Big boi being relative here, but with the other two cars in our household being a 3 series and a Buick Encore, the C6 with its 6.2L LS3 counts as a big boi indeed, and what a good boy it is! I forgot how much I absolutely adore the burbles and pops of its exhaust.

Unfortunately, my car insurance requires a 5 day waiting period before they'll allow me to put collision coverage back on it. It's going to be a hard wait until Friday to drive it again. Anyways, stopped by the park on the (careful) drive home to nab a couple pics!

I forget which Oppo was wondering about this, but yes, a full size large (and maybe XL?) 29er will fit into the trunk of a C6. As will my xbike. Corvette all the things! Bike all the things!

And of course I had to stop for a sunset pic on the way home.

I scored these sweet puffy camp shoes at my local REI last week. This would otherwise be a rather boring and completely not noteworthy except for the reason for the return on the tag.

HAH! Sorry guy, your loss is my gain!

MrsMTB has apparently been planning this little surprise for me for quite awhile. She asked me to take yesterday off work so we could drive to "Ann Arbor" for something fun.

"Ann Arbor" turned out to be Michigan Speedway, and something fun was the "extreme experience" (no, I won't accept their dumb branding practice of eliminating the "E"s. Misspelling words for the sake of branding is dumb.)

Basically, this is a track experience for anybody from beginners to people who know what they're doing but want to get a bit of seat time in a car they don't own. They provide a short classroom session, instructors, and lead-follow laps in your choice of 6-8 sports cars.

My wife had apparently asked my buddies which car I'd like to go with, and they chose the 911 GT3 RS for me. When I first saw a Huracán doing some safety check laps I was thinking I might want to swap to get some V10 in my life, but then the GT3 went around and my worries were squashed. That thing is LOUD! Easily the loudest car there by far. (The Huracán was next on the list, the rest of the fleet were leagues behind.)

I did a few laps sitting shotgun in the Charger Hellcat lead car to get the lay of the land before joining the line for my turn in the Porsche, and I'm glad I did. We got "3" laps... I put that in air quotes, because they count your time entering and leaving pit lane as part of your third lap, so you only get two shots at the straight. I'd count that as 2.5, but tomato, potato I guess.

When I got behind the wheel, it was immediately clear how focused the car is. The racing bucket doesn't recline at all, and to be honest the seating position was a bit too stiff and upright for me, especially with a helmet. But I got used to it pretty quick. All the cars there are autos, so I didn't have to learn a new clutch. And I have to admit, PDK was incredible. It was exactly as aggressive as my right foot told it to be, with it dropping gears into the power band the instant my foot stabbed the throttle. The acceleration was great, the braking and turn it was even better, but by far the best was the noise!

After my two-and-a-half short laps, I was definitely thirsty for more. This car has definitely worked its way onto my bucket list.

My overall impressions of the event were pretty positive, but damn was it expensive. I was a bit turned off by how many opportunities they had to work more money out of you. Want a photo of you in the car (that's already printed out on a rack as you exit) ? That'll be $20. Want to unlock the onboard video that they took on a USB while you were driving? That's another $60. More laps? Several hundred.

Considering they're providing the cars, all the consumables and wear items, I guess the price isn't too bad. I just wish I had gotten more than a couple minutes of seat time! If you have a car that's capable of surviving a track day, that's definitely a better value at $200-500/day with probably four or five 20 minute sessions full of lapping. It's definitely a great way to get some full-throttle time behind the wheel of your favorite supercars though, just not cheap!

I’m browsing the intertubes from my iPad today for the first time in awhile (read: no ad-block) and wow do I appreciate what @jminer and all of you other amazing helpers have built here. I hopped over to ye olde FP to try and see what’s the weekend crew is up to but cheese and fries the ads are so bad it’s almost impossible to browse over there now.

Bye bye, jello picnic. Long live OPPO!

Here’s an imperial for your time.

We had a near-biblical amount of rain here in Metro Detroit on Friday night. I woke up around 1am to the sound of rain hitting our windows so hard I thought they might break. Luckily everything was closed up tight, so I tried to go back to bed.

When I woke up on Saturday morning, it was to a text from my wife saying that though she had made it to work at 5am, she had passed 67 (no, seriously, 67!) stalled or abandoned cars on her way into work. She drives to work around 4:30am and typically takes the highway for about 70% of the journey. She said there was no flooding present, but obviously there had been some significant rains causing it overnight, probably around peak get-home-from-the-bar time.

