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Hank...I was just checking out the Midwest Something Something Club of Sports Cars Something website...they offer autocross lessons, as well as wheel-to-wheel. But it says that your car has to have a competition seat belt, and all other kinds of accessories. You don't have that stuff, right?
I know it seems odd that the girl who can barely drive through the car wash without creating a disaster would even consider this, but ever since you mentioned the whole autocross thing, I've been a little interested.
Okay, wiseguys, you can pick yourselves up now.
--Dale
Shrique: Here's the site (Midwestern Council of Sports Car Clubs): http://www.execpc.com/~mcscc/
I just entered 'autocross' into yahoo's search engine and picked the first one that looked like it might be in my area. Haven't done an extensive search yet.
Sounds like that club is a bit more advanced than you should be right now.
Look around/search around more and see if you can find some good driving lessons, not just in autocrossing, but on a track(gasp!)
You should ask that question in Protegeclub forum, there's TONS of autocrossers in that forum
Black is my favorite color, followed by silver, red or white depending on the car, then misc colors. Black can make any car look good. It's hard to keep clean but it's sooo worth it when it is clean.
And we've had other lurkers in the not-so-distant past chime in with their appreciation of our posts, both on-topic and off. So now I'm wondering, Fritz, and I'm not saying this to be snotty...who's in the majority? The disgruntled folks, or the satisfied folks?
I asked this question a week ago: any other lurkers care to comment on the usefulness of this board with respect to their past, present, or future Proteges?
Dude, what do you mean no useful info? Ask ANYTHING PRO-related: we'll have the answer in a few hours.
Dinu
Dinu
The Sebring had 3 peoople in (aka: 3 bozos with hats on backwards shaking their heads to the beats of their fav tunes). Came to a light next to them and they started looking while shaking their heads. We mutually agreed in a matter of seconds to Go! Go! Go!, by pointing to the road ahead. Well, it was on and until 100 the PRO stood in front with about 1-2 car lenghts ahead. We were coming up to an intersection, so I braked, slowed down to 80 and proceeded through the intersection at 70. They just kept going. I think I won since I stopped racing as it became unsafe to continue. The road was empty with no traffic (yet) < that's my #1 reason for actually agreeing to it in the first place.
Moral of the story? That spoiler significantly improved my downforce and helped the PRO defeat good old Detroit once again. (I guess that's one way to justify an extra $500 pymt)
Commentary of the story: racing is dumb and dangerous. I do not encourage it or participate in it, except when pushed by stupid people and when the roads are clear.
Dinu
I also took off the dribble an Astro van, but I don't think that counts
Interesting part of the story: I'm talking kms/h, not mph!
Those 3 black cars were amazing. Clean, but they could pull. I was just kidding about the spoiler. It is after all an extra payment on the PRO.
Dinu
But we have been on a few tangent (and plain old hyperbolic) paths of late.
Actually, I'm with Dale. Any recommendations on good driving schools around the midwest? The kind that teaches threshold braking, emergency maneuvers on wet, loose surfaces etc. Track racing might be interesting, but I'm more interested in defensive/handling at the limit type driving...y'know where you learn with an instructor at first in a training car, but you get to hone the skills in your own car so you become intimate with its abilities (not that I doubt them, I've just never taken it there).
Edmunds does have a few articles on some training schools. Most seem to be the track-racing type.
Personally I yearn for the days of RWD cars that didn't cost $50k. I just love fish-tailing down a snowy road or in a parking lot. It's so much more fun than spinning the front wheels.
Hey checkout that post number! I like that one better than 10000!
So really, I can't answer any of your other questions. Is there a TSB out for this yet?
My car shifts slowly on cold mornings too, but that's just 'cause I'm tired, cold, and grumpy. ;-)
Mazda Protege Owners Club
KarenS
Senior Host
Owners Clubs
Didn't bring it to the dealer since it warms up very fast and it all dissapears, plus I'm not free when the dealers are open. I basically live after 10pm, when most stores are closed (except the great 24/7 one).
Dinu
Of course I've been told several times by several service managers that various strange behaviors from my cars were "normal", when in fact they werent at all. Makes me wonder if they were lazy, incompetent, or a mix of both. That's a different story, though. One that has driven me away from my trend of buying domestics.
I have noticed a small rattle where the metalic-looking trim meets the black trim at the bottom of the dash, near the "Fresk Air/Recirculate" button. It goes away as it warms up, but it wasn't there 2 weeks ago. Maybe the potholes have something to do with that too and my excessive mileage.
Dinu
That's it! First to second gear changes take longe and it revs to almost 3.000, whereas I usually let it change at 2.500-2.700RMs. Auto tranny: can't do much.
Dinu
However, the fact that others on the web were able to go into great detail about problems with the ECU on this issue (including reported discussions with dealers who knew about this) surprised me. Again, perhaps they're all talking out their bumper but it does explain quite a bit.
Break-break, separate issue, my shifter does act funny before it's warmed up as well, and I can't figure out why. I mean, sure, the engine revs a little hard, and thus the actual changing gears might be a little rough (and possibly related to the above problem). But in this case, the actual hand-on-shifter-moving-through-gates gets a bit hard. It's almost like there's no lubrication in the gates. I don't know if there actually is any lube there, but after the car warms up, the shifter feels a lot more buttery instead of when cold, when I have to concentrate on making the gate or else it feels like it scrapes against the gates a bit. Again, it's not a problem once it warms up, so I write it off as common behavior, although I profess to being totally ignorant whether it's normal for a car to behave that way.
Cheers,
DK
I don't have the rattle btw, even up here in chilly Vermont.
Dinu: Not sure of your rattle...sounds kinda strange. Are you sure it's coming from that particular location? Reason I ask is that I have (had??) a rattle that came and went. I haven't heard it in quite some time now, but it sounded like it was coming from somewhere on the passenger side.
Also, in regards to this engine rattle, at what temperature (outside the car) does this happen? Is it only in winter? Or both summer and winter?