KicoD

Hey Folks, just wanted to introduce myself. I'm an old fat married guy who misses going fast. About a life time ago, I used to fly F-14's in the navy. Recently, my mid-life crisis arrived as scheduled and I started to think about racing cars. About a year ago, my sister bought me a subscription to grassroots motorsports 'cause she saw that they ran a story about a 350z in it. At the time, I told her it would be the most expensive Christmas gift I ever got. Anyway, a year goes by, I enjoy the magazine, I keep dreaming, I discover this site, and miraculously a pile of money lands on my door step just as the magazine decides to sell the car. I some how convince my wife (I think she figures that its cheaper than a mistress) that it was meant to be. I mean, the chances of finding a fairly sorted STU car, using quality parts (love the OS Giken LSD), done by someone who's work I trust (make your jokes, but I trust them more than some random teenager trying to build a Fast & Furious car on a $1,000 budget) are nearly none existent. Anyway, been driving it after work having blast. Bought a Sparco EVO III, having it install this weekend. Planning on doing couple of local STU races in Central Florida before the year is out. In closing, no clue, no ego, looking to learn and have fun. Hope to see some of you around.

armt350z

iTrader: (6)

Welcome! Which grassroots car was it, the silver one from the past few months?

MicVelo

Great first post! Good luck with your "new career".

I'm currently gearing up, so to speak, for a light schedule in '16 so we'll compare notes. Not going Nissan though.... Ford.

Yeah yeah, have at me guys. Traitor!! Turncoat!!

Mic

KicoD

Thanks. Its the Silver One. They have run a number of articles under the title "Dawn of the Zed."

KicoD

Thanks. I've learned a lot from reading your posts. Mostly about respecting other people's point of view and interest in cars. Good Luck in '16. BTW, when you say Ford, does that mean Mustang or something else?

verdict.

Welcome to MY350Z.

bith8791

Welcome and good luck.

turboed350z

Ford... interesting.... the only 2 canidatw i can think of is the mustang and the focus...unless mic is balling and got a ford gt without telling us...

eye-5

The focus RS looks like it will be a blast. Fiesta ST does well in HS.

And welcome! I'm also new with a CS 2007 Z.

JBJ

Welcome to the sickness. Check out NASA HPDE as well. It's a great organization and you get to drive on some awesome tracks.

KicoD

To paraphrase Ms. Morissette, in a world full of people why only some want to race ain't that crazy? My plan for next year is to scare myself, break a few things, learn a few things, set part of my wallet on fire, and prepare for track racing in '17! But like anything else baby steps. There is a real possibility I might suck at this and it might take a little longer before I'm ready to hit the track.

JBJ

NASA HPDE is for beginners such as yourself. That's how I started. I've never even done an autocross. In HPDE, you start with an instructor and learn how to drive fast. Either way, it sounds like they are both great and I love to see more Z's out there competing. Congrats on the new car. I believe the silver ones are the fastest.

Out of curiosity, do you still fly?

christoc

iTrader: (2)

Congrats! I considered that car myself, though was a little too far away for me to give it a serious consideration.

I'm picking up my ride next week, hope to see you at an SCCA event!

KicoD

Don't fly any more. Two choices when it comes to flying. Commercial or Civilian. Commercial means a lot of time away from home. From my time in the Navy, I can say that flying as a single person = awesome sauce. Flying married = hard life/divorce. Also, F-14 is like formula 1. Cessna is like a bus. It's still flying/driving but its not the same.

KicoD

For those interested, I forgot to order the side brackets for the EVO III seat. Summit Racing says it should be here by middle of the week. Luckily, my first event in later in the month so no worries.

mhoward1

As other's have said, Welcome to the sport.

I agree with the NASA HPDE/organization comment.

They seem to have a clearer path to W2W than the mirror SCCA groups. I have run in both, as well as HSR, IMSA, and VCA. the NASA groups around me are the most laid back and fun, great for a hobby racer.

Stolly08

Welcome! I just recently started visiting this site again myself. Back in the day most the people on here were dicks... Seems most of them are gone and its tamed down to gain a little more respect as a forum.
Post some pics of your car in your op for us!
And how did we happen to fall on a pile of money? Just curious about how to do it myself lol

KicoD

Twist . . . my . . . arm. Ok, I'll look into it. Thanks.

KicoD

It's easy. Buy 3 houses and a condo unit. Don't sleep for 5 years over making mortgage payments and sketchy tenants. Then when the market finally turns around sell 2 houses and the condo unit for a reasonable profit. Except for the part where you age in dog/president years its not a bad plan.

Stolly08

Nice! The wife and I just built a 3200sq ft house in a nice new neighborhood. We are both 25 so we are excited to be in a good place in about 20-25yrs when we pay it off. Now we are just trying to decide if we want to chance buying something else to rent or flip or just be happy and pay it off quick then enjoy all the extra money when we are 45-50?