In addition to that, she said she witnessed multiple people driving the wrong way, or just straight up walking (walking!) on the highway. Trying to either get their cars back up and running again, or just wandering around wondering what to do.

Sounds like a wild night! So, I flip on the news. Turns out, there's still some pretty widespread flooding. Naturally, I hit the road on my bike to see what's what.

I met up with a friend who lives on the east side and we rode around following the major interstates that slice through downtown, wandering from one overpass to the next just surveying the carnage. The sheer amount of stalled vehicles is just alarming. During the 10-minute period we were camped out over I-75, we actually witnessed the state police, or some contractor removing a late-model Taurus with a large digger with a fork-lift attachment.

Then, not 5 minutes later, a bunch of semis thought it would be a good idea to try and drive through. They started to make it, so naturally a bunch of pickups and SUVs thought they'd try it as well. We witnessed three CUV's (Equinox-sized) drive through but hydrolock themselves and stall on the other side. Luckily, most people seemed to decide that was a bad idea and started turning around.

Here's your friendly reminder that you shouldn't drive through massive puddles!

We kept riding from there, picking up I-94 along Midtown near the M-10 freeway, and started seeing some genuine carnage. Thus began a roughly two hour journey of us hopping from one overpass to the next, each time seeing worse destruction than the one before.

We finally ended up on one stretch of I-94 with a moderate sized lake at least 1/4 mile long. There were so many truckers stranded in it I lost count. Several of them were still hanging out in there cabs, and had probably been there since 1am. It was deep enough that it was above windshield height on some of the semis, and there were definitely submerged cars in there that we couldn't see.

We also saw state police divers along this stretch, undoubtedly checking submerged cars to be sure no one was trapped inside. The water here was getting seriously deep, we could tell from a nearby overpass it was likely above 10' in depth.

At this point we were getting exhausted and sunburned despite the overcast clouds, and honestly a little depressed at all the destruction. We were both remarkably lucky to have not been caught out driving in this weather, and we both made out with only some mild flooding in our basements (which we still had yet to deal with).

So, just a friendly reminder, and I can't believe I have to say this again, but DON'T DRIVE YOUR SHIT THROUGH WATER! Here's a lovely 944 that we saw out sightseeing for your time

I know these are a week or so old by now, but I find myself clicking refresh over and over to see all the different logos. Well done folks!

Gotta submit this one to r/ThereIFixedIt

I went to go see the IMSA cars practice and qualify at the Detroit Grand Prix on Belle Isle yesterday afternoon. This was the first racing I've seen since COVID, and my first time seeing the C8-R's in person. Holy fack these things are LOUD! The WHAM-WHAM they make while downshifting under braking is amazing. There were other fun cars there as well, Lambos and Parsches and some excellent DPI cars, but these beasts took my heart. And my eardrums.

@whoistheleader It seems like such a waste to have to scrap serviceable ships like this, but as other stories have taught me, the SOLAS standards are clearly written for a reason!

@mr-ontop Cammisa did a recent video for Haggerty in which he pretty much asserts that the Saab 99/900 was basically the Tesla of the 60s, 70s and 80s. It's an entertaining watch.

sure beats the hell out of the jelly bean turd that followed it.

@aestheticsinmotion said in Delivery apocalypse:

If you like your local drivers, you can show appreciation with some bottled drinks or snacks outside your door with a sign letting them know they can grab them. It's very much appreciated.

I remember seeing stuff like this on social media back in the early days of the pandemic but it's a good reminder that it's still a good idea a year and a half later.

@someoneatacura said in Rental car Roulette - Thank god it wasn’t a Jeep!:

It has wireless carplay

the ONLY thing that matters in a rental car. (or AA, depending on your preference in silicon valley overlords)

@chariotoflove actually we have a steel case tanker desk at home that my wife uses! It's pretty indestructible.

As for the moves, two of them were for work, two were for a home renovation project, so kind of apples and oranges, but still a massive pain in my rear end.

@carsoffortlangley there are many squirrels, and I'd wager they're pretty merry as they terrorize Lucy.

I would rather do almost anything. Distract me Oppo!

@beefchips CDA = cold, dark ale?

@benjrblant single speed MTBs unite!