When The Road Curves

I had motorsports on my mind today more than normal because this past weekend was full of racing.  I was able to watch the F1 night race in Singapore, both the Tudor sprint and FIA WEC 6 hour races in Austin, and the Blancpain GT series Nurburgring 1000 km race.  All of that racing reminded me that racing is life.

An important aspect of racing is being able to manage corners better than your competitors. Setting up for an approaching curve requires focus and trust.  Focus to stay on task and trust that the suspension and the tires will do their jobs, which helps with the focus part.  Problems can arise when the requests exceed the capabilities of those components either because the driver has entered the curve too fast, or is not capable of handling the inputs to keep the car on the correct line.  And then there are the mechanical issues that can impact handling.  There are a myriad of variables to get right to make a corner. Successfully navigating high speed corners requires an extra amount of faith.  Downforce can help with that.  Experience teaches one how to identify correct cornering speeds and responses to unexpected variances, but how does one know when entering and seeing a corner for the first time?  There are those who just guess and hope for a positive outcome, and others who approach with a measured response and build up to maximum speed over time.  One of those approaches is safe but time consuming, while the other raises the odds of a mishap.

Twists and turns part of our existence. There are some who are corner carvers and each turn is met with excitement and great anticipation.  I love the right kind of curves, but surprises at speed can sometimes bring unwanted problems.  I'm hard-wired to be fast.  Despite efforts by others to curb my speed, it can't be contained.  I think fast, type fast, speak fast, drive fast, and fail fast.  I do not, however, make fast decisions.  I tend to overthink decisions and sometimes plan myself into paralysis.  It's a wonder I've been able to keep AcMo accelerating for as long as I have.  I credit most of our success to the wonderful teams we have working with us.  We'd be lost without them.  Literally lost since one of our teams is dedicated to providing real-time GPS coordinates so we know where we are at all times.

On the track, corner entry, mid-corner speed, and full power application at corner exit are all critical to great lap times.  Fear can play a large part in determining how aggressive a driver is through the corner.  We're immune to one aspect of fear since we only test with customer vehicles, we have no fear of crashing.  The feeling through the car while managing each stage is magical when done right.  Hours upon hours are spent perfecting--as close as a human can get to perfect anyway--the rhythm and the corner speed.  The effort is worth it, even if you only achieve the perfect corner execution once.

Unless you are drag racing, there is never a straight line from start to finish.  Obstacles are inevitable, but how we handle them makes all the difference.  Sometimes the best approach is to stay out of the race, but I haven't figured out how to identify those moments.  Because of that, I've wasted a lot of hours continuing my trek when I should have stopped long ago.

Mondays are almost always obstacle days here.  It starts with the urgent problems that accumulated over the weekend and require swift resolutions.  I'm always trying to just wake up for most of the day Monday, and that is no time to be dealing with problems, but there aren't any other options.  I've learned that problems don't disappear when you neglect them.  Then as operations accelerate, new problems are created that also require attention.  It can at times feel like an incessant barrage of issues.

Heroes lead from the front and winners win for a reason.  The best part is that the victor gets to write the history.  We can work with that.  AcMo needs a stronger leader to keep it accelerating and ahead of the competition.  All fronts are under constant attack, and the mental toll is staggering.  The problem is that I'm not wise enough to know if I should continue or beg my corner person to throw in the towel for me.

There is a part of me that understands that the solution is to get to work and not worry about all the other stuff.  Doubts will always linger, but they can only win when we give power to them.  That's why we focus on doing while maintaining our faith that everything else will click into place, and if it doesn't, we'll use the old square peg round hole trick to make it work.  Sometimes winning just means enduring until you're the last one standing.  The epic parts of the story can be added in later after the hard work has concluded.

That's enough procrastination for one day, I think.  The doubts have had enough of my mental focus for the day, and I have some corners to master and a conglomerate to run, so it's time to get to work.

Post Track Decline

Today the clock moved a lot slower than normal.  Each second of each hour mocked me as it expired.  I knew today was going to be rough.  This must be how people who suffer from seasonal affective disorder feel.  I suppose it was inevitable.  By now I should have been able to circumvent the issue since the routine is the same every year.  The adrenaline rush from our most recent test weekend has evaporated.  I am left with a lack of motivation and the dull pain of longing for more laps, newer tires, and someone else's car to test.  Our destructive testing is hard on vehicles, and I wouldn't feel right about subjecting my own vehicles to such torture.  That's why we have customers in the first place.

One disappointment from the last track weekend is that we were not able to try the zip line.  We had requested permission to test our vehicle on the line to measure its acceleration, but we were denied.  The officials whined about exceeding weight limits and other nonsense, but they were just upset because they didn't think of trying to put a car on the zip line before we mentioned it.  Next year we're going to get in there and see if we can use the zip line to gain a bit of extra speed down the start/finish straight.  My back of the envelope calculations indicate we could gain as much as 20 mph as long as we can make the turn off of the zip line.

There are times when the rush of customers and operational issues at AcMo keep me so busy that I don't even have time to notice we're not on track.  This is not one of those times.  Even though we are preparing for war and planning a rescue mission for our stolen money, the undeniable call of the track is too strong to ignore.  The track season will soon conclude for another year, and it catches me by surprise every time.  I am never prepared to enter the hibernation period during the winter months.  We've tried to transition to street testing in the winter months, but the local regulations make it too expensive and difficult.  It is also impossible to approach a vehicle's limits on the street without causing an accident or hitting an animal or pedestrian, or sometimes both.  We've never done that but a couple of our competitors have.  That was one of the rare moments when we learned a valuable lesson from someone else's mistake.

We have considered setting up operations in Florida for the winter months to enjoy the tracks there, but the situation is too crazy, even for us.  The last time we sent an exploratory committee into Florida to do a feasibility study, they all disappeared without a trace.  We're still not certain what happened to any of them.  That does not instill confidence in the expansion potential of the area.  We already have operational bases in California, but since AcMo has been banned from most of the tracks out there, we tend to avoid traveling there any time of the year.  It seems that most of the sanctioning bodies felt we were too fast to be considered safe on track.  This is all a matter of perspective, but I'm not going to waste my time arguing semantics with them.  If the track boundaries aren't marked with signs and fencing, I consider that to be part of the track surface and therefore drivable.  They didn't agree with my assessment.  There are other tracks we can use during the winter months.  The Europeans haven't banned us as far as I know, and it is easier to recruit new business in areas that haven't heard about us yet.

