The NSX has been sitting on a lift the past 16 years
(Click here for bigger)
April 2017 to October 2020
We Can Rebuild It!
After 16 years, the Flamemobile is brought back to life
The NSX has been sitting on a lift the past 16 years
(Click here for bigger)
5798 days. That’s how long it has been since the NSX was last driven on a race track. Over the last 16 years, the Flamemobile has been driven about 9 miles, mostly just up and down the cul-de-sac and maybe a couple of times to Autowave. It's been 3 years since I updated The NSX-Files/Pulp Racing website. Not sure if the world is ready to digest anything that is longer than 280 characters, but I got a long form story for all you old-timers that grew up reading about The NSX-Files. Here's the story:
Wayne and I have been doing lots of kid activities over the last 16 years. Softball and baseball have pretty much dominated our life since the kids were about 6 years old. There were some weeks where the girls can practice or play games 4 days a week. Add to that the boy’s games and practices, and then music lessons, tutoring lessons, etc, and you have no time for doing much else.
Back around November 2019, the NSX would not start. Usually I would just charge the battery up for a day or so, it would fire up, and I could move it from the lift to another part of the shop. But it was struggling to startup. So I called a tow truck and had it towed to Autowave, who is still the King of NSXes in the area. You pull in there any time of the day, and there are 3 to 7 NSXes waiting to be worked on, along with various Honda cars.
The tow truck driver was an ass. Unlike any other tow truck driver the past 30 years, he took a picture of the NSX before he put it on the tow truck, and sent it to AAA Auto Club. AAA called back and said that no free towing, as it is a race car and it is not currently registered. I tried to explain that it is a street car that is in the process of getting registered, but I have to get to the repair shop. They refused, and said it would cost $100 to tow it. Bastards! Dumbass tow truck driver didn't realize that I tip my tow truck drivers $10 to tow my cars, so he's out a free lunch.
3 NSXes on lifts being worked on at
Autowave in Huntington Beach
Autowave took a look at it, and the said that the fuel cell had deteriorated, the fuel lines/hoses are all trashed, injectors clogged, etc. Everything you would expect for a car that has been sitting for 16 years. So I ask them how much it would cost to get it into good running condition. They said, "Uhh…$6000 to $8000, depending on how bad it looks after we start taking it apart." I make a mental note of the "$6000" number. Okay, let’s do it, make it so I can at least move it back and forth at the shop, and maybe possibly take it to a track day one of these days. I told them, no rush, just do it at your leisure. So over the months I would get calls from them, and they would say, "You should replace this and this while we have it apart". "You should replace the old muffler that doesn’t hang correctly, we got a good used one here, along with catback tubes". "This is pretty old, let’s replace this". I keep saying, okay, and I never asked them how much. Probably because I didn’t want to hear how much it was going to cost. Ignorance is truly bliss. Until reality hits.
A couple of months later, Autowave calls and says, "It’s ready! Motor compression is good, car sounds great with new muffer, it holds an idle much better now, you got all new hoses/injectors/etc, all fluids have been flushed and replaced". I say, "That’s great, what do I owe you?". Shane says $16,000. Holy shit! I was thinking it was still gonna be maybe uh….$6000, but I guess I did approve a bunch of extra work without asking about how much it was gonna cost. Because I didn’t want to know what it was going to cost. I thinking I could swing $6,000 past my wife, but now I gotta tell her I just spent $16,000 on a car that has only gone 9 miles the past 16 years isn’t going to be a pleasant conversation. I'm gonna have to resort to the "Well, you know I haven't bought a car for myself since the S2000 back in 2001".
So now I gotta come up with some extra side cash to pay car repair bill. Hummm….my prospects for employment don’t seem too good, especially when I need to tell them I need to fit it around my cycling schedule, so I can’t do anything on the mornings of Tuesday/Thursday/Saturday/Sunday. And I probably need to take a short nap after the rides as they are usually brutal group rides, especially the Saturday OCVelo A1 ride. I could do what Wayne does, which is he hits all the local thrift stores in the morning, looking for stuff to resell on Ebay, which seems to be working quite well for Wayne the Wheeler Dealer, as he always has a few extra $100 bills in his pocket. His son is now an expert on vintage sneaker/tennis shoes. One time he bought some of those Herman Miller chairs for a couple of hundred dollars, turned around and sold them for a $400 profit after advertising on Ebay/Craigslist. A couple of days later, a guy comes to pick up the chairs, and sees Wayne’s Ferrari 360 in the garage, and says, "Are you Wayne from Pulp Racing?". Now that's a small world.
So given that I really only want to really work about 6 hours a week, what the heck do I do? Well….I have been watching Telsa’s stock price wildly swinging up and up. I mean, look at this chart:
Telsa stock price went up $300 in 3
months? WTF?
It went up $300 in 3 months? Hummm…..if I had bought two option contracts (to have the right to buy 200 shares at a set price) that could be worth some quick cash. Wait? Didn't we do crazy plays like this 25 years ago back when Microsoft/Cisco/Global Crossing/Pets.com were kicking ass in the stock market? Uhh..but I think Microsoft is the only one the really survived in terms of stock growth from back then. And didn't most of the option players get wiped out back then? In August of 2018, Elon Musk seemingly tweeted a joke about marijuana culture, something about "Funding secured at $420", that he was going to take the company private. He was accused of trying to manipulate the stock price upwards, the SEC stepped in and fined him $20 million dollars and made him step down as Chairman of Tesla. (He changed position to CEO of Tesla). Hey, maybe he was drinking or smoking a joint. But 16 month later, Tesla passes the $420 mark. Elon can't stop rubbing it in, as soon as it passed $420 he tweeted, "Stock so High!"
