Obsessive hobbies....

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I’m convinced the tech is changing so fast that spending a ton on an EV today is not wise, hence I intend to lease. I’ve an Acura ZDX type S on order, but we will see…..they haven’t disclosed lease pricing yet, let alone exact pricing!
I agree, at least when it comes to using an all electric vehicle. Leasing is the only way now I would consider driving one. My garage though only has one regular outlet and not higher capacity like I'd want for faster charging. I'd have to spend thousands having an electrician run a new line there.
 
The last time I priced this, I was looking at about $2,500 to have a second breaker box setup in my garage, with 100A service.

Also as part of this was running 240V around my shop. I planned to convert my table saw back to 240V from 120V where it is now and this would open up other possibilities.

But once again, not twisting arms here. I know I'm the same way about things I don't think that I want to do. I can easily come up with a pile of excuses and reasons why not to do something. Then when I change my mind, suddenly I have a pile of reasons for doing what I decided to do. It's human nature.
 
The last time I priced this, I was looking at about $2,500 to have a second breaker box setup in my garage, with 100A service.

Also as part of this was running 240V around my shop. I planned to convert my table saw back to 240V from 120V where it is now and this would open up other possibilities.

But once again, not twisting arms here. I know I'm the same way about things I don't think that I want to do. I can easily come up with a pile of excuses and reasons why not to do something. Then when I change my mind, suddenly I have a pile of reasons for doing what I decided to do. It's human nature.
If building prices ever come down, I will absolutely put in an outlet with as much power as is needed for all 3 spaces in the garage. Id rather start from scratch. Running them now will be really hard to do in this house because the garage is on the opposite side of the house as where the main powerline comes in.
 
There are a couple things going on with electric cars that are still evolving.

1. The battery technology is advancing at a steady pace in terms of more capacity, longer life and faster recharge times. The Cybertruck with an 800V battery system can charge in 20min at a super charging station compared with 30min for 400V systems. That time will drop with solid state batteries. Solid state batteries also have no thermal run away condition, so they won't catch on fire even if you pierce them or heat them to extreme temperatures. They also work well in extreme cold conditions. In very cold weather you need to heat current Li batteries before charging. If you didn't think to do that on the way to the charging station, you could have to wait another half hour or longer for the batteries to warm up enough to start charging.

2. Disk brakes systems are having some issues. It's likely that something like the recent Porsche ceramic coatings could help here, but manufacturers are looking at drum brakes again.

The Audi ID3 has reintroduced rear drum brakes because there is an issue with disk brakes on EV's getting so little use that the disks corrode and when you finally go to use them, they have to grind off that corrosion before they can work well.

1. Drum brakes are enclosed and in the case of the new Audi electric ID3, the rear drum pads are never expected to need replacing during the life of the car.
2. Drum brakes don't leave brake dust all over your pretty alloy wheels.
3. Drum brakes are cheaper.
4. Drum brakes actually have much more stopping force for a given size.
5. Drum brakes also easily double as an emergency brake. Many cars actually have tiny cable driven drum brakes dedicated to the emergency brake separate from the rear disks.

Drum brake issues have always been overheating and modulation because they would more easily lock up the wheels because of all the additional shoe surface area. However with regenerative braking taking the vast majority of the load and with new electronically modulated brake control, they could be make to work as well as rotors for electric cars.
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I test drove a 2023 manual 6 speed MX-5 a few days ago and I absolutely loved it! It's like a Kart. It's tiny, light and you are sitting on the ground, so it feels like you are going faster than you are and it is a pile of fun at legal speeds around town rowing the closely spaced gearing.

This is a feeling I've not felt in many much quicker off the line and much faster cars that can comfortably drive all day over 100mph without breaking a sweat and that need a track to actually feel like you are driving them.

So I'm in the odd situation of thinking that I could eventually end up with a CyberTruck ( big ) and a toy car ( tiny ). And even odder still is that the big CyberTruck will easily go faster and out accelerate the tiny car by a margin. But effortless speed is less fun than feeling and hearing and being intimately involved with a car working for it.
 
