Chris Hammondhttp://www.chrishammond.comRSS Feed for Chris Hammond120Filter Map Results By Program and Class!https://www.chrishammond.com/Blog/itemId/456/Filter-Map-Results-By-Program-and-ClassI spent 20+ hours over the last 3 days upgrading the mapping system for SCCAForums.com. The map was getting awful cluttered once I imported all of the track data that we were provided. You can now filter the map results based on program type (Solo, Club, Track and Other), as well as by class within each of those program types. Check out the map to see it in action! http://sccaforums.com/maps/ posted from...Tue, 07 Mar 2006 02:06:00 GMTffed3935-34a1-4634-a496-839028611e43First Day in Walnut Ridgehttps://www.chrishammond.com/Blog/itemId/470/First-Day-in-Walnut-RidgeThe first Cone Clinic was held today at the first day of the Walnut Ridge national tour. A great thanks goes out to the Hollis' for instructing all of the drivers today. We each got 12 runs, had a blast and a great time getting the rust out from almost 6 months off! We start at 9am tomorrow. As last year, the town has welcomed everyone with open arms! All of the local businesses have the posters up for the event, and it seems to be once again the hot topic of the town! We're off to dinner, hope to have a great time tomorrow! I'll try to post tomorrow night with an update. posted from...Fri, 31 Mar 2006 18:02:00 GMT8f24dcd4-c0ac-48b6-8667-00196128313bFriday at the Walnut Ridge ProSolohttps://www.chrishammond.com/Blog/itemId/472/Friday-at-the-Walnut-Ridge-ProSoloWe got into town early this afternoon. I ended up filling up with gas before I got out of St. Louis, that was a mistake, 200 miles later I still have a half a tank. So I drove the car to the hotel tonight rather than leaving it at the event site, needed to burn off as much gas as I can before tomorrow. We got setup and Andy did the novice intro with practice starts. Before the novice guys got any starts the staff was out there replacing the Christmas Tree, apparently they were having timing issues. Andy got 4 starts in, with one redlight. I got in light, at the end of what looked like 40-50 cars and waited, for almost 2 hours before I finally got up to take some practice starts. During that two hours a lot occured. There were a very large number of issues with the lights, I'm not sure exactly what they were, but the staff appeared hard at work trying to get things fixed. Then came the rain. It didn't rain too much, but enough to create quite a few troubles, and it looked like they were going to cancel the practice starts but the rain let up and the lights started working properly again. I think everyone who had lined up for starts got their runs. We got in a few more course walks after we ran off to registration, had a bit to eat and then headed back to the hotel. A few trips to Wal Mart later and it's about bed time. Hopefully will post more tomorrow, including video! -Chris posted from...Fri, 07 Apr 2006 22:06:00 GMT8034dc8c-fae5-4135-9ce8-9634859c7468Another Z in the Stable?https://www.chrishammond.com/Blog/itemId/478/Another-Z-in-the-StableLook out, it looks like an RX-8 won't be filling my driveway anytime soon. I'm picking up another Z next week... Details to follow! posted from...Wed, 26 Apr 2006 16:19:00 GMT53e96c5a-4839-4ba0-9e27-d1a1886db1f1Project Z workout this weekend.https://www.chrishammond.com/Blog/itemId/479/Project-Z-workout-this-weekendAndy's got the Z for the weekend. He's off to a Test and Tune to try to figure out if we can work around the "flaws" that the Z has. He's having a special guest driver come in to help with the tuning of the car. He's got 4 front sway bars, new Hawk HPS pads, and 4 new 710s to play with. Here's to hoping he can figure out our ice mode issues! posted from...Fri, 28 Apr 2006 00:57:00 GMT0eae6867-d176-4198-8e17-aa16d3ebc2d2Project Z Test and Tune weekendhttps://www.chrishammond.com/Blog/itemId/480/Project-Z-Test-and-Tune-weekendI got a few details from Andy on his way back from the test and tune he took the car to this weekend at Grissom. I'll try to do a full writeup later in the week, but the basics of what all has changed include. Hawk HPS pads up front instead of HP+, which apparently solves our Ice Mode problems. Run a full tank of gas, instead of completely empty, to help solve some of the corner exit tire spin issues we've been fighting for over a year. A very special thanks to Sam Strano from www.stranoparts.com for driving to Indiana to help Andy get the car squared away! posted from...Sat, 29 Apr 2006 19:56:00 GMT5ffed2b8-cb6c-4745-9a68-5e69e68d7900On the road againhttps://www.chrishammond.com/Blog/itemId/512/On-the-road-againAlright. 4 hours from now I'll be getting up to hit the road to DC. Why am I posting here? Who knows, time for bed! posted from...Thu, 22 Jun 2006 23:42:00 GMT1b8d2717-bd31-48b7-bb9c-6100d84bd25aLessons Learned Todayhttps://www.chrishammond.com/Blog/itemId/513/Lessons-Learned-TodaySTL to DC is to long a darn drive for a day. A Turkey when hit by a Chevy Pickup blows up like a feather bomb. Google Maps Sucks when trying to go to Fedex Field. Related to the above comment, don't drive through DC without a map. We got some thrills today, I shoulda brought my gun. It's time for bed. posted from...Fri, 23 Jun 2006 22:35:00 GMTb86de107-d350-487c-910c-65db2df07449DC Pro Day 1https://www.chrishammond.com/Blog/itemId/514/DC-Pro-Day-1Well, after day one I'm doing alright. I'm probably 5-6ths back from Carter, I'm in 3rd, .016 back from 2nd. The car did well today, fastest on the right course, need to pick up time tomorrow on the left course. Here's to hoping there isn't any rain in the morning! posted from...Sat, 24 Jun 2006 19:05:00 GMTe0c7f9c1-71b7-483c-8eee-9de26df9ccbbDC Pro Solo Two Day 1 Videoshttps://www.chrishammond.com/Blog/itemId/515/DC-Pro-Solo-Two-Day-1-VideosHere are videos of my two best runs so far. Run 2 right side. Currently fastest BS time on the right. 32.300 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qq50lDtNXVk Run 3 left side, my best left side, 7tenths off fastest? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vDx4Em81Fjk   posted from...Sat, 24 Jun 2006 20:22:00 GMT4af1d9b0-14a0-403a-aad0-c3b964223ea996 B Stock July 9th Runs in St. Louishttps://www.chrishammond.com/Blog/itemId/529/96-B-Stock-July-9th-Runs-in-St-LouisHere are my runs from today, except for Run 4, which of course would have been the cool one because I hit cones on the camera side, but of course I checked to make sure the camera was recording right before I ran, and apparently turned it off. For some reason the videos aren't working here, you can view them here.   Posted from...Sun, 09 Jul 2006 17:18:00 GMTb8a341c4-d997-464b-b508-1c30437aa8ddIn an RX8https://www.chrishammond.com/Blog/itemId/539/In-an-RX8Well I ended up in an RX8 today. Eric Jones asked me to run in BS today as they lost 3 drivers and weren't going to make a class. So far, damn this car is different. I'm far from a smooth speed maintaining driver. I miss my torque!!!! In 4th, out of 5. Hope to move up this afternoon. posted from...Sat, 22 Jul 2006 14:36:00 GMTe75526e3-20d5-4508-840f-26577ffa50e2Scooter Lessons Learned this weekendhttps://www.chrishammond.com/Blog/itemId/552/Scooter-Lessons-Learned-this-weekendHere's a few lessons I wish I had learned a few months ago, could have saved me two fires, and many hours tearing apart a scooter for no reason. 1. To start a scooter with the ignition button you must be holding the front brake down. 2. Some scooters won't start if they're on the kickstand. I tore apart the switches on my scooter trying to get the damn starter working, only to learn that the reason I couldn't get the starter to run was that I wasn't holding down the brake lever. Now that I know this tracking down the other issues on the scooter will hopefully be easier. I don't think I'm getting any spark, but at least i know the rest of the electrical system seems to be in order now. posted from...Mon, 07 Aug 2006 10:05:00 GMT250486aa-6a9f-4138-b922-1405adda31beThings to do in St. Louis this weekend?https://www.chrishammond.com/Blog/itemId/598/Things-to-do-in-St-Louis-this-weekendLooking for something to do in St. Louis this weekend? Here's what I've got planned.Forest Park Balloon RaceRacing at Grandprix Speedways. they'll have a close to 1/2 mile track open this weekend.Rallycross at GIR on SundayBuy my car! posted from...Fri, 15 Sep 2006 09:27:00 GMT04978b95-cdd1-467d-8b9f-431ab40d4ae22007 Solo Nationalshttps://www.chrishammond.com/Blog/itemId/904/2007-Solo-NationalsGood news for me! After taking a year off of Nationals in 2006 I'm once again headed to Topeka for a week in September! I registered this morning in CStock in a 2007 Pontiac Solstice! The Collins have asked me to codrive this year in Topeka, a great honor for me to be asked. Bud was also mentioned as a contender for the CS National Championship so I'm doublely honored to get the opportunity to assist him in doing so. I booked my hotel for the week in Topeka this morning and registered for #63 CS as well! More on my Nationals adventure coming up here online! Also, I want to thank Nick Jackson for also offering me a ride in his STS Civic at Nationals. While I had looked forward to trying my hand at a FWD car at Nationals again (my first two tries I think left me with DFL both times) I couldn't turn down the opportunity to drive a RWD stock car, one that has a great chance at winning to boot! See you all at Nationals, and look for reports from our crack reporting staff this year in Topeka! posted from...Tue, 14 Aug 2007 01:10:00 GMTa276690f-23ef-4e85-98cd-1795bed10a29Off to Kansas Cityhttps://www.chrishammond.com/Blog/itemId/1143/Off-to-Kansas-CityI'm headed to Kansas City in the morning to attend two days of the Evolution Driving school. I'll try to post more tomorrow, I need to finish packing now.Thu, 03 Apr 2008 23:32:03 GMT9d12ff81-2e89-4f3d-a3eb-84367cbf8e8eTall person discriminationhttps://www.chrishammond.com/Blog/itemId/1152/Tall-person-discriminationI think the Days Inn here in Newport Arkansas discriminates against tall people. In order to take a shower and wash my hair I had to shower on my knees because the darn shower head is so short. Sat, 12 Apr 2008 07:51:02 GMT4e49c7ad-35df-4dd4-9883-714f262f5e8cKansas City Holiday Inn's Internet Sucks!https://www.chrishammond.com/Blog/itemId/1161/Kansas-City-Holiday-Inns-Internet-SucksThis might be my only post today. It took 5 minutes to load this webpage so I Could post! The internet here at the Holiday Inn near the stadiums sucks! I'm here though, ready to race, it'll be a cold day today.Sat, 19 Apr 2008 07:34:27 GMT5e2223d3-5ca0-4b41-9b75-6ccfb20aeeb2Bloody rain on race dayhttps://www.chrishammond.com/Blog/itemId/1184/Bloody-rain-on-race-daySo I guess I didn't need any practice going into the Atlanta Pro Solo next weekend (aka Doublecross). It was raining and windy this morning when I left the house, but I had every intention of running the event out at Gateway Raceway. I get out there and I see that there are no cones on the lot for a course, and it looks like people are leaving. Sure enough, the damn event was cancelled. I hung around the lot for 20-30 minutes to chat with the stragglers who were still there, and those who were showing up. Sun, 11 May 2008 22:58:34 GMTb0811e80-e6d4-4514-ae31-d8a6960f40c9Atlanta Day 1https://www.chrishammond.com/Blog/itemId/1191/Atlanta-Day-1Well, Day 1 is over, I ended up 5th, 1 out of trophies, Nick ended up in 10th. Long day, lots of sun, the brackets start tomorrow. I'll try to get more time to post tomorrow. Sat, 17 May 2008 22:45:58 GMTf81be97b-92e6-4e5e-920a-4607a298b4542010 Year in Review and What&rsquo;s coming in 2011https://www.chrishammond.com/Blog/itemId/2048/2010-Year-in-Review-and-Whatrsquos-coming-in-201So here it goes. The second attempt at writing this blog post. I had it 50% complete about 10 minutes ago, but then Windows Live Writer started typing backwards and then completely crapped out and went away. 2010 In Review Sat, 01 Jan 2011 05:36:38 GMT6773a9ce-6adc-4056-ba88-186bdfdc3ec9What&rsquo;s going on this week?https://www.chrishammond.com/Blog/itemId/2285/Whatrsquos-going-on-this-week<p>So where I Chris at? I’m doing this all week!</p> <p><a title="What I'm doing this week" href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/17726343@N00/6095588258/"><img border="0" alt="What I'm doing this week" src="http://static.flickr.com/6207/6095588258_11a0abcc25.jpg" /></a></p> <p>I’m at the 2011 SCCA Tire Rack Solo National Championships in Lincoln Nebraska. Stay tuned to <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/chammond/sets/72157627551307852/with/6095587688/">Flickr</a> and <a href="http://www.youtube.com/user/christoc">YouTube</a> for videos and photos from throughout the week!</p> <iframe height="345" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/Z_F6XSXpTM4" frameborder="0" width="420" allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen"></iframe>Tue, 30 Aug 2011 00:13:47 GMT22ecd6f2-6a73-4057-814a-1126862edb99Chris has gone awol, nah he&rsquo;s just crabbing in Half Moon Bayhttps://www.chrishammond.com/Blog/itemId/2286/Chris-has-gone-awol-nah-hersquos-just-crabbing<p>So if you are anything like my mother you probably are wondering what the heck has Chris been up to lately? Well, I am not AWOL, just busy!</p> <p>I spent last week in Lincoln Nebraska at the SCCA Solo National Championships, what’s that? Car racing. How’d I do? eh, not worth mentioning where I actually finished, but I did get to see friends I haven’t seen since Nationals in 2008, the last time I attended. I couldn’t really believe that I hadn’t been since 2008, but that is the truth, with the move to Colorado in 2009 and then California in 2010 I just didn’t get to go. I’ll have more blog posts/videos/photos from Solo Nationals in the coming week.</p> <p><a title="Day 247 of #Baby365 by chrishammond, on Flickr" href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/chammond/6115289932/"><img alt="Day 247 of #Baby365" align="right" src="http://farm7.static.flickr.com/6182/6115289932_7789ccbfdf_m.jpg" width="160" height="240" /></a>When I got back from Nationals I spent two days catching up with Natalie and <a href="http://www.jacquelinehammond.com" target="_blank">Jacqueline</a>. Sunday we headed into San Francisco to get out of Half Moon Bay and see some things. We didn’t do much, but had a nice brunch in the Presidio, drove around Golden Gate Park, and walked around near Fort Mason. Here's a photo from a lookout point at the Presidio</p> <p>This morning we went to Olivia's first birthday party in San Carlos. <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/chammond/sets/72157627605070436/">Check out some of the photos from the party</a>. Saturday Natalie and Jacqueline went to Sophia’s birthday party as well, <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/chammond/sets/72157627480810879/">photos here</a>.</p> <p>After the birthday party today we had a few folks over for a crab fest. A couple of weeks ago I had a crab dinner at a local restaurant and was kind of grumpy that I paid $22+ for half a pound of crab, so I decided that we should have our own crab dinner at our house. We had the Strohls (4), Jeff Seeling (1) and Heyward and Julia (2) over for dinner tonight. I picked up some crab from the Half Moon Bay Safeway. It was $7/lb, cooked, cracked and cleaned. I had gone to the Half Moon Bay Fish Market on Sunday to see how much it was there, I thought it was a good deal at $10/lb cooked/cleaned. I am glad that I went to Safeway this morning before the party to check things out though, the <a href="http://www.yelp.com/biz/half-moon-bay-fish-market-half-moon-bay">Yelp reviews for the Fish Market</a> made me start to have second thoughts. Safeway turned out to be great for this dinner.</p> <p>Basically we took the crab from Safeway, put it into foil lined and covered pans with a small amount of water in them, and put them on the grill for 6-9 minutes. I think they turned out great. We had 5 crabs, probably 12 lbs total, and it seemed to cover the 8 of us, though I think only 5 or 6 of us actually ate crab, in the future I’ll likely do 1 per person if we do this again. I only took 2 photos tonight, was too busy cleaning and having a good time with friends!</p> <p><a title="Crab dinner" href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/17726343@N00/6119334580/"><img border="0" alt="Crab dinner" src="http://static.flickr.com/6195/6119334580_7092b5f157_m.jpg" /></a> <a title="Crab dinner" href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/17726343@N00/6118789173/"><img border="0" alt="Crab dinner" src="http://static.flickr.com/6081/6118789173_75bdf7d601_m.jpg" /></a></p> <p>This week I have a lot of catching up to do on work! It was great to have the week off, but I feel like I am now way behind at the office!</p>Tue, 06 Sep 2011 00:53:34 GMTe01b458b-1583-4acb-a35a-f6497e554a63Project 240Z Update for July 8th 2006https://www.chrishammond.com/Cars/240z/itemId/527/Project-240Z-Update-for-July-8th-2006Well, it's been nearly a month since I last worked on the 240Z, had a few events in there, July 4th, and various other activities keeping me away from the car, but mostly it was just me being lazy. So today I spent a couple hours out in the garage wrenching. I got just about everything left that needs to be disconnected to pull the motor disconnected. Pulled the rusty exhaust out from under the car and threw it into my junk pile outside. Here's what I know I have left to do to pull the motor/tranny. 1. Disconnect the shaft from the transmission. 2. Put the mounts for the hooks from the 83 motor onto the 73 motor. 3. Disconnect the transmission mount 4. Disconnect the engine mounts and lift it out. Hopefully I can get that done next weekend! posted from...Sat, 08 Jul 2006 12:40:00 GMT112284d0-14e4-42b3-a371-6c3b5bc13d3b240Z Ideashttps://www.chrishammond.com/Cars/240z/itemId/570/240Z-IdeasFound this link to http://www.tunerzine.com/articles.php?id=188 and the build site http://www.geocities.com/projectzt/ posted from...Tue, 22 Aug 2006 01:24:00 GMTc252da33-11bb-4bce-aa62-e7b3f6429d30Project 240Z work begins again!https://www.chrishammond.com/Cars/240z/itemId/622/Project-240Z-work-begins-againI finally got to working on the SM2 project today. I didn't do much, but I got over a big hurdle.I got the 240Z moved out of the garage and moved the 280z 2+2 into the garage so I can start tearing the motor out of it. I also removed the hood and hinges from the 280, fit the hood onto the 240. That was another concern, if the hood would actually swap nicely between the two. So far it looks like it will, though I didn't bother putting the hinges on it and onto the 240 as I will just have to remove it when I go to put the motor back into the 240Z when ready.Hopefully this week I'll get started on pulling the motor out of the 280, though I'm going to have to see if I can get someone to buy the 240Z motor first, It's taking up too much room in the garage.  posted from...Sun, 08 Oct 2006 18:24:00 GMT52473ac8-748d-4ac1-84d2-2c6d70297433My Motivationhttps://www.chrishammond.com/Cars/240z/itemId/798/My-MotivationI was digging through some old photos tonight looking for photos of Jeff Krekeler, when I ran across this photo I took back in June of 2004.   When I get bored, lazy, or tired of working on the Project240z, I only have to look at that photo and realize what I'm striving for. That car is beautiful, and I hope my car can one day look that...Sat, 28 Apr 2007 01:36:00 GMTc88db3d5-02ed-4a01-b640-225d310acf5aA long day in Georgiahttps://www.chrishammond.com/Cars/Corvette/itemId/1087/A-long-day-in-GeorgiaToday started out alright. Breakfast at IHOP, headed to the event site to unload the car and mount tires. Car up on the jack, tires off the driver's side. Time to adjust the shocks. That is when it all went to hell. Head on over to www.corvettez06.org to find out...Fri, 22 Feb 2008 19:52:05 GMT272579c6-946d-4bb0-ade4-2125b781de4eBack from Georgiahttps://www.chrishammond.com/Cars/Corvette/itemId/1090/Back-from-GeorgiaA quick post as I have way too much work to catch up on! Dave and I made it back from Georgia early in the morning. Natalie came and picked me up and I think we made it to bed around 3am. Much earlier than I had expected. We made the trip back from Adel Georgia in 11 hours, the trip down took 13 hours with the ice storm and rain most of the way. More on then race later tonight when I get to blog on <a href="http://www.corvettez06.org">Corvettez06.org</a>Mon, 25 Feb 2008 16:44:39 GMTcd665787-4f4a-42a1-b69f-60c729bbe742Newport ProSolo Resultshttps://www.chrishammond.com/Cars/Corvette/itemId/1154/Newport-ProSolo-ResultsA quick personal post, I'll do a full writeup tomorrow night on www.Corvettez06.org Jeremy finished 1st and I finished 3rd in SS (I lost second by .080 Sunday). We both made it into the Hawk Super Challenge that ran on Sunday afternoon. Though, somehow, out of 32 drivers we managed to get paired up head to head. So I went out and warmed the tires up for him, hoping to give him an edge going into the rest of the challenge. He smoked me with his fastest run of the weekend, though couldn't recreate it on his next bracket against a fricken Chrysler Crossfire.... Great job nonetheless. Sun, 13 Apr 2008 23:30:18 GMT552a2c03-02ae-492b-b5b5-44e643e006aa2018 Year in Reviewhttps://www.chrishammond.com/Blog/itemId/2756/2018-Year-in-ReviewHere we are, January 1st (or 2nd) 2019, and I haven’t done a year in review for 2018. This post will have to suffice, it’ll be abbreviated, 2018 was a busy year, lots of change, lots of excitement, far too much to cover in the 10 minutes I’ve allotted myself for this post tonight. This post won’t cover family items, for those you can check out all my Facebook posts.Wed, 02 Jan 2019 05:37:06 GMT7258ae5d-b95f-46bf-8c0f-390932cdd4ec2020 Solo Spec Coupe (SSC) Falken RT660 Tireshttps://www.chrishammond.com/Blog/itemId/2969/2020-Solo-Spec-Coupe-SSC-Falken-RT660-Tires<p>New tires from Falken!</p> SpecFRS.comTue, 23 Jun 2020 15:21:04 GMTe958fccc-fc8e-4d16-8bcc-b9d167b473f5Exceptional Results in Lincoln Nebraska!https://www.chrishammond.com/Blog/itemId/2742/Exceptional-Results-in-Lincoln-Nebraska<p><a data-flickr-embed="true" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/chammond/40667948930/in/dateposted/" title="SpecFRS loaded up for travel"><img alt="SpecFRS loaded up for travel" height="375" src="https://farm1.staticflickr.com/878/40667948930_9690c26601.jpg" width="500" /></a></p> <p>Wow, what a week! Last Wednesday I loaded up the SpecFRS onto a borrowed trailer and left St. Louis the following morning to drive to Lincoln Nebraska for spring Nationals, 4 days of racing. The drive out was uneventful, spent it trying to listen to old “The Forward” podcasts, I’m not a huge podcast guy, even though I used to have my own back in the day, but I’ve been trying to listen to Armstrong’s podcast from the beginning, long drives are about the only time I can actually listen to it.</p> <p> </p> SpecFRS.comWed, 06 Jun 2018 18:29:53 GMT5d1f8018-53b5-4167-bfbc-6b5155bbe8d8SpecFRS at the 2018 ProSolo Finalehttps://www.chrishammond.com/Blog/itemId/2761/SpecFRS-at-the-2018-ProSolo-Finale<p><a data-flickr-embed="true" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/chammond/30715031998/in/album-72157701162224125/" title="Ladies Challenge - ProSolo Finale 2018"><img alt="Ladies Challenge - ProSolo Finale 2018" height="333" src="https://farm2.staticflickr.com/1848/30715031998_f8bfc33bb7.jpg" style="float: left;" width="500" /></a><script async src="//embedr.flickr.com/assets/client-code.js" charset="utf-8"></script> This post is coming 6 months (maybe more?) too late, but at least it is coming. The 2018 ProSolo Finale and Solo National Championships was a week of ups and downs for the team. The results were mixed across the board in terms of performance with some highlights and some down times as well.</p> SpecFRS.comThu, 31 Jan 2019 04:02:09 GMT57de09a5-17ab-4c21-be0c-a0567d84ede81973 VW Super Beetle Wide Fendershttps://www.chrishammond.com/Blog/itemId/3032/1973-VW-Super-Beetle-Wide-Fenders<p>When we were redoing our 1973 Super Beetle in the summer of 1998, I wanted to go with wider fenders. We ordered fiberglass fenders from a company called Innovations in Fiberglass. I don't know if they are still in business or not.</p> <p>We put 3" wider fenders on the rear of the car, and 2" wider on the front. </p> <p>Here's a shot of the front</p> <p><a data-flickr-embed="true" data-footer="true" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/chammond/4322039065/" title="73 Super Beetle Autocrossing"><img alt="73 Super Beetle Autocrossing" height="331" src="https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4053/4322039065_41870516db.jpg" width="500" /></a><script async src="//embedr.flickr.com/assets/client-code.js" charset="utf-8"></script></p> <p>Here's a shot of the rear</p> <p><a data-flickr-embed="true" data-footer="true" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/chammond/33736194413/" title="1973 VW Super Beetle Rear End"><img alt="1973 VW Super Beetle Rear End" height="225" src="https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4180/33736194413_8a3450fb69.jpg" width="300" /></a><script async src="//embedr.flickr.com/assets/client-code.js" charset="utf-8"></script></p> ProjectVW.comTue, 10 Oct 2017 23:03:10 GMT272f1f48-90a9-4ea2-a401-ed9cf89aba4b2014 Blytheville ProSolo Recaphttps://www.chrishammond.com/Blog/itemId/2651/2014-Blytheville-ProSolo-RecapThis weekend Dave and I headed down to Blytheville Arkansas for the first SCCA ProSolo of the 2014 season. I haven’t given autocross much though since Nationals in September, the primary thought I have had since then is that I figured I wouldn’t autocross much this year. The local SCCA region really put a damper on my autocross spirits last year, so I figured I might run a few National level events, but few if any local events.Sun, 23 Mar 2014 23:51:01 GMT3830c55d-5597-4a37-a98a-139ba401d5782016 Wilmington ProSolo #1 and the 2016 Spring Nationals ProSolo and Champ Tourhttps://www.chrishammond.com/Blog/itemId/2687/2016-Wilmington-ProSolo-1-and-the-2016-Spring-Nat<p>So here we are, another month has gone by since the last blog post, time for an update here on the status of <a href="http://twitter.com/project350z" target="_blank">@Project350z</a>. </p> <p>TL;DR: Crap</p> <p>So at the end of April I headed to Peru Indiana for the Gateway Autocross Association event at Grissom, I stuffed 4 tires into the 350z and headed on my way Friday afternoon. </p><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/Project350z/~4/aiiSkNDM9cQ" height="1" width="1" alt=""/>https://www.chrishammond.com/Portals/0/-1Project350zMon, 11 Jul 2016 00:44:14 GMT6f27a44f-3c44-4643-b954-837e49579f2f2018 Blytheville ProSolo Results for SSChttps://www.chrishammond.com/Blog/itemId/2740/2018-Blytheville-ProSolo-Results-for-SSC<p><a data-flickr-embed="true" data-footer="true" data-header="true" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/chammond/26990079767/in/album-72157690612809440/" title="SSC Cars in Impound waiting for the Challenges"><img alt="SSC Cars in Impound waiting for the Challenges" height="333" src="https://farm1.staticflickr.com/906/26990079767_9da6e5a1e9.jpg" width="500" /></a><script async src="//embedr.flickr.com/assets/client-code.js" charset="utf-8"></script></p> <p>In short, WOW. What an amazing weekend.