Hummm…….maybe we got some option plays here…… I do have a separate Schwab account that has been sitting on some Google shares the past couple of years that I haven’t been paying attention to, that is separate from the retirement account that I have a professional Wells Fargo guy managing the past 25 years or so. And the Google stock price hasn’t been moving upward a lot lately. Maybe I could use the Schwab account as my "gambling/racing fund". Hummm…..
January 22,
2020
I liquidate the Google shares, then with the proceeds bought two TSLA April 17
$580 CALL options for $5974 each, along with three Beyond Meat March 20 $125 CALL
options for $1,863 each. Let’s roll the dice. Telsa appears to be marching
onward with what many consider a ridiculous valuation, despite only producing a
small amount of cars compared to GM/Ford/VW/Toyota. Is electrification the
future? Investors seem to be betting on it. Either that, or the day
traders/swing traders
are just betting on the wild upswing on the previous chart….
February 4, 2020
Telsa on an UNBELIEVABLE roll. It goes up another $340 in two weeks! TWO
WEEKS! Which means my two Tesla options contracts can be sold for a profit of….drumroll
please……$40,000! The Beyond Meat contracts, on the other hand…..uh…expire
worthless.
Tesla stock price goes up ANOTHER $340 in 13 days!
But now I can get the NSX out of hock and not feel bad about it. And put a set of tires on it. And while I’m at it, put a set of tires on the S2000. And maybe fixed that cracked front spoiler on the S2000 from about 15 years ago. And put a new racing seat in the S2000.
I justify the expenses by saying that I haven’t bought a new car for myself since the S2000 back in 2001. Holy shit, that means I must be really old, driving around really old cars. My daily driver is still the 1999 Ford F350 Dually, since I am transporting kids and softball equipment (big wagon, pit bicycle from the OTC to pull the wagon, inside the wagon three Bownets, four buckets of balls, bases, pitching rubbers, GoPro cameras, cones, ice chest, chair, etc.)
You can participate or be committed. This is
commitment twice a week for 8 years. I pull the wagon with the clown
bike
Meanwhile, since I’m a gambler, but a sensible gambler (haha), I re-bet a small portion of the winnings on a couple more Telsa options, which I proceed to lose money on because I didn’t take profits quick enough, I thought it would go up even more. Then COVID hit and took down the stock market in late Feb/early March, etc. So my last 10 option plays expired worthless, but they were much smaller bets than my previous Tesla bets. But my stack of chips is still big from the first Tesla option plays. I feel like I’m sitting at the final table at the World Series of Poker, and some hot cards are coming my way...I just need to make sure I don't go all in with a pair of Kings and get wiped out by a pair of Aces. I consider calling this "The GT3 Fund", as on the weekends when I am riding my bike there are about four Porsche GT3 cars that buzz up and down PCH at high RPMs, sounding pretty glorious. Plus you can still get a normally aspirated GT3 with a manual shifter that revs to 9000 RPMs, unlike Ferrari 488 or McLaren 600LT with their turbo paddleshifters. I don't drive the S2000 around a lot, but when I do, I enjoy blipping/heel-toe downshifting/rev matching with the manual transmission. I know I know, I used to say the Porsche guys suck, but uh....I think they have beaten everyone to the top of the mountain in terms of building the fastest/reliable "car built for drivers who can still drive a stick".
Late February/March
My daughter’s high school softball team had a shot at a CIF championship. They
have two pitchers that are among the best in the state…..except COVID shuts down
the high school softball season. Ack! Travel ball softball and
baseball shuts down also. No fields
in California will give you a permit to play. Some teams are traveling to
Arizona or Utah to play practice games, as they are lax about their COVID social
distancing. What? My daughter and I aren’t interested in traveling out of state to
play in practice games. After about five years of travel ball softball, my
daughter decides to retire from the travel ball circuit, and just play high school softball for the rest of her
junior and senior year. I get it, it sucks to practice 2 or 3 times a week, but
have no real games to play unless you want to leave the state. Hopefully
we'll have a high school season in the winter/spring....
My daughter, like most kids these days, was in no hurry to get her driver’s license. When I was her age, I begged my parents as soon as I turned 16 to take me to the DMV so I could take the test and start driving. Instead, I have to push my daughter to take the damn test. I am tired of being an Uber driver. Take daughter to school at 7 a.m. 30 minutes later take son to school. 5 hours later pick daughter up. 30 minutes later pick son up. 30 minutes later take daughter to softball practice. 30 minutes later take son to MMET/Band practice. 2 hours later pick daughter up from practice. 30 minutes later pick up my son from MMET/Band practice. And yeah, they live ONE MILE from the school. I offer to buy them e-bikes, but apparently very few people ride e-bikes to school. I would have killed to have an e-bike when I was their age. But I get it, they are studying so hard they need to maximize every minute, and they don't want to speed an extra 40 minutes a day walking back and forth to school multiple times.
Add to the Ubering of the kids, a couple of times a week I take my mom to the doctor/grocery store/bank. Anyways, COVID cancels all in-person driving tests, so now we got to wait another 4 months for my daughter to get her license. My wife spends most of her time helping the kids with Trig/pre-Calc/Chemistry/etc. I'll stick to the Ubering the kids around, as I can't remember any of that stuff from 4 decades ago. I'm good with math when it comes to multiplying and dividing by 100 for stock option purchases, but that's about it.
