Update: IWC Vintage Series Aquatimer, ref 3231-01

It's been 2 weeks since I got the watch and it's keeping perfect time.  I've been observing the accuracy, and if I wear the watch all day (16 hours) and leave it crown up during the night (8 hours) it looses about 1 second a day.  Then I tried leaving it crown down during the night, and bingo, it doesn't gain or loose any time.  Well, at least nothing I can measure in daily basis.  I will do a long term test starting tomorrow to see how much it will gain/loose in 2+ weeks.

Overall, pretty impressive time piece.  Technically speaking, it's better than a quartz watch.

I love this song.  Spent the weekend to learn it.  I made couple mistakes.  It's weird.  The moment the camera is on, I get nervous.  It's not live, no one is seeing it...  weird.

IWC Vintage Series Aquatimer, ref 3231-01

I have been thinking about buying this watch.  Although it turned out it is not very possible to find a new one, since IWC is not making them anymore.  I found couple used ones that were over priced.  I then decided to open thread at watchuseek forums to complain how hard it is to find this watch.

Next thing you know someone points me to a for sale post at another watch forum that was posted few days ago.  The price was unbelievable.  I did what I had to, and bought it!  It arrived today.  Pictures don't do justice to this lovely watch.  The Omega will be up for sale shortly...

 

Goofy me

I miss placed the charger cable of my shaving machine since I'm back to US.  We're talking about 3.5 months here.  And amazingly it's still working.  I use it once a week to trim my beard.  Of course, I just ordered a replacement cable.  As you'd imagine, today I found the original cable.  You may think I ordered the new cable for no reason.  You'd be wrong.  I knew that the only way I could find the original cable would be to order a new one.

IWC Aquatimer Vintage and TAG Heuer Monaco Gulf

I really like these two watches.  Of course, they are not easy to find.  As far as I know they are not in production anymore.  If you search online there are few brand new ones here and there.  And couple used ones.

I like the TAG Monaco, because I like cars and racing.  And Monaco probably is one of the watches that has a great connection to cars and racing, thanks to Steve McQueen and his legendary movie, Le Mans.  The only problem with Monaco is that it is a TAG Heuer, and most people do know this brand, so it may gather too much attention, which is something I don't like.

On the other hand, most people don't know the IWC, so it is a "sleeper".  And the Aquatimer Vintage is such a simple, neu-classic looking watch, it won't grab too much attention.  Lovely.

Brain storming about endurance racing

I saw this on facebook today that was posted by Pacific Raceways.  They have a 16 hour endurance race, Roll-X (so that it sounds like Rolex), that is very reasonably priced.

The cars have to be max $500, and entrance fee is $275 for the team, and $100 per driver, where 4 drivers are required.  The race is in March '13. 

Aside from myself, I know 2 people that will most likely join.  Finding the 4th driver won't be hard.

But there are a lot of details to work out.  We'll need a car.  A racing license perhaps.  Also we need to figure out if we can use the car in any other racing series.  It wouldn't be financially wise (as if anything in this has) to buy a car only for 1 race.

My new home decor idea

Monaco. Le Mans. Steve McQueen. Nurburgring. Tag Heuer.

This will be a cool addition to my place.  I'm planning to get Tag Heuer Monaco Gulf clock, which is based the wrist watch model of the same.  Now, this watch has a good motor sport history behind it, and the clock version replicates the Gulf Oil version nicely.  Of course, this version of the watch exists because of Steve McQueen's famous movie, Le Mans.

Next to the watch, I also want to get the Steve McQueen's poster from the Le Mans movie, where he is in racing overalls, and his Heuer Monaco is visible.

Last item on the list is my Nurburgring Nordschleife sign that I bought from Griotts Garage.  It has the map of the track, and also an open wheel formula car.

All these are definitely going to be up on the wall.  What I can't decide is if I should print my pictures from my trip to Nurburgring.  I have 2 high quality pictures that I can print.  Another idea is to find a decent poster of a MINI Cooper, or may be the Gulf Oil racing car that Steve McQueen was driving?

Edit: I forgot, I will also have the Top Gear's "Some say..." poster.

Finally, my Nurburgring lap from August 26th

Photobucket has some sort of a competition where you tell a story with pictures and videos.  And that gave me the boost to finally process my Nurburgring lap video.  I sort of made the intro a little too dramatic, but it is all good fun.

Sony MDR-7506 Headset

This thing is fantastic!  I won't, for a moment, claim that it's the best, since there are much more expensive, professional headsets out there, but for $100, this is just amazing.  Very clear sound, very flat response.  Lows and highs both sound fantastic.  I bought it for my recording needs, but also plan to use it with my e-drum kit.