</p> <p>I went into the weekend hopeful that I would drive the car well, and that I would be able to prove to myself that I can hang with the big dogs. I’ve been autocrossing for a long time (with a few gaps in between) and while I’ve had some spurts of random success outside of St. Louis, I have never felt confident that I could do it repeatedly. The idea of SSC, a Spec class in Solo, was very intriguing to me, as I wanted to try to rule out “I don’t have the right car”, from the equation.</p> <p>The weekend started out with me leaving St. Louis just after 1pm due to a company all hands meeting. I ended up getting down to Arkansas Aeroplex in Blytheville just after 5pm on Friday evening. I parked the car and met up with my co-driver for the weekend, Kevin Dietz out of Washington state. We discussed if there was a chance to do practice starts, or take a shot at the practice course. The practice starts were wrapping up, so I quickly unloaded the car and headed over. We ended up taking 7 practice runs between the two of us, and found the car to be rather pushy.</p> SpecFRS.comThu, 03 May 2018 01:52:44 GMTbbaeafe4-603f-4baa-b5df-dc15489badb82019 SpecFRS.com Season up to Nationalshttps://www.chrishammond.com/Blog/itemId/2918/2019-SpecFRScom-Season-up-to-Nationals<blockquote class="instagram-media" data-instgrm-captioned="" data-instgrm-permalink="https://www.instagram.com/p/BwS-GexFfU8/" data-instgrm-version="12" style=" background:#FFF; border:0; border-radius:3px; box-shadow:0 0 1px 0 rgba(0,0,0,0.5),0 1px 10px 0 rgba(0,0,0,0.15); margin: 1px; max-width:540px; min-width:326px; padding:0; width:99.375%; width:-webkit-calc(100% - 2px); width:calc(100% - 2px);"> <div style="padding:16px;"> <div style=" display: flex; flex-direction: row; align-items: center;"> <div style="background-color: #F4F4F4; border-radius: 50%; flex-grow: 0; height: 40px; margin-right: 14px; width: 40px;"> </div> <div style="display: flex; flex-direction: column; flex-grow: 1; justify-content: center;"> <div style=" background-color: #F4F4F4; border-radius: 4px; flex-grow: 0; height: 14px; margin-bottom: 6px; width: 100px;"> </div> <div style=" background-color: #F4F4F4; border-radius: 4px; flex-grow: 0; height: 14px; width: 60px;"> </div> </div> </div> <div style="padding: 19% 0;"> </div> <div style="display:block; height:50px; margin:0 auto 12px; width:50px;"><a href="https://www.instagram.com/p/BwS-GexFfU8/" style=" background:#FFFFFF; line-height:0; padding:0 0; text-align:center; text-decoration:none; width:100%;" target="_blank"><svg height="50px" version="1.1" viewbox="0 0 60 60" width="50px" xmlns="https://www.w3.org/2000/svg" xmlns:xlink="https://www.w3.org/1999/xlink"><g fill="none" fill-rule="evenodd" stroke="none" stroke-width="1"><g fill="#000000" transform="translate(-511.000000, -20.000000)"><g><path d="M556.869,30.41 C554.814,30.41 553.148,32.076 553.148,34.131 C553.148,36.186 554.814,37.852 556.869,37.852 C558.924,37.852 560.59,36.186 560.59,34.131 C560.59,32.076 558.924,30.41 556.869,30.41 M541,60.657 C535.114,60.657 530.342,55.887 530.342,50 C530.342,44.114 535.114,39.342 541,39.342 C546.887,39.342 551.658,44.114 551.658,50 C551.658,55.887 546.887,60.657 541,60.657 M541,33.886 C532.1,33.886 524.886,41.1 524.886,50 C524.886,58.899 532.1,66.113 541,66.113 C549.9,66.113 557.115,58.899 557.115,50 C557.115,41.1 549.9,33.886 541,33.886 M565.378,62.101 C565.244,65.022 564.756,66.606 564.346,67.663 C563.803,69.06 563.154,70.057 562.106,71.106 C561.058,72.155 560.06,72.803 558.662,73.347 C557.607,73.757 556.021,74.244 553.102,74.378 C549.944,74.521 548.997,74.552 541,74.552 C533.003,74.552 532.056,74.521 528.898,74.378 C525.979,74.244 524.393,73.757 523.338,73.347 C521.94,72.803 520.942,72.155 519.894,71.106 C518.846,70.057 518.197,69.06 517.654,67.663 C517.244,66.606 516.755,65.022 516.623,62.101 C516.479,58.943 516.448,57.996 516.448,50 C516.448,42.003 516.479,41.056 516.623,37.899 C516.755,34.978 517.244,33.391 517.654,32.338 C518.197,30.938 518.846,29.942 519.894,28.894 C520.942,27.846 521.94,27.196 523.338,26.654 C524.393,26.244 525.979,25.756 528.898,25.623 C532.057,25.479 533.004,25.448 541,25.448 C548.997,25.448 549.943,25.479 553.102,25.623 C556.021,25.756 557.607,26.244 558.662,26.654 C560.06,27.196 561.058,27.846 562.106,28.894 C563.154,29.942 563.803,30.938 564.346,32.338 C564.756,33.391 565.244,34.978 565.378,37.899 C565.522,41.056 565.552,42.003 565.552,50 C565.552,57.996 565.522,58.943 565.378,62.101 M570.82,37.631 C570.674,34.438 570.167,32.258 569.425,30.349 C568.659,28.377 567.633,26.702 565.965,25.035 C564.297,23.368 562.623,22.342 560.652,21.575 C558.743,20.834 556.562,20.326 553.369,20.18 C550.169,20.033 549.148,20 541,20 C532.853,20 531.831,20.033 528.631,20.18 C525.438,20.326 523.257,20.834 521.349,21.575 C519.376,22.342 517.703,23.368 516.035,25.035 C514.368,26.702 513.342,28.377 512.574,30.349 C511.834,32.258 511.326,34.438 511.181,37.631 C511.035,40.831 511,41.851 511,50 C511,58.147 511.035,59.17 511.181,62.369 C511.326,65.562 511.834,67.743 512.574,69.651 C513.342,71.625 514.368,73.296 516.035,74.965 C517.703,76.634 519.376,77.658 521.349,78.425 C523.257,79.167 525.438,79.673 528.631,79.82 C531.831,79.965 532.853,80.001 541,80.001 C549.148,80.001 550.169,79.965 553.369,79.82 C556.562,79.673 558.743,79.167 560.652,78.425 C562.623,77.658 564.297,76.634 565.965,74.965 C567.633,73.296 568.659,71.625 569.425,69.651 C570.167,67.743 570.674,65.562 570.82,62.369 C570.966,59.17 571,58.147 571,50 C571,41.851 570.966,40.831 570.82,37.631"></path></g></g></g></svg></a></div> <div style="padding-top: 8px;"> <div style=" color:#3897f0; font-family:Arial,sans-serif; font-size:14px; font-style:normal; font-weight:550; line-height:18px;"><a href="https://www.instagram.com/p/BwS-GexFfU8/" style=" background:#FFFFFF; line-height:0; padding:0 0; text-align:center; text-decoration:none; width:100%;" target="_blank">View this post on Instagram</a></div> </div> <div style="padding: 12.5% 0;"> </div> <div style="display: flex; flex-direction: row; margin-bottom: 14px; align-items: center;"> <div> <div style="background-color: #F4F4F4; border-radius: 50%; height: 12.5px; width: 12.5px; transform: translateX(0px) translateY(7px);"> </div> <div style="background-color: #F4F4F4; height: 12.5px; transform: rotate(-45deg) translateX(3px) translateY(1px); width: 12.5px; flex-grow: 0; margin-right: 14px; margin-left: 2px;"> </div> <div style="background-color: #F4F4F4; border-radius: 50%; height: 12.5px; width: 12.5px; transform: translateX(9px) translateY(-18px);"> </div> </div> <div style="margin-left: 8px;"> <div style=" background-color: #F4F4F4; border-radius: 50%; flex-grow: 0; height: 20px; width: 20px;"> </div> <div style=" width: 0; height: 0; border-top: 2px solid transparent; border-left: 6px solid #f4f4f4; border-bottom: 2px solid transparent; transform: translateX(16px) translateY(-4px) rotate(30deg)"> </div> </div> <div style="margin-left: auto;"> <div style=" width: 0px; border-top: 8px solid #F4F4F4; border-right: 8px solid transparent; transform: translateY(16px);"> </div> <div style=" background-color: #F4F4F4; flex-grow: 0; height: 12px; width: 16px; transform: translateY(-4px);"> </div> <div style=" width: 0; height: 0; border-top: 8px solid #F4F4F4; border-left: 8px solid transparent; transform: translateY(-4px) translateX(8px);"> </div> </div> </div> <p style=" margin:8px 0 0 0; padding:0 4px;"><a href="https://www.instagram.com/p/BwS-GexFfU8/" style=" color:#000; font-family:Arial,sans-serif; font-size:14px; font-style:normal; font-weight:normal; line-height:17px; text-decoration:none; word-wrap:break-word;" target="_blank">Hanger #scion #frs #ww2 #airport #toyota #86 #autocross</a></p> <p style=" color:#c9c8cd; font-family:Arial,sans-serif; font-size:14px; line-height:17px; margin-bottom:0; margin-top:8px; overflow:hidden; padding:8px 0 7px; text-align:center; text-overflow:ellipsis; white-space:nowrap;">A post shared by <a href="https://www.instagram.com/specfrs/" style=" color:#c9c8cd; font-family:Arial,sans-serif; font-size:14px; font-style:normal; font-weight:normal; line-height:17px;" target="_blank"> SpecFRS</a> (@specfrs) on <time datetime="2019-04-16T00:32:09+00:00" style=" font-family:Arial,sans-serif; font-size:14px; line-height:17px;">Apr 15, 2019 at 5:32pm PDT</time></p> </div> </blockquote> <script async src="//www.instagram.com/embed.js"></script> <p>Where has the time gone? The 2019 season, at least Nationally, has come, and almost gone. The ProSolo Finale and TireRack National Championships are next week in Lincoln Nebraska, and SpecFRS.com will be there. But how did we get there? Let’s look back on the 2019 season.</p> SpecFRS.comWed, 28 Aug 2019 03:26:48 GMT10337e82-106b-4359-af39-ab02381ba8882020 St. Louis Region Autocross Photoshttps://www.chrishammond.com/Blog/itemId/3010/2020-St-Louis-Region-Autocross-Photos<p>With a limited number of National events for the 2020 season, local autocross became the focus for many drivers around the country. In St. Louis we've had 8 of 9 events. </p> <p>RainbowMarks has been able to shoot photos at a variety of these events, below you will find photo galleries of some of those events.</p> <h2>July 26, 2020</h2> <p><a data-flickr-embed="true" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/chammond/albums/72157715253217528" title="July 26, 2020 Autocross"><img alt="July 26, 2020 Autocross" height="600" src="https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/50157126778_08c69dfe67_c.jpg" width="800" /></a> <script async src="//embedr.flickr.com/assets/client-code.js" charset="utf-8"></script> </p> <h2>September 20, 2020</h2> <p><a data-flickr-embed="true" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/chammond/albums/72157716059485046" title="St. Louis Autocross 9-20-2020 Heat 1"><img alt="St. Louis Autocross 9-20-2020 Heat 1" height="600" src="https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/50368086462_517bf048a1_c.jpg" width="800" /></a> <script async src="//embedr.flickr.com/assets/client-code.js" charset="utf-8"></script> <a data-flickr-embed="true" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/chammond/albums/72157716064809442" title="St. Louis Autocross 9-20-2020 Heat 3"><img alt="St. Louis Autocross 9-20-2020 Heat 3" height="600" src="https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/50368615512_d1749824e9_c.jpg" width="800" /></a> <script async src="//embedr.flickr.com/assets/client-code.js" charset="utf-8"></script> </p> <h2>October 4th, 2020</h2> <p><a data-flickr-embed="true" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/chammond/albums/72157716257614593" title="2020 St Louis Region Event 7 Heat 1"><img alt="2020 St Louis Region Event 7 Heat 1" height="600" src="https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/50420997402_d2f7c471a5_c.jpg" width="800" /></a> <script async src="//embedr.flickr.com/assets/client-code.js" charset="utf-8"></script> <a data-flickr-embed="true" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/chammond/albums/72157716258351566" title="2020 St. Louis Region Event 7 Heat 2"><img alt="2020 St. Louis Region Event 7 Heat 2" height="600" src="https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/50420526703_e727e5e0d8_c.jpg" width="800" /></a> <script async src="//embedr.flickr.com/assets/client-code.js" charset="utf-8"></script> </p> <h2>October 10th, 2020</h2> <p><a data-flickr-embed="true" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/chammond/albums/72157716341449928" title="St. Louis Autocross 10-10-2020 Heat 1"><img alt="St. Louis Autocross 10-10-2020 Heat 1" height="600" src="https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/50447972882_8a681dd6fa_c.jpg" width="800" /></a> <script async src="//embedr.flickr.com/assets/client-code.js" charset="utf-8"></script> <a data-flickr-embed="true" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/chammond/albums/72157716351395896" title="St. Louis Region Autocross 10-10-2020 Heat 3"><img alt="St. Louis Region Autocross 10-10-2020 Heat 3" height="600" src="https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/50450667413_e2442d0e2e_c.jpg" width="800" /></a> <script async src="//embedr.flickr.com/assets/client-code.js" charset="utf-8"></script> </p>RainbowMarksBlogMon, 12 Oct 2020 15:12:54 GMTb8e3df5c-4d1e-4530-846e-4f6159cf33212021 Events 1 and 2https://www.chrishammond.com/Blog/itemId/3022/2021-Events-1-and-2<p>So here we are, it’s 2021 already and you’ve hopefully started autocrossing again. We have had the car out to <s>one</s> two events so far.</p> <p>The first event was back on April 11th, a few days before we started writing this post (and are just now getting around to finishing). Tom S is codriving with me at most events this year, not sure how many out of town events he will be at, or heck how many out of town events I will be at.</p> <p>Event 1 So event one. The weekend before the event I decided it was time to take all the rest of the vinyl off (sponsor/series decals) and with that came a load of residue and blemishes in the paint from the removal. 2 days before the event I went down to Detail Garage in Valley Park to pick up some supplies. I grabbed a Torq random orbital buffer, along with a number of other supplies so that I could try my hand at paint correction. I spent Saturday before event one paint correcting the car (all but the back of the rear end). I must say, I was totally pleased with the results. You can see a before and after of the top of the trunk on our Instagram.</p> <blockquote class="instagram-media" data-instgrm-permalink="https://www.instagram.com/p/CNf5_xlFVbB/?utm_source=ig_embed&utm_campaign=loading" data-instgrm-version="13" style=" background:#FFF; border:0; border-radius:3px; box-shadow:0 0 1px 0 rgba(0,0,0,0.5),0 1px 10px 0 rgba(0,0,0,0.15); margin: 1px; max-width:540px; min-width:326px; padding:0; width:99.375%; width:-webkit-calc(100% - 2px); width:calc(100% - 2px);"> <div style="padding:16px;"> <div style=" display: flex; flex-direction: row; align-items: center;"> <div style="background-color: #F4F4F4; border-radius: 50%; flex-grow: 0; height: 40px; margin-right: 14px; width: 40px;"> </div> <div style="display: flex; flex-direction: column; flex-grow: 1; justify-content: center;"> <div style=" background-color: #F4F4F4; border-radius: 4px; flex-grow: 0; height: 14px; margin-bottom: 6px; width: 100px;"> </div> <div style=" background-color: #F4F4F4; border-radius: 4px; flex-grow: 0; height: 14px; width: 60px;"> </div> </div> </div> <div style="padding: 19% 0;"> </div> <div style="display:block; height:50px; margin:0 auto 12px; width:50px;"><a href="https://www.instagram.com/p/CNf5_xlFVbB/?utm_source=ig_embed&utm_campaign=loading" style=" background:#FFFFFF; line-height:0; padding:0 0; text-align:center; text-decoration:none; width:100%;" target="_blank"><svg height="50px" version="1.1" viewbox="0 0 60 60" width="50px" xmlns="https://www.w3.org/2000/svg" xmlns:xlink="https://www.w3.org/1999/xlink"><g fill="none" fill-rule="evenodd" stroke="none" stroke-width="1"><g fill="#000000" transform="translate(-511.000000, -20.000000)"><g><path d="M556.869,30.41 C554.814,30.41 553.148,32.076 553.148,34.131 C553.148,36.186 554.814,37.852 556.869,37.852 C558.924,37.852 560.59,36.186 560.59,34.131 C560.59,32.076 558.924,30.41 556.869,30.41 M541,60.657 C535.114,60.657 530.342,55.887 530.342,50 C530.342,44.114 535.114,39.342 541,39.342 C546.887,39.342 551.658,44.114 551.658,50 C551.658,55.887 546.887,60.657 541,60.657 M541,33.886 C532.1,33.886 524.886,41.1 524.886,50 C524.886,58.899 532.1,66.113 541,66.113 C549.9,66.113 557.115,58.899 557.115,50 C557.115,41.1 549.9,33.886 541,33.886 M565.378,62.101 C565.244,65.022 564.756,66.606 564.346,67.663 C563.803,69.06 563.154,70.057 562.106,71.106 C561.058,72.155 560.06,72.803 558.662,73.347 C557.607,73.757 556.021,74.244 553.102,74.378 C549.944,74.521 548.997,74.552 541,74.552 C533.003,74.552 532.056,74.521 528.898,74.378 C525.979,74.244 524.393,73.757 523.338,73.347 C521.94,72.803 520.942,72.155 519.894,71.106 C518.846,70.057 518.197,69.06 517.654,67.663 C517.244,66.606 516.755,65.022 516.623,62.101 C516.479,58.943 516.448,57.996 516.448,50 C516.448,42.003 516.479,41.056 516.623,37.899 C516.755,34.978 517.244,33.391 517.654,32.338 C518.197,30.938 518.846,29.942 519.894,28.894 C520.942,27.846 521.94,27.196 523.338,26.654 C524.393,26.244 525.979,25.756 528.898,25.623 C532.057,25.479 533.004,25.448 541,25.448 C548.997,25.448 549.943,25.479 553.102,25.623 C556.021,25.756 557.607,26.244 558.662,26.654 C560.06,27.196 561.058,27.846 562.106,28.894 C563.154,29.942 563.803,30.938 564.346,32.338 C564.756,33.391 565.244,34.978 565.378,37.899 C565.522,41.056 565.552,42.003 565.552,50 C565.552,57.996 565.522,58.943 565.378,62.101 M570.82,37.631 C570.674,34.438 570.167,32.258 569.425,30.349 C568.659,28.377 567.633,26.702 565.965,25.035 C564.297,23.368 562.623,22.342 560.652,21.575 C558.743,20.834 556.562,20.326 553.369,20.18 C550.169,20.033 549.148,20 541,20 C532.853,20 531.831,20.033 528.631,20.18 C525.438,20.326 523.257,20.834 521.349,21.575 C519.376,22.342 517.703,23.368 516.035,25.035 C514.368,26.702 513.342,28.377 512.574,30.349 C511.834,32.258 511.326,34.438 511.181,37.631 C511.035,40.831 511,41.851 511,50 C511,58.147 511.035,59.17 511.181,62.369 C511.326,65.562 511.834,67.743 512.574,69.651 C513.342,71.625 514.368,73.296 516.035,74.965 C517.703,76.634 519.376,77.658 521.349,78.425 C523.257,79.167 525.438,79.673 528.631,79.82 C531.831,79.965 532.853,80.001 541,80.001 C549.148,80.001 550.169,79.965 553.369,79.82 C556.562,79.673 558.743,79.167 560.652,78.425 C562.623,77.658 564.297,76.634 565.965,74.965 C567.633,73.296 568.659,71.625 569.425,69.651 C570.167,67.743 570.674,65.562 570.82,62.369 C570.966,59.17 571,58.147 571,50 C571,41.851 570.966,40.831 570.82,37.631"></path></g></g></g></svg></a></div> <div style="padding-top: 8px;"> <div style=" color:#3897f0; font-family:Arial,sans-serif; font-size:14px; font-style:normal; font-weight:550; line-height:18px;"><a href="https://www.instagram.com/p/CNf5_xlFVbB/?utm_source=ig_embed&utm_campaign=loading" style=" background:#FFFFFF; line-height:0; padding:0 0; text-align:center; text-decoration:none; width:100%;" target="_blank">View this post on Instagram</a></div> </div> <div style="padding: 12.5% 0;"> </div> <div style="display: flex; flex-direction: row; margin-bottom: 14px; align-items: center;"> <div> <div style="background-color: #F4F4F4; border-radius: 50%; height: 12.5px; width: 12.5px; transform: translateX(0px) translateY(7px);"> </div> <div style="background-color: #F4F4F4; height: 12.5px; transform: rotate(-45deg) translateX(3px) translateY(1px); width: 12.5px; flex-grow: 0; margin-right: 14px; margin-left: 2px;"> </div> <div style="background-color: #F4F4F4; border-radius: 50%; height: 12.5px; width: 12.5px; transform: translateX(9px) translateY(-18px);"> </div> </div> <div style="margin-left: 8px;"> <div style=" background-color: #F4F4F4; border-radius: 50%; flex-grow: 0; height: 20px; width: 20px;"> </div> <div style=" width: 0; height: 0; border-top: 2px solid transparent; border-left: 6px solid #f4f4f4; border-bottom: 2px solid transparent; transform: translateX(16px) translateY(-4px) rotate(30deg)"> </div> </div> <div style="margin-left: auto;"> <div style=" width: 0px; border-top: 8px solid #F4F4F4; border-right: 8px solid transparent; transform: translateY(16px);"> </div> <div style=" background-color: #F4F4F4; flex-grow: 0; height: 12px; width: 16px; transform: translateY(-4px);"> </div> <div style=" width: 0; height: 0; border-top: 8px solid #F4F4F4; border-left: 8px solid transparent; transform: translateY(-4px) translateX(8px);"> </div> </div> </div> <div style="display: flex; flex-direction: column; flex-grow: 1; justify-content: center; margin-bottom: 24px;"> <div style=" background-color: #F4F4F4; border-radius: 4px; flex-grow: 0; height: 14px; margin-bottom: 6px; width: 224px;"> </div> <div style=" background-color: #F4F4F4; border-radius: 4px; flex-grow: 0; height: 14px; width: 144px;"> </div> </div> <p style=" color:#c9c8cd; font-family:Arial,sans-serif; font-size:14px; line-height:17px; margin-bottom:0; margin-top:8px; overflow:hidden; padding:8px 0 7px; text-align:center; text-overflow:ellipsis; white-space:nowrap;"><a href="https://www.instagram.com/p/CNf5_xlFVbB/?utm_source=ig_embed&utm_campaign=loading" style=" color:#c9c8cd; font-family:Arial,sans-serif; font-size:14px; font-style:normal; font-weight:normal; line-height:17px; text-decoration:none;" target="_blank">A post shared by SpecFRS (@specfrs)</a></p> </div> </blockquote> <script async="" src="//www.instagram.com/embed.js"></script> <p>After getting the polishing done and throwing some wax on the car, I swapped the wheels/tires out for the set of brand new Falken RT660s and packed the car up to be ready to head out early in the morning.</p> <p>The event went well, though the car took some cone damage to the front end. I had removed the racer’s tape that had been holding some of it together, and failed to re-apply it after all the paint correction, I made sure to correct that a few days later. I ended up taking 1st in the class, and 2nd on PAX for the event. Tom was 3rd in PAX and we welcomed a newcomer to the St. Louis region, Juan, also in SSC, into the 7th place PAX spot. Juan is down near Springfield, MO and will be joining us for to liven up the competition this year.</p> <p>It wasn’t as productive an event as I would have liked, I always prefer to walk away with a PAX win, but Greer in his GT3 put almost 3/4 of a second in PAX time on me for the day.</p> <p>Here’s some side by side video of my fastest run (left) and Tom’s fastest run (right).</p> <p><iframe allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/ntwIlaRbluU" title="SSC Side By Side Event 1 2021" width="560"></iframe></p> <p>Event 2 Prep for Event 2 only consisted of swapping tires again and the previously mentioned tape work.</p> <p>Overall the event was sloppy, I had a hard time keeping clean and coned my fastest run (first corner before the start lights). Tom ended up taking the win in SSC for the event. I’ll try to get around to videos for that, not sure when I will!</p> <h2 id="autocross-settings-from-2021-event-1--2-same-as-2020">Autocross Settings from 2021 Event 1 & 2 (same as 2020):</h2> <p><em>Front Swaybar:</em> Soft setting<br /> <em>Rear Swaybar:</em> Stiff Setting<br /> <em>Front Konis:</em> 0.5 turn from soft<br /> <em>Rear Konis:</em> 1.5 turns from soft<br /> <em>Front Tire Pressure:</em> 30 psi<br /> <em>Rear Tire Pressure:</em> 29 psi</p> SpecFRS.comTue, 04 May 2021 09:30:15 GMTb03d02a2-5475-4b12-8f4c-bc2786af34c72021 St. Louis Region Autocross Photoshttps://www.chrishammond.com/Blog/itemId/3018/2021-St-Louis-Region-Autocross-Photos<p>The 2021 Season is off to a great start here in St. Louis, with 150+ drivers at the first event. As we shoot additional events we'll add the slideshows to this page. Visit my photography blog to see some of the shots.</p> <p> </p> <h2> </h2> <p><script async src="//embedr.flickr.com/assets/client-code.js" charset="utf-8"></script></p> RainbowMarksBlogMon, 12 Apr 2021 15:12:54 GMT7f1f4820-c8ed-4cb1-bde3-beaf97c3439f240Z First Autocross Run, Last Autocross run of 2007https://www.chrishammond.com/Cars/240z/itemId/903/240Z-First-Autocross-Run-Last-Autocross-run-of-20So I got up bright and early this morning, well it wasn't bright, the sun wasn't up yet. Headed out to Gateway Raceway in Madison Illinois for Event 7 of the St. Louis Region SCCA Solo Series. My parents came out in their large RV so I wanted to get out there early and be sure to get them a spot to park it. After getting worker assignments squared away I took the car over and got it teched. All went well in tech and then Whittle came over and started messing around with the megasquirt. By the time the second heat came around, the heat in which I was running, it was getting rather warm out. More on this post coming tomorrow as I updated it, short notes until then: Car starts, car ran, car dies, and it's all vanity Two quick photos, a lot more still uploading And part of the reason the motor no longer runs, it doesn't appear to even turn...Mon, 13 Aug 2007 11:27:56 GMT640fb39a-3a9f-43ee-82fd-c854f199e929240Z First Autocross Run, Last Autocross run of 2007https://www.chrishammond.com/Cars/240z/itemId/2443/240Z-First-Autocross-Run-Last-Autocross-run-of-20So I got up bright and early this morning, well it wasn't bright, the sun wasn't up yet. Headed out to Gateway Raceway in Madison Illinois for Event 7 of the St. Louis Region SCCA Solo Series. My parents came out in their large RV so I wanted to get out there early and be sure to get them a spot to park it. After getting worker assignments squared away I took the car over and got it teched. All went well in tech and then Whittle came over and started messing around with the megasquirt. By the time the second heat came around, the heat in which I was running, it was getting rather warm out. More on this post coming tomorrow as I updated it, short notes until then: Car starts, car ran, car dies, and it's all vanity Two quick photos, a lot more still uploading And part of the reason the motor no longer runs, it doesn't appear to even turn...Chris HammondMon, 13 Aug 2007 19:27:56 GMT056b2f85-b163-47a4-8978-3ff5fb656316240Z First Drive!https://www.chrishammond.com/Cars/240z/itemId/2438/240Z-First-DriveThanks to everyone who helped on the car I was able to tow it out to Gateway yesterday for the SCCA Autocross. I didn't plan to compete the car, but I brought everything with me that I needed to get it put together enough to try driving it for the first time. After I installed the driver's seat with the help of Phil Cline, Whittle and I bled the brakes on the car. From there it was a matter of hooking everything up and getting her off the trailer. Below is the link to the video page, thanks to Dave for filming the first drive. First Drive Video I can't thank everyone who has helped me get this far enough. I'm far from done with the project, but the biggest hurdle in my mind has been cleared. My biggest fear was that once together the car just wouldn't run, and now it runs! Thanks to the following, in no particular order: Russ Melton Dave Whitworth Eric MacKenzie Terec Willson Andy Whittle Andy Hohl Bill Hammond (my dad) Ronnie Baker Henry Kenuam Everyone of those guys' wives! And of course my wife Natalie for letting me spend the past few months dirty and greasy! This will most definitely not be the end of the project, just the beginning of a running car! Edit: I knew i'd forget someone! Thanks to Mark and John Huebbe for the use of the welder, and inspiration of the...Chris HammondWed, 01 Aug 2007 01:10:41 GMTd954516a-83a5-4959-a463-319926eca1a5240Z First Drive!https://www.chrishammond.com/Cars/240z/itemId/888/240Z-First-DriveThanks to everyone who helped on the car I was able to tow it out to Gateway yesterday for the SCCA Autocross. I didn't plan to compete the car, but I brought everything with me that I needed to get it put together enough to try driving it for the first time. After I installed the driver's seat with the help of Phil Cline, Whittle and I bled the brakes on the car. From there it was a matter of hooking everything up and getting her off the trailer. Below is the link to the video page, thanks to Dave for filming the first drive. First Drive Video I can't thank everyone who has helped me get this far enough. I'm far from done with the project, but the biggest hurdle in my mind has been cleared. My biggest fear was that once together the car just wouldn't run, and now it runs! Thanks to the following, in no particular order: Russ Melton Dave Whitworth Eric MacKenzie Terec Wilson Andy Whittle Andy Hohl Bill Hammond (my dad) Ronnie Baker Henry Kenuam Everyone of those guys' wives! And of course my wife Natalie for letting me spend the past few months dirty and greasy! This will most definitely not be the end of the project, just the beginning of a running...Mon, 30 Jul 2007 14:40:09 GMT3e322544-f41f-4abc-ad82-16a32f920a71350z Setup and Modifications for SCCA Autocross STU classhttps://www.chrishammond.com/Blog/itemId/2679/350z-Setup-and-Modifications-for-SCCA-Autocross-ST<p>We’ll try to keep this list updated with current modifications, and a list of past modifications as well as we build and compete our 350z in the SCCA STU autocross class.