A lack of focus [s]

Truth: variable focus is complete rubbish. Stop using it, everyone. Anonymous Cohort 1 was about 50/50 for having cars in focus at the last autocross. Anonymous Cohort 2 shot yesterday and was about 30/70. More than one person in my photo class have presented photos completely out of focus.

Then I picked up Ted's camera and, being unfamiliar with Canons, left it on fully automatic. I guess their firmware developers think the background is most important. Oh well.


Matt's Mazdaspeed 6.


The vr.


Bill Corbett, Mike Nelson, Kevin Murphy doing live commentary on Plan 9 from Outer Space. Well, this was the intro skit.


The street. Jon, Mike, and Ted in the foreground. Ugh.


Mike turned around briefly. Yes yes I have no shame.


We wouldn't have been happier had the Packers won the Super Bowl.

Spoken this weekend:
'Welcome to last year.' Apparently Liar's Club is gone. Colon-dash-open paren.
'How long do you go to jail for statch?' Yeahhh.
'I do what I can. And in the least biased manner possible.' Says someone completely dead to me.

A couple charts [i]

I ran a script on my wave height log to plot mean and max set height (per Surfline) by month. The data goes back to mid-2006 and counts a few of the popular SD breaks (Blacks, Cardiff, etc.).

Dark blue is maximum set height. Light blue is average set height. The dots correspond to the right hand axis and represent the number of data points for that category.

I have a feeling the low data point count for June - September means there are a number of flat days that the script skips over. So the light blue line might actually be closer to one.

That aside, the mean wave height doesn't change much by month. This is probably because the big days we get in December are offset by trashy days on account of wind.

Of course, if you're looking for the big days, look no further than December, February, and April.


For anyone interested in the gaseofinancial impact of motorcycle ownership, here are the monthly gas expenses for the past couple years. They're normalized to $4/gallon based on average SD gas price for that month.

I did some quick and dirty averages, discounting May 2006 where 'froading added to the gas expenditure. Also I did not factor in December 2007 as it featured a road trip from Oregon to San Diego.

• Celica: $304/month
• Celica + Supersport: $165/month
• GTO + Supersport: $175/month
  

A few notes:

• The average expenditure figure for the Celica is based on just two months. These were months of job searching so with a regular commute the number might well have been higher.
• Celica averaged 27 mpg. GTO gets about 18. Supersport is near 40 on most fill ups.
  
• The normalization to $4/gallon provides a better perspective for averaging and comparison. But it should be noted that the differences would be greater in summer, also cheaper gas provided less of a disincentive for casual driving.
  

Crossed up [s]

Today was autocross. Here are some pretty pictures courtesy Connie and Ted.


Jon in the RSX(-S) coming out of the first chicane into the fast left.


Christine: 'Jon drives like an old man. The oldest brother still holds the title for reckless driving.'
I have a feeling this directly corresponds to the controllability of our respective vehicles. Jon has a light fwd car, I have a heavy awd car, Ted has a heavier rwd car. But I'll test this hypothesis in May - provided Jon doesn't put his car in a lake trying to get to Country Kitchen Buffet.


Erik in the 240sx right out the gate.


Connie: 'Ian's car felt a lot lighter than the vr4. The vr4 felt lower, like it had a lower center of gravity. I really wanted to ride in Erik's cause it had so much smoke, it woulda been a good ride. Jon doesn't have smoke.'
I'll be rerouting my exhaust from the turbos to the wheel wells.


Ian in the STi with Ty calling the turns, handling the gps, and deciding on radio stations.


Connie: 'Spinning out is way more fun than being in a car that is controlled. The first ride I had with Ian, that was the best, that was when he spun out on the first turn and took out like half the cones and missed half the course. That was the best ride.'
'I'm surprised Ian spun out, because I heard awd doesn't spin out.'


The vr4 through the first chicane.


Connie: 'You could feel the weight of the vr4 being thrown around.'

Like any worthwhile activity, this event produced numbers begging to be analyzed. The data is as impure as can be; there is no accounting for tagged cones, cooldown time in the grid, and other such inconsistencies rightfully ignored because the event was a practice.

