JohnCh

You might want to also consider joining us in Monterey in August, and definitely bring it out for Exotics at Redmond Town Center when that season kicks off. -John

I believe Catslidefarm and Pinballking2 both have pre-lits, but not sure they visit the forum very often. Might be worth a PM to each. As Stig points out, WSCC is your best bet. Very friendly group. -John

Just confirmed that what I wrote above is correct. vBulletin states the following about Active Member "If a user has visited the board within the past number of days you specify, they are considered 'active'." The default setting is 30 days. It's an interesting stat to advertisers as it shows the number of unique registered users who viewed the forum in the past month. Whether or not those users took time to participate in a thread is of less interest to them. If folks want to continue this conversation, I suggest starting a new thread, as we have seriously drifted off topic -John

Based on my (limited) experience in other parts of the web industry, it's usually the number of users who have logged on at least once in the trailing 30 days. Not sure if the v-bulletin default is different, but I'm sure there others here who know far more about this who can chime in. -John

Rikker's writing style seemed very familiar, so on a hunch I compared his IP address to the IP of an infamous banned member who kept resurfacing under new user names. It appears he is either back or there is something in the water in their neighborhood. BTW if you look at various automotive Internet forums that publicly report the data, you'll discover our ratio of active to total members is actually pretty good. We're at 12%, which is the same as Miata.Net, and higher than VW Vortex (7%), California Caterham Club (8%), and Autopia (2%). North America Subaru Impreza Owners Club and Garage Journal are both higher at 17% and 16% respectively, but based on the numbers, Rikker's reports of our death are greatly exaggerated. -John

I don't have anything helpful to add, but I do want to say that I admire your priorities -John

There are a few of us in the Seattle area, but I think Supersportsp and I are the only ones who frequent the forum. I'm looking forward to seeing the car in the flesh at some point. -John

Congratulations and welcome! Are you doing the build yourself? If so, make sure to post photos along the way. People here love photos -John

Tom, I anticipated your question, and asked ahead, but have bad news. Unfortunately the hospital stated that after defying the ER doctor's orders and driving your 7 to the hotel rather than taking a cab, you are persona non grata at their facility. I was also told that the donuts you performed in their parking lot before heading out -- although deeply impressive -- didn't help the situation -John

I had the same problem with my old Bell M3, and recently replaced it with the HJC AR10 II which fits my seats just fine. -John

A lot more happening this weekend though. In addition to the races, there's: Pebble Beach Concours The Quail, A Motorsport Gathering Concorso Italiano Legends of the Autobahn Automobilia Monterey ~5 major auctions And I'm sure I'm missing a few other events. It's car overload! -John

Next summer Hudson and I are planning to rerun the 2010 Monterey tour we did with Alaskossie. Anyone else interested in joining up for all/part of the tour or just getting together for the Motorsports Reunion weekend 8/17-8/19? Now I know it’s a little early to talk about se7en plans for August, but securing a room in the area that weekend can be a challenge, so I’m putting this out there now to give people time to consider their options. Last year the group stayed at the Wiebe Motel in Hollister which was inexpensive, clean, and safe for the cars. Unfortunately it was also ~40 miles from Monterey, so with race traffic it took up to 2 hours to get home each day. This year, Hudson and I are planning to suck it up and pay exorbitant rates to stay in Monterey. Although it will be nice to park the cars for the night, then walk downtown for food and the auction scene, it comes at a price. Rooms effectively start at $300/night for the weekend (this is for hotels that are normally $80-$100/night). Even the really cheap places with bad reviews are closer to $250, so still stupidly expensive, and to make matters worse, many hotels are already sold out. My thinking is that folks can find their own accommodations in the area, but we’ll stick to the motels on route for the tour portion. Click the links below for the daily route from last year. A couple of notes: The actual directions were done in Streets & Trips, so the links below may differ slightly from the actual route. The route ends in Winthrop, but the last day is heading west on the North Cascades Highway, which is pretty stunning and filled with high speed corners. It’s about 4 hours from there to the Greater Seattle area. Hollister to Gualala Gualala to Willow Creek Willow Creek to Crescent, OR Crescent, OR to Morton, WA Morton to Winthrop -John

Is this the one? http://i1212.photobucket.com/albums/cc447/pinballking2/DSCN3230.jpg http://i1212.photobucket.com/albums/cc447/pinballking2/DSCN3094.jpg -John

Actually Lotus developed active noise control years ago, but the original concept was (no surprise) about saving weight since theoretically you could jettison the sound deadening material. I wonder if Audi, or their OEM supplier for the audio system, is licensing that technology or if it's their version of the concept? -John

It would be hard for me to part with the only fiberglass bodied, wide cockpit, IRS Birkin on the planet, but I'll consider it -John

Those videos should sell a few Megabusas -- I know I want one now -John

To make my life easier, the prices quoted above are retail - both brands are available at lower prices, although I don't think the EVO2 discounts are as deep. I’d love to hear from someone who has experience with the EVO2, or has tried one of the lower powered Odysseys such as the PC535 or PC545. I never considered one of those before because the weight difference was pretty minor compared to the PC680, but 12 pounds is substantial. And yes, before anyone mentions it, it would be even cheaper and healthier to remove that amount from my body, but that’s not the purpose of this thread :jester: -John

Does anyone have experience with the Ballistic 16 Cell EVO2 lithium ferrous phosphate battery? It's ridiculously light and not that expensive compared to the Odysseys. The 680PCA of the Odyssey PC680 has been overkill for my car, but I’m not sure the EVO2’s 500PCA will be enough. EVO2 16 cell 500 Pulse Cranking Amps 500 Cold Cranking Amps 28 Amp Hours 3 pounds $270 Odyssey PC545 545 Pulse Cranking Amps 185 Cold Cranking Amps 14 Amp Hours 11.7 pounds $137 Odyssey PC680 680 Pulse Cranking Amps 220 Cold Cranking Amps 17 Amp Hours 15 pounds $145 Thanks, John

Yes, Westfield is still active in the US & Canada through Manik Technologies, a sponsor of this forum. -John

The DRE is small enough that you can mount it to the windscreen. I fabricated a very simple aluminum bracket that attaches with double-sided tape and puts the shiftlights in my line of sight without blocking the view down the road. http://john15.web.officelive.com/Documents/driversview1024.jpg -John

I'm happy with the DRE Sequential system in my car. I've also heard a lot of good things about the Shift-I. -John

I'm in as well. -John

I bought my Toyos from http://www.tiresdirect.net and was pleased with the service and price. I've also heard good things about http://treadzone.com/, but have no personal experience with them. -John

I believe that's a map of the Nurburgring -John

Had my first track day today in the Miata. It lived up to the billing (think Scannon's comments, not Hanks :jester:). It was sadistically fun to watch folks in far quicker cars forced to let me by in the passing zones because of the Miata's capabilities in the corners. It was even more enjoyable knowing that in some cases those drivers had to get completely off the throttle just so I could complete the pass -John