Random Thoughts - Part Deux [NO POLITICS]

[soulreapersteve]

Originally Posted by Cole

LOL 300 hours?

I have about 1500 hours split between 3 characters on my 360

.... nerd.

Originally Posted by Ultramaroon

Braking techniques would carry over if karts had front brakes. Think about how it would feel if all you had was your handbrake.

I struggle with braking on karts too.

First time hitting a hairpin, I tried what I usually do in auto-x which is dive hard then power out.

It was a very bad idea as I spun into the tire wall.

[Tcoat]

Originally Posted by Ultramaroon

When did this become a thing? Can we go back to actual meaningful units like pound-feet or Newton-meters?

Oops, sorry. Newton-metres.

Ya a newton meter would measure newton metres!

[serialk11r]

Originally Posted by soulreapersteve

First time hitting a hairpin, I tried what I usually do in auto-x which is dive hard then power out.

It was a very bad idea as I spun into the tire wall.

Wait, they don't have front brakes? So you .... crank the wheel and understeer into the turn? The lack of differential on the rear would make the rear kick out naturally to counteract that right?

[Phijkchu]

Originally Posted by Stang70Fastback

New random thought:

Why the fuck does literally nobody listen to anything other than annoying rap, or ear-piercing metal these days? Here's a gorgeous performance of "All I Ask of You' from 'Phantom of the Opera' just to piss you all off (also, Sierra Boggess is a cutie):

"Why the fuck does literally nobody listen to anything other than annoying [insert newer genre], or [insert newer genre] these days?"- Some guy in years past.
It's just that people have different tastes as generations pass and just like how annoying jazz and rock seem to others, rap and metal are annoying to you. Personally, I enjoy the monotonous catchy themes of pop music but also enjoy rock and classical music. At the same time, metal is too jarring for my tastes and rap is in a completely different language apparently. Different strokes for different folks as it always is.

[krayzie]

Or you could just listen to the Toyota 86 Touge CD in the car.

[soulreapersteve]

Originally Posted by serialk11r

Wait, they don't have front brakes? So you .... crank the wheel and understeer into the turn? The lack of differential on the rear would make the rear kick out naturally to counteract that right?

Pretty much.. still getting into karting so I don't know much about the little nuances of it.

The guys who run the place told me to brake early, then try to feather the throttle and power out once outta the turn. Apparently, karts' tranny slips a shit ton so while you may be on full throttle, no power is getting to the engine until they finally engage each other. (not a car technical person, best explanation i can provide) :P

[Allch Chcar]

Originally Posted by serialk11r

How fast were you going? I averaged around 36mpg in my FR-S. The FA20 goes into closed loop enrichment at very low load, so leaning out the tune helped a lot when going up hills. I set the idle to 600rpm which saved 10% at idle. Then the VVT settings gave me 1mpg at steady state 60-65mph cruise.

The hardest part about getting good mpg was that when I was trying to find parking in SF, I would burn through a crazy amount of fuel because the FA20's efficiency drops like a rock below 2000rpm, and the 2800lb curb weight is much more than my Spyder's 2200lb curb weight. The Spyder managed to get 25-27mpg going between stop signs while the FR-S struggles to do 22.

Nowadays I just have my 2ZZ Spyder as a track toy and I don't drive to work, so I don't care about fuel economy anymore. The stock tune on the 2ZZ is not bad, the AFR is around 12.8 at red line and it runs closed loop stoich whenever you're below 3700rpm or something. It gets around 40mpg on the freeway, which is good enough for the rare occasion it gets to go on the freeway.

I drove from Susanville to Carlotta on Highway 36. I averaged about 48 mph. Speed limit was mostly 55 mph so that's what I drove if I could. There was a stretch in Lassen County where the speed limit was 65 mph but not for very long. Highway 36 has a lot of switchbacks and some modest grades. It crosses two mountain ranges. Some sections I would accelerate into a wide sweeping turn only to find it sharply turned even more near the end. That went on for about 5 hours.

I did notice the torque drop like a rock below 2000rpm. The Mazda3 had torque from 1300-1400 RPM and would only hit 2000rpm around 65 mph. I got 41 mpg driving the Mazda3 to Susanville. Which is very different than driving it back since I ended at a higher elevation than I started. But I've got some habits from driving the Mazda3 that I need to change and unlearn now that I have the BRZ. I could throw the Mazda3 into a turn and scrub speed, doing that in the BRZ still makes me nervous. The shifter and clutch are vastly different. I'll get used to it.

So you figured out it was easier to not drive to work? I have an Uncle that lives in Burlingame and he lives a few blocks from work. I have to drive to go anywhere here. Bus lines are nonexistent except from town to town. I live outside of a village. The biggest downside is still the fact that I either work for the government or grow weeds. I am not going back to retail or factory work. I was fortunate to get a job with the post office but I was applying to the city and state for a job and couldn't get them to call me back except for minimum wage. Post office they promised me a day or two a week and it went from that to 6 days a week. My first full week was 74 hours. Then the holidays I worked 50-60 hours a week helping other carriers. I keep waiting for it to slow down but it's been 5 months already. My only expense besides my failed student loans is my car. So I waste my money on that.

