A couple years ago I worked for a ‘lifestyle’ company as an on-track instructor and driver for a weekend. We had a group of F430s and Gallardos and for the most part they were beat. To. Hell. One of the 430s had a vinyl wrap, I’m sure to cover up accident damage

I was in CAP as a kid. My squadron took a summer trip to visit NORAD. But I had to take Algebra in summer school because I had failed it. Again.

My track car has left me stranded AT the track a few times this year. I bought an old Explorer from a neighbor As a cheap tow vehicle. I did the front wheel bearings this week, and now I need to do the rears. The the upper control arms and the tie rods. It should be in good shape after that.

I just bought a 2003 Explorer. It is arguably from Ford’s worst period as a manufacturer, it has a ton of miles on it, has bad wheel bearings and it smells bad. Even worse, I bought it at the expense of our very faithful family car, a 2005 Outback. That Outback will run for years yet. The Explorer will no doubt…

You’re not kidding. I have had mine for eight years. I still love it, against reason. It is on its third engine and third transmission - at 63k miles.

I had a fantastic weekend at Mid-Ohio with NASA. I ran in HPDE-4, instructed in HPDE-1 and got signed off to compete in Time Trial!

I know the cases were argued in isolation, and that it’s not really fair to compare them, but I’m still grossed out that Toyota paid more for hysteria than GM did for a blatant cover-up of a deadly defect.

I really enjoy this ‘Senior Week’ stuff across the Gawker blogs. Thanks.

I can agree with and relate to the title of this post. I’ve only actually bought one car off Craigslist, but it was a perspective-enhancing experience.

In the completely imaginary world where I have the money to buy a car like this, I wouldn’t.

You know, it wasn’t the best day out. I broke the mirror and taillight on that side and the car was dented from front to back. I had to replace the right inner tie rod to get it out on track the next day.

Road America most assuredly does not care. Though I do not live there any more, I grew up in Elkhart Lake. I saw endless races there as a kid, instilling in me my love of cars and racing, so it is practically a religious experience for me to drive there.

You could always buy a Subaru SVX...

A guy I used to work with had a Toronado 70-X.

All due respect to mister Cent, I have a few thousand bricks making up the walls of my house. That doesn’t mean I know the first thing about bricks, or that I have anything compelling to say about them.

One time I saw a Yugo a 500ci Cadillac V8 in the back.

I can’t argue with that statement, but when I bought the RX8, there was no four-door RWD coupe from Toyota. If I had to make the same choice now (instead of in 2008), I’d probably try to make the FR-Z work for my situation.

God, never. It’s an RX8, though, so probably just as bad. ;)

The ABS sensor on my car is internal to the hub, and it’s known to fail suddenly. Such a failure leads to a loss of control identical to the one you describe - locking up one of the front wheels. I just replaced the front hubs preemptively for that reason, so I’d have a little more peace of mind on the track.

Having visited the San Diego area, there’s really no reason for anybody to act that way. It’s too nice. Go outside, enjoy yourself and calm down. :)