Where to Go From Here?

The age old question that we must ask ourselves thousands of times in our lifetime. Where do I want to go from here?

I am at one of those many points in life where you have to stand back for a minute and think about it. I have a decent stable job, am engaged to be married and my fiancée and I just bought our first house last month. What more could you possible ask for? Well my life is not complete without a dash of speed added on top just like a cherry on the top of a sundae or in my case some Reese’s peanut butter cups since I am not one to enjoy cherries.

This speed has come from my autocross addiction for the past 10 years with the past 2 being taken up by the shifter kart. For various reasons I have become a bit tired of the nature of autocross even though I love the people and the atmosphere. I am giving the Solo Nationals one last go this September in the kart in an attempt to bring home the championship and the claim as the fastest kart driver in the country. After that week in Nebraska is over my life as far as racing is concerned is completely blank.

Racing is a drug and the crack that is speed can be such an addiction that it makes a Heroin addiction seem like the want for something salty. I have seen more than one person give up everything they own and go deeply into debt while chasing their desire for racing and speed. It is this habit that defines who I am as I am a gearhead above all else. So this void that will be left in my life should I choose to leave autocross mostly behind will need to be filled. This is where my irrational desire comes to the front.

For as long as I can remember I have wanted a motorcycle. As a kid I wanted a dirt bike to tear up the fields and woods on and as I have aged that desire has turned to something a bit more frenetic. In this case a super sport. The super sport motorcycle is not built for comfort but sheer speed which is perfect because I have a car for comfort and protection from the elements. Racing the kart has shown me one thing that mechanical simplicity and being one with the machine is an amazing feeling. It is a raw feeling that a car doesn’t and will never be able to duplicate because you are ensconced in a cocoon of metal when in a car whereas in a kart or on a motorcycle you are much more closely connected with the tires and the engine. This close connection gives you a more visceral experience when in motion when compared to anything else.

Now that I have decided where I want to move forward to emotionally I need to weigh the risks of a bike where you are obviously more likely to be injured. Heck I may be injured before rolling out of my own driveway as my mother has threatened to break my legs if I get a motorcycle because she thinks they are suicidal. I guess this is where the old saying “What momma don’t know, don’t hurt her” comes into play since I live 35 minutes away and have my own garage now.

I guess the only question left is which one should I get?

OR

The Act of Racing a Child’s Plaything!

Since my last post an entire 9 months ago many things have changed. The most glaring change is my jump from the comfort that is racing a car into the world of racing a go kart. For the uninitiated this isn’t just any go kart, it has a 125cc two stroke grand prix motorcycle engine with 6 gears powering it. Some quick math shows the engine rated at 42 horsepower and weighing at 385 lbs with me on board making for a power to weight ratio of 9.16lbs per horsepower. So in short I am racing a child’s toy that has been kitted up to run 80+ mph with my butt 2 inches from the ground and no safety belt or any sort of safety devices besides the gear I am wearing. I would love to meet the man who decided; yes what I need to do is bolt the engine from my racing motorcycle onto my son’s toy!

I initially made this jump after I had a suspension bit on my S2000 break on course while doing about 65 mph and I ended up spinning off into the grass and almost hitting a tree. So naturally I decided the best thing to do is race a kart where you have no safety equipment around you and you are going faster. Makes perfect sense, right?

One of my good friends had gotten into shifter karts a few months before me and he offered to let me race his kart at an event to see if it was really what I wanted to do. To put it mildly I fell in love. A roller coaster has got nothing on one of these little beasties. They have the power band of a crazy rabid squirrel and change direction like nothing else I have ever driven. If you just try and roll off from a stand still nothing really happens below about 8,000 rpm, then you roll over that point and it is like someone shoved a rocket up your butt and lit it. Your view goes into tunnel vision mode and all you see is what is directly in front of you. If you want to keep the engine happy you never let the revs fall below 9,000 rpm.

Needless to say I went out and bought one within 2 weeks of driving my friend’s. Now it was the end of the season so I only got two more events in but learned so much about how to drive one of these things. I was not fast by kart standards but damn if I wasn’t having fun. I studied up on these machines over the winter and came into the spring with a want to be fast which I am slowly achieving. The entire experience of racing one of these things is best described as silly. Most people think it is a cheater vehicle as it is so small but the truth is that those people are just cheating themselves out of the most fun you can have in a four wheeled vehicle.

Am I firing on all cylinders?

There are plenty of phrases to describe it; whether you say that you aren’t the sharpest tool in the shed or not the brightest bulb in the box. One of my personal favorites has always been you are a few fries short of a Happy Meal. Though lately I have been wondering if not firing on all cylinders would be a proper description of the same mental ailment.
You see I am a red blooded gear head and have been since I got my first go kart at the ripe age of 7. From the time I could turn a wrench I worked at my parent’s auto repair shop doing simple procedures such as oil changes or tune ups. Like any proper American male I got my driver’s permit on my sixteenth birthday and passed my driver’s test just 3 months later. I competed at my first autocross within the first month of driving and have not looked back since, until now.
Having returned home from my second trip to the SCCA Solo National Championships just a few short weeks ago I began seriously considering hanging up my helmet for a while as I fear I am taking my hobby far to seriously and that is not doing great things for my mental health. I have since been to another local event since returning and am still unsure of what to do. Now most seasons I would just pack everything up for the winter and come back next year with vengeance.
This year is different for a couple reasons. The biggest reason is that I have a new love in my life and wanting to spend the most time available with that person leads me to second guess going to events even though she offers more support than I could ever ask for. The second reason is another very large reason. It has to do with my fiscal situation. I earn enough money to pay all my bills but my car payment and autocross habit eat up all my available spending money and honestly if I am not enjoying it all that much anymore what should I do?
Part of me thinks I have lost my mind and should be committed to the funny farm for even thinking about leaving motorsports even if it is just temporary because for so long it was a major part of what defined me and it still is to a large degree. Another part of me thinks that maybe I am a changed person from the last several years of travelling the country to race around a parking lot and now that I have found something close to home that keeps me from wanting to leave so often. So as I work out this little mental issue I seem to be struggling with I think everyone should take a deep look inside themselves to see if they are a truly firing on all cylinders or are they too running a little rough and need to do a minor overhaul before charging back into this race we like to call life.

