OMG this is SICK !!!

Just look at the picture. Can't wait to see this thing in person, can't wait to hear this thing in person.

Busy Weekend!

This weekend will be fun but busy. Saturday I'll be at limerock doing a 6 hr karting enduro with some friends from my karting league. Like I said, it pays to have friends in the media as our entry fee was waved in exchanged for some radio plugs, pretty cool. I'm looking forward to having fun and hanging with my friend Matt who is the host of the Carey and Coffee NASCAR radio show on ESPN radio. Like everyone says, karting is for the young guys, and I'm a relatively young guy :) But it beats you up.

Then Sunday is MotorsportsNE. I'm not sure If I'll be driving but I will definitely be attending and helping out. I love driving and competition but lately I'm a little burned out. Just a bit too much fun this year, haha!

NASA Comp Licence Attained!!!

Man, why am I so lax with my blogging? Oh thats right, I work all the time and don't have time to breath anymore :)

So here is the situation. Thursday Chris calls me and asks if I would like to attend the NASA competition school with him in 4 days. His father was scheduled to attend the school but injured his finger. I of course say yes and thought in the back of my mind "how in gods name are we going to pull this off?"

But you can never underestimate Chris as he is the definition of a miracle worker. Somehow a few texts, emails, phonecalls, and a couple physicals later we were in the clear. Now were were just short one Hans device, a racecar, and another race car. Again miraculously with a couple more phonecalls and favors the final hurdles were overcome. Chris and Stephanie again so graciously offered their racecar to me and I'll be forever thankful as I could not work out a rental in time minus drive a Spec Racer Ford from Entrophy racing.

But now the weekend is over and I have my provisional race licence so I can race anytime I feel up to it. Just have to build a racecar now !!!

Jaff's 355 Challenge Car at LRP

Video of Steve driving his pops 355 CH at LRP. Jaff is building a SICK E46 racecar. What else could you expect from a fellow RPI grad? Everything has to be overkill :)

Tracktarded 2

Another sunday NASA race, another fun day for the tracktards namely Chris and Stephanie Chang and their support crew, me :) I had no intention of doing anything really but sometimes plans change!

First I was to preface this blog with my "track day nightmare." Joon's Tracktard Rule #1 - don't instruct. I love teaching people I trust, however I don't trust strangers. #2 - If I ever instruct I don't want to instruct anyone in a car faster then my own. Crashing in a Miata going 120 MPH is a lot more fun then crashing at 165 MPH in lets say a Supra with a huge turbo.

So while Steph is checking in for her race myself and Chris volunteer to "help out." If you know me I am very helpful. I have computer skills, mechanical skills, very organized, the list goes on and on. Joe Casella (NASA Northeast Chairman, PDA President, all around great guy) says "Joon, we're short a couple instructors, would you mind?" I'm like sure. Mind you I'm thinking, there are hundreds of cars, I'm bound in instruct a good driver in a SLOW car. I know the track, decent driver, good communicator, etc. Joe basically "assigns" a gentleman with, you guessed it, a 600 HP Supra. HAHA!

But I'm still alive, and my student was actually a very nice older gentleman that was most importantly a good listener. The car was a little too much for him but thats why people do DE, to learn from tracktards like me.

My reward for risking life and limb? Chris and Steph were nice enough to let me drive the Civic for one session. Honestly the most fun I've had on track in a long time. The Civic only has a top speed of about 125 which you basically reach 200 yards out of the last turn. You're floored in 5th for over half the track :) It's pretty interesting when Z06's are behind you because you have to start your point by when they are about a 1/4 mile behind you and then they go by at about 160.

But the lesson for the weekend is thank god for life, having passion can illicit a lot of joy, and having great people as friends is an incredible thing.

Karting League

Well I guess there are some advantages to having media people in your league :) Matt, Tracy, and Rick and some of the nicest people you'll ever meet. I'll plug them a little and say listen to their radio shows if you want to be cool :)

Crazy Germans

Haven't blogged in a while. This is in dedication to my karting league buddies!!! This is what happens if you have too much time on your hands and a lot of parts from a downed bike.

Tracktarded

Just back home from Pocono motor speedway after helping Stephanie with her first NASA race and I'm beat. Sort of beat up too as I volunteered to drive the Civic to and from the track. I didn't even drive and I'm tired!!! I didn't realize but you can have a lot of fun at the racetrack and not even drive. It entails a lot of sun exposure and hard drug use but worth a try. I saw Mike's new and improved racecar for the first time today and it is absolutely a nice piece. Gauges are worth more then my Coupe, well not really. Also saw Steve, aka former BMW guy using a Cayenne Turbo to tow his boxter racecar, definitely some cool shit.