S2000 Story
Around November 2019, I decide to get the S2000 soft top repaired. The car is
18 years old, and the soft top has a lot of cracks and rips in it, to the point
where water will start dripping into the interior. I usually store it at
my mom's house in the garage in the wintertime, and once spring/summer hits, I
park it outside my house. Searching around the S2000
boards, Alan has a shop over in La Habra where they do a lot of S2000 specific
work. They recommend I order an aftermarket soft top, and they’ll install it.
I didn’t want to tackle it myself, as some people said it will take two people 8
frustrating hours to do it, and I didn’t want to deal with that type of pain.
Since he has to pull out the rollbar to put soft top in, I look at the 18 year
old Cobra racing seat that is all beat up with foam spilling out of it, and
decide to get that fixed. Alan recommends I order a Recaro seat and matching
Recaro sliding bracket, but stuff like that takes a few weeks to get delivered.
I want it now. I start looking at Cobra seats over at
Subie Sports (I haven’t
seen Chad in a while!). Then I head over to
Sparco in Irvine, and I sit in a
couple of those seats. I find one I like, and I can get the seat and non-sliding
bracket the next day. I tell Alan about it, and he says he’ll give it a try to
install it.
December 16, 2019
Alan calls and says to come on down. I Uber over to La Habra, and the roof
looks and operates great! Putting the seat in was a pain in the ass, they took
the old custom bracket out, had to weld some holes, etc. The new seat bracket
from Sparco is designed for the S2000, except I have a custom rollbar, so now
the installation is extremely difficult due to you can’t get your hands where
they need to be to tighten/adjust the seat rail. They plow through it. However, the
seat position is a little off. DOH! Cause I wasn’t there to help them measure
it. Shit. Tilt/angle/distance is off. I ask if I can pay them to move it
around, and they said that will take two of them about two hours to adjust the
seat. I tell them I’ll pay it, as I can’t drive it the way it is. They adjust
the seat while I am there, I sit in it, everything now feels great! They button
it all up, and I’m on my way! Except…when I get out into the street, I realize
everything felt perfect when the car was parked, but when you have to actually
push in the clutch….the seat is too far back.
Raceaflais is smiling down from
the sky, thinking, "Oh boy, I get to make this guy’s life miserable again after
16 years!" I really have to extend to push the clutch in. DAMN! It’s getting
late, I don’t want to give the car back to them overnight, Uber myself home and
Uber back again tomorrow. I figure when I get a chance I’ll try to re-adjust the
seat myself. Meanwhile, I’ll put a beach towel behind my back so I’ll be closer
to the pedals.
I ask Alan about replacing the black front splitter lip, which got torn off at a track event many years ago. He said check eBay, as Honda doesn’t sell them anymore, but beware as they are hard to install. I need to also replace the front bumper, as the bottom of it is cracked from hitting a parking block 15 years ago.
Late April, 2020
I got
some spare time on my hands, as there are no longer softball games or practices,
which also means no more 8 hours a week editing softball game video into
pitch-by-pitch for the coaches and players, which allows them to watch the full
game in 15 minutes. Hey, that’s what the pro teams need to do…..have us
pay extra to watch the game with no commercials/times outs/interruptions. Only
action plays. Another thing that is cool is that you can make compilation
videos of "Areas to Improve" and "Highlights" videos. There are times
where you will see a play unfold in front of you and you'll ask yourself, "Did
that really happen?".
Here's a couple short
clips that will blow your mind. Keep in mind these are women who are 16 and 17 year
old Junior Varsity players. Imagine the plays that the 18 year old Varsity
players can do with an extra year of practice/weight training.
Okay, now got some time to work on the S2000. Plus I got money from Uncle Elon! I order a front splitter lip on Ebay. I get the front fenders rolled, as they were getting a bit beat up from the slightly oversized tires. I take the S2000 to Lanzini’s and tell them I would like them to put a new front bumper on since the old one is cracked, install the new front splitter lip, and fix the front fender ding on the passenger side. A few days later, Mitch Lanzini calls me and says that he thinks I should paint the black front splitter red, as it would look really good. He said his guys will sand it down, paint it, clear coat it. Since he's a perfectionist (and also appears now and then on that TV show Overhaulin') I tell him okay. I get the car back, it looks great!
S2000 after getting new driver's seat + front lip + bumper +Eckhaus rims
(Click here for
bigger)
Front tires are getting a little worn on the car. I take it to Allen Tire, where Matt has been selling me tires for the past 15 years. He'll always remember me as the guy who showed up with a 48 foot trailer to dispose of 70+ used tires that were piling up in my shop. His guy looks up on the computer, and says I only have about 2500 miles on the front tires, and they are worn out? I tell him yeah……but it’s been a couple of years, since I don’t drive it much. There’s only 63,000 miles on the car. And I put the Toyo RA1 tires with 100 treadwear on them, because heh…I don’t need to brake much for turns if you know what I mean. I figure amortized over two years, it costs me $9 a week for tires, which is like a $1.25 a day to stick like glue around turns. That's how I justify stuff. Mike Eckhaus (you know, the red Corvette guy from many years ago) had a spare set of S2000 rims in great shape, so I picked those up from him and get the new tires put on those rims.
Since my daughter has her permit, I have been teaching her to drive the S2000 over the summer. She’s getting the hang of it. She finally gets her license in August! I’ll have her drive the old 2002 Audi station wagon around for now, and if she wants, she can take the S2000 out. Since no softball….humm….it’s time for an autocross event. We try to sign up for the Speedventures autocross in mid-August at Cal Speedway, but to my surprise, it is sold out. Just for grins, I checkout the entry list for the big track, and it’s sold out also. Looks like 180+ cars. Holy crap. Not sure if it is because the first event since COVID hit, or if this just the way track events are nowadays.
