Mental Health

Pikes Peak. 

Some bad shit has transpired.  Don’t worry; I’m not sharing.  Men don’t do that shit.  Men get into their fucking cars and drive.  That's what this man is doing anyway.

I woke up, grabbed Ray Bans, a radar detector, a Mac Book and jumped in the M3 to escape reality

So off I went, on the road to Pikes Peak.   It’s the closest, cool car guy destination  that I know of.  (I've been in Colorado for a few years now, but my focus has not been on cars, but rather my young son).  Someone who will receive the torch of automobilia I hope.  My goal is to waste the whole damn day, if possible.

No guard rails in most places.  I'm a car guy, but damn!  I don't think so. 

I’ve never been up Pikes Peak, but if it’s anything like my drives in Oregon to Mt Saint Helen it should be adequately distracting.    Fresh pavement and turns that require 100% focus to drive the demons from my mind, albeit temporarily. 

I’m rocking out to Pandora in my Kenwood Apple Car play radio.   I prefer factory stereos, but they have broken 3 times in 3 months.   So I bought the most Apple Compatible radio I could find, then asked Duplicor for guidance to paint the shiny/flashy bits to match the interior. They replied in hours with product names and instructions.   I like old school cars w/out electro doodadification, but a man needs to make calls and use his Waze app too.

Climbing the peak allows me to explore my goals for the M3.    I need 0-60  times in under 5 seconds. Probably because that was the Holy Grail when I was a boy.   I’d also like my car to look a bit more stunning w/out looking like a project car.   I prefer my coolness to be subtle, but impactful to people that know what they are seeing.  Automotive esoteric coolness is my mantra.

I don't have the nerves to race, but that doesn't make me less of a car guy. 
 Perhaps autocross is more my speed,   no cliffs to drop down. 

1      Big ass brakes would be nice.   These are cosmetic to me, but I still want them pretty badly.  I’d like bigger Motorsports-Blue calipers to peak out from behind my wheels.  Since I really don’t need better braking, I plan on Porsche 996 brake calipers, adapted to fit my car, then painted to look like late model M3 Brakes.  This should be more hands on than a kit, and hopefully less expensive too.   

 Brembos off a 996 Porsche can be painted to look this good

      Dinan badges are cool to me.   Many Dinan parts are irrelevant if I plan to install a supercharger.  The car already sports Dinan suspension, and Dinan exhaust will come soon.   I’ll buy just enough to warrant a legitimate badge w/out being a charlatan.

 
   
Wheels,  I can't drive much longer on my hideous wheels.  I want the coolest wheels BMW offered in the 90’s or I’ll die of plebianism.  Below are my ultimate choice, and they are around in refurb and replica forms. 

I think the plate personifies esotericism, if that’s a word.   It means very little to common folk, but tells BMW guys I’m the less common 4 Door with a 5 Speed.   It's actually plenty damn common, but since it took a while to find one, I’m going to make believe it's rare.  What's being a car guy w/out a little self-deceit?

Lastly, I’m having a love hate relationship with the idea of forced induction.  The blower pictured comes with an ECM tune included that should make it quite drivable.   The appearance in black is quite OEM looking, and I dig that. A Dinan supercharger is an ideal choice too, but they cannot be sourced new;  meaning tuning and rebuilding costs would be additional.  

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The VF Superchargers are large blowers moving a pretty small volume.  This means you can get away with lower temps w/out an intercooler and make reasonable power.  Ultimately this will get me going the modest speed improvement I desire.  The price of $ 4,500 puts this on the back burner for a while.   When my son’s older It will be a good project for him to see.

   

My only competition to the Peak today.  I kicked his ass.