Having hundreds of revenue streams provides AcMo the luxury to allocate resources to the areas that have the best acceleration and profit potential.  We shift our focus away from motorsports and into our other industries when the season ends.  The problem is that our passion lies with motorsports, so it is always hard to shift away from it for anything else.  I had hoped intergalactic space travel would become a suitable diversion, but building a working ship is so difficult that it feels like it is draining the life out of me.  This is an important project because we are going to need somewhere safe to go when the machines take control, and be certain that the day will come when that happens.  AcMo will be prepared, will you?

A plan had been created that would have involved consuming several thousand five hour energy bottles to keep us motivated until spring, but the medical team advised against that for a couple of reasons.  I'm already in enough trouble with the medical team for disregarding every bit of advice I've ever received from them, so I don't want to add one more instance to the ledger.  Besides, I don't think exploding internals is a good way to go if they are correct about the side effects of that much consumption.

The real solution to my dilemma is that I need to find a hobby that is rewarding and provides as much of an adrenaline rush as destructive track testing.  It sounds easy, but few activities can compare.  If we can come up with a winner, we will start the AcMo Off-Season Track Club for fellow drivers who are also suffering from withdrawal.  Maybe we'll be able to create a new sporting category.  I just have to figure out what that would be.  If anyone has any suggestions on how to keep the fire stoked during the down time, please forward them to our suggestion box.  Anyone who provides a reasonable solution will be rewarded with the knowledge that we appropriated your idea and profited from it as a result.

A little bit of luck can change everything.  I had a breakthrough during my lunch break.  Don't tell anyone because I'm not supposed to do it, but I was putting in some time on the simulator this afternoon when I discovered an issue with my driving.  I was having trouble modulating the throttle mid-corner and it was impacting my ability to keep the car from sliding.  This was an unrecognized bad habit that had been preventing me from extracting the vehicle's maximum performance.  It also explained why I have hit so many walls.  I won't go into detail how I fixed the issue because I can't give our competitors any insight into the few driving weaknesses I have.  The breakthrough occurred before I had even analyzed the data--which still looks like a bunch of squiggly lines to me.

This post was difficult to create because I didn't want to admit I was dragging because that might impact AcMo morale.  Now I have refilled my adrenaline reserves and excitement levels with one simple observation.  I don't know how I missed it for so long.  I now have an objective to complete during the off-season, and I will still be getting valuable track time, so this is what I call an amazing solution.  I shouldn't be so surprised because one thing AcMo excels at is solving problems.  We've had enough practice.  The sim is not a substitute for the real thing, but it is as close as I can get without putting the track limits in jeopardy.  I am pleased to report that I was able to test my findings while running a fool's errand earlier today, and the sim findings were verified by my real-life driving. No pedestrians or animals were harmed during my on-road testing.  The off-road portions are a different story, but we don't need to go into that right now.

Chess Moves

Imagine if chess pieces could form conscious thoughts.  They would probably believe that they move of their own accord and can't tell that each move is restricted by the rules and the board.  The pieces would think that free will existed and that they moved when and where they wanted and that those decisions could not have happened any other way.  Chess pieces wouldn't know that an unseen hand moves them to their designated squares, and no one piece would know the overall plan, except maybe the queen.  

How many times in your life have you done something for which you can't reasonably explain your motivation for that particular action?  Maybe free will is an illusion constructed to keep our fragile minds from cracking because of the reality of our existence.  What if the machines are already controlling us?  How would we know?  Perhaps I can repurpose the Voight-Kampff test to find the answer.  AcMo could use some guidance from Morpheus right now, but I'm not sure he knows anything about interpreting those test results.  He probably does, I don't think Morpheus could have survived so long fighting agents if he didn't know a little about everything.

I am not suggesting that AcMo is an unseen hand moving pieces.  No, we do not do that, not least because I have no clue how to play chess.  While we do have a long term plan and multiple objectives involved, we don't utilize the kind of lateral thinking that may be an asset during a chess match.  This has caused me to consider using our recent advances in invisibility to work out a method to guide people around the board.  We take the direct approach and worry about the angles later.  This may have something to do with why I keep losing to everyone in checkers.

Earlier in the year we consulted with a particular F1 team that has been falling toward the bottom of the grid for the last several seasons despite having two former world champions driving for them.  Sliding backward, especially when there are solid objects involved, will only be tolerated for so long before pieces start disappearing from the board.  Money, prestige, and brand prestige are all at stake.  Yesterday when Luca Di Montezemolo announced his impending retirement, a large piece fell off of the board.  This man was one of the last involved during the team's most productive and victorious seasons.  In a sense he was the architect of their successful reign.  The future of the team has looked bleak for several seasons, but the talk was always about an eventual resurgence.  This may also be the precursor to the announcement that the team will depart F1 to chase the dream of winning Le Mans overall.  The most important issue with leaving F1 is making a smooth exit that would prevent anyone from criticizing the team for being quitters.  The only thing about this I know to be true is that an incredible AcMo opportunity has emerged.  

Whatever happens in the coming seasons, we have been strategically placing ourselves into position in preparation for our opportunity.  We are uniquely situated to facilitate the transfer of the team's F1 assets and intellectual property--excluding the wind tunnel since that thing is junk--to AcMo.  We would then rebrand the team Scuderia AcMo F1, re-hire Ross Brawn out of retirement and start winning again.  We won't make any changes to the cars because that is beyond the scope of our considerable expertise, but they will just start winning anyway, and we will not hesitate to seize all of the credit.

No one will be able to prove that we weren't responsible for the sudden reversal of fortune, but they also won't see the hand that moved the chess pieces into place so that this was the only outcome that could have happened.  Everyone--except our competitors--wins.  I could leave this ridiculous war with Omnicron Corp. behind and travel the world with Flavor Flav Briatore (No relation to Flavor Flav of Public Enemy fame) since he managed to get his lifetime ban from F1 rescinded.  If nothing else, I know the journey would be entertaining.

The question that remains foremost in my mind is whether or not the actions AcMo plans to take are of our own volition, or if there is an unseen hand also guiding us?  Is Scuderia AcMo F1 a foregone conclusion because the invisible hand is taking us there, or do we have a choice in the matter?  Right now there are too many questions with too few answers.  We're going to need to consult with an expert who has all of the answers.  What I need is a second objective and unbiased opinion to confirm my thoughts. 

Slow is Smooth, Smooth is Fast, and Fast is Lethal

I always thought it sounded cool, but I never understood the practical application.  We all like to be able to dish out our very own bit of cool every now and then.  Since I'm a business generator, not a cool generator, I have to look for others to provide the cool.  [New business idea!]  The downside to that approach is that I often don't understand what I'm receiving.  Case in point.  I think lethal in this sense is metaphorical as I heard the statement regarding automobile racing, but I was told that it is an oft repeated mantra for some special forces as well.  I'm only concerned with being lethal on a race track, but again, not literally.  I only want to be deadly to lap times, but not by taking hidden shortcuts across the track.  We would never do that...if we might be seen in the process.  We would also never delay starting the timer to gain an extra second or two.

