Packing List

If you bring your Corgi, I'm sorry but they may not be allowed to drive!

For driving events like track days and autocross events, I like to check my packing list just to double check that I don't forget something important. You know, important stuff, because forgetting your car would be bad! Now if you have a car trailer, you can probably just leave your important items (like the car!) in the trailer from event to event. For the rest of us that drive our car to the event, our important stuff has to fit inside the car. Or on a small trailer. Or on a roof rack. Or in your friend's car trailer!

Helmet? You only get one head!

1. Helmet, good for safety!

Check those brake pads and tire pressures. 

2. Tire pressure gauge, handy for maintaining tire pressures all day. Or you might have a car with onboard TPMS that tells you the pressures on your dash!

3. Tire pump, for you know, pumping up tires! I tend to lower my tire pressures for autocross, and then when I leave the event the tires have cooled off and my pressures are too low. Before leaving is a good time to check those pressures for the ride home. 

Make those numbers easy to read! 
PRO TIP: Don't use blue painter's tape on your blue car for numbers!

4. Car numbers, I've used magnetic numbers, plastic ones that cling, and just used blue painter's tape for numbers. Any system works if you don't have a permanent number on your car. Pro Tip: If you have a fiberglass car like a Corvette, you might want to go with something besides magnetic numbers!

5: License. Some groups say to have your regular drivers license, and others might want to see your club membership or racing license if that applies. Whatever the homework assignment is, just follow the directions and avoid having a problem. 

Check with the event organizers to see if there will be food on site!
At the track weekend we did in Alabama they provided dinner on Saturday night!
Our local Porsche club provides pizza at lunch for autocross. 

6. Water/Food. Since a lot of driving events are in the hot summer, it's important to stay hydrated. If you can't get hydrated, just drink a lot! Along with this one, don't drink and drive, have some food, and just take care of yourself for many more years of fun filled driving. NMS prefers the PBJ sammich along with some water! PRO TIP: Put the peanut butter AND the jelly INSIDE the sandwich!

7. Chair. There just might be some down time, and you may not want to sit in your hot car, so having a folding chair is handy. Another good solution is a big 5 gallon bucket, which can also be an emergency drain pan if someone has a car leak. If you have a lid for your bucket, it's a good place to store your owners manual and other papers if it's a rainy day. 

8. Camera/Data system. If you have a cool Go Pro camera or a fancy data device for recording your performance, or just your cell phone, it's worth keeping track of your events, sharing videos, and reviewing your performance in between runs to make improvements the next time out. From the free Track Addict app on your phone to very expensive transponders and other gear, there's something in your budget. 

9. Torque wrench. Before and after your event (at a minimum) it's important to make sure your wheels are torqued to the proper setting. If you're traying to go fast, I'll guarantee you that your car is faster on 4 wheels than 3!

10. Breaker bar, goes with your torque wrench just to make sure those wheels are on. 

11. Clothes, hat, jacket, as needed. DON'T DRIVE NAKED! If you're on a track you might go with the full protective driver's fire suit, gloves, shoes, etc. For autocross, a t-shirt with shorts and a helmet is fine.  Keep an eye on the weather!

12. Trash bags, for storing your gear in the rain. For any competitive driving you will empty your car of all those napkins, floor mats, spare tires, and etc. Throwing it in a storage bin, bucket, or at least a big trash bag is just a handy way to keep it together and dry on a rainy day. 

13. Sunscreen/bug spray. I don't think I've had any problem with insects at an event, although we spotted some fire ants at an event in North Carolina last year. Use sunscreen even if it's cloudy, and your cancer free skin will thank you later!

If you're changing wheels on site or before the event, the Milwaukee 1/2 inch impact will get 'er done every time. 

14. Gas/tools. Kind of a catch all category, but if you need any special tools and fluids, bring those along. If you need a tool, ask your neighbors in the paddock if you can borrow theirs. Make sure you've got enough gas for each driving session. You might think that's a funny one, but I have seen OTHER drivers run out of gas on track. 