Taming the Mullet

Call them whatever you want to: mullet mobiles, American iron or pony cars. The Ford Mustang and also Chevrolet Camaro have an image about them. The stereotype of a Mustang or Camaro driver is one of someone who likes their large gold necklaces and still sports a mullet for an haircut.
I have never been a huge fan of the American muscle car. Yes I completely understand their raw appeal but have never been able to wrap my head around the appeal of wanting to drive one everyday or in anger on a race track besides the great big engine. The Chevy Corvette always seemed like the much better choice for either of those uses.
The cars I grew up on are commonly referred to as rice burners as they generally have 4 cylinder engines and hail from the land of the rising sun. This did not stop me from taking the opportunity to race my friend’s 2007 Ford Mustang GT a couple months ago.
I was searching for a ride for the next local race as I was short on race rubber for my Honda and wanted to participate. My friend generously stepped up and allowed me to run his car at our club’s annual Jimmy V Never Give Up event.
The most experience I have had with any vehicle like this was driving my 1974 Dodge Challenger around my neighborhood during my phase of wanting to restore an American classic. So in short I had no idea of what to expect from this behemoth of a car. My normal race car weighs under 2700 lbs and has a fully independent rear suspension. This monster weighed a solid 600 lbs more and had a huge hunk of iron out back, also known as a live rear axle. You know the suspension design that most car manufacturers ditched back in the 70s and 80s.
I took the car for a spin around the paddock to get a feeling for the steering along with throttle and brakes felt before taking her out on course. I would get 5 runs on this day against the clock to pull every bit of performance out of a car that I have never driven before.
To put it lightly my first run was an eye opening experience. The car accelerated with the ferocity that I expected from a decently tuned V8. What I didn’t expect was how she felt as docile as a pussy cat as I flung her about the course in a slight tail out drift. This behavior kept up all day with the car only getting away from me once when I led her to close to the edge and didn’t rein her in when I needed to.
By the end of the day I had a new found respect for the genre of vehicle known as the mullet mobile.

The Green Car Nut(job)?

Let me start out by saying one thing. I am a certifiable car nut or in a better word an autophile. I grew up around my family’s auto repair business and started turning wrenches when I turned twelve. I got my driver’s permit the day I turned sixteen and had my license 3 months later. I began racing about that same time and have not slowed down since. It is not just a passion, it borders on obsession.
Now to clear things up I am also somewhat of an environmentalist. I am not a die hard do anything to save the planet type but I am aware of how my actions could affect the planet. I know you are now thinking an environmentalist that is also car crazy, isn’t that a bit like being a kosher pig farmer? I will respectfully disagree. It is completely possible to eat, sleep and breathe petrol powered vehicles while still taking care of the environment.
This brings me to my current quandary. What is with the hybrid car? Yes it appears clean and they get very nice mpg’s but they also cost more than their typical petrol powered counter parts and are quite a bit worse for the environment to boot. Now all you Prius owners are going to stand up in revolt over this but it is simply true. I have had many spirited debates with hybrid owners about this very topic. I am going to pick on the Prius because it is the poster child of the hybrid vehicle movement.
You see a Prius’ batteries have to come from somewhere and that place happens to be the one and only nickel mine in the world located in Canada. This goes for any hybrid vehicle that contains Nickel Metal Hydride batteries. This mine is essentially a strip mine that has laid waste to the surrounding landscape to the point that nothing can survive. If this was the only problem with a hybrid vehicle than I would be quick to say it is no worse for the world than say the average sport utility vehicle that the local soccer mom drives around. Unfortunately the problems continue to mount against the current batch of hybrid vehicles. From the mines the Nickel is transported to Europe and then onto Asia where it finally gets turned into the batteries that are installed in your 60 mpg hybrid. In the case of the Prius the car is assembled in Japan and then shipped to its buyer somewhere in the world.
You end up with a car that gets great fuel economy but causes huge amounts of pollution to be emitted just so it can be built. In the end you get a vehicle where the batteries realistic life span is 100,000 miles. A Hummer for instance can realistically survive 300,000 miles if well cared for and it does not amass anywhere near the blood trail so to speak that the Prius does since the Hummer is assembled in the United States.
I am not telling you to go out and trade in your Prius for a Hummer. I am just saying please do some research and become a knowledgeable consumer before buying into the latest fad to save the planet. My personal daily driver only gets a paltry 30 mpg on the highway but you know what it is the most fun car I have ever owned and I don’t think I am raping the planet every time I start it up.