</p> <h3>Vehicle</h3> <ul> <li>Year: 2003</li> <li>Make: Nissan</li> <li>Model: 350z</li> <li>Package: Touring</li> </ul> Project350zMon, 29 Feb 2016 00:00:41 GMT1b564b6e-9758-4795-88c5-a404339c2ff0A Project Epiphanyhttps://www.chrishammond.com/Cars/240z/itemId/812/A-Project-EpiphanyLast night I spent a few hours sitting in the car. I had decided over the weekend I needed to take out all of the interior, or at least most of it, and clean up the inside of the car. I can always get the outside painted later, but the inside, if I'm going to be in it, needs to be cleaned up, and painted. It's orange, or red, I can't tell which, and though most of the interior items cover the orange there are gaps that show through. So I took out all the diamond plate looking black vinyl, and then started removing the tar board and furry coating over the transmission tunnel. I've removed all that I think I can remove right now, and eventually will also pull the dash out and replace the dash with a fiberglass dash I acquired when I purchased the car. While sitting in the car I had a lot of time to think, and based on the state of the car (old, rusty, partially assembled) I have decided that I won't be building the car up to SM2 rules anymore. I'll be aiming for the new XP class in SCCA Solo. By going to XP, I no longer have to worry about a few major things that I was concerned with. I don't have to deal with the interior anymore, I can do whatever I want (I think), so I can do something custom inside, without having to worry about SM2 rules about interiors. Moving to XP also frees up my options with mounting my seat. With SM2 mounting my seat like I plan to mount it may not have been legal, it'd have been a grey area, but within the rules of XP I believe I'll have all sorts of options for mounting the seat and remaining in the rules. So, XP here I come. I still plan to compete in SM2 for St. Louis region autocrosses this year, at least 4 more in SM2, then I'll try to run the 240Z in XP, unless of course I just talk myself into running XP for enough events to qualify for a year end class championship. Photos of the interior after last night's...Tue, 15 May 2007 08:23:46 GMT6fbb1c5e-00ec-4ef0-8975-cf3b08a6de3cA Project Epiphanyhttps://www.chrishammond.com/Cars/240z/itemId/2396/A-Project-EpiphanyLast night I spent a few hours sitting in the car. I had decided over the weekend I needed to take out all of the interior, or at least most of it, and clean up the inside of the car. I can always get the outside painted later, but the inside, if I'm going to be in it, needs to be cleaned up, and painted. It's orange, or red, I can't tell which, and though most of the interior items cover the orange there are gaps that show through. So I took out all the diamond plate looking black vinyl, and then started removing the tar board and furry coating over the transmission tunnel. I've removed all that I think I can remove right now, and eventually will also pull the dash out and replace the dash with a fiberglass dash I acquired when I purchased the car. While sitting in the car I had a lot of time to think, and based on the state of the car (old, rusty, partially assembled) I have decided that I won't be building the car up to SM2 rules anymore. I'll be aiming for the new XP class in SCCA Solo. By going to XP, I no longer have to worry about a few major things that I was concerned with. I don't have to deal with the interior anymore, I can do whatever I want (I think), so I can do something custom inside, without having to worry about SM2 rules about interiors. Moving to XP also frees up my options with mounting my seat. With SM2 mounting my seat like I plan to mount it may not have been legal, it'd have been a grey area, but within the rules of XP I believe I'll have all sorts of options for mounting the seat and remaining in the rules. So, XP here I come. I still plan to compete in SM2 for St. Louis region autocrosses this year, at least 4 more in SM2, then I'll try to run the 240Z in XP, unless of course I just talk myself into running XP for enough events to qualify for a year end class championship. Photos of the interior after last night's...Chris HammondTue, 15 May 2007 16:23:46 GMT43c23420-2018-4111-9edb-0b759fd836efAutocross alignment in St. Louis Missourihttps://www.chrishammond.com/Blog/itemId/2737/Autocross-alignment-in-St-Louis-Missouri<p>With the parts installed on the car, it was time to get wheels and tires mounted/balanced and installed. I also needed to get an alignment on the car as I knew it wasn’t close to the autocross specs that Tire Rack had in their recommendations. So I took my car to the only place I trust for an <a href="http://www.soloperformance.com/alignment" target="_blank">autocross alignment</a> in Missouri, <a href="http://www.soloperformance.com/" target="_blank">Solo Performance Specialties</a>.</p> <p>The tires mounted up nice and easy on the Konig Ampliforms, after I got the wheels with the <a href="http://specfrs.com/Blog/aid/6" target="_blank">right bolt pattern of course</a>. They were mounted onto the car and it was up on to the alignment rack next.</p> <p><a data-flickr-embed="true" data-footer="true" data-header="true" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/chammond/39569348460/in/photostream/" title="SpecFRS.com"><img alt="SpecFRS.com" height="480" src="https://farm1.staticflickr.com/889/39569348460_4f34229364_z.jpg" width="640" /></a><script async src="//embedr.flickr.com/assets/client-code.js" charset="utf-8"></script></p> SpecFRS.comFri, 13 Apr 2018 03:51:32 GMTb4c0a09c-5e1b-4e94-8664-989a96e2abd0Autocross Crash and Why You Need Autocross Insurancehttps://www.chrishammond.com/Blog/itemId/3059/Autocross-Crash-and-Why-You-Need-Autocross-Insuran<p>Hello there, long time no see…. Where has SpecFRS gone? Well here’s the story of how my autocross car came to a very sad demise, and a couple of tips for you on how to not have it happen to yourself.</p> <p>First and foremost: Look into Autocross insurance. Lockton Motorsports provides insurance options that cover cars DURING autocross events, you should definitely <a href="https://locktonmotorsports.com/autocross-off-track/">check them out</a>. It is very likely that your normal street car insurance policy will NOT cover you, and you asking them if they do may even cause red flags to be raised. I did NOT have autocross insurance on my 2016 Scion FR-S, even though I had looked into it a couple of weeks before the incident, I didn’t pull the trigger (if memory serves, it was like $225 for the year for my car), and would have likely made 2021 not be near as bad as it ended up.</p> <p><img src="https://www.specfrs.com/assets/images_out/6-13-2021/side-800-158409714.jpg" srcset="https://www.specfrs.com/assets/images_out/6-13-2021/side-400-158409714.jpg 400w, https://www.specfrs.com/assets/images_out/6-13-2021/side-600-158409714.jpg 600w, https://www.specfrs.com/assets/images_out/6-13-2021/side-800-158409714.jpg 800w, https://www.specfrs.com/assets/images_out/6-13-2021/side-1000-158409714.jpg 1000w" /></p> SpecFRS.comWed, 19 Jan 2022 13:30:15 GMT3ff0faf4-9bbe-40cb-9f78-c827976c58abAutocross Discussions onlinehttps://www.chrishammond.com/Blog/itemId/343/Autocross-Discussions-onlineIf you're looking for autocross Discussions, SCCAForums.com is the place for you!...Sun, 04 Sep 2005 13:05:00 GMT281925e1-b3d7-47f8-bd61-1318ff4ac35aAutocross FAQhttps://www.chrishammond.com/Blog/itemId/519/Autocross-FAQIf you're interested in the sport of Autocross be sure to check out the Autocross FAQ provided by SCCAForums.com! Posted from...Thu, 29 Jun 2006 09:59:00 GMTebbff5fc-1b98-4e5a-8036-6e701350a79dAutocross Handbook Postedhttps://www.chrishammond.com/Blog/itemId/450/Autocross-Handbook-PostedI've gone and posted a version of the Autocross Handbook at http://sccaforums.com/programs/solo/solohandbook.aspx. I'll be editing/updating it over the coming months to get it a little more inline with today's SCCA Solo scene. posted from...Sun, 26 Feb 2006 21:31:00 GMT54a58c1f-5f30-4405-84d6-7417af6d0e70Autocross in Coloradohttps://www.chrishammond.com/Blog/itemId/1668/Autocross-in-Colorado<p>So last night I posted on the local <a href="http://www.rmsolo.org/" target="_blank">Colorado SCCA Region’s solo website</a> to start asking for input about the various areas we’re looking at moving to. I must admit, they’ve been far more helpful than I expected. It looks like if we end up in Ft. Collins there are a number of SCCA members in the area, but it also means we will likely have to drive 2-2.5 hours to get to the “local” autocross events which are generally held south of Colorado Springs.</p> <p>I won’t mind the drive, at least I am telling myself that now :) </p>Tue, 06 Jan 2009 01:33:14 GMT924d41bb-ac22-4513-91d4-ad07be33e8f6Autocross in Dubai?https://www.chrishammond.com/Blog/itemId/1504/Autocross-in-Dubai<p>Damn, it looks like they actually have an autocross scheduled here in Dubai this Friday afternoon! <a title="http://www.dubaiautodrome.com/general/content.aspx?id=5096&sm=1056" href="http://www.dubaiautodrome.com/general/content.aspx?id=5096&sm=1056">http://www.dubaiautodrome.com/general/content.aspx?id=5096&sm=1056</a></p> <p>How much fun would that be? I wonder if I could talk anyone into letting me drive their car!!!!!</p>Tue, 14 Oct 2008 15:45:24 GMTe7080f0a-3d0d-4ce4-a19e-790a55ed7e49Autocross runs, how many this year?https://www.chrishammond.com/Cars/Corvette/itemId/1463/Autocross-runs-how-many-this-yearSo I've been meaning to do this for a while now, I added up the number of runs I've taken this year in the Corvette, it comes to somewhere near 130+ runs, I'm not exactly sure how many runs I got at the Evo school in Kansas City, but assuming I took at least 15 that puts the total around 133 considering the reruns at events I remember. That also doesn't include the Test&Tune in Topeka before the divisional in August. That is a lot of runs on a car, but if you take into account the number of runs that codrivers have had (around 195) that brings the car's total up to over 300 for this year alone. No wonder the rear control arm bushings are worn out! By my rough count I should have another 18 runs in the next week and a half assuming the car is repaired, plus codriver runs (18) that will put the total over 350 for the year without T&T events, we're also doing the Test & Tune this coming Sunday in Topeka. Sometime I will go back and find results from all the events to get an accurate total, as well as a cone count for all of Dave's runs!Wed, 10 Sep 2008 00:40:29 GMT7043bc2e-956c-42eb-9b8c-70055b25efa2Autocross Video from NorCalUFO 1/30/11https://www.chrishammond.com/Blog/itemId/2083/Autocross-Video-from-NorCalUFO-13011<p>Sunday I partook in the NorCalUFO autocross, their second event of the year, my first attending since the baby was born in October. I got to the event and heard that they had a course worker get hit at their last event, unfortunately he was hurt pretty bad and of course doesn’t have insurance, so they were taking donations. I assume that their insurance doesn’t cover the injuries? I believe (could be wrong) that SCCA events always have insurance that would cover someone who got injured, but perhaps I’m wrong. The odd thing is this is the SECOND course worker they’ve had hit in the past 6 or 9 months. Not exactly something that you want to hear when you show up. (Mental note, keep that in mind when signing up for worker positions)</p> <p>WOOOOOOWHOOOO! Fun at an autocross again. It’s been a few events since I’ve really had fun at an autocross. This time around I was still on the crappy street tires, which actually I think are worse than before as the rears are getting pretty bald, it was wet, so that made things more interesting.</p>https://www.chrishammond.com/Portals/0/-1Chris HammondWed, 02 Feb 2011 02:07:35 GMT94321626-3c17-4ef0-8d58-bef2249257dbAutocross Video from the Atlanta National Tour https://www.chrishammond.com/Blog/itemId/1330/Autocross-Video-from-the-Atlanta-National-TourSince I've acquired new PC hardware, a new laptop and a new desktop, I've been able to finally do some editing of video from races. Though I've only got one run put together. I think the video turned pretty cool. This is one of my runs from the Atlanta National Tour, on Sunday.   The Chase Cam video turned out great, I think I'm going to adjust the settings for the G readings this weekend at the Peru National TourFri, 27 Jun 2008 22:36:33 GMT447dd2a6-01ba-4d15-9fe3-6ba922d4944fAutocross Videos from July 13th, St. Louishttps://www.chrishammond.com/Cars/Corvette/itemId/1357/Autocross-Videos-from-July-13th-St-LouisBecause I slept for 5 hours after the event yesterday I was up until about 4am this morning, working on video from the autocross. I didn't get all of it processed but I did get quite a few posted. I'll try to get more posted later this week. All the video posted (except for one inserted video) was shot with the Chase Cam and PDR, we are proud to have Chase Cam as a sponsor here at CorvetteZ06.org You can find them on the Corvette flickr set, or by watching the videos below.Mon, 14 Jul 2008 09:38:31 GMTdfcc14d1-5598-40dd-81a5-a3170895cfaaAutocrossing this sunday in Marina, CAhttps://www.chrishammond.com/Blog/itemId/2240/Autocrossing-this-sunday-in-Marina-CAAlright, it’s time to get back into the swing of things. The 2011 TireRack SCCA Solo Nationals are in two months, I need to try to get as much seat time as I can between now and then!https://www.chrishammond.com/Portals/0/-1Chris HammondThu, 30 Jun 2011 02:16:05 GMT2c2733f3-d3c7-46f7-b691-ca0e7b1a0b0dBuying an Autocross Helmethttps://www.chrishammond.com/Blog/itemId/2076/Buying-an-Autocross-Helmet<p>If you’re looking to buy an <a href="http://www.soloperformance.com/Helmets-and-Accessories_c_13.html" target="_blank">Autocross Helmet</a> you should check out <a href="http://www.soloperformance.com/">http://www.soloperformance.com/</a></p> <p>I’ve been a long time Solo Performance customer, and just recently purchased a number of items from them, including this stylish new <a href="http://www.soloperformance.com/Helmets-and-Accessories_c_13.html" target="_blank">autocross helmet</a>!</p> <p><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/chammond/5390956023/"><img border="0" alt="Day 26 of #flickr365 #autocross #helmet" src="http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5296/5390956023_41ce9910af_m.jpg" width="179" height="240" /></a></p> <p>It should see its first autocross action this Sunday, though it has already seen action at the foosball table here at the office.</p>https://www.chrishammond.com/Portals/0/-1Chris HammondWed, 26 Jan 2011 20:34:42 GMT8cea5b72-090f-4133-af87-0c89c5526475Bye bye motor, thanks for the memorieshttps://www.chrishammond.com/Cars/240z/itemId/2442/Bye-bye-motor-thanks-for-the-memoriesOn the Project240z's maiden autocross voyage today the motor decide to depart the living world. More to come, but it looks like another winter project may involve and...Chris HammondMon, 13 Aug 2007 05:57:17 GMTbe9673bd-869d-40bc-ba9d-da6a61bd3167Bye bye motor, thanks for the memorieshttps://www.chrishammond.com/Cars/240z/itemId/902/Bye-bye-motor-thanks-for-the-memoriesOn the Project240z's maiden autocross voyage today the motor decide to depart the living world. More to come, but it looks like another winter project may involve and...Sun, 12 Aug 2007 21:57:17 GMTd57c3e1c-fac9-42d0-9d5f-18681cc7f823Corvette Videoshttps://www.chrishammond.com/Cars/Corvette/itemId/1091/Corvette-Videos<p>So I got 3 videos posted from the autocross this past weekend in Cecil Georgia. I've yet to get a chance to setup a good way to view the videos on <a href="http://www.corvettez06.org">www.corvettez06.org</a>, so until I do I'll link to them from here</p> <p><a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VHg4Htdav7g">http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VHg4Htdav7g</a></p> <p><a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MWYyCO8TdD8">http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MWYyCO8TdD8</a></p> <p><a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BWeKxfTsIzA">http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BWeKxfTsIzA</a></p> <p><a href="http://www.corvettez06.org/tabid/80/itemid/65/The-first-National-event-Trophy-for-the-CorvetteZ0.aspx">Here's my blog post about the event</a></p>Tue, 26 Feb 2008 20:27:41 GMT33fb07e4-9dda-4475-b983-f5ff8d0b5d8aCorvette Z06, the first autocrosshttps://www.chrishammond.com/Cars/Corvette/itemId/2334/Corvette-Z06-the-first-autocrossSo last week Nick and I (mostly nick) ran around franticly got the Z06 ready for our first autocross in the car. The event was the last official event for the St. Louis region for 2007. It was the somewhat annual Index Challenge. The competition was team format, teams were put together with "performance potential" numbers based on driver's highest finishes on local index results throughout the year. Nick and I were both team captains, covering 2 of the 14 teams.Chris HammondThu, 01 Nov 2007 11:35:03 GMT252d87a1-129f-445b-9485-c7be0983f6faDenver Pro, Day 0 (Friday)https://www.chrishammond.com/Cars/Corvette/itemId/538/Denver-Pro-Day-0-FridayWell, the trip to Denver wasn't half bad. I flew Frontier Airlines and was surprised to see TVs in all of the head rests! Sure, it was $5 for 24 channels for the flight, but they had a free channel I watched that played some interesting short films. I got to Denver, after one of the bumpiest flights I've ever had, but who cares, I got to watch TV :D Went to Hertz and got my rental car, get this , I picked a ............ FORD......I'm driving a V6 Mustang Vert, automatic to top it off. This thing has NO power. I tried revving it in neutral and it stops at 4k, if you drop it into drive the motor revs down and then shifts. For a short time I was entered in GStock in the Mustang. I got here and all the classes I was hoping would need a 5th driver to make a complete class had filled up before I got there. I was fairly down, figuring I was going to be stuck in the stang for the weekend, which would have been against my Hertz agreement :D Chris K offered up his IS300 in DS if I didn't find another ride. I ended up putting up a sign on the registration trailer with my cell phone number. Thankfully Adam (from www.autocrossforum.com) came up to me and told me about the car he's driving. He told me the car owner was open to having someone run the car in another class, so I spoke to Aaron Boltman. I'm now signed up to run his 2004 Corvette Z06 in ASP tomorrow. I'm looking forward to it, I think there are 8 drivers now entered in ASP, I'm looking forward to see how I fare! Aaron and Adam will be running the car in SS. Thanks to both Aaron and Adam, I look forward to running with you guys tomorrow! posted from...Fri, 21 Jul 2006 23:32:00 GMT275f332a-07f5-4f34-a021-3523c60a0f88First autocross run now in video!https://www.chrishammond.com/Cars/A6/itemId/1858/First-autocross-run-now-in-video<p>So I took the A6 out for its first autocross this past weekend at the RMSolo Winter Series Event #2 held at Dick’s Sporting Goods Park. It was a good time, I must say I didn’t expect to place as well in class as I did (2nd), but i honestly was disappointed that I didn’t win!</p> <p>Here’s the first run uploaded to YouTube, likely will have more posted later and will update this post with those videos.</p> <p><span class="Publish_Video"><object type="application/x-shockwave-flash" width="560" height="340" data="http://www.youtube.com/v/zJa6_MV-a3U&hd=1"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/zJa6_MV-a3U&hd=1" />Flash Not Installed</object></span></p>https://www.chrishammond.com/Portals/0/-1Chris HammondWed, 25 Nov 2009 11:53:03 GMT2283d338-dddf-4c52-9b68-49e3352feed8First event in SSChttps://www.chrishammond.com/Blog/itemId/2738/First-event-in-SSC<p align="left">Today was the first St. Louis Region Solo event in the 2018 series, so it was the first time out in the car, and I must say, it was great (albeit cold, windy, and even snowing/sleeting/raining at times)! <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SGoV08aTlmU" target="_blank">Natalie</a> got to take the first runs in the car, actually the first 6! She hasn’t seriously autocrossed since 2008 when we had the <a href="http://www.corvettez06.org/" target="_blank">Corvette</a>, but I believe this year will be different and she’ll run quite a few local events and then we’ll see if I can’t talk her into Solo Nationals as well. Natalie managed to get down to a 51.997 on her 4th run, but trying harder on run 5 and 6 she went the other direction on the clock. We’ll see where she placed within the ladies challenge once the results are published later this week.</p> <p align="left"><a data-flickr-embed="true" data-footer="true" data-header="true" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/chammond/41484915701/in/dateposted/" title="Couples Autocross"><img alt="Couples Autocross" height="375" src="https://farm1.staticflickr.com/819/41484915701_c0dbb0aa1c.jpg" width="500" /></a><script async src="//embedr.flickr.com/assets/client-code.js" charset="utf-8"></script></p> SpecFRS.comMon, 16 Apr 2018 02:14:13 GMTf316d1b3-61a4-4fe8-ba6b-a9db187b23b4Flickr now supports video uploads!https://www.chrishammond.com/Blog/itemId/1148/Flickr-now-supports-video-uploads<p>If this isn't just one of the coolest things of 2008 I don't know what is. Flickr now allows for video uploads!!!</p> <p>What's the big deal you might ask, there are already other video services, well I am a huge fan of Flickr, and would much rather upload my videos to Flickr, the same place I upload all my photos. Their clips have a maximum length of 90 seconds, PERFECT for autocross runs!</p> <p> </p> <object type="application/x-shockwave-flash" width="500" height="281" data="http://www.flickr.com/apps/video/stewart.swf?v=1.167" classid="clsid:D27CDB6E-AE6D-11cf-96B8-444553540000"> <param name="flashvars" value="intl_lang=en-us&photo_secret=31d5dac809&photo_id=2399148321&show_info_box=true"></param> <param name="movie" value="http://www.flickr.com/apps/video/stewart.swf?v=1.167"></param> <param name="bgcolor" value="#000000"></param> <param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><embed type="application/x-shockwave-flash" src="http://www.flickr.com/apps/video/stewart.swf?v=1.167" bgcolor="#000000" allowfullscreen="true" flashvars="intl_lang=en-us&photo_secret=31d5dac809&photo_id=2399148321&flickr_show_info_box=true" height="281" width="500"></embed></object> <p> The above video is my first upload for Flickr. It's actually a very poor video, the camera mount I used this past weekend frankly sucks! I'll hopefully get a new one tomorrow. </p>Tue, 08 Apr 2008 23:02:29 GMT88cf0225-3ff0-47ca-ad00-d3737f4fd272For Sale No Longer?https://www.chrishammond.com/Cars/Corvette/itemId/1427/For-Sale-No-LongerIt looks like the Corvette Z06 has found a new home, John V will be taking it back east sometime after Nationals. John's a good friend of mine from back in the day when I used to beat him in B-Stock! :) I'm starting to get sad that the car will be going away, but I am glad it is going to a good home, someone who will autocross her just as much if not more than I have. We've still got a month or so together, so I will enjoy her while she's here!Tue, 19 Aug 2008 09:12:22 GMTc47f3657-9396-411a-9ed9-cafb4f005828Forum Reorganizationhttps://www.chrishammond.com/Blog/itemId/454/Forum-ReorganizationWe performed a slight reorganization of the forums this evening. We removed a couple of inactive forums, combined some of the smaller forums and moved around some of the focused topic discussions. There's now a SOLO / Autocross specific forum for all SOLO discussions, rather than just class discussions, and the same goes for the Club Racing forums. posted from...Fri, 03 Mar 2006 22:28:00 GMT24d49a58-7395-40d3-8591-6917ff43525cFuel cell arrived, list of things to get done!https://www.chrishammond.com/Blog/itemId/832/Fuel-cell-arrived-list-of-things-to-get-doneAlright, so my fuel cell arrived today! It sure is purty, and big   I'm not yet sure how I'm going to mount it in the car, though I'm hoping to talk to Mark Huebbe and borrow the welder again sometime soon so I can possibly make a bracket to mount it above the spare tire well in the car. That or perhaps I cut the well out and mount it, but that might be a future project. Whittle came over last night and we spent 3 hours going over the car and teaching me about relays and stuff about the Megasquirt. The squirt is nearly ready to install, he's adding a jumper to the board for the MAF, but other than that I think it's ready to go into the car as soon as I have all the wires run. I ran out tonight and picked up fuses, have yet to find a good fuse block though. I tried Autozone, they had something that might work but I had hoped to find something a little cleaner so I ran to Radio Shack and Walmart, neither place had any fuse blocks to use. I'll try a few more places tomorrow and see what I can locate. I really only need like 6 fuses but I bought plenty of spares. I need to fabricate something to mount the fuse block and a couple of relays too. I'm thinking some sort of black plexiglass/lexan or acryllic of some sort, though I'm not sure where to even begin looking for something like that in town, so they might just get bolted down to a piece of sheet metal for the time being. So what's next? Here are my goals for this weekend. Get the fuel cell mounted and lines ran, I ordered a fuel pump from Jegs yesterday, should be tomorrow or Friday. Remove the oil cooler attachments for now and screw on the filter in place of the adapter, I'll run without one for a bit, once I plan on having the car driving for more than 15-30 minutes at a time (1-3 minutes for autocross) I'll look at oil cooler options Mount the VR sensor for the Megasquirt Mount the radiator and get hoses that will work. Get the other set of front rotors turned and put back on the car w/ new bearings. Pictures and video of this weekends work coming early next week! As for what's after this weekend? Well getting all the wires for the Megasquirt run! Hopefully Nick can assist me with that next week over a few nights and we'll see if I can't get this darn car ready to...Thu, 07 Jun 2007 00:39:20 GMTb33ed11e-3290-469c-82b4-387d6b309bdbFuel cell arrived, list of things to get done!https://www.chrishammond.com/Blog/itemId/2402/Fuel-cell-arrived-list-of-things-to-get-doneAlright, so my fuel cell arrived today! It sure is purty, and big   I'm not yet sure how I'm going to mount it in the car, though I'm hoping to talk to Mark Huebbe and borrow the welder again sometime soon so I can possibly make a bracket to mount it above the spare tire well in the car. That or perhaps I cut the well out and mount it, but that might be a future project. Whittle came over last night and we spent 3 hours going over the car and teaching me about relays and stuff about the Megasquirt. The squirt is nearly ready to install, he's adding a jumper to the board for the MAF, but other than that I think it's ready to go into the car as soon as I have all the wires run. I ran out tonight and picked up fuses, have yet to find a good fuse block though. I tried Autozone, they had something that might work but I had hoped to find something a little cleaner so I ran to Radio Shack and Walmart, neither place had any fuse blocks to use. I'll try a few more places tomorrow and see what I can locate. I really only need like 6 fuses but I bought plenty of spares. I need to fabricate something to mount the fuse block and a couple of relays too. I'm thinking some sort of black plexiglass/lexan or acryllic of some sort, though I'm not sure where to even begin looking for something like that in town, so they might just get bolted down to a piece of sheet metal for the time being. So what's next? Here are my goals for this weekend. Get the fuel cell mounted and lines ran, I ordered a fuel pump from Jegs yesterday, should be tomorrow or Friday. Remove the oil cooler attachments for now and screw on the filter in place of the adapter, I'll run without one for a bit, once I plan on having the car driving for more than 15-30 minutes at a time (1-3 minutes for autocross) I'll look at oil cooler options Mount the VR sensor for the Megasquirt Mount the radiator and get hoses that will work. Get the other set of front rotors turned and put back on the car w/ new bearings. Pictures and video of this weekends work coming early next week! As for what's after this weekend? Well getting all the wires for the Megasquirt run! Hopefully Nick can assist me with that next week over a few nights and we'll see if I can't get this darn car ready to run! Update: I found a source for Plexiglass and ordered a few square feet, some black and some...Chris HammondThu, 07 Jun 2007 10:00:07 GMTdf2f08e7-5399-4543-9b78-f0f530a3867dFunny Autocross Videohttps://www.chrishammond.com/Blog/itemId/1451/Funny-Autocross-VideoHere's the autocross video of Natalie's third run on Saturday at the Kansas City National Tour. The cone lodged under the car is from the codriver, it ended up causing a 2 second penalty and determining the class order for the weekend! Read more about that on the blog post from last night. For the video read the full post. Tue, 02 Sep 2008 12:00:50 GMTdce09e56-d726-4d50-99e3-949bf7f27a92Gentleman Jack Limited Edition Time Piece Bottlehttps://www.chrishammond.com/Blog/itemId/2745/Gentleman-Jack-Limited-Edition-Time-Piece-Bottle<p>One of the things I want to do here on this blog is document the various Jack Daniel’s collectables, primarily bottles, that I’ve managed to acquire over time. This is the first post in that series.