Chris Hammondhttp://www.chrishammond.comRSS Feed for Chris Hammond120Sync your Zune from your drivewayhttps://www.chrishammond.com/cars/240z/itemid/943/sync-your-zune-from-your-drivewaySo, you're lazy like me, and hate taking your Zune inside the house because really all that means is that you forget to take it with you in the morning when you leave. Well never fear! With the new firmware update 2.1 it looks like you're going to be able to leave your Zune in your vehicle, and sync up the device! I'm excited about this. My Zune is always in my Tahoe, plugged into a power source, so this should work out excellent for me assuming the Wifi has a strong enough signal in the driveway, which wasn't a problem when I was outside working on the Project240z all spring with my laptop running! This also means it should work well for Natalie's Zune as well! Though, if I buy a Corvette it now means I'll have to wire up the Zune again, as it won't have the connection I already added for the...Mon, 08 Oct 2007 11:25:00 GMT9b1b5fef-564d-4fb4-883e-54ab44a1cfd5How many hobbies is too many hobbies?https://www.chrishammond.com/cars/240z/itemid/1003/how-many-hobbies-is-too-many-hobbiesThat is the question for 2008? How many hobbies is too many? Here's a list of the ones I want to do so far.... (in no particular order) 1. Play more golf 2. Get the 240Z running 3. Race the Corvette (alot) 4. Play and Record Music 5. Home Automation 6. Developer more cool DNN modules How many of those have I done so far this year? So far #1, started on #5, and always do #6 Nick and I went to the driving range today for a while. We're hoping to play 18 holes...Sun, 06 Jan 2008 01:29:00 GMTcf81555e-8f88-44a3-b1db-9420ea087a6dSteve Ewing from The Urgehttps://www.chrishammond.com/cars/240z/itemid/1078/steve-ewing-from-the-urgeSo last night 7 of us went out to dinner at Llywelyn's in Webster Groves. I wanted to go see Steve Ewing from The Urge playing there, and I figured I'd drag along a few guys from work so Natalie and I would have some people to talk to. It was a great time, and I must say, Steve is an amazing singer, if you get a chance to see him playing somewhere do. In person he sounds just like the recordings except with a little more crowd enticement there. Check him out at www.steviee.com I'm also proud to say I'll be using some of his music in upcoming videos for www.corvettez06.org and www.project240z.com Sat, 16 Feb 2008 10:09:09 GMTb48ddcf7-59aa-4362-974e-4cc15d7e4a9aWeekend planshttps://www.chrishammond.com/cars/240z/itemid/1136/weekend-plans1. Wash/Wax the Corvette 2. Put the motor for the 240Z back together. 3. Make room in the garage so I can pull the Corvette back into the garage 4. Sleep 5. Finish getting prepped for the DotNetNuke Training that starts on Monday. 6. Get better Chris HammondSat, 29 Mar 2008 00:24:37 GMT857d114a-b369-4879-8222-c520f8a8bd59Weekend Updatehttps://www.chrishammond.com/cars/240z/itemid/1138/weekend-update<p>Weekend Update from <a href="http://www.chrishammond.com/tabid/54/itemid/1136/Weekend-plans.aspx">my post of tasks to do from Friday night</a> (accomplished items are crossed through)</p> <div class="Normal" id="divArticleContent"><span id="dnn_ctr372_ItemDisplay_ArticleDisplay_lblArticleText"> <p>1. <strike>Wash</strike>/Wax the Corvette</p> <p>2. <strike>Put the motor for the </strike>240Z back together. (some done, manifolds need to go back on)</p> <p>3. <strike>Make room in the garage so I can pull the Corvette back into the garage</strike></p> <p>4. <strike>Sleep</strike></p> <p>5. Finish getting prepped for the <a href="http://www.engagesoftware.com/dotnetnuke/training.aspx">DotNetNuke Training</a> that starts on Monday.</p> <p>6. Get <strike>better (still in progress)</strike></p> <p>Not a very productive weekend if I do say so myself. I'm working on #5 this evening.</p> <p> </p> </span></div>Chris HammondSun, 30 Mar 2008 17:47:07 GMT5af09363-505b-479b-9fd7-aa31ff5af9bfHouston we have a problemhttps://www.chrishammond.com/cars/240z/itemid/1141/houston-we-have-a-problemWhen is too much? What am I referring to? Tires in my garage. Long ago everyone on Solo2.org did a count of tires and wheels in their arsenal. I think I might win if we did that again, here's a current count of tires/wheels that are in my garage, and does not include tires mounted to any of our 4 vehicles or two trailers. 4 street tires off the 240Z 4 Hoosier tires for the Corvette (good race tires) 4 new street tires for the Corvette 2 new Hoosier tires for the Corvette 8 combination of used race Wheels (3) and tires (8) for the Corvette 1 spare trailer tire 1 inflatable spare for the datsun That's 24 sitting in my garage right now, pictures for proof. Tue, 01 Apr 2008 23:33:30 GMT86550680-7eef-4b97-b169-e8114febf399Sunday Sunday Sundayhttps://www.chrishammond.com/cars/240z/itemid/1233/sunday-sunday-sundaySo Natalie and I cut the St. Pat's trip short by about 14 hours. After the fun I had last night, I wasn't feeling up for another night of drinking so we left Rolla around 6pm this evening. Lesson learned, don't over drink yourself the night before your birthday, otherwise you spend your birthday in bed feeling your new age. Sunday I'm looking forward to a few things. I'm going to raise the front end on the Corvette up probably 1/4-1/2 inch, to hopefully stop dragging everytime I come to an inclined driving surface. I'm then going to head to Illinois and stop by the Novice School, try to get the car Annually teched, and then possibly go swing by Tuxedo Park and see how dirty the 240Z is. If Steven is over at TPR I'll do my best to try and talk him into letting me dyno the Z06, I'd like to get a baseline run in before I put the Borla exhaust on this week. Sun, 16 Mar 2008 02:15:57 GMT6986cb8c-d9ff-4ec4-8a47-f60a8877f178Taking apart the new motorhttps://www.chrishammond.com/cars/240z/itemid/1271/taking-apart-the-new-motor<p>So Nick came over this morning and helped me get the motor off the ground and onto the engine stand so I could begin tearing it apart. After breaking a bolt off in the head trying to get one of the mounts setup for the cherry picker we managed to get the motor up and off the ground, though it took a couple of tries because we tried to get by with "the wrong" parts, meaning bolts in the chain that were too small for what we were doing.</p> <p>Lesson learned, again, use the right damn tools, instead of trying to make the wrong tools work. You'll save time rather than trying to take short cuts.</p> <p>Once we had the motor up on the stand he headed home to work on this car and I started trying to get the motor cleaned up a bit. Here are two before shots, of the front of the motor just caked in dirt and crap.</p> <p><span class="photo_container pc_m"><a title="L28E" href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/chammond/2321885405/"><img class="pc_img" height="160" alt="L28E" src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3170/2321885405_288c8607c0_m.jpg" width="240" /></a></span> <span class="photo_container pc_m"><a title="L28E" href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/chammond/2321882971/"><img class="pc_img" height="160" alt="L28E" src="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2168/2321882971_558c29e1c9_m.jpg" width="240" /></a></span></p> <p>After spraying it down with degreaser and scrubbing with a wire brush I decided to finish what I started yesterday and remove the manfolds from the side of the motor. That actually went fairly easily, I'm not sure why, perhaps loading up the bolts with WD-40 yesterday before I finished helped, some of them almost seemed loose before I even cranked on them, perhaps Eric or I started to remove them last year when working on the other motor?</p> <p>After getting the manifolds off I took off the last remaining attached item to the side of the motor, but honestly, I'm not sure what it was? At first I assumed it was a power steering pump, but the more I think about it the more I think it might have been the AC compressor?</p> <p>After that I tried to spend some time organizing the garage a bit. I managed to get a few things hung up on the wall and made more room in there for the Corvette. I've still yet to make enough room to bring the 240Z home from storage. I don't think I'll be able to park both cars in the garage until I have the motor in the 240, otherwise I'll never have room in there for both cars and the motor, plus transmissions.</p> <p>Speaking of transmissions, I need to sell the 2 extra ones I have, if anyone is looking for an automatic transmission out of a 73 240Z, or a 5 speed out of a 280Z let me know. I was told the 5 speed needs rebuilding, I have no clue about it other than that.</p> <p>My goal/plan right now is to tear down the L28E and check things over, replace the rear main seal, make sure to clean it out, then try and put it all back together. I don't imagine I'll get that done before May, but I would like to spend time on it over the next few weeks if I can.</p>Mon, 10 Mar 2008 00:53:36 GMT0a87f6d4-42bc-40e5-919a-6341cf810e56Made a few changeshttps://www.chrishammond.com/cars/240z/itemid/1278/made-a-few-changes<p>I made a few changes to the site this evening, a few things I've had planned for a while. Now, all my blog posts from <a href="http://www.project240z.com">www.project240z.com</a>, <a href="http://www.corvettez06.org">www.corvettez06.org</a> and <a href="http://weblogs.asp.net/christoc">http://weblogs.asp.net/christoc</a> will all aggregate here, so you can pull in my RSS feed from <a href="http://www.chrishammond.com">www.chrishammond.com</a> and get whatever blog posts I make on those sites as well. The links should take you directly to the blog posts on those sites.</p> <p>If you see any problems with this please let me know, I'm excited to get this flexibility built into the site and have another project to be announced later this week that will use this feature as well!</p>Thu, 29 May 2008 01:36:13 GMTc6a2eed3-5333-4be9-88ab-c80fef0f6b31240Z Status for July 2008https://www.chrishammond.com/cars/240z/itemid/1362/240z-status-for-july-2008<p>Well the garage finally has a little more room, though not enough to bring the car home from storage yet. Perhaps later this summer, though with my racing schedule (<a href="http://www.corvettez06.org/">www.corvettez06.org</a>)  I don't have any free weekends until September, and even then I think I have only one weekend that month, maybe 1 in October and then 2 in November if I am lucky!</p>Wed, 16 Jul 2008 00:43:58 GMT5f1a01b0-f394-4792-83dc-fd8e94626dcbFall 2008 It begins againhttps://www.chrishammond.com/cars/240z/itemid/1491/fall-2008-it-begins-again<p>So it's been a while since I've made any real progress on the 240Z, but come the end of October I hope my weekends will finally slow down enough that I can start working on the car again with the intention of getting it running before Christmas!</p> <p>The Corvette goes away in just over a week, which will leave me without a fun car to drive, so hopefully that will motivate me a little bit to work on the 240 after I get done travelling for the month of October.</p>Tue, 30 Sep 2008 23:47:03 GMTa76b410e-1ba8-457f-a8d3-33de602a587eLittle progress, little time!https://www.chrishammond.com/cars/240z/itemid/1517/little-progress-little-time<p>So my weekend of working on the 240Z started off quite slowly today. I ended up sleeping until almost noon this morning, it was nice to catch up on some much lost rest from the travelling the past few months.