It's very light and very comfortable to wear.  The 3.5mm to 1/4" adapter screws in to the 3.5mm socket which is convenient.

Mr Skittles and the fireplace

 Like all cats, Mr Skittles likes warmth.  So I setup his cat bed in front of the fireplace. 

 

Magnuson Park Turkey Trot - 5K

My first 5K.  I didn't (couldn't?) run the whole way, but it was still fun. 

Original vs non-original

I didn't want to spend ~$250 for an original Omega rubber strap for my Seamaster Planet Ocean, so I bought a replica one from eBay for $45.  I wasn't expecting top notch quality, but I didn't think that it may not fit properly... :)

So, yes, the original straps are expensive, but for a good reason.  Now I have to return this one.

Home studio coming along

It is coming along nicely.  The new desk I bought from IKEA is opened up the space a bit since it's narrower than my previous desk.  The Yamaha studio monitor speaker are excellent!  The sound quality is up there.

What's left:

- Hang the bass guitar to the wall

- Find support such that I can place the speakers on top of the window frames (next to the monitor)

- Clean up the mess.

Settling in to the new apartment

So much work.  Even though I had a very efficient weekend, there is still a lot to do.  Just setting up the drum kit took 6 hours.  I guess starting to watch Game of Thrones Season 1 was a mistake, I could've get more things done :)

New tires for the winter

Since I got a screw on my rear left tire, I decided to buy the all weather tires for the winter now rather than later.  I got the Continental DWS, which have good reviews.  I also do know some of the fellow MINI owners use these and they're happy with them.  I will get them mounted this Sunday at Tight-n-Tidy Racing.

Rallye des Montagnes du Nord

Our local MINI club, PSMINI, put together this awesome 2 day event.  I could only do the first day, since I still have a lot to do in my new apartment.  To make matters worse, Hammond had a screw on his rear left tire the day before the rally.  Lucky me, I was going to the event with a friend who also has a MINI.  So instead we drove her car, Radford.

There were total of 25 MINIs and probably 50 people.  We were mostly on SR 2 and Hwy 97A.  We stopped at two vineyards and had a lunch at a BBQ place.  We left the group after the second vineyard in Cashmere (and my iPhone was playing Cashmere by Led Zeppelin. I swear it was a coincidence).  We used I90 on our way back.

It was a long but fun day.

With Ryan.

With Reagen.

25 MINIs!

Back to US

Back to US after 4 weeks.  A lot to do now.  Find a new apartment, move all my possessions from the storage, pick up the cats...  It will be busy few weeks.

Stray cats of Istanbul

Unfortunately there are so many stray cats (and dogs) in Istanbul.  Luckily in most cases they're well taken care of by good people.  You can always spot food and water bowls by the side of streets.

Maiden's Tower

Today my mom and I went to see the Maiden's Tower.  The view from the observation deck is just amazing.  It isn't very tall, but since it has a clear sight, the views are just awesome.  They did a good job with interior decor as well.  Every floor has a painting representing many stories of this ancient tower.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maiden%27s_Tower

Wedding

What an awesome day.  My sister is getting married today!

Rain, 6 laps around the heaven, Road trip to Suisse

I woke up at 620am, and saw that it rained over night. Scary.  Nordschleife is a dangerous track when it's wet.  Actually it's dangerous even when it's dry...

Rain

I went down to have breakfast and I was on my way to get the Suzuki Swift Sport from RaceCarRent at 730am.  On my way, I hoped I get to do few dry laps.  I was at rent race car at 800am. Heide was very helpful. After waiting for few people, she set me up in 10mins, and off I went.

I arrived to the track around 845am, and without loosing any time, I drove right  to the gate for my first lap.  My dreams were coming true! Oh my God I was excited.  I watched myself drove to the gate, show my pass to the Course worker and drove through the cones to access the track. I was in heaven.

Heaven

They say Nordschleife is very slippery when it's wet.  They are right.  Between the bumps, low grip and endless corners, this track is sure a tough one.  Actually, the toughest off them all.  It is so slippery, and you're going so slow, you think "hold on a second, this is not right, I can go faster". But you can't. You understeer, immediately.  Or have a massive crash.  I've seen about 6 accidents, and at least one of them was a wreck.  As they say, respect the Ring.

Computer games and simulations help in regards to memorizing the layout.  But that's it.  The track is so narrow, and the bleachers are so close (read: no run off area), you can't drive as fast as you can in any game.  In regards to bumps and crests... Pacific Raceways has 2 bumps (turn in of 3b, braking zone for 5a), 2 corners with bumpy surface (8 and 9), and 1 crest (turn 7 apex).  A little exagration, but the whole track surface of the Ring is bumpy, with many crests...  Such a sensation.  But the king of the corners is the Karussel.  Every track rat has to experience this amazing corner.  The banking, bumps, the way car jumps and sounds...