This post was prompted by a conversation I had with a friend of mine. He was concerned about spilling his coffee while driving. I called him a sissy.  He had valid concerns regarding scalding important body parts, but he's using that as a crutch to hide his fear. This is dedicated to him and people like him who are unwilling to acknowledge their fear in public.  We can't overcome our fears unless we face them.  That's why I put Compensation Package in that briefcase.  I was trying to help.

When I thought of the mantra, I thought if he followed that advice, he could drive at the pace he desired while not having to worry about spilling his coffee.  We ran some tests with a customer's vehicle, and after the fifth time through the test loop, we were able to keep the coffee where it belonged.  I downloaded our results to my friend and encouraged him to embrace his fear and try again.

He was not interested, so I had to use additional encouragement.  I told him that it was impossible to  improve a skill by not doing it.  He challenged me by implying holding coffee while driving wasn't a reasonable skill that required improvement.  THAT IS WHAT I TOLD HIM IN THE FIRST PLACE!  Since he had started us down this path, and development dollars had already been consumed during testing, we had to keep moving forward.  That is the AcMo way.

First, we had to break for a snack.  I was tired and my energy levels were low.  After my snack, I took a nap.  When I awoke I had him work on smoothing his steering inputs when setting up for a corner.  I also noticed he had a tendency to perform pit maneuvers on slower cars that wouldn't budge from the right lane, so we worked on that as well.  I suggested he get in front of them and drop spikes because that wouldn't damage his bumper and he would be clear of the ensuing mayhem.  He liked the idea and is considering contracting with us for an AcMo Spy Hunter-inspired upgrade kit.

Once his steering inputs were fixed, we had to work on smoothing brake application while attaining maximum brake effectiveness.  This is one of my favorite exercises when doing training.  We tell each student that we have a simulated brick wall made of foam that the car must approach at 100 mph then slow and avoid in an emergency lane change maneuver.  What we tell the students, and what we do are not the same.  The wall is not simulated brick, but real, and it moves!  It is impossible to win the emergency lane change maneuver because the wall will always be in the vehicle's path.  The best any student can hope to achieve is a glancing blow.  We are certain that the only way to garner tangible benefits from training is to train as if it is the real thing.  That is why we had to do the live-fire exercise.  Now I know which employees will not hold fast during a firefight, and which will save the day.  Acting as if a simulated scenario is real, and it actually being real are never quite the same.  Also, if the students knew that before starting, they would all flee.  That may be a better option now that I think about it since tuition is non-refundable.  It could do a lot to raise our profit margins there.

Students only ever hit a couple of the bricks, but since they're so strong, they do plenty of damage.  We are fortunate to have such understanding customers who let us use their vehicles for training purposes while they are in our care.  Our school couldn't survive without our generous customers.  Again, I'm almost certain we received prior consent, but just in case we didn't, the agreement is part of the binding services contract we require every customer to sign before starting any work.

It is quite a sight when an airbag detonates by surprise.  When I say surprise, that is a slight exaggeration because I knew we were going to hit those bricks, and I knew that would be enough to activate the airbags, but my friend still thought we were about to make first contact with foam bricks.  You should have seen his face.  He had about the same look anyone else would have if Mike Tyson (in his prime, oh who am I kidding?  Any time) jumped out of your steering wheel and punched you in the face while yelling, "BOOM!"  I should have given him the headband mounted GoPro for that one.  Shoot!  I'll have to remember that for next time.  We do have to be careful about what footage we share because sometimes customer's may recognize their vehicles and object to the display.  Oh, I know what to do.  I can blur the vehicle so it won't appear on screen just like Wonder Woman's invisible jet.  What?  How else can she possibly be flying in a seated position?  That reminds me of a Superman joke I heard a few weeks ago.  That joke will have to wait for another time.  I lost the moment.

We're not that far off from creating our own invisible jet.  Take a look at our new friend, Vantablack, if you think we're not serious about this.  The revenue streams available to us with invisible jets are way too lucrative to ignore.  That would just be bad conglomerate building business.  AcMo is known for a lot of questionable things, but making bad business decisions is not one of them.  That's how we've survived all of these years.

Once we recovered our senses from the crash, we were right back on the training course to put everything together to make this project a success.  The car sounded like the impact had knocked out a cylinder or two, but since it was still running, we decided to do more runs on the test course.  Hey, if there's gas in it and it runs, we're driving it.  That is also the AcMo way.  I was impressed with how well my friend picked up the lessons I tried to impart because I've been told by more than a few people that I'm a horrible teacher.  He was now smoother, faster, and more confident through the test course.  It was quite a surprise to both of us when the coffee spilled anyway, scalding him a bit.  I don't know for sure, but that's what the medical staff hinted had happened.  Because of HIPAA, they aren't allowed to tell me anything, and now I can't find my friend to ask him.

I feel confident in saying that we both learned a lot of solid lessons from our training program.  The best part about all of this is that I don't even like coffee.  However, it should serve as a representation of the dedication I have to bolstering AcMo's revenue streams, and the tangential efforts I will make to assist a friend.  Also, the biggest lesson here is that it is best to avoid coffee altogether, or to put your stupid coffee into your cupholder where it belongs right next to your stupid mobile device, and to pay attention to driving.

Windshield Innovations

The eyes are windows to the soul, while a windshield is your window to the track and any hazards approaching.  Being able to see as much as possible is almost always a good thing.  That's why AcMo has developed the newest advancement in tear-off technology for windshields.  I am proud to introduce the AcMo UV reactive tear-off.  This is the only tear-off technology you'll ever need.  Now you don't have to worry if half of the track is bathed in sunlight while the other half is dark.  You'll still be able to see through a whole lap.  This new technology will reduce the moment of abject terror that occur when traveling at high speeds when the brightness of the sun obscures all forward visibility.  I'm assuming you're not like me, and that you keep your eyes open the whole time you're on track. These tear-offs can help with that.  New excuses will need to be developed to explain why you aren't as fast as you should be, or why you ran into something that was quite visible.

I don't know what else I can say about these revolutionary new tear-offs. Oh, the materials used to create the tear-offs also renders them bullet resistant. I've been advised by legal that we can't say they are bulletproof for liability reasons.  We don't expect gun fire to erupt at most track venues, but we find that the events you least anticipate are almost always the ones to occur.

