In Action
02/11/2001
Well the only action so far is mostly avoiding getting pulled over for expired out-of-state tags, inspection, driver's license, and insurance. I think that qualifies from my point of view. It will be at least a month before any real action will take place. Maybe I could go fry some tires for you. Would you like to see that?

03/24/2001 BMW photos & video - see "SCCA Rally" under "EXTREME" for other photos
How'd I do at my first RallyCross? Well, the good news is that I finished first in class. The bad is that I was the only one in my class - RWD up to 2.5L on street tires. I was the slowest vehicle out there, PERIOD. It was a blast though. The fastest vehicle? Try a Ford Festiva driven by a Pro-Rally driver, he beat all of the Subaru AWD's that followed close in second. I was the only RWD car. I need more traction. I need a LSD to get the power down. One-wheel drive just doesn't cut it. I also noticed that I need to put it ne wheel bearings, and my front control arm bushings are worn. The front suspension hopped like crazy when I stood on the brakes. A little more power wouldn't hurt either. The car responded predictably on its ORIGINAL suspension (18 years old, maybe a shock/struct replacement within the past 10 years) The competitors' vehicles included a PT Cruiser, 3 Isuzu Vehicrosses, an Isuzu Impulse AWD Turbo, the Festiva, my BMW 320i, a full-size Chevy V8 pickup, a Ford Taurus, a Ford Ranger, 2 Subaru Impreza 2.5 AWD RS's, and a couple of different Ford Escorts. The Festiva and Impulse were run by multiple drivers. Note to self: bring mosquito spray, sunblock, a big hat and a limited-slip differential.

04/09/2001
Being an officer of "the law" must get boring sometimes. Here's this semi-grungy looking white guy working on a car in a parking garage at 2:30 in the morning (me). Along comes a police officer from the City of Bellaire (where I work and live). I get questions like "what are you doing" (working on my car) and "what do those numbers mean" (I take the car rally racing), etc. He asks for my license (expired but so what - I'm not driving) and makes sure to do a thorough check on me for warrants, etc. In the meantime another police car comes up for backup in this situation. Well it turns out my license has been SUSPENDED since 1999. Now that's news to me since I've certainly been pulled over at least 5 times since 1999. My license expired on my birthday in 1999, but I just never got around to renewing it. "It's because you knew it was suspended." Whatever, he must be bored or encounters too many dishonest people regularly. So I can get arrested if I get caught driving, but all he got was a way to spend about 10 minutes.