</p><p>In 2017, Jack Daniel’s announced/released a new bottle in the Gentleman Jack product line, called The Limited Edition Gentleman Jack, often referred to as the Time Piece. The bottle markings on the packaging of the bottle are reminiscent of the pocket watch that Jack Daniel carried around.</p><p>I had trouble trying to locate the bottle here in St. Louis, checking all the local liquor stores, along with the big box Total Wine locations. In March of 2018 I was driving to Georgia for an autocross event with a buddy of mine, and stopped to buy a car in Murfreesboro Tennessee. While at the dealer, I asked my sales guy where I could find a decent liquor store, so that I could try to find the Time Piece. He sent me a few streets over, and I found a bottle of Tennessee Rye which I hadn’t seen before, but no Time Piece to be found. It was getting late in the day, and I was hoping to try to swing by the Distillery (my buddy who drove me to Murfreesboro had headed down there while I was doing paperwork on the car), but I wasn’t sure if I could make it down before the White Rabbit bottle shop closed.</p><p>I decided I would try another liquor store on the way over to Lynchburg. At this store I asked the guys behind the counter if they had a Time Piece bottle. One guy said yes he did, but it was in his private collection, and not for sale. I looked around the store, picked up something there (can’t recall which bottle) and then checked out. While checking out he mentioned that there was a place near Shelbyville, called Celebration Liquors that might have the bottle. It was on my way to Lynchburg, so I decided I was for sure stopping when I got there. Upon arrival I looked around the store, but couldn’t find the bottle. I asked the girl behind the counter if she knew anything about the bottle, but she didn’t know what it was. If I recall correctly, she did however offer to call the owner, and he told her the bottle was right behind her.</p><p>We both had missed it sitting there on a shelf behind the counter. Score! I was able to purchase one bottle of the Gentleman Jack Limited Edition bottle, seen above on this post. What this hunt made me realize though, was that I wasn’t the only one out there collecting Jack Daniel’s gear. I realized that people collected, and even collected extras, so that they could “trade” for other items to add to their collections.</p><p>A few short weeks ago, I stopped by Total Wine on my way home from work one day, something I occasionally do just to see if they have anything JD related in stock that I don’t have. This time, they did, they had Time Piece bottles, and multiple! I picked one up, and walked to the register, paying about 50% of what I paid for the bottle in Shelbyville. By the time I got home I started kicking myself for not buying a few, when I stopped by that Total Wine again they were completely out. I ended up checking another TW location the next weekend and picked up 3 more bottles so that I could start creating a stock of items that I could trade in the future!</p><p>If you’re looking for a Gentleman Jack Limited Edition Time Piece bottle, check out my <a href="http://collectorofjack.com/WantedItems">Hunt List</a> to see if you have something I need, maybe we can trade!</p>CollectorOfJack.comTue, 06 Nov 2018 14:59:15 GMTd50c6176-b093-4c0d-acb9-ea1c3845e1feGood news on the Project front!https://www.chrishammond.com/Cars/240z/itemId/742/Good-news-on-the-Project-frontToday I spent a short time working on the parts car, working on removing the interior. You can check out the video here. Notice the flannel pants, and sweatshirt. I really didn't want to do any work today, but I forced myself to at least do a little. After doing that little work I started trying to figure out how I can get rid of the parts car. I drove over to Hall Street, and found no one over there to take it. So I headed to Illinois and Speedway said they would take it. So next weekend it's making a trip to Illinois for it's final resting place. After that I headed to Sauget to do some inventory on the 240Z, and I must say, I was pleasantly surprised! I had forgotten how much of the stock interior actually remained in the car. I was very happy to find that the headliner, center console, dash, and some of the tunnel interior still there, which makes my life a WHOLE lot easier to get it legal for SM2 in SCCA Autocross. So I only have to order a few things, rather than a complete interior which I was having trouble finding! More work tomorrow, I need to finish up the 280Z tomorrow as I'm going to be on the East Coast all of next...Sat, 03 Mar 2007 22:16:23 GMT1e9cc087-f28f-4ac1-8943-c5707dc846e8Good news on the Project front!https://www.chrishammond.com/Cars/240z/itemId/2367/Good-news-on-the-Project-frontToday I spent a short time working on the parts car, working on removing the interior. You can check out the video here. Notice the flannel pants, and sweatshirt. I really didn't want to do any work today, but I forced myself to at least do a little. After doing that little work I started trying to figure out how I can get rid of the parts car. I drove over to Hall Street, and found no one over there to take it. So I headed to Illinois and Speedway said they would take it. So next weekend it's making a trip to Illinois for it's final resting place. After that I headed to Sauget to do some inventory on the 240Z, and I must say, I was pleasantly surprised! I had forgotten how much of the stock interior actually remained in the car. I was very happy to find that the headliner, center console, dash, and some of the tunnel interior still there, which makes my life a WHOLE lot easier to get it legal for SM2 in SCCA Autocross. So I only have to order a few things, rather than a complete interior which I was having trouble finding! More work tomorrow, I need to finish up the 280Z tomorrow as I'm going to be on the East Coast all of next...Chris HammondSun, 04 Mar 2007 08:16:23 GMT484ce38a-19e6-4d7e-97a9-792efd0924d0How do you get better at Autocross?https://www.chrishammond.com/Blog/itemId/2008/How-do-you-get-better-at-AutocrossThis is often a question that people will ask when they first start autocrossing, or in my case, when they resume autocrossing after two years of not competing. How do I get better? Do I really suck this bad? Why am I so slow?https://www.chrishammond.com/Portals/0/-1Chris HammondThu, 30 Sep 2010 14:35:12 GMT1f5a785e-41ac-4b16-87ed-5efb4554ee2bHow do you travel with your video equipment?https://www.chrishammond.com/Blog/itemId/2082/How-do-you-travel-with-your-video-equipment<p>So this isn’t the blog post I had intended to write today, but I think it’s a useful one nonetheless.</p> <p>For those of you who autocross, or partake in any other motorsports. How do you travel with your video equipment? Discussion on where you mount your cameras and such, and what types of cameras will be left for another set of blog posts, but for now, how do you get your equipment to a race?</p> <p>If you’re a small time autocrosser like me, you likely aren’t towing your car around on an enclosed trailer with lots of storage space.</p> <p>At this point I have 3-6 potential video cameras I could take/use at any one race. Two GoPro’s (one HD and one of the SUPER CRAPPY original versions), a Chase Cam/PDR, plus a Canon HV10, 5d Mark II and a point and shoot that will do video. Now granted, I will almost likely never put the 5d Mark II on the car, I do take it to events so that I can take photos.</p> <p>So what’s the best way to get things to an event? Right now I’m packing things into a lowepro 300aw, and that is probably the best solution for the time being, but with all that equipment I’m going to have to trim back what I put in the bag (less lenses for the 5D).</p> <p>What do you use? A Pelican case? A bag? Something else? </p>https://www.chrishammond.com/Portals/0/-1Chris HammondMon, 31 Jan 2011 19:42:27 GMT0328c220-8231-4d80-b376-81c3328f63bdHow to drop 40lbs from your 2003 350z, new seats!https://www.chrishammond.com/Blog/itemId/2680/How-to-drop-40lbs-from-your-2003-350z-new-seats<span class="Publish_Video"><iframe width="100%" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/SeUIINn3O50?HD=1&wmode=opaque" style="border: none"></iframe></span> <p>This weekend I spent some quality time finally working on the 350z before the upcoming autocross season (Dixie Champ Tour is coming up quickly).</p> <p>In prep for STU I want to see what kind of weight I can get out of the car, I really don’t know if this car (2003 Touring) can come anywhere close to what my first one (2003 Enthusiast, 3075lbs) weighed, or even the second one (2004 enthusiast, 3062). I have yet to get it up on the scales, but I assume going into this that the car is heaver than both of them. The power, heated, leather seats that came with the car, along with the potential extra stereo equipment, and electronics for the VDC mean the car likely weighs a good bit heaver than the previous cars.</p> <p><img alt="" height="1" src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/Project350z/~4/eMs-woBbZkg" width="1" /></p> Project350zMon, 29 Feb 2016 23:14:25 GMTeefcba83-72d9-4219-9901-dde8c0dd18c4I purchased and sold a 2011 Nissan Leafhttps://www.chrishammond.com/Cars/Leaf/itemId/2098/I-purchased-and-sold-a-2011-Nissan-Leaf<p>So here we go, this post has been a week coming, I just haven't had the time do get it together. About a month ago, perhaps a little more, I did something that seemed to upset quite a few people, even apparently some people at Nissan! I posted the opportunity to buy my Nissan Leaf on Ebay. That lasted all of a few minutes, I’m not even sure how long the auction was up 24 hours before I was asked to (or really it was suggested that I ) remove it. So down it came, along with the posts that I had put up announcing it.</p> <p>What people didn’t know was that I had been posting the Leaf on craigslist here in the bay area for a month or more before it was ever listed on Ebay. I had a few inquiries from the Craigslist ad, though many of those inquiries were just your typical internet trolls complaining. Some even took the time to email me and call me an “Idiot” I appreciate that someone took the time to do that.</p> <p>So back to Ebay, I pulled the ad, I removed the blog/forum posts, I cleared most of my tracks at the threat of losing the right to purchase the Leaf. I even quit posting the ad on Craigslist. After the ad came down from Ebay people started coming out of the wood work asking to buy the car. Fortunately for me I had lined someone up before I even pulled the Ebay ad down. In fact the ad didn’t even have anything to do with getting rid of my car, the Craigslist ad came through.</p> <p><strong>What? I thought you purchased the Leaf last week?</strong></p> <p>Well, technically I did, for a little while anyways. I had a guy fly in from Detroit on Monday of last week, we drove from the airport to the dealer, then the bank, then the dealer again. The dealer wouldn’t take a cashier’s check, so we had to go to the bank and have the money wired from their bank, to the dealer’s bank, which was all of 1 block away. Unfortunately the dealer’s bank became a problem and wouldn’t show the transfer as posting until the following day. So in order for us to drive the car off the lot that day I ended up having to take a loan out on the car as a fall back contract, in case the transfer didn’t go through.</p> <p>After about 4 hours of things we finally left the dealer, I in my 350z and the new owner in the Nissan Leaf. I didn’t even get to drive the thing! Though I did sit in it a few times</p> <p>So there it is, I no longer own a 2011 Nissan Leaf? Why might you ask? Well it really doesn’t matter what I say, people are going to hate on me. But here goes my explanation with a little backstory.</p> <p>Back in April of 2010 I got an email from Nissan announcing the preorder process for the Leaf, I jumped on things and signed up, immediately preordering as soon as I could. Shortly after that I setup <a href="http://www.leafowner.com/" rel="nofollow">www.LeafOwner.com</a> with the thought of creating a website dedicated to the Leaf. I got some good traffic, with the help of some key features on Engadget, AutoBlogGreen and even two different tweets from Lance Armstrong!</p> <p>I was thrilled at the idea of getting a Leaf, I have an 8-9 mile commute, so it was going to work out perfectly for that. I was one of the first people to get the Aerovironment charger inspections, I asked my landlord if we could get an install going. From there things actually started to sour a bit. I got the charger assessment back and it was for $2200, roughly $800 for the charger/shipping, and then the rest for the installation, for about an hour’s worth of labor and maybe $100 worth of equipment.</p> <p>As the summer progressed I kept up with the Leaf, attending events to see the car when I could, and then went through the ordering process, that is when things really went south for me. I went ahead and ordered the car, as a lease option, but when I started thinking about it, the lease was going to be $420 a month. I started thinking, 420 a month could go towards a very nice car payment, rather than “renting” a very expensive Nissan Versa. </p> <p>I’ll take some hits for that, but to me that is what the car ultimately became. It’s an economy sized hatchback, that when fully priced out last week was $38k. While there are lots of cool geeky features in the Leaf, the only real addition above and beyond a Versa was the batteries, the electric aspect. So I decided that the car most likely wasn’t for me.</p> <p>In October I went to the driving events that Nissan was doing, and that pretty much sealed the deal for me. I drove the car, and after driving corvettes, camaros, and 350zs I just couldn’t see myself driving the Leaf, not at the cost.</p> <p>I’m a car guy, I always have been, and the later it got into 2010 the more I had the itch to start racing cars again. I am now actively autocrossing my 350z (<a href="http://www.project350z.com/" target="_blank" rel="nofollow">www.project350z.com</a>). Heck, for the price that the Leaf ultimately cost I could have purchased a brand new 2010 Nismo 370z! Though I didn’t want to do that either, spending more money just wasn’t in the cars right now. My 350z cost me $12k, and that’s a lot smaller car payment than a new Leaf would be, and the car ultimately becomes more useful to me as I can autocross it.</p> <p>So in the end, to sum things up. The price of the electric car killed it for me. I’m not saying I will never own another Leaf, or an electric car, but right now it just didn’t make sense to me. In the future I do hope to own an electric car, heck maybe I’ll build an electric VB Bug for <a href="http://www.projectvw.com/" target="_blank" rel="nofollow">www.projectvw.com</a> in the future. But for now, I’ll let the early adopters help to bring the price of the electric car down.</p> <p>For those of you who choose to hate me for that, I am sorry that you feel that way, but that’s the beauty of our wonderful country, everyone gets to have their own opinion.</p> <p>(if you’re interested in purchasing LeafOwner.com let me know!)</p>Chris HammondTue, 15 Feb 2011 00:45:51 GMTd2bde49d-e485-46ab-af3b-576879fabc92I skinned a Community Server site, what a pain!https://www.chrishammond.com/Blog/itemId/698/I-skinned-a-Community-Server-site-what-a-painI've skinned, or tweaked a CommunityServer site before, but what I must admin, it's definitely not an easy process, and not something I'd want anyone to have to go through! I just skinned Solo2.org The Ultimate Autocross Web Site tonight to get change the design. Skinning within CS has to be one of the biggest pain in the rear things to do. I've skinned many a DotNetNuke site, and though the Solpart Menu can be rather tricky, no skinning project with DNN has ever been as hard as it was just to make some simple changes to CommunityServer to make Solo2.org look like it does now. I realize Telligent says they've made skinning easier with their new release for 2007 (everyone and their mother has blogged about it over the past 4 days, twice) but I can't imagine skinning getting much easier than the skinning engine that DotNetNuke has implemented."Here here" to the guys (core team) who developed that engine nearly three years ago now!I've still got a lot of work left to do with s2o, but at least it's not the plain jane site it used to be a few hours ago. Oh yeah, I actually started working on this skin for CS back in October, I quit working on it after 2-3 tries, until tonight when I crunched through the rest of it.Take a look at the site, let me know what you think.*disclaimer: I may be a little biased towards DotNetNuke, being my position within the DNN Team, but I do use CommunityServer on two of my largest websites, http://sccaforums.com/ and http://solo2.org/   Posted from...Fri, 12 Jan 2007 00:15:00 GMT35b6af4d-c488-488e-8405-9b68ac51724eI will miss herhttps://www.chrishammond.com/Cars/240z/itemId/1490/I-will-miss-her<p>So the final days are now ticking down. I have two, maybe three days of driving the Corvette left before we leave for Amsterdam. Natalie will be flying back from Amsterdam and meeting John (the new owner) at the airport next Friday so he can take posession of the car.</p> <p>I was getting the mail tonight and saw the car sitting half in the garage and half out, where I had parked it, in the light, it looked beautiful. It really is an amazing car, I will miss it, I already do.</p> <p>You might ask, why are you selling the Z06? One main reason. Natalie and I plan to move to Colorado (even though we are rumored in the horse world to be moving to Germany) next summer, and while I love the car, the car payment and insurance could be used for more grown up things than racing, like buying our first house, and planning for the move. I don't imagine I will go long without a fun race car though.</p> <p>So what will come next? That is undecided at this point. I will most likely buy a $2-3k ride/beater for the winter so I don't have to drive the long ass F350 all winter, and hopefully spend some time working on the 240Z to get it up and running soon. I need something fun to drive, that is for sure, but even if the 240 runs, it would take a lot of work and money to make it anywhere near as fun as the Corvette.</p> <p>I don't know what I will race next year, perhaps I'll try to find a nicely prep'd codrive, perhaps I'll take it easy for the year. This year in the Corvette has been fun. I think I've put something in the range of 150 autocross runs on the car not including test and tune runs, on a whole the car has seen well over 300, maybe near 400 runs this year.</p> <p>Hopefully John and Clyde can put that many runs on her next year.</p>Tue, 30 Sep 2008 23:25:10 GMT393e2f8d-ab87-420f-a839-957947889f4fIntroducing Project350z V3https://www.chrishammond.com/Blog/itemId/2668/Introducing-Project350z-V3<p><a href="http://www.project350z.com/Articles/itemId/558/Introducing-Project350z-V3"><img title="image" style="border-width: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-left: 0px; display: inline; padding-right: 0px; border-style: solid; background-image: none;" alt="image" src="http://www.project350z.com/Portals/4/PublishThumbnails/Windows-Live-Writer/Introducing-Project350z-V3_14AF6/image_thumb_1.png" width="100%" /></a></p> <p>Earlier this week, Dave from SoloPerformance.com and I headed down to Chattanooga to pick up Project350z V3. A 2003 Nissan 350z Touring model, with 145k miles on the clock. The car was purchased from a fellow autocrosser, and is primarily prepped for SCCA’s STU class.</p> <img alt="" src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/Project350z/~4/AoZHX7HmtpA" height="1" width="1" />Project350zSat, 07 Nov 2015 00:48:18 GMT40c826b5-fac7-41cc-80a7-9a8dd1c551fdIntroduction to SCCA ProSolohttps://www.chrishammond.com/Blog/itemId/2650/Introduction-to-SCCA-ProSoloWarning, a little bit of unsolicited SCCA ProSolo propaganda: tl;dr Do a ProSolo, they are damn fun. The next ProSolo is March 22-23 in Blytheville Arkansas, more info at http://cjh.am/arprosolo If you've never done a SCCA ProSolo event, you are missing out. It is some of the most fun you can experience in the sport of Autocross, it can get your blood pumping like a normal autocross can’t.Tue, 11 Mar 2014 22:21:40 GMT1db0f356-d8a2-442b-82ca-898f8edf5215Last local event for 2008https://www.chrishammond.com/Cars/Corvette/itemId/1437/Last-local-event-for-2008Today we ran the last local event of 2008 for the CorvetteZ06.org team here in St. Louis. It was another successful day today, the car taking FTD, Top Pax, 3rd on Pax and top on the Ladies Pax as well! This is the fourth time this year (out of 6) that I was able to finish on top of Pax. I'm pleased with this result, though I won't win overall Pax for the year, had the points been normal this year (6 events counting, with all events being equal) I believe I would have had a shot. Natalie did very well today, taking a win in SSL as well as the overall ladies win. This was just her fourth autocross ever, and only her 3rd in the Corvette so I am very happy with her performance!Mon, 25 Aug 2008 01:38:48 GMTf593563c-ebd7-472f-b974-c0b9ed339038Motorola MPX200 constantly vibratinghttps://www.chrishammond.com/Blog/itemId/20/Motorola-MPX200-constantly-vibratingToday at the St. Louis Region autocross my MPx200 was sitting out, underneith a cold cup of ice. I've had problems at the past few events where the phone gets hot in the sun and the front panel goes dark. Today that started to occur, so I sat the phone under the cup for a while. When I picked the phone up I noticed it was vibrating off and on, so I thought I had a call, nope, no call, and no SMS message. Weird, so I sat the phone in the seat of my car. I picked it up a few minutes later and it was vibrating again, but this time it won't stop. Both displays are now off, I didn't turn off the phone. I try turning the phone on/off and nothing, it just keeps vibrating. I tried removing the battery, it stops vibrating, of course :) I put the battery back in, starts vibrating again! I tried multiple things, holding down the power key, holding down the blue button when inserting the battery, holding down both. I couldn't get it to quit vibrating or power up. I ended up leaving the battery out of the phone for about 10 minutes, and then when I installed it again the vibrating stopped, but the phone wouldn't start up. After letting the phone sit again for a while it finally started up. I was beginning to get afraid I was going to have to do a hard reset again. Luckily it all appears to be back to normal...Sun, 18 Jul 2004 18:10:00 GMT3bd8fa6b-ea26-4a89-b6f4-e3568216b772My motivation to win at the SCCA Solo Nationalshttps://www.chrishammond.com/Blog/itemId/928/My-motivation-to-win-at-the-SCCA-Solo-NationalsSo, I'm very fortunate this year for the Solo nationals, Bud Collins asked me to be his tire warmer in his 2007 Pontiac Solstice, something I am very thrilled to do. I've already told my wife, that if, by some fluke of luck, I were to win CS at the 2007 Solo Nationals in Bud's Solstice I'm going to buy myself a Solstice. I don't expect to win CS, hell I'll be glad to get my first Nationals trophy if I can perform well enough. I would love to have a Solstice to autocross every event, but at the same time I don't want one for my daily driver, and right now i can't justify having a daily driver with a car payment, and an autocross car with a car payment. Now, if I were to win CS at Nationals, I'd get rid of the daily driver and suck it up and drive a convertible around without air conditioning (Solstice Z0k) I made mention of this goal/reward to my good buddy Jeff Krekeler from Krekeler Jewelers in Farmington Missouri today on instant messenger. He proceeded to tell me that I owed him a new monitor to replace the one he was sitting in front of because of the soda I caused him to hurl out of his mouth and nose. Then, and this is the best part, he told me "you win nationals i'll buy you a solstice". So, now I need to get myself some cash, bribe all the CS competitors into letting me win the class and claim my car! Granted that bribery probably won't work, but I'll be doing my damndest to see if I can't perform well in Topeka next week. Thanks Krek, you're the best! And this just in, right before I go to submit this blog post, my good friend Dave Whitworth from Solo Performance Specialties has said that he'll split the Solstice with Jeff if I win! posted from...Wed, 19 Sep 2007 17:32:00 GMT84080545-ce81-4c05-8863-5a8796966980NorCal UFO Autocross, The Night Beforehttps://www.chrishammond.com/Blog/itemId/2003/NorCal-UFO-Autocross-The-Night-Before<p>Well, it looks like it is finally time to autocross the beast again! It’s been since January. I’m headed to the Northern California United 510 Owner’s club autocross tomorrow in Marina, CA. Hopefully the car holds together and makes it there, runs, and makes it home! I’m curious to see if the leaky exhaust causes me any troubles (sound level, or just w/ people).