The Blogs
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Welcome to the big leagues: how to get faster, faster
This was originally posted on jleez.net on June 19, 2015. Someone on Facebook asked me where the post went, so I’m reposting this on one of my current blogs. It’s interesting to see how things changed over the past six years. In the time since I wrote this, Ido has continued to run National events,…
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Why do I like this car so much?
I had a 2003 Honda Civic coupe, and it was a reliable but boring daily driver. I replaced it with a 2016 Ford Fiesta ST, which is a lot of fun, but has required the most work I’ve ever had to do for a daily driver. I’ll cut to the chase: outside of maybe the…
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Born Fast vs. Learned Fast
I fell into a long-winded back-and-forth in one of my Facebook chats where we discussed whether or not it was possible for mere mortals to challenge the driving gods. One friend took the stance that innate talent is what separated the driving aliens from the rest of us, while I argued that it was hard…
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What’s the value of a race car?
Not too long ago, there was an H Production VW Scirocco for sale on Bring a Trailer. I briefly flirted with the idea of bringing it home and scrapping most of my motorsports plans for the year to make a bid for the Runoffs at Indy. The day that the auction was set to end,…
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The story behind my Tail of the Dragon picture
Well, this is a good a story as any, and a nice capstone on the year’s time trials season. I’ve been splitting my motorsports attention between autocross and time trials. My original plans at the beginning of the year were to go to all of the National Sports Car Club of America (SCCA) autocross events…
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Coronavirus diaries, week 2
The days run into each other. I’ve been cooped up at home for two weeks now, and the situation outside is only getting worse. Hospitals are gearing up for a flood of sick patients, and it remains to be seen if Detroit will suffer a similar dire fate as the likes of Seattle or New…
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Pending death
I fly back to China to see my dying grandmother and my grandfather, and think about how each of them are handling the end of life.
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Power as a margin of safety
We were on our way back home from a win at Lake Superior Performance Rally (LSPR). I had just attended my very first stage rally, and did so as a crew member for my friends. Kevin, the owner and driver of a thoroughly used 80’s FC Mazda RX-7 had just driven to a convincing win…
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Goodbye Bonnie
At this moment, my 1966 Mustang is on a slow boat ride to the southern coast of France. I sold the car during the waning days of fall, eager to get some cash and clear some garage space, thinking that the car would end up with someone local, or at least somewhere in the Midwest.…