Holy brake dust, Batman!

Wow. Freaking Jesus, wow.

I drove my car on a road track for the first time last weekend (Sept 15th & 16th). It was with The Driver's Edge which is a non profit (I think) organization that organizes non-timed high performance driving events (HPDEs) at various race tracks all over Texas. I simply call it "racing school" because you have an instructor with you the entire time and they teach you how to drive fast... very fast.

Out of all the things I've done, I'd rank it number 2 behind skydiving for the first time in intensity, excitement and fear. Some people liken it to riding a roller coaster, but I think that's a bad analogy. On a roller coaster, you just sit there, along for a high g-force ride. You're on tracks and you're not going off the tracks. On a road course, the only things keeping you on the track are your wits... and your instructor's commands.

This two day event was quite an eye opener. Most people don't know anything about the physics of driving. They don't know how to load the front suspension before a turn, or how to accelerate through a turn to keep the rear tires planted. They certainly don't know that lifting off the accelerator or hitting the brakes while going around a corner too fast is going to cause the car to go into a spin. That's right, if you're going around a corner too fast and you don't think you're going to make it... give it more gas!

One thing that they kept stressing to us newbies is to breathe. Driving on a road course for the first time can be a harrowing experience, especially if you're driving a 450 hp sport car capable of speeds in excess of 190 mph. It goes against all instinct to keep the gas pedal floored while approaching a 180 degree turn, then at the last possible second, slam on the brakes and pray that you're going to slow down enough to make the turn. When I say "slam" on the brakes, I'm mean you're hitting them so hard that if you didn't have a seat belt on, you're going into the windshield.

The Vette is awesome. It's way too much car (power-wise) for a newbie like myself. Other cars were hitting 80-90 mph at the end of the straight if they were lucky. I was hitting 105 at the middle of the straight (and being too scared to upshift, haha)! I never had to take it out of 3rd gear the entire time on the track. It had more than enough power in 3rd gear alone to scare the living daylights out of me.

Handling-wise it's great also. I'm too wet behind the ears to comment on the numb steering that Vettes are known for, but I did notice that the Vette has tons less body roll that my previous S197 Mustang GT (2005), despite the Mustang's aftermarket Roush suspension.

I'm going to sum up the remaining points of interest since this post is already kind of long...

• Your wheels get completely covered in brake dust.
• After a session on the track (or during), you're not allowed to stop in the grass because your car's headers and brake rotors are so hot that they can start grass fires.
• After a session on the track, you cannot use your parking brake or hold your foot on the brake pedal because your brakes are so hot that the rotors will warp.
• You get used to the sound of tires squealing. In fact, tires squealing becomes the norm rather than the exception.
• As a newbie, your skills are laughable compared to your instructor's. My instructor had people puke and lose control of their bladders while riding with him in his run group (btw, he has a modified 2007 C6 Corvette).
• There is a high probability that you will lose control of the car at high speeds. Well... if you are pushing it and have a high horsepower car anyways.
• I lost control 3 times, the 3rd time at 90 mph and went off track into the grass/dirt. It wasn't even scary because by then I was so used to the speed.

After just one HPDE, I'm addicted. All I think about is going back for more and getting better and faster. Unfortunately, it's an expensive hobby...

Click here for more pictures.

Dustpans are teh suck!

Have you ever noticed that you never get all the dirt off the floor when you finish a sweeping job with a dustpan? I hate dustpans. They are so primitive. Why do people still use technology that was invented millennia ago?

Check out my current sweeping technique. I sweep all the dust, dirt and crap into a corner, then suck I up with a vacuum cleaner (the hose part). It works great and it gets all the dirt.

Throw away your dustpans!!!

Getting PPTP to work with KNetworkManager on Kubuntu 7.04 Fiesty Fawn

I'm blogging this so I don't forget in the future. At the time of this writing, the issues are known and recorded on bugs.launchpad.net, but I'm not sure if they are fixed yet, hence the following steps.

1. sudo aptitude install network-manager-pptp network-manager-gnome
2. restart knetworkmanager
3. When you create a new VPN connection, in step 2 of 2, make sure to select a "Type"!!! It will initially be blank and if you leave it blank when you hit "forward", your connection name will forever be unusable!
4. Restart computer (sorry, I don't know which specific daemon needs to be restarted).

See this pic for the below for what I mean about the blank "Type" select.

If you leave it blank and hit forward, a file will be made using the "Connection Name" you entered in. That file will be corrupt and you won't be able to fix it (via any part of this GUI), so you'll effectively have to start over and use a different connection name.

Here are links to the two bugs concerning these issues:

Bug #74351 VPN connections configure dialog doesn't work on knetworkmanager
Bug #89120 VPN Connection not added...

Useless programmer blogs.

I hate it when dipshit programmers essentially make blog posts repeating what the manual already tells me. For instance, I was looking for how to use sockets with Ruby and came across all these blog posts that told me nothing more than the Ruby manual itself. Hell, most of the posts were just copied and pasted directly from the manual.

This annoys me for various reasons.

• It clutters the internet and makes it more difficult to find actually useful information.
• These dipshits probably do this on purpose so that they can show off their "popular" blog in interviews.
• These dipshits probably get paid more than me because they are "leading the industry with their expertise as displayed in their blogs".

You know what? Next time I'm reading a programming manual online and I have an unanswered question, I'm going to blog the answer to that question, but really the blog is going to be an excerpt from the manual that raised the question in the first place. Then when my blog's popularity skyrockets from other programmers seeking that same answer (to which they'll just find the question again, hehe), I'm going to apply to Google saying, "Look at how many other programmers turn to my blog for guidance. Hire me, I'm multraleet!"

