Leinninger.com

Last week, Gina and I took a vacation in the Dominican Republic. We stayed at the Iberostar Punta Cana resort. The accommodations were very nice, but the availability of the all-inclusive booze was pretty sparse. (It was a family-oriented resort, so I’m sure they made it more of a challenge to get blind drunk.) All in all, the trip was relaxing (though we barely missed tropical storm alpha). I even got a bit of a tan!

I broke a bolt. Damnit. A few weeks ago, I was replacing the rear sway bar with the larger ACR version when one of the bolts for the sway bar mounts broke off in the subframe. I’ve tried easy-outs and a torch, with no luck. I guess the next step is to either weld a nut onto the bolt and try to work it out with heat, or drill it out and re-tap the hole. Dang.

On the bright side, I finally have my factory service manual (with all of the proper bolt torques). I also ordered the front struts, which will allow me to complete the front suspension part of my setup.

- Duane

The server was down for 2 days due to a loose cable connection in my neighborhood. The initial service call discovered that my local cable line was disconnected at the pole. A day later another tech came out and found that I had 3 times the maximum signal loss at my house. All appears to be well now.

- Duane

Gina and I attended a Nine Inch Nails concert last weekend. Autolux opened. Their drummer, a girl, had a very Bonham-like technique. Refreshing. Queens of the Stone Age rocked out next. Nice and clean, no frills rock. NIN was very impressive. As always, the theatrical approach to the performance was engaging. Photos are available, but the quality is very cameraphone. I swear the blur in the middle is Trent.

- Duane

WHRRI held a special post-season race weekend. No points, no egos, just good racing. A club canceled thier rental of the track, but the emergency personel, etc. were already booked. So a small committee organized a 1 1/2 hour enduro race and a pursuit for WHRRI members. Simply put, the enduro allowed for a team to put 1 closed-wheel car out on the track for 90 minutes, with a mandatory 7-minute pit stop. There was no limit to stops, drivers, etc. The winner of the even was a 2-driver RX-7. EVeryone had fu, and more importantly, it went without incident.

The pursuit was pretty interesting as well. Based on the best time from a race on Saturday, all open wheel participants were put on the grid from slowest to fastest. They were then released onto the track staggered by time. For example, if the 10th place driver finished 1 second slower than the 9th place driver (on their best laps), then the 10th place driver would begin the 15 lap pursuit race 15 seconds ahead of the 9th place driver (1 second per lap). Glenn, my father-in-law, was driving his Spec Racer Ford against Formulas and Sports Racers (very fast cars). But was very consistent. He started second to last, but won the race by half a lap.

- Duane

Gina, Robyn, Mindy, Doug and I went to the Michigan Renaissance Festival last weekend. The highlights include giant turkey legs, mead wine, lots of beer, jousting, Manolete, and Ded Bob (hint: “hey what”). There were some folks dressed to the nines there as well as some lost soul in a Star Trek uniform (sorry, picture didn’t turn out). I finally got a leather mug, too. I guess I can check off life goal #3.

- Duane