Right now it's snowing in Portland. And although the rest of the country may start the car a few minutes a head of time to get the defrost going, here in Portland, it means the city shuts down. Even the "worst day of the year" bike ride is canceled. Nature is calling us out.
I'm at home today plotting my blog driven world domination. While catching up to what youtube has to offer.
Driving home from work yesterday in my 2wd pickup as the snow really began to come down, I felt I had more "fun"with traction than I normally get in the dry. The 100 or so horse power that the old carberated 4 banger produces simply does not encourage the type of driving I normally do while living the dream once a week at the track.
Those first practice laps, tires still dripping with sauce and myself wondering why I didnt just take a second to sweep, or check my ride height, are always the roughest. My head fills with doubt. Is the diff any good, is the slipper too tight, are my tires wearing in the right direction in the right part of the tire?
While driving the pickup truck home yesterday, I felt I could have made some fine tuning. Added some balast over the drive tires, dropped some psi, geared up while driving, eeeeasy on the brakes and down shifts... not unlike controlling an RC car.
Years ago, after a Saturday of racing touring cars (HPI RS4's with the latest stock motors) A friend of mine and I had been entering the freeway and his jeep started oversteering in the rain. We were both new to driving and oversteer was a new sensation to us. He counter steered and stayed calm. Executing a perfect drift, through the onramp and seamlessly we were up to speed and driving along normally.
We both went silent with awesome and finally broke the silence with huge laughter. He told me that was exactly what he would have done if racing his rc car. We concluded that rc was teaching us to stay calm and find control.
Driving home yestery was awesome. Tons of fun in the snow while driving my truck.
Today, I'll be spending quality time training my cat to glue tires and blog. Maybe build a snowman. Maybe go for a mountain bike ride. But I will definitely not be at work.
Out on the forums, folks are still finding ways to engineer the perfect car and promote their genius while making sure to belittle any opposing views. It is great to know the hobby is full of idea people, just in case the educated, paid, professional engineers are kidnapped while trying to go see their favorite events in Sochi.
If you're a fan of debating or if you know you're going to buy the latest kit available by your favorite brand or drivin by your favorite racer, there's really no reason to be negative on the forums. Chances are, if you have to start a reply with "Not meant to be a personal attack..." you are personally attacking someone. And that sucks. Save your breath for your right to see men's figure skating. Nothing is more badass than doing something that you're not supposed to, the way you want to, and then receiving a gold fucking medal for it.
Geeezus:
Haters gonna hate. Let's see those rear motor, standard measurement cars kick some ass.
Run what you brung, stay positive, and rebuild that diff already!
-Tommy
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