Good news! The track you're at has gas pumps!
Less good news: $10.99 a gallon. 

Made a Mistake in the Garage!

I just put all this back together, and now have to take it apart again to fix my mistake? CRAP! 

Recently I was celebrating the end of a big job replacing some power steering hoses, which was a big accomplishment for a DIY'er mechanic at home with a mid-engine car. Anyways, no leaks there, but when I test drove the car, there was NO AIR CONDITIONING. Maybe you live in Northern Europe or the North Pole and scoff at AC, but I don't! Immediately I started imagining the worst case scenarios of having to replace the entire AC system, which would have been a big challenge for my skill set, much less an even bigger challenge for my wallet!

Luckily, my Army Resiliency training kicked in, and I realized that while it's normal to CATASTROPHIZE right off the bat with any bad news, it was more likely to not be that bad. Yeah right!

Anyway, since I had just disassembled the intake on the car, disconnected a bunch of hoses and wires, removed the Oil Separator, moved the AC Compressor, etc, I figured maybe I goofed up something and would be purchasing a new compressor soon. That was one possibility. Another LESS expensive possibility was that somehow I'd released the refrigerant, in which case just charging it up wouldn't be bad. However, if your refrigerant has all leaked out, that probably means you have a leak, which will turn into more dollars quickly. 

To rule out the easy stuff, I was able to drive the car (it drove fine, just no AC, in SC, in the summer, with the humidity, but I digress...) to school and with my friendly Automotive instructors help, we hooked it up to an AC machine. The high and low side pressures hopped right up to where they should be, so that meant that the system had plenty of refrigerant. GOOD NEWS: we narrowed down what could be wrong!! BAD NEWS: The problem could still be on the expensive side. REALLY GOOD NEWS: My instructors knew that I'd been working on the car and suggested "Maybe you have something still disconnected." REALITY NEWS: OK, I can live with this mistake, and it would be free to fix, other than a few hours of my labor looking for a loose connection. MORE REALITY NEWS: This meant I'd have to start taking off all the parts I'd just put back together, and see if there was a loose connection buried under the intake and/or compressor. Let's go!

The central Resonance tube is loose, any loose wires in there?

From my repair manual, I listed 10 steps to get to moving the compressor, which is as far as my previous repair had taken. I figured that if I just retraced my steps (no, I didn't leave any breadcrumbs in the car, but on second thought, maybe I did, and the breadcrumbs were interfering with my AC...) I'd find the issue. 

Checking the manual for removing the compressor.

Step 1: remove top and rear wall covers to access the engine bay, remove negative battery cable. No problem, too early to find loose wires. 

Step 2: Remove resonance tube, which is part of the air intake system. Now I can see more of the suspected area, no loose wires yet. 

Step 3+4: Remove Oil Separator and loosen serpentine belt. OK, I've done all these things before, so it's not too hard to do. I knew that the belt was a pain to put back on, so I only loosened it off the AC compressor, which made putting the belt on at the end very easy. No loose wires in sight yet. 

Step 5: Loosen battery terminal #30 in engine bay: OK, this is just moving another bunch of wires out of the way, so let's keep looking for a loose wire....BINGO! 

HEY LOOK, A LOOSE CONNECTOR! I'm a moron!

With a little more looking around, I found BOTH ends of the connection, and sure enough they matched, clicked right together, and then I just had to reverse steps 5-1 so I could turn on the car and the AC system. Believe it or not, this connection is what powers up the AC Compressor, so I was looking at really good chance that this fixed the problem!

Somebody needs to click these two parts together so I can get some AC!

Fast forward to starting the car, and it ran fine. Hit the button to turn on the AC, wait for it, and BOOM WE'VE  GOT COLD AIR! I turned on the recirculate button and the AC got very frosty, as in 34 degrees frosty! '

AC on recirculate, 33 degrees. AHHHHHH!!!!!!

