What's been keeping you busy since FAST?

Postby **Loren** » Tue Dec 13, 2022 9:16 pm

Go ahead, fill us in on what you've been up to since COVID happened and FAST went away!

I'll start...

As you know, COVID put a damper on autocross events for at least a few months. And by the time it started being "possible" to put on events (assuming any of our sites would agree to it), Steve and I had both come to the conclusion that we just didn't miss putting on events! We missed the activity of autocrossing and hanging out with friends, but not the stress and hassle of actually putting on the events. So, that's why we dropped FAST. And I, personally, have not turned a wheel in anger since. (I'm not sure how I feel about that... would sort of like to get out and do a track event somewhere!)

What filled the void? A lot more free time, really! I spent more time on FAST than I would ever admit to. Now, I keep up with the news a lot more than I ever did (do you realize how fucked up this world is?), and I surf YouTube a bit.

I've dedicated myself a little more to working with the driving school (shameless plug: http://pinellasdriving.com), but not THAT much. I could work a lot more than I do, but I know I'd get burned out if I did. So, I only work 5 days per week, and... not a ton of hours on the days that I do work. Good thing I don't need a ton of income!

Of course, we also shut down the driving school for COVID! We were closed for 2 months. Things picked up quickly after we reopened, though. During that down time when I wasn't doing driving lessons OR doing autocross events, I spent 4-6 weeks doing Amazon "Mechanical Turk" (I'll let you Google that if you want). I actually pulled $1k/mo doing that, "working" maybe 2-3 hours per day from my computer. It's a good side hustle if you have the head for it. I dropped that as soon as I got back to teaching.

Business with the school has been good enough that we bought a 3rd car last year, and then this year we replaced our first car. We're upgrading from Kia Rio/Hyundai Accent cars to Hyundai Elantras. Much nicer cars to spend a day in! We're hiring, btw. We've been trying to hire another instructor for over 2 years! Hard to find good people. Lemme know if you're interested.

I started playing ukulele back around 2009. I use the term "play" very loosely. Really, I "play with" a ukulele. There's a difference. So, when COVID happened, I spent a lot more time practicing and I've gotten a lot better. I'm still no good, but I amuse myself. I try to play a little every day. (there used to be weeks, sometimes months when I never picked up a uke... now, almost every day)

I did something I've thought about doing for years... I bought a recumbent bicycle. I'm sure I'll post more about that somewhere. I always liked bike riding, but never found it comfortable, so never really stuck with it. The recumbent is VERY comfortable... and the one I stumbled upon is very lightweight (of course), so it's "fast" and nimble. Of course, while I AM biking mostly for exercise, I found pedal power to be too slow to be interesting. So, I added 750 Watts of motor to it. I still have to pedal it (it's pedal-assist, no throttle), but I get more speed for my input, which makes it more entertaining.

I was riding 3-4x per week for a while. I quit riding about a month ago, and I don't even remember why! Maybe a week of rain or something? Haven't gotten back to it yet. I really need to.

More recently:

I sold my Miata! I mostly drive for work in the driver's ed car (Elantra), use the Mirage for errands a couple times per week, and the Miata just plain wasn't getting driven. I don't like owning a car that doesn't get driven, so I let it go.

Will be selling the Mirage soon. I've already put the back seat back in it! Selling it because...

I bought an electric Smart car! 2019 Smart Fortwo EQ. (I'm sure I'll post more about that, too) Yeah, it's a stupid car. only has a 60-80 mile range. But, its the perfect replacement for the Mirage that I wasn't driving more than a few times per week, and never more than 10 miles. I can charge the Smart every other week and get everywhere I need to go.

Not to worry, my wife still has her Miata!

That's most of what I've been up to. Really not all that much. My life has slowed down since FAST. I'm okay with that.

mymomswagon · Postby **mymomswagon** » Sat Dec 17, 2022 4:41 pm

Well now I know what happened to drivefast.org

howdy!

We moved to Roswell GA in September 2020. Roswell is about a half hour North of downtown Atlanta (no traffic). Linda's youngest lives about six minutes away from us and recently had her 4th child, so we get to hang out with grandkids and help their Mom. Great stuff.

Still autocrossing my VW wagon. There are many events here, especially if you're willing to drive a couple hours. I've done most events at small clubs, small venues such as Highlands Sports Car Club in Franklin NC and Chattanooga SCCA in Trenton GA. Plenty of runs and the courses are slow to medium speed. Did a road trip to Bristol TN, which was truly a power course with many high hp cars made by Chevy. Whole lotta fun. Autocross people are great to hang out with.

I saw your thread on the e fortwo. I think it's a great fit for you Loren. I've actually wondered about this car as an ax-mobile but the range is just too low. Still, an e car like this for around town would be great.

Also saw your thread about FAST Wednesday as we will be back in Tampa first of the year.

Great to hear from you and I hope others respond. FAST was fun thanks to your effort and it attracted good people to events.

Postby **Loren** » Sat Dec 17, 2022 7:20 pm

mymomswagon wrote:Well now I know what happened to drivefast.org howdy!

Hey, Bill!

