I’m not posting much online these days but wanted to share something at least once per year for anyone from the “old days” who stops by. Feel free to drop me a line. I always enjoy hearing from old friends/acquaintances from my writing/game dev/UAT days. Which seems like a lifetime ago now.
As for writing, I haven’t written anything in five years. The last effort was a pair of self-pub novels on Amazon Kindle (which did pretty well without advertising). These days I’m running a business with five employees and it’s been pretty stable even through Covid (gov’t contract). I’ve given up game development after holding on to a few projects for a long time. My last game dev book was published in 2014 right before Cengage went belly-up. I didn’t even get comp copies, have never seen that final book! But after 20-something books, I lost track anyway…
These days (post-2020) I’m semi-retired, not doing heavy stress anymore like in years past. My time at UAT was nightmarishly stressful and I aged a lot during those 5 years. Aging that I have reversed more recently. I’ve lost 50 lbs (nutrition, not exercise) and I’m working 3 days per week. In my spare time, I build race cars and drive them on the local tracks: Thunderhill (Willows, CA) and Sonoma Raceway (Sonoma, CA).
Plural is a bit of an exaggeration since I only have two, and one is for sale. I bought a 2011 GT500 which turned out to be ill-suited for racing. And, instead of working it over I decided to sell it and focus on my second car: 2004 Nissan 350Z. A blast. I finished my first season in group 2 and will be starting my 2nd season in three months (Feb, 2022). I’m doing most of the mechanical work in my own garage. Replacing most of the suspension bushings first, then doing just about everything to the car to make it faster. Sans the engine. California smog rules being what they are, I can’t tune it just yet. I’m still torn about this car: do I want to go all-out race or keep it street legal? So far I’m keeping it streetable but I can’t tune it in CA without workarounds (like having the ECU shipped to an out-of-state relative). But it’s fine as is for now, about 300 hp, Corbeau seats, solid bushings, solid mounts front and back, Tein shocks and springs, etc. I might buy a cloned ECU for smog, then do what I want with the tune.
This year coming up will be my first full season and I intend to graduate to HPDE 3, 4, and into time trials as fast as possible. Racing on a legit track is the most fun I’ve ever had and I’m totally hooked!
There’s a mix of stuff in this channel but you can find a few of my own videos as well if you’re interested in seeing my cars (works in progress). The 350Z is my first “race car” and I am planning on getting a 2nd one, though not sure what yet. The Shelby was a big disappointment. Not on the track, but just in general. It’s just too expensive for the track and doesn’t handle well. I might use the proceeds to buy a 2023 Nissan Z.