- Life with the Little Lock's -: January 2012

Thursday, January 19, 2012

Eyes

Last night as I got the kids ready for bed, we discussed in detail eyeballs. What they were made of, why I wore contacts, why they didn't pop out, etc. It was a very in depth discussion full of hypothetical statements and deep thoughts.

It must have been on Davy's mind this morning.

I was sucking on a throat lozenge due to my nasty cough, and in a fit of sneezing, it flew out of my mouth and landed at Davy's feet who was sitting near me. He took one look at it, scooted back and squeaked in tones of horror, "IS THAT YOUR EYE!?!?!?!"

Monday, January 16, 2012

Let's go racing... AGAIN!

Those who know me know that life after kids has not included as much racing as I would like. I have been able to supplement my passion with one-off track days in borrowed cars, or hitting some outdoor kart enduros, but this has not been cutting it lately. Well about the same time I was making "racing" my New Year's resolution, my brother called me to say Brandon Kraus sold his USTCC winning prelude to Percy Howard, and so Percy was looking for a buyer for HIS Honda Challenge 2 Spec Prelude. Such good timing. So I decided to particiapate in the "Great Car Swap of 2012". Percy's car is now in my garage.

The Prelude has a very unqiue suspension for a FWD car, making it arguably the best handling front drive ever made. It also has honda's "big block" H22A, which gives it gobs of reliable NA torque.

H2 Spec means that modifications are limited. A custom roll cage by Mike Lock is the primary saftey element, while a Racetech 9009HR keeps me snug and safe. A sparco race wheel mounts to the stock adjustable tilt steering column.

Except for the intake, the engine is as it was from the factory. Currently the car uses the factory ECU and fuel maps, something I may change in the future, but for now will leave as is for reliability. Currently the car measures 188hp/150tq as far as output.

One thing H2 spec lets you change out is brakes. This car borrows the twin piston calipers and wider rotors from an Acura Legend GS. Rear brakes are stock. A tilton adjustable brake bias valve replaced the stock proportioning.

This car has a wonderfully retro LCD "cab forward" dash reminiscient of late 90's design. It may be heavy, but cmon, how cool is that?

So then what do I do with it? Honda Challenge in Norcal was an option, but I have done that before. This will be a spectacular endurance car, so I plan to partner up with Brandon Kraus and run some of the Western Endurance Racing Championship with him, as well as the 25 Hours of Thunderhill. But both he and Percy have become devils on my shoulder to take this thing out and contest some US Touring Car events. It's a long short without a lot more power. USTCC packs some turbo Evos and mazda 3s. But this car can out handle either. I wouldn't count it out. If I scratch around for some sponsors, a better engine would make this car a championship contenders, just like Brandon's(now Percy's).

Yeah, you will see me in March at the USTCC opener.(www.ustcc.com)

Thursday, January 12, 2012

Davy

I was chopping vegetables for dinner and Davy came running into the kitchen. He clasped his wee hands, smiled up at me and asked cheerfully, "Are you killing the potatoes for dinner?" :-)