It’s actually not a HUGE story.  Just figured I might as well update on something since I have nothing else to do.  A lot of people don’t like to put their license plates on their bumper.  This is true especially for those who have aftermarket bumpers that don’t already have a hole drilled for the mounting.  Why ruin a perfect decent bumper?  However, the law of my state requires that 2 license plates be attached to the car.  They must be on the bumpers, and the rear one has to have the stickers showing valid registration.

I understand the rear.  But if I put my front license plate on my dash, where it’s very easy to see, why punish me?  I not only find that silly, I also got a ticket for it.  And no, not a fix it ticket.  Under the rules and regulations, having your front plate but not attaching it to the front is easily fixable, and therefore a fix it ticket.  It is not a moving violation, nor is it a major infraction.  But the damn CHP still gave me a non-fixable ticket.

So instead of paying the $240 fine (WTF?) for this ticket like the passive Asian that I am supposed to be, I requested a court date.  I attached the front plate to the bumper, got the sign off even though the slip said it was a non-fixable problem (thanks nice LAPD guy!), and showed up to court on a Monday afternoon. 

Did you know if you go to traffic court, you’re subject to a ridiculous number of fees?  Actually, whatever the judge decides the final fine, you have to pay 240% in fees.  I’m not joking.  Why say one number and raise it by that much?  That’s like extortion.  Whatever, I was confident in my case.

The judge took one look at my ticket and responded, this is bullshit.  I’m dismissing this case.  Awesome.  That’s the same as saying, your fine is $0.  240% of $0 is —- well it’s supposed to be $0.  But there’s also the administrative fees of $10.  So I walked in with a $240 ticket, and left with $10 out of my pocket.  Booyah.

So I’ve been the K1 Speed in Irvine.  I’ve been to K1 Speed in Anaheim.  Both are great locations.  Both offer great fun.  Unfortunately both offer only electric karts.  Nothing wrong with it.  The thrill of speed and and the high speed turns – well, K1 definitely offers this.  But with an electric kart, you get a few short falls.  There are a few, but the two most noticeable would be the power delivery and the power output.

Dromo 1 allows you to go head-to-head in a fun and competitive environment. RACES/HEATS (approximately 20 laps or 4-5 miles!) start with QUALIFYING laps, GRID-UP according to best lap time, then THE MAIN RACE, with up to nine drivers racing together, so you can expect to experience the intensity of serious racing. The karts are maintained equally and we have lots of opportunities to pass, allowing the driver with most ability to win. Speeds in excess of 40 MPH can be reached and each driver receives a printout of their racing statistics.

Upon signing into a race, D1 provides a thorough briefing session, use of a Sparco go kart racing suit, full-face Arai helmets with headsock, Sparco neck brace, and gloves.  Dromo One offers the proven power supply of 9.0 hp Honda performance engines and Wilwood brakes.

Gas powered:
Maximum Speed 50 mph
Operating Speed 36 mph
Horsepower 9.0 hp
Fuel 91 Octane
Power depletion None
Race 25 laps for 12 min (4-5 miles)
Kart Weight 170 pounds
Handling Superb
Response Superb
Torque Good

Electric Powered (like K1):
Maximum Speed 50 mph
Operating Speed 26 mph
Horsepower 0-12 KW
Fuel 1/1 Electrical charge
Power depletion <= 8 Minutes depending on age of batteries
Race 14 laps for 6 min
Kart Weight 450 pounds
Handling Weight says it all
Response Accleration On or Off
Torque Superb

yes, almost 300 pound differences! you go 10 mph over what you can get at K1, and they can’t limit your speed! race time is much longer too!

My preference?  D1 blows the socks off K1.  A bit more expensive, but D1 does offer better feel when driving.  Your power doesn’t cut off if you slide, and no teenager employee can remotely slow you down.

Check out the photo album for some more pics!

The average American spends about 2.5 hours in their car a day. Considering ther are 24 hours in a day, subtract 8 hours for the recommended sleep time, another 8 hours for the average work time (though I think everyone nowadays work way more than this), that leaves only 8 hours left for everything else. 31.25% of the time you have that is not spend sleeping or working is spent in the car. Some people think this is too much. Others, like me, enjoy their time in the car, as long as it’s not traffic. I hate traffic.

The most common modification to vehicles is probably the wheels of a car. Most people don’t care much for performance, though I don’t quite understand why. Perhaps that’s why people buy the heavy chrome rims at sizes of 22 inches on a passenger car. And perhaps that’s why rappers love mentioning how large their rims are and how bling bling they are. I’ve never had a fascination for things like that, but I do see why some people like it. Others go through rims like nothing else. They like changing out their wheels just like how some girls I know like changing out their shoes or purses.