</p> <p>So after my restful morning I had a few errands to run to get my costume ready for a party tonight. Once those were completed I was able to spend some time in the garage. First things first getting the months of piled on crap off the top of the car. That led me to assembling the 2nd craftsman stool that I had purchased probably 10 months ago now, it was in a box on the hood of the car.</p> <p>Once I could see the top of the car I made room at the back and rolled her back a bit in the garage, this allowed me to get to the motor which has been on the stand for quite some time sitting in front of the car. Without the Corvette in the garage (*sheds a small tear*) I had plenty of room to move the motor over to the free side of the garage to work on. The next step for the car is to get all of the motor bits back together, the manifolds, turbo and all other accessories need to be put on the car so that I can put it back in the engine bay. I spent some time this afternoon cleaning off some more of the grease/dirt that covers the motor. I think Lynn, the previous owner, took it to a rally cross based on all the dirt and grime I’ve pulled off this motor over time.</p> <p>I didn’t get too far today, but I hope that tomorrow I can get all of the parts back on the motor, if I can successfully do that I should be able to get the motor back in the car next weekend. The biggest problem I have working on the car is staying focused, if I’m by myself I tend to stray from the task at hand, and I never seem to get anything done. Case in point today, at some point while working on clearing off the car I got out the angle grinder and wire wheeled the hole where the FM antenna was at one point, I thought it looked like it might be rusting so I took the paint off then sprayed some primer on the car. Now it looks worse than before, but I had fun! :) </p> <p>More updates tomorrow, hopefully with some video. I tried using the Chase Cam today to shoot some video but apparently the PDR doesn’t really care for normal AA batteries as it only stayed powered on for about 5 minutes before shutting off, without me knowing.</p>Sat, 25 Oct 2008 19:24:26 GMT1dc2f34d-45ca-46e7-a5de-2c03a7367dbbEaton developing charging systems for electric vehicleshttps://www.chrishammond.com/cars/leaf/itemid/1922/eaton-developing-charging-systems-for-electric-vehInteresting news found as I read through the Autoblog Green today (I'm a changed man reading Autoblog Green now, the thought of getting a Leaf has me all sorts of weird).<br /> <br /> There was an article from Monday posted there about Eaton developing fast charging systems for both home and commercial use electric vehicles. That strikes me of interest because I have a buddy, one of my former codriver's in the CorvetteZ06.org car, that works for Eaton. I've already sent him an email to see what kind of discount I can get :)<br /> <br /> <a href="http://green.autoblog.com/2010/05/03/eaton-developing-faster-electric-vehicle-charging-system-for-hom/">Check out the full Eaton writeup at Autoblog Green including the press release</a>. Chris HammondWed, 05 May 2010 23:50:31 GMT249c6b09-b5df-4e9e-a764-09ea2ca36c90Viral Marketing? Banned Corvette Adhttps://www.chrishammond.com/cars/corvette/itemid/73/viral-marketing-banned-corvette-adNews has been going around the net about the Banned Corvette ad. Maybe it's just viral marketing, and if it is, it's working. Here's the ad in quicktime format. Pretty cool, but the quality leaves more for the wanting...Thu, 26 Aug 2004 17:37:00 GMT39cecbf9-984e-43ad-a49d-4f079eea5dd3Corvette St. Louis, are you looking for a used Corvette?https://www.chrishammond.com/cars/corvette/itemid/938/corvette-st-louis-are-you-looking-for-a-used-corIf you're looking for a used Corvette in St. Louis Missouri you've come to the right blog post! I'll be updating this post  with used Corvette information for the St. Louis, Chesterfield, St. Charles, Wildwood and other surrounding areas in Missouri! I am myself in the Market for a used Corvette, and live in the St. Louis...Sun, 30 Sep 2007 19:20:00 GMTa796be1a-a85b-4e83-982f-52a34f838fdaRed Corvette, Red Sox? I think sohttps://www.chrishammond.com/cars/corvette/itemid/944/red-corvette-red-sox-i-think-so  I've been trying to decide if a Red vette is a good choice or not, then I though. Red Sox... I think I sold myself posted from...Tue, 09 Oct 2007 01:25:00 GMT05942a44-3c89-41b5-9e73-3f9a4d1673f8It's Friday!https://www.chrishammond.com/cars/corvette/itemid/1065/its-fridaySo it's Friday. The end of a busy but short week. This weekend, I'm going to automate our house.... Well, I'm going to start at least. I have some controls and software from Smarthome to start working with, along with a paper to write for econ class, and shocks to install on the Corvette. Sunday I'm hoping to head off to Grafton Illinois to photograph some Bald Eagles. Fri, 08 Feb 2008 17:08:16 GMT2123a0c0-aeef-4f22-8323-23a48ba7b0cbLazy Saturdayhttps://www.chrishammond.com/cars/corvette/itemid/1068/lazy-saturdayWell I got up bright and early this morning to head off with Nick to pick up a 1995 Ford Mustang Cobra. We dropped it off at his house then headed back home. Now I'm sitting here watching TV. No motivation to work on the shocks for the Corvette. I may go out in the garage and do some organizing as it really needs it! I may also head to Creve Couer park and rollerblade for the first time in 2008. Sat, 09 Feb 2008 12:33:05 GMT9e948307-fe80-4302-ae45-698d11f8f072Fitness Tuesday and a visit to Tropical Smoothie Cafe in Des Pereshttps://www.chrishammond.com/cars/corvette/itemid/1073/fitness-tuesday-and-a-visit-to-tropical-smoothie-cTuesday is always a good day. I was born on a Tuesday. I went to the YMCA this evening after work, I ran/walked for 40 minutes, and covered 3.3 miles in about 40 minutes. I think I'm going to have to start extending my exercise a bit more, I started doing 30 minutes, and am up to 40 minutes, perhaps I'll go for 45 minutes tomorrow night. I also weighed myself while I was at the Y and weighed in at 252.5 lbs! Another pound and a half in the next two days and I'll be down 10lbs for the month (1/14-2/14). So we'll see how that goes. For lunch today I went to Tropical Smoothie Cafe in Des Peres. I always go there, I easily eat there 3-4 times a week, sometimes more. It's a fairly new place, only been open a few months now, but we love it at the office. I eat a King Ceaser wrap without tomatoes everytime I go, along with a selection of smoothies that I will also have. If you're looking for a smoothie in Des Peres Missouri be sure to check it out! It's right by Trader Joes. I eat there enough I've though of asking Terry, the owner, if he'd like to sponsor a race car. Terry, if you read this, I'm looking for a sponsor! www.corvettez06.org Wed, 13 Feb 2008 01:07:41 GMT616a5751-2205-4593-8a4c-f6707b6a496bLazy Sunday Againhttps://www.chrishammond.com/cars/corvette/itemid/1079/lazy-sunday-againSo I got up around 9:30 this morning, because Nick called. We worked on the Corvette, fixing the problem we had last night, then doing some alignment settings on the car. Finished that around 2pm, took a shower, and I just woke up from a nap.... There's so much left to do today! Sun, 17 Feb 2008 20:33:15 GMT43cd402b-53de-4e7e-916a-fdfc7ae919d4A long day in Georgiahttps://www.chrishammond.com/cars/corvette/itemid/1087/a-long-day-in-georgiaToday started out alright. Breakfast at IHOP, headed to the event site to unload the car and mount tires. Car up on the jack, tires off the driver's side. Time to adjust the shocks. That is when it all went to hell. Head on over to www.corvettez06.org to find out...Fri, 22 Feb 2008 19:52:05 GMT272579c6-946d-4bb0-ade4-2125b781de4eBack from Georgiahttps://www.chrishammond.com/cars/corvette/itemid/1090/back-from-georgiaA quick post as I have way too much work to catch up on! Dave and I made it back from Georgia early in the morning. Natalie came and picked me up and I think we made it to bed around 3am. Much earlier than I had expected. We made the trip back from Adel Georgia in 11 hours, the trip down took 13 hours with the ice storm and rain most of the way. More on then race later tonight when I get to blog on <a href="http://www.corvettez06.org">Corvettez06.org</a>Mon, 25 Feb 2008 16:44:39 GMTcd665787-4f4a-42a1-b69f-60c729bbe742DotNetNuke for your Ridehttps://www.chrishammond.com/cars/corvette/itemid/1097/dotnetnuke-for-your-ride<p>Does your car run on DotNetNuke? Mine does!</p> <p><a title="DotNetNuke Corvette" href="http://flickr.com/photos/chammond/2291945232/"><img class="pc_img" height="160" alt="DotNetNuke Corvette" src="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2402/2291945232_3f7d42f74a_m.jpg" width="240" /></a></p>Fri, 29 Feb 2008 22:27:32 GMTd631f15c-d0ee-4a61-9f09-18e6c9c16808Home from St. Pat'shttps://www.chrishammond.com/cars/corvette/itemid/1122/home-from-st-patsWell, we cut the trip short and came home Saturday evening from Rolla. After feeling like crap all day I decided there would be no more drinking so we headed back. Sunday -> Corvette day. www.corvettez06.org Sun, 16 Mar 2008 02:11:01 GMT84768aa6-d616-47bb-890f-eb99874f4848Once in a lifetimehttps://www.chrishammond.com/cars/corvette/itemid/1139/once-in-a-lifetime<p>A few weeks ago at St. Pat's some of my fraternity brother's were giving me trouble about owning the Corvette. They thought if I owned the Corvette I also needed to have a Mustache.</p> <p>Well here it is, probably the only mustache I will ever grow.</p> <p><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/chammond/2376445672/"><img class="reflect" height="333" alt="" src="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2227/2376445672_8c554aa142.jpg?v=0" width="500" onload="show_notes_initially();" /></a></p> <p>Natalie loves it (not). I think it looks great (not). It is coming off in the morning (so)!