Watch out, there's a bus coming... yeah, I wasn't willing to keep maintaining the domain and website for a club that nobody was picking up and doing anything with. Philip said he was going to take over the domain (which he did) and get the website and forum back up (which he didn't). I got tired of waiting.

We moved to Roswell GA in September 2020. Roswell is about a half hour North of downtown Atlanta (no traffic). Linda's youngest lives about six minutes away from us and recently had her 4th child, so we get to hang out with grandkids and help their Mom. Great stuff.

Glad you got all settled in there.

Autocross people are great to hang out with.

Car people in general are usually pretty cool.

I saw your thread on the e fortwo. I think it's a great fit for you Loren. I've actually wondered about this car as an ax-mobile but the range is just too low. Still, an e car like this for around town would be great.

With the battery down low, it doesn't feel too tippy. But, I expect most clubs wouldn't be interested in letting you autocross one! Not sure how many runs you could get on a full charge. Probably enough. But, you'd probably have to tow it to the event, unless it was REALLY close. Even on 220V, it takes 3 hours to charge.

Also saw your thread about FAST Wednesday as we will be back in Tampa first of the year.

Definitely try to coordinate that, would be great to see you!

Great to hear from you and I hope others respond. FAST was fun thanks to your effort and it attracted good people to events.

It was a lot of years of good times, for sure!

aw614 · Postby **aw614** » Mon Dec 19, 2022 12:10 am

I had a ringland fail on cylinder 4 on the Integra back around May 2021 during an autocross, limped it home from the Sun N Fun to Lutz via backroads and let it sit for almost a year. Before deciding to pull the head out and oil pan and pulled the pistons out and just put new pistons and rod bolts on. Also found that my retainers needed to be replaced because if the ringlands didn't fail, that would have been next. Still, I don't understand why the previous setup consumed so much oil outside of possibly having too large of ring gaps (friend may have set them on the wider end). Leakdown before I pulled the head on cylinders 1-3 was less than 10%. The other times I tried a leakdown test when the motor was "healthier" I guess I was not at TDC so it would show high leakdown numbers....I should have pulled the valve cover vs trying the screw driver in cylinder method.

It's been running since June and I've put nearly 4k miles on it and doesn't consume the crazy amounts of oil or smoke ( still get some consumption, but Im not topping off after every autocross and oil isn't turning black after 1 event), but my transmission is making noises (possibly input shaft) so I'm waiting on a quote, etc on getting the transmission I bought redone to how I want it and keep the transmission I have as a spare (along with another engine I've been waiting for that I'll keep as a spare)

IMG_20220315_180315 by Andrew Wong, on Flickr

IMG_20220315_183212 (1) by Andrew Wong, on Flickr

IMG_20220315_183209 by Andrew Wong, on Flickr

Oh and I had a non oem speed sensor break on my Civic automatic beater a few months ago, it destroyed the transmission and waited 5 hours for a tow. Oh to add something even crazier the tow truck towing me home, he lost a week on US41 up in Lutz and then had to get his tow truck fixed too.

Been driving the GTI daily and its been fine, but like Gene's old MK7 GTI, if you autocross it and do a hard brake, then hard left, the PCV sucks up oil and leaks a smoke screen if you have 200tw tires. I've talked to Thomas Kring about it because his TT experienced the same issue, and he fixed it with a catchcan, I don''t autocross it enough to justify doing a catchcan on a street car so I've just decided to replace the PCV every few years instead. N

Bill, does your wagon with the 1.8t do the same thing?

mymomswagon · Postby **mymomswagon** » Tue Dec 20, 2022 4:56 pm

Andrew, No, as far as I know. No one's ever mentioned observing it. I've had power cuts at ax but they seem to coincide with high IAT.

I plan to get the intake valves clean this year and if they're seriously ugly I might research a catch then

Jamie · Postby **Jamie** » Mon Jan 23, 2023 10:24 pm

Let's see....

Ran the very last autocross of 2020 -- the Dixie National Tour was the weekend everything started locking down, but was allowed to run since everything was set up. Finished dead last in class, because the Miata dropped a spark plug tip into #1 cylinder and had to be trailered home (an adventure in itself, featuring two blown trailer tires and finishing on a AAA flatbed at 1am). Thankfully and surprisingly, no damage.

Built a patio in my back yard while we were locked down the first few months of COVID. Luckily, we were called back into work before I got into something really obnoxious, like landscaping.

Bought a trailer and set up the Suburban as tow vehicle for the Miata for when autocrosses resumed...did a disk brake conversion, swapped the tailgate for barn doors, and a few other things. It tows surprisingly well with the "little" straight six -- takes awhile to get up to speed, but will hold 65 without complaint. Lacks air conditioning, though! When events started up again in 2021, so did we. Everything seems to be at about three hours reach now, but towing the Miata makes that a bit easier, and we've been making an event or two every month since. Haven't broken anything else (so far).

Sam got married this past July, and expects a transfer this coming summer, although he doesn't yet know where. I bought the Alpina from him, and Jean and I drove it back from Maine in August. Air con doesn't work on that car, either...she's still talking to me anyhow.

