken.

Also I thought I would note that in my travels these last three days I've encountered three other OG@TA folks out on the local highways.

On Saturday I ran into Billy in his Blue Monster over in Suwanee while on a futile search for a Walmart that I thought was down there some place.

Then today on my way into work I passed Collin in Jefferson and then saw Holly on the Chamblee-Tucker exit from I85 at about 8:30 am, Holly you were turning right and I was turning left an no I don't think you saw me.

And thanks Toby for the details on yesterday's autotoxing, I'm sure they will help everybody enjoy this event in the future (ie, don't go when it's hot!)

Looks like the next regular OGTA meeting is Tuesday, July 1, although we could do Tuesday July 8 if this is better for the schedules. If there are preferences post them here so we can finalize the date in the next week or so. It looks like I may be bringing some special treats to the meeting.

Ray

 

A couple more facts. They don't change anything about your experience, but information never hurts.

No cars are allowed on course during kart runs and shouldnt be lined up at the course entrance. Engines are not supposed to be fired in grid at this time either. This is as mandated by the national organization under the classification of safety. You don't have to agree with it, but it is required. As for driver's not being ready, well that was definitely a big problem yesterday, Pro's included (the first group was bloody awful about that).

This is affected by two issues. One is that some of the kids share a kart and it takes time to swap the kids out (they are kids after all). The second is that the rules are supposed to allow every car 5 minutes between runs (to cool down). With two driver cars and such a small group (Pro class), they tend to use the karts to break up the runs instead of just having people sit and wait out a timer.

Running late has not been the norm this year, but has been in years past. Yesterday was especially bad, and I'm surprised if it ended only 2 hours behind schedule with all the issues.

That is atrocious. Thanks for the input, I will add it to the task list of things to fix.

For the rest of the rotary guys: most participants are used to rev limiters. Adrian Wells and I are familiar with the lack of a rev limiter but not many others. An alternative to having them drive your car is to ride in their car, if you are worried. Both Colin and Tim have not let anyone else drive their cars - no one takes offense if you say no. (they may not understand, but most people dont understand the rotary gang anyway :P)

Sure thing. Only trying to inform, not defend. The events, even when they run well are a time committment that many people are not willing to make. A father's day or mother's day event is usually a mess.

And overall, I will say that thes events will never operate with the driven efficiency of a German manufacturing plant. It's supposed to be fun, and not a job; not every volunteer is the most capable individual, but they volunteered so you make the most with what you've got. Sorry that you won't be back Crit, but I do thank you for the feedback. Hopefully it will be used to help improve event operations.

Toby

 

You pretty much summed up the reasons I quit running a few years back. It's a time sink. Apparently novices got hosed yesterday. The new format has helped a lot with time, but apparently that is only if you run morning (I keep hearing rumors of afternoons running long). Only reason I decided to run this year was I had a new toy to play with, and I had met more of the people that have been fun to hang out with, but it is still wearing on me already.

And yeah, I don't let people drive my cars, for that reason. I may have punched him.

 

Time sink or no, the amount of time Crit was required to be on-site was still inexcusable. Usually the part of the afternoon that gets all c*cked up is AFTER the novices (during the TNT stuff) when everyone is worn out and it's a skeleton crew on course. Bah, it's supposed to be fun.

Btw, you guys allow ricers at your OGTA meets? I wouldnt mind stopping by on the next one if it fits in my schedule.....

 

We love rice, maybe we can do Chinese in your honor?

Here's my new rice:

 

Loading videos now Ray Should have a few up soon

 

Truth be told, it's all the same once you're in Jeffrey's. Car guys and beer go a pretty long way regardless of what's parked in the lot. Besides, you're already served your 13BREW time.

I'd think that as long as nobody starts parking their Civic or 240SX in the middle of the FBs, nobody's feelings will be hurt.

 

Here ya go Ray:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YnIKY0EZhRI

 

Yeah, but you need to bring the orange one Toby .

Besides he has enough time on my 12A to at least gain some points.

 

I don't know about that. We've got to be vigilant over how we award points. One 12A is one point. No 12A (or 13B) is worth zero points unless it's a particularly old / unusual vehicle (Ranchero). The Elise was cool and all Tim, but it doesn't count on the balance sheet.

 

Toby's got an orange FB? Sounds cool.

Fantastic video Stu, do you have any with a close up of you falling off the jet ski?

 

Nah, the orange car is just more rice. Its not street legal either.

I did own an LE for about a month. I just dont fit in an FB or I'd own two. I'm not quite as big as Crit, but (apparently) I have a much lower tolerence for clausterphobia.

I have worked on both of Tim's FB's, and a little bit on Crits former black POS. And yes, I get to call it that cause I put at least a mile on its clock trying to push start the b*tch :P. Trailing igniter failure ftl. (I wish you guys knew more about FB's back then so we coulda just direct wired the fuel pump and I wouldnta wasted time pushing)

And I sold Tim his FD.

Btw, I don't need any points. I just wanna meet more car people. I tend to like them much better than regular people.

 

I agree, car people come right behind my goats and dogs as my favorite company. Sounds like you have a reasonable appreciation for rotaries Toby, I'll run it by the rules committee. We had some guy with a Miata at one of our recent meetings and he didn't cause too much trouble.

 

Toby, I've wished the same thing many times, regarding the 12A POS. Everyone's got a learning curve, but in the end all it needed was an ignitor and a fuel filter and it would have run for years. It really pissed me off when I learned that.

The GSL-SE was the same way, and all my learning and spare-hoarding was for naught when Billy found that the front pulley was 90-deg out. All that work, studying, pinouts, etc. for such a simple mode of failure. That's why I hate to get out of them, now. I feel like I've finally got them figured out, at least as far as FBs go.

By the way guys, Collin's car won't be burning to the ground anytime soon. Billy and I spent Saturday afternoon, evening, and Sunday morning removing his UIM and plenum, fixing and re-wrapping his forward harness, sweeping the mice and weeds out of the intake valley under the manifold, replacing the pulsation damper with a banjo bolt, replacing all fuel lines and many vacuum lines, reattaching the O2 sensor, buttoning it all up, and flushing the coolant. Whatever Murphy's Law had prepared for his upcoming road trip (electrical or fuel fire, with all the tinder in place), the plans have hopefully been thwarted.

He'll be around long enough to be converted, but it'll take more coaxing to move him from an unburned FC vs the alternative.

 

Crit, I'm with you. I almost hate getting them fixed, I have so much fun trying to fix them. The White One is getting a little boring right now, just keeps going and going, zooom....zoooom.

That's why I'm working on the other projects, with a little luck a surprise entry for the next OGTA meeting is in the works.

What's the deal with Collin and his FC? I saw him, or another guy with long hair in a red FC, yesterday morning. Looked like he was smiling ear to ear.

Maybe this was after you cleaned out his rat's nest? Oh to be a teenager again and living in oblivion.

The alternative to his FC being an FB, I assume?

That ought to flush Collin out of cyberspace.

 

No, I just meant that the alternative was a smoking hulk of an FC. It's harder to convert the kiddos when the car's still running.

 

I liked that car:

 

Hey Ray, I did see you yesterday morning too. I saw you turning left a couple of cars before me. I didn't see you on the road before that. I didn't get a chance to post and tell you last night, as I went to friends house for dinner and a swim and didn't get home until almost midnight.

And what's up with the surprise projects? If you are getting tired of the FB running right, maybe you should park it in my driveway.

Holly

Holly

 

 

Looks like I am getting 31MPG on the highway.

You know what that means