The GoPro Wide camera is awesome!

I had BMW CCA autocross on Sunday and took the opportunity to test some new cameras I bought for our video arsenal at work. The main one was a GoPro Motorsports HERO camera. This little camera is awesome. It’s a tiny video and still camera that comes with a bunch of different mounts for attaching it all over you car. The camera takes in an amazing 170-degree field of view with a super sharp lens and it’s enclosed in a shock-proof and water-proof housing. This little thing is bomb-proof! runs on runs on just two AAA lithium batteries. It has 16MB of built-in memory and a slot for adding SD cards. Resolution is 512X384 (close to standard def broadcast). The suction cup mount is very sturdy. I used it on eight runs in two locations and it never budged.

The second camera I used was a Canon Powershot SX1 IS on a CruiseCam mount. This is a high-end point-and-shoot that also does full 1080i HD video. The image is spectacular and you can see the clarity and sharpness in the cockpit shots of the above video.

The best thing about both these cameras is no tape! With the video writing to digital cards, editing is easy and fast.

Ryan’s MINI Adventure shirts available – to benefit charity

Due to another great collaborative project and the fine artwork of our esteemed MINI artist Mr. COOPERation, we now have a t-shirt design for Ryan’s MINI Adventure. T-shirts, sweatshirts, hoodies, ornaments, mugs and a bunch of other items are available now in my Cafepress store.

All proceeds from sales of the Ryan’s MINI Adventure items will be donated to the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society in Ryan’s memory.

Ryan’s parents put the video I made from MOTD on the front page of the Ryan’s MINI Adventure Site!

Wait, there’s more! Ryan’s MINI made it on the Killboy site. I stopped on one of my runs and asked one of Darryl’s photographers to make some photos of Ryan’s MINI on the Dragon. So here they are. That’s me in MINIBee coming around the corner in the background. : )

Ryan’s MINI on Killboy

Please go to their web site to sign the guestbook and tell them how much you enjoyed seeing Ryan’s MINI on the Dragon.

UPDATE:

Well, I spoke too soon. I just received notice that the Ryan’s MINI Adventure shirt design violates Cafepress rules because it uses the word MINI in the design. I knew this was a risk but thought since the web site is called Ryan’s MINI Adventure they would let it go. For now we have swapped out the design with one that just says “Ryan’s Adventure.” Not optimal but some of this is out of my control. I have sent a note to the attorney with whom I corresponded with last time, explaining the design is being sold for charity. So I’ll let you know what he says. For now the design has been changed to this:

FOTD – Fail of the Dragon

At MOTD this year I was startled by the number of people in the MINI community who were constantly crossing the double yellow line. Usually I drive the Dragon watching for bikers over the line. This year, I was watching for MINIs.

These photos, taken from the Killboy, Moonshine and Zee Foto web sites (plus one video by MINIBee), were all made during MOTD 7. On the first day we heard reports that a MINI had crossed the line and forced a biker off the road. Are you shocked? Appalled? Keep watching and you’ll see many examples of FOTD – Fail of the Dragon.

Sure, some people may see these photos who were unaware they were crossing the line. If that’s you, this is your wakeup call. But when you look at many of the photos it’s clear people are intentionally crossing the center line.

Is this what we stand for as a community? We curse the bikers for crossing the line and then we go out and do it ourselves? The challenge and the honor in driving the Dragon at a spirited pace comes when you do it between the lines. Anyone can ride down the center of the road and do it fast. Come on people, lives are at stake here.

If you are in one or more of the photos (or video) I make no apologies. They are public record and you knew the photos were being made. I’m sure this will be controversial but I’m hoping through constructive discussion some good will come from it.

Ryan’s MINI at MINIs on the Dragon 7 Video Tribute

This video is comprised of photos from many of the events at MOTD 7, including the panoramic photo. It was an honor to have this opportunity to pay tribute to a special little MINIac and her special little MINI.

MOTD 7 panoramic photo with a special guest

It was rainy and muddy but we still had a bunch of MINIs for the annual panoramic photo at MINIs on the Dragon. Click on the image below to see a Quicktime VR panoramic of the front row of MINIs and look for our special guest, Ryan Marie’s #3 MINI, from Ryan’s MINI Adventure.

(You’ll need Apple’s Quicktime software to view the panoramic VR. To scroll click on the image and drag your cursor around.)

We will have a very special MINI at MOTD 7

I will be bringing a special MINI from Ryan’s MINI Adventure to MOTD to make some important photos which also will give everyone an opportunity to be part of the most heartwarming MINI story ever. Several months ago I found about Ryan’s MINI Adventure through the die-cast boards on North American Motoring. Ryan Marie Boykin lived in Alexandria, VA. She was a happy, inquisitive little girl who loved to play with Matchbox cars and the Chili Red MINI was her favorite toy of all. She passed away from Acute Lymphoblatic Leukemia on July 1, 2007 when she was only three years old.

