http://img.nrubenstein.com/gallery/5333884_Zxn9D#325949763_2n2q6

I'm trying out smugmug instead of hosting my own. Anyone who wants to comment on the smugmug experience is welcome to.

I think this one would have to be my favorite of the night:



These were going off right outside the windows, courtesy of some renters next door - really fun. Terry desperately wanted bottle rockets to fire at them:



More fireworks just outside:





Some of the official fireworks (if you look closely, you can see the washington monument dimly on the left):





I really like this whole "fireworks in air conditioned comfort" thing. We had fireworks from 8PM all the way until 2AM when we finally declared that it was bed time for everyone who was staying the night.

The Colin Chapman approach to babies:

A couple more pics...

K shot these this weekend when I ran in GTS 2 with NASA at Hyperfest. I had just about every single battery related problem possible this weekend (emergency disconnect charge fired over awful pavement, battery terminal was damaged as well, and then the bad battery probably killed the alternator). Nonetheless, I was able to race on Sunday at least.

Lifting a wheel in Turn 10 at Summit on Sunday:


Discovering I had no ABS going down the 'chute into Turn 5 on Saturday:

Finally did some much deferred work on the race car today...



All I can really say is about frigging time. The previous setup was so half assed that I'm too embarassed to describe it here. :)

Clyde came by because he wanted to play with his camera the other day...


( A couple more... )

For those of you who have long wished for the opportunity to eat God (and aren't Catholic - you people are weird), this is your opportunity.

1995 M3 Alpinweiß/Schwarz, 41,000 miles!

I kind of feel like of gone full circle - my first BMW was a '94 325i. Then I got an '01 325xiT, then an '04 M3 (this car was a real POS), a '99 323i (now my race car with a 330 engine), and now I'm back in an E36. Albeit a WAY better E36.

The funny thing is that I wasn't even looking for this - I was after an early 330i for a daily driver/beater car, when a friend of mine told me he was selling this car and he really wanted to keep it "in the family." (Apparently, his wife doesn't think he needs two M3s and an Aston-Martin. I can't imagine why. Especially not with all the time he spends in Dubai these days...) The only downside is that I really have to treat this car nicely. A '95 M3 with all original paint/panels is a pretty spectacular rarity these days.

Morgan got some very nice pictures at the party last night - here's my awesome neighbor's plasma gun assault on the sky. :)

Start of the race (first lap is most interesting, then I'm just fighting to get the car drivable):

Second half (more interesting - the car is handling adequately. Too bad about the last lap.):

A few pics from this weekend:

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I finally got the 323 on a dyno today.

It makes more power than I really wanted - I'm going to have to put 200lbs. of ballast in the damned thing. The good news is that the power curve is pretty much perfect for my purposes. Peak torque is almost the same as hp, and it comes on early enough that I have it at the start of the rev range that matters in this car. The lack of VANOS doesn't seem to hurt it nearly as much as expected.

You can also see how much the constricted manifold is hurting the car's peak output. It's dead flat from 5400-6800 RPMs.

( Dyno behind the cut )

Hot damn.

The race car is pretty powerful now that it's basically working properly. With VANOS (variable valve timing disabled), that motor is STRONG. I'll fix VANOS at some point, but I'm not going to worry about it until after Hyperfest.

So, I've been tossing around the idea of holding a July 4th gathering at my place... I've got a nice view of the capitol and the Washington monument, so we'd have a good view of the fireworks.

I figure drinks/dinner/etc. starting in the early evening.

Who's interested?

Observation: The parking lot at the Whole Foods at 15th & P was never meant to accommodate, say, my truck. I was particularly fond of all the turns that were impossible to make without backing up. They've also made some incredibly stupid choices in their layout of lamps and travel lanes.