Holy Coolness...

To my profound amazement all the pieces that I made actually work. Unfortunately I forgot to tighten some parts on the front left brake caliper but that is completely unrelated to said research and developement.

There was some massive mid corner understeer due to the shitty V710's I had on the front. These tires have been through hell !!! Honestly the fronts were part of a set that were never good. They might have been fast for about 3 events then they fell off dramatically. Weird as the second set are still extremly sticky, who the hell knows.

Dan drove my car for a couple runs and he beat my raw time with the traction control on. "Is this thing running out of gas???" he asked :) That is mainly because he's a great driver and very used to understeer. I am NOT!!!!

We'll I'll continue as I compile some pics !!!

Okay 911 GT3 RSR vs Cup Car

RSR is not exactly the cup car but pretty darn close. Is it just me or is the seat in the RSR really moving around alot? Reason enough to use a seat back brace. However if the seat didn't move it would probably transfer those forces into your kidneys :)



Okay lets compare?

Jon Holders turbo car

Well I have to admit I'm jealous. If I had 100K to blow on a club racecar I would build one too. If I had 200K I would just buy a used Porsche Cup car but thats a different story. Look at his handwork and how akward it is due to his brain sensing the opposite lock he is going to add after the apex. I dunno, it is sort of unbalanced from the looks inside the car, not my thing. Rather would have 400HP of NA then 600HP of boosted power.

Oh and addition to that you figure a guy that races amoung the top 3-4 best prepared BMWs in BMWCCA would know how to heal/toe. I'm not going to make fun as one of my best friends has a CM car and doesn't heal/toe either but CMON NOW!

M Coupe Developments

Wow, moving has thrown a huge monkey wrench into suspension developement but I guess May isn't too late to get things going. For the last couple weekends I have been working on repairing my rear subframe from the removal of my previous eccentric bushing kit from Ireland Engineering and pressing in solid aluminum bushings. Also I have customized my rear trailing arms with the addition of a 5/8 heim joint replacing one of the bushing arms. This will allow me to adjust toe without changing the rear sweep angle. Due to my lack of data as far as loadings on this area I decided on using the PRM line of bearings from Aurora which are rated 10%-15% higher than the normal allow bearings. They actually turned out really well. 7 hours of welding, grinding, painting, and working on the lathe later, I was done. I have to admit it turned out nicer than I had thought when starting. Next week I'm putting everything back in addition to a delrin diff bushing and then working on the front control arms. I'll be doing more lathe work making aluminum bearing cups and spindle spacers. I'll be using 5/8 spherical bearings to replace the out ball joing. My design is a copy of other popular designs that puts the bolt into sheer. I've seen another design that uses the spacer to transfer the sheer forces and a tension bolt to hold everything together but the spacer could fatigue and fail too. So you are better off just replacing the bolt every 2 years or so. For mock and testing I'll be using Grade 8 bolts but after I figure out the final length I'll be ordering AN bolts aka. mil spec hardware. This would be a good idea as I would like the bolt to be stronger than the bearing so we are looking at minimum sheer loadings of 18000 lbs or so.

Naked 1, 2, 3

Jason had me thinking about motorcycles and the whole crotch rocket gendre doesn't appeal to me. I don't think I'll ever do track time on a motorcyle, stunt or go to the drag strip.

New Monster 696 looks more like an MV for half the price. Has a 600 so its a bit lighter and easier to ride.



The MV is the Ferrari of nakeds, I mean c'mon, Brad Pitt owns one. Dunno if 17K is a great price for me.



Speed Triple is a big bike but Jason mentioned it wasn't that fast although I believe he rode the 675. It's pretty flashy but I dunno if 140 lb asian guys should be riding heavy, 1000 cc'ers.

We all froze our faces off...

I'm never doing that again ! It was cold, windy, and super busy. You would think driving a new M Roadster at an autocross would be a fun day right?

It was so cold I couldn't feel my thumbs today. They still kinda hurt :( Also combine this with daylight savings and waking up at 5:30 after a night of drinking = a very grumpy person today. Well not really because I don't get "grumpy" but you catch the drift. Sorry, no pictures or movies as I sat inside a Toureg the majority of the day timing and scoring. Oh what fun!

Ahhh, Limerock...

