Michael LaGrasta

Sunday, February 21, 2010

February Autocross

So I finally got rid of those Pirelli P-Zero tires that the car came with and put on some Toyo R888. Wow! I didn't realize how much of a handicap those street tires were. I went from 45th overall (3rd in my class) to 23 overall. I was less than 2 seconds out of the top ten. The tires pushed me up to the LS class, of which I am the only member, but that is fine with me. I'm still just trying to improve my own driving (and maybe see if I can move up in the overall ranking).

I have some more work planned for the car to really take advantage of the modifications that the LS class allows. The first on the list is to swap in the front control arms from a GT3 so I can get a more aggressive camber adjustment. Then maybe I'll do springs, brake pads, exhaust, etc.

The next race isn't untill April, although we have a driving school event in March that I'll probably attend.

Oh yeah, I almost forgot. I brought out the GoPro HD again and shot some footage from different mounts on the car. This video is edited togther from two different runs, my fastest of the day (a practice lap of 1:23.89) and my fastest official time (123.91). Here's a link to view it at youtube.com: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MlUWeIBRcGA

Wednesday, January 20, 2010

First Autocross of the Season

So on Saturday the 16th the San Diego Porsche Club hosted the first Autocross of the 2010 season. It was an interesting track set up in the west half of the Qualcomm parking lot. I managed to improve my times steadily throughout the day and then knocked a full second off my time on the very last run. It's always nice to end with your fastest run of the day. (Which still only got me a 3rd place.) I attached my GoPro HD camera to the front bumper and shot some video. You can see it on youtube.com and I have embedded it below, but it looks like it's getting cut off. I suggest you watch it in HD here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WG4qra1ulz4

Also, I think it's time for me to start converting the car over to an actual race car. I'm going to start by shedding weight. Anybody want to buy a nice clean Boxster interior?

Next race is Saturday, February 13th.

Tuesday, June 16, 2009

Goodbye Mini, Hello Porsche!

Yup, you read that right. I have traded in the Mini Cooper and am now the proud owner of a 1999 Porsche Boxster.

After some soul searching and number crunching, I came to a realization: I really didn't want to continue paying $400 per month for my nice clean Mini just to thrash it on the track (which also made it uncomfortable on the street). So that meant finding a dedicated race car. But I also thought it would be ridiculous to have three cars for just me. So I swapped the Mini and it's monthly payment for this Boxster, with no car payment.

And it's perfect for the track because it is rear wheel drive, mid-engined, manual transmission, and engineered for handling perfection. Not only that, the Porsche clubs run so many great driving and racing events that I can go as often as I want and still stay pretty close to home.

I will definitely miss my Mini. I learned so much about myself and about driving from that car. But I think I've made a sound and exciting decision here.

P.S. I've got some spare Mini parts for sale if any one is interested :-)

Monday, April 27, 2009

Race Cancelled

This weekend's scheduled Mini track day at Spring Mountain was canceled, leaving me in Vegas with plenty of extra time for gambling and sight seeing. So I have no news about the qualifiers for the North American Mini Cooper Challenge. I did take some time and drive up to the Valley of Fire state park. It's Nevada's first state park and it's full of these crazy red rock vistas. Apparently, it was once all underwater.

Monday, April 13, 2009

All New Shiny

Well, after a brief but annoying shipping delay. The Mini has got a new set of wheels and tires for the street. They are 18" Motegi Racing SP-10's in Hyper-Black...whatever color that is. So after so many years of wanting to buy aftermarket wheels for one of my cars, I have finally done it. All it took was a catastrophic failure of an overpriced OEM wheel

Thursday, April 9, 2009

Wheels should be round, right?

So I'm minding my own business driving down the road and all of the sudden this huge piece of broken concrete bounces out from under some semi truck and right at my car. I had nowhere to go and got on the brakes, but it still ended up getting under my front tire. The was a huge bang and instantly my tire pressure sensor lit up. After being towed home on a flat bed tow truck, I was able to pull the wheel and inspect the damage. This is what I found.

Wow! That is one bent wheel. So I guess I'm finally going to be ordering some aftermarket wheels like I've always wanted to.

Tuesday, March 31, 2009

Mike On The Track

I'm back and the weekend was great! The track day was huge fun and everyone stayed safe. I came home with extra money in my pocket from the BlackJack tables. And there were soooooo many Minis!

Here's a couple videos I put together for anyone who might like to see.

The first one is edited together from some photos and videos that my Dad and I shot on my D90. I suggest watching it in high def (hit the HD button) and be sure to turn up the volume!

The second one is my timed competition lap as shot by the camera I mounted on the roof of my car for the event. It's not real exciting, but you can see what the track looks like. By the way, the time on this lap was 2:05, which is decent for a mostly stock MINI Cooper on street tires.