I test drove a 2023 manual 6 speed MX-5 a few days ago and I absolutely loved it! It's like a Kart. It's tiny, light and you are sitting on the ground, so it feels like you are going faster than you are and it is a pile of fun at legal speeds around town rowing the closely spaced gearing.

This is a feeling I've not felt in many much quicker off the line and much faster cars that can comfortably drive all day over 100mph without breaking a sweat and that need a track to actually feel like you are driving them.

So I'm in the odd situation of thinking that I could eventually end up with a CyberTruck ( big ) and a toy car ( tiny ). And even odder still is that the big CyberTruck will easily go faster and out accelerate the tiny car by a margin.
 
Started getting back into videography a bit lately. This all started because I have a YouTube channel which I haven't taken seriously and my wife suggested that if I was going to be seen publicly, that it should look professional.

So are started down a bit of a rabbit hole.
I've had the 3 cameras I'll be shooting video with for 7,9,11 years. I've had some audio gear for a number of years and some lighting equipment for a while, but I've been backfilling bits and pieces to get it all to work together.
 

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Started getting back into videography a bit lately. This all started because I have a YouTube channel which I haven't taken seriously and my wife suggested that if I was going to be seen publicly, that it should look professional.

So are started down a bit of a rabbit hole.
I've had the 3 cameras I'll be shooting video with for 7,9,11 years. I've had some audio gear for a number of years and some lighting equipment for a while, but I've been backfilling bits and pieces to get it all to work together.
The all-important question... what software you using? Going the "Podcast-style" route, or more traditional?
 
I'm amazed at how bad the audio pre-amps are on some cameras. My Nikon D500 has very noise preamps, but with a wireless lav I can boost the signal into the camera and run the in camera gain down quite a bit dropping the noise floor a lot.

My Panasonic has a better noise floor. My older XLR microphones sound much better going into the wireless lav transmitter than when I plug them into my camera on the other side of that XLR to 1/8 adapter.

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I haven't been posting much on here as I've been very occupied on getting my Z06 ready for this track season. I've slowly been building what is basically just a race car at this point that's also licensed and insured.

I'm finishing off a complete downforce package for the car with a very large wing from 9 lives racing and a chassis mounted front splitter. I'm nearing the end but it has been a massive amount of work since there's not really any off the shelf options for chassis mount splitters so I've had to design everything myself and I'm very fussy on how things look. I have the whole splitter on quick release brackets so no tools are required to pull it on and off and it'll support probably a few hundred pounds.

I also picked up a legit US military Gentex flight helmet from the Vietnam war era for track day just for kicks, I got a matching oxygen mask that also works with all the mounts on the helmet. I'm going to use this helmet for track day because nothing is cooler than showing up in a fighter jet helmet that matches your car.
 

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I haven't been posting much on here as I've been very occupied on getting my Z06 ready for this track season. I've slowly been building what is basically just a race car at this point that's also licensed and insured.

I'm finishing off a complete downforce package for the car with a very large wing from 9 lives racing and a chassis mounted front splitter. I'm nearing the end but it has been a massive amount of work since there's not really any off the shelf options for chassis mount splitters so I've had to design everything myself and I'm very fussy on how things look. I have the whole splitter on quick release brackets so no tools are required to pull it on and off and it'll support probably a few hundred pounds.

I also picked up a legit US military Gentex flight helmet from the Vietnam war era for track day just for kicks, I got a matching oxygen mask that also works with all the mounts on the helmet. I'm going to use this helmet for track day because nothing is cooler than showing up in a fighter jet helmet that matches your car.
Does the helmet meet the specs required at your track? I know mid ohio has rules, and they keep upgrading requirements. I'm guessing every track goes by a certain rating. There's a rating for each helmet. I'm hoping mine is still good. You might run into trouble with that?
 
Does the helmet meet the specs required at your track? I know mid ohio has rules, and they keep upgrading requirements. I'm guessing every track goes by a certain rating. There's a rating for each helmet. I'm hoping mine is still good. You might run into trouble with that?
Not here, a guy in an old MG went out with a vintage leather helmet. At least mine is ballistic rated.
 

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