</p>Mon, 31 Mar 2008 00:02:32 GMTe917d334-b33d-45a3-b100-71cdd0739792Evolution School Day 1https://www.chrishammond.com/cars/corvette/itemid/1144/evolution-school-day-1The trip out to Kansas City was uneventful. The car and truck made it here without trouble. Ran today, had a blast. I'll try to post some info on www.corvettez06.org later this weekend. Fri, 04 Apr 2008 20:49:02 GMT66fcd9f0-c9de-416d-be56-b25638f3037dNewport ProSolo Resultshttps://www.chrishammond.com/cars/corvette/itemid/1154/newport-prosolo-resultsA quick personal post, I'll do a full writeup tomorrow night on www.Corvettez06.org Jeremy finished 1st and I finished 3rd in SS (I lost second by .080 Sunday). We both made it into the Hawk Super Challenge that ran on Sunday afternoon. Though, somehow, out of 32 drivers we managed to get paired up head to head. So I went out and warmed the tires up for him, hoping to give him an edge going into the rest of the challenge. He smoked me with his fastest run of the weekend, though couldn't recreate it on his next bracket against a fricken Chrysler Crossfire.... Great job nonetheless. Sun, 13 Apr 2008 23:30:18 GMT552a2c03-02ae-492b-b5b5-44e643e006aaMade it homehttps://www.chrishammond.com/cars/corvette/itemid/1162/made-it-homeI'll do a full writeup on www.corvettez06.org later this week along with some video. For now I've got a lot of work to do. I have to submit my topics for OpenForce08 as well as work on a few other DNN modules tonight.Sun, 20 Apr 2008 22:32:42 GMTd7aef5c1-6844-4a8d-bae7-f2e85190ad3aFishing Followuphttps://www.chrishammond.com/cars/corvette/itemid/1169/fishing-followupWell I had planned to do a fishing follow up today, but it's 11:30 and I really don't feel like typing one up now! Basically, we fished Lake of the Ozarks on Saturday, I think I caught 4, 1 blue gill and 3 crappie, no bass whatsoever. Today I slept till 11am and then washed/clay barred/waxed the Envoy, it looks pretty damn good if I do say so myself. Now, if I could just get the Corvette done in the next week or two. Mon, 28 Apr 2008 00:25:03 GMT494a9dea-e7fa-4924-94c3-5c5e315ebd7bClay start for the weekendhttps://www.chrishammond.com/cars/corvette/itemid/1175/clay-start-for-the-weekendSo after what I would call a long and painful week I came home this evening and put in some elbow grease time on the F350. I clay bar'd most of the truck, the hood, the sides, and the rear. It got dark so I haven't gone and waxed the truck yet but I hope to do that first thing in the morning, after giving it another quick wash. Then I will wash/clay/wax the Corvette, it's in dire need of a good wax. Hopefully tomorrow before the Derby I can get myself out to a range and do some shooting. I haven't fired a gun in quite a while and I could use the release of some stress right now. Sat, 03 May 2008 01:36:30 GMTc2fc840a-fee7-49ae-bd95-aff3ab95df0aBack to stockhttps://www.chrishammond.com/cars/corvette/itemid/1230/back-to-stockToday I went over to Nick's house for a while to work on removing the motor out of his 1995 Cobra. That took us FARRRR too long, stupid mustangs. We actually didn't get it all the way out before I left, the ram on the cherry picker died on us when we were probably 95% done. He ran off to Cummins Tools to look for another one, I went home to work on the Corvette. I took the Monroe Sensa Tracs off the front end and put the stock Z06 shocks back on the car. I figured out, thanks to a tip from Alex, the easy way to mount shocks is by compressing them and holding them closed with a zip tie. That made things a lot easier! Sun, 02 Mar 2008 00:38:57 GMT2afd4996-4a4a-47e6-895f-7ff14ed431ccCorvette CV Boot, still leaking...https://www.chrishammond.com/cars/corvette/itemid/1231/corvette-cv-boot-still-leakingSo I got up this morning, washed the F350 before Natalie took it back to the barn, where it will live until it gets used to tow again. (Good planning on my part sending it back to the barn with a winter storm supposedly hitting St. Louis tomorrow). I then washed the Z06 to get the travel grime off it from the trip back from Atlanta last weekend. Sun, 02 Mar 2008 23:23:37 GMTc64f6fb6-e24d-46a2-89b0-85ca19eea390DotNetNuke Module for Youtubehttps://www.chrishammond.com/cars/corvette/itemid/1232/dotnetnuke-module-for-youtubeI started working on a YouTube module for DotNetNuke this evening. I have a very basic first version up here on Corvettez06.org. You can check it out on my corvette video page.Thu, 06 Mar 2008 02:06:12 GMTb7813109-d1bf-42e7-bdb2-5b0bf415a305Borla Stinger Exhaust Installed, Testing out Vimeo for HD Video Uploadshttps://www.chrishammond.com/cars/corvette/itemid/1235/borla-stinger-exhaust-installed-testing-out-vimeoNick and I got the Borla installed tonight and also raised the front end of the car up a bit more. Testing Vimeo Video:   Corvettez06.org Borla Exhaust Before/After from Christopher Hammond on Vimeo.Wed, 19 Mar 2008 02:21:19 GMT9907b584-91be-4e8d-91c4-588954b42002Hardbar installed in the Corvettehttps://www.chrishammond.com/cars/corvette/itemid/1237/hardbar-installed-in-the-corvetteI finally took some time to install the Hardbar harness bar into the Corvette this evening. Pictures tomorrow.Mon, 31 Mar 2008 22:58:25 GMT4cccfa93-d882-4a53-bdb7-b512fbbdac77A nice new coathttps://www.chrishammond.com/cars/corvette/itemid/1243/a-nice-new-coatSo I finally got around to cleaning up the Corvette yesterday. It really needed a coat of wax and a good going over with the clay bar so after a round of golf in the morning I came home and gave the car some love. Here's the order of things on Sunday. Wash Claybar Wash Polish Wax RainX I spent 4.5 hours or so cleaning up the car. All the marks are removed from the paint, though there are still some cone marks in the clear vinyl that I had troubles removing. And now for the results Mon, 05 May 2008 14:34:43 GMTd95c8cac-e0bf-4fd9-8313-80ba9d8966caOff to Atlanta with a new Sponsorhttps://www.chrishammond.com/cars/corvette/itemid/1244/off-to-atlanta-with-a-new-sponsorWell, less than 24 hours from now Nick and I will be on the road to Atlanta. We're planning on pulling out of St. Louis around 3am, but we'll see how that goes. I will have a lot to do tonight to get ready. Load the car on the trailer, pack the van. Yup, VAN, I'm taking the SoloPerformance.com Church Van down to Atlanta. Much thanks to Dave for the loaner tow vehicle! I mounted up the tires on the old street wheels last night. New Hoosier rubber for this weekend, hopefully we can get down in time to do some practice starts and get some of the new tire mold off. It should be a fun weekend, and hopefully I'll have some great videos together. A big thanks to CorvetteZ06.org's Newest Sponsor, Chase Cam, www.chasecam.com. I've used Chase Cam equipment many times throughout the years and now get the chance to work with some of their newest equipment, needless to say I am stoked! See you all in Atlanta!Thu, 15 May 2008 12:05:14 GMTa432ba86-d0c1-46d7-92d2-e59d66587ba7Corvette got a new coat of painthttps://www.chrishammond.com/cars/corvette/itemid/1283/corvette-got-a-new-coat-of-paintFriday when I got home from work I noticed my windshield was extremely hard to see through, and couldn't figure out why. I got out of the car in the garage but couldn't see much, though it did not feel it's normal smooth self. In the garage I couldn't see much of anything, though it appeared something was also on the paint. Fast forward through the weekend, Sunday evening same thing, windshield in the sunlight hard to see through. This morning when I head off to work I look a little more closely at the paint, and find lots of little black dots, all over the car. They've been doing work here at the office on the outside of the building, and it looks like I got a nice coat of paint all over the car, tiny little dots, almost too small to see, but if you look close enough you can see them everywhere. I'm off to the body shop here over lunch to get a quote on what it will take to fix.Mon, 02 Jun 2008 12:59:24 GMTc4428601-0c29-408d-a379-6dfb3f36e9c6Koni Shock Install on the Corvettehttps://www.chrishammond.com/cars/corvette/itemid/1289/koni-shock-install-on-the-corvetteSo after heading out to Natalie's horse show today I swung by the car dealer to say hello to Trigger, the guy who sold me the Corvette. After that I came home and worked on the Corvette for 4 hours. The first thing I did was remove both rear shocks. I spent quite a bit of time trying to get them both to adjust, the adjusters were stuck, as they were when I originally got them. I made sure they were both set to full soft then I put them back on the car. I made sure to tighten everything down. Sat, 07 Jun 2008 01:02:57 GMT93632b21-9ddf-4a7f-bc74-d7dfecf89deaPaint on the Corvette Update, 1 Week Laterhttps://www.chrishammond.com/cars/corvette/itemid/1294/paint-on-the-corvette-update-1-week-laterSo here we are a week later, and the Corvette still has paint on it. I got a quote from the Lou Fusz body shop to have the paint cleaned up and the car rewaxed. I then had 4 other cars here in the parking lot do the same, as they all had paint on the vehicles. Right now the paint guy is trying to have some guy come in from out of town who will do a mass cleaning on the cars on Thursday. At this point I'm not down for this game, I would much rather have a shop I know working on my car than some random guy from Springfield Missouri touching it. I've put a call into the painting company to tell them this, and if they have a problem with it I will simply get my insurance company started on this claim. I'm pretty confident that they will cover the cost of getting the car cleaned up with the company I want to clean it, then they can deal with the painting company and that company's insurance. We'll see how this turns out, but right now I am thinking this might quickly turn into a post for The Mad Blogger to handle if things aren't taken care of.Mon, 09 Jun 2008 17:41:20 GMT7a9a788e-ea6c-4f2b-b21d-c8edb6709736Finally progress on the painthttps://www.chrishammond.com/cars/corvette/itemid/1310/finally-progress-on-the-paintSo after way too much time spent on this whole deal I believe that this paint fiasco is almost behind us. The word I got today is a check was put in the mail today, so I have Saturday morning (and afternoon and evening) slated for a full detail job on the Corvette. It will most likely take all day, but the car always loves a good rub down. I think my boss is going to come over and do the same to his Minivan, though I am sure he will give up about half way through the process realizing he's clay barring and waxing a minivan! Thu, 12 Jun 2008 21:19:03 GMTaa5cd9cd-a1a3-4cc6-b559-9d309f7c8375Washington DC ProSolo Registration Dayhttps://www.chrishammond.com/cars/corvette/itemid/1320/washington-dc-prosolo-registration-dayThis morning I got up and went to the Udvar Hazy exhibit of the Smithsonian Air and Space Musuem out in Virginia. It was well worth the trip, I got to see a Space Shuttle, that had to be the coolest part. I took a couple hundred photos, I'm going through some of them this evening and should have them posted on my flickr page later. After that I headed over to Fedex Field to see how the setup for the ProSolo was going. I spotted the Purple Beast (1982 Camaro) that I will be driving on Saturday and Sunday and headed up to introduce myself to Eric, one of the owners of the car, I'm his codriver for the weekend. I walked around a bit and said hello to a few folks and then got some tickets for the practice starts. Eric took a few starts and then I took a couple to see how the car felt. To be honest, it definitely doesn't have the power that the Corvette does (one wouldn't expect that), we will see though, that might not be a bad thing. The clutch is the one thing that I think will take some getting used to, that and not having ABS. The ABS thing will be interesting based on my normal style of slamming on the brakes hard. I don't think that will be necessary on this ProSolo course here in DC. More tomorrow.Fri, 20 Jun 2008 22:33:58 GMT380243f0-6254-4633-bb37-b965e2394364Another ProSolo Trophy!https://www.chrishammond.com/cars/corvette/itemid/1322/another-prosolo-trophyIt might not be in my usual class but it is a ProSolo trophy nonetheless! I placed 4th in the Washington DC ProSolo this weekend in ESP. It was a fun class to run in with the positions changing quite a bit both days. Now I'm working for a week here in Baltimore then fly to Indy to rent a car and drive up to the Peru National Tour to find my Corvette and hopefully see how well I do against the top level competition that is lined up for Peru. Sun, 22 Jun 2008 22:11:50 GMTa653bc97-60a2-409d-85d9-39f6ff3c75b9Peru National Tour Day 1 (Cones)https://www.chrishammond.com/cars/corvette/itemid/1331/peru-national-tour-day-1-conesSo the CorvetteZ06.org Team took 9 runs today at the National Tour here in Bunker Hill Indiana. 