I haven't gotten the size down small enough for the internet. It started out at about 3 gigabytes. The first internet vid was about 80 mb, the second about 42 mb. Hopefully, the next go-round will be about 25 mb. I'll post when it's ready!
BTW, you'll enjoy it...
hint:
...can you hear me whining...
...this sudden fear has left me tremblin'...
Originally posted by captainoblivious
oh yea Spike, could you post your opinion in this thread...
Done.
1st vid is done. It's for the "bandwidthed" challenged - just a little over 6 mb. But the quality isn't the greatest. The sound is "tinny" and it's only 15 fps (frames per second). One the other hand, it's 4 minutes and 40 seconds long.
When the better quality is complete, I'll post both links.
...can you hear me whining...
...this sudden fear has left me tremblin'...
We drove down early Monday morning to meet up with a MR2 Club from Southern California. They're a great group to join for these events - they're good people, they're passionate about road racing, and are level headed, courteous and safe on the course.
Over the last few months, I've been making small changes to the Lightning and wasn't positive if the time and money I had spent would help on the course. It's been on my mind and could have been distracting, even though I had gotten positive feedback from Dreamin and Ruslow (thanks guys for the support!). To help get me in a good "zone" I listened to some relaxing music on the drive down. The sunrise was beautiful and the music was great, so as I got closer to the entrance, I decided to turn on the video camera and capture the mood as I entered the park. I was just holding the camera not really looking at what I was filming, but rather pointing it towards what I was looking at as I drove. Hopefully, you'll appreciate it because it's a part of the video I made and it's an interesting perspective of the start of the day.
As I've infered in prior posts, my biggest concern at Laguna Seca was braking. I've been trying to improve the Lightning's braking with two things in mind: low cost to upgrade and keep it streetable. So far, I've limited the upgrades to better fluid, better rotors, better pads and hopefully, better driving. Of course, there are better brakes available but when considering the cost, I thought it would be better in the long run to save the money, not give myself a crutch, and learn to handle the speed better. As Ruslow told me once, "if you don't have brakes, maybe you'll learn to drive the line correctly." In the long run, I think it has been the best approach for me.
The suspension upgrades have been gradual and the last change I made was the new shocks. This was the one area where I was hoping for good results. I've been thinking "is the 40/60 valving going to work, do I have it setup too loose for the track," and the list goes on...
I also had several last minute items safety items surface the day before but got them fixed. While some of the issues where being dealt with, I bought some good food for the day at the track: Shrimp, chips and different dips, several turkey croissant sandwiches, oranges, ceaser salad, apple pie and LOTS of water.
The events as they occured:
Tech Inspection: It's always good to have a few extra eyes check out everything for safety and mechanical operation. There were a couple items found (and fixed) on my wife's rental Mustang. The truck was fine, but as I said, I'm glad two people looked over the truck.
Driver's Meeting: All the course rules and safety requirements were discussed and confirmed by the drivers. The Starter reviewed all the flags, safety rules and noise requirements for the day. Then several turns were discusses in detail on how to drive them best. Since I was placed in the advanced group, I was somewhat concerned because the guys that are running in this group are excellent, fast drivers in fast cars. I didn't want to hold them up because I knew my brakes would limit my speed. Plus, I wasn't sure how much throttle I'd be able to use up past turn 5 where the sound booth was. So, I announced that I'd be driving the big red truck and would probably have braking problems. Everyone had a good laugh. Then, I mentioned that I would be checking my rear view mirror because I wasn't sure how long my brakes would last. I figured at least 4 hard corners. Again, most of the drivers chuckled. My wife was somewhat overwhelmed by the amount of information that was reviewed and asked if she could ride with me. Since the advanced group was running first and she was in the third run group, she was about to find out the "thrill" of road racing, quicker than expected.
Enjoy the first couple minutes as you enter the park. Get in the mood and put yourself in her shoes...
That was excellent!!!! Thanks Spike! These videos make me want to take up road racing. I had to take the Green Day out of my CD changer. It puts me in the mood to drive way too fast!
Great video, got to love a truck that can make turns like that, your truck even seems to handle the corkscrew turn twords the end very well. Did you use quicktime for your video editing? Looks great
"You Da Man"
Brought back some fond memories, only thing different, I was on a motorcycle...... But seeing you pass that guy....would have loved to heard the audio in that car when he was passed by a pickup truck.
whitetoast11:
Quicktime Pro for analog to DV conversion. iTunes for music cd to MP3 conversion. iMovie (using quicktime) for everything else.
1BADTK:
I wasn't at WOT as I passed him (too bad, huh?). The sound booth was to the right and I was still lifting on the throttle between turns 5 and 6 so I wouldn't get "the meatball." I tried to carry all my speed out of 5 past the sound booth being light on the throttle, brake at cone 4 and then accelerate just prior to cone 1 on turn 6. It wasn't until my last couple laps during the last session that I opened it up out of turn 5.
RhinoSlug:
Camera was belted to the center seat.
Although you didn't ask specifically, the lens for the cameral was taped to the front bumper on the passenger side (got tilted, dammit and didn't double check). Microphone was mounted in the engine compartment between the firewall and the battery.
Last edited by Spike Engineering; 02-13-2002 at 08:43 PM.
Your answered exactly like I wanted you to. Thats awesome Spike! Very impressive! I cant wait to show it to my ricer buddy that I work with tomorrow! Peace!
Since the search isn't working, I thought I'd add the following event info here instead of spending my morning looking for the old post.
There is an upcoming track day at Thunderhill that is being arranged by Stan Brown, a new lightning owner. I posted more details at NLOC.net: Thunderhill Track Day!
If you live in Northern California and want to try the Lighting on a road course, all you need is a good attitude, a helmet, and your truck (plus the small fee for the event).
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