Just fucking fast. This is Joey Hand driving at limerock. Then a couple weeks later at Mid-O was the BIG wreck.

This year's winter build list

Okay, okay, we like to spend money in the off season so I'll come straight....

Onlinemetals.com - $50 in aluminum and 4130 steel for my bearing cups and spindle spacers

Bimmerworld.com - $250 for ground control bump steer kit (I didn't feel like making them so I pay)

Hrpworld.com - $120 for 5/8 spherical aurora bearings and for another tire gauge to replace the one I lose every year

Thats it for now. I wish I had time to finish the rest of the good stuff but I don't. Can't wait to see everyone Sunday !!!

Painful, Seth WTF !!!

Ever been rear ended on the road? Ever been rear ended by another racecar going 110 while you're going about 50?

Time to shut it all down :)

Track and autocross season is so close! My days cursing cold weather and filling my days with trivia are numbered so it's time to shut it all down ! I never thought my new job would be so self absorbing and working Saturday's all but eliminates me from running in Englishtown this year so my calendar will be limited. That's okay as my life feels like its in a bit of an upheaval. Just gettin old and growing up finally. I guess I'm well on my way to becoming a rich and totally anaomous character. Whatever I guess? I've been really stressed out lately trying to excecute my impending move as I've run out of motivation to pack. Well it's more like I've run out of space to put packed shit. That and borrowing money is a pain in the ass. I told my mom to lend me the money and I would pay her back. She almost went for it :) but I think she was just fucking with me.

BMW motorsport does sexy time!

Unremarkable...I'd like to see the motor :)

Sickest Time Trial Car Ever

I'm not really into the Japanese shit, but I have some RX-7 blood still in me. However the HKS CT230 is fucking insane.

DSR, my deep dark secret

Here is my deep dark car fetish secret. Someday, hopefully before I'm 40, I'm going to spend ALOT of money and try to race in a D sports racer. The dominant car in the class has been the Stohr WF-1 which without motor is an affordable 75K. Parents can't ever know and if I get married the wife will never see me drive it or see video's as it will scare the shit out of them. Yes they are rediculously fast and dangerous but thats the point?

Cool track vids

Cool video from the Axis. A bunch of track junkies that are actually pretty nice guys :) AC, fellow M Coupe groupie must have a lot of time on his hands...

A funny F1 picture

Summer family a.k.a. racing buddies

Well its still winter and usually by this time of the season I am completely certifiable. However I did have the opportunity to see some of my summer family last weekend. While my parents were so lavishly enjoying their Fort Myers vacation on behalf of yours truly, I was enjoying cheap beer and nachos at Kristen's birthday party / housewarming party. (Matt and Kristen just moved into their new house. They have a surprising amount of stuff for a couple that just got married) So after 7 years of racing I realized I always engage in the same conversation...

Did you work on your car?
"No, no, haven't started working on my car yet..."

OMG Joon, what have you been up to?
Response to guys: "Dude, nothing much, you know, just fucking hanging out and shit."
Response to girls or wives: "Keeping busy, you know, just trying to stay out of trouble." I always try and curb the lude/rude talk.

Any question in regards to work, women, or setting me up with their friends is usually answered with...
"Please, don't ask" or "I have no idea" or "can we change the subject"

Without failure, these themes and conversations echo every off season. The familial I would have to admit is both comforting and disturbing but like racing I do cherish the consistency.

Weird in car video

This would be a driving instructor giving a friend a ride in a Spec Miata racecar. I guess the word that comes to mind is spaz. Someday I'll give a ride to some beautiful woman and she'll either throw up (motion sickness is common) or spaz out. Either way she may become a lot less attractive. My usual speech to passengers is "don't grab the shifter and if you feel sick please say something." I have to admit instruction in the year 2000 is easier with these nifty radio's we put in our helmets.

I'll be an uncle someday.

Haven't really been able to blog between working and packing up all my shit. I can't decide if I want to bring as little as possible or EVERYTHING. I suppose some congratulations are in order as by this October I'll be an uncle. I'm very excited for my sister as she'll have the opportunity to mold an innocent little baby in her image :) I know my brother in law is freaking out right now as these types of life changing events make him spaz out. No kids for me for a while as I need to grow up and not be a kid having a kid ;) Thats why being an uncle is great because you can have fun with kids and not have that permanent, ominous responsibility hanging over your head.