Bottom line: I made a mistake in the previous repair, but was able to fix it. It's a good thing I'm not a real mechanic, or I'd have been doing about 3 hours of work to fix my mistake, and not getting paid for it. Oh well, it's always a good day when you learn something. It's also a great day when your AC works!

49 degrees without the recirculated air. It was 82 ambient, so right in the ballpark for lowering the temp by 30 degrees. 

Cars and Coffee: COFFEE REPORT!

Highlight of the day, this Lamborghini racecar. 

On Saturday I attended two Cars and Coffee events in Charlotte, and figured I should be serious about this. Sure, there were cool cars there. Yes, many of them were more expensive than 4 new Corvettes! So, Let's get down to the real nitty gritty and report on the COFFEE at both locations!

Highlight #2: Porsche GT3 RS with Weissach/Manthey package. 

First up, Hendrick Porsche of Charlotte held their monthly Stuttgart Saturday, which believe it or not happens on a Saturday! Stuttgart is the city in Germany where the Porsche cars HQ is located, but what about their coffee? In a major upgrade, this was the first event there that I noticed a shiny new Nespresso machine for coffee. After someone explained to me how to use it, I enjoyed a delicious cup of coffee. Yes, it was free. Yes, they also had doughnuts from a local bakery. Overall, I'd rate the experience as Excellent, but what about up the road at Lamborghini?

At Lamborghini Charlotte, they provided the guests with boxes of Dunkin' Donuts coffee, and I imagine Dunkin' Donuts donuts. Since I like Dunkin', and the goodies were also free, I would rate them as Very Good, so maybe just one small step below the Porsche coffee experience. Oh, there were some cars too!

50th Anniversary of the 911 Targa model. 

SPOILER ALERT! Porsche with the Weissach package. 

2025 Porsche Macan Electric Turbo. The electric Macan is new this year, and even though it does NOT have a turbo, Porsche still uses the Turbo badge to show it has more horsepower than the base model. Sure, that makes sense!

I liked this dark green on the Lamborghini.

License plate time: Create Value. Must be an investment advisor. 

Hey, nice car! Thanks I Know.

Lamborghini Countach. 

The Countach was built from 1974-1990, and was one of the cars that really put Lambo on the map! That map would be the "Map of Awesome Cars."

Big crowd inside the Lamborghini dealer also. Must be the free coffee and donuts!
Or the cool cars. 

Very nice Aston Martin outside. 

1st edition Lotus Emira. 

Lamborghini Huracan Evo with all wheel drive. 

Rear wing on the Lambo racecar.
To be honest I thought Roger Dubuis was the driver, but that's the name of a watch company that sponsors the racecar!

Some serious aerodynamic goodies on this thing. 

Speaking of aerodynamics on a fast car, here's some more details on the Porsche GT3 RS. Sure, it was over $300,000, but I get the idea that it's fast. 

Big rear wing for down force and better cornering. 

Vents and airfoils in the front hood to get the air moving where it will make the car faster. 

Vents over the front wheels

Large wheel covers on the rear wheels for better air flow. You can read the tire size, 335 (that's WIDE) on 21 inch wheels. 

More aerodynamic goodness behind the front wheel to shape the air flow over the rest of the car. Right behind the top vents is the oval gas cap cover. 

Lamborghini COFFEE (via Dunkin)

I think this was a Lambo Urus (SUV) interior. Along with the GREEN trim, you still get the red cover (by the cup holders) over the start button, so you can always pretend you're launching missiles when you start it up. 

An Audi R8 pulled up too. I saw a kid with a "Lord of the Rings" T-shirt, and of course it also had the Audi 4 rings logo!

Back at the Porsche dealer, I saw this row of 2025 electric Macans that are being sold as used cars. The ones I looked at had 3,000-5,000 miles, so maybe they were demonstrators, or used for VIPS at the local pro golf tournament or something. Could be a good price, who knows?