We developed these tear-offs as a response to the inability of our transitioning visors to work when seated behind a UV blocking windshield.  We knew there had to be a better way, and we believe we've found it.  As always, we put our words behind our testing efforts.  We know these work because we have the failures to prove it.

Several glass manufacturing companies have been in contact with us over the last few months.  I'm not sure how they heard we were developing this technology.  I suspect the mole has been leaking information again.  I haven't been able to draw out this person, but I am hopeful that Compensation Package will do the job for me, and that Fred will then take care of Compensation Package.  My sanity is dependent upon the situation unfolding in that exact manner.  I am sore from sitting on top of my desk, and I could use some exercise, which I can't do from on top of the desk.

These companies have asked for detailed information regarding the development of our tear-offs.  I don't think they believe we've done what we say we've done.  I'm not stupid though, I'm not going to give them our plans.  I know what they are trying to do.  They all want to suppress the technology to keep ignorant drivers being blinded by sunlight.  More crashes leads to more windshield sales.  We know all about the financial metrics of crashing.

I have agreed to form a joint partnership with the leading consultant to the automotive glass industry to create new opportunities for this technology to be introduced to the pertinent motorsport markets.  We have also considered designing a tear-off for use on fighter jet canopies, but we are having trouble keeping them affixed at speed.  Also we have had a tough time figuring out how the pilot can remove the tear-off while at speed.  We did some experiments using the downtime that occurs during aerial refueling, but that was a bad decision.  We do now know that the tear-offs melt at temperatures above 1400º F.  It is important to avoid that level of exposure at all costs because when it melts into the surface, it causes an unstable reaction.  The film fluctuates between light and dark in an uncontrolled manner, which makes seeing anything almost impossible.

There are several ways to mitigate the damage of total visual obstruction, but we haven't figured out what they are yet.  For now it is best to move as far away from the tear-off as possible if it begins thermal deterioration.  This is one of the reasons we have delayed rolling out our fighter jet solution.  None of the above mentioned issues should occur in a land based vehicle.  

AcMo Sounds

The situation at AcMo HQ looks bleak.  Compensation Package has taken control of the shop floor, and we still can't find it.  I haven't left my desktop in days, and it is causing all kinds of problems.  Still, the machine must feed, so I work with a new kind of pressure.  I'm going to be forced to fire Fred if he doesn't come through and hunt down Compensation Package for us.  I will attempt to avert my focus from the loose undetermined type of rattlesnake wandering our shop floor by announcing our latest innovation.

One of my many talents is identifying new market opportunities after they've been widely covered on the Internet, radio, and television. This skill has helped AcMo diversify into a number of mature market sectors.  We've just finished a market study that concluded with the introduction of AcMo Sounds. Our new Sounds division is working to get acquired for several billion dollars. Once you've finished expressing your incredulity, I would like to direct your attention to recent news stories regarding the acquisition of a headphone maker/streaming music service by Apple.  There is precedent for this.  We provide proprietary listening devices and sound enhancement tech. In addition to our listening tools, we also have a studio where we create sounds.  We work with your sounds, or can create made to order sounds for our clients.  We are only limited by the client's imagination and budget.  Chances are you've been in a public place when you heard someone's deafening ring tone.  That could have been one of our AcMo advanced sound profile ring tones.

We do sound engineering for live stage shows, concerts, recording studios, in-car sound generators, and anything else our clients need.  Our studio division creates the industry's best studio monitors, headphones, and in ear monitors by purchasing the best products available, replacing their logos with ours, and then adding a 20% price increase. Everyone wins except the consumer.  The consumer never wins.

The fake in-car sound generators utilised by manufacturers these days are an AcMo favorite.  We have been known to tweak the profile on a few of them to provide the illusion that the car is operating with only half its cylinder count.  When the owner has the car serviced, the mechanic will hear an engine operating on what appears to be double its cylinder count.  That way both owner and mechanic can be involved in the fun.  We do this by utilizing sound canceling technology and a bit of magic.  

We've been contacted by Formula One management type people on a discreet basis to engineer improved sounds for the current cars.  We performed our routine due diligence which yielded several surprising results.  The new cars never approach their 15,000 rpm limit, resemble the sounds a typical high-end vacuum cleaner makes when jammed with legos--don't ask me how I know this--and fail to create the fiery excitement previous generation engines did when they exceeded their mechanical limits.  Our first proposal was a simple one.  We suggested all teams raise their rev limits back up to 20,000, and require teams to use all of the revs available to them at all times.  This would also require eliminating the current fuel consumption rules, which is a bonus.  None of the teams would get onboard citing cost and environmental image concerns.  I started crying I was laughing so hard when I heard that.  Can you believe they say these things with straight faces?

We looked into the data to produce another cost-effective and ingenious solution to F1's current sound issue.  We advised the teams to return to the use of V12 and V10 engines in their cars, but that was met with derision also.  It has become apparent that not everyone likes fast cars to be even faster and for them to sound amazing in the process.  We were not surprised by the rejections because the same group that asked for our assistance is also the group who voted to make the current changes to the sport.  How can those teams be expected to get it right after getting it so very wrong?  They won't even admit in public that there's a problem, and we all know that the first step toward a resolution is admitting a problem exists.  The documentation AcMo has received from the various manufacturer's representatives states that they cannot and will not admit to any errors in public.  Given the number of failures and mistakes AcMo has swept under the rug over the course of our operational existence, I can relate to their position.  That, however, does nothing to improve the aural impact of current F1 cars.  I fear nothing can fix them since our proposals were rejected.  Of the three teams who agreed to one of our proposed solutions, one may leave the sport within a year, and the other two are undergoing so much internal turmoil that they may not have realized what vote they were casting.

No matter, one lost billion dollar deal won't stop us from continuing on our acquisition trail to the promised land.  If you're wondering how the F1 contract would have been a billion dollar deal, the proposal involved some serious upselling and complicated contract maneuvers so we could receive payment for work performed by the teams.  Think of us like a talent manager who works alongside an agent.  The manager doesn't do anything, but still gets paid for the agent's work.  That is the model we were attempting to replicate.  We'll nail it down soon, if not in this sector then somewhere else we have operations.

We have started our marketing blitz to overshadow our lack of substance by using shiny ad campaigns filled with references to all of the latest trends.  When consumers see what a pair of AcMo Sounds branded headphones can do for their image and street cred, they will not be able to resist joining the movement.  Once the movement starts, we will use our patented accelerators to make it a global phenomenon.  Everyone, including people who have no method for listening to recorded sounds, will be clamoring for an AcMo Sounds product.  The consumer market will force the professionals to join the collective.  AcMo Sounds is the next cog in the global domination machine being constructed at one of our many secret facilities.  Our success here will allow us to circumvent the F1 teams.  We will alter the sound of  the television broadcast before it reaches those watching.  The teams won't know, and the fans won't care. 