I get some cones, set them up in the middle of the cul de sac street by the shop, and I have my daughter practice her cone-dodging skills after 6 p.m. when most of the people are gone. I have her buzz around the cul de sac with the NSX to get a feel for the clutch on the racecar.
The rest of the NSX Story:
So I get the car back from Autowave, and it feels REALLY fast. I put some new
Toyo RA1’s on it, courtesy of Uncle Elon. So now I’m thinking….hummmm….no
softball….maybe get the NSX ready for a track event. My daughter has her
license, she’s learning to drive the S2000, she could also learn to drive the
NSX…yeah…it’s all coming together. I can tell the wife, "But it’s helping our
daughter learn to drive a stick properly". How’s that for an excuse?
So after I get the NSX back, the ABS unit appears to be leaking. Raceaflais rubbing his hands. Crap. I talk to Autowave, and they said that all the first generation NSX ABS units are leaking due to the ABS seals going bad.
NSX ABS Unit. Supposedly pressurizes the ABS unit to 2000 PSI
I ask them how much to put in new seals, and they said they won’t do it, as it is very time consuming, and there is no guarantee that once they put it all back together, there won’t be other problems with a complicated 29 year old ABS unit. They recommend putting in a newer unit from Honda…..but that will cost about $4000. OUCH! I mean, I got Uncle Elon money, but I don’t have that much Uncle Elon money.
ABS pistons thingys after we took
the unit apart
I talk to Wayne, and he agrees with me to pickup the $120 seal kit that some guy is selling on eBay that has all the correct O-Ring sizes and the special grease. We watch the long video about the ABS rebuild. Wayne is pretty confident he can rebuild it. I order the kit.
I buy all the appropriate tools to do the rebuild. So we start the rebuild, and about 10 hours through it, things are going smooth, except there is one allen bolt that is extremely difficult to get out. We end up stripping it. Ack! Plus, it is in a spot that is impossible to access. We are stuck. When we get stuck, we track down John "The Fabricator" West to bail our ass out. John used to be in the shop across from us, doing custom hot rod fabrication (for people like Chip Foose) and some race car work. I take the unit over to him, and explain how we screwed it up. He thinks the best way is to precision weld a bolt onto the allen, then use a rachet to turn the bolt. He only has a tenth of an inch clearance to weld the bolt onto the allen.
We stripped an Allen bolt that is hard to access. Maybe weld a bolt on
top to rachet it out?
Unfortunately, we can’t get the bolt on there straight enough and strong enough to turn it with a rachet.
He tries to put it on his drill press and drill it out, but that does work either. So then he puts it on this really big ass drill press thingy, and precision drills it out. Success!
Wayne and I can now continue with the rebuild. So the next day, we crank it out, clean it up, new o-rings, and put it all back together. Total rebuild time: about 24 man hours. No wonder Autowave won’t attempt to rebuild them. After the rebuild, Mark from Autowave comes over with the Honda ABS Bleeder Actuator gizmo, and goes through the sequence to refill/bleed the ABS piston thingys one by one. Okay, ABS ready to go, now we are ready for the track.
A couple of days later, the brake lights won’t turn off. WTF? I talk to Autowave, and they said to check the plastic switch on the brake pedal return. They warned me it was very difficult to get to the switch in my car, since I have the racing seat and a non-removable steering wheel. They find a spare plastic switch from their warehouse of NSX parts, and said call them if I have a problem. I go back to the shop, and now I realize the difficulty. I am upside, legs straight up out of the car leaning on the rollbar, using one arm to support my body on the floorboard of the car, and trying to use the other arm to push back on the brake pedal, and at the same time, slot in the plastic switch. I try for about 20 minutes, and luckily Mark from Autowave stops by my shop to see how I am doing. I tell him it can’t be the switch, as the one that is there seems to be okay. He tells me it has to be the switch, as it is always OFF, and when you push down on the brake pedal, it releases the switch from the top, which turns on the brake light. I tell him that ain't it. He thinks, looks at me upside down, and says, "Uhh….are you sure you are checking the brake pedal, and not the clutch pedal?" Hummm….I am upside down…..oh shit, yeah, I’m looking at the clutch pedal, NOT the brake pedal. What a dumbass. So now I try to replace the broken plastic switch, but I need three hands. Mark gets a long pipe, pushes down on the brake pedal, allowing me to replace the stupid switch, while supporting myself upside down with the other hand. Okay, now brake lights work properly!
A re-enactment of trying to fix the brake light switch
But dammit….that was painful. Really painful. I’m sure something like this is going to happen again. Time for a removable steering wheel. Back to Sube Sports, I talk to Craig and Chad. They have the quick release, but not the short hub adapter. I then track down the short hub adapter from Science of Speed, and get that ordered. Once I get all the pieces in my hands, I start installing it, and stuff doesn’t quite fit. I need another spacer. Back to Subie Sports, I explain the problem to Chad, and he says he might have a used spacer from a previous race car that might work. I buy that from him, back to the shop. Proceed to strip one of the allen bolts that hold all that stuff together, so now over to Hillco to get more allen bolts. Okay, now got all the stuff….finally got the removable steering wheel working….now I’m almost ready for the track!
Lexan Window
So the rear Lexan/acrylic window is cracked. But, heh, I got a blank backup.