But like all good analyses, the proper mixture of sketchy telemetry and unfounded inference can bootstrap you to a solid conclusion.

Notable sources of variation that may benefit future autocross efforts:

• We ran in the first group having walked part of the track so course knowledge started at nil.
• Marked improvement for the afternoon runs 7-12 can be attributed to track familiarity gained from the first runs, working the course, and doing ridealongs.
• The tarmac was much warmer for the latter session.
• Turnaround time between runs was nearly ten minutes in the morning, closer to two minutes in the afternoon.
• In the afternoon we were accompanied by individuals who often use phrases such as 'Balls to the wall.', 'My 5-series could...', and 'Slam it slam it slam it.' Not that any of us would succumb to peer pressure.
• Tire characteristics varied widely among cars. Erik even switched his out at lunch.
  

And though the color of his curve fit indicates otherwise, Erik was the one among us with prior scnax experience. And it's pretty easy to tell based on his solid first run and:

Standard Deviation (seconds)
E: 1.61. Speaking purely, lap times will approach and asymptote with diminishing returns. Erik's pretty far along this path. Sway bars and tires will certainly shift the curve downward, and maybe give him a little more to work on.
I: 3.98. The number fits the flatness of the curve; he started out a much better driver than the rest of us.
C: 5.61. The plot suggest I have some work to do and it definitely felt that way on the track.
J: 4.35. It looks like had he continued with fun runs, Jon would have broken 70 pretty quickly.


Jon says competitive driving is so divine.

Postgame discussions:

E:
Don't you just sleep better knowing that if you die before morning [ed: I didn't die before morning], at least you can say you have executed a four-wheeled power slide in your 320hp dream car? Doesn't the 15-year old playing GT1 on PS1 in the back of your conscious finally rest easy now that one of life's major goals has been achieved? It's sort of like coming back from surfing double-ohs last winter at Scripps.
My favorite outcome was what Jon took away.

E: So, what did you think?
J: I feel sooo much better about driving on the street now. I know how to recover if I slide. I can control it.

I mean that says it all. One less Sigalert for the morning commuters because Jon will not be the one getting a body massage from the guardrail when he hits that gravel patch in the middle of the onramp. And he's not scared of the top third of the tach anymore. Even if he never fancies himself a gearhead, at least he's not among the ignorant, and has more cred than 3/4 of the RSX(S!) drivers out there.
For next time, I suggest different run groups so we can get ridealongs/crew for each other/throw things at your friend as they pass while working the course.

C:
In the end, it was nice to hear the birds on all four corners of my car chirp in unison, if not wayyyyy before they would have with the Kumhos. I can see why an awd road car can get away with two lsds when a rally car cannot.
That long left is on the list with the first turn on a wave, first knee on the ground, maybe something involving a girl but probably not. Oh mitzvahs! And now I get to change oil just like in GT3!!!
Next time:

• Yes different run groups. Allows ridealongs and I can shoot when I'm not on track. I'll bring my stash of smoke balls.
• Ty. He lit up the kart track like a true Italian, it'd be a lot of fun to send Slash's 1400 lb through a tight autox course. Especially if he got these and these.
  
• First person to knock down a cone has to pick up our lunch order. This includes cones in the parking lot and ice cream cones.
• Sleepover beforehand featuring a speed movie and video gamery. Maybe some practice photography.
• Wagers, maybe older vs. younger brothers. For instance we compute our rank versus other cars of the same make and model. Whoever is lower buys boba. Say E is the first ranked 240sx and I am the third ranked vr4. Jon and Ian would have to average above second rank among Imprezas and Integras to win.
  

E:
You get a lot less chirping when you switch to a lo-pro from an all-season. My canary never let me know the traction was giving out until too late on the Kumhos, although they were ultimately faster than the all seasons. I haven’t committed to the R’s yet, but damn it’s tempting – I want to do 3-wheel turns!
Funny, you ended up being the fastest vr4 there your first time out and I ended up as the slowest 240 out there even with my experience.