It may take longer than anticipated, but AcMo always gets what it desires.

Seismic Activity

Do you feel that?  The whole world should have felt it by now. The automotive landscape is being torn asunder by massive tectonic plates separating. Take shelter before the aftershocks commence.  Ferrari loaned Fernando Alonso to the ACO so he could be a marshal at the just concluded 24 hours of Le Mans. This weekend was as close as he will get to being first to the checkered flag all season.  Why would they do that?  Why would they promote someone with no F1 experience to run the most revered team in history?  Because they could.  Or, someone from McLaren slipped a canister of laughing gas into the vents at Ferrari HQ.

No matter what happens, a change is coming.  Either Ferrari isn't bluffing and the team will depart F1 for sports cars--where privateer Ferrari teams have already been winning races, so they know they have a shot--or there will be some massive rules changes in F1.  Again!  AcMo can benefit from either decision, but we could have more to gain if Ferrari vacates F1.

Don't misunderstand my intent. I love Ferrari. AcMo's favorite test vehicle is a Ferrari. We've developed multiple binders of failure mode testing data over the years. Ferrari plays a large part in AcMo's origin story.  I can now tell by a glance if a Ferrari is susceptible to spontaneous combustion. I've trained my entire staff to have the same ability.  Sometimes all it takes is a glance and a smirk to ignite one. Imagine how useful that would be if one were stranded on a deserted island with a Ferrari (how did it get there? Ed.) but without strike anywhere matches during a storm.

The Ferrari failure mode research was the catalyst for the creation of one of our finest automotive products. We developed the first and only self-extinguishing vehicle chassis. What we did is a bit on the technical side, but I will endeavor to explain it to the lay people.  The idea came to me as a child when I saw my first Ferrari burning. I was eating an ice cream sandwich at the time.  It was delicious on that hot summer day.  Mmmm, ice cream sandwich.  Now that I think about it, I can't remember seeing an ice cream truck since we chased that last one out of here after they claimed to have run out of Bomb Pops. Do they still exist--ice cream trucks, not Bomb Pops--or have they all been replaced by food trucks?

Back to our advancement in frame technology.  We replaced the frame of our test vehicle with one made entirely out of hollow aluminum.  The interior facing walls of the frame are more heat sensitive than the exterior walls.  Think of it like an ice cream sandwich, but instead of having a delicious creamy center, you have fire extinguisher foam, and the outer edge does not have a wonderful thick cookie type consistency either.  Just as a warning, do *not* try to eat the frame.  You have been warned.  We made this frame air tight so we could spray the contents of several fire extinguishers into it. When a fire--it is a question of when, and not if--burns through the inner layer, it releases the extinguisher fluid and douses the fire. This is a cost effective and proven fire prevention solution.  The upside is that instead of having a fire burned and totaled Ferrari, you can just unbolt all of the components, including the engine, and attach them to a replacement chassis.  Everyone wins and another Ferrari will live to combust another day.

On rare occasions, and under the correct circumstances, the engine's heat could melt the inner layer and release the fluid when there is no fire.  We refer to this as a pre-fire prevention safety feature.  Fire Free Ferrari products are not endorsed or approved or even acknowledged by Ferrari, S.p.A. for use on their vehicles. Keep in mind that any time you see a Ferrari on fire, it is not using our F³* system.  We can save all of the Ferraris if we can get the company to adopt our chassis technology. 

I received word that Ferrari has backed away from the ledge. The team will not depart F1, but wants to work with the other manufacturers to return the sport to its rightful place at the pinnacle of motorsport technology.  I just wonder who could have been responsible for getting the sport into this situation.  It couldn't have been the teams who voted for these new rules, could it?  None of this changes AcMo's plans, but the timeline may have increased by a few years. We are content to wait in the shadows while the F1 team implodes. 










*The F³ system cannot be used on race cars!  It also will not improve the vehicle's performance.  It will make the vehicle heavier, increase its buoyancy, and make it difficult to cross international borders. 

Ripples in Space

Elon Musk is freeing Tesla's patents because of AcMo. The timing of his announcement was my first clue. We posted two days ago that we were going to space.  Someone must have sent him a memo about our release. He realized that our project was much farther along than he thought, and that we have the tech and expertise to do this. He freed those patents so that he could take his resources and focus them on Space X so that they can try to catch us in our development. 

I think he's afraid of being beaten by a company that doesn't get anywhere near the publicity of his ventures. Once you step back and see more of the picture, it isn't that hard to see how all the strings are intertwined. The cats love it when I bring out the string to plot theories. I can forgive you for being skeptical since you don't have all the information that I do, and you aren't privy to the exact details of our project.  Nor can you see the elaborate pattern of connected events I've mapped in 3D. Trust me, it is impressive. 

The next major shift occurred when I heard that Google may be in talks to buy Virgin Galactic. That's another piece of string lining up with AcMo. The picture should be much clearer for all of you now. Perhaps the mole at AcMo isn't as good as I feared. These aren't coincidences. All of these companies are grasping to try to stay ahead of AcMo. I expect more announcements will follow in the next few days. 

We'll be on the way to Mars with Fred before any of them have established viable programs. Their only hope is to buy AcMo, but we are not for sale. Well, I would consider letting go of the Iowa office. 

The final piece of string may have just locked into place. The unfortunate part is that I've managed to get my arm caught in all this string. It's a good thing my phone is compatible with one-handed operation. The only team to have competed in Formula 1 since it's inception is considering leaving the sport. A departure of that magnitude could only mean their claimed wind tunnel issues were subterfuge to obfuscate their space based vehicle efforts. This also makes sense considering the appointment of an F1 rookie to run the team. The qualified employees were all tasked with understanding space travel, so the company needed a figurehead to make it appear they were still trying while they orchestrated their withdrawal. 

Space is about to become a crowded market. I know whose rockets I trust with my life, and that company doesn't also make cars. 

Resource Allocation Management

The brain fog in the morning hours is always thick.  The fight to gain full alert status is never won without great effort.  I am unable to drink coffee, so I must build energy the old-fashioned way.  This requires a slow, controlled ascent into the day.  This particular morning my brain was on wakeup autopilot allowing additional rest time to prevent a systems failure before breakfast.  Those are the worst.  Don't you hate it when you wake up under the kitchen table and have no idea how you got there, or how long the dog has been licking your cheek and/or gnawing on your finger?  This is the ultimate form of personal Resource Allocation Management (pRAM), and when it goes wrong, bad things happen.

