Yeah, Ive been looking for a job and nothing looks good to me. Im getting unemployment and its really good money for not working. Plus, Im in college so its not bad at all. I just get boredddddd not having a job or anything to do during the day sometimes. :/

 

nice. what are you going back for? ive been thinking of going back for mechanical engineering or motorsports engineering. just hard for me to take the leap at 27. lol.

ohhh man. nothing to do during the day. man if i had the time..id hate to know what my car would end up looking like. lol.

 

that's the only person I wanted to take the title this year... admittedly, I thought it was Alonso's for sure going into Abu Dhabi.

 

this year was nuts. sabastin did some really good driving to get where he ended. i was hoping weber would pull it off but that didnt happen.

 

i was hoping alonso would have got it aswell but team strategy to match who you are trying to beat isnt always a good tactic. then on top of that you come out behind someone who is trying to hold on to their seat..yeah..he isnt moving over.



i like seb. he can drive the wheels off the car. had alot of bad luck this year but who cares..he is rich. lol. and ol webber..i hate that sh!tbaga$$hatfcukface. he is supposed to be the gentleman driver and lead by example since he is the head driver or whatever his title is. and i can think of 5 occasions where he did something wetoddid in the last 2 years.

 

i agree. i agree.

 

Yeah, I have the time to work on my car, but no where to really do it. Sooo my car is basically on stand by til I move into this house I just got. Which has a garage thank the lord :p

 

heated garage? mine isnt. sucky big ol time!

 

My garage is so tiny...I could heat it with a Bic lighter.

 

A garage is better than no garage my man.

 

lol

 

lol. I remember back in the day when I would call Jeff and he'd either be at one job or driving between them. Dude is Jamaican. lol.

Welcome back! How did you like being in the gunshine state?

 

lol. speaking of..got an old joke..see if i can get this straight.

so a couple of buddies are out relaxing on their fishing boat. they arent catching anything so the one buddy asked the other if he has a light for his cigarette. he says yes and whips this huge lighter out. the buddy was like "whoa where did you get that?". the other replies "i got it from a genie." the other guy says "wow i want to make a wish to a genie." the guy with the lighter says "well i still have him but he isnt very good." the buddy doesnt care he just wants to make a wish so he tells him to get the genie out. POOF..there is the genie. the old genie says "i will grant you one wish.." the guy replies with excitement "i want a million bucks!!!" all of a sudden it gets dark over the lake and one after another ducks just start dropping in the water. they dont stop and the guy that granted the wish looks at his buddy and says "i asked for a million bucks not a million ducks." his buddy replies "i told you he wasnt that good. do you think i asked for a 12 inch bic?!!??!"

 

lol......thats ****ing awsome.

and Jeff you have no idea how happy I am to not be doing that **** anymore.

 

hahaha LOL

 

lol

 

I wnated Webber to win also, but there are reasons why I was happy to see him blow it.

oh I wanted Alonso to lose.. he is what I hate in a race driver, bitches when things don't go his way, blames others for his troubles, and runs his mouth. suffice to say, the above reasons are why I find myself becoming less of a fan of Hamilton.

As for Webber, you'd think a guy that didn't win his first race until this season would be less of a cocky bastard inside that same season.

 

its crazy. Terrell said this would be his year and after it wont happen. Pretty shitty. I'm pretty happy with the way it ended.

 

Miami and Miami beach was nice! I spent a few days down in the Fort Myers area, Madd rednecks! i got kinda wierd vibe down there lol. I partied in Ft Lauderdale too **** was madd fun! lol i like how the clubs end at 4am. I didnt get back to the hotel till 6am lol

 

today is one of the best days ive had in awhile. :insertsarcasmbeforethepreviousstatement:

 

Cheer Up Buttercup.

 

That was actually funny.

Lol. I know bro.

Im glad to see you made it back in one peice.

 

so last year i did my first track event at wmhm9. i didnt know what to expect but my buddies and i karted at an indoor facility which i loved. so i figured taking my hatch on track would be an awesome experience. well house emergencies came up and i had to put some funding towards that. im pissed the hatch is now not getting done so what do i do now? well i threw some 615 azenis and some hp+ pads along with rbf600 on the daily and headed north. i expect it to suck being on track with a stock motor and being "slow". anyways i head up there with two other buddies hoping to have a great time. we show up and sign in. ok now what? first time here and neither buddies have done anything either so we just roll in looking for the flatest ground to camp. we find a flat spot where we park and start unloading. over walks a few guys..from lovefab..wtf..there is that nsx that i have seen/heard all about..omgwtfbbq. anyways set up camp and get ready for the next day. i wake up and get ready for the drivers meeting. i walk in the garage and i am just overwhelmed with all the people. they do drive/instructor pairings. i get this adam guy..ok so we talk and everything seems like it will go smooth. uhhh not really..i go out first session and im clutching in during corners..grabbing the shifter while not shifting..you know all the horrible habits you pick up from daily driving. he got his point acrossed and i tried to shake the nerves off. i finally did and we were rolling. the weekend was a blast i had one off due to getting excited about catching this itr in my stock motor sedan. having adam as an instructor was probably the greatest thing that could have happend to be besides taking my sedan. the sedan taught me that you dont have to have a "fast" car to be "quick". i learned a ton that weekend and i was hooked.