Erik Messley 25 years ago when he got the Lexan window molded, made two of
them. He's a genius. It’s been sitting in my shop. I have John The Fabricator come over, and
ask him if he can help me fit the window, drill holes in it without cracking
the Lexan, install the camlock fasteners, etc. John comes over to check it out. Unfortunately, it was
stored under a skylight, so it was getting a little bit of sun on
it. Which means the protective paper coating that was supposed to peel off, the
adhesive has hardened…..and it won’t come off. ACK! GUH! John says if I can
get the paper off, he’ll help me install it.
The new NSX Lexan window had the protective coating stuck to it. It won't
come off!
(Click here for
bigger)
Okay, so I try soap and water to get the paper to come off. That doesn’t work. I soak it in a big ass plastic bin of water, that doesn’t help. I don’t want to apply heat to it, as I’m worried that will damage the Lexan. Okay….so let’s try Goo Gone, and a plastic scraper. That sorta works, and after about an hour’s worth of work, I got less than 10% done. This isn’t going good. And I ran out of Goo Gone. Off to O’Reilly auto parts. I buy their last large bottle of Goo Gone. Back to the shop.
I tried Goo Gone and Gasoline
(Click here for bigger)
A couple of hours later, I run out of Goo Gone, and am only 30% done. Off to Home Depot. Buy 6 small bottles of Goo Gone, and a power washer. I figure I’ll spray Goo Gone all over it, let it sit, then hit it with a power washer. Uhh…that doesn’t work either. Okay, time for drastic measures, now it is time for gasoline, by now I don’t care if the Lexan gets damaged. That goes a little bit better, so now the sequence is:
1. Scrub with Goo Gone and plastic scraper
2. Scrub with Gasoline and plastic scraper
3. Hit Lexan with Powerwasher to get Goo Gone and gasoline off
4. Repeat: About 100 times over the next 6 hours, 10 square inches at a time…
Okay, so now I got all the paper off the window, but the Lexan still looks like crap, mainly because the hardened glue has scarred the Lexan. New plan. Who can polish Lexan….not me, I tried to my headlights before and it only comes out so-so. I can’t polish worth a damn. Jeff from Classy Cars has moved to Costa Mesa servicing all the high-end supercars over in Newport Beach area, and he's booked weeks in advanced. Lanzini recommended maybe try Rhino Detailing for local detailing, so I head over there. Luis looks at it, says maybe he could do it, so I leave it with him. A few days later, Luis calls back and says they were able to make it looks much better. I told him I don’t need showroom quality, I just need good racecar quality. I go over there, and it looks great!
Rhino polished the rear window and it looks great! Probably should re-powdercoat
the roll bar
(Click
here for bigger)
Okay, so I get John The
Fabricator to come over, we start to fit the window….but the camlocks that I
purchased are a little to short. The other backing pieces are too big. The
tool for putting the snap rings on is too big. Raceaflais is laughing as I have
$150 in small parts, none of them fit. I call Pegasus, and they said I ordered
wrong stuff, as the camlocks I am ordering are so small, that the other pieces
are made for the heavier duty camlocks. ACK! John the Fabricator says let’s
take off old clips from old window for now, so at least I am functional, and
order some more clips for the old window. He proceeds to drill holes and
install camlock, so now I got a rear window!
Luckily for me, everything I need for the NSX is within a half mile of the Pulp
Racing Headquarters
Rear view mirror
Okay, last thing I think I need is rear view mirror. I check on corner-carvers,
and someone there is an expert on rear view mirrors. He even has pictures and
sizing of all the various mirrors I can use, and suggests I go with a truck
mirror, as they are little bigger and sturdier. I go with the Ford F350 truck
mirror (because I couldn’t source the bigger GM one). Off to O’Reilly
Autoparts
for some rear view mirror adhesive. I apply Clorox, clean the window with
cleaner that came with the adhesive, put the adhesive on, put the rear view
mirror button on. I slide the mirror on….but apparently I put the button on the
wrong way……back to O’Reilly for another windshield adhesive, clerk looks at me
like I am an idiot. Heat gun on the windshield, peel off old button, Clorox,
then cleaner, then adhesive with button on the correct way…and now I got a rear
view mirror. Okay, the NSX is now finally ready for a test day at the
Speedventures autocross at Cal Speedway.
It's finally ready for a test day!
(Click
here for bigger)
The Big Trailer
I’ve been trying to sell the
48 foot, two-car trailer for about a year. It takes up too much space at the
shop, so Wayne and I were thinking we sell the 48 footer and the 16 footer, and
buy a 28 footer, which is big enough for the karts or one car.
Ian on top of the trailer
We have not put two cars in the trailer in 15 years. I gave Mr Wheeler Dealer Wayne power of attorney to get the trailer sold. Some people here and there called about it, a couple of people came down to look at it. A guy in San Diego ended up buying it, so now we have a bunch more room, and he plans on tracking his BMWs out of his Oceanside Motorsports headquarters.
Neil at Oceanside Motorsports is now running two cars out of
the big trailer
Wayne started looking around for another trailer, and we found a solidly-built 28 footer for $7500, with built in toolbox, winch, electronic lift, etc. No generator. The owner was using it for a dragster. But the way it is setup, we probably don’t need to buy any ramps to get the lowered NSX into the trailer.
The New Trailer
125c Shifter Karts
We haven’t had much time to take the karts out the past few years, maybe just 2
or 3 times a year. But this year I was able to get out more to the track.
Trying to work on the karts at the house.
I took my daughter and her two friends to Adams Kart track, and Wayne took his three kids, and we had a blast. We put all of them (except for 9 year old Ian, he has a kid kart he can buzz around in) in the shifter karts and let them blast around.