C:
Sure I may have been the fastest vr4, but all the gto drivers were total noobs. The 240 kids were seasoned professionals.

Diversions [i]

What do you do when it's unhealthy to go outside and network television is an incessant stream of yellow journalism? Fun in the garage of course.

I picked up some carbon fiber weave and epoxy resin to see if compression could make up for my shameful lack of an autoclave. Additionally, I tried curing the resin at 500F.



The resin runoff cured in the oven within minutes and turned a deep amber; neither of these things is desirable. I removed the bake assembly from the oven and let it cure at room temperature, surprisingly it turned out to be visually identical to the full room temperature cure (seen below on left and right). Nonetheless, my procedure will hence be room temperature curing.



Straight out of the press, the composite surface is a bit hazy on account of the mold release. With a bit of wet sanding and a layer of clear coat it looks pretty good. I have a two layer carbon-carbon that is rather flexible. I also created a carbon-glass-glass-glass-carbon-carbon that is quite rigid.

A chain guard is currently drying in the garage, we'll see how it turns out.

Regarding the fires, I was out checking on a friend's house and decided to skirt the perimeter of my area to see if I'd need to worry. The one blaze I saw was pretty small, particularly in comparison to what I shot three years before about a mile west.



Apparently the most significant damage was done farther north in Rancho Santa Fe and east in Ramona.

Corral Canyon [s]

What do you buy for the spoiled little brother who gets everything? Road rash, of course. So I put together a dirt biking excursion to Corral Canyon. We rented a CRF230, TRX250, and XR400 from Califorina Motorsport. They were pretty good to rent from.

The timing and location was great:

• The weather was clear and cool.
• It wasn't too far from San Diego proper.
• There was a good variety of roads, trails, and jumps.
• It wasn't crowded at all, which was especially good considering the low-visibility corners.
  

The atv turned out to be the most popular, indeed it drifted like a champ. It did, however, have a propensity for rolling as Connie and Ray discovered. The 230 enjoyed almost as much demand and claimed the epidermi of Ty and Ted. The 400 was only mounted by bold and bucked Erik as, mid-jump, he received a fateful call from Matthew (see video).

And I think a record was set for the longest string of coherent 'that's what she said's when we loaded the vehicles back on the trailer.

Check Connie's and my photos.


People.


Jon jumping.


Connie and Ted chase Jon.


Erik then Ted hit the jump.


Ray - I got both wheels off the ground.


Erik - Yeah but my phone's ringing.


Connie on the atv, Jon on the crf.

Fletcher's [s]

The swell's a'comin'. Erik, Matt, and I went out to Fletcher's for some surf n' shoot. Then got pho with the White Lambda who stumbled into my large, empty house.

Tomorrow I think I'm going to double sess and get more time on the board. Maybe even WK, CS, or AG will show.

The photos are posted here, with a few highlights below. Other vids: 'Over Here!', my awesome paddling back to shore, and a couple more videos.


A fine ride punctuated by a buried nose.


Erik buzzes my proverbial tower.


A right for Matt.


Matthew at various points down the corner.


I swapped Erik board for camera (on a temporary basis).


Erik in the middle of a bottom turn (check out the three shots in sequence on the flickr).


People who ride back door look so funny.


Matt's gratuitous ass shot. Watch it glisten, ladies.

Greenery [s]

March 17th started with Bailey's pancakes washed down with Guiness. From there the drinks only got nastier and nastier. More on that later.

Tiger-Tiger Woods golf (more on that later) was played, of course, and around three we headed to Fashion Valley to take the trolley into downtown.

I've said it before and I'll say it again: San Diego public transportation sucks. More on that later.

If you didn't know, every Patty's day they fence off a few blocks of downtown for a big ol' music and beverage festival. It was quite populous even at five o'clock. Upon entering, everyone beelined for an underground club called Sin - lines are for suckers.

I'm not sure who thought it would be a good idea to combine the ubiquitous Red Bull with Jameson, but let the record show that whiskey blasters are foul.

