I’ll let the pictures do most of the talking on this one.  This weekend a group of friends got together to get their cars ready for the track in a few weeks.  Chris Wand and I decided we’d have a little surprise for everyone.  I give you the Bacon Explosion.

Stats on the bacon explosion:
- 2 lbs of Benton’s bacon (easily the best bacon in the entire world)
- 2 lbs of mild Italian sausage
- Rub of choice / BBQ sauce of choice

And how bad is it for you?  Well we each only had a small piece (some larger than others, Stevie…) but it racks up at:
- 4100 Calories
- 200g of fat
- 17,500mg of sodium
- 1200mg of cholesterol

And oh my gawd did it taste goooooood!

This weekend I began the process of modifying Ginger for track work.  As I’m planning on taking her to the track several times this year I’m starting to get her all ready for it.  I’m mostly doing suspension upgrades (since I drive road courses) but I’m guessing a few power modifications may sneak in also.  So far I’ve installed a set of K-Sport coilovers (they are VERY stiff), new rims (they have my snow tires on them now, track tires are on order) and a front lips spoiler (that was mainly for look).  My big brake kit is sitting in the garage waiting to be installed (in a few weeks).  I’ve got a cold air intake on the way as well as a set of adjustable front and rear sway bars.

As you see from the picture I need to adjust the rear suspension to lower it inline with the front.  So far I haven’t scrapped anything as I do wish it wasn’t quite so low (I’m going to see if I can raise the front some).

I’ve also been busy inside the car – I’ve enable the navigation system while the car is moving, disabled the seat belt chime, and enabled video input on the back of the navigation screen (I can watch video from my iPhone on the screen and hear it through the audio system).  And no, I won’t be watching movies while I’m driving – I did it mostly because I could.

It’s been quite a while since I posted anything so I figured now was the time to give an update.  I’ve got several more posts in the hamper so hopefully I’ll be back to regular blogging soon.

So without further ado I introduce to you Ginger.  Ginger is a 2009 Subaru Legacy Spec.B.  What is a Spec.B you might ask?  Well it’s the adult fast Subaru.  Not the 22 year old WRX STi fast one, the adult one.  She has a 250 hp flat 4 motor (soon to be doing about 300 hp), Bilstein suspension, 18″ rims and a significantly upgraded interior over the standard Legacy GT (Alcantara seats, Harmon Kardon audio, Kenwood NAV system, etc).  Soon she’ll have new sway bars, coilovers, rims, exhaust and a big brake kit.

I’d been unsure of this purchase for a while as I was upgrading from a base 2008 Legacy 2.5i.  I wanted something that had all wheel drive, would be good around town, good to take to the mountains but quick and nibble enough to take to the track.  So far I’m extremely pleased with her, for the money I don’t think there is a better car out there (at least not one that fit me).  I also wasn’t sure about a red car (when I went to pick her up I’d never seen her) but I’m extremely happy with the dark color.  The Spec.B is a limited production car, with only 500 being built a year (and only 100 in this color).

So welcome to the family Ginger, I’m sure we’ll have a long and happy friendship!

So to make a long and sad story as short and funny as possible I give you my new car “accessory”.  The short version is I ordered some car parts (exhaust and suspension) from a friend and one of the two boxes had four of these in it.  Not exactly what I was expecting to make my car faster.  DHL somehow switched the labels at some point during shipping (which we’re trying to track down).  Now that my tears of sadness/rage have turned into tears of laughter I just had to share what I actually got. 

Wonder how many HP Jesus is good for? I’m guessing at least 20 or so…

Ok so this isn’t the sort of thing I would usually post but I just felt compelled.  If you read my blog enough (or know me) you know I’m a car guy (or have become one anyway).  I’m definitely a fan of hot looking cars (the Aston Martin V8 Vantage comes to mind) – and I equally hate ugly cars.  Easily my all time least favorite car is the Pontiac Aztek (as is almost anything made by Pontiac).  When I read that they only sold 25 of them this year my first thought was why wouldn’t they just cancel the thing.  Quickly my next thought was how stupid would you feel to be one of the 25 people that actual bought one! Then again I guess to be an optimist how proud would you be to have been the sales guys that actually moved one of those monsters, I wonder what kind of award you get for that?

Tonight I traded my 1994 Accord (last picture of her to the left, took it as I drove away) in for a 2008 Subaru Legacy.  Yes, I’ve officially gotten my Boulder residency card now that I own a Subaru.  But this post is about my good old Accord that I’ll miss.  I’ve driven a Honda almost all my adult life and this will be the first time I haven’t driven one in 10 years.  I’ve had a 1984 Accord that I sold with 265,000 miles on it (and in great shape) and a 1987 Prelude (that did sorta fall apart actually).  So Accord I’ll miss ya, you were a great car.  Now my Accord haiku:

Accord you ran well
Lots of driving
Never a flat

Only stranded me once
Not really your fault
Got me where I wanted to go

Hope you find good home
Happy people
Keep you healthy