The shifter kart fleet. All stock Honda 125cc motors
Kayla and her friends were cautious driving the first few sessions, and then started to get the hang of it. The second day we went out, now they are getting aggressive. Before I just let them go out on the track and not worry. But now they are blasting down the main straight at 75+ mph, and now I got to worry that they don’t over cook the corner.
The Year: 2006
oorf
The Year: 2020.
I told them to look tough to re-create the photo above
Once they get use to driving and can see their lap times on their Mychron Dash timer, then the gauntlet has been thrown down and they are all fighting to see who can get the fastest lap time. The third time we went, now they are all maniacs, spinning off in the lower speed turns as they try to figure out fast they can go through a turn without losing grip. They’ve dropped about 10 seconds down to about 50 second lap time, and are feeling pretty fast, until Dave Gianetta’s 10 year old son laps them all in his kid kart, because that's what 10 year old champs do. I hop in the shifter kart and I whup on Dave’s son because uh….that’s what I do, beat up on 10 year old champs. LOL. Wayne and I are running 43 second lap times, and the girls, who are never impressed by anything their dad does, are actually impressed. They are thinking, "Hummm….how long would it take me to get to a 43 second lap time". I tell them, let’s see, about 10,000 more laps of practice, and about $100,000, and you can be that fast also. And don’t ask me to front the 100k!". Wayne’s son Reid drives just like Wayne. He’s pushing it pretty hard, maybe even getting to within 3 seconds of us….but like Wayne in his younger years, has a spectacular wipeout in a high speed turn that ends their practice day…..on two separate practice days! But hey, we see potential in Reid.....he just needs about 4,000 more laps and $50,000...but we don't have $50k for him either.
Back to Stocks
In February/March, COVID hits, crashes the market. Around March 18th, Tesla goes down to $360. Oh well, the party's over. I don't pay attention it to after that, thinking the stock market is going to suck. But within 30 days, Telsa goes from $360 to $750! Ouch, I don't have anything riding on it. Damn. Late April, I buy some Tesla options, but ending selling them for a loss. I guess the magic is gone.
During COVID crisis, stocks actually
went up? I wasn't paying attention in April.
May 6, 2020
Tesla in 34 days rallies from $454 to $779.
Holy shit. Okay, now I'm going to watch this stock every day.
Actually, watch it every hour that the market is open. I put StockTwits on
my phone, I setup a watch list, now I'm watching for patterns.
June 6, 2020
Still on a losing streak, not picking any
winners.
June 10, 2020
Tesla hits $1000! I had been
picking up Tesla options the past few days, keeping them for a couple of days,
then selling them for a profit. I got it rolling again! I make up
for the losses from the previous two months.
July 6, 2020
Bears and naysayers are claiming that Telsa is
over priced, that Tesla can't make a profit, Elon is a shyster and will leave
investors broke. Instead, the short sellers are going broke as their put options
are becoming worthless and now some of them have margin calls that they have to
cover with their cold, hard cash. They are all crying in their beer. Telsa
is now at an incredible $1290! Some guy on reddit speculates that it is a
Tesla Gamma Infinity Call.
July 10, 2020
Holy shit. Telsa now at $1545. It rallied another $250 in 4 days.
I pickup some more profits to add to the
racing operation.
July 20, 2020
Telsa at $1643. Bears and naysayers are
screaming they are going to short the stock and make a killing when it crashes
down to $200. But it is futile so far....hedge
funds/boomer institutional investors are down $21 billion so far this year
betting against Tesla. Meanwhile, I'm raking in cash
along with the rest of the
Tesla fanboys.
August 7,
2020
Apple announces a 4 for 1 stock split.
I jokingly tell my wife that Elon being Elon, he'll probably announce a 5 for 1
stock split just so he can flex his muscles on Apple.
August 11,
2020
Holy shit. Tesla announces 5 for 1
stock split. Damn, I'm not holding any options, as the stock was flat for
a few weeks, the economy supposedly looks bad due to COVID, etc.
Within a day, Telsa goes from $1374 to 1555. Two more days it goes to
1651. Another day, up $185 to close at $1836 on August 17th. Now we
got a frenzy going on.
August 20,
2020
Tesla closes at $2002. It breaks the $2000 mark!
Stock price went up $1584 in 9 months!
Then hits all-time of $2492 11 days later before the stock split
August 27,
2020
Tesla closes at $2239, up $237 from a
couple of days ago. And a lot of people take note that after the 5 for 1
split, the stock price could end up being pretty close to uh....$420. I'm
sure that would make Elon happy.
August 31, 2020
Tesla hits all time high, $2492, the day before the official stock split.
Yes, you saw that correctly. In less than 4 months, the Tesla stock price
rallied more than $2000. People betting that the stock would go up made
some tremendous gains. People who were betting that Tesla would go down
because they are over valued are destroyed financially. I tell the wife
that the GT3 fund is looking good. She reminds that we have two kids we
have to put through college before entertaining any wild thoughts about a
GT3....and that she is happy that the "GT3/college fund" is doing well....
Sept 2,
2020
Tesla is now split adjusted 5 for 1.
Over the next couple of months, Telsa is fluctuating between $390 to $475 (so
between $1900 and 2460 pre-split). I try to buy the dips, sell when it
shoots up without getting too greedy so I can take some profits. It is
like sitting at the no limit blackjack table with $10,000 in chips, and you are
making a series of bets when the cards are hot and the dealer is busting.