Louie, the Chihuahua those of you who worked on the FASTiva may remember, departed us just after Thanksgiving. Didn't quite make it to 18 years, but he had a good run.

Three autocrosses scheduled for February...Orlando, then up to the FIRM twice. We'll see some of you there.

Postby **Loren** » Mon Jan 23, 2023 11:49 pm

Good to hear somebody's still autocrossing!

So, did you have to put a new engine in the Miata? Rebuild it? Or just fish out pieces of spark plug and motor on?

Jamie · Postby **Jamie** » Tue Jan 24, 2023 9:22 am

I ran a scope down there, and checked the compression afterwards -- the top of the piston was shot-peened pretty well, but no visible damage to the cylinder wall or the rings (https://www.facebook.com/permalink.php? ... 4737019614). It's run fine ever since -- no oil consumption, no misfires, no noises.

Postby **Loren** » Tue Jan 24, 2023 11:02 am

Probably not SCCA stock class legal any more.

Jamie · Postby **Jamie** » Wed Jan 25, 2023 9:50 am

Everyone looks at the odometer (315k) and stops worrying.... I did finally put on a heavier front sway bar. And after last years not-so-successful tire choice (Kumho V730s), am hoping to threaten the ES midpoint.

Postby **Loren** » Wed Jan 25, 2023 1:06 pm

I'm really surprised that there's an SCCA stock class where an early Miata is still competitive.

Jamie · Postby **Jamie** » Thu Jan 26, 2023 2:42 pm

If "early Miata" = NA, there isn't. But NBs and Toyota MR2 Spyders are more or less the default cars for ES (aka "cheap sports car class"), and probably will be until the early models start aging out of national competition in 6 years. Newer Miatas are up in CS, along with the newer Toyabru Twins. They could move the NC down, but I don't see that making a difference.

Postby **Loren** » Fri Jan 27, 2023 2:05 am

These days, I lump all of the NA's and NB's together as "Early Miatas". Especially for "competitive" autocross, because the only really relevant NB's were 99-2000. So, "Early Miata" = 1990-2000. Every one of them is at least 23 years old now!

AScoda · Postby **AScoda** » Tue Jan 31, 2023 6:15 pm

Well, hello again FAST peeps.
I have done zero autocross events since we stopped. I attempted to get into one when things got going again, but they became so difficult to get into, I stopped trying. Will get back at it one day.
Got a lot of things around the house done. I resurrected the ol' Crustang after it sat for I think, 5 years. Fixed the water leaks, new head and tail lights, installed the GT40 cylinder heads that I bought years ago from Mike Murdoch. I put on a Cobra intake that I bought new in box many, many years ago. Got it all up and running great.
About the same time, someone backed into the door of the Miata. I got a door from Taylor Royal and a hardtop from Loren and got the repairs done and the whole car painted along with the hardtop. Other than the hardtop, it looks the same, painted the same factory color. Somewhere along that time I came across a flattop intake manifold and put that on also.
More recently I have brought 2 non-running motorcycles back to life and have been enjoying weekend Moto rides. I'll give more moto details if anyone is interested, but you know, car forum.
I didn't realize how much stuff I had been putting off around the house until I had those extra days to spend time doing things. Fixed a lot of damaged old wood around the house and re-painted all the painted things. It's an old house and we have been here for nearly 30 years, so the to-do list doesn't really get smaller, just different.

Postby **Loren** » Wed Feb 01, 2023 10:28 am

Hey, Drew!

I think a lot of us haven't been autocrossing. I never even got past the "thinking about it" stage.

I don't think anyone would complain if you the a motorcycle project into the car project section.

AScoda · Postby **AScoda** » Wed Feb 01, 2023 4:47 pm

I didn't take any pictures, so would be just me explaining what I did. Maybe I'll write something up. Get it published. Profit.

Postby **Loren** » Thu Feb 02, 2023 3:14 am

A picture is worth a thousand words. A published word is... profit?

Jamie · Postby **Jamie** » Fri Feb 10, 2023 10:14 pm

Starting Sunday: eight weekends, six events....

Jamie · Postby **Jamie** » Mon Jun 19, 2023 11:33 am

A dozen events in the books now...everyone's taking a collective break in July (it has gotten rather hot lately). Saw Rob and Diane Edwards at the FIRM a couple of weekends ago with, predicitably, another Mustang.

Postby **Loren** » Tue Jun 20, 2023 1:20 am

Glad to hear Rob is up and about. Last I heard, he was having significant back issues.

I kinda miss the activity of the old FAST forum, wish it would return here.

Anyhow... I've not been playing with cars much lately. Sold the Mirage a few weeks ago.

I'm trying to order a set of lowering springs for the Smart. Nobody seems to make a swaybar upgrade for it. Might have to modify the front one. Maybe. Maybe not. The car actually handles quite well. I just want to put springs on it to make it less tall. (I'm used to low cars, feels awkward getting into this one) I'm also trying to get rid of some of the annoying nose dive under braking.

But, right now, Steve and I are in the busy season for driving instruction. All the kids want to take lessons during the summer.

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