RAM isn't just about people.  RAM is important to the success of  any business venture.  I am the world's best at RAM*. AcMo operates on razor thin margins. Survival is predicated on having the resources available to profit from market opportunities when they emerge. Timing is also important to the formula. One day I will share the secrets to AcMo's success. Today is not that day.  Do keep reading to learn more about our exciting company and how we are shaping the future of everything though.

Having money and not knowing where to allocate it is almost, ALMOST as bad as not having any money.  The same goes for personnel.  Key positions being filled by the wrong people can kill an organization.  A thought popped into my head while the morning fog was still burning off my brain.  I don't believe that Ferrari's Formula 1 team will be successful until there is a drastic personnel and operational change.   This means you should not be holding onto any hope of the team fighting for race wins this season, unless the four cars ahead of them all crash into each other.  We can put AcMo dollars on this if you think I'm wrong.

Marco Mattiacci was placed in charge of Ferrari's F1 team several weeks ago.  He doesn't have a background at this level of motorsport, and it is not clear that he understands the inherent complexities of the task he has been assigned.  I'm not criticizing him. If Luca di Montezemolo called and told me to take over the F1 team, I wouldn't say no even though I would have no hope of improving their performance. I might feign disinterest in an attempt to bolster my negotiating position.  Every move management has made over the past couple of seasons has been the wrong move, and the problems continue to grow.  Don't worry Ferrari, I've been there, and it can get a lot worse before it might get better.  There is no guarantee the situation will improve.

Enough about Ferrari's Formula 1 troubles.  Let's get back to the more important stuff:  AcMo's troubles.  AcMo survives on data and the brains required to analyze it. One book I did read without falling asleep during was The Art of War. I didn't understand it, but I use it as a guide to improve my leadership skills. I will also need the training when we go to war with our competitors, Skynet, or both.  I feel if something is worth doing, it is worth doing well.

AcMo has created a unique program that analyzes thousands of parameters to help us determine which market sectors are exploitable. The analysis also indicates which competitors are vulnerable to either a takeover or complete annihilation.  I don't like having to crush other companies, but sometimes there aren't other viable options.

The RAM program has alerted us that Femtomarketing is the future, and based on the program's conclusion, we are allocating 150% of our marketing budget in this direction.  The formal transition will begin next week, but I wanted all of AcMo's followers to be aware that changes, much like winter, are coming.

We anticipate that our Femtomarketing shift will increase our brand awareness by at least 1000%.  This increase will allow us to play in a much larger pool of companies.  The plan is to use a systematic approach to pick up and/or absorb weaker competitors without the marketplace knowing.  A lot of this work will be done by our special teams.

The end result should be total market domination when the campaign has concluded.  AcMo will be transformed into a holding company with subsidiaries embedded in every profitable market space.  I can understand how this could seem impossible to control to a lay person, but there are complicated business techniques involved that will make it work with seamless efficiency.  The use of manufacturing robots will also be an essential factor in our success.  AcMo does not use robots in any capacity because we don't trust them, but we build many of the robots our competitors use.  These robots are loyal to our mission, and when the time comes, they will obey.  We think.  In essence, no one will know we are there, and the strings used to control the actions of our subsidiaries will be invisible.

Speaking of invisible strings, stealth is another key element in AcMo's operational structure.  To bolster our stealth capabilities, I have requested that the research and development department recommence work on our invisibility cloaks.  When we created the cloaks, the technology was not mature enough to sustain the power required to make the cloaks function for extended periods.  This made counter-surveillance missions more difficult than necessary.  I am hopeful that the latest advancements will remove past impediments to allow the cloaks to fulfill their design parameters.  A large part of our funding depends on the success of the cloaks.

We plan to sell the previous generation cloaks to foreign militaries to fund production of the next generation that we will keep for our own purposes.  As always, we are eager to sign up beta testers for this and many other projects.  I need to disclose that there is a chance the wearer of a test cloak could become permanently invisible, but we think that has only happened on three distinct occasions.

AcMo is the way forward to a better future.  I apologize if this post seems disjointed.  Today is one of the rare days when the morning fog never lifted, and my brain couldn't switch off autopilot.  Since I am content creator and editor, sometimes you get less than what you paid for with this blog.  Don't expect a refund.  That department is also closed.  This is the first time the fog didn't clear this week.  Things will be better tomorrow.  Bet your bottom dollar.  I prefer if you're going to bet though that you use AcMo dollars.  We get a percentage of every transaction that way.

*Four out of five dentists agree. The fifth forgot to vote. 

Quiet Time

It's always the quiet moments during a lull in activity I fear most. Monday mornings are like that a lot when everyone is coming off a different pace from the weekend.  The quiet combined with waiting for prototypes to finish printing at Office Max or Depot--I can never differentiate them--in the early morning hours at AcMo leave my mind too much time to anticipate the next crisis. I never know what it will be, but I always know a new one is inevitable. Will we be equipped to overcome the challenge?  So far we have been, but I know we can't win them all.

This past weekend was spent removing a turbocharger that resigned citing intolerable work conditions during testing at Road America.  The turbo had been complaining for a while, but since we closed the complaint department, the turbo's cries were never received.  At least that past crisis isn't a current surprise.  The situation may change when the repair bill arrives.

Working alone in the garage with your trusted tools can be a great experience.  No one else knows when you decide to wear your slippers instead of appropriate work shoes, and no one can hear your screams when the heavy turbocharger slips from your oily fingers and lands on your slipper shod feet.  No one can see your tears as you struggle to figure out how to avoid cleaning your hands on your clothes so you can grip the turbo well enough to remove it from your now swelling feet.  When the job is done, all you have to do is craft a convincing cover story why you could walk on Friday, but now you can't on Monday.  A lot of things happen on the weekends, so it shouldn't be hard to get the story right.  I was involved in a pedestrian vs. chicken hawk (they are far more stout than you would believe) collision while walking in the park.

Too much heat!  No more spool time for us.

This is the inevitable result of too much high boost.  Imagine what it would look like if we had installed a TGE™on this car! 

It's hard to see in this shot, but there's oil down there.  This is not going to make AcMo rich like the Beverly Hillbillies though.