Her family wanted to give red Matchbox MINIs to friends and family as a way to honor her spirit and commemorate her life, so they began gathering as many as they could find. With help from friends and members of the Matchbox collectors community, more than 300 of the Chili Red MINIs were amassed. Of those, 103 were modded to become official Ryan’s MINI Adventure MINIs (like the one above). Many of those were given to family and friends and people who helped find them. A fleet of these special MINIs is held in reserve so they can be sent out to touch the world with this incredible story.

A few months back I contacted Ryan’s parents, Julie and Bruce, and asked them to send me one of Ryan’s MINIs so I could bring it to MOTD. At the time they were planning to attend MOTD themselves so I was looking forward to meeting them. Yesterday Julie contacted me to say they couldn’t make it and asked if I would bring a Ryan’s MINI to MOTD to be in the panoramic photo.

I plan to take lots of photos of Ryan’s MINI so please find me if you want to be in a photo or want to have your MINI photographed with Ryan’s MINI. I promise to send them all the photos and will publish a gallery of the photos later. And please go to their web site, read about Ryan’s life and sign the guest book. Let’s make this the best panoramic photo ever for Ryan and her family!

April snow at Fontana!

I’m at Fontana with my kids for Spring Break. We went to Bryson City for lunch and the snow flurries started. As we were driving back on 28 to Fontana Village the snow became heavier and heavier. By 10 PM we had two inches on the ground! Three weeks until MOTD 7 and it’s snowing!

A cheap way to keep my engine bay clean

I completed a little mod today to fix something that had been bugging me. Before the BC Coilovers I had covers on the holes in my strut towers and very little dirt got into the engine bay. The coilovers leave those holes open I’ve found that my engine bay is more dirty than ever since I installed the BCs. So I had been looking for something to plug those holes.

I wandered around Home Depot and Lowe’s a few times looking for some type of rubber grommet or plug that I could use but couldn’t find anything large enough. The holes is about 2.5 inches across so I started thinking about those plastic grommets they use in computer desks to route cables. So this is what I found:

Here is the strut tower hole with no cover. See all the dirt and sand? I didn’t used to have dirt like that when those holes were covered.

I found these computer desk grommets at Lowe’s for about $5 each.

This is what the grommet looks like. The goal was to get the damper adjustment knob to come through the hole.

The camber adjustment screws touch the bottom edge of the grommet. So I made marks on each side to do some cutting and clear those screws.

Here’s the grommet after cutting with a Dremel. The two notches are the cuts I made to clear the camber adjustment screws. To keep the grommet in place I put some of that “sticky tack” putty around the edge.

The just press it in place in the hole and snap the cover back on. Depending on your camber settings you may have to expand the U-shaped hole in the cover. My camber is set at -1.8 and the knob fit perfectly.

I plan to clean up the engine bay to see if it makes a difference and will report back in a few weeks.

Crossing the yellow line will cost you

Every time I go to the Dragon I watch in horror as people ignore all the warnings and cross the double yellow line. Not only is this a one-way ticket to a pine box for yourself but it puts everyone out there at risk. Cross the line and die. It’s that simple. And with under 50 days to go until MOTD 7, here is another reminder for us all:

Hubcentric rings fused to hubs?

My Konig Rewinds require the use of hubcentric rings. They came with cheap plastic rings but I decided to buy the more durable aluminum ones because I autocross and change my wheels often. I have a set of holies for autocross and in January when I went to change my wheels I discovered the aluminum rings had fused to my rusty and corroded hubs. I whacked on them with a hammer and screwdriver for over an hour and they would not come off. I ended up running with my Rewinds and street tires for the January autocross but was determined to fix the problem for February.

This is what I did:

First I bought a bottle of “Fabulous Blaster” spray at Wal Mart and sprayed it between the rings and the hub to loosen things up. I let them soak for about 15 minutes and then was able to get the rings off with a hammer and screwdriver.

Then I used a piece of fine steel wool to clean off most of the rust and corrosion. The wheel studs, center of the hub and the rotor were masked off for painting.

A friend had once suggested that I paint my hubs. In addition to making them look nicer, I figured the paint would fend off corrosion and help keep the rings from getting stuck again. So I used Rustoleum black paint to paint the hubs.

I put a thin layer of anti-seize on the ring surfaces that touch the hub and the wheel. I did not put anti-seize on the hub. There was some interesting discussion about the use of anti-seize in a thread that I started on NAM. Some folks seemed to think the anti-seize would make the lug nuts get loose over time but that has not happened.

When I went to take my wheels off for autocross the rings came right off. And the added benefit is that I have nice, black hubs showing through the spokes of my wheels instead crappy-looking corroded ones. This would look even nicer for those of you who have large wheels with really open spokes.