2 out of those 9 runs were clean, the rest were DNFs and coned runs. Here's a quick overview of what I can remember Dave  Run 1 (Cones) Run 2 (Cones) Run 3 (DNF Cones) Chris Run 1 (DNF Cones) Run 2 (Cone) fast enough for 5th or 6th if clean Run 3 (Cones) Beth Run 1 (Cones) Run 2 Run 3 I am sitting in 9th, Dave in 11th, Beth in 3rd in SSL. I've reviewed my video from Run #1, and I don't see anywhere that I DNF'd the course, I did spin through the finish and hit a cone or two, but it sure doesn't look like I left the course at anytime. Right now tomorrow for Dave and I is just for fun, to see how well we can do in the car after a bad Saturday. I've got video from all the runs today, though it looks like the audio didn't record, I will have to check that out in the morning to make sure we get audio of tomorrows runs.Sat, 28 Jun 2008 22:06:49 GMTc5273610-54e1-4bae-a4b7-fec18acc41bcOff to the Toledo ProSolohttps://www.chrishammond.com/cars/corvette/itemid/1342/off-to-the-toledo-prosoloI'm headed to bed, hoping for 8 hours sleep, though if I want to leave at 6am I'm not going to get it! I've got the car loaded, but still have to do a bit of packing of clothing in the morning. The Corvette should get a workout this weekend, 2 drivers in SS and 1 driver in SM2! I'll post from Toledo later this weekend. Thu, 03 Jul 2008 23:02:28 GMT74df56aa-6992-4f02-9529-315e8d6f557eToledo ProSolo Updatehttps://www.chrishammond.com/cars/corvette/itemid/1346/toledo-prosolo-updateQuick update: Got home about an hour and a half ago, 8 hour drive, the POS Ford check engine light came on again. The Corvette Z06 team filled in the top bottom two places at the Toledo ProSolo... Not much good to be said of the weekend, except I got some good spin footage to add to the White Tornado collection. I'll be working on video from last weekend and this weekend over the next few days to get all the runs posted.Sun, 06 Jul 2008 22:51:11 GMTed732eaf-ab71-4b48-9eac-6b78e930ce90All lubed up and ready to gohttps://www.chrishammond.com/cars/corvette/itemid/1383/all-lubed-up-and-ready-to-goDave and I spent the day working on the Corvette. Here's what was accomplished drain the rear end and replace with Redline gear oil removed the rear Konis from the car and replace with the stock shocks drained the transmission and replaced with redline drained/replace oil and filter, both with Mobil 1 hack the stock radio to add a line in wash the car, clean off all of Dave's cone marks #5 and #6 were done by myself, Dave had left by then. #5 involved splicing into the CD input line and wiring up a minijack input, I actually wired this into the back of the radio, I thought it was ingenius, but I figured out the error in my ways. The jack I used was one that when nothing was plugged into it would allow the CD audio to pass through normally. When a line was plugged in the jack input is used and the CD Audio is bypassed. Anyone see the err of my ways? By mounting the jack in the back of the radio I effectively disabled the CD audio from working until the radio is removed and the minijack wire unplugged. This actually isn't a big deal for me, I never use the CD player anyways, and now I can listen to my Zune! Though I will most likely need to rewire or just unplug this before I sell the car, otherwise the next owner won't know WTF is going on. Now it's time for a http://shirt.woot.com party, I'm meeting some guys from the office there. Race on Sunday!Sat, 26 Jul 2008 19:40:28 GMT6df0d62e-ec95-43ed-8206-ccd14a1fdf4eAnother Local Eventhttps://www.chrishammond.com/cars/corvette/itemid/1384/another-local-eventAnother local event down, and another reminder of a couple of things 1) St. Louis in the summer sucks 2) Racing in the summer in St. Louis sucks Heat and humidity! Nonetheless, it was a good event, I still need to drive faster, but I did manage to take FTD (fastest time of day) as well as the top Index position, and first place in Super Stock. Dave finished 2nd in SS. Beth took first in SSL and also took the top Ladies Index spot. That makes two local events that the CorvetteZ06.org team has taken the top index and ladies index positions here in St. Louis. Next stop, Topeka Kansas for the Midiv Championships next week!Sun, 27 Jul 2008 20:27:49 GMT6a5396b5-1932-463e-a055-2c9d924bf4e2Corvette loaded up for Topekahttps://www.chrishammond.com/cars/corvette/itemid/1389/corvette-loaded-up-for-topekaDave and I loaded up the car on the trailer tonight, we're leaving around 4am on Friday morning and he has plans tomorrow night. Before loading it we took the wheels and tires and flipped the tires around on the wheels for the practice session on Friday. We'll run the test & tune friday on the old set of wheels and tires, then on Saturday and Sunday we'll run the good set of tires, the set that were new for the Milwaukee National Tour two weeks ago. We did all of this tonight in the rain, so we were soaked by the time we changed tires on the car and loaded it on the trailer. I'll post an update Friday night. Wed, 30 Jul 2008 22:55:13 GMT7f3e9066-376e-4264-b223-09d8b74cfd24St. Louis Event #7 Another good onehttps://www.chrishammond.com/cars/corvette/itemid/1403/st-louis-event-7-another-good-oneAnother class win in SS and SSL for the CorvetteZ06.org team, as well as another overall index win, that makes 3 local events in a row for the team. Videos and data coming later this week. Anyone who watched my fifth run today also witnessed the return of the White Tornado to St. Louis. Photos of the aftermath can be found on the full blog post.Sun, 10 Aug 2008 22:35:26 GMT8c240c03-fd2f-4d6b-862f-f391cebb6b33Nationals Mockup?https://www.chrishammond.com/cars/corvette/itemid/1407/nationals-mockupWhat do you think of this as a possible look for the Corvette for Nationals? Check out the photo on the full blog post.Tue, 12 Aug 2008 01:06:28 GMT733ec56d-25ad-4d0f-88a3-595b5b9e9bf82004 Corvette Z06 For Sale!https://www.chrishammond.com/cars/corvette/itemid/1409/2004-corvette-z06-for-saleAfter the Solo Nationals this year the Corvette (available mid to late September) will be for sale as I have other plans for the next year. This car has been exciting, and if I didn't have some big things coming up in the next 12 months I would be keeping it and running it all next year. I wouldn't be opposed to someone buying the car and me co-driving it next year at National events, and some local STL events. Any co-drive arrangements would be made seperate of the sale of the vehicle. Get yourself a car for a great price that is capable of winning trophies at National Tours, ProSolos, and to take the top Index and even FTD at local events. (Currently located in St. Louis, MO) Here are some of the specifics: 2004 Chevrolet Corvette Z06 ~18k miles currently 3M Clear Bra 1 Set of Koni Sport shocks (currently the fronts are installed) 1 Set of OEM Shocks (rears installed on car) 1 OEM Sway Bar 1 Adco (sp?) Sway Bar 1 Borla Stinger exhaust (on car) 1 Hardbar Harness Bar 1 Corbeau Harness in car 1 Set of Street Wheels/Tires, C6 Z06 look, in C5 size 3 Sets of C5 Z06 wheels, not sure what tires will be left/included with sale. The car has been well maintained and cared for, all fluids changed recently, transmission and diff using Red Line, Mobil 1 Synthetic used exclusively in the motor. I’m looking for $31k for the car and all the above parts. The www.corvettez06.org website might also be for sale but is not part of the price of the car. If you're interested in the car feel free to get in touch with me. -ChrisChris HammondThu, 14 Aug 2008 00:53:13 GMT2e1bf6dc-642f-40bb-959b-4949ec5d13c6New Look and New Videohttps://www.chrishammond.com/cars/corvette/itemid/1424/new-look-and-new-videoI spent the day today cleaning up the Corvette and then setup the new look of the car for the upcoming Solo Nationals. A big thanks to Dave at www.SoloPerformance.com for getting the vinyl cut yesterday. It took me pretty much all afternoon to get this done, with washing the car, clay barring a few parts of the car, polish and wax, applying the vinyl then another wash. I think the car turned out great, you can check out the flickr photos to see what it looks like. Now for the video, music from Steve Ewing (www.steveewingmusic.com) Check out the video on the full blog post. Sat, 16 Aug 2008 23:57:48 GMT4d2283bd-b04b-40fc-ae0c-4c86ed972973So what comes next?https://www.chrishammond.com/cars/corvette/itemid/1433/so-what-comes-nextNow that the Corvette is pretty much sold, I will have it for a few more weeks, but John will get it some time after the Solo Nationals, I am trying to figure out what comes next? I was thinking something along the lines of a used BMW barge, maybe a 5 or 7 Series, but Terec reminded me that I have to stick with the Z in whatever I purchase, so if I want a bimmer that pretty much leaves me to a Z3-4 or 8, and I really don't want a convertible. Here's how my Z fetish has panned out since 2001.Wed, 20 Aug 2008 22:04:32 GMTfbebc0b6-0900-4573-86ab-77a2017a86eeKansas City National Tour Short Resultshttps://www.chrishammond.com/cars/corvette/itemid/1448/kansas-city-national-tour-short-results3 of 5 drivers in the CorvetteZ06.org team finished in 3rd this weekend. Natalie finished third in SSL, Dave finished Third in ASP, and I finished third in SS. Beth finished 2nd in SSL and managed to win the only tire this weekend, Tom ended up having to deal with some family business in KC after taking his runs on Saturday so he was unable to run on Sunday. Hopefully his father-in-law is doing better. More detailed updates and video later this weekend/week.Sun, 31 Aug 2008 22:57:00 GMTf3faeece-fed0-4328-969e-a6a21ce03d77Cone Curse of the Whitworthshttps://www.chrishammond.com/cars/corvette/itemid/1450/cone-curse-of-the-whitworthsA heads up to anyone who codrives with the Whitworths anytime in the future... They hit so many cones, that these cones start to haunt the other drivers in the car! A funny thing happened on Natalie's last run on Saturday. I was filming the run and saw something pecular. After a short time on the course I noticed a cone under the back of the Corvette, I was pretty sure that Natalie didn't hit a cone at the beginning of this run so it had to have come from Beth's previous run in which she blasted into a cone right before the finish. I hadn't bothered to look under the car when Beth got back from her run and we were prepping the car for Natalie, had I looked I am pretty sure I would have found a cone somewhere near the rear diff.Tue, 02 Sep 2008 00:49:29 GMT860134ed-7e85-4071-9172-f4f4038db300A quiet weekend? I think nothttps://www.chrishammond.com/cars/corvette/itemid/1457/a-quiet-weekend-i-think-notSo this was supposed to be a quiet weekend, the first weekend off of racing since the 14th of June. While it is true that we won't be racing this weekend, it doesn't mean we won't be working. There's something wrong with the Corvette, something pretty massive, though thus far untraceable. Something is going on with the suspension, or drivetrain, causing it to feel very unsafe under acceleration, but fine when cruising down the road. This evening it started throwing errors about "Service ABS" "Service Traction Control" and "Service Active Handling" which I have seen before, but a quick reset of the car has always made these go away. Well not tonight, so, this weekend I'll be thoroughly going through the suspension of the car to try and track down WTF is going on. Hopefully I find something, otherwise I'll be taking it to the dealer first thing Monday morning. I hate to have to resort to that, but I need the car repaired ASAP as we leave on Thursday to head to Topeka for 10 days of racing!Fri, 05 Sep 2008 23:38:08 GMTfbdc93cb-7862-4126-9560-5836f549abeaLeaving Amsterdamhttps://www.chrishammond.com/cars/corvette/itemid/1499/leaving-amsterdam<p>So I am sitting at Schiphol airport waiting for my flight at 1:40pm to Dubai. I’ll be there for 10 days, then finally flying home to St. Louis. </p> <p>Natalie and I had a great time here in Amsterdam, the OpenForce Europe conference was great, and getting to meet more DNN community and team members, as well as other speakers that do a LOT MORE speaking than I do was educational. I look forward to applying for sessions for the conference next year!