</p> <p>I’m probably going to run in BSP, I don’t think that UFO follows the standard SCCA Classes for 2010, so STR or SSM are out.</p> <p>Photos and video tomorrow night.</p>Chris HammondSun, 26 Sep 2010 00:29:14 GMT1dcd2b5f-7396-4a25-9df4-5bcd28c7f85fOMRSCCA Practice Eventhttps://www.chrishammond.com/Blog/itemId/233/OMRSCCA-Practice-EventDave and I drove down to Springfield Missouri for the 3/6 autocross held at Price Cutter Park. I drove the Z down, he drove his Maxima, hauling the tires for the Z down there. Ended up being a good event, quite small, so we got plenty of runs. Dave coned the hell out of the car, as he always does driving my cars. I was I believe 2nd FTD, I couldn't seem to drop the second I needed to get FTD, though I know the car was more than capable of doing so. More on the car/week later...Mon, 07 Mar 2005 07:45:00 GMTdb02c659-6600-4d78-9497-796cd0bb4b0dOne week after ignitionhttps://www.chrishammond.com/Cars/240z/itemId/896/One-week-after-ignitionSo it's been over a week now since I drove the 240Z for the first time. What have I gotten done in that timeframe? Not much! I basically didn't touch the car until Thursday, and all I did then was take a few minutes to inaccurately measure the requirements for the flange on the downpipe. Friday I picked up a header collector flange from my buddy Russ' place. Sunday morning I went to work on that flange, it needed some help to make it fit. Sunday afternoon I spent some time in the sauna, I mean garage. I managed to get the coil pack and EDIS module mounted to the fender. I then started trying to clean up some of the wiring in the engine bay. I got some plastic loom a while back so I started running that to cover up the mess of wiring in the engine bay. I also ran the loom in the passenger compartment around some of the wiring in there. It's not finished, but it's definitely starting to look better. Dad helped me to put a switch inline for the main relay. Luckily with the car not idling yet I haven't had problems turning the car off, but with the way things were wired if the car was idling properly you'd have to pull a fuse or disconnect the battery to shut off the car. Now that I have a switch it's easy to do! After that Dad and I put the hood and hinges on the car, the first time since I've owned the 240 that it has had a hood attached! From there we loaded the car up onto the trailer later in the evening. This morning I got up early (a rarity for me) and took the car/trailer over to the Carx on St. Charles Rock Road in Bridgeton. Rick was extremely helpful over there and by 12pm today I was back up there loading the car up on the trailer with Eric's help. Carx put a 3" pipe from the downpipe back to the rear axle, with a turndown on the end. It's still quite loud, but if I do say so myself, it sounds pretty damn sweet! Eric and I brought the car home, and before trying to push it off the trailer I finally got it started. I'm having starter issues and will probably try to replace the starter Thursday or Friday of this week. I drove the car off the trailer and into the garage, it's a beautiful sound! I'm still aiming to compete drive the car at the Autocross on Sunday. Before I can do that I have quite a bit left to do. 1. Fix the idle (longer idle screw) 2. See if there's any fluid in the transmission (can't get the fill plug out so I've not pulled the drain plug yet) 3. Build a bulkhead/firewall for the fuel cell 4. Finish up wiring for the O2 sensor 5. Get a harness squared away 6. More stuff I'm sure I've...Mon, 06 Aug 2007 17:20:24 GMT7a7cbfa7-2116-4604-9efe-d7ab74f81f28One week after ignitionhttps://www.chrishammond.com/Cars/240z/itemId/2439/One-week-after-ignitionSo it's been over a week now since I drove the 240Z for the first time. What have I gotten done in that timeframe? Not much! I basically didn't touch the car until Thursday, and all I did then was take a few minutes to inaccurately measure the requirements for the flange on the downpipe. Friday I picked up a header collector flange from my buddy Russ' place. Sunday morning I went to work on that flange, it needed some help to make it fit. Sunday afternoon I spent some time in the sauna, I mean garage. I managed to get the coil pack and EDIS module mounted to the fender. I then started trying to clean up some of the wiring in the engine bay. I got some plastic loom a while back so I started running that to cover up the mess of wiring in the engine bay. I also ran the loom in the passenger compartment around some of the wiring in there. It's not finished, but it's definitely starting to look better. Dad helped me to put a switch inline for the main relay. Luckily with the car not idling yet I haven't had problems turning the car off, but with the way things were wired if the car was idling properly you'd have to pull a fuse or disconnect the battery to shut off the car. Now that I have a switch it's easy to do! After that Dad and I put the hood and hinges on the car, the first time since I've owned the 240 that it has had a hood attached! From there we loaded the car up onto the trailer later in the evening. This morning I got up early (a rarity for me) and took the car/trailer over to the Carx on St. Charles Rock Road in Bridgeton. Rick was extremely helpful over there and by 12pm today I was back up there loading the car up on the trailer with Eric's help. Carx put a 3" pipe from the downpipe back to the rear axle, with a turndown on the end. It's still quite loud, but if I do say so myself, it sounds pretty damn sweet! Eric and I brought the car home, and before trying to push it off the trailer I finally got it started. I'm having starter issues and will probably try to replace the starter Thursday or Friday of this week. I drove the car off the trailer and into the garage, it's a beautiful sound! I'm still aiming to compete drive the car at the Autocross on Sunday. Before I can do that I have quite a bit left to do. 1. Fix the idle (longer idle screw) 2. See if there's any fluid in the transmission (can't get the fill plug out so I've not pulled the drain plug yet) 3. Build a bulkhead/firewall for the fuel cell 4. Finish up wiring for the O2 sensor 5. Get a harness squared away 6. More stuff I'm sure I've...Chris HammondTue, 07 Aug 2007 01:20:24 GMTff79a4e2-1f21-49b8-9e31-7b82fc681a49Our first California Autocross, with video and photoshttps://www.chrishammond.com/Blog/itemId/2004/Our-first-California-Autocross-with-video-and-phoSo today was the first time I’ve ever autocrossed in California, and the first time the car has seen an event since our runs at the Colorado event in January. I left San Carlos early in the morning and headed off to pick up Will Strohl. We headed down to Marina California for the Northern California United Five-Ten Owners Clubhttps://www.chrishammond.com/Portals/0/-1Chris HammondMon, 27 Sep 2010 01:48:39 GMT8cd6fd29-4efe-4a8e-913e-f86b036e3e24P240Z Passenger Seat!https://www.chrishammond.com/Cars/240z/itemId/2417/P240Z-Passenger-SeatWell, after figuring out that the seat mounts I had made earlier in the week wouldn't fit I went back out to work on the 240Z this morning with a bitter taste in my mouth. I started off with a few quick pictures of what I had put together the other day. From there I removed the Corbeau brackets and started grinding the welds down on the tabs that I had added to the cross braces. I removed all four tabs with little trouble. Being that I haven't welded much before, this was the first time I'd had to remove a weld, so I wasn't sure what to expect. Here is the end result after removing the tabs. From there I got smart, I decided to do a bit more test fitting of the seat before I did any more welding. I attached the Corbeau bracket back to the seat and put it in the car, using towels to keep the seat clean. For the new positioning I decided the seat brackets basically needed to come forward in the car 4 to 5 inches from the original tabs I had made. With the two cross braces in place I wasn't comfortable making tabs that long and with little support, so I installed two more cross braces into the car, in front of the two existing braces. These two new braces were each welded at the body, and then to the original (from earlier this week) brace in the middle, actually reusing the tabs I had recently removed to add some support in the middle. I then welded on new tabs, this time spanning both braces on each half of the seat, adding support to the tab, as well as making the tab 2" wide instead of 1.5" as I had originally made. This should create for better support of the seat brackets. Here are the photos of the newly created tabs and cross braces. I position and drilled holes for the Corbeau bracket in the new tabs, visible in the latter photos above. After getting all of this setup I was anxious to get the seat in the car and see how she fit. To get the seat in the car I had to mount the Corbeau bracket directly to the seat with 4 bolts that will go through the new tabs in place. I wrapped the seat in towels and put on some clean latex gloves so that I wouldn't get the fabric dirty from all my gunk. In order to actually thread the nuts on the rear bolts I have to tilt the seat backward, for now this is alright, but when I actually go to use the seat this won't work well. What I think I'll do is get a combination of some rubber and metal washers, which I think will allow me to tighten the rear nuts down and still be able to tilt the base of the seat back a bit, once tight, lower the front of the seat into it's tabs and tighten up the bolts there. The front tabs are easy to access, the rear tabs, not so much. Anyways, here are the photos of the seat in the car.   Tomorrow I'll be installing the driver's seat, most likely in the same manner as the passenger side, I'll also be starting on mounting the fuel cell, cutting out sections of the rear floorpan, and then fabricating a frame for the cell to sit in. The ultimate goal for this 15 Gallon cell is to build a frame that will allow me to easily remove the fuel cell and install a smaller cell. Using the larger cell for Time Trial and HPDE events, and having a 5 gallon cell to use for autocross events, saving weight in the rear of the car. More...Chris HammondSat, 30 Jun 2007 22:42:00 GMTa2439f0a-0b8a-40d3-9418-ad6ff1a5c10dP240Z Passenger Seat!https://www.chrishammond.com/Cars/240z/itemId/854/P240Z-Passenger-SeatWell, after figuring out that the seat mounts I had made earlier in the week wouldn't fit I went back out to work on the 240Z this morning with a bitter taste in my mouth. I started off with a few quick pictures of what I had put together the other day. From there I removed the Corbeau brackets and started grinding the welds down on the tabs that I had added to the cross braces. I removed all four tabs with little trouble. Being that I haven't welded much before, this was the first time I'd had to remove a weld, so I wasn't sure what to expect. Here is the end result after removing the tabs. From there I got smart, I decided to do a bit more test fitting of the seat before I did any more welding. I attached the Corbeau bracket back to the seat and put it in the car, using towels to keep the seat clean. For the new positioning I decided the seat brackets basically needed to come forward in the car 4 to 5 inches from the original tabs I had made. With the two cross braces in place I wasn't comfortable making tabs that long and with little support, so I installed two more cross braces into the car, in front of the two existing braces. These two new braces were each welded at the body, and then to the original (from earlier this week) brace in the middle, actually reusing the tabs I had recently removed to add some support in the middle. I then welded on new tabs, this time spanning both braces on each half of the seat, adding support to the tab, as well as making the tab 2" wide instead of 1.5" as I had originally made. This should create for better support of the seat brackets. Here are the photos of the newly created tabs and cross braces. I position and drilled holes for the Corbeau bracket in the new tabs, visible in the latter photos above. After getting all of this setup I was anxious to get the seat in the car and see how she fit. To get the seat in the car I had to mount the Corbeau bracket directly to the seat with 4 bolts that will go through the new tabs in place. I wrapped the seat in towels and put on some clean latex gloves so that I wouldn't get the fabric dirty from all my gunk. In order to actually thread the nuts on the rear bolts I have to tilt the seat backward, for now this is alright, but when I actually go to use the seat this won't work well. What I think I'll do is get a combination of some rubber and metal washers, which I think will allow me to tighten the rear nuts down and still be able to tilt the base of the seat back a bit, once tight, lower the front of the seat into it's tabs and tighten up the bolts there. The front tabs are easy to access, the rear tabs, not so much. Anyways, here are the photos of the seat in the car.   Tomorrow I'll be installing the driver's seat, most likely in the same manner as the passenger side, I'll also be starting on mounting the fuel cell, cutting out sections of the rear floorpan, and then fabricating a frame for the cell to sit in. The ultimate goal for this 15 Gallon cell is to build a frame that will allow me to easily remove the fuel cell and install a smaller cell. Using the larger cell for Time Trial and HPDE events, and having a 5 gallon cell to use for autocross events, saving weight in the rear of the car. More...Sat, 30 Jun 2007 14:42:00 GMT81f9def9-4998-46d4-96d5-9c4442ffb1f8Project240z 10 Years Laterhttps://www.chrishammond.com/Blog/itemId/2708/Project240z-10-Years-LaterTen years ago today, the 240z took its first, and last, autocross run at Gateway Motorsports Park, in Illinois.Project240z.comSat, 12 Aug 2017 19:33:11 GMT93a190d7-3e2a-4f16-9614-b92953dc29f9Project350z V3, coming soon?https://www.chrishammond.com/Blog/itemId/2667/Project350z-V3-coming-soon<p><img title="350z Sticker" style="border: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-left: 0px; display: inline; padding-right: 0px; float: right; background-image: none;" alt="350z Dealer Sticker" src="http://www.chrishammond.com/Portals/0/PublishThumbnails/Windows-Live-Writer/789304ceb116_E280/5892701495_8cf4ea9620_o_thumb_3.jpg" width="244" align="right" height="184" />So the time has come, I am currently car shopping again. I’ve been threatening it for a while now, but with the 2015 Solo National Championships going on this week, and a few other life things figured out, it is time to make the 2016 autocross season happen!</p> <p>So a few details. I’m once again looking at early 350z’s, this time around I’m not looking for a daily driver, this next car will be built specifically for autocross and a fun weekend toy, with some daily driving here and there (thankful I have a short commute). I am looking for the perfect car, how do you define that? Well, in an ideal world the perfect 350z for me would be </p><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/Project350z/~4/XxzD4V67SA4" height="1" width="1" alt=""/>https://www.chrishammond.com/Portals/0/-1Project350zSun, 06 Sep 2015 20:52:21 GMT52aa11e6-e4ea-4533-b77b-7110c82691d6Projectquattro&rsquo;s first autocross in the morninghttps://www.chrishammond.com/Cars/A6/itemId/1857/Projectquattrorsquos-first-autocross-in-the-morn<p>I’m up getting ready for the quattro’s first autocross tomorrow morning. This will likely be the first time I have ever autocrossed in November, and I’ve been autocrossing for almost 10 years now. Here’s to hoping the A6 makes it there and back in one piece! Hoping to have some conecam video of the action as well, we’ll see.</p>https://www.chrishammond.com/Portals/0/-1Chris HammondSun, 22 Nov 2009 00:56:58 GMT2a7fd90c-8952-4678-bc07-234b79e427acRace Gear in St. Louis Missourihttps://www.chrishammond.com/Blog/itemId/3108/Race-Gear-in-St-Louis-Missouri<p><a href="https://www.soloperformance.com">Solo Performance Specialties</a> is your one stop shop for all your autocross needs. They have a huge selection of tires, wheels, and suspension parts. <a href="https://www.soloperformance.com">They are located in St. Louis, MO</a>, but they ship all over the country. They are a great resource for all your autocross needs.</p> <p> </p> SpecFRS.comTue, 24 Jan 2023 10:00:15 GMT21ba200a-d3de-4db9-b66d-81fa82b647d3Race tire mounting in the San Francisco Bay Area (Peninsula)https://www.chrishammond.com/Blog/itemId/2066/Race-tire-mounting-in-the-San-Francisco-Bay-Area-So as I try to get ready for the 2011 autocross season I stopped into a tire shop the other day, the Les Schwab on El Camino in San Carlos, California. I was curious how much they would charge to mount and balance for 18” tires. For those of you who don’t autocross, it is very common for autocrossers to need a local tire changing service, while not purchasing the tires from that location as well.https://www.chrishammond.com/Portals/0/-1Chris HammondSun, 16 Jan 2011 04:18:45 GMTf71f6eab-ee62-4eef-a2eb-ee2af21965e4Removing the busted motorhttps://www.chrishammond.com/Cars/240z/itemId/2468/Removing-the-busted-motorOn August 12th 2007 the P240z took it's maiden autocross voyage, and promptly killed the motor. On 9/30 I removed the motor.Chris HammondWed, 03 Oct 2007 10:55:31 GMTa01c523b-89d9-4026-aeb2-14a95566d8eeSan Diego National Tour Autocross Runshttps://www.chrishammond.com/Blog/itemId/2151/San-Diego-National-Tour-Autocross-RunsSo here we are, one day after the tour and I have all 6 of my runs squared away on video. Now to get them blogged about, in order of course. Car Class: BSP Suspension Configuration Front: TrueChoice Coiliovers(bump 1 full turn, rebound 6 clicks) 650lb Springs Rear: Koni Sports (rebound 2.5 clicks) 500lb Springs on Adjustable Perchs Hotchkis Sway Bars: Front Full Stiff (Front hole of 3) Rear Medium Stiffness (Middle hole of 3) Read the full blog post for all the videoshttps://www.chrishammond.com/Portals/0/-1Chris HammondTue, 05 Apr 2011 00:52:19 GMT9783d37d-153c-41b0-b2d8-ece1937da174Saturday Autocross Resultshttps://www.chrishammond.com/Cars/Corvette/itemId/1198/Saturday-Autocross-Results<p><a href="http://www.corvettez06.org/DesktopModules/EngagePublish/itemlink.aspx?itemId=90">Check out the blog post on www.corvettez06.org </a></p>Sat, 24 May 2008 17:47:05 GMT6d387c01-69b2-45b1-bd46-65e0be96c7cdSo Long Tahoe, Thanks for the memories!https://www.chrishammond.com/Cars/Corvette/itemId/946/So-Long-Tahoe-Thanks-for-the-memoriesThe Tahoe was a great truck. It was a great price, had all the comfort one could ask for, heated seats for those of us getting older with back pains. But it just couldn't cut it on an Autocross course, so the Tahoe was replaced today, but a car much smaller, lighter, faster, and much brighter than the Tahoe. Say hello to my Little Red Corvette More pictures at my new domain name www.corvettez06.org More photos coming...Sat, 13 Oct 2007 00:20:00 GMTc8a00332-562c-45be-92b8-a9f8d9e980e4So why another Autocross site? PylonPilots.com is herehttps://www.chrishammond.com/Blog/itemId/1792/So-why-another-Autocross-site-PylonPilotscom-is<p>So one question you might have in regards to PylonPilots.com is: why would the world need another autocross website?</p> <p>Well, at one point in time SOLO2.ORG was THE place to go to get information about our sport. I have multiple magazines that published articles about Autocross and made reference to what was then SOLO2.ORG. Hell, I found them all as I went through things as we pack for our move to Colorado (<a href="http://www.going2colorado.com/">http://www.going2colorado.com</a>)</p> <p>I want that again, I want to have THE website where people go for information about Autocross. So why not just reuse SOLO2.ORG? Well, for one thing, the software on the site was hurting, ever since the switch to that software in 2006 or 2007 the site has slowly died. People quit using it, content went away, and references to the site stopped happening. (continue reading!)</p>Chris HammondThu, 16 Jul 2009 00:23:56 GMTe37db94f-5d53-40ef-a720-0a5a7d3ee16dSSC Contingency Opportunitieshttps://www.chrishammond.com/Blog/itemId/2739/SSC-Contingency-Opportunities<p>So one of the ways to help supplement the cost of autocross at a National level with the SCCA is to participate in their contingency programs. There are a variety of contingency options available, depending on:</p> <ul> <li>What make of car you drive</li> <li>What class you run in</li> <li>What tires you run</li> <li>What programs you register for</li> </ul> <p>You should check out the <a href="https://www.scca.com/pages/solo-contingency" target="_blank">SCCA Autocross Contingency page</a> to see which options are available to you, and which will work for your particular class/car.</p> <p>What’s the catch with contingencies? Well, you typically (almost always) have to run your vehicle with the sponsors decals on the vehicle.</p> <p><a data-flickr-embed="true" data-footer="true" data-header="true" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/chammond/39900291410/in/dateposted/" title="Spec FR-S Decked Out"><img alt="Spec FR-S Decked Out" height="375" src="https://farm1.staticflickr.com/964/39900291410_b5302163bd.jpg" width="500" /></a><script async src="//embedr.flickr.com/assets/client-code.js" charset="utf-8"></script></p> SpecFRS.comThu, 26 Apr 2018 02:58:53 GMTe6ac3ab2-0550-4869-b764-828b914e8963St Louis Region Autocross Photoshttps://www.chrishammond.com/Blog/itemId/3017/St-Louis-Region-Autocross-Photos<p>--- layout: "post" title: "2020 St. Louis Region Autocross Photos" subtitle: "Autocross photos from the 2020 Season" active: "blog" image: feature: "/img/posts/MartySmoke-1.jpg" date: '2020-10-12T15:12:54+00:00' permalink: "/Events/2020/10/st-louis-region-autocross-photos" header-img: "/img/posts/MartySmoke-1.jpg" comments: "true" ---</p> <p>With a limited number of National events for the 2020 season, local autocross became the focus for many drivers around the country. In St. Louis we've had 8 of 9 events. </p> <p>RainbowMarks has been able to shoot photos at a variety of these events, below you will find photo galleries of some of those events.</p> <h2>July 26, 2020</h2> <p><a data-flickr-embed="true" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/chammond/albums/72157715253217528" title="July 26, 2020 Autocross"><img alt="July 26, 2020 Autocross" height="600" src="https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/50157126778_08c69dfe67_c.jpg" width="800" /></a> <script async src="//embedr.flickr.com/assets/client-code.js" charset="utf-8"></script></p> <h2>September 20, 2020</h2> <p><a data-flickr-embed="true" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/chammond/albums/72157716059485046" title="St. Louis Autocross 9-20-2020 Heat 1"><img alt="St. Louis Autocross 9-20-2020 Heat 1" height="600" src="https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/50368086462_517bf048a1_c.jpg" width="800" /></a> <script async src="//embedr.flickr.com/assets/client-code.js" charset="utf-8"></script> <a data-flickr-embed="true" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/chammond/albums/72157716064809442" title="St. Louis Autocross 9-20-2020 Heat 3"><img alt="St. Louis Autocross 9-20-2020 Heat 3" height="600" src="https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/50368615512_d1749824e9_c.jpg" width="800" /></a> <script async src="//embedr.flickr.com/assets/client-code.js" charset="utf-8"></script></p> <h2>October 4th, 2020</h2> <p><a data-flickr-embed="true" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/chammond/albums/72157716257614593" title="2020 St Louis Region Event 7 Heat 1"><img alt="2020 St Louis Region Event 7 Heat 1" height="600" src="https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/50420997402_d2f7c471a5_c.jpg" width="800" /></a> <script async src="//embedr.flickr.com/assets/client-code.js" charset="utf-8"></script> <a data-flickr-embed="true" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/chammond/albums/72157716258351566" title="2020 St. Louis Region Event 7 Heat 2"><img alt="2020 St. Louis Region Event 7 Heat 2" height="600" src="https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/50420526703_e727e5e0d8_c.jpg" width="800" /></a> <script async src="//embedr.flickr.com/assets/client-code.js" charset="utf-8"></script></p> <h2>October 10th, 2020</h2> <p><a data-flickr-embed="true" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/chammond/albums/72157716341449928" title="St. Louis Autocross 10-10-2020 Heat 1"><img alt="St. Louis Autocross 10-10-2020 Heat 1" height="600" src="https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/50447972882_8a681dd6fa_c.jpg" width="800" /></a> <script async src="//embedr.flickr.com/assets/client-code.js" charset="utf-8"></script> <a data-flickr-embed="true" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/chammond/albums/72157716351395896" title="St. Louis Region Autocross 10-10-2020 Heat 3"><img alt="St. Louis Region Autocross 10-10-2020 Heat 3" height="600" src="https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/50450667413_e2442d0e2e_c.jpg" width="800" /></a> <script async src="//embedr.flickr.com/assets/client-code.js" charset="utf-8"></script></p> <h2>October 24th, 2020</h2> <p><a data-flickr-embed="true" data-footer="true" data-header="true" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/chammond/albums/72157716609015033" title="Event 9 Heat 2"><img alt="Event 9 Heat 2" height="1600" src="https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/50528939842_5190e581cd_h.jpg" width="1200" /></a><script async src="//embedr.flickr.com/assets/client-code.js" charset="utf-8"></script> <a data-flickr-embed="true" data-footer="true" data-header="true" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/chammond/albums/72157716606555747" title="Event 9 Heat 3"><img alt="Event 9 Heat 3" height="1600" src="https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/50527100677_c4adea1397_h.jpg" width="1200" /></a><script async src="//embedr.flickr.com/assets/client-code.js" charset="utf-8"></script></p> RainbowMarksBlogMon, 12 Oct 2020 00:00:00 GMTc046cd64-ae85-434c-9f54-1ee8cbe8403bSt Louis Region SCCA Autocross June 26th, 2022https://www.chrishammond.com/Blog/itemId/3084/St-Louis-Region-SCCA-Autocross-June-26th-2022<p>We were out at the St. Louis Region SCCA Autocross at The Family Arena on June 26th, 2022. We tried to get shots of every car out there, hopefully we have a few of yours!