July 08, 2005
Dyno run
With the modifications I have added to my car, I was always wondering how much horsepower my car was making. Four Star Motorsports in Georgetown has an all wheel drive dynamometer so I made an appointment this week. Pretty cool to see and hear (it's loud) the car going wide open throttle but standing still.
Power output was not too bad. Measured 200HP at the wheels, which equates to about 270HP being put out by the engine. The stock WRX puts out 227HP according to Subaru. Of course you can never have enough horsepower.
-Walter
July 07, 2005
New Baby!!!
Congrats to Pete & Sue on their new baby girl, Erin Ann Dippel. Born June 6th (I think). Everyone is doing great. We are supposed to be heading to Ottawa this month to visit the proud new parents.
Link to Pete's pictures of Erin.
-Walter
Shannonville lapping sessions
The Toronto Subaru Club organized a couple of track sessions at Shannonville Motorsport Park. One on May 14th and one on June 12th. Since Shannonville is very close to Belleville, I was able to visit the parents and stay overnight so I did not have to do so much driving all in one day.
Pat came along but gets so stressed in the car when lapping that she only sits on the sidelines and takes the pictures. At least I'll get some pictures of me in the car this way.
The sessions are very well organized. They only allow so many cars onto the track at one time. Passing is only allowed on certain sections of the track, and only when the person being passed indicates it's ok to pass by turning on his turn signal. Our lapping sessions are for 3 full hours so there is plenty of time for lapping. It's tough on brakes and tires so I would only do five or six laps at once, and then come into the pits to let everything cool down. At the end of the long straight, I was able to get the WRX up to about 150km/h before stomping on the brakes for the 90 degree turn at the end of the straight.
Lots of fun. And you get a chance to see what your car can do legally! No speeding tickets.
-Walter
July 06, 2005
San Francisco - May7-12
I had a training course to attend in Sunnyvale, CA and since Pat never misses a chance to go to San Francisco, we made a little holiday of it. Flew in late on Saturday and left early Thursday morning. The cheap hotel we stayed at was a pleasant surprise since they picked us up at the airport in a stretch limosine! A nice start.
We spent Sunday and Monday driving around the bay area. Drove north to Muir Woods, but since it was raining we didn't stop. It's a nice drive, and the rental car we had (Toyota Corolla) behaved very well on the twisty roads. Drove to the top of Twins Peaks in the middle of San Francisco which gives a very nice view of the city.
We also revisited the Lick Observatory. The last time I was there the entire place was socked in with fog. I could not even see the telescope building from the road. This time the weather cleared enough to get a good view from the top of the hill. I tried to get a picture showing the winding road.
The two days I was in the course Pat went shopping at a large outlet mall. But we had a nice dinner at Il Postale in Sunnyvale.
-Walter