Bet more when the cards are hot, bet less when the dealer is winning. Make
sure you don't bet the whole stack, in fact, the #1 goal is to preserve the
stack and not get wiped out, so be very cautious when you are betting, errr...I
mean investing.
October 13, 20020
Lucid Motors, a Tesla competitor, says it will release their new car sometimes
in 2021, and it will be cheaper than a Tesla Model S, with the Lucid Air
Sedan starting at $69,990.
October 14, 2020
One day later,
Elon announces he is dropping the price of the Tesla Model S to.....$69,420, so
it is cheaper than the Lucid. LOL. He just can't stop with the 420 jokes.
Some caveats:
I'm not giving investment advice. I don't claim to know what I'm doing,
and yes, I realize I might have
the Hot Hand now. I am trying to make sure that I am not being
Fooled by Randomness. I'm treating the stock market like those
guys on
/r/wallstreetbets, meaning, "Sir, this is a Casino". Don't do this
with your retirement account. Have a professional manage your retirement
account, especially if your prone to losing large amounts of money playing
blackjack/poker/craps/slots. If you lose your entire stack when you are
playing blackjack or poker, you'll lose your entire stack at the options casino. If you lose it at slot
machines, well, you're just a loser for playing slots! Most people get wiped out playing options, as
in these videos:
Greatest YOLO? (You Only Live Once)
I don't want the racing account to end up like those guys, or like LTCM or Victor Niederhoffer.
Late October
Democrats/Republicans/Trump are all shooting guns at each other in the middle of
the stock market casino while I'm trying to make money at the options table.
Patrons are ducking down and running out of the casino, taking their chips with
them. JUST MAKE A DAMN DEAL! No shootouts inside the Casino!
Speedventures Cal Speedway Autocross.
Yeah yeah yeah, I know, officially the track is now called Auto Club Speedway or
something like that. It will always be Cal Speedway to me. Just like
"WeatherTech Raceway" will always be Laguna Seca to me. "Sonoma
Raceway" is always gonna be Sears Point to me. I refuse to refer to these
legendary tracks by some dumbass sponsor name. Anyways, my daughter and I
signup for the autocross. That way she can get use to driving a stick
shift under pressure. I bring the NSX, that way I can see if it will
stop/steer/start without leaking/overheating/catching on fire. I figure an
autocross in 100 degree heat would be a good way to test the NSX.
S2000s staging in line at the autocross
My daughter was a little apprehensive about driving the S2000 on the freeway for an hour, but I told her she would be fine, just follow behind the trailer I'm pulling. Of course, the ONE TIME in the past 15 years we could use a two car trailer, I just sold the big trailer a few months ago. On Wednesday, FOUR DAYS before the event, I have the NSX packed in the trailer, along with all the tools/equipment/helmets/etc. Now I can relax for the rest of the week...meaning I can ride my bicycle without having to worry about getting ready for the track.
We get to the track. Lots of COVID rules, no spectators, no passengers, no instructors driving in the car with you, and you can only bring one pit crew person per driver to keep attendance down. Makes sense, I get it.
My daughter proceeds to have fun in the S2000, I do a few runs in the NSX. I do like a 42 second, a 40.x, a 38.x, and a 36.x. Damn. I don't think I can run a 35. But there is a guy in a late model white Camaro who's killing it, he throws down a 35.x. I try a couple more times, but can't get there. The NSX doesn't overheat or leak, but for the second session, it wouldn't start, and it wouldn't jump start from my old jump starter from 12 years ago. I put the trickle charger on it for an hour, and it fires right up. Hummm...I was idling in line quite a bit the last session, seems like the battery should have charged, especially since I took it off the trickle charger right before we left for the track. Oil temp gauge doesn't work. But those are minor problems that can be fixed. I deem the test day a success! Video of one of the autocross runs using Hero GoPro9. I think the NSX is ready for a track event. Maybe not a full on wheel-to-wheel race, but a time trial to see how it performs at triple digit speeds, instead of 1st and 2nd gear cone dodging....
Pit bike from OTC 20 years ago is still alive and well. AKA the Clown
Bike.
NSX at the Speedventures Autocross at Cal Speedway
(Click here for
bigger)
Cycling stuff
Since we weren't doing much karting/auto racing over the last three years, I have been able to
get my Go-Fast Crackpipe adrenaline rush from cycling. Like anything we do over
here at Pulp Racing, it started escalating out of control. In order to get
faster, I hunted around and got a local cycling coach to help me out because I
didn't know much about cycling at the time. He gave me some training
plans/suggestions, and hooked me up with the local cycling club located
out of Huntington Beach called Orange Coast Velo (OCV). They have been
been around for 20+ years, and they have group rides every day leaving from the
HB Pier. I started out with the B group, worked my way up to the A2 group,
then got strong enough to be in their A1 group. The highlight of my week
is the Saturday morning A1 ride, which is typically 55-70 miles. Average
speed is 19-20 miles an hour for the ride. Prior to COVID, on Saturdays,
most of the groups would leave the pier at 7:30 and we would have 25-35
cyclists. At the first break point, we would break up into smaller groups,
B/A2/A1. A1 would typically have 10-12 people, now we have about 5 to 7.
It's a killer ride, there are people that are will destroy you on hills or
downhills or on the flats. The goal is to hang on and not get dropped from
the group, and should you feel like attacking on a hill or a downhill, just do
it and see who has enough willpower to keep up with you. There are some
ex-racers in the group, but most are just weekend warriors that feel the need
for speed and don't mind challenging their body to see how much pain they can
endure at max heart rate for long periods of time. Everyone is training
like a maniac so they don't get dropped on the Saturday ride and thus forced to ride home by
themselves in shame. There are people that are riding 400 miles a week to
get stronger. I'm a slacker, as I'm only doing about 200 miles a week,
along with lifting weights two days a week. I was about 167 lbs before I started
pedaling like a maniac, now I am eating massively huge meals trying to stay at
150 lbs. If anyone wants to get in shape, I would highly recommend
buying a bike, checking out your local cycling clubs and join one that suits the
way you want to ride.