</p> <p>Natalie is on her way back to St. Louis, she’ll be home Thursday evening and then will be picking up John from the airport Friday morning. He’ll be driving the Corvette back to Washington DC tomorrow, so when I get home the car will be gone :( </p> <p>Hope everyone back home is doing well, I’m going to get ready to find my gate, the flights here have the security screening at the gate, rather than when entering the terminal, so the lines for the gates seem to be rather long.</p>Thu, 09 Oct 2008 05:44:31 GMT59a0f118-7e01-4670-a9c8-522e387b1421Made it to Dubaihttps://www.chrishammond.com/cars/corvette/itemid/1500/made-it-to-dubai<p>So I made the trip to Dubai fine this evening. The three of us in my section were all American, I was next to two guys, my guess is they were oil workers heading off to Baghdad, but they weren’t too talkative so that I could find out.</p> <p>It’s hot here, I’m not gonna like that part. So far I can’t get to <a href="http://www.flickr.com">www.flickr.com</a> and some TV show on BBC was blocked. I am going to miss the freedom of America these next 10 days.</p> <p>The first car I noticed here in Dubai, besides the hundreds of taxis, a Corvette of course.</p>Thu, 09 Oct 2008 17:20:23 GMT0a267b70-b7c3-49e6-a7e0-c44950771965The Corvette is Gonehttps://www.chrishammond.com/cars/corvette/itemid/1502/the-corvette-is-goneI just got an email from Natalie, John is on his way back to the DC area with the Corvette, so we no longer own a Corvette..... Have fun John, enjoy your ride! Fri, 10 Oct 2008 12:55:34 GMTef8d6e6e-2086-4c82-b22f-419f6abefaa4Welcome to the first blog post for CorvetteZ06.orghttps://www.chrishammond.com/cars/corvette/itemid/2329/welcome-to-the-first-blog-post-for-corvettez06orgWelcome to the CorvetteZ06.org blog!Chris HammondWed, 17 Oct 2007 20:03:23 GMTac090720-bb87-4d33-bafa-f55ba72655dcLooking for a Clear Bra in St Louishttps://www.chrishammond.com/cars/corvette/itemid/2330/looking-for-a-clear-bra-in-st-louisWe're looking for a clear bra for the 2004 Corvette Z06 here in St. Louis Missouri. If your business is interested in sponsoring the CorvetteZ06.org car please contact us asap as we need to get one install very soon!Chris HammondSun, 21 Oct 2007 22:43:09 GMT56ac0b2a-bac7-4369-a7a1-d72b4a04c6caLet it snow, let it snow, let it snowhttps://www.chrishammond.com/cars/corvette/itemid/2338/let-it-snow-let-it-snow-let-it-snowJust not on my Corvette! So I came out after work today to head off to school to turn in a test, and what do I find? White stuff all over my car! And not all the white stuff that is pooring off our building as some crazy construction workers reface it, the cold whitestuff! Snow! I swear I checked the weather yesterday and I didn't see any snow anytime in the 10 day forecast. I guess I'll have to start checking it in the mornings!Chris HammondThu, 06 Dec 2007 23:41:57 GMTc50437cf-e482-495a-81d0-7a716408a8feHow to break a Corvette in 1 simple stephttps://www.chrishammond.com/cars/corvette/itemid/2339/how-to-break-a-corvette-in-1-simple-stepHow to break a Corvette in One Simple step? Leave your Microsoft Zune plugged in and "playing" music all weekend, in 32 degree weather (garage was probably 50's) I have a habit of just leaving my Zune on play when I get home, it's plugged into the car, so I figured no harm done, the Zune surely couldn't drain the car battery......Chris HammondMon, 10 Dec 2007 00:17:17 GMT4ad645f0-4c29-495d-8870-db49b89fe88e2008 Solo Schedule for The CorvetteZ06.org Teamhttps://www.chrishammond.com/cars/corvette/itemid/2341/2008-solo-schedule-for-the-corvettez06org-teamCheck out the schedule of events we hope to hit in 2008. There are quiet a few National Tour and ProSolo stops that we think we might make the trek to.Chris HammondTue, 25 Dec 2007 21:12:52 GMTc88647e2-740f-45cb-9f40-94f3c1da4368A Corvette Christmas!https://www.chrishammond.com/cars/corvette/itemid/2342/a-corvette-christmasChristmas was good for CorvetteZ06.org checkout the list of useful items for the 2008 season.Chris HammondFri, 28 Dec 2007 23:09:35 GMT60508de8-f3d8-47db-871f-1179fdbdd697Race Technology DL1 on the way!https://www.chrishammond.com/cars/corvette/itemid/2345/race-technology-dl1-on-the-wayA huge thanks going out to Al Seim at Race-Technology.com, with his help we have a DL1 coming for the Corvette. There's a lot to do on the car here in the next few weeks before the Dixie National Tour in Georgia. We'll get the DL1, Koni Shocks and hopefully the new swaybar installed next weekend, two weeks prior to the Dixie tour, that way if we run into any problems we'll have time to get them resolved. I'm also hoping to get the windows tinted next week.Chris HammondWed, 30 Jan 2008 21:32:56 GMT481f08dc-25d7-4d4d-bce0-c11792765c6eCorvette Z06 Koni Shock Installhttps://www.chrishammond.com/cars/corvette/itemid/2348/corvette-z06-koni-shock-instal<p>So today Nick and I spent most of the day working on the Corvette. We got the Koni Shocks from <a href="http://www.soloperformance.com">www.soloperformance.com</a> installed, the sway bar from <a href="http://www.stranoparts.com">www.stranoparts.com</a>, and the Hawk brake pads from <a href="http://www.jscspeed.com">www.jscspeed.com</a>. Everything went rather well except for the following.</p> <p>The shocks were a tad difficult to get installed because of the configuration of the suspension.</p> <p>We lowered the car with the OEM ride height adjustment bolts. Well..... we thought we lowered it. Nick actually lowered the rear, I managed to raise the front. So I'll be correcting that tomorrow, and then we'll work on aligning the car. I hope to also work on getting the hoosiers mounted tomorrow.</p> <p>I've got a TON of video from today to go through, perhaps I'll get it done after we finish watching "Miracle" on ABC tonight.</p>Chris HammondSat, 16 Feb 2008 22:38:21 GMT33007081-1c30-4221-991d-d4ed103a47f2Day 1 of the Dixie National Tourhttps://www.chrishammond.com/cars/corvette/itemid/2351/day-1-of-the-dixie-national-tourSo today was the first day of the Dixie National Tour in Cecil Georgia (south of Adel). Dave and I ran the Corvette in Super Stock, with 18 other competitors. We had a blast. Dave had a blast killing cones, I had a blast trying to drive fast :)Chris HammondSat, 23 Feb 2008 21:10:49 GMT8017fc49-89c6-4a45-ad50-47502601f7eeThe first National event Trophy for the CorvetteZ06.org Teamhttps://www.chrishammond.com/cars/corvette/itemid/2352/the-first-national-event-trophy-for-the-corvettez0What I hope will be the first of many was achieved this weekend. I placed 6th at the Dixie National Tour in Cecil Georgia over the weekend. There were 18 drivers that I believe finished, and 20 drivers entered for the event, so the trophies filled out to 6th place. After day 1 I was sitting in 10th place. I wasn't too disappointed with that considering the troubles from Friday.Chris HammondMon, 25 Feb 2008 23:03:28 GMTb43b24da-aeee-4a08-b42a-5be33878f819Autocross runs, how many this year?https://www.chrishammond.com/cars/corvette/itemid/1463/autocross-runs-how-many-this-yearSo I've been meaning to do this for a while now, I added up the number of runs I've taken this year in the Corvette, it comes to somewhere near 130+ runs, I'm not exactly sure how many runs I got at the Evo school in Kansas City, but assuming I took at least 15 that puts the total around 133 considering the reruns at events I remember. That also doesn't include the Test&Tune in Topeka before the divisional in August. That is a lot of runs on a car, but if you take into account the number of runs that codrivers have had (around 195) that brings the car's total up to over 300 for this year alone. No wonder the rear control arm bushings are worn out! By my rough count I should have another 18 runs in the next week and a half assuming the car is repaired, plus codriver runs (18) that will put the total over 350 for the year without T&T events, we're also doing the Test & Tune this coming Sunday in Topeka. Sometime I will go back and find results from all the events to get an accurate total, as well as a cone count for all of Dave's runs!Wed, 10 Sep 2008 00:40:29 GMT7043bc2e-956c-42eb-9b8c-70055b25efa2Autocross Videos from July 13th, St. Louishttps://www.chrishammond.com/cars/corvette/itemid/1357/autocross-videos-from-july-13th-st-louisBecause I slept for 5 hours after the event yesterday I was up until about 4am this morning, working on video from the autocross. I didn't get all of it processed but I did get quite a few posted. I'll try to get more posted later this week. All the video posted (except for one inserted video) was shot with the Chase Cam and PDR, we are proud to have Chase Cam as a sponsor here at CorvetteZ06.org You can find them on the Corvette flickr set, or by watching the videos below.Mon, 14 Jul 2008 09:38:31 GMTdfcc14d1-5598-40dd-81a5-a3170895cfaaCorvette Videoshttps://www.chrishammond.com/cars/corvette/itemid/1091/corvette-videos<p>So I got 3 videos posted from the autocross this past weekend in Cecil Georgia. I've yet to get a chance to setup a good way to view the videos on <a href="http://www.corvettez06.org">www.corvettez06.org</a>, so until I do I'll link to them from here</p> <p><a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VHg4Htdav7g">http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VHg4Htdav7g</a></p> <p><a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MWYyCO8TdD8">http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MWYyCO8TdD8</a></p> <p><a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BWeKxfTsIzA">http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BWeKxfTsIzA</a></p> <p><a href="http://www.corvettez06.org/tabid/80/itemid/65/The-first-National-event-Trophy-for-the-CorvetteZ0.aspx">Here's my blog post about the event</a></p>Tue, 26 Feb 2008 20:27:41 GMT33fb07e4-9dda-4475-b983-f5ff8d0b5d8aCorvette Z06, the first autocrosshttps://www.chrishammond.com/cars/corvette/itemid/2334/corvette-z06-the-first-autocrossSo last week Nick and I (mostly nick) ran around franticly got the Z06 ready for our first autocross in the car. The event was the last official event for the St. Louis region for 2007. It was the somewhat annual Index Challenge. The competition was team format, teams were put together with "performance potential" numbers based on driver's highest finishes on local index results throughout the year. Nick and I were both team captains, covering 2 of the 14 teams.Chris HammondThu, 01 Nov 2007 11:35:03 GMT252d87a1-129f-445b-9485-c7be0983f6faDenver Pro, Day 0 (Friday)https://www.chrishammond.com/cars/corvette/itemid/538/denver-pro-day-0-fridayWell, the trip to Denver wasn't half bad. I flew Frontier Airlines and was surprised to see TVs in all of the head rests! Sure, it was $5 for 24 channels for the flight, but they had a free channel I watched that played some interesting short films. I got to Denver, after one of the bumpiest flights I've ever had, but who cares, I got to watch TV :D Went to Hertz and got my rental car, get this , I picked a ............ FORD......I'm driving a V6 Mustang Vert, automatic to top it off. This thing has NO power. I tried revving it in neutral and it stops at 4k, if you drop it into drive the motor revs down and then shifts. For a short time I was entered in GStock in the Mustang. I got here and all the classes I was hoping would need a 5th driver to make a complete class had filled up before I got there. I was fairly down, figuring I was going to be stuck in the stang for the weekend, which would have been against my Hertz agreement :D Chris K offered up his IS300 in DS if I didn't find another ride. I ended up putting up a sign on the registration trailer with my cell phone number. Thankfully Adam (from www.autocrossforum.com) came up to me and told me about the car he's driving. He told me the car owner was open to having someone run the car in another class, so I spoke to Aaron Boltman. I'm now signed up to run his 2004 Corvette Z06 in ASP tomorrow. I'm looking forward to it, I think there are 8 drivers now entered in ASP, I'm looking forward to see how I fare! Aaron and Adam will be running the car in SS. Thanks to both Aaron and Adam, I look forward to running with you guys tomorrow! posted from...Fri, 21 Jul 2006 23:32:00 GMT275f332a-07f5-4f34-a021-3523c60a0f88For Sale No Longer?https://www.chrishammond.com/cars/corvette/itemid/1427/for-sale-no-longerIt looks like the Corvette Z06 has found a new home, John V will be taking it back east sometime after Nationals. John's a good friend of mine from back in the day when I used to beat him in B-Stock! :) I'm starting to get sad that the car will be going away, but I am glad it is going to a good home, someone who will autocross her just as much if not more than I have. We've still got a month or so together, so I will enjoy her while she's here!Tue, 19 Aug 2008 09:12:22 GMTc47f3657-9396-411a-9ed9-cafb4f005828I purchased and sold a 2011 Nissan Leafhttps://www.chrishammond.com/cars/leaf/itemid/2098/i-purchased-and-sold-a-2011-nissan-leaf<p>So here we go, this post has been a week coming, I just haven't had the time do get it together. About a month ago, perhaps a little more, I did something that seemed to upset quite a few people, even apparently some people at Nissan! I posted the opportunity to buy my Nissan Leaf on Ebay. That lasted all of a few minutes, I’m not even sure how long the auction was up 24 hours before I was asked to (or really it was suggested that I ) remove it. So down it came, along with the posts that I had put up announcing it.</p> <p>What people didn’t know was that I had been posting the Leaf on craigslist here in the bay area for a month or more before it was ever listed on Ebay. I had a few inquiries from the Craigslist ad, though many of those inquiries were just your typical internet trolls complaining. Some even took the time to email me and call me an “Idiot” I appreciate that someone took the time to do that.</p> <p>So back to Ebay, I pulled the ad, I removed the blog/forum posts, I cleared most of my tracks at the threat of losing the right to purchase the Leaf. I even quit posting the ad on Craigslist. After the ad came down from Ebay people started coming out of the wood work asking to buy the car. Fortunately for me I had lined someone up before I even pulled the Ebay ad down. In fact the ad didn’t even have anything to do with getting rid of my car, the Craigslist ad came through.</p> <p><strong>What? I thought you purchased the Leaf last week?</strong></p> <p>Well, technically I did, for a little while anyways. I had a guy fly in from Detroit on Monday of last week, we drove from the airport to the dealer, then the bank, then the dealer again. The dealer wouldn’t take a cashier’s check, so we had to go to the bank and have the money wired from their bank, to the dealer’s bank, which was all of 1 block away. Unfortunately the dealer’s bank became a problem and wouldn’t show the transfer as posting until the following day. So in order for us to drive the car off the lot that day I ended up having to take a loan out on the car as a fall back contract, in case the transfer didn’t go through.</p> <p>After about 4 hours of things we finally left the dealer, I in my 350z and the new owner in the Nissan Leaf. I didn’t even get to drive the thing! Though I did sit in it a few times</p> <p>So there it is, I no longer own a 2011 Nissan Leaf? Why might you ask? Well it really doesn’t matter what I say, people are going to hate on me. But here goes my explanation with a little backstory.</p> <p>Back in April of 2010 I got an email from Nissan announcing the preorder process for the Leaf, I jumped on things and signed up, immediately preordering as soon as I could. Shortly after that I setup <a href="http://www.leafowner.com/" rel="nofollow">www.LeafOwner.com</a> with the thought of creating a website dedicated to the Leaf. I got some good traffic, with the help of some key features on Engadget, AutoBlogGreen and even two different tweets from Lance Armstrong!</p> <p>I was thrilled at the idea of getting a Leaf, I have an 8-9 mile commute, so it was going to work out perfectly for that. I was one of the first people to get the Aerovironment charger inspections, I asked my landlord if we could get an install going. From there things actually started to sour a bit. I got the charger assessment back and it was for $2200, roughly $800 for the charger/shipping, and then the rest for the installation, for about an hour’s worth of labor and maybe $100 worth of equipment.</p> <p>As the summer progressed I kept up with the Leaf, attending events to see the car when I could, and then went through the ordering process, that is when things really went south for me. I went ahead and ordered the car, as a lease option, but when I started thinking about it, the lease was going to be $420 a month. I started thinking, 420 a month could go towards a very nice car payment, rather than “renting” a very expensive Nissan Versa. </p> <p>I’ll take some hits for that, but to me that is what the car ultimately became. It’s an economy sized hatchback, that when fully priced out last week was $38k. While there are lots of cool geeky features in the Leaf, the only real addition above and beyond a Versa was the batteries, the electric aspect. So I decided that the car most likely wasn’t for me.</p> <p>In October I went to the driving events that Nissan was doing, and that pretty much sealed the deal for me. I drove the car, and after driving corvettes, camaros, and 350zs I just couldn’t see myself driving the Leaf, not at the cost.</p> <p>I’m a car guy, I always have been, and the later it got into 2010 the more I had the itch to start racing cars again. I am now actively autocrossing my 350z (<a href="http://www.project350z.com/" target="_blank" rel="nofollow">www.project350z.com</a>). Heck, for the price that the Leaf ultimately cost I could have purchased a brand new 2010 Nismo 370z! Though I didn’t want to do that either, spending more money just wasn’t in the cars right now. My 350z cost me $12k, and that’s a lot smaller car payment than a new Leaf would be, and the car ultimately becomes more useful to me as I can autocross it.</p> <p>So in the end, to sum things up. The price of the electric car killed it for me. I’m not saying I will never own another Leaf, or an electric car, but right now it just didn’t make sense to me. In the future I do hope to own an electric car, heck maybe I’ll build an electric VB Bug for <a href="http://www.projectvw.com/" target="_blank" rel="nofollow">www.projectvw.com</a> in the future. But for now, I’ll let the early adopters help to bring the price of the electric car down.</p> <p>For those of you who choose to hate me for that, I am sorry that you feel that way, but that’s the beauty of our wonderful country, everyone gets to have their own opinion.</p> <p>(if you’re interested in purchasing LeafOwner.com let me know!)</p>Chris HammondTue, 15 Feb 2011 00:45:51 GMTd2bde49d-e485-46ab-af3b-576879fabc92I will miss herhttps://www.chrishammond.com/cars/240z/itemid/1490/i-will-miss-her<p>So the final days are now ticking down. I have two, maybe three days of driving the Corvette left before we leave for Amsterdam. Natalie will be flying back from Amsterdam and meeting John (the new owner) at the airport next Friday so he can take posession of the car.</p> <p>I was getting the mail tonight and saw the car sitting half in the garage and half out, where I had parked it, in the light, it looked beautiful. It really is an amazing car, I will miss it, I already do.</p> <p>You might ask, why are you selling the Z06? One main reason. Natalie and I plan to move to Colorado (even though we are rumored in the horse world to be moving to Germany) next summer, and while I love the car, the car payment and insurance could be used for more grown up things than racing, like buying our first house, and planning for the move. I don't imagine I will go long without a fun race car though.</p> <p>So what will come next? That is undecided at this point. I will most likely buy a $2-3k ride/beater for the winter so I don't have to drive the long ass F350 all winter, and hopefully spend some time working on the 240Z to get it up and running soon. I need something fun to drive, that is for sure, but even if the 240 runs, it would take a lot of work and money to make it anywhere near as fun as the Corvette.</p> <p>I don't know what I will race next year, perhaps I'll try to find a nicely prep'd codrive, perhaps I'll take it easy for the year. This year in the Corvette has been fun. I think I've put something in the range of 150 autocross runs on the car not including test and tune runs, on a whole the car has seen well over 300, maybe near 400 runs this year.</p> <p>Hopefully John and Clyde can put that many runs on her next year.</p>Tue, 30 Sep 2008 23:25:10 GMT393e2f8d-ab87-420f-a839-957947889f4fLast local event for 2008https://www.chrishammond.com/cars/corvette/itemid/1437/last-local-event-for-2008Today we ran the last local event of 2008 for the CorvetteZ06.org team here in St. Louis. It was another successful day today, the car taking FTD, Top Pax, 3rd on Pax and top on the Ladies Pax as well! This is the fourth time this year (out of 6) that I was able to finish on top of Pax. I'm pleased with this result, though I won't win overall Pax for the year, had the points been normal this year (6 events counting, with all events being equal) I believe I would have had a shot. Natalie did very well today, taking a win in SSL as well as the overall ladies win. This was just her fourth autocross ever, and only her 3rd in the Corvette so I am very happy with her performance!Mon, 25 Aug 2008 01:38:48 GMTf593563c-ebd7-472f-b974-c0b9ed339038Saturday Autocross Resultshttps://www.chrishammond.com/cars/corvette/itemid/1198/saturday-autocross-results<p><a href="http://www.corvettez06.org/DesktopModules/EngagePublish/itemlink.aspx?itemId=90">Check out the blog post on www.corvettez06.org </a></p>Sat, 24 May 2008 17:47:05 GMT6d387c01-69b2-45b1-bd46-65e0be96c7cdSo Long Tahoe, Thanks for the memories!https://www.chrishammond.com/cars/corvette/itemid/946/so-long-tahoe-thanks-for-the-memoriesThe Tahoe was a great truck. It was a great price, had all the comfort one could ask for, heated seats for those of us getting older with back pains. But it just couldn't cut it on an Autocross course, so the Tahoe was replaced today, but a car much smaller, lighter, faster, and much brighter than the Tahoe. Say hello to my Little Red Corvette More pictures at my new domain name www.corvettez06.org More photos coming...Sat, 13 Oct 2007 00:20:00 GMTc8a00332-562c-45be-92b8-a9f8d9e980e4St. Louis Autocross on 7-13https://www.chrishammond.com/cars/corvette/itemid/1356/st-louis-autocross-on-713A