</p> <p><a href="https://rainbowmarks.smugmug.com/2022/Motorsports/June-26th-Autocross">Click here to View/Purchase Photos</a></p> <p> </p> RainbowMarksBlogMon, 27 Jun 2022 09:00:00 GMTb4fa5bb8-9eb4-438b-aef5-a439b3490b55St. Louis Autocross on 7-13https://www.chrishammond.com/Cars/Corvette/itemId/1356/St-Louis-Autocross-on-713A great showing for the CorvetteZ06.org team at the July 13th 2008 event for the St. Louis Region SCCA. The car finished first on Index overall, first in SS and first in SSL, as well as a 2nd place finish in SS as well. Videos later in the week with a more detailed writeup of the events happenings.Mon, 14 Jul 2008 01:12:14 GMTb1436a99-c841-4c68-bfdd-8fd2fe0127c0St. Louis Event 5 Autocross Reviewhttps://www.chrishammond.com/Cars/Corvette/itemId/1363/St-Louis-Event-5-Autocross-ReviewSo this past Sunday was the 5th event of the St. Louis Autocross season, really it was only the 4th event held this year due to rain/blow out of what was supposed to be event number 3. The region has changed their event structure this year, back to a three heat format, with the attempt to get 5 runs each heat, that worked out on Sunday. Beth ran the Corvette in SSL during the second heat, there were two drivers in the class, Beth ended up taking first, and also taking first on the ladies index challenge. Dave and I both ran in the third heat. I managed to take the win in SS, as well as the win on the index results for the event, I even managed to get the fastest raw time for the event, though I took out a single cone before the starting lights on that run so it doesn't count for anything! Dave managed 2nd in SS behind me, and 6th on index for the event. I've posted some of the videos from the event in a post a few days ago. I did come to realize there is no need for me to attend any more local events this year, as I have no possibility of winning the class championship, or the index championship due to the fact that the solo board decided to screw up the points by making the divisional worth a single event but double the points, so now, unless people just don't attend 6 events in SS I have no shot at making up 10k points. That doesn't mean I won't continue to show up though, I'll be doing my damnedest to win every event, both class and index for the rest of the year (cept 10/6 when I'll be in Europe). I might not have a shot at winning based on points, but I'll be damned sure to make people know who the fastest mofo in St. Louis is this year. This weekend the CorvetteZ06.org team is headed to Milwaukee Wisconsin to take part in The Tire Rack SCCA National Tour event, videos of that to come next week!Wed, 16 Jul 2008 22:32:44 GMT92c41b25-9bf1-4738-910c-04bcedf6d38fSTU 2003 Nissan 350z For Sale&ndash;Project350z V3https://www.chrishammond.com/Blog/itemId/2690/STU-2003-Nissan-350z-For-SalendashProject350z-V3<p>2003 Nissan 350z Touring $9000</p> <p><img align="right" height="274" src="https://farm6.staticflickr.com/5676/30026894902_955dc0d87a_b.jpg" style="float: right; display: inline" width="274" />Well, the time has come for V3 of Project350z.com to be put up for sale. Before we part it out we will post the car is as, with all the autocross bits installed and attached. If the car doesn’t sell in the next week, we will likely start removing all the autocross bits and putting it back to as close to stock as possible. The car is available in St. Louis (Wildwood) Missouri. If you are interested in seeing it, give me call. (Chris: 650-260-8344)</p> <p><a href="https://www.instagram.com/project350z/" target="_blank">Pictures available on Instagram</a></p> <p><a href="https://www.instagram.com/jd1cameramount/" target="_blank">Videos available on another Instagram account</a></p> <p><img alt="" height="1" src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/Project350z/~4/fYxN2mPnerI" width="1" /></p> Project350zTue, 15 Nov 2016 00:39:38 GMT17664e3b-a234-4a5e-999e-7f0b54c312b8The 2016 Autocross Season So Farhttps://www.chrishammond.com/Blog/itemId/2684/The-2016-Autocross-Season-So-Far<iframe src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/gH1Iwcm0suc" frameborder="0" width="100%" allowfullscreen></iframe> <p>So it has been a while since I’ve had the time to get a blog post up here, so let’s get started.</p> <p>After the last post, the car was almost ready for the Dixie National tour, held in Cecil Georgia, but there was some final prep to do. I took the car down to Solo Performance to corner weight and align the thing, with good results. </p><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/Project350z/~4/CUgagFRj5oI" height="1" width="1" alt=""/>https://www.chrishammond.com/Portals/0/-1Project350zSat, 23 Apr 2016 00:21:33 GMT2f3072a8-c038-4dbf-97f1-c28880487a4aThe Car Runs!https://www.chrishammond.com/Blog/itemId/2437/The-Car-RunsThat's right, it runs!!!! More info tomorrow, I've gotta get up in 5.5 hours for the autocross tomorrow! Here's the video page, crappy video and sound, but it does...Chris HammondSun, 29 Jul 2007 08:55:17 GMTbbdc2c46-2d32-41ee-a5dc-27f059669a7bThe Car Runs!https://www.chrishammond.com/Blog/itemId/886/The-Car-RunsThat's right, it runs!!!! More info tomorrow, I've gotta get up in 5.5 hours for the autocross tomorrow! Here's the video page, crappy video and sound, but it does...Sun, 29 Jul 2007 00:55:17 GMT3212b605-f93e-4c88-9744-c69d4dbeb4e1The first drive!https://www.chrishammond.com/Blog/itemId/2467/The-first-drive<p>I took the car to the St. Louis SCCA Autocross today and worked on it on the trailer for a while with the intention of driving it around the parking lot for the first drive. Success</p>Chris HammondSun, 29 Jul 2007 21:53:52 GMT6166907a-feb5-43c3-8798-beb303521442The hunt for the perfect Corvettehttps://www.chrishammond.com/Cars/Corvette/itemId/940/The-hunt-for-the-perfect-CorvetteToday I went to Lynch Hummer here in Chesterfield, MO and test drove a black 2004 Corvette Z06. I forgot how much fun those cars are, last year I drove Krekeler's car at our last Autocross event of the season. You can see some of those runs in the videos below. I got to meet Jim Lynch, the owner, and a fellow SCCA Member. He's headed off to the Runoffs this week in Topeka, Good Luck Jim! Anyways, the Corvette I drove at Lynch just didn't quite fit me, black is a hard color to keep clean, and that kind of made me not want to buy the car they had on the lot. So I've been looking around, seeing what I can find online. I've looked ALL over! I think I've found a few options, but we'll see, heck, I might even end up in a blue commemerative edition car just like Krek's was. Road trip this weekend? Perhaps, we'll see..... my first run <span class="Publish_Video"><iframe width="640" height="480" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/tXzCG7dC6j8?HD=1&wmode=opaque" style="border: none"></iframe></span> my only clean run <span class="Publish_Video"><iframe width="640" height="480" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/g7ET3Zm827c?HD=1&wmode=opaque" style="border: none"></iframe></span> a compilation of the fun <span class="Publish_Video"><iframe width="640" height="480" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/A6IrbQa6seA?HD=1&wmode=opaque" style="border: none"></iframe></span> posted from...Chris HammondThu, 04 Oct 2007 01:00:00 GMT73e42dd4-3783-464c-a3ce-fae2a74f4b74Time to starthttps://www.chrishammond.com/Cars/240z/itemId/1420/Time-to-startSo I think the time has come. I hope to begin work on the 240Z again this week. First step, finish taking apart the blown motor and find the missing piston! Next step after that, start to take apart the L28E motor sitting on the floor. It's been sitting for almost a year now, and I've learned my lesson about not taking a look at what you have (see previous "First step" above). So I hope to get the L28E motor somewhat apart so that I can replace the seals on it, and hopefully see what shape it is in. I'd hate to put a bunch of time into it only to find it's toast already. I know it ran, I drove the car it came out of, and I'm sure Lynn took good care of it, but I should really take some time with the motor this time so I don't get 40 seconds of time out of it! Now, to be fair, the old motor ran for probably a good 25 to 30 minutes total. It just got to drive for about 5 minutes, and 40 seconds of an autocross run. (Why oh why didn't I have the wife shooting Video instead of pictures?) Nick, if you're reading this and you aren't working all weekend I hope to see you and the new friend over here this weekend! At least on Saturday, Sunday I should really spend time with the wife for our first Wedding...Wed, 28 Nov 2007 10:27:12 GMT2f0f36a9-9059-40e4-91c7-3b45b014ae14Time to starthttps://www.chrishammond.com/Cars/240z/itemId/972/Time-to-startSo I think the time has come. I hope to begin work on the 240Z again this week. First step, finish taking apart the blown motor and find the missing piston! Next step after that, start to take apart the L28E motor sitting on the floor. It's been sitting for almost a year now, and I've learned my lesson about not taking a look at what you have (see previous "First step" above). So I hope to get the L28E motor somewhat apart so that I can replace the seals on it, and hopefully see what shape it is in. I'd hate to put a bunch of time into it only to find it's toast already. I know it ran, I drove the car it came out of, and I'm sure Lynn took good care of it, but I should really take some time with the motor this time so I don't get 40 seconds of time out of it! Now, to be fair, the old motor ran for probably a good 25 to 30 minutes total. It just got to drive for about 5 minutes, and 40 seconds of an autocross run. (Why oh why didn't I have the wife shooting Video instead of pictures?) Nick, if you're reading this and you aren't working all weekend I hope to see you and the new friend over here this weekend! At least on Saturday, Sunday I should really spend time with the wife for our first Wedding...Wed, 28 Nov 2007 00:27:12 GMTbc8287d4-2261-4ceb-8d21-7c42a2e3d7bbTop 10 PAX!https://www.chrishammond.com/Blog/itemId/2120/Top-10-PAX<p>So I went to the autocross today, kind of a last minute thing, and boy am I glad I did.</p> <p>I left the house at 11:30am, got there and changed tires and then ran around 2pm (or after due to a bunch of timing issues).</p> <p>I was pleased with my runs, my time being faster than a few cars I was sick of being beat by (ST civics!). Though when I went to check the results I was in 6th out of 7 in the Index class I run. I run Index, not in the standard BSP class at SCCA events because I want to compete against the fastest of the fast, no offense to the regular BSP competitors.</p> <p>6th of 7, eh, at least I wasn’t DFL. But then tonight when the <a href="http://www.sfr-solo.org/solo2/Results/2011/Championship/round04.html">results are posted</a> I ended up 10th on the overall index for the event! Woot!</p> <p>*happy dance*</p> <p>I believe the first heat of the day had a drying course, and the event overall was smaller (122 drivers) but I’ll gladly take a 10th on overall index any day here in the Bay Area!</p> <p>I’ll post videos from the event tomorrow. I would have had three angles, but my original GoPro is such a POS that it didn’t get a single recorded video. </p>https://www.chrishammond.com/Portals/0/-1Chris HammondMon, 07 Mar 2011 00:46:01 GMT212d4296-fce0-419b-9c02-b87315153ec4Two years agohttps://www.chrishammond.com/Cars/240z/itemId/1810/Two-years-ago<p>Two years ago today was the day that the Datsun toasted Motor #1 on it's first autocross run! Here’s a shot of that first competition run.</p> <p><img title="" alt="IMG_3199 by you." src="http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1046/1099890831_dece40264a.jpg" width="500" height="333" /></p> <p>And then a short time later (same run) here’s my getting out to push it</p> <p><img title="" alt="IMG_3242 by you." src="http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1095/1100954876_fabcf871a6.jpg" width="500" height="333" /></p> <p>Here’s what we found when we just happened to pull plug #2</p> <p><img title="" alt="This isn't good by you." src="http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1408/1099448933_14d8ebae20.jpg" width="500" height="333" /></p> <p>And then this is what it looked like when I went to drain the oil from the motor</p> <p><img title="" alt="Drained by you." src="http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1107/1121489208_b95723354c.jpg" width="500" height="333" /></p> <p> </p> <p>A few things have happened in the two years since that fateful day. A few months later I purchased a <a href="http://www.corvettez06.org" target="_blank">2004 Corvette Z06</a> and autocrossed that for a year.</p> <p>I sold the Corvette.</p> <p><a href="http://www.project240z.com/Blog/itemId/430/Packing-the-garage-driving-the-car.aspx" target="_blank">I got the Datsun running again with another motor</a>, same turbo setup. </p> <p>We moved to Colorado. <a href="http://www.going2colorado.com">www.going2colorado.com</a></p> <p>In the next few weeks I hope to get more of the 240 back together, starting to work on the electrical system and such. Then during the first week of September the car goes to <a href="http://www.hanksvillehotrods.com">www.hanksvillehotrods.com</a> for a new exhaust, maybe I can talk them into a cage too ;)</p>Chris HammondWed, 12 Aug 2009 23:00:10 GMTcf632f14-38ba-4b85-ad5e-30086455b590Week number 2 in our first homehttps://www.chrishammond.com/Cars/240z/itemId/1809/Week-number-2-in-our-first-home<p>So here we are, it is now week #2 in our new home here in Colorado, and we are still loving it!</p> <p>Even though the past few afternoons we’ve had some brief storms, the weather here is amazing. Here’s a result of yesterday’s storm</p> <p><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/chammond/3809994973/"><img alt="Hail from Today" src="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2605/3809994973_c029995be0_m.jpg" width="240" height="180" /></a></p> <p>The hail didn’t appear to cause any damage to the cars thankfully, it was definitely interesting to <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/chammond/3810807564/" target="_blank">see it all coming down</a>, and then <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/chammond/3809992353/" target="_blank">a result of the gutters</a>. We were our furniture shopping yesterday, and while we almost bought something I quickly learned that getting a second mortgage instead of doing PMI hits your credit pretty hard. To be frank, my credit score dropped 50+ points in the past week! Oh well, I’ll just have to work harder to pay that portion of the mortgage off quickly. We were going to do no interest financing on the furniture, but I think we’ll just pay cash for it now, so hopefully by Friday we’ll have living room furniture! </p> <p>We also stopped by the local mall, Park Meadows, holy cow that place is fancy! We hit the Borders to check out the computer book section, thankfully I <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/chammond/3809995977/" target="_blank">found a copy</a> of <a href="http://bit.ly/dnnbook/" target="_blank">my book</a>!</p> <p>Tonight we figured out that a garbage disposal will not handle everything. So I had to clean out the pipes under the sink, lesson learned :) <a href="http://connect.garmin.com/activity/10981363" target="_blank">We also went skating for the first time in Colorado tonight</a>. Natalie is not as comfortable on skates as I am, of course I’ve been skating for 18 or so years, so it' is understandable why. We went just over 7 miles tonight, if you look at the <a href="http://connect.garmin.com/activity/10981363" target="_blank">heart rate on the graphs</a> you can see some data about the skate. We figured out it was mostly downhill the first 3.5 miles, then we turned around and boom, uphill into the wind. You can see my heart rate jumped and pretty much stayed up the whole way back.</p> <p>On Sunday we got to meet the neighbors behind us, they also closed on their house on the 31st, but they’ve not fully moved in yet as they have a lease until the 24th of this month. They are a couple, around our age, no kids. I think we’re going to get a long great, we must of spend an hour or two talking to them on Sunday, it was nice. The house they purchased was one of the short sales we were bidding on, I think it worked out best for everyone right now, they got a great house, and so did we.</p> <p>The rest of the weekend consisted of me driving around looking at furniture stores, electronics stores, and a VW car show! That was fun, nothing like the bug shows in California, but way better than any VW show I went to in Missouri. <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/chammond/tags/vw/" target="_blank">Here are a few photos from the show</a>. I also got the <a href="http://www.project240z.com" target="_blank">Datsun 240z</a> started up for a bit on Sunday. I’m hoping to get it to a muffler shop this week so I can get it quieted down and then maybe be able to run it a bit more frequently as I try to get it tuned up and drivable. Natalie spent most of the weekend at the barn watching a dressage clinic, though we did go out to dinner with a number of the people from the barn on Saturday night, that was great fun and a good time for Natalie to get to know some people.</p> <p>This weekend coming up we have a lot planned. Saturday we’re going to go up to Leadville to watch the mountain bike race. A few of my fraternity brother’s are racing in it, as well as Lance Armstrong! That should be fun, we are looking forward to being up high in the mountains for a while. On Sunday I am going to head down to Colorado Springs to the SCCA Autocross down there. I’m thinking I might tow the 240z down there and see if I can’t drive it around on an empty space in the lot for a while to use the area to tune the car while driving, we’ll see if I can get everything together for that!</p> <p>So that’s our update for now, hopefully everyone is doing well. We are really loving it here in Colorado, and look forward to lots of visitors this winter!</p>Chris HammondTue, 11 Aug 2009 23:51:36 GMT4f0c5002-3c7a-4695-83ed-d42350a7d79eWeekend updatehttps://www.chrishammond.com/Blog/itemId/354/Weekend-updateWell, I guess the weekend is over, it's 12:40am now on Monday morning, so the work week has started. Though I've been working all weekend minus a few hours of racing in the rain today. I ran on some Hoosier Wets today, they are excellent rain tires for autocross, I took FTD (fastest time of day) and I believe Top Index time as well, over the many all wheel drive Subarus that were there playing in the rain as well. Updated the blog skin today, to better match a new gallery skin I was also...Mon, 26 Sep 2005 00:37:00 GMT402b3403-9e2f-4e94-a2fc-7b0c630be7f2What is SSC? Solo Spec Coupehttps://www.chrishammond.com/Blog/itemId/2733/What-is-SSC-Solo-Spec-Coupe<p>Solo Spec Coupe. SSC. The next big thing in SCCA Autocross.</p> <p>What is SSC? In September 2017, the Sports Car Club of America announced the creation of a new breed of autocross competition, a Spec class. Why does SCCA need a Spec class in Autocross? I say why not! Who doesn’t want to take “car selection” out of the mix in autocross? If you can successfully do that, you open up the idea of a true driver’s class, a real skill competition pitting driver against driver.</p> SpecFRS.comThu, 08 Mar 2018 03:46:20 GMT53709742-8a12-4d3b-a26e-14ada8d34274Who is Chris Hammond and why is he dropping?https://www.chrishammond.com/Blog/itemId/262/Who-is-Chris-Hammond-and-why-is-he-droppingWhy in search results is this web page dropping????? Who is Chris Hammond? He's currently a 28 year old software developer in St. Louis Missouri. He likes photography, baseball, automobiles, autocross, and programming! Chris Hammond is really trying to bring his ranking up, thus you are reading this...Fri, 22 Apr 2005 09:24:00 GMTf702d291-d0ab-4d46-a743-ce1cf1409ef8Why do I do this to myself?https://www.chrishammond.com/Blog/itemId/847/Why-do-I-do-this-to-myselfWhy do I torture myself so? Seriously? All day, well since around noon, all I can think about is buying a Pontiac Solstice to autocross. There's a silver Z0k (sport suspension) package available in Iowa, 485 miles from my house. Seriously why do I do this? I have car in the garage, and a Tahoe in the driveway, but all I can think about tonight is getting a Solstice, getting some wheels and tires and competing in it at every autocross I can make it to..... Hopefully this feeling passes...Fri, 22 Jun 2007 00:12:00 GMT4ac987e3-f078-4c45-8f7a-97e70912ea9bWhy you should autocrosshttps://www.chrishammond.com/Blog/itemId/3109/Why-you-should-autocross<p>Autocross is an exciting and challenging motorsport that is quickly gaining popularity among car enthusiasts. It is a competitive event where drivers navigate a course that is laid out on a large parking lot or closed-off airfield. The objective is to complete the course in the fastest time possible, while navigating tight turns, hairpin bends, and <a href="https://www.specfrs.com/autocross-accident-why-you-need-autocross-insurance">other obstacles</a>.</p> <p>One of the best things about autocross is that it is accessible to a wide range of drivers. Whether you are a seasoned pro or a beginner, there is a class for you. This means that you can compete against drivers of similar skill levels, which makes for a fair and enjoyable competition.</p> <p> </p> SpecFRS.comTue, 24 Jan 2023 11:00:15 GMTe742d92d-170f-4d1a-b863-c7679ed19932YADN Yet Another Domain Namehttps://www.chrishammond.com/Blog/itemId/41/YADN-Yet-Another-Domain-NameThe current count is 24 domain names. I just purchased autocross.biz for $4.95 this evening. In efforts to get the autocross search results up for...Sun, 01 Aug 2004 17:37:00 GMT6e41748b-eed7-49e4-8493-293bc1ab9c77Autocross Project 350Z Specifications B-Stockhttps://www.chrishammond.com/Blog/itemId/461/Autocross-Project-350Z-Specifications-BStockSince I seem to post this information on the web over and over I figured I'd solidify it here. The following information is how Andy and I run my 2003 Nissan 350Z Enthusiast model in SCCA Solo Competition in the B Stock Class. ShocksDA Konis available from Nissan USA Motorsports Division(SA Konis in the garage just in case Full Stiff (r)) Front Sway BarHotchkis (full stiff) ExhaustRemoved the stock muffler, drop 35lbs, put a pipe to aim exhaust down and out from under the car. BrakesHawk HP Plus(F) HPS (R) WheelsEnkieSpacers up front TiresKumho 710s, 275 45(or were they 40) 17Tire Pressure 36-37 (f) 31-32 (r) Chris HammondSun, 12 Mar 2006 21:02:00 GMT2a20e448-ff94-49ce-9dd5-6f952db67f7e350Z Seat Bolt Failedhttps://www.chrishammond.com/Blog/itemId/465/350Z-Seat-Bolt-FailedI spent this morning with Steven at www.tuxedoparkracing.com fixing my 03 Enthusiast Nissan 350Z. Sometime early last year we, Andy and I, had a seat bolt fail, driver's side rear. We had to provide a quick fix and rigged together a drywall anchor to try to get the seat to stay in place, we were out of town with limited tools and only a home depot for parts. That rigging worked alright for a few events, but had to be redone a few months later. The problem caused by a mount bold mount failing is that the seat mounted at only 3 points twists and causes the track to come free and the seat will move forward and back while driving, not a fun experience when competing. Today we found the cause of the bolt mount failing. I removed the carpeting from the driver's side of the car, and underneath this carpet found that the nut that used to fill the hole had broken free of the four spot welds. We ended up welding it back into place, and as I reassembled the car I actually found that the passenger side rear bolt on the drivers seat wouldn't thread. So I had to take the car apart again and found the same thing to have occured. I'm glad it occured right there, and not during a 2006 event. Steven welded the the nut back in place and the seat is amazing now! No more squeeks! How did this all actually occur? I'm going to have to assume that one of the dealers who had worked on the seat in the past didn't properly tighten the bolts down, and the seat was able to move around causing extra stress on the welds. Hopefully for 2006 we've got all of our seat issues squared away! posted from...Chris HammondSun, 19 Mar 2006 21:05:00 GMT82511078-1a51-45d5-ad81-ebace31c1ae0My Driver's School Experience....https://www.chrishammond.com/Blog/itemId/467/My-Drivers-School-ExperiencePhotos from Sunday I attended the St. Louis Region Club Racing Double Driver’s school this past weekend at Gateway International Raceway in Madison Illinois, just across the Mississippi river from St. Louis. I arranged to rent a Nissan 240SX from PFM Racing (www.pfmracing.com) for the two day school and for the regional race on Sunday. I met Jude and Jennifer from PFM at the shop Thursday evening to head over to the track to get the car and my new racing gear teched, as well as get checked in at registration for the school and for the race. Registration went well, though I hadn’t brought a passport size photo for the novice permit, so I had to have two Polaroids taken, one for my novice logbook, and one for my SCCA Membership card.   I went home Thursday evening and had dinner with my fiancé Natalie and my mother who flew into St. Louis Wednesday evening. Friday morning I got up bright and early and went out to Gateway to check out the Fox2 broadcast from the track in their short spots from 6am to 8am. I took some photos for the St. Louis region website (www.stlscca.org). The driver’s school started at 9am with a two and a half hour classroom session, covering the basics of GIR, and the SCCA basics for safety.   