Bought some rollbar mounts, put spindle holder for bike on it. SeeSucker suction
cup mount on the back trunk.
(Click here for
bigger)
I've been building a library of cycling videos so I can review them before I ride that route again. That way I can be a Cheating Bastard and figure out where I can attack, where I might get tired, where the top of the hill is, what the gradient is at various sections of the hill, etc. I don't create a video for every ride, just when something interesting happens on the ride. Here's a compilation video of some of the rides.
If you are into cycling, here's some more videos:
Blasting down PCH, passing cars, getting up high on the Strava Leaderboard
Tour of California. A group of us went to the follow the Tour of California in 2019 where the pro teams race for 7 days. On the first day, we followed the pro peloton for a few minutes as they were leaving Sacramento. We cut the course short to get back to watch the finish, but the rookie security guards thought we were in the race as there were seven of us, all wearing the same blue cycling kit, so they waved us onto the course 20 minutes before the end of the pro race. So we got to ride to the finish line with the crowd cheering us on, because they didn't know any better, they thought we were winning the race!
New Bike Day Video - New bike day is always exciting!
I got the roll bar mounts powder coated at
Primo Powdercoating
The Adult Coed
Softball Team:
Yes, we are still playing. I think we are in our our 38th year of playing,
doing it since 1982. 3 seasons a year, so it will be our 114th season.
The overall size of the league is down by 50% from the peak. We are still
playing the top division, but we haven't won the division in
probably 5 years. There are a couple of teams that have picked up
ex-college female softball players, so those teams are pretty tough to beat.
The good thing is we can more or less hold our own in the top division, and we
don't have to resort to moving into the "Seniors League", where
everyone on the team has to be at least 50 years old, and they play with different rules, like no sliding, it is okay to over run
the bases, no leadoffs, etc. I think we are to a point where 60% of our team are over
50 years old, and uh...we got at least 3 over 60 years old....we are doing what
we can to "stay young".
Link to the weekly softball preparation routine video. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesnt....
R.I.P - 2002 Audi Station Wagon
The old Audi Station Wagon is now officially dead. It's a shame, as I ripped
it through Ortega Highway last month barely using the brakes on the turns, and
it was an amazing ride for an 18 year old station wagon. I've been keeping
it alive the past two years so the kids could learn to drive. It barely
passes smog, I have to do the painful
Audi Smog Drive Cycle with the VAG-COM software running on a laptop in the
passenger seat, with my son in the backseat with a stopwatch calling out the
segments. I'm done pouring money into it. Latest thing was that battery
wasn't charging, I checked, fan belt was falling off due to only 1.5 bolts
connecting the crank pulley to the motor, the other 6 bolts fell off, so it was
wobbling. I had Autowave check it out, and they said pulley is damaged,
along with where it connects to the motor, so to do it right, would probably
have to do the timing belt replacement. It was due for a timing belt 8
years ago, but it wasn't worth putting $3000 into it back then, so I figured I
would drive it into the ground until it died. Maybe it is time to get a
Honda Civic for the kids to drive. But then I start thinking....a
Honda Civic Type R would cost another $12,000 above a Civic......hummm....$12,000
amortized over 20 years (since I rarely sell a car) is only $600 more a year,
that's only $1.70 a day to drive a Type R. I try to swing it by the wife and my
daughter, but my daughter says she doesn't want to drive a manual all the time.
WHAT? You'd rather have an automatic transmission Civic over a Type R? Shoot me
in the head now. We could have Honda Holy Trinity of cars, with the NSX, the
S2000, and a Civic Type R....
The NSX-Files Volume 1 & 2, Hardcover version
For my birthday a
couple of years ago, my wife took the first part of The NSX-Files website and
turned it into two full color, hard cover books for those of you who are nostalgic about the good old days. Re-formatting
the website into to put it in book form is a big pain in the ass, all the
pictures have be resized, all the tables of laptimes/finishing
positions have to be redone, etc. We probably have enough material for
Volumes 3 through 5, but it ain't gonna happen.
I don't make a profit on the book, the cost of the book is the cost of the book. So now I am officially a "published author". Heh. So what if I only sold 8 copies, all bought by me.
One of these days, it might be a Best Seller.
Links if you still buy hardcover books
about racing, or maybe a picture of you and your car is in the book! Tip:
If you actually want to order the book, don't order it immediately, I think if
you click to leave the website, it will give you a coupon code for 25% off.
Volume 1: https://www.blurb.com/b/8532666-the-nsx-files-volume-1
Volume 2: https://www.blurb.com/b/8536220-the-nsx-files-volume-2
On the calendar, I plan on taking the NSX to Cal Speedway for the Speedventures event on the big track on Sunday, November 8. Unfortunately, it looks like due to COVID the are not allowing any spectators. I plan on wiring up the NSX with GoPro cameras so hopefully I'll get some good video. Who knows, maybe another update in a month or two if Raceaflais doesn't strike back with a vengence.
That's about all that I have for this long update. Congratulations, if you read this entire article, that was about 9400 words/50,000 characters of racing drivel. Much longer than your typical Twitter post.
Take care, and I hope you are your family are doing well in these strange times!
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