great showing for the CorvetteZ06.org team at the July 13th 2008 event for the St. Louis Region SCCA. The car finished first on Index overall, first in SS and first in SSL, as well as a 2nd place finish in SS as well. Videos later in the week with a more detailed writeup of the events happenings.Mon, 14 Jul 2008 01:12:14 GMTb1436a99-c841-4c68-bfdd-8fd2fe0127c0St. Louis Event 5 Autocross Reviewhttps://www.chrishammond.com/cars/corvette/itemid/1363/st-louis-event-5-autocross-reviewSo this past Sunday was the 5th event of the St. Louis Autocross season, really it was only the 4th event held this year due to rain/blow out of what was supposed to be event number 3. The region has changed their event structure this year, back to a three heat format, with the attempt to get 5 runs each heat, that worked out on Sunday. Beth ran the Corvette in SSL during the second heat, there were two drivers in the class, Beth ended up taking first, and also taking first on the ladies index challenge. Dave and I both ran in the third heat. I managed to take the win in SS, as well as the win on the index results for the event, I even managed to get the fastest raw time for the event, though I took out a single cone before the starting lights on that run so it doesn't count for anything! Dave managed 2nd in SS behind me, and 6th on index for the event. I've posted some of the videos from the event in a post a few days ago. I did come to realize there is no need for me to attend any more local events this year, as I have no possibility of winning the class championship, or the index championship due to the fact that the solo board decided to screw up the points by making the divisional worth a single event but double the points, so now, unless people just don't attend 6 events in SS I have no shot at making up 10k points. That doesn't mean I won't continue to show up though, I'll be doing my damnedest to win every event, both class and index for the rest of the year (cept 10/6 when I'll be in Europe). I might not have a shot at winning based on points, but I'll be damned sure to make people know who the fastest mofo in St. Louis is this year. This weekend the CorvetteZ06.org team is headed to Milwaukee Wisconsin to take part in The Tire Rack SCCA National Tour event, videos of that to come next week!Wed, 16 Jul 2008 22:32:44 GMT92c41b25-9bf1-4738-910c-04bcedf6d38fThe hunt for the perfect Corvettehttps://www.chrishammond.com/cars/corvette/itemid/940/the-hunt-for-the-perfect-corvetteToday I went to Lynch Hummer here in Chesterfield, MO and test drove a black 2004 Corvette Z06. I forgot how much fun those cars are, last year I drove Krekeler's car at our last Autocross event of the season. You can see some of those runs in the videos below. I got to meet Jim Lynch, the owner, and a fellow SCCA Member. He's headed off to the Runoffs this week in Topeka, Good Luck Jim! Anyways, the Corvette I drove at Lynch just didn't quite fit me, black is a hard color to keep clean, and that kind of made me not want to buy the car they had on the lot. So I've been looking around, seeing what I can find online. I've looked ALL over! I think I've found a few options, but we'll see, heck, I might even end up in a blue commemerative edition car just like Krek's was. Road trip this weekend? Perhaps, we'll see..... my first run <span class="Publish_Video"><iframe width="640" height="480" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/tXzCG7dC6j8?HD=1&wmode=opaque" style="border: none"></iframe></span> my only clean run <span class="Publish_Video"><iframe width="640" height="480" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/g7ET3Zm827c?HD=1&wmode=opaque" style="border: none"></iframe></span> a compilation of the fun <span class="Publish_Video"><iframe width="640" height="480" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/A6IrbQa6seA?HD=1&wmode=opaque" style="border: none"></iframe></span> posted from...Chris HammondThu, 04 Oct 2007 01:00:00 GMT73e42dd4-3783-464c-a3ce-fae2a74f4b74Two years agohttps://www.chrishammond.com/cars/240z/itemid/1810/two-years-ago<p>Two years ago today was the day that the Datsun toasted Motor #1 on it's first autocross run! Here’s a shot of that first competition run.</p> <p><img title="" alt="IMG_3199 by you." src="http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1046/1099890831_dece40264a.jpg" width="500" height="333" /></p> <p>And then a short time later (same run) here’s my getting out to push it</p> <p><img title="" alt="IMG_3242 by you." src="http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1095/1100954876_fabcf871a6.jpg" width="500" height="333" /></p> <p>Here’s what we found when we just happened to pull plug #2</p> <p><img title="" alt="This isn't good by you." src="http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1408/1099448933_14d8ebae20.jpg" width="500" height="333" /></p> <p>And then this is what it looked like when I went to drain the oil from the motor</p> <p><img title="" alt="Drained by you." src="http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1107/1121489208_b95723354c.jpg" width="500" height="333" /></p> <p> </p> <p>A few things have happened in the two years since that fateful day. A few months later I purchased a <a href="http://www.corvettez06.org" target="_blank">2004 Corvette Z06</a> and autocrossed that for a year.</p> <p>I sold the Corvette.</p> <p><a href="http://www.project240z.com/Blog/itemId/430/Packing-the-garage-driving-the-car.aspx" target="_blank">I got the Datsun running again with another motor</a>, same turbo setup. </p> <p>We moved to Colorado. <a href="http://www.going2colorado.com">www.going2colorado.com</a></p> <p>In the next few weeks I hope to get more of the 240 back together, starting to work on the electrical system and such. Then during the first week of September the car goes to <a href="http://www.hanksvillehotrods.com">www.hanksvillehotrods.com</a> for a new exhaust, maybe I can talk them into a cage too ;)</p>Chris HammondWed, 12 Aug 2009 23:00:10 GMTcf632f14-38ba-4b85-ad5e-30086455b590My Driver's School Experience....https://www.chrishammond.com/blog/itemid/467/my-drivers-school-experiencePhotos from Sunday I attended the St. Louis Region Club Racing Double Driver’s school this past weekend at Gateway International Raceway in Madison Illinois, just across the Mississippi river from St. Louis. I arranged to rent a Nissan 240SX from PFM Racing (www.pfmracing.com) for the two day school and for the regional race on Sunday. I met Jude and Jennifer from PFM at the shop Thursday evening to head over to the track to get the car and my new racing gear teched, as well as get checked in at registration for the school and for the race. Registration went well, though I hadn’t brought a passport size photo for the novice permit, so I had to have two Polaroids taken, one for my novice logbook, and one for my SCCA Membership card.   I went home Thursday evening and had dinner with my fiancé Natalie and my mother who flew into St. Louis Wednesday evening. Friday morning I got up bright and early and went out to Gateway to check out the Fox2 broadcast from the track in their short spots from 6am to 8am. I took some photos for the St. Louis region website (www.stlscca.org). The driver’s school started at 9am with a two and a half hour classroom session, covering the basics of GIR, and the SCCA basics for safety.   After the classroom session we went out for a stint with instructors on the course, looking at various parts of the track and learning some of their suggested lines for the course. The majority of the rest of Friday consisted of multiple track sessions with the car, progressing from 55mph in the first session up to 90 mph for the last session. What did I learn during these sessions? Quite a few things, the largest one being I’ve been spoiled by ABS in the 350Z I autocross and drive every day. The first time I really hit the brakes in the 240SX I got both fronts locked up and a skating sensation in the car, until of course I realized that I had both wheels locked and released the brake, lucky for me the flatspotting wasn’t too bad (yet). After all of our sessions on Friday we had another quick classroom discussion and overview of the day.   Saturday began at 7am with a quick meeting with all of the students and instructors, followed by our first open passing session; each track session was scheduled for 25 minutes. I went lined up outside the grid waiting for the rest of the group to fill in so I wouldn’t have to go out first. Though I was one of the first ones ready in the group and noticed that those who had already lined up were gone from the grid and were on course. I figured it was as good a time as any to head out there so I threw on my helmet and headed into the grid.   My first session was interesting, I had made myself pretty comfortable on Friday, pushing the car a bit, but not too much as we were always under yellow. This first session on Saturday we were given the green so we could take the track full on and practice our passing. I ended up catching up to a black C5 Corvette on the track. I was able to keep close with him in the turns, but on the front stretch coming out of Nascar 4 he would pull away. I usually caught up to him going into turn 1 but couldn’t work up the nerve to try to pass him anywhere on the course. After a few laps of playing catch with the vette we caught up to a pair of white Porsches. The pair was going at a much slower pace than we were, the C5 took the first Porsche with, and quickly overtook the second with the same ease. Now it was time for me to take my first pass, once I had made it, I was much more comfortable, and passed the next one without a second thought.   Now it was time for the Corvette! I caught back up to him without much issue even though he had put a lead on me while I was playing with the 944s. The rest of that session I spent chasing him down, but he must have been getting more comfortable on the track as well because I couldn’t seem to get close enough to make a pass before he would pull away from me. Just prior to the end ...Sun, 26 Mar 2006 23:42:00 GMTb98809bc-5233-47ee-936b-68af25fd23e6No seats! and check out our sister sitehttps://www.chrishammond.com/blog/itemid/1856/no-seats-and-check-out-our-sister-site<p>So I don’t know why I didn’t think of this a month ago, would have saved me some money on shipping, but the Corbeau A4s for the 240z are sold. John V, the guy who bought the <a href="http://www.corvettez06.org">Corvette</a> has purchased them for use in his RX-7 that I bought and shipped to him a few weeks ago. Would have made sense to pack the seats in the car then, but I didn’t realize he was going to be interested in them, oh well.</p> <p>On an unrelated note, have you checked out our sister-site, <a href="http://www.project350z.com/">Project350z.com</a>? You might ask, but you don’t even have a 350Z? True, but I will, at least that’s the plan, to get another one in early 2010 so I can have a car to race next year. I’ve spent a few hours over the past few sick evenings sorting through photos of the old car, which just makes me miss not having a 350Z that much more. I posted photos and got a site design together, though I don’t have much other content up there yet, it will take a few months to get it all together, hopefully just in time to get myself a new (used) ride.</p> <p>Dozzle, if you read this, I still want to buy my old car back!!!!