The turn 1 at Pacific raceways is a blind turn.  God knows how many blind turns (and pretty dangerous ones as well) the Nordschleife has.  Even though I knew all the corners (by that I mean their order of appearance, and their approximate speeds), it was still scary. Eventually, the track dried out and I got to experience some dry laps.  This was kind of lucky actually.  In one day, I got to see how is it to drive on the Ring both in dry and wet conditions.

Here is a statistic to show you how tough the Ring is:  Pacific raceways is a 2.25 mile road course with 13 corners. In other words, you have a corner every 0.17miles.  The Nurburgring is 12.93 mile long and has 154 corners. That means a corner every 0.07miles.  That is like having 31 corners in Pacific Raceways.

One note for future: I'm and will always be an advocate for manual transmission. But, there is a risk of getting used to it. The little Suzuki I had today was great in many ways, including the gearbox.  But the brakes were soft and brake pedal travel was so much, making heel&toe downshifts difficult and as a result not very smooth. Last thing you want in a demanding track with bumpy surface. Next time, I shall get an auto.

I left the ring around 1130, but truth to be told, I could stay the whole day, and the next day, and the next....

Road trip to Lausanne, Switzerland

I was on my way to Switzerland around 1215 after dropping off the car.  The road (412) was passing near the track, so stopped at 2 spots to take some pictures.

Surprise: Switzerland also has derestricted freeways.  But it was a toll road, and it was ungodly expensive....$40.  What do people do for a living here!?

Ford C-Max

Willkommen

Arrived to Frankfurt, Germany around 8:30am.  Immediately rushed to the rental car company (sixt). And immediately got disappointed, because I reserved a BMW 1 series hatchback but I'm told there wasn't any available (then what's the point of reservation?). I asked for a 3 series, but that wasn't available either. So I decided to get a small car, but they didn't have many options. They suggested the C-max, which, I remember from Top Gear to be a small car. I was very tired and hungry, so I accepted so I could get going.  10 minutes later, I was looking at my rental. My memory betrayed me... It's small, yes, but not a car... It's a small minivan, hence why I could only manage 119mph (downhill btw) with my foot buried to the carpet. Schnell! Schnell!  But it gets about 30mpg (if I behave), and that's good since the gas is $8.5/gallon.  Anyways it is awesome that one can rent a manual gearbox car here.  Although the pedals in the C-Max are not designed heel and toe in mind, predictably.

Driving on the autobahn is also an experience to have.  Not only there are derestricted stretches where you can go as fast as the traffic safely allows, but also views are amazing, and it is such a pleasure to drive with people who obey the traffic rules, and respect each other.  No one drives slowly on the left lane. No one tailgates you. No one passes you on your right. If, due to a road work, the left lane is ending, people don't try to drive till the lane closure to cut you off, they just move to the middle lane right after seeing the lane closure sign. Lastly, no one holds the steering wheel like an orangutan. Oh, almost forgot. I over took a police officer at 119mph, legally.  Different feeling!

Lost

The gps in my rental was in German.  Now, I do not know German.  I tried to change the language, but no such menu was available in the infotainment system. It wasn't a huge deal, after few minutes, I figured out how to use it. But then, gps couldn't find the address I was trying to go.   I thought maybe I was missing some German characters (like ü, "beta") in the address I have.  I found a Sixt representative, and he was helpful.  First of all, he set the language to English.  But weirdly, it can only be done using the car computer in the dashboard through the steering wheel mounted control stalk... Weird. Anyhow, he couldn't find the address either, so he put something close by.  Now, the funny thing is, I was intended to go to Nurburg (or Nürburg with correct German alphabet). But the area is also called Nurberg.  And somehow I remembered this as Nuremberg. And amongs all the possible directions and distances, Nuremberg is at the opposite direction with similar distance (200km vs 185km). So after about 2 hours, I got suspicious.  Especially seeing Munich and Berlin signs were very awkward.  Eventually, I thought of using the "point of interest" feature of the gps, and get everything sorted out. I should've thought this before of course, but being tired (10 hours of sleep in 2 days) got the best of me. But at the end, I got to drive more on the amazing autobahn, so nothing much to complain there!

Finally

As I drove close to my destination I got more and more excited.  Seeing the first road sign for Nurbergring was a moment of joy (and relief).  After few miles on B roads, I made it!  As you approach to the legendary track, you see museums and test centers of European car compnies.  Seeing the BMW M test building was an especially special moment for me, since I have owned two M cars in the past.

Eventually I found my hotel, and settled in.  I spent the night thinking about tomorrow, and watching YouTube videos of Nordschleife laps...