Leinninger.com

I’ve always built my web site frameworks from scratch. Most of the time it was because I needed specific solutions for personal projects that just didn’t fit. However, I recently had an idea for a site that I wanted to get up quickly and not worry about maintaining it.

I guess I’ve been feeling a bit sentimental recently. I wanted to build a site to catalog my memories of growing up in a great neighborhood with great friends. A journal/blog site would work well for this, so I checked out TextPattern. I’ve looked at it in the past, but it didn’t fit my needs at the time. However for my new site it fits quite well.

I’m hoping that my childhood friends find it through serendipity or word-of-mouth and make article and comment contributions. I’ve found it to be far less stressful than building a framework from scratch… I even used a public design template so I don’t have to build the UI either! I’m getting lazy in my old age! Etcetera (this site) was built about 6 years ago and is due for a major overhaul. Maybe I’ll move it to textpattern too…

- Duane

Last weekend I spent 3 days racing in 90+ degree heat at Waterford Hill Road Racing Course. I got 3 practice sessions on Friday, qualifying and a race on Saturday, and 3 HPDE sessions on Saturday. On Sunday I had 2 races. I learned a ton. Chris Childs (bass player, racer extraordinaire) let me follow him around the course a few times on Friday to see a better line, then he rode shotgun (we installed a passenger race seat a week ago) during the HPDE and told me what not to do as well as some of what I should do. This new line yielded consistent low 1’25” – high 1’24” laps in the intense heat of the weekend. On Sunday, Chris drove my car in the ITA feature and squeezed a 1’23″9 out of the poor thing. His diagnosis: The car needs some work to be better than a mid-pack contender. Regardless, there’s another second to be found in the car as is. Next, I’ll open up the exhaust, stiffen the engine mounts, and remove some weight. The air cleaner could do with a good cleaning, too.

I’ve put some racing pictures on Flickr, too. If you’re really lazy, you can check them out in the moblog, locally.

- Duane

Glenn (father-in-law) and Chris (bass player extraordinaire) raced at Mid Ohio last weekend. It averaged around 90 degrees, but the pyrometer confirmed that ambient temps were closer to 100 and the asphalt was a scorching 130 degrees! Chris continued his contact free season with improving times through the weekend. Glenn learned a good bit about the track and finished mid-pack despite having to drive off-course to avoid a spin (and have the whole field pass him).

- Duane

Gina learned how to drive a manual transmission on Saturday night. She’s a natural. It wasn’t any regular manual, either… it was my WRX. It’s clutch is tricky thanks to all-wheel drive and a fast-spooling turbo. I turned the boost down to ~10 psi initially, which made things a little easier. The next day, I needed Gina to drive the WRX home while I drove my race car. That’s right, she had driven a manual twice in her life (both times with me in the car) before driving it alone from Clarkston to Brighton… in traffic! I was incredibly impressed with her skillz!

This was the third race weekend of my rookie season at Waterford Hills. I’m still one of the back-markers in my group, but I’m getting smoother and faster. I learned a ton about my line this week. Glenn (father-in-law, spec racer extraordinaire) pointed out a dozen BIG places for me to get smoother, brake earlier, and get on the gas sooner. Chris (SkyTek guru) set me up with double the camber I had before in time for the last race of the weekend. More camber makes the car stick better in corners. It also help the car turn. Because of this, the car turned where it used to push… very different car feeling. I hit a lot of curbs (turning in early), but I plan on getting to the Friday practice before the next race weekend to figure out the car’s new handling. This weekend was fun. I felt more comfortable with the car’s handling and I think there’s tons of room for me to improve my line. Next race weekend should be a blast.

- Duane