a couple weekends later i do my first autox. im pumped as can be but i expect all these cones to get confusing. it actually wasnt bad at all and i didnt get lost even with a crossover. but the bad luck struck. i broke my passenger side halfshaft coming out of the box on my third run. that in and of itself was one of the biggest pain in the rears of my life. long story short i broke one breaker bar and heated the axle nut plus spraying penetrant for over an hour. we found an eight foot pipe at a construction site near and slipped that over the breaker bar to get it loose. regardless i had fun and was ready for more.



so that was the end of the 09 year and i was itching for more in 2010. i was saving up what i could to get the hatch ready but we had our first child on the way. so the boss put her foot down and said "either get the car done or sell it!" so i got a part time job and got at it. lol. i worked 7 days a week from december 09 until this april. once april hit it was time to get to work. i only had one day to work on the car a week which was sunday. i had two buddies help me every single sunday which i owe a ton to them. i dont really have any pictures of the car before we started but just imagine a fully stripped interior with the motor still in. the motor had to come out and the tranny needed work. i had done the rear brake conversion the summer of 09 but i had to cut the right line because nut was seized. so that meant replacing the right rear line which was a huge pain but whatever it had to be done. other than that i dont think there was anything left untouched besides the oe upper a arms and tie rod end. one weekend we were out of things to do because of waiting on parts or something so i sprayed the engine bay with grey primer. the process had tons of setbacks but we kept on it. alot of people doubted the car would get done..even one of my buddies that was there every weekend. lol. overall i think it took us six or seven sunday to get the car running and one saturday night of "fine tuning" to make sure everything ran right.

once we got the car running well i signed up for a bmw cca event at putnam. i signed up for this event because i had already signed up for itr expo and i wanted to shake it down close to home. there also was an autox event the weekend before the bmw school so i figured i might as well do that event to further shake the car down. so i got the car running right one weekend and i was to autox it the next weekend. the autox venue was about an hour and a half from my house. something like 60 miles away or something like that and i hadnt driven my car more than a few miles thus far. so this might get interesting..the car ran fine going up there without any hiccups. well besides a buddy running late..extremely late. i barely made tech and only got one course walk through. this was my second autox and i signed up for sms which in our region is pretty quick. i wanted to shake the car down but i also wanted to do well. i didnt care about the evos or the stis but i wanted to see how i would compare to the other two ff cars in class. one guy has autoxd his itr since he bought it in 2000..uhh no chance. lol. and then kyle..who at the time had a gsr..has been autoxing for a few years now. i kept close with kyle all day and barely got him at the end of the day. i think i got 6th out of 15 or something. the car didnt have any problems at all on course besides some rubbing here and there. the only problem i had going home was the monkey butt from wearing pants in a bucket seat for a long trip. lol. no in car for this event either..go pro was no pro that weekend.

crappy pic.



the following weekend i took myself and the hatch out to putnam for bmwcca school. i was excited to see what this group was like. the weather the previous night was horrid..i am talking downpour where you cant see out the windshield but yet you had to preregister. so we make the trip out there and it was well setup and the guys were extremely friendly. the weekend besides the weather was off to a good start. i get out there saturday and get my little paddock area setup. next thing you know..boom..a civic rolls in. sweet. dave is on here but i forget his handle but it helped being next to him for some good conversation. i am in the middle run group and after talking to dave i dont know why i am but he isnt. he has more experience and time on track than i do. oh well it wasnt that big of deal i just didnt know what the other cars in my run group would be like. the one thing i was super stoked on was our classroom instructor for intermediate/advance was absolutely amazing. if i had him for a high school teacher i would have been awake all day. anyways i tell my instructor that im not going to push it that much on saturday because the car was new and it was my first time at putnam. let alone the hatch hadnt been over 80mph before that weekend. saturday i just kind of putted around getting a feel of the car and myself. i think my instructor was "turned off" by this..he was very pushy and wanted to "go". im not pushing it..all this time and work and not to mention money in this thing. im not wadding it up. saturday goes by and i think there was only 2 cars in my run group i passed. lol. but i had a great time and felt like i learned alot. i also felt like the car was stout and ready to rock. i think me and the fam went out to eat saturday night and all i could think about was improving on the previous day at the track. sunday rolled around..EARLY..but i felt good. first session i try to get everything back and shake the rest of the dust off. i think about the second session i felt i "became one with the car". my instructor was now getting excited and we are rolling cars. he has me feet away from bumpers so "they know im there". i was fine with it..i was actually having a great time. i know that isnt typical protocol but if he wants to party..lets party. he asked if i wanted signed off but the party we were having i wanted him to stay and enjoy the show. lol. all in all it was a great weekend. i now felt comfortable with the car. i also felt that the car could take the abuse it was receiving. the summer was looking good!