What to do with the OEM wheels, or for those who have too many aftermarket wheels? Some choose to sell them. You can get a decent amount back if the condition is good. But for those that feel that being near a car for almost 1/3 of your non-working time is not enough, there’s another solution. Our project for this upcoming week is a coffee table using OEM 2003 Hyundai Tiburon wheels.

We stripped of the tire, and cleaned the wheel. We then constructed the legs of the table. After measuring the inner diameter, we found that a 15″ diameter ring would work best. Additionally, for the proper height, we have five 15″ legs. This would result in a coffee table about 17 inches high. The leg base were then primered and then painted black.  We then place the wheel on top of the legs, which made it fit nice and snug, and then the glass top was put on.  To secure it to the rims, we siliconed the edge of the rim to the glass, similar to how you would caulk things.

We then applied a strip of electroluminescent tape to each rim on the inside. This would give the table a very nice glow effect when the lights are dim. This is where we ran into problems. Our supplier for EL tape was GlowHut. We purchased the EL tape that came with the AC adapter. Being that they were also in Southern California, we received it really quickly. Problems arose after this. The product is set up as AC adapter –> Inverter –> Wire that splits into a Y –> EL Tape. When powering just one tape, the tape is a nice white. When power two tapes, one remains white, while the other turns a light blue. I suspect it has to do with not enough power going to the tape. That sucks. By shortening the tape, i was able to get a more consistent color in the tape. It’s not perfect, but it’ll do. For production version I will skip the EL tape, unless the customer really want it. It DOES look cool though.

However here’s the second problem. The inverter makes a high pitched sound. REALLY annoying. Supposedly you get used to it – I won’t. Glow Hut couldn’t help me.  So, I just purchased a inverter from Neon Trim that claims to be ultra high frequency so that you can’t hear it.  I will be swapping the inverters out to see how that changes.  If nothing changes, I will just remove the EL strip.

By the way, this table is for sale at $200 dollars. Local pickup only unless you know how to ship this thing – it’s HEAVY. I’m in Los Angeles. I can also make something similar with 2 SSR wheels.

Please check out the Photo Album for more pictures

I have the pleasure of living in Los Angeles – tuner center of the USA.  Countless companies are located here, and at night, if you know where to go, the streets are filled with tuners.  Whether they tune to go fast, to look good, or to sound good, it’s undoubtable that everyone likes speed.  While not everyone wants to take their daily driver to a track, and not everyone wants to street race (a no good thing anyway), everyone can drive a go kart.

One of the largest go kart chains in the LA region is called K1 Speed. K1 Speed has been the leader and innovator since 2003 with its high performance European electric karts concept.  K1 Speed has the largest indoor track racing centers in California, with 4 locations to choose from at Irvine, Anaheim, Ontario, and Carlsbad.  They also has a 5th location in the Seattle area at Redmond.  Their facilities are co-owned by Boris Said (former BMW PTG racing star and current NASCAR racer and team owner of Sobe No Fear).

Best of all, you have the opportunity to drive a new generation of state-of-the-art high-torque zero-emission Electric Pro Karts that put the old-style sluggish gas-powered karts to shame. These new high-tech karts, combined with the large K1 asphalt road-race style track, are designed to give you the experience and feel of a real formula race-car driver.

I’ve experienced the tracks at Irvine and Anaheim.  Irvine consists of 2 tracks, one that is more technical and slower, while the other is faster and less technical.  The fast one has a great straight away that leads right into a u turn.  This is the site of many of spin outs.  Yes you can spin out!  Anaheim on the other hand consists of 1 track, and is a great well balanced course.  The interior of the place, while still a warehouse, is much more appealing.  The karts at Irvine do feel faster – maybe not top speed, but the immediate acceleration after a turn – leading to great power slides and drifts.

Some tips for those planning on going go karting:

- Warm tires equals more traction, so use accelerating and braking on the straight away to warm it up

- Brake before you turn, accelerate when you are 3/4 finished with the turn.  do not turn and brake or go into a turn way too fast. this isn’t a video game. you WILL crash into the side or spin out.

- Try to drive in smooth arcs

- Don’t hug the walls, it will actually slow you down

- Sliding around the hairpins is fun but too much sliding = No traction = No acceleration = Bad

K1 costs $20 per race, for 14 laps.  Buy 3 races for $50.  Sign up for their newsletter – you’ll probably get some nice coupons.  This month they were offering buy 1 get 1 race free.  that’s $20 for 28 laps.  Next month I plan on going to another facility – this one uses gas powered karts. we’ll see how they stack against K1’s electric karts.

