Thought I’d post some pics of washing/detailing the car – first time in 6 months actually handwashing, claybaring, etc. – very long overdue. It survived a harsh winter and lots and lots of pollen coating, but the standard touchless wash just wasn’t cutting it anymore. What I used was this Meguiar’s kit sold on Amazon,…
9/12/13 Just a quick before after snap of the crystal vision ultra: not at the exact same spot but definitely a marginal improvement, which is exactly what I was expecting. A lot of the “bad” reviews about this bulb were from people expecting this to basically be an HID light – but that’s not its…
Part of my ongoing efforts to get better light output from the Corolla – trying to do everything I can before determining whether it would be worth the cost of properly retrofitting HIDs in. First step in doing this is making sure the headlights are clear and unfogged – which mine were not. I used: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B001TI5IIQ/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o00_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1…
Event #2 for the St. Louis Region Solo took place at the Family Arena, where all the events were last year. With the big mulch pile gone, we had a lot more useable space for this event, though the asphalt is really starting to break up now here.. I had just come back from a…
Thought I’d throw in a how-to for the air filter change. Probably the simplest thing ever to do for the Corolla, doesn’t even need a how-to, but here it is anyway. No tools required. I chose a Mann MA1026 Air filter – 9 bucks on http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B001DRP9K0/ref=oh_details_o00_s00_i00?ie=UTF8&psc=1. Not the best option in the world, but this…
Just when I had said no impact from the eLSD system, called EDLC by MINI, I believe I have encountered an issue with it. The two most noticeable times this has happened, the car feels like it completely locks up and goes into “ice mode,” where the car would just plow straight ahead. Both times…
St Louis region is where I have the most data from last year and what I’ve been most looking forward to as far as competing. Despite my best efforts last year in the old car, I ended the year 38th in PAX overall. No doubt this has a lot to do with me racing in…
With this weekend being an off weekend, thought it’d be a good chance for some overall updates: After about 4,000 miles and 60 runs of autocross, the car is averaging about 34mpg – not bad. Best tank was 38.7mpg, which includes autocross – and it was doing at least 43mpg before the event went on…
A few things worth noting before I jump into the event reviews: the MINI is running great on the Pennzoil Ultra so far – oil analysis will let me know just how good it does, but feels great – smoother than OEM MINI oil for sure. I hit a solid 43mpg at one point with…
This is somewhat of a delayed post, as I’ve been trying to figure out what to do about this. I’ve taken my car to Firestone in the past for alignments, mainly because: all I really need is for the shop to zero out the toe, and they offer lifetime alignments. I had figured in the…
QL Motorsport & Car Journal 