After the classroom session we went out for a stint with instructors on the course, looking at various parts of the track and learning some of their suggested lines for the course. The majority of the rest of Friday consisted of multiple track sessions with the car, progressing from 55mph in the first session up to 90 mph for the last session. What did I learn during these sessions? Quite a few things, the largest one being I’ve been spoiled by ABS in the 350Z I autocross and drive every day. The first time I really hit the brakes in the 240SX I got both fronts locked up and a skating sensation in the car, until of course I realized that I had both wheels locked and released the brake, lucky for me the flatspotting wasn’t too bad (yet). After all of our sessions on Friday we had another quick classroom discussion and overview of the day.   Saturday began at 7am with a quick meeting with all of the students and instructors, followed by our first open passing session; each track session was scheduled for 25 minutes. I went lined up outside the grid waiting for the rest of the group to fill in so I wouldn’t have to go out first. Though I was one of the first ones ready in the group and noticed that those who had already lined up were gone from the grid and were on course. I figured it was as good a time as any to head out there so I threw on my helmet and headed into the grid.   My first session was interesting, I had made myself pretty comfortable on Friday, pushing the car a bit, but not too much as we were always under yellow. This first session on Saturday we were given the green so we could take the track full on and practice our passing. I ended up catching up to a black C5 Corvette on the track. I was able to keep close with him in the turns, but on the front stretch coming out of Nascar 4 he would pull away. I usually caught up to him going into turn 1 but couldn’t work up the nerve to try to pass him anywhere on the course. After a few laps of playing catch with the vette we caught up to a pair of white Porsches. The pair was going at a much slower pace than we were, the C5 took the first Porsche with, and quickly overtook the second with the same ease. Now it was time for me to take my first pass, once I had made it, I was much more comfortable, and passed the next one without a second thought.   Now it was time for the Corvette! I caught back up to him without much issue even though he had put a lead on me while I was playing with the 944s. The rest of that session I spent chasing him down, but he must have been getting more comfortable on the track as well because I couldn’t seem to get close enough to make a pass before he would pull away from me. Just prior to the end ...Sun, 26 Mar 2006 23:42:00 GMTb98809bc-5233-47ee-936b-68af25fd23e6Project 350Z, First Autocross of the Seasonhttps://www.chrishammond.com/Blog/itemId/469/Project-350Z-First-Autocross-of-the-SeasonIn a few short hours we'll be departing St. Louis for our first autocross of the season. Well, it'll be my first autocross, Andy (my codriver) already has a few events under his belt! He's an Evolution instructor, so he's had the luxury of getting plenty of seat time already this year. We're headding to Walnut Ridge this afternoon to be ready for the practice event tomorrow morning, I hope to use it to get all the rust out of my system prior to Saturday and Sunday's runs. The car is all ready to go, trailer is packed with the most tires I've ever taken. We've got 12 tires loaded up ready for Walnut Ridge's rough surface. One set of older tires to use during the practice. One set of Hoosier Rain tires just in case, and our competition set of tires mounted on Enkie RPF-1s. B-Stock has a strong field in Walnut Ridge, we'll see how Andy and I fair! More blogging this weekend with results! posted from...Thu, 30 Mar 2006 10:08:00 GMT146447e7-f031-4952-a3dc-4345d2da61dfThe pain of the Walnut Ridge Prohttps://www.chrishammond.com/Blog/itemId/473/The-pain-of-the-Walnut-Ridge-ProIt's been a long few weeks for me. It all started with the St. Louis region driver's school three weekends ago and culminated today with the Walnut Ridge ProSolo. The driver's school went well, the Walnut Ridge National Tour went even better. The Walnut Ridge ProSolo though was far from good. The event itself was great, organized and run very smoothly. The 350Z's B-Stock performance however was far from desired. It's late, and I have a lot of things to catch up on, but in short the Z's drawbacks were most apparent this past weekend. The two drawbacks being the very flakey ABS, resulting in ice mode too many times to count this weekend, and the lack of a real LSD in the Z. What is Ice Mode? Well, it's hard to describe, but once you hit it you know exactly what it is. Basically if the Z isn't completely level when you hit the brakes the brake peddle gets rock hard and the car doesn't want to stop. It doesn't pulse like ABS, it can be quite disconcerning, luckily for me I've only hit it once or twice on the street, but it's a frequent problem on the non-brembo 350Zs, made prior to the 2006 model year. As for the lack of LSD, the 350Z models above the base model are equiped with an LSD, limited slip differential, which is supposed to limit the amount of wheelspin in the rear tires. The problem the Z has is that on corner exit with the throttle pressed for acceleration the car spins the inside rear tire in a nice smokey haze. A limited slip should actually transfer that force properly to keep the tire from spinning. At least, that is my understanding of how a LSD should work. It would be lovely in the Z had this feature, but it's something we must drive around. As you can see, nothing really good to say about the weekend. Andy finished 4th, myself in 6th, the three trophy positions were all filled by Mazda RX-8s.  I came home from Walnut Ridge this weekend and started looking at RX-8s on the Mazda website to see how much one would lease for..... Not likely that Andy and I will be switching, but I will be looking for an RX-8 at a local event to flog around the course and see what the competition feels like. I'll have some video of our runs up later this week. I've now gotta pack. I'm headed to Boston Monday afternoon for Opening Day at Fenway on Tuesday! posted from...Sun, 09 Apr 2006 23:06:00 GMT3f60e589-cfae-4d00-833f-3f3d263c9220Project 350Z on the Dynohttps://www.chrishammond.com/Blog/itemId/504/Project-350Z-on-the-DynoAndy took the 350Z out to Tuxedo Park Racing today to put her on the dyno and get a baseline for performance. Will post results of the dyno tonight! Why do we need a baseline? Well we're hoping to see some improvement from the Nismo Ypipe and custom 3" exhaust we'll be putting on later this week. Also need to do a few other things before the DC pro, such as possibly new plugs and wires, and of course an oil change. posted from...Mon, 12 Jun 2006 14:57:00 GMT3aee5d07-9c4c-40cf-bbb4-9a1b6877b233My Denver experiencehttps://www.chrishammond.com/Blog/itemId/540/My-Denver-experienceWell, I'm finally back from my trip to Denver, it was a long weekend, but lots of fun at the same time. I'll start at the beginning and try to cover all of the events. A few weeks ago a client asked if myself and Brian from Engage Software (my employer) could come out and give them some assistance with DotNetNuke, as well as begin to cover a few large projects they wanted to get started on. I requested that we arrange the meeting around the time of the Denver ProSolo. They were kind enough to fly me out on Friday instead of Sunday, so that I could attend the ProSolo, and then Brian and I could meet with them on Monday. Friday afternoon I flew from St. Louis to Denver on Frontier Airlines, it was a bumpy flight, but direct into Denver and on time. I arrived in Denver and picked up my Hertz rental car, a convertible V6 Mustang. I immediately headed over to the event site, also located on airport grounds. After about 2 hours of walking around talking to folks I found a ride in ASP, in a 04 Z06. Aaron Boltman was kind enough to let me drive his car for the event. I walked the course far more than usual with Chris K. and Matt G (The STL Boys). Friday evening we (Me, Chris and Matt) went out to the little diner near the Airport. They had what looked like the greatest milkshakes ever, but dared not try one, being that when I'm out of town I seem to develop a lactose intollerence. Saturday morning I got out to the event site early, met up with Aaron and then walked the courses a time or two. Come 7:30am I hear an announcement over the PA that BStock is nolonger making a class, they had 7 drivers originally but it appears only 4 showed up. Around 8am, right before the deadline Eric Jones asked me if I'd switch to BStock and drive his RX-8 so that they could have a complete class. With the thought of getting to try an RX-8 and run in BS, my usual class, I jumped at the opportunity. Apologies for Aaron for not driving his car, but I really do appreciate the kind offer. Having never driven an RX-8 I was hoping to see what all the hype was about. Saturday runs weren't all that interesting. Out of the 8 runs I took, 4 were redlights. Dan Pedroza was announcing and was on me about RL'ing all the runs. So my last two runs I managed to not RL and get decent times, after both the morning and afternoon sessions I managed to stay in 4th place, out of 5. I was sort of dissapointed in the RX-8s, I have become addicted to cars with Torque, and the RX-8 definitely lacks that. Though, driving an 8 was, I believe, good experience and hopefully training, as you have to drive them and try to maintain as much speed as possible. I have the bad habit of overbraking and powering out of corners, which a car with torque allows you to do. So hopefully if I got anything from the weekend it was the ability to maintain more speed when I'm driving the 350Z, thus making me faster! Saturday evening the STL boys headed to Denver for dinner at the Wyncoop Microbrewery and then spent a couple hours walking around the downtown bar area. We had a few drinks at a place I believe called the Sports Club. We ended up heading back to the hotels around 11pm Saturday evening to get some rest for Sunday morning. Sunday morning I improved quite a bit, I think I picked up nearly a second overall on the two courses, but not nearly enough to catch Jones who managed to take the win in BS. I barely held onto 4th as Mauro (sp?) got close to me, and I came fairly close to BJ in 3rd position. Brian took second just a few thousands back from Eric if I recall correctly. Late Sunday morning I started trying to figure out what I was going to do Sunday afternoon. I needed to pick up Brian at 7:50pm, so I had from about noon to do whatever I wanted. I was talking to Adam Breakey from www.autocrossforum.com and he mentioned he was in town until he got his flight Monday morning. After deciding I wanted to head to Pike's Peak I asked Adam if he wanted to ride up with me. We...Wed, 26 Jul 2006 09:56:00 GMTdf5673f0-9a4d-4866-8082-a0fe71fcac32National B Stock 350Z rides available for rent at Nationals https://www.chrishammond.com/Blog/itemId/582/National-B-Stock-350Z-rides-available-for-rent-atDue to the fact that I'm not going to Nationals this year (wedding/honeymoon in december and I'm out of vacation) I'm open to the idea that someone else competes my car at Nationals. My usual codriver has taken an excellent opportunity in a BSP STI, so he won't be driving the Z this year. I believe this car to be the most well prepared 350Z in the country. Not to knock Carter Thompson's car, but I think the 2003 Enthusiast model 350Z is the car to have in BStock if you're going to be driving a 350Z. I've managed to keep up with Carter a few times this year, finished in 10th place last year, and I'll stand up and say I'm not anywhere near the driver that Carter is. With someone who has some skill I'm sure this car could finish at the top of the class, even against the lemmings, err I mean Mazda RX-8s. Stats about the car. 2003 Nissan 350Z Enthusiast ModelTC Kline DA KonisHotchkios FSBEnkei RPF-1sKumho 710sHoosier Wets (for the rain)6 SpeedNismo Titanium Y-Pipe with custom 3" exhaust system This is the only 350Z that has competed at Nationals every year since the model was made eligible for BS, I'd love for someone to keep that statistic going. Rental Price negotiable, also an option to Purchase the vehicle and all my spares is available as well. Delivery to Topeka Kansas is also an option. Contact me for further information. posted from...Mon, 28 Aug 2006 23:58:00 GMT37195a35-dfa9-4cdf-8f5a-a2716fd734a4Lots of Parts for sale, 17&amp;quot; RPF1s Bstock Legal, 240Z Carbshttps://www.chrishammond.com/Blog/itemId/594/Lots-of-Parts-for-sale-17ampquot-RPF1s-BstockI've been putting things on ebay this evening, Here are my 350Z Enkei RPF1s, 17" wheels, BStock legal for 17" 350Zs. http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&rd=1,1&item=150032437137 Also listed a dual weber setup off the 1973 240Z. http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&ih=005&item=150032411962   posted from...Sun, 10 Sep 2006 23:19:00 GMT8483ec26-04e7-4aaa-a11b-58c0d2013ad82003 Nissan 350Z For Salehttps://www.chrishammond.com/Blog/itemId/597/2003-Nissan-350Z-For-SaleI'm selling my 2003 Nissan 350Z. It's currently on Ebay. You can find it by following this link. Details, a 2003 350Z with just under 79k miles on it. I'm selling it in stock form, but have other items I'd consider selling to set it up for BS in Solo if there's interest. Contact me for more information! posted from...Fri, 15 Sep 2006 00:29:00 GMT7eb0ffa1-aef7-45dd-aa71-1a9b75f962cbTake 3, the Project 350Z is sold yet again!https://www.chrishammond.com/Blog/itemId/605/Take-3-the-Project-350Z-is-sold-yet-againAlright, my good buddy Dozzle is purchasing the car! Dozzle, otherwise known as Jason (sp?), is one of my fraternity brothers who lives in Kansas City. Dozzle is getting two extra sets of wheels, 1 set of shocks, and a few other goodies to get his Stock class autocross career kickstarted. Thanks again Dozzle! I've got a week left on the car till Dozzle picks it up. posted from...Chris HammondSat, 23 Sep 2006 19:34:00 GMT637ca19e-172c-40a2-93ad-c395d264c8d9Sold, and gone....https://www.chrishammond.com/Blog/itemId/607/Sold-and-goneWell, my 2003 350Z Enthusiast model is officially paid off. It is also no longer my car!My buddy Jasyn "Dozzle" Randazzo took a train from Kansas City to St. Louis last night and drove the car home today. I talked to Dozzle this afternoon, he made it back to KC and was out and about showing the car off to friends.Have fun with her Dozzle! She's a good ride! Now that the 350Z is gone I hope to spend more time on the 240Z to get that going soon. posted from...Sat, 30 Sep 2006 20:54:00 GMT30630ae1-2cc4-441c-a204-774b14c81079350Z Autocross Car Setuphttps://www.chrishammond.com/Blog/itemId/1881/350Z-Autocross-Car-SetupRunning in BS (B-Stock) for three years I learned a lot about the 350Z and the setup for the car. While I don't currently still have that car, I will go ahead and create a post about the setup of the car for BS.Chris HammondWed, 18 Nov 2009 00:40:01 GMT7e3f93b1-56da-40c1-81a9-a323d6877398Shopping for a 350zhttps://www.chrishammond.com/Blog/itemId/1883/Shopping-for-a-350zSo the 2010 Autocross season is starting up soon, and here in Colorado the winter series is running strong. I had a little incident with the projectquattro a few weeks ago, which also has spurred along the motivation to get a 350z.Chris HammondMon, 18 Jan 2010 01:26:31 GMTb5be0a57-5f2a-4086-80e7-df5344e5cac8Prepping a 350z for STR (SCCA Autocross)https://www.chrishammond.com/Blog/itemId/1886/Prepping-a-350z-for-STR-SCCA-AutocrossMy initial intentions with this new (to me) 350z is to run in the newly formed STR class. This is a street tire class, meaning 140 treadwear or greater, which differs from the Stock Classes, which technically run “street legal” tires, but are often treadwear 50 or lesshttps://www.chrishammond.com/Portals/0/-1Chris HammondSat, 23 Jan 2010 21:59:33 GMT4068d77c-78bd-41aa-9c64-d63079ffd171Wheels for a 350z in STRhttps://www.chrishammond.com/Blog/itemId/1888/Wheels-for-a-350z-in-STRSo I’m slowly starting to figure out what I need to do to get the car ready for the 2010 Autocross season. I’ve been looking around, reading the 2010 SCCA Solo rules, covering the details of the class. I’ve got some more research to do, but for now I’m starting to figure out which wheels I am going to run on the car.https://www.chrishammond.com/Portals/0/-1Chris HammondWed, 27 Jan 2010 23:45:20 GMT0015923e-aca1-47ed-83f4-1827b0cf78f5Always good after a wash and a waxhttps://www.chrishammond.com/Blog/itemId/1900/Always-good-after-a-wash-and-a-wax<p>It has been quite a while, over a year, since I really spent some time washing a waxing a vehicle. My how time has flown, last year we spent time prepping for, and moving to Colorado, during that time I was without a “fun” car, having sold the <a href="http://www.corvettez06.org">Corvette</a> back in October 2008.</p> <p>Today, for the first time since likely 1995 I spent time washing and waxing a car in California. And the weather was beautiful! I spent the yesterday evening and today up at a friend’s house in Fairfield, the town I went to high school in. We had dinner with friends from HS last night, and then this morning I spent the day cleaning up my the 350z for the first time since picking it up, and boy did it need it, especially after the 1200 mile road trip (on the back of an open trailer last week from Colorado to California).</p> <p>I washed the car, clay barred the various marks and such in the paint, washed it again, and then waxed the car. It looks mucho better now, if I do say so for myself. Here are some pictures of the beauty after her bath.</p> <p><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/chammond/4416388858/"><img border="0" alt="IMG_2159" src="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2715/4416388858_f5a350d3ec_m.jpg" width="240" height="180" /></a> <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/chammond/4416379820/"><img border="0" alt="IMG_2158" src="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2725/4416379820_e0b8e238f7_m.jpg" width="240" height="180" /></a></p> <p>The rest of the afternoon I hung out and had a BBQ with friends, and new friends. I had a great time, but had to head back down here to San Mateo so I can work tomorrow. I made the drive in 1hr and 10 minutes. If only traffic were that nice all the time I might consider buying a house in my old stomping grounds and commuting to work. But I can only imagine that most days that would be a 2+ hr drive during commute times. Some day, perhaps later this week, I’ll get around to blogging about the Project350z’s first autocross which happened a few weeks ago.</p>Chris HammondMon, 08 Mar 2010 01:24:46 GMTe655c682-54fa-49d5-9111-10b9b5f7a864Buy a motor to build up?https://www.chrishammond.com/Blog/itemId/2044/Buy-a-motor-to-build-up<p>So I am not sure where the 350z is ultimately headed. I think SSM in SCCA Autocross could be fun, though that will take some time and a lot of money to do.</p> <p>I was thinking, perhaps a motor build up would be a place to start. And rather than build up a turbo motor from what I currently have, keep it as is and find another motor to build up.</p> <p>There’s a guy selling one on My350z that is somewhat local, could be an interesting thing to pull into the garage. Though, considering we got rid of the pickup truck last week it might not be a good idea to acquire a new motor just yet <img style="border-bottom-style: none; border-right-style: none; border-top-style: none; border-left-style: none" class="wlEmoticon wlEmoticon-smile" alt="Smile" src="http://www.project350z.com/Portals/4/PublishThumbnails/Windows-Live-Writer/Buy-a-motor-to-build-up_14372/wlEmoticon-smile_2.png" /></p> <p><a href="http://my350z.com/forum/norcal-marketplace/467754-fs-rev-up-motor-w-spun-bearing.html">http://my350z.com/forum/norcal-marketplace/467754-fs-rev-up-motor-w-spun-bearing.html</a></p> <p>I may email him and tell him I’ll give him $150, see where that goes.</p>https://www.chrishammond.com/Portals/0/-1Chris HammondMon, 27 Dec 2010 02:00:48 GMTbfef5922-c38d-4bd1-a58e-b3c52daeab0cLook out, Vinyl Boy is backhttps://www.chrishammond.com/Blog/itemId/2046/Look-out-Vinyl-Boy-is-back<p>So it has been over 2 years since I’ve had vinyl on a car, that will be changing in 2011. Look out for the upcoming transformation of the Project 350z! Early in the year I will be doing a minor overhaul, with the goal of doing a full wrap on the car later in the year.</p> <p>I just need to find someone local who can do the wrap for a reasonable cost, and make sure that they don’t damage the car in the process. I’ve not had anyone apply vinyl to my cars before, I’ve always done it myself, but I don’t have visions of being able to do a full wrap myself. </p> <p>For a refresher, here are some photos of some of my past vinyl experiences (all self applied)</p> <p><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/chammond/2768918509/"><img border="0" alt="The new look" src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3182/2768918509_72f218deef_t.jpg" width="100" height="40" /></a> <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/chammond/2291945232/"><img border="0" alt="DotNetNuke Corvette" src="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2402/2291945232_3f7d42f74a_t.jpg" width="100" height="67" /></a> <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/chammond/1282983712/"><img border="0" alt="My Old 350Z" src="http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1207/1282983712_98de77fd22_t.jpg" width="100" height="67" /></a> <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/chammond/3257269658/"><img border="0" alt="350Z Autocross" src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3261/3257269658_078fbcd902_t.jpg" width="100" height="67" /></a> <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/chammond/4116230997/"><img border="0" alt="CRW_8435" src="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2520/4116230997_ebe11d2719_t.jpg" width="100" height="67" /></a> <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/chammond/2063988267/"><img border="0" alt="My Old Camaro" src="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2232/2063988267_51055763a0_t.jpg" width="100" height="75" /></a> <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/chammond/4142941262/"><img border="0" alt="7G9X4944" src="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2659/4142941262_30e670dbc7_t.jpg" width="100" height="67" /></a></p>https://www.chrishammond.com/Portals/0/-1Chris HammondThu, 30 Dec 2010 14:00:01 GMT76f52368-ce66-405d-b4a9-5e1ee67e6939Decking out the Project350z in DotNetNukehttps://www.chrishammond.com/Blog/itemId/2068/Decking-out-the-Project350z-in-DotNetNuke<p>I don’t have an Autocross event coming up for a couple weeks, but I couldn’t wait, I had to do something to the car.</p> <p>So here she is, <a href="http://www.dotnetnuke.com">DotNetNuke</a> logos on the front and the back of the 350z.</p> <p><img src="http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5247/5362427932_1cd99da6c9.jpg" alt="Project 350z"/></p> <p>and</p> <p><img src="http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5210/5361818753_2fe8c12a32.jpg" alt="Project 350z"/></p> <p><strong>What is DotNetNuke?</strong> DotNetNuke is an open source platform for building web sites based on Microsoft .NET technology.</p> <p><strong>Why would someone put a DotNetNuke logo on their car?</strong> This website runs on DotNetNuke. My personal website runs on DotNetNuke, my wife’s site runs on DotNetNuke, my daughter’s website runs on DotNetNuke, <a href="http://www.SCCAForums.com" target="_blank">SCCAForums.com</a> runs on DotNetNuke. I work for DotNetNuke Corporation. I’ve used DotNetNuke for 8 years now. My life revolves around DotNetNuke, and has for a long time, and hopefully will for a long time as well.</p> <p>So I found it fitting that I should try to help promote the product in any way I can. That includes putting the logo on my car, front and back. <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/chammond/2291945232/" target="_blank">I’ve done it before, on a different car</a>, so why not on my current car!</p> <p>So what do you think? Am I crazy? </p>Chris HammondWed, 19 Jan 2011 01:48:43 GMTba1acafa-8747-43d3-be71-927ab71152a6350z Trailer Hitch, Take 2https://www.chrishammond.com/Blog/itemId/2075/350z-Trailer-Hitch-Take-2<p>So for my 2003 350z I had a custom trailer hitch built by a friend in St. Louis. It was hefty, mounting with ubolts through the bottom of the bumper and then a bar running forward to the differential. It weighed quite a bit, but was somewhat easy to remove at autocross events if I was concerned about the weight. </p> <p>I just spent the last hour and a half trying to dig up an old photo of the hitch, but have so far been unable to do so! I’m hoping to get some photos from the company who made the hitch (no longer produced or sold, but we’ll see if they still have them). I did finally locate a photo of when the hitch was being built! Though it really isn’t useful for much, here it is. This is the mount at the rear diff.</p> <p><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/chammond/5389655042/"><img border="0" alt="CRW_1674_JFR" src="http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5220/5389655042_505eb6623c_m.jpg" width="240" height="159" /></a></p> <p>Then of course there is the car actually towing at trailer. This photo was taken in the parking lot at the Jack Daniel’s Distillery in Lynchburg Tennessee in April 2005, just a few days after the hitch was constructed. I always loved this photo</p> <p><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/chammond/5389048109/"><img border="0" alt="CRW_1711_JFR" src="http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5260/5389048109_3d9c0c77bd_m.jpg" width="240" height="159" /></a></p> Read morehttps://www.chrishammond.com/Portals/0/-1Chris HammondWed, 26 Jan 2011 01:09:16 GMT32ee3690-0071-44e6-a26a-e0763ac95ea9350z BSP Parts Configurationhttps://www.chrishammond.com/Blog/itemId/2086/350z-BSP-Parts-ConfigurationThis post will be a continually updated (on project350z.com) list of parts (to buy) and configuration for the 350z preparation for SCCA Solo’s BSP (B street prepared) Class. If you’re building a 350z for Autocross I hope that this page provides of some great value. Each part will be marked as Planned or Installed depending on the current status. In no particular orderhttps://www.chrishammond.com/Portals/0/-1Chris HammondFri, 04 Feb 2011 03:16:23 GMT6e55ada6-ea6c-4171-9bae-2580ebb2d5e6350z Tire/Wheel Fitment 18x10 inch 305 V710shttps://www.chrishammond.com/Blog/itemId/2092/350z-TireWheel-Fitment-18x10-inch-305-V710s<p>This evening after work I came home and cleared out the garage so that I could get the new wheels test fitted to see what all I was going to need to do on Saturday.</p> <p>Here are the details, the wheels are Enkei RPF1 18”x10” +38 (offset). The tires are Kumho Ecsta V710 305/30/18s. The car currently sits on a stock suspension (2004 350z Enthusiast)</p> <p>With that in mind, I wanted to see what I was going to need to do to make them fit on the car so I can run them at the SCCA Autocross this weekend. The good news is that the wheels/tires fit on the rear perfectly, no changes necessary (at least as of right now on the stock suspension).