in car. http://www.vimeo.com/12772415





two weeks later i find myself and "crew" headed to autobahn for itr expo. man what a nice facility. i meet up with mike alsip and a few of his buddies and we are on our way. i get up there and register on friday night to eliminate more hassle on saturday morning. i had talked to adam before hand and he helped me get will as an instructor. this guy was excellent..he was like adam just more offensive line looking. well spoken and had knowledge and insight for days. i forgot to mention extremely nice. i knew this weekend was going to be great. we were running full track which i guess doesnt happen to nonmembers to often so i was pumped on that. we go out first session on saturday..uhhh what the..is this an amtrak railyard? it was train upon train upon train. i am competitive and not very patient. so needless to say..i was pissed off. will assured me that the next session would get better and it did. the rest of the weekend went by pretty smooth except for the fact the flaggers there arent the best. saturday i believe it was i got the "pass"/i guess in this case "advisory" flag like three laps straight. the car behind me was way faster in the straights but i was gone through the "twisty bits". but in good sportsmanship and well here ill show you. i let him go so i could ride his rear and they would show him the same flag. uhh not the case..he went by and it was like my windshield got sprayed with residue. i checked up to let him go incase he either a littered the track and id drive through it or i wouldnt be able to see out of my window. lol. will told me saturday night that he had to ride with me first session sunday and he would sign me off after. i told him he didnt have to many times but he insisted. so i went scouting..i asked adam and sander and they both said they would have to see on sunday. adam.s student left earlier sunday so he got to ride with me in a downpour which was cool anyway. my first time in rain..who better to sit in the passenger seat. i needed to find someone else..we had some prodriver as our classroom instructor. everyone was hounding him so i figured it was no go. i saw him later and i asked if he had the time. it worked out perfect and he rode shotgun second session sunday. that session came together well..i was going about 7/10ths and i see my buddy dil in the background. ohh crap..he.s not catching me. time to pedal. the pace got picked up and then well i went into t2 to hot..wiggle..almost save..wiggle..almost save.."ok i just passed some people and you have scrubbed a ton of speed..take it off" is what i thought to myself so i straightend the car and off i went. the session was super good and the weekend was great. i was feeling like i was learning something on track every session. the weekend was fantastic..met a few new people and had a good time but we packed up early because it was fourth of july and i had booked a room downtown chicago.

in car. the camera shuts off mid sesh. http://www.vimeo.com/13131491

you have to start them early. she is about 10 months here already getting the feel of a ff.





*****im going to try to speed/shorten this up*******

then two weeks later it is off to south haven for some wmhm fun. the weekend started off bad. friday i left work earlier to get everything ready to rock and roll. me and a buddy had done a water pump and timing belt covers since the original owner had this "lightweight" pulley on which didnt allow for the covers to be on there. well since the pulley wont fit with the covers i ordered the n1 pulley. well the belt that came with the pulley wasnt the right "size" so i ran to three different parts stores and had even brought belts home from work. luckily my third parts store had a belt i think abe lincoln ordered for his model a. boom it worked. rolled up to south haven at like 2 am. great start to the weekend. my buddy who had helped through the whole process and even had went to every event so far came along..of course. well since i didnt have an instructor the biggest payback was for him to ride along. that was the least i could have done. first session felt like garbage and the next..and the next. great it is going to be one of those weekends. you know it is one of those weekends when you are waiting in line to get air and you get cut. i didnt say anything but as laid back as wmhm it is surprising to see some people can still be dickbags. adam wants to go from a ride along..good maybe he can get me out of this slump. we get done and he says good job i have to run to my student and we will talk when we get back. good maybe an *** reaming will happen. "uhh i got nothing. that was good." jeesh..cant someone tell me to get my head out of my rear. anyways the new configuration was good. i had a blast even though i felt i had driven like pooh all weekend.

in car. http://www.vimeo.com/13489919

look at ed sackley being all gq.




a few weeks later i did an autox test and tune at grissom. i wont write much other than i told my buddies that i was going to make the girlfriend barf..well the was the plan atleast. well she was running on time as most women do..or the lack there off. we get there later..i dont get a walk through. so first pass is just to cruise..second..third..and fourth pass were back to back since it is a tnt i might as well get my time in. well those three passes were the only ones she could handle. lol. she didnt barf but she did say "i feel sick and dizzy. i need to sit down." job well done i guess. lol.

