What's your other time/money pit hobby?

[CosmosMpower]

Mine is autocross/solo 2. Basically 1 at a time competitive timed racing usually on a large parking lot or airfield. The course is marked by orange construction cones and the idea is to get through the course as fast as possible without knocking over any cones (2 second penalty for each one knocked over). It's a great way to learn the limits of your car and practice car control skills in a safe environment and is very competitive (think 1/1000ths of a second difference over 110 total second combined 2 day run times) and expensive at the top levels. It concentrates more on precise handling and driver skill than raw power. You can participate in all sorts of cars from a 10 year old Ford Focus to a $90,000 Porsche GT3.

I drive an 06 Lotus Elise in a class that races against the GT3, Z06 corvettes, Viper etc.

My car in grid and me driving on course

And a video so you can see what it's like from in car. Enjoy.

http://www.vimeo.com/977626

[FlopShotArtist]

That's a pretty kickazz car...

[CosmosMpower]

That's a pretty kickazz car...

Thanks, I'm a car nut with a golf problem not the other way around

If I could equate my driving to golf I would be a "scratch" autocrosser. Unfortunately my golf game is terrible but I still love it.

[Lemay427]

How much are those Lotuses?

[alf174]

shotgun target sports - trap, skeet, sporting clays, and helice; though more and more of my free time is steered toward golf much to the protest of squad mates.

[CosmosMpower]

How much are those Lotuses?

If I got a dollar for every time I was asked that question or, does it have a V10, is it a Ferrari/corvette, did you build it yourself, how come the doors don't open upwards etc?

Mine was optioned at $52K and change, people are often shocked at how affordable it is. But hell it has manual steering, the a/c sucks, it's loud, rough has no cupholders or any luxury ammenities and is basically terrible at everything except being the most ridiculously fun to drive/best handling sports car this side of a Carerra GT price tag. The philosophy is performance through less weight, it weighs 1,900 pounds in race trim less than HALF of a Chevy Suburban (or 13,956 Proforce V2 65 gram shafts in golf terms) www.lotuscars.com

[Lemay427]

If I got a dollar for every time I was asked that question or, does it have a V10, is it a Ferrari/corvette, did you build it yourself, how come the doors don't open upwards etc?

Wow. They are reasonable for the look. I am sure they perform as well being lightweight and small. They resemble Italian exotics and you can get one for 46k. Pretty nice.

[CosmosMpower]

Wow. They are reasonable for the look. I am sure they perform as well being lightweight and small. They resemble Italian exotics and you can get one for 46k. Pretty nice.

Close but it's British

Mine is essentially now the "base model" there is a supercharged Elise now as well as the Exige model which adds some body work and a wing to give increased downforce and road handling at high speeds on a track. You can also get a supercharger on the Exige model that puts it in near supercar territory. So the range is basically 46K with no options on an Elise to around 80K plus for an Exige S240. A very good value if you want a die hard track car with no frills.

[joshtpa]

My 2nd money pit is definately wine. 2500 bottles or so and counting. It is far worse than golf.

[CosmosMpower]

My 2nd money pit is definately wine. 2500 bottles or so and counting. It is far worse than golf.

Holy crap, that's impressive. Do you ever crack them open and drink them or just collect and drink the more common stuff on a regular basis?

[joshtpa]

Holy crap, that's impressive. Do you ever crack them open and drink them or just collect and drink the more common stuff on a regular basis?

Have a glass every night with dinner.

[Gummi Bear]

Besides my wife and daughter....

It's gotta be my Bronco (and my wifey's)

Mine's the 76 on the left, hers is the 68 on the right. They're both under construction now. Mine's going back to stock (sorta), hers is getting all of the beefy parts from mine, plus a whole lot more.

The tenative plan for mine is to replace all the bent and rusted sheetmetal, build a nice 408, put in a 4R70W transmission, add A/C, and go back to uncut w/ hubcaps (I love that look)

Hers is going to be a trail monster, that's still street legal - It's getting my built axles (Dana 44 front, 9" rear: Detroits, alloy shafts, CTM joints, Dedenbear knuckles), PSC steering, the 302 out of mine (I'm adding SEFI), it's got a NP435 transmission, and a Dana 20 transfer case until I can afford an Atlas. I'm narrowing the body, and adding 12" of wheelbase to add stability. It will sit low, but flex like mad (long radius arms in front, 4 link rear, Fox shocks, Deaver coil springs)

[redi630]

My car in grid and me driving on course

Great video!

Golf is my only money pit right now. I was getting into white tale deer hunting in the winter but I have lost interest (don't have enough money with a son and another on the way) for now.

[BigDaddy_Sean]

golf has always been my original love .. been playing for 20 years now ..

but recently:

bass guitar.


woodworking (my garage shop)

[CosmosMpower]

golf has always been my original love .. been playing for 20 years now ..

Great looking shop, I'm envious of all the room you have in there for all the tools and equipment. With the workbench and vise you could probably get into clubmaking pretty easily too.

[BigDaddy_Sean]

yeah, I can do my own clubmaking in there. I've reshafted and regripped some of my own clubs in there before.

I want to get into bass guitar making at one point :)

[GaijinGolfer]

Snowmobiling. My family has had snowmobiles since the late '70s and I pretty much grew up around snowmobiles.
For most of my life its been my #1 passion, but with gas prices being what that are, I think my snowmobiling days may be coming to an end.
When you have to drive 4 hours just to find ridable snow, that gets real expensive, real quick. Not to mention the fact that nowdays you will spend about $8,000 for a decent snowmobile and dont forget that you will need a truck to haul it (theres another $25,000-$35,000), not to mention gas, oil and repair parts. Yeah, snowmobiling isnt what you would call an, "inexpensive hobby". It a lot of fun though.

[MunkeyGolfer]

Snowmobiling.

I'm also into snowmobiling. The mountains are a lot closer here so no 4 hour drives but the gas mileage on the sleds themselves isn't the best

But nothing like falling in to powder that you can't walk in. I don't know how many times I have had to crawl to my sled.