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Do you get night blinded by traffic or do you have trouble with depth perception at night? Both can be remedied with different types of driving glasses at night. I keep a pair of polarized anti-glare night glasses in my sunglasses holder all the time, it makes a HUGE difference!
Come run the Dragon with me on Saturday 11/11/2017!
I've worked hard to make this car reliable over the last 2 years. I've missed many cars and coffee, drive and dines, track days and cruises. That's why I'm so proud to be able to accept the invite from my friend Derek to participate in a memorial rally for his Dad at the Tail of the Dragon in NC/TN this weekend. The event is started by a Mini Cooper club, but all makes are welcome. I'm just so happy to finally get the car to a point where I can confidently attack 318 turns in an 11 mile road, and have fun in the mountain setting.
It's a family event, and my 10yr old is riding shotgun so I'm really looking fwd to it. Pass the word. Here is the full post that was on the Mini boards and Facebook.
Hope to see some of you there
Forwarding this from Facebook post from Don's wife:
Hi everyone. We will be having a Don Western Memorial Run on Saturday Nov 11th. We are heading over the The Dragon to spread some of Don's ashes at the overlook.
You can meet us at the beginning, or anywhere along the way. Or meet us in Deal's Gap and run that old Dragon.
Don would want all people included...all types of cars. If you know of someone that would like to participate, please send them the details.
Come and celebrate this extraordinary man I was so lucky to be married to. Here are the details:
Here are times and run details:
8:30 AM Depart Ingles Geer Highway (276) between TR and Marietta
9:00 AM Arrive Table Rock Visitors Center
9:15 depart Table Rock Visitors Center
10:15 arrive Village Green Park in Cashiers, NC
10:30 depart Village Green Park in Cashers, NC
Short Pit stop after Franklin on 28 at West Mill BP station.
12:30 PM Arrive Rivers End Restaurant at Nantahala Outdoor Center
Then everyone should have met up with the group.
Approximate times to be determined depending on stops at Dragon
1:30 PM depart River’s End
Possible short Pit stop in Robbinsville.
2:30 PM pass Deals Gap
3:00 PM pass Overlook
3:15 PM stop at parking area on right at end of Dragon before bridge at Chilowhee.
Return to Overlook (Very limited Parking)
Depart for Fontana Village with rest stop at General Store
Head separate ways for dinner and home.
That's all I know guys. I'm leaving Myrtle Beach at 5pm Friday for Greeneville.
Hoping to get my new headlights and washer reservoir installed, along with finishing the diffuser before then. But the car is ready as is, so we'll see.
I really wish I’d get the chance to meet you in person bud, but I live too far from the dragon now. I love going down there, one of my most favorite places to drive in the world.
The #DonWesternMemorialRun was a huge success! by the time we reached the Dragon we accumulated 38 Minis, my buddies Miata RF and my G35. Nose to tail, at speed, running up and down the mountains of TN and NC.
I can't believe roads were made like this.. it was like a paved rollercoaster, and the Mini clubs were well experienced so it was a pleasure to run with them.
The car worked perfectly this weekend, considering an 850 mile round trip of spirited driving. My only complaint is the oil consumption was high. Keeping in mind that on the twisties I rarely got out of 2nd gear and was plenty happy there, the decel was pulling oil thru the PCV like a champ and sucked up almost 3 qts of oil for the weekend.
The Bilstein/Eibach Z suspension I'm using on the G was spot on perfect and held the corners like I was on rails. I could break the tires loose on exit if I jumped on the gas too much (hehehe) but that wasn't even necessary to have fun. Even on stock sway bars, I'm not even sure it would have performed much better, the stiffer bars would have made the car even more tail happy, and maybe less predictable, which on those narrow switchbacks and steep drop offs is a very bad thing.
The crashing and banging over the horrible road construction during my daily commute was totally gone and forgotten in the mountains. The second guessing whether I had done the right thing modifying this car and daily driving it wasn't even a question any more as it sucked up every bump and dip and sucked the car thru the turn.
I think I'm just going to put a set of new endlinks on the stock sways and ride with that.
The rear bumper is covered with soot, and I heard from everybody that followed me that it was no oil smoke, just black richness. I need to get that wideband installed to get a final UpRev tune. That base tune is rich for safety, but its good to know how much better it can get.
I have more oil consumption from using the motor to decelerate than anything else, I catch some in the can, ingest some via intake, burn a little on high rpms but when I'm downshifting to slow the vehicle frequently THAT is when I really start consuming oil... probably put a new motor in next year though so it's not a concern.
Yes on deceleration it literally suctions the oil right out of the crankcase. I'm planning on another engine eventually also, but will build one to install. Main thing is that I won't be using Chinese rings. May jump up to 11:1 pistons since I'll be in there anyway.
Sunset shot, at the park playing soccer with my boy.
i was wrong, it was only a 25% off sale. I want to find a replacement set of side skirts and possibly a different rear bumper that will work with my diffuser first. then I'll pick a new color.. either DYC or paint..depends.
and I think I need just a bit more spacer/less offset in the front. just 5mm more would be perfect.
11-06-2017, 11:10 PM
anybody paying attention out there?