Vietnamese Pork Chops

I eat these all the time in restaurants, so I figured I should learn how to make them in order to save a few bucks. It's very easy anyway.

Ingredients:

• 4 thinly sliced pork chops with bone
• 4 tbsp fish sauce
• 2 tbsp sugar
• 2 tbsp vegetable oil
• some chopped green onion (chives)
• some minced garlic (1-2 tbsp)

Instructions:

1. mix sugar and fix sauce in small bowl
2. mix in garlic, green onion and vegetable oil into fish sauce sugar mixture
3. put pork chops and fish sauce mixture into freezer bag, mix around
4. let marinate for a few hours
5. grill or pan fry pork chops

It's a popular recipe that is repeated more than a few times on the web. Some experimentation might be needed to taylor the salty/sweetness to your individual taste.

My History of Cars (Part 2)

Fast forward a few years. I've graduated from college, been working a couple of years (long enough to not be making chicken scratch anymore) and my Prelude is on its last leg. It had all sorts of problems. The suspension was completely shot, some part of the engine was cracked and was leaking oil onto a belt, it had major trouble idling, and it had a dent that had started to rust. My friends and family convinced me that I was stable enough to take on a car payment, though I was very reluctant to.

I wanted something sporty, but kinda nice... I was thinking G35 Coupe. I test drove one, along with a few other entry level luxury cars, but was left disappointed by their acceleration. This was about the time that the S197 (2005) Mustang was all the rage, so I gave it a try... and I was instantly hooked on American V8's. Also, the price was very right (compared to the entry level luxury cars)... :D

The S197 Mustang is a great car. Most people don't know that because they don't know jack about cars. All they know is stupid stereotypes that they see on TV. Well, here's a brief overview. The S197 is a complete redesign from the ground up. It shares almost nothing with previous generations of Mustang. It's weight distribution is near 50/50, it's chassis is worlds stiffer than previous generations (100% or 50% stiffer, I can't remember), and it has a whopping 300 hp and 320 lb-ft of torque!

I modded the hell outta that car:

• twin screw supercharger (Saleen Series VI)
• all the crap that comes with a supercharger upgrade (injectors, MAF, spark plugs, intake, etc)
• full Roush stage 2 suspension
• 4.10 differential gears
• short throw shifter adapter
• second fuel pump
• Xenon headlights
• CAI (pre supercharger)
• throttle body space (pre supercharger, waste of money)
• two sets of wheels (MB Motorsport VR5S, Body Coddington Smoothie 2)
• big tires BFG KDW2 255 in front and 285 in back
• Borla Stinger (S-Type) axle back exhaust

The car was a beast (420 rwhp / 400 rwtq). Because of the low end torque of the twin screw supercharger, combined with the steep 4.10 gears, traction was a major issue. I could lose traction in 1st gear just by stabbing the gas... without using the clutch! 2nd gear was a gamble too. Because of this, I could never get a decent time in the quarter mile. The best I did was 13.2 seconds. I could have done better with some stickier tires, but then I'd worry about other parts of the drive train breaking (if the tires stick, all that torque has to go somewhere, right?).

And that's what I was always worrying about, things breaking. For you see, when you modify a car, you pretty much throw your warranty out the window. It makes sense. If you add 200 hp to a car via a supercharger, then the engine explodes, why should Ford float the bill?

Regardless, modding is still extremely popular. It allows people to buy "cheap" cars and "cheaply" raise their performance level. For instance, average Joe out-of-college can't usually afford a Porsche, but he can probably afford a 350Z and to mod it to reach Porsche level performance. The big trade off is the warranty (and thus peace of mind).

Peace of mind is worth a lot.

My History of Cars (Part 1)

I'm the kinda kid who grew up on toy cars and racing video games. Yeah, I had the Lamborghini Countach poster on my wall, as well as that Vector poster, ubiquitous to many young kids' rooms. I played the hell out of Gran Turismo 1 and 2, and I still play racing video games today (Forza Motorsport 2 on Xbox 360). As long as I can remember, I've desired fast sport cars.

In college, my mommy bought me a used Honda Prelude Type SH. It was lowered, and had intake and exhaust. At the time, I thought that car was shiznit!! ..but that era was also my rude awakening to 4 banger imports. It's very hard to squeeze power out of such small displacement engines. I distinctly remember saving up enough money for a turbo for the 'lude and asking a well known Houston tuner how fast it would make my car. He said it would maybe shave 1.0 to 1.5 seconds off my quartermile. Haha, ridiculous! A freakin' $5000+ turbo kit, and my car would go from 15.5 seconds to 14.0 seconds. What's the point? Why bother going from really slow to just slow? So I bought a used Honda CBR 600 F3 (a crotchrocket / sport bike) with the money instead.

Ahh how young and naive, I was back then. My perception of the car often greatly exceeded its actual capabilities. Still, I loved that car and got into lots of trouble with it (pulling a 540 on 2222 comes to mind).

VTEC... what a joke. Of course, at the time, I was like every other young ricer who equated VTEC to a sudden large surge of forced induction boost. Hardly. It gives what? 10, maybe 15 lb-ft of torque? Even that is generous.

And yes, I was that ricer with the obnoxious exhaust. How embarrassing in retrospect! To my credit though, at least I didn't have the huge coffee can exhaust. I had the dual DTM style exhaust. It was Tanabe DMT Medallion to be exact. Heh, nothing like loud and slow, eh? Hehe.

Don't get me wrong, I mean no offence to anyone into this kind of stuff. It's just a style that I moved away from and I like to laugh at myself in the past. I respect all kinds of car enthusiasts and modders and think it's great that they are into it, regardless of what "style" they are into.