Go check out my Photo Album (see the top of the page) for some pictures!

I got a comment from a reader called Poncho.

How much more damage does a Hummer produce when produced then a Prius … about a third as much… or less? Green is good, but but you can’t solve it with knee jerk reactions, and when you have politicians and actors spouting the green theme, I get a little worried. Get the scientific community, the real scientist not there spokesmen, to speak up and you might have a different outlook on what is green.

So, I decided to look a little more into it. Using the Prius and Hummer for this example, we’ll look at some facts. We’ll then look at a car that’s a older so we can see if it’s worth upgrading to save on your MPG.

2008 Toyota Prius
MSRP: $21500-$23770
EPA Mileage Estimate: 45-48 MPG
Recommended service: Every 5K
Consumer Reports Reliability Rating: Excellent

2008 Hummer H3 (yes I know there is a 2009, and the availability of H1 and H2, but the H3 was chose because it’s the closest in size to the Prius.
MSRP: $30995-$39560
EPA Mileage Estimate: 13-16 MPG
Recommended service: Sometimes 2.5K, sometimes 5K, sometimes 7.5K
Consumer Reports Reliability Rating: Poor
————————
There is no valid data on the environmental impact upon production of the Prius nor the Hummer. Though it is true that because the Prius has two engines, plus the production of Ni-MH batteries for the car, the environmental impact will be more than the Hummer. CNW, a marketing research firm, had said that over 100,000 miles, the Prius costs $3.25, while the Hummer costs $1.95 over 300,000 miles. There are some assumptions that CNW makes that would not hold up. Very little Hummer vehicles last more than 100K miles. It would be quite interesting to see one hold up for that long. Next CNW assumes that about 98% of the energy usage is from production of the vehicle. Unfortunately, many other research has concluded that 80% of the energy expended comes from the actual driving stage. This would skew the number a lot. Additionally, all batteries from the Prius are recycled. Every single part can be reused, or incorporated into new batteries. There is even a phone number on the batteries for owners to call in order for them to properly replace batteries. This cuts down on the actual pollution the Ni-MH batteries are causing during production. Finally, why is it fair to compare 100K miles to 300K miles? The engine is “presumed” to last that long. However, looking at reliability ratings from Consumer reports, it would seem that the Prius outranks the Hummer by a lot. The time spent fixing, and the manufacturing of parts and shipment of parts to replace defective malfunctioning parts in the Hummer quickly adds to the actual cost of the Hummer.

Besides being green (not everyone desires to be green), we have to look at the cost of actually owning the car. Edmunds.com has a great little thing that calculates the True Cost to Own. This includes Depreciation, Financing, Insurance, Taxes/Fees, Fuel, Maintenance, and Repairs. Based on 15K miles a year, the total price for a Prius after owning it for 5 years is $48,710. For a H3, after owning it for 5 years is $72,934. The H3 actually costs 1.5 more than the Prius to own. That’s a lot.

We’ve looked at the two new cars. But how about when compared to if you were driving a used car and continued driving it for the next 100,000 miles? Would you be saving money?

2003 Audi A4 (this is chosen because it’s 5 years, and it’s from Europe. We already have Japan and USA covered.)
Cost: Nothing…you already theoretically own it.
EPA Mileage Estimate: 21-29 MPG
Recommended service: Every 5K
Consumer Reports Reliability Rating: Poor
———–
So you decide maybe I’ll keep my car. Let’s say your car is the Audi A4 1.8T. A pretty popular car. However, it would cost $49,865 to own for another 5 years.

So let’s compare. The Prius is a AT-PZEV/SULEV vehicle producing almost zero emissions and costs $48,710 to own for 5 years. This plus $23,000 for the car is about $71K. The Hummer is a gas guzzling truck that costs $72,934 to own for 5 years. This plus $39,000 for the car is about $119K. The used A4 is moderately good with gas, and costs costs $49,865 to own for 5 years. Since you already own it, we don’t add the cost of the car.

I guess this whole article says one thing in the end. Poncho, don’t read what some marketing research company says without looking at methodology and assumptions. 2% versus 80% energy usage is a big difference. It also says that if you are thinking of changing cars just because you think you’d save money at the gas pump, if your car is 5 years old, it actually would be more expensive to buy a new car AND pay for service/gas/etc. Even if you factor in selling your car, you’d still lose money the first 5 years. You’d make it back in 8 or so years, but that’s besides the point