The removal was simple enough considering I'm an expert at disassembly.  The only issue was from
oil spilling everywhere, which happened despite taking reasonable precautions in advance to prevent a mess.  I think oil by nature just likes to spill whenever possible.  It is also puzzling that there always seems to be more oil coming out than could have possibly been in the system in the first place.  How does it do that?  I could have let one of the mechanics (not Moe!) handle the removal, but it's good to get my hands dirty so I can remember the process.  I need to keep my skills sharp to be ready when the pro teams call.  I hope to have this turbo fixed and returned to AcMo soon for reinstallation.

I always get a bit discouraged when something breaks and ends the weekend even though I should be used to it by now.  All I ever need to do is watch a professional car race and see teams that spend a few dollars more, and have one or two smarter people on staff than AcMo.  When one of those teams has an unexplained failure to end their weekend I'm reminded that it isn't just our bad luck.

Preparation is important to success, but sometimes there are more variables than any amount of prior work can surmount.  That is what happens to AcMo on a regular basis.  We are ultra-prepared in areas that won't effect our performance while we are not appropriately prepared on the mechanical side.  I blame that on a number of factors other than myself.

Since we have an extensive database of failure modes, we are taking steps to eliminate most of them from interfering with our future track days.  We are moving our business model to focus 110% of our efforts on customer car failure testing instead of our own cars.  This will work out much better for everyone involved, except our customers.

Today was unusual in that the phones didn't ring, and no emergencies occurred.  This is not normal for us.  I'm a bit concerned now.  I did check to confirm we still had working phones--that's part of my daily security sweep.  To a master planner, it is almost always the obvious detail that becomes the catalyst for failure when it is overlooked, which is why I always check the phones and the lights.

I may not know what will happen next, but I know whatever it is, I might be ready for it, and it won't be something obvious.

The Visor You Need

This week has become innovation week after a spontaneous burst of creative development.  I love innovation week because the office buzzes with energy. Sure, some of that is caused by a massive build up of static electricity, but we're working on resolving that issue. Some of the concepts we're developing can't be discussed at this point, but many exciting projects are on the smart board in the AcMo offices.  The board isn't near any windows and isn't connected to our network, so don't even bother to try to hack it.  You can't.  Due to our mole problem, I'm the only person allowed near the board.

This is the spot I would insert a commercial break if I had the technology.

Back to today's exciting creation, the best visor is the one on your motorcycle helmet while you're wearing it. You do wear a helmet, right?  I wear one around the AcMo offices because my head is both too important and too handsome to be damaged. I am the face of AcMo after all.  Weather and road/track conditions can be variable, but if you're in a race, there won't be a plethora of opportunities to change visors, if any.  I watched highlights of the Isle of Man TT last evening which was when the idea for this amazing discovery began to germinate in my brain.  These riders are released from the sanitarium once per year to make an all out assault on the Isle of Man course.  If you've never watched an Isle of Man TT, watch some highlights or onboard footage from a lap and you'll understand what I'm saying.  Once the races have concluded, the riders are shipped back to their respective sanitariums to wait until next year's event for another attempt at 2 wheeled glory.

During the race I was watching highlights from, rain began to fall at certain portions of the "track".  Some of the riders had selected darker visors, which were appropriate for the conditions at the start, but did not help vision when the sky darkened and the rain began to fall. One rider was forced to use his gloved hand to wipe water off of his dark visor while traveling at 156 mph!?!  I thought there had to be a better way, and AcMo was the organization to find it.  My first solution was a combo pack of visors for any lighting level.  However, carrying multiple visors wouldn't be practical in this situation, and while the riders are crazy, they aren't crazy enough to attempt a visor swap while traveling at speeds above 126 mph.  I dropped back into our think tank (it's an actual tank) to do some additional work.  It took longer than usual, but I came up with a viable solution.  AcMo has created the best visor in the world. Our precious is the one visor to rule them all.

The concept is quite novel and already exists in the eyeglass realm, but it hasn't yet been transferred to helmet visors--at least it better not have been because we're sunk if I'm wrong.  This would also work for open cockpit vehicles, but the stumbling block for closed cockpit race vehicles is that most windshields block ultraviolet light which would render the visor useless.  AcMo has created a solution for that as well, which is the UV reactive windshield tear off.  I'll share more on that innovation later.

First, let's get some pertinent details regarding the helmet visor in the public domain.  We take a traditional visor and apply a proprietary formula of lethal sounding chemicals (which are not lethal, I think) to create a visor that is reactive to ultraviolet exposure.  This way the visor is light when needed, and dark when the sun is shining.  I know the process sounds amazing, but it is just what we do daily at AcMo.  We make the ordinary look extraordinary.  We're magicians whose tricks benefit people with useful innovations.  Who needs a bird or flowers popping out of a hat?  You can levitate above water, so what?  That doesn't create jobs like AcMo does.  Magic doesn't raise quality of life.  AcMo does.  Read the stats* and see for yourself.

The rider can now select one visor layered with the desired number of tear offs and be prepared for any light conditions.  The water dispersant is an off the shelf solution (Rain-X) that can be applied before the race, or there is a retrofit kit that adds a spray system to apply the solution directly to the visor while at speed.  The kit also requires the addition of a small wiper to apply an even coat of Rain-X.  A side bonus is that the spray system can be aimed above the rider's head to apply a thin film of slippery material to the road thus making life difficult for the following riders.  It runs off a 12-volt pump that connects directly to the motorcycle's power supply.  Any weight penalty is offset by the rider's increased sight. Also, weight can be reduced by using less fuel, or shaving the tires before the start.  I don't recommend shaving the tires though.  The beauty of this solution is that the riders are crazy so they don't care about things like certification and testing--of which we've done none.

The AcMo Windshield tear offs are being used in unsanctioned race series across the world right now.  We've focused a lot of our time and effort on demolition derbies because that is the type of racing we always find ourselves doing by accident anyway.  So far, only one tear off has failed to lighten at the appropriate time, but that driver didn't have any problems because her eyes were closed anyway. The biggest issue at the moment is the price for the windshield year offs. Exorbitant doesn't begin to cover it. We hope to bring the price point down to at least ridiculous soon. 

Once validation testing has concluded, AcMo will attempt to fake FIA certification so that we can get our tear offs on a windshield of a race car in an actual series that pays money to the participants.




*Stats are unavailable at this time.  The computer that was doing the work disappeared in a ball of fire.  I suspect the magicians took umbrage with my words and are getting payback.  I will have the last laugh though.  I promise you that.

Chasing the Line

The Keyhole @ Mid-OH (If your car ends up out here, you're doing it wrong.)

AcMo was founded so that we could get paid to play on tracks around the country.  That was the idea and vision.  The reality is that the bills are hard to pay--key person insurance is a real killer, and track time is expensive.  AcMo was forced to pivot during a time of extreme economic distress.  That pivot placed us in a unique position to offer track related services to our clients.  We differ from the other companies out there in that we do all of our testing using our client's vehicles.  This reduces our overhead, and provides us the opportunity to break other people's machinery.