</p> Chris HammondWed, 09 Feb 2011 01:06:57 GMTfe8d33b4-ca83-402f-8615-9af8d7bce02eSan Francisco Region SCCA Boondoggle 2011 Resultshttps://www.chrishammond.com/Blog/itemId/2097/San-Francisco-Region-SCCA-Boondoggle-2011-ResultsSo today was the first day for a few things It was my first time running an autocross with the San Francisco Region of the SCCA. I must say things went fairly well, even with of the normal first event hiccups. It was my first time running this 350z on RComps, and any 350z on 18” tires on 10” wide wheels. Overall I was impressed, though I long for 315 Hoosier A6s! Today’s event was held at California’s Great America in Santa Clara, CA. I started out slow, but finally kicked it in gear a bit on my 4th and final run. I realized today that I used to drive balls to the wall all the time at an autocross, I guess in my old age I’m not doing that as much, so it took me a while to turn that switch back on.Chris HammondSun, 13 Feb 2011 23:58:50 GMT0c0ed9cb-692d-4017-8b04-d7562697b222SFRSCCA Divisional 2011 Day 1https://www.chrishammond.com/Blog/itemId/2103/SFRSCCA-Divisional-2011-Day-1<p>How was today?</p> <p><font size="7">COLD AND WET!</font></p> <p><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/chammond/5458127935/"><img style="display: inline; float: right" border="0" alt="Hard to see but there is snow on them thar hills #autocross" align="right" src="http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5293/5458127935_f28fd5c35f_m.jpg" width="240" height="179" /></a>Beyond that? Very cold and very wet. I went to Great America today for the SFRSCCA Divisional Autocross. I got there around 7am and put the Kumho tires on the car, big mistake! I was sort of drying out, the sky was almost clear, but the drive down there was rainy, and there was snow! You can’t see it very well in this picture, but yes, there was snow in the “hills” around the Bay Area.</p> <p>So I installed the wheels/tires and walked the course a few times. The driver’s meeting got delayed, then the start of the event got delayed. Then the rain started back up <img style="border-bottom-style: none; border-right-style: none; border-top-style: none; border-left-style: none" class="wlEmoticon wlEmoticon-sadsmile" alt="Sad smile" src="http://www.project350z.com/Portals/4/PublishThumbnails/Windows-Live-Writer/SFRSCCA-Divisional-2011-Day-1_10487/wlEmoticon-sadsmile_2.png" /></p> <p>Let me tell you this, Kumho V710s don’t work well when it is <40 degrees and raining. My first run I went out and it felt horrible, I turned a 66.*, I wasn’t too thrilled about that. Here’s a video of that run.</p> <p><span class="Publish_Video"><object type="application/x-shockwave-flash" width="560" height="340" data="http://www.youtube.com/v/WV9E75Gkc-Y&hd=1"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/WV9E75Gkc-Y&hd=1" />Flash Not Installed</object></span></p> <p>But I was too lazy to go get my street tires (<a href="http://www.project350z.com/Articles/itemId/502/Night-before-the-Project-350zrsquos-first-divisi.aspx">freshly mounted the previous night mind you</a>). Big mistake, I went out on my second run and decided I would take things slower, expecting to actually go around the course faster. I slowed down and ran a 69.*. That broke this camel’s back, I ran off to get my street wheels, drill, and jack so that I could swap to the Falken Azenis RT-615s.</p> <p>Thankfully Grant (in a Nismo 370z) followed me over and helped me bring 2 of the tires back to my grid spot. I don’t think I would have gotten them changed in time had he not helped! Thanks for the help Grant!</p> <p>The Falkens were MUCH better, not perfect, but way better than the V710s in the rain. I managed to run a 60.*, a big improvement over the first two runs, though I just wish I had put them on before my second run, or even to begin with!</p> <p>Here’s a video of the third run</p> <p><span class="Publish_Video"><object type="application/x-shockwave-flash" width="560" height="340" data="http://www.youtube.com/v/cGIZVNTaNbU&hd=1"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/cGIZVNTaNbU&hd=1" />Flash Not Installed</object></span></p>https://www.chrishammond.com/Portals/0/-1Chris HammondSat, 19 Feb 2011 21:42:29 GMT764f040b-36ec-41de-8993-a4e700f13c04Weighing the 350z at the Divisionalhttps://www.chrishammond.com/Blog/itemId/2104/Weighing-the-350z-at-the-Divisional<p>So there’s been much debate (or really just many people telling me I am crazy) over on SCCAForums in the thread I started to discuss the proposed move of the 350z from BSP to ESP in SCCA Autocross classing.</p> <p>Ever since the 350z was released I thought it was the perfect F-Stock car, though others have always seemed to think otherwise and it was relegated to B-Stock where all but a few events it became an also ran behind the RX-8. It was also classed in BSP (b street prepared) where it hasn’t faired any better for the last 8 years. Last month the SCCA posted a proposal to move the 350z from BSP to ESP, I’m all for the move, most of the ESP folk apparently aren’t, “A Japanese car in our American Car Class? How dare you!”</p> <p>Alright, so no one has made that complaint, but the way they “defend” their ground they might as well be drawing lines in the soil. There’s much debate about what a 350z will actually weight in SP trim, my car isn’t fully SP prepped yet (and to be honest that will likely take 2-3 years due to budget) but I figured I would go ahead and weigh the car at the divisional event today.</p> <p>First things first, here are the details of the car itself (if it's not mentioned it is stock) <br />2004 Nissan 350z "Enthusiast" package <br />18x10" RPF1s <br />305 V710s <br />No stereo/speakers <br />~2 gallons of gas <br />Injen Super SES dual exhaust (weighed at 15lbs lighter than stock) <br />HFCs <br />K&N CAI <br />Plenum spacer <br />Hotchkis F/R sway bars <br />No spare tire, tools, or rear carpeting/mats(not fastened down from the factory)</p> <p>And what did it weigh in at?</p> <p><strong>3062lbs</strong></p> <p>That matches up fairly closely to my 2003 Enthusiast I had from 03-06 in b-stock trim. A few other mods on this one, though the old one had a lighter exhaust setup. The 2003 weighed 3075lbs.</p>https://www.chrishammond.com/Portals/0/-1Chris HammondMon, 21 Feb 2011 00:09:56 GMTfe5168d8-fc61-4030-a25c-1285790cdc02350z Autocross Tire Pressureshttps://www.chrishammond.com/Blog/itemId/2105/350z-Autocross-Tire-Pressures<p>So with all the blogging I’ve done over the years I have been unable to find any posts where I mentioned tire pressures!</p> <p>So here it is, a thread that I will continually update with tire pressure information for my 350z. As I change configurations I will move settings to an archive down below.</p> <h2>Current Tires</h2> <p>Kumho V710 305/30R18 <br />(as of 2/20/2011)</p> <h2>Current Pressures</h2> <p>Front: 25psi <br />Rear: 23psi <br />(as of 2/20/2011)</p>https://www.chrishammond.com/Portals/0/-1Chris HammondMon, 21 Feb 2011 00:18:38 GMTf63b2446-fe7b-4bc7-96b3-1b8bb87d8170350z Traction Control and Square Tireshttps://www.chrishammond.com/Blog/itemId/2115/350z-Traction-Control-and-Square-Tires<p>So I experienced something while driving the 350z yesterday that I haven’t experienced in quite a while. Typically the 350z comes with a staggered tire setup, meaning that the front tires are usually a smaller size than the rears. A week or two ago I got some new street tires put on the car, the new tires are “square” meaning the fronts are the same size as the rear.</p> <p>This actually gives you the ability to rotate the wheels/tires (assuming the wheels are the same size), which can go a long way in making your tires last longer. The old set I had taken off were actually okay in the front, but the rears were bald, being able to rotate could have helped prevent that.</p> <p>The downfall of having a square setup, at least with a 350z, is that the computer isn’t setup for that, not having the stagger causes the front tires to run at a different speed in relation to the rear tires. This causes the computer to freak out, though most of the time it is fine, where it will freak out is typically when you are accelerating on an onramp.</p> <p>I had this happen for the first time since some time in 2006 (when I sold my first 350z) last night. It wasn’t a huge shocker, but it was a bit of a surprise. You can avoid the computer issue, but it requires turning off the traction control, something you can’t do when it is activated by the differing speeds. So for now, I will continue to turn off the traction control (tcs) when I get in the car.</p> <p>I’m curious to see if there are any ways to disable the TCS by default, and only have it turn on when you press the button. That would be extremely useful in autocross as you NEVER want traction control in a 350z enabled when autocrossing.</p>https://www.chrishammond.com/Portals/0/-1Chris HammondWed, 02 Mar 2011 23:05:49 GMT162be84a-28a6-4756-bd2c-f230b061afd2Excellent customer service from GoProhttps://www.chrishammond.com/Blog/itemId/2118/Excellent-customer-service-from-GoPro<p>The night before an autocross, and I’m stoked for tomorrow, even if it rains (as forecasted). I got a replacement GoPro HD camera today in the mail.</p> <p>For those of you who don’t know, I had a problem with my GoPro camera, which I use a LOT! I use it for <a href="http://www.project350z.com/Videos.aspx">autocross videos, and time lapse videos of working on the car</a>. A few weeks ago I was working on the car doing a standard time lapse, but the camera freaked out. I came to find out that there was a bug in the camera software that would show up with time lapse mode after 10k (I think) photos were taken. It was a known bug though, and there was a firmware update for the camera to fix the bug.</p> <p>So I applied the firmware update, but something during the process failed and the camera ended up “bricking” which basically means it wouldn’t work. You couldn’t power it on, you couldn’t use it, nothing, it was as useful as a brick. Since I got the camera for xmas it was still under warranty so I contacted GoPro about getting it fixed, while it took a bit of back and forth via email with their customer service reps, they provided me with an RMA number to send it in.</p> <p>This was a couple of weeks ago, right before a 2 day autocross and right before we were heading out of town for vacation, so I didn’t get the camera mailed out until Tuesday of this week. On Thursday I got an email from them saying that they had a replacement camera ready to mail out, but I hadn’t included a return address. I replied with our address, and then on Friday I got an email saying it would go out. It is nice that we live about 15 miles from their headquarters because the camera showed up today via USPS.</p> <p>I’m not positive that the firmware fix has been applied to this camera yet, but I’m going to leave it as is for now. I want to use it at the autocross tomorrow, so I don’t want to run the risk of bricking it again!</p>https://www.chrishammond.com/Portals/0/-1Chris HammondSat, 05 Mar 2011 23:02:50 GMTeb3d1bab-988b-4953-bc05-f7b3f82d41bfAlignment done, at least for the road triphttps://www.chrishammond.com/Blog/itemId/2144/Alignment-done-at-least-for-the-road-trip<p>So I didn’t figure I was going to have time to do the alignment on the 350z over the next couple of days, and I wasn’t sure that I really wanted to do an alignment myself after just lowering the car. I mean, I want to do it, but driving down to San Diego on Thursday isn’t the time I need to press my alignment skills.</p> <p>So today I took the car to the local Firestone dealer to get an alignment done today. Here’s what I told them.</p> <p>“I want to know what the specs are, and I want the toe to be within factory specifications.”</p> <p>No problem they said, then they upsold me on the lifetime alignment. I told them, oh that won’t work for me, I’m gonna be making lots of changes, you guys won’t honor it. He assured me that they would, and even double checked with the manager. We’ll see how it works out, but I’m hoping they will honor it going forward! Really I will just want to use them here or there to verify that what I do when I make adjustments and try to align it myself.</p> <p>Less than an hour later I got a phone call saying that the car was ready to go. Here are the specs that I came away with.</p> <table border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="2" width="473"><tbody> <tr> <td valign="top" width="133"> </td> <td valign="top" width="133">Left F/R (in degrees)</td> <td valign="top" width="205">Right F/R(in degrees)</td> </tr> <tr> <td valign="top" width="133">Camber</td> <td valign="top" width="133">-2.3/-2.4</td> <td valign="top" width="205">-2.5/-2</td> </tr> <tr> <td valign="top" width="133">Toe</td> <td valign="top" width="133">.05/.12</td> <td valign="top" width="205">.07/.09</td> </tr> </tbody></table> <p> </p> <p>Friday I plan to do some adjustment to the Toe, getting some toe out in front and toe in in the rear. We’ll see if I can get that adjustment squared away using my longacre toe plates.</p> <p>If I come up with some additional settings for autocross alignment I’ll create a new blog post for the specs.</p>https://www.chrishammond.com/Portals/0/-1Chris HammondTue, 29 Mar 2011 01:37:22 GMT7bcf4999-12f1-40bc-a47e-217d641ac364San Diego National Tour Practice Dayhttps://www.chrishammond.com/Blog/itemId/2148/San-Diego-National-Tour-Practice-Day<p>Today was a practice day at the San Diego National Tour. This morning I took part in the Evolution School advantage program, basically you get a ton of seat time in the morning before the practice course opens up for the rest of the entrants for the National Tour. My r-comps were on a truck otw to the tour, so I ran my street tires for the morning session. I also had the car set at full soft (bump/rebound), most definitely not the configuration needed, and my evo instructor Brian let me know.</p> <p>He knew me (not to be cocky, a lot of autocrossers do because of my involvement with <a href="http://www.SCCAForums.com" target="_blank">SCCAForums.com</a> and announcing at events throughout the years), but he made the mistake of assuming I knew what I was doing <img style="border-bottom-style: none; border-right-style: none; border-top-style: none; border-left-style: none" class="wlEmoticon wlEmoticon-openmouthedsmile" alt="Open-mouthed smile" src="http://www.project350z.com/Portals/4/PublishThumbnails/Windows-Live-Writer/San-Diego-National-Tour-Practice-Day_12E28/wlEmoticon-openmouthedsmile_2.png" />. He assumed I knew about suspension setup, I corrected him, and asked for help! He was very helpful and provided me some guidance to try things out.</p> <p>In the morning sessions on street tires (Azenis 615s, decent tires) I got down to 30.0*, not bad, but nothing near the 27.* that a SS Z06 was running. </p> <p>I also had a horrendous knocking coming front the front end of the car, though that wasn’t new, it was happening all week. When I put the new bushings in I failed to apply any grease to them (other than when they went into the control arms).  My father is here in town to watch me run at the tour, so we headed over to autozone to get some white lithium spray grease to try to help with the knocking. I thought, there was no way that it would help, but geez, it’s amazing how much quieter the car is now.</p> <p>When the tires showed up I got them put on and adjusted the Konis a bit, then went back out and ran a few more practice runs to see how the car felt.</p> <p>I got faster on each run, finishing with a 28.555. Still not up to snuff against that Z06, but definitely better than I had been doing in the morning.</p> <p>I ended up going with the following settings on the Konis</p> <p><strong>Front Double Adjustable Truechoice Coilovers <br />Rebound:</strong> 1 full turn from soft (2.5 turns is full stiff) <br /><strong>Bump:</strong> 6 clicks (12 or 13 clicks is full stiff)</p> <p><strong>Rear Koni Sports (single adjustable) <br />Rebound:</strong> 2.5 clicks (10 clicks available)</p> <p>I’m still trying to get the time lapse video from drive down to San Diego yesterday together. I can’t get Windows Live Movie Maker working very well on my laptop. I’m hoping it finishes up here soon.</p>https://www.chrishammond.com/Portals/0/-1Chris HammondSat, 02 Apr 2011 00:49:20 GMTb4a7cb13-f223-4b2f-baad-bd13ae60de4bProject350z on Hiatus?https://www.chrishammond.com/Blog/itemId/2189/Project350z-on-Hiatus<p>So things have slowed down for the Project350z, at least for a month or two. After running quite a few events in February, March and April, I haven’t run an event since the El Toro ProSolo on 4/10.</p> <p>I plan to run more events this year, but life has put autocross to the side for a month or two. We’re getting ready to move, so autocross has been the last thing on my mind.</p> <p>This weekend there’s the Dual at DeAnza, last year I was hoping to run this year’s event, but due to everything going on I ended up not registering. It looks like Grant (ShamuZ) has lost his car for the event, due to losing a rear diff (He’s got an OS Giken diff as far as I know, I need to find out what happened as that is the diff I was hoping to put in my car later this year). I’ve asked Grant to see if he can get me into his entry position for the Duel, if he can I will try to run the event.</p> <p>If it doesn’t work out, so be it, but I think it would be cool to run. The next few weeks are going to be extremely busy, so an autocross before all of that would be a good release!</p>https://www.chrishammond.com/Portals/0/-1Chris HammondWed, 11 May 2011 00:51:44 GMT8942cdee-bb94-49d1-9ed4-f70b7716a297Autocross 350z Modifications Listhttps://www.chrishammond.com/Blog/itemId/2195/Autocross-350z-Modifications-ListI realized recently that I didn’t have an ongoing list of modifications for the 350z. So I figured I should create one. The idea is that this will be continually updated, with the list of current parts. If I end up removing parts I’ll strike them through on the list.https://www.chrishammond.com/Portals/0/-1Chris HammondMon, 16 May 2011 03:04:29 GMT511a1033-2269-474f-bca1-481acdbe4c9fVideos from AAS Round 8https://www.chrishammond.com/Blog/itemId/2247/Videos-from-AAS-Round-8Here are the photos from the American Autocross Series Round 8 from 7/3/2011. The car is of course our 2004 Nissan 350z in half prep for B Street Prepared. Unfortunately I don’t have times, but let’s see if I can recall the order of the runs.https://www.chrishammond.com/Portals/0/-1Chris HammondWed, 06 Jul 2011 00:49:51 GMT71df4e45-2ea2-490b-9294-df42abd0a1f5Undoing the BSP 350zhttps://www.chrishammond.com/Blog/itemId/2312/Undoing-the-BSP-350z<p><img style="display: inline; float: right" align="right" src="http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7141/6656781633_02f0927064_m.jpg" />This morning I began the process of converting the 350z back to stock, or close to stock. Mike Lane over on the east coast requested the control arms/custom bushings that I have on the car, so he sent me his original OEM set. A couple of months ago I actually tried to remove the arms on my car so I could lube them up and try to get rid of some of the excess noise in the car, but I wasn’t able to. One of the nuts on the upper strut mount was stuck and no matter what I tried I wasn’t able to get the nut removed.</p> <p>I picked up some tools from the local Ace Hardware in Half Moon Bay to get that pesky nut off, and this morning when I got started, things didn’t go well. I managed to  break an extension I was trying to use, then I managed to break the bolt extractor as well! I was not a happy camper, though I decided to try one more thing, a better quality extension and turning it by hand. After that nut was removed replacing the control arms was nice and easy.<img style="display: inline; float: right" align="right" src="http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7005/6656782531_814820e325_m.jpg" /></p> <p>So the first parts of the car are back to stock, I’m shipping out Mike’s new control arms early next week, and hopefully they will see some autocross action soon!</p>https://www.chrishammond.com/Portals/0/-1Chris HammondSun, 08 Jan 2012 00:04:51 GMT459e8b9e-5854-4811-9594-014bab33aa52BSP 350z Suspension Parts and Exhaust for Salehttps://www.chrishammond.com/Blog/itemId/2321/BSP-350z-Suspension-Parts-and-Exhaust-for-Sale<p>Alright the time has come to part with the parts. I took some time this evening to take photographs of what I have and what I am trying to sell. Right now I am trying to sell everything locally so prices don’t include any shipping. If I don’t have any interest locally I’m willing to ship the coilovers/springs/shocks but only as a package. </p>Chris HammondSun, 22 Jan 2012 23:59:54 GMT4985e94b-ab80-4112-93b5-9bbb434d312e2004 Nissan 350z Enthusiast model for sale, Half Moon Bay, CA (SOLD)https://www.chrishammond.com/Blog/itemId/2607/2004-Nissan-350z-Enthusiast-model-for-sale-Half-M<h2>(SOLD)</h2> The time is nearing for when the 350z must be sold, so if you are interested hit me up 2004 350z Enthusiast, <75k miles, currently sits stock other than a K&N CAI and a Plenum spacer, and a grounding kit (installed by previous owner).<br /> <br /> Also has a receiver mounted to the rear bumper that I use for a bike rack.<br /> <br /> The car is well maintained, looks great with lower than usual wear and tear of an 8 year old car.<br /> <br /> I also have the suspension still in boxes, see previous posts for more details, but TrueChoice Koni DAs up front and SA Koni Sports in the rear with springs/perches for the rear. This will be sold separate from the car, unless the buyer wants it for additional $$.<br /> <br /> Car is located in Half Moon Bay, CA, and available for purchase at $9,000, if you want the suspension throw in another grand and you can have it all.<br />Chris HammondFri, 02 Nov 2012 14:24:16 GMT6078a312-c2b2-40c4-b55b-2040111d8951Project350z V3, coming soon?https://www.chrishammond.com/Blog/itemId/2665/Project350z-V3-coming-soon<p><img align="right" alt="350z Dealer Sticker" border="0" height="184" src="http://www.chrishammond.com/Portals/0/PublishThumbnails/Windows-Live-Writer/789304ceb116_E280/5892701495_8cf4ea9620_o_thumb_3.jpg" style="border-top: 0px; border-right: 0px; background-image: none; border-bottom: 0px; float: right; padding-top: 0px; padding-left: 0px; border-left: 0px; display: inline; padding-right: 0px" title="350z Sticker" width="244" />So the time has come, I am currently car shopping again. I’ve been threatening it for a while now, but with the 2015 Solo National Championships going on this week, and a few other life things figured out, it is time to make the 2016 autocross season happen!</p> <p>So a few details. I’m once again looking at early 350z’s, this time around I’m not looking for a daily driver, this next car will be built specifically for autocross and a fun weekend toy, with some daily driving here and there (thankful I have a short commute). I am looking for the perfect car, how do you define that? Well, in an ideal world the perfect 350z for me would be</p> Chris HammondSun, 06 Sep 2015 20:52:21 GMT4ef4d1e4-a4c5-4e7e-8709-be4daf09d4c22011 So Farhttps://www.chrishammond.com/Blog/itemId/2084/2011-So-Far<p>So what’s gone on so far in 2011? Let’s recap on this 33rd day of the year.</p> <p>So far I’ve kept up with my blogging commitment, every day, You can find a list of all the blogs at <a href="http://www.chrishammond.com/">http://www.chrishammond.com/</a></p> <p>I’ve managed to post 33 photos of myself for <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/chammond/sets/72157625593520079/">#Flickr365</a> and 33 photos of Jacqueline for <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/chammond/sets/72157625597966645/">#Baby365</a>. The baby is growing! She’s up to 13lbs 13oz last time she was weighed and in the 95th percentile for height at her age, a jump from her last measurement.</p> <p>I’ve managed to <a href="http://www.project350z.com/Articles/itemId/494/Autocross-Video-from-NorCalUFO-13011.aspx">autocross the 350z</a> once already this year, and have at least 2 more events coming up this month, with a possible 4th as well.</p> <p>The Super Bowl is coming this weekend, I’m ready for it, we’re going to finally get up to Fairfield and see some friends we haven’t seen in probably 8 months!</p> Chris HammondThu, 03 Feb 2011 01:21:11 GMT63cbbf75-6c36-46c6-86e6-1fe1cfda2d49Rollin on Dubs!https://www.chrishammond.com/Blog/itemId/583/Rollin-on-Dubs<p>The new ride is now rolling on 20s! Why you might ask? Because they were a great deal at the time of purchase. I have these wheels and the stock set of wheels/tires to put back on when the weather turns for the worse.Between the 5 cars in the driveway/garage there are 20 wheels and tires on the ground, that's in addition to the 12 extra wheels for the 350Z all with tires on them, plus the 7 extra tires for the 350Z and 4 wheels/tires for Tahoe.That makes for a total 36 wheels and 43 tires in my household. Add 2 more to each of those if you count the wheels/tires for the Scooter! posted from...</p> Chris HammondWed, 30 Aug 2006 10:39:00 GMTaa7259d5-7d55-494b-9ea3-eb5c9766b549A year has come and gonehttps://www.chrishammond.com/Blog/itemId/1834/A-year-has-come-and-gone<p><a href="http://www.corvettez06.org/Blog/itemId/397/The-Corvette-is-Gone.aspx" target="_blank">So today marks a year since the 2004 Corvette Z06 left our stable</a>. In the past year I’ve autocrossed exactly once, back in March or April of this year in St. Louis. We’ve since moved to Colorado, bought a house, and traded/sold most of our vehicles. We are in the process of trying to build up our stable again, lots of changes going on!</p> <p>Yesterday I went up to Boulder Colorado and looked at and RX-7 for John, the buy who bought the Corvette. It looks like I will be heading up there next weekend and picking it up. It may require a tad bit of work to get it ready for shipping, but John is going to arrange to have a truck pick it up for the haul to DC.</p> <p>I hope to start autocrossing again next year with a new ride, probably another 350z. In the mean time be sure to keep track of the progress on the <a href="http://www.project240z.com/" target="_blank">240Z</a> at <a href="http://www.project240z.com">http://www.project240z.com</a></p> Chris HammondSat, 10 Oct 2009 12:18:30 GMT630c655a-fad9-44fb-9a53-5c374d5ee96dAutocross Schedulehttps://www.chrishammond.com/Blog/itemId/1882/Autocross-Schedule<p>This post will be updated over time to include the autocross schedule for the Project 350z.</p> Chris HammondSat, 28 Nov 2009 02:17:21 GMT0d44f9f6-a151-498c-97a2-f1749684f4ebSt. Louis SPS Performance Garage June 21, 2020 SSC Winnerhttps://www.chrishammond.com/Blog/itemId/2968/St-Louis-SPS-Performance-Garage-June-21-2020-SSC<p>Driver: Chris Hammond<br /> Car: 2016 Scion FR-S<br /> Class: SSC (Solo Spec Coupe)<br /> Event: St. Louis Region 2020 Solo #3</p> Videos.RacingMon, 22 Jun 2020 13:50:04 GMT1f4fdc7c-5ff7-489b-ac01-d9cd2698d647