in car. http://www.vimeo.com/14534735


next up was a nasa crossover event at autobahn. we were running south course only which i thought would be better for the lack of "gearing" my car has. south course was fun and that last corner was a blast. but saturday started off just like expo did and i was fuming. i signed up for de2 and de1 was a zoo. a few people had no idea what was going on. it was a bad situation but you have to make the most of it. our group leader snuck out in his car and i had told him about the problems. i dont know if he just didnt believe me or if he thought i was just making it up but he seemed to kind of blow it off. well him being out there helped alot. i passed this miata and didnt really recognize it but it happend to be him. one of the problems i was having happend and he caught back up and saw it for himself. i was getting stuck behind this supercharged lotus and she wouldnt let me go then on the straights she would just boogey. so i then brought up the idea of going to de3 and he told me to go talk to the 3/4 leader. i did and it was set up. my check ride went great besides my exhaust falling off the hanger. the schedule was a bit goofey..i think 3/4 did two sessions before lunch and 1/2 only had one. so i did my check ride and got bumped to de3 but i stayed with 1/2 the rest of the day to "keep my seat time". once again i learned alot that weekend and was ready for the next event.

in car. you can click the other link and see the traffic problems. http://www.vimeo.com/14947020





a couple weeks later i went to an autox out in terre haute. a coworker said this airport had amazing tarmac so i went. kyle said i could help him tech so i didnt have to corner work. plan didnt work out. i was the third run group. i guess i should have signed up for smf because they ran first group. lol. i overdrove first run. second run i went to slow. then i got it figured out. im not that good in my eyes at autox. to me it is like be sketchy but be smooth and fast. but i love doing it because it doesnt feel "natural".

in car. http://www.vimeo.com/15720103




last event of the year was with 1010ths motorsports at putnam. at expo i had aaron lietchy..i probably just bombed his last name..talk to me about this group and how i need to run with them. i looked at their site and it seemed good. i talked to mike alsip about it and which run group to pick. he told me red which is open passing and he said if i can handle that then i could handle tt. well our red group meeting let out a bit late. i wanted to get out on track so i just squared my psi.s and headed out. these were ALOT lowered than i would want or ever had ran them..28psi. not to mention it was already cold enough to start with being 9am in october in indiana. i go into 7 and brake hard to get some heat built up..uhh nope. one way..throttle to get out of it..the other way..all over the wheel and get it straight. "ok brake in a straight line and go easy through 8" is what i told myself. that is what i did..i still went up the hill like tanner foust in his rwd scion. wtf..fist out the window im going in under full yellow. omg. oh well i dont want to be "that guy". i get air and head back out. the marshall waves me out..so i think im clear..no. i hit third gear and a panoz gt car and a z06 go by at about 130 id guess. i was maybe going 50. lol. "what have i got myself into.." but that weekend turned out to be a great idea. i passed this spec miata that was there on saturday and that was it. but my track awareness went up by infinite percent. these cars would come out of nowhere..on saturday i had passed that miata that happend to be red. well as the laps went by on the front straight all i could see was a red dot. i thought that red dot was him when i looked before the braking zone in t1. wrong..it was this rowdy fc rc7. i looked up in t3 and all i saw was red. i thought the miata threw on quad turbos and hit the nawz. i had one close call where a mustang hit a curb and kick over and missed my bumper by inches. camera had died so i didnt get the footage. sucks. lol. the guys were great to run with..well watch go by. lol.

in car. http://www.vimeo.com/16154280

i dont have any pictures from this event. but here is one of a aix champ that was in our run group. suuuuper sick car.


and here is their new mustang that about got me.



this year was a great learning experience. i stayed on the same setup all year long. i didnt change anything. 225/45 f and 205/50 r r1rs. 550lb f at 50% stiff and 650 r at 75%. NO barz. i was on hawk hp+ f and r which having the same compound only got hairy at wmhm in t11. rotate much? all in all if i could change one thing about the summer is that i would have got started earlier..lol..and that the fam could go with me to each event. i cant wait for next year..hopefully i will see you guys/gals out there.


ps. sorry for the book. i got rolling and couldnt stop.

 

cliff note brad. i'm not trying to read that much right now. i'll make my own cliff notes.
Brad going to events=boner popin good time.

 

lol. it is alot. i shortend it a ton. every weekend something doesnt go according to plan. kind of shows you that grassroots level point of view. everyone thinks it is just leave and arrive and drive. nope. i do for autox in most cases but track events. swap wheels/tires then swap back at the hotel etc. regular maintenance turns into other issues. here it is packed for 2 on the way to wmhm.



but it also goes to show if i can do it so can you and if you want it bad enough you will make it happen.