Secret conversations of car show girls

"How long do we have to keep smiling?"
"Wait, the photographer is changing memory cards"



"I wonder what Gallardo means?"
"I don't know but you look really hot in that dress."

Someday this will happen to one of us...CHRIS!!!

Guys, who is the person this will most likely happen to? Substitute the RX7 for a green Civic :)

Couples comments about Chuck Stickley

No bashing here as I am just jealous how much power his car makes. You can see him jumping in front of the Watt's car at the start and then you can see how he just gets caught in all the technical section's. I would say Andy is carrying about 25 more MPH in the esses than Chuck. I think Chuck spent over $50K on his motor.

Oh dad...

My father has some odd taste in cars. I suppose I get some sort of influence from him as the first new car I remember him buying was a BMW 325 back in 1982. Prior to that we only had one car since my mother didn't work. I think it was a 1980 Oldsmobile Cutlas Supreme Wagon. My father at the time was still working for a Korean company and working in New York City. Then came what I like to consider the "dark ages" where he was into cars from the UK, I would say the majority of the late 80's until 2000. A couple Jaguars and Range Rovers later, about a zillion dollars to fix them, and meetings with countless tow trucks, he's back to german cars. Since 1998 I would say he's been obsessed with Benz G-series SUV's. Right now my mom drives a GL450 which I honestly have to say isn't such a bad truck but it's no boxy G500 with goofy chrome light gaurds. So since the G-series has been retired here's his new fav. I think it looks like a Subaru Forester.

I'm mental, seriously

This is an off topic discussion but I have a friend, she lives in Boston and we typically find ourselves talking about odd subjects for a few hours at a time. Somehow we get on the subject of brushing teeth and I admitted I like to leave the water running. For shame, I know, I know, but I never really gave it much thought, just something I like to do, bad habit, what have you. So as it was late already, minutes later, I find myself brushing my teeth. Here is the messed up part, I couldn't do it without the sound of the water. I was mentally unfortable with it. I'm looking at myself in the mirror going, holly shit ! Like that moment when Paul Dano aka Dwayne realizes he's color blind in Little Miss Sunshine.

So I email her back and share my lament but I have a plan! I'm going to record the sound of the water and play the sound of that sweet, sweet water while brushing. Problem solved!!!

Shit, another set of wheels for the Coupe !!!

Yes I got another set of wheels. I think I have a problem, sorta like a girl with a jewerly fetish. They are 19 inch BBS RS-GT's that used to be on an M3. I just couldn't pass up the deal. They have a little curbing which bothers me but whatever. So that makes 6 sets of wheels. Maybe time to loose a couple sets before I run out of garage space and people think I'm crazy. I'll take some pictures as soon as it's safe to bring them out of hiding :)

Okay this is what's really cool...

Aston's V12 Vantage RS concept car. 600+ HP, 150 pounds less than the V8 Vantage. How did they do that?

Sounds really weird but given the color and size of this $200K GT, I would let my wife drive it. I mean look at that lady in the white dress? Don't tell me she's not imagining herself ripping across English countryside. I'm still stuck on station wagons and M Coupes.

I didn't think it was so cool until...

I thought the revention was too expensive for a "unique autosport" type LP640 until I saw the dashboard. This car now fulfills all my unresolved Top Gun fantasies so I guess this car is okay now in my book.

2007's over !

As I move into the new year I think we have a lot to be thankful for. Kimi won the world championship, I managed to win my National event, a few of my good friends married, my brother-in-law graduated from grad school, the bimmer didn't blow up, I didn't get run over by some idiot on my bicycle, and I started my new job. So here are some of my predictions for 2008...

#1 Patriots (boo!)
#2 Kimi will win again
#3 The Audi will blow up
#4 I'm going to get sick of my $4000 bike and buy a $6000 bike
#5 Google will climb over $850
#6 OMG Hillary over Giuliani (there is still time to immigrate to Canada)
#7 The GNP and newly elected President Lee will attempt to pass 10,000 bills to build roads and energy companies in North Korea where billions of government contracts will conveniently be awarded to either his families companies or companies where he owns massive amounts of stock. The "if you look like a duck" adage is appropriate but hey, no one cares in Korea anyway.
#8 There will be about 10 live action movies based on manga.

That's all that I'm sure of. The rest of the year of course will be full of political unrest, celebrity break ups, and who knows what?

For all you drivers in "I want to rally" dreamland

You know who you are !!! Just watch and set yourself straight.

Better than Ninja Warrior

These videos speak for themselves...funnier than my mom playing Wii Tennis:

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