[Tcoat]

Originally Posted by Phijkchu

"Why the fuck does literally nobody listen to anything other than annoying [insert newer genre], or [insert newer genre] these days?"- Some guy in years past.
It's just that people have different tastes as generations pass and just like how annoying jazz and rock seem to others, rap and metal are annoying to you. Personally, I enjoy the monotonous catchy themes of pop music but also enjoy rock and classical music. At the same time, metal is too jarring for my tastes and rap is in a completely different language apparently. Different strokes for different folks as it always is.

I am a bit odd (SURPRISE) in that my music taste evolved with music so much of my favorites are not considered age appropriate since I do tend to stick pretty close to the very heavy end of the spectrum. Talk about stand out at a Marylyn Manson concert though.

I will tolerate, without complaint, anything except country. I have about a 5 minute tolerance level for country music before I want to hang myself. That is ALL country music. When people say "Oh this is new country you will like this" I want to rip their still beating heart out and make them eat it. I will watch Shania Twain videos with the sound off from time to time.

[serialk11r]

Originally Posted by Allch Chcar

I drove from Susanville to Carlotta on Highway 36. I averaged about 48 mph. Speed limit was mostly 55 mph so that's what I drove if I could. There was a stretch in Lassen County where the speed limit was 65 mph but not for very long. Highway 36 has a lot of switchbacks and some modest grades. It crosses two mountain ranges. Some sections I would accelerate into a wide sweeping turn only to find it sharply turned even more near the end. That went on for about 5 hours.

I did notice the torque drop like a rock below 2000rpm. The Mazda3 had torque from 1300-1400 RPM and would only hit 2000rpm around 65 mph. I got 41 mpg driving the Mazda3 to Susanville. Which is very different than driving it back since I ended at a higher elevation than I started. But I've got some habits from driving the Mazda3 that I need to change and unlearn now that I have the BRZ. I could throw the Mazda3 into a turn and scrub speed, doing that in the BRZ still makes me nervous. The shifter and clutch are vastly different. I'll get used to it.

Ah okay, I know what's going on. You're probably in 6th gear and running crazy rich from pressing the gas pedal too far. Look up a picture of the stock fuel map and you'll quickly understand. If the instant mpg gauge in 6th gear dips below 26mpg you're probably running rich already. It's kind of weird, but a lot of times you want to put it in 5th or 4th if you're accelerating at 40-50mph, as the engine really likes the higher revs. Like I said, the mpg actually starts dropping at 45mph because the engine loses so much efficiency below 2000rpm.

The stock throttle map is very weird, you only have to barely press the pedal to get 80% torque, so it's very easy to accidentally be running near max load and thus at <13 AFR.

With my tune, you just target ~23-24 mpg on the instantaneous mpg meter in 6th gear and that's the highest load you can use before it starts enriching the mix. With my edited throttle map it's very easy to modulate the pedal to get there. The best part about the map is that I made the bottom half of the pedal travel more sensitive so blipping the throttle for gear changes is much easier.

I actually changed jobs 2 times already (kind of how things work around SF/Silicon Valley), and moved into SF so I could just walk to work. I paid for parking for a year, and then realized I was burning more money on parking (350-400 a month is the typical going rate here) than exotic car drivers spend on their 6 figure cars for maintenance and insurance, so I just store the cars on the curb next to my parents' house now haha.

[Cole]

Installing a subwoofer tomorrow. Pray for me

[Ultramaroon]

Originally Posted by serialk11r

Ah okay, I know what's going on.

Wow, very interesting. I feel pathetic. Need to get off of my digital ass and catch up with you crazy kids.

[Stang70Fastback]

Originally Posted by gramicci101

I love classical music; am ok with opera. In my car I need something of uniform loudness, because all the quiet bits get drowned out by road noise.

I agree that a lot of classical music doesn't do well in our cars. At least not with a good sound system that can make the quiet bits loud enough.

[cjd]

Originally Posted by Stang70Fastback

I agree that a lot of classical music doesn't do well in our cars. At least not with a good sound system that can make the quiet bits loud enough.

That's up next...

We'll see if I manage to lose any weight - unlikely, but hey...

I'm unsure if crossing the hobbies is a bad thing though...

[Andrew025]

Originally Posted by gramicci101

I love classical music; am ok with opera. In my car I need something of uniform loudness, because all the quiet bits get drowned out by road noise. So, rock. Or metal.


That said, the Russian Easter Overture and 1812 Overture were absolutely phenomenal in my old 4runner. As long as I wasn't driving, so I could hear the quiet parts.

Why not both?

I know it's not exactly classical... But whatever.