The next few hours were spent milling, drinking, eating corned beef, and even meeting up with Z. Hays. Our party thinned and we joined Jon and Ray at Fred's. I don't know if the bartender loved or hated Ty, but our margaritas were heavy on the tequila.

As the little hand approached '2' we discovered that Jon had not, in fact, driven from State. There was much confusion over whether or not the trolley stopped service at nine or two, so we booked to the nearest station. We caught the last trolley to Old Town, but it looked like the end of the line for our heroes. No trolley, no taxis, no cars. Kevin, in his best robot-of-questionable-sexuality voice remarked, 'We're doomed.'

Jon and I embarked on the 2.7 mile journey to Fashion Valley by horseless tennis shoe. Our cronies waited patiently for rescue, which came in the form of a 2:15 trolley to Fashion. By that time Jon and I were near the convention center, and finished our merry jaunt.

XLI II [r] [s]

So yesterday was the Player's Sports Bar Super Bowl shindig. It was all you can eat, all you can drink for a modest $75. And in the event that either half's kickoff be returned for a touchdown, everyone would get their money back and ten g's would be up for grabs in the raffle.

As it turns out, the opening kickoff was returned for a touchdown. At that point it didn't matter the color of your jersey, we all cheered for free food and drink.

Our crew of nine arrived at noon to begin the seven-hour, lifespan-shortening orgy of food and drink. One individual made it his personal goal to expand the bartender's repertoire upon learning that they 'might' have the proper ingredients for a mudslide. His subsequent orders included a rumrunner, tokyo tea, and grateful dead. Apparently both the bartender and waitress derived passing amusement from having to research each concoction.

Another enterprising individual appointed himself the sportsbook and took, um, imaginary bets. I won all of mine:

• Coin toss comes up heads
• First interception thrown by Peyton
• Colts win by more than seven
• Grossman QB rating < 75.0
  
• Brian doesn't cry when the Colts win
  
• None of the white, female journalists on the field would interview a coach at half (facetious high-five to the South!)

Other unique ones were that there would be a Budweiser commercial before the first Pepsi commercial, and that the sports book would take a net loss for the evening.

Late arrivals to the game included horse and bear mascots that distributed gummy candy. Fox News and a local news radio station did some recording. The most auspicious Colts fan in our party was micced twice and we ended up making the ten o'clock news.

So serious props to Players. The food was fine, the drinks were plentiful, and the door prizes were worthwhile ($10 gift cert, insulated travel mug for everyone). And a big thanks to Devin Hester.

Here's what the sports book might have looked like:

The block is so hot, Sorrento's on fire [i]

This might matter to you if you live in San Diego. Sorrento Valley Road, at the top of the hill between I-5 and Camino Santa Fe.

There's a very small cul-de-sac on the westbound side. Three times in the past two months I've seen bike officers standing on the sidewalk shooting radar. They're very hard to see even if you know what you're looking for. This morning was the most recent time. Each time has been commuting to work.

In the past three months I've once seen a car at the bottom of that hill and once at the top, going after eastbound traffic.

Update (01/10/2007): There again this morning. Also on the hill were two Lambos and a Ferrari, probably some Symbolic employees. I know I wouldn't be able to resist the temptation.
Update (01/12/2007): Three this morning. Wow.
Update (01/18/2007): Yup, today too.
Update (01/19/2007): Again. Maybe motorcycle cops have been tasked with singlehandedly solving San Diego's financial problems.
Update (01/25/2007): This time on the island, sneaky.
Update (01/31/2007): Uh huh.
Update (02/15/2007): Back at it.
Update (03/20/2007): Two bikes in the normal spot, two at the park east of Santa Fe, and a cruiser at the bottom of the hill, though probably not on traffic.
Update (04/03/2007): They nailed someone coming eastbound.
Update (04/25/2007): In the parking lot just east of the normal spot.
Update (04/26/2007): Got someone eastbound way out by Ruiz. Maybe shot radar from the park.
Update (05/03/2007): Poor eastbound M3 got caught.
Update (05/14/2007): Hiding out in the same place but with road work going on.