We are excited to announce that we have recently acquired two test drivers who last worked with Daewoo in the chassis development department.  These two have said they are responsible for the signature wooden float ride and expired and dried out sponge handling of Daewoo's cars.  No one here understood any of that, perhaps as a result of a translation error, however, we think we liked what they were selling, so we brought them onboard for an unpaid probationary period.  Plus we didn't want to be rude.  Those cost savings are not passed along to our clients.  We can't afford it.

I would appreciate it if you keep our financials confidential because the staff here and the new marketing department are not aware that we are perched on the edge of a bottomless pit of financial despair and ruin.  A few poorly timed trades involving pork bellies have not helped the situation improve.

If you consider yourself a high performance driver, keep reading.  If not, keep reading anyway because you will learn something, and we don't get paid for this stuff unless everyone reads the whole post.  When racing or doing Driver's Ed (DE), the proper driving line is important--even more so when you are at a track that charges for unintentional lawn mowing.  I still maintain that type of mowing is a valuable service, and the tracks should be paying us.  Whether you are trying to win your DE, or a professional race, driving the correct line in the correct direction will help get you there. 

First you need to know where the line is.  A different perspective often helps visualize the correct line through corners.  We prefer to use the AcMo helicopter to gain that perspective, but since we've never had a profitable day, we've been reduced to using a custom-built, carbon fiber chassis quadcopter equipped with eight GoPro Hero 3+ Black Edition cameras.  This is only used when we can afford to charge the batteries.  I would share video from our latest track walk, but I am tired of having people steal my life's work and profit from it, so now it is only shared with paying clients on a sporadic basis.

We live and drive in three dimensions, so the track walk is another component of our complete track analysis.  Walking the track isn't enough though; it's critical that you pay attention to the track surface and direction instead of daydreaming while enjoying a brisk walk.*  Once you've established a general idea of the line through corners it is time for one of our instructors to get in your car and experiment.  We Start out slow and build speed as we memorize the correct line and braking zones.  We've found that the best way to tackle braking zones is with your eyes closed.  No one ever wins their DE in the first session, but you sure can lose it if you crash in the pit lane on the out lap--true story.  

This is just a general primer to help point you toward fast lapping your favorite track some time soon.  If you would like additional information, or even better, want to hire us to destroy your prized possession, contact us today!  We have a client who is in the process of acquiring a Porsche 911 Turbo.  He's already tasked us with showing him the car's full potential.  We have pre-registered for events at VIR and Summit Point to show the owner just what it takes to break a 911 Turbo at high speeds.  This knowledge will benefit him a great deal on his next new vehicle purchase which will be to replace his soon-to-be broken 911 Turbo.  We also plan to flog the replacement vehicle on track.

Knowing the proper technique and executing on a competent and repeatable basis separate the punters from the heroes.  At AcMo, we've been turning heroes into punters for decades.  If you encounter an AcMo approved vehicle and driver at your next track event, give them both a wide berth.  You know the driver will be fast, but the car will be close to its expiration date.  We may not be the best or fastest, but we know how to cut corners (and track lawns) better than anyone.  Become an AcMo approved driver today.  The track awaits.

*It has been brought to my attention that track walks during active driving sessions are prohibited.  I forget the exact reasons why, but it had something to do with traffic, liability, and extreme danger, or, in other words, a bunch of legal nonsense. 

Waiting

Steve McQueen once said, "Racing is life.  Anything before or after is just waiting."

A former coach once told me that the hardest thing to do in life is to wait.  He never did explain why, even though I suspect he had a good idea.  I'll have to revisit this with him at some point.  Perhaps anticipation is a factor in how difficult waiting for something will be.

While I've never been a racer--except in the Gran Turismo series, I think I understand how McQueen felt.  The next race, even for a fan or a virtual racer, is always too far away.  The view from the safety of the couch, or even at an event, can't convey the danger and thrill of driving a car in wheel to wheel competition.  It's something that needs to be felt with all of your senses.  Adrenalin energizes endorphins that light neurons which tell us exactly when a corner and a sequence of corners have been driven properly.  That pleasure needs to be explored again and again while chasing the mirage of a perfect lap always just beyond the horizon.  The amplitude increases when the chase is done while trying to beat fellow competitors to the finish. It then becomes more than just person and machine against the track. It is a thrill ride that is hard to walk away from for any reason.

Right now I'm waiting for a club Driver's Education (DE) event at Road America in May.  Any real driver will tell you that winning a DE is only just below winning the Formula 1 World Championship--kidding!   I'm only going as a spectator/support crew, but I'm still very excited.  Last year was my first time visiting this track, which was one of many I had only ever seen on television.  I met a few new friends, got to see some amazing cars, and also had an excellent road trip.

This was taken during that weekend in the afternoon after a brief rain storm.  Coincidentally, it is raining now while I type this.

Road America Paddock and Front Straight

A month isn't a long time to wait.  There are a lot of items on the checklist that need to be completed before departure, so I am confident it will seem like there wasn't enough time to prepare before I'm en route. I'm eager to have another opportunity to experience Road America and the magic of being at the track with new and old friends who share a passion for motorsport.  Please say hello if you are there next month.  I'll be the guy with a stupid smile on his face, taking pictures of everything.  By the way, if you see a funny looking red airplane buzzing the track over the weekend, that will be one of my new friends piloting it.

A Modern Interpretation of The Legendary E30 M3

BMW E30 M3. The DTM Dream by Crank and Piston
I just finished reading the above linked article, and I couldn't help but be impressed with the expression of love and effort that appears to have been bestowed on this build.  I only say "appears" because pictures can be deceiving. 

I owned two E30 M3s in my younger days, and I have very fond memories of those cars.  I am still angry that BMW took away the M3 name from the coupe which is the form that started it all.

While I am a fan of builds that are open checkbook--I've mentally depleted my funds thousands of times fantasizing about various builds, it all seems rather useless.  Once the car is completed--whatever that means--the owner will have a vehicle that has a multitude of expensive custom parts with little to no spares.  This can quickly become a problem on track days when something breaks.  You can't exactly ask the other E30 M3 owners for parts at that point.

There also must be a typo in that article because a basically stock S14 cannot produce 284 lb.-ft. of torque.

A car of this nature is great for the second or third owner who can get an incredible bargain on a finished car.  The spare parts problem still exists though.  Someday I'll convince one of my friends to do a build like this so I can buy the car after project completion.