</p>Chris HammondThu, 19 Nov 2009 17:10:59 GMT185432ce-8c37-4950-ae66-81f39cafb279Always good after a wash and a waxhttps://www.chrishammond.com/blog/itemid/1900/always-good-after-a-wash-and-a-wax<p>It has been quite a while, over a year, since I really spent some time washing a waxing a vehicle. My how time has flown, last year we spent time prepping for, and moving to Colorado, during that time I was without a “fun” car, having sold the <a href="http://www.corvettez06.org">Corvette</a> back in October 2008.</p> <p>Today, for the first time since likely 1995 I spent time washing and waxing a car in California. And the weather was beautiful! I spent the yesterday evening and today up at a friend’s house in Fairfield, the town I went to high school in. We had dinner with friends from HS last night, and then this morning I spent the day cleaning up my the 350z for the first time since picking it up, and boy did it need it, especially after the 1200 mile road trip (on the back of an open trailer last week from Colorado to California).</p> <p>I washed the car, clay barred the various marks and such in the paint, washed it again, and then waxed the car. It looks mucho better now, if I do say so for myself. Here are some pictures of the beauty after her bath.</p> <p><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/chammond/4416388858/"><img border="0" alt="IMG_2159" src="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2715/4416388858_f5a350d3ec_m.jpg" width="240" height="180" /></a> <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/chammond/4416379820/"><img border="0" alt="IMG_2158" src="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2725/4416379820_e0b8e238f7_m.jpg" width="240" height="180" /></a></p> <p>The rest of the afternoon I hung out and had a BBQ with friends, and new friends. I had a great time, but had to head back down here to San Mateo so I can work tomorrow. I made the drive in 1hr and 10 minutes. If only traffic were that nice all the time I might consider buying a house in my old stomping grounds and commuting to work. But I can only imagine that most days that would be a 2+ hr drive during commute times. Some day, perhaps later this week, I’ll get around to blogging about the Project350z’s first autocross which happened a few weeks ago.</p>Chris HammondMon, 08 Mar 2010 01:24:46 GMTe655c682-54fa-49d5-9111-10b9b5f7a864Look out, Vinyl Boy is backhttps://www.chrishammond.com/blog/itemid/2046/look-out-vinyl-boy-is-back<p>So it has been over 2 years since I’ve had vinyl on a car, that will be changing in 2011. Look out for the upcoming transformation of the Project 350z! Early in the year I will be doing a minor overhaul, with the goal of doing a full wrap on the car later in the year.</p> <p>I just need to find someone local who can do the wrap for a reasonable cost, and make sure that they don’t damage the car in the process. I’ve not had anyone apply vinyl to my cars before, I’ve always done it myself, but I don’t have visions of being able to do a full wrap myself. </p> <p>For a refresher, here are some photos of some of my past vinyl experiences (all self applied)</p> <p><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/chammond/2768918509/"><img border="0" alt="The new look" src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3182/2768918509_72f218deef_t.jpg" width="100" height="40" /></a> <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/chammond/2291945232/"><img border="0" alt="DotNetNuke Corvette" src="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2402/2291945232_3f7d42f74a_t.jpg" width="100" height="67" /></a> <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/chammond/1282983712/"><img border="0" alt="My Old 350Z" src="http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1207/1282983712_98de77fd22_t.jpg" width="100" height="67" /></a> <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/chammond/3257269658/"><img border="0" alt="350Z Autocross" src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3261/3257269658_078fbcd902_t.jpg" width="100" height="67" /></a> <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/chammond/4116230997/"><img border="0" alt="CRW_8435" src="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2520/4116230997_ebe11d2719_t.jpg" width="100" height="67" /></a> <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/chammond/2063988267/"><img border="0" alt="My Old Camaro" src="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2232/2063988267_51055763a0_t.jpg" width="100" height="75" /></a> <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/chammond/4142941262/"><img border="0" alt="7G9X4944" src="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2659/4142941262_30e670dbc7_t.jpg" width="100" height="67" /></a></p>https://chrishammond.com/Portals/0/-1Chris HammondThu, 30 Dec 2010 14:00:01 GMT76f52368-ce66-405d-b4a9-5e1ee67e6939Corvette Z06 Tinthttps://www.chrishammond.com/blog/itemid/2340/corvette-z06-tint<p>Well it is about that time! I think I'm going to have the Corvette windows tinted shortly after the holidays. I guess this time around I'll make sure to get a legal tint done on the car. The 350Z had illegal tint for over 2 years and I only got questioned about it once by a Rolla cop. It also didn't have a front license plate EVER in the 3+ years I owned it, and only got stopped once for that by a podunk Farmington highway patrol officer. The Corvette didn't have a front plate for a week or two before I was kindly told by an officer that if I didn't put it on he would stop me the next time he saw me (that time he talked to me as I was leaving 7-11).</p> Chris HammondFri, 14 Dec 2007 00:55:47 GMT9688d4f5-90fa-4e0d-8f41-b30b97e217f3Long weekend, and an even longer week coming up!https://www.chrishammond.com/blog/itemid/947/long-weekend-and-an-even-longer-week-coming-up<p>Well Friday night I picked up the Vette, so far it's great! You can see pictures of it over on www.corvettez06.org. Don't ask me how I got that domain, I'm not sure, somehow it expired in August and no one else had picked it up, I purchased it Friday morning for $6.99! Saturday I spent the day driving the Z06 out in the rain, yes, I know, I'd probably get kicked out of a Corvette club for driving it in the rain, but lucky me, I'm not in a club! It was probably also good throttle modulation practice. I took the car over to Andy's, and took his wife for the requesit new car ride (she got a ride in the 350Z before Andy as well). Then I picked up good ole NJack (my new name for Nick Jackson) and we cruised around St. Charles for a while. From there I ran down to South County and took Russ for a ride, over to his brother Matt's and showed off the car there as well. On the way home from Russ' I stopped by the carwash and gave her a quick spray down. Sunday morning I got up and hand bathed the car. I put two coats of wax on, Rain-X, and then headed out to Natalie's show. On the way to the show I took some pics, and then on the way home I stopped again and tried to get some cool shots as the sun was going down. I've decided, I really need to take a photography class, I take a billion photos, and 99.9% of them suck! Now, for the rest of the week. Monday night I'm speaking at the St. Louis DotNetNuke User's Group meeting. Thursday night we (9 of us from Engage Software) are headed to the Tulsa Tech Fest in Tulsa Oklahoma. I'll be giving three presentations in Tulsa, and leading a roundtable question/answer session for DotNetNuke topics as well! More on the presentations later this week, if I find time between writing...</p> Chris HammondMon, 15 Oct 2007 02:07:00 GMT270abf9e-0b21-442f-bde8-5bb6b62596ebSt. Louis and St. Charles Missouri Window Tinthttps://www.chrishammond.com/blog/itemid/2346/st-louis-and-st-charles-missouri-window-tint<p>The Z06 is headed out to Wicked Stickers in St. Peters Missouri to get Tinted on Wednesday morning. If you're looking for window tint in the St. Louis or St. Charles areas be sure to stop by Wicked Stickers. They also tinted my 350Z a few years back, an awesome job and it held up without any issues whatsoever. If you head out there, be sure to tell them CorvetteZ06.org sent you!</p> Chris HammondMon, 04 Feb 2008 11:19:29 GMTa82cd543-1330-4d70-af45-044286f43cc2A year has come and gonehttps://www.chrishammond.com/blog/itemid/1834/a-year-has-come-and-gone<p><a href="http://www.corvettez06.org/Blog/itemId/397/The-Corvette-is-Gone.aspx" target="_blank">So today marks a year since the 2004 Corvette Z06 left our stable</a>. In the past year I’ve autocrossed exactly once, back in March or April of this year in St. Louis. We’ve since moved to Colorado, bought a house, and traded/sold most of our vehicles. We are in the process of trying to build up our stable again, lots of changes going on!</p> <p>Yesterday I went up to Boulder Colorado and looked at and RX-7 for John, the buy who bought the Corvette. It looks like I will be heading up there next weekend and picking it up. It may require a tad bit of work to get it ready for shipping, but John is going to arrange to have a truck pick it up for the haul to DC.</p> <p>I hope to start autocrossing again next year with a new ride, probably another 350z. In the mean time be sure to keep track of the progress on the <a href="http://www.project240z.com/" target="_blank">240Z</a> at <a href="http://www.project240z.com">http://www.project240z.com</a></p> Chris HammondSat, 10 Oct 2009 12:18:30 GMT630c655a-fad9-44fb-9a53-5c374d5ee96dAutomotive ADHD, I sufferhttps://www.chrishammond.com/blog/itemid/2040/automotive-adhd-i-suffer<p>For those of you who have known me for a while this won’t come as a surprise. I suffer from Automotive ADHD (attention deficit hyperactive disorder),  and it is just getting worse!</p> <p>oyNatalie and I are in car shopping mode, we’re looking to downsize from our 2008 F250 FX4, while we love the truck, it is just far too big for our lives in California. We recently sold our horse trailer that we had been trying to sell for a while now. Now that the trailer is gone, we are ready to part with the truck.</p> <p>So we’re looking at what to get. Natalie would like a 4 door wagon, with room for a stroller (or the dogs) in the back, the baby in the back seat, and us up front. We’re thinking that we would like to find a used BMW 5 series to fill that role, though figuring out what year/mileage is something we haven’t decided yet.</p> <p>One thought we are having is that perhaps it might be a good idea to trade the Z in on a 4 door car for myself as well. I test drove a 2011 Mitsubishi Evolution today, oh boy, daddy like!</p> <p>I wouldn’t buy a new Evo, they are far too costly, but I would considering getting a used one and then perhaps an  older (2000-2003) 5-series for Natalie. I went to check out a couple of used 2008 Evo’s at a dealer down in San Jose today but immediately noticed that they were both modified, which totally turns me off. I don’t want to get into a modified car again, I’d rather buy something that is completely stock and if I want to modifiy it do it myself.</p> <p>So we’ll see where this bout with my latest batch of AADHD takes us.</p> <p>Don’t believe me that I have a problem? Here’s a list of the cars I and Natalie have owned over the past 5 years.</p> <p>2003 Nissan 350z<br /> 2004 Ford F350<br /> 1988 Thunderbird Turbo Coupe<br /> 1973 Datsun 240z<br /> 1978 Datsun 280z 2+2<br /> 2005 Chevy Tahoe<br /> 2004 Chevy Corvette Z06<br /> 2005 GMC Yukon<br /> 2008 Ford F250<br /> 1995 Audi A6<br /> 2004 Nissan 350z</p> Chris HammondSun, 12 Dec 2010 22:18:17 GMT489c2425-c45a-4506-9957-83b2372306f5