Central FL Road Course / Kami Speed Track Day

Went out [very briefly] today for the Central Florida Road Course Meet and Greet track event sponsored by Kami Speed.

It was cool getting to see the new track in person, and getting a feel for it in the MINI. Called a "meet and greet," Kami Speed rented the track to promote their company name as well as get Central Floridians out on the new roadcourse. We got to do 4 "parade laps" where cars were very quickly inspected visually and drivers without safety helmets let loose on the track. I'm glad to say that by 1PM, there weren't any accidents!

Unfortunately though, there were too many ricers at the event, and cars like the one in front of me in the picture above were full of issues that I didn't want to be a part of. That 240's trunk lid wouldn't latch down, so under hard braking, it would open. And luckily nothing fell out to hit my car...... Other reports of mufflers falling off were relayed to me by track officials after finding out the owner used plastic washers to bolt the muffler to the exhaust pipe!

I still had a good time taking the MINI out on a track again, but next time I'll make sure it is more competitive and less rice!

The REAL FastLane

Previously, I had all my information about my car(s) on this, my own personal website designated with my real name. Unfortunately, there were some internet trolls that obtained the link I had attached to my signature in certain online automotive forums who just couldn't deal with the fact that I had personal information on the website owned by me, and tried to publically chastise me for saying what I wanted or needed to say on my own damn site....

While they have been dealt with, the situation remained that I still had to take care of - separating my personal site with that of my cars. If you know me, you know my cars are an extension of me - I don't think a car defines a person, but the feeling I get by throwing the throttle to the floor around turns in the MINI certainly thrills me! Separating the sites meant having to buy a new domain just for the cars and not having any personal information on it, and not linking it back to here. Now, obviously, I can link THIS site to the site with the cars no problem, if you know this address, good for you, you already know who I am and what I'm all about!That's great, but what to call it? I started a business in college with a partner and named it "Fast Lane Tuning, Inc." where it could be shortened to FastLane, one word. Fast Lane Tuning dot com (no link to it because I don't own it any longer) was the original site address, and once that was lost mistakenly, it became The NEW FastLane dot com, where we focused the brand name just on MINI performance parts and accessories.

That was stolen from me by a guy my family and I trusted for many years before starting me out on a successful career path after graduating college, and after he turned out to be a fake and a thief in more ways than domain name theft, I lost that one too. So I came up with The REAL FastLane so no one would get the wrong idea. Plus, I was out of ideas, and hopefully I want to end up owning many fast cars during my lifetime, so it seemed fitting to keep FastLane closeby!

And there you have it! Check out the site for pictures of my cars, past and present, and the work I did to them. Let me know what you think, thanks for reading!

main page update: BLOG!

Well, I've finally done it.... joined everyone else in the world and made a blog! But not just ANY blog.... one that is framed over my actual website. Take a look for yourself and follow along!

• Check out the website address of this page - while you're actually viewing mikegarcia25.blogspot.com, it's framed over using the index.html file from my own website.
• Check out the title bar of the page - it would normally read my blogger user name, but instead, it's that of my actual website.
• Lastly, click on the links on the right hand bar under "other elements of my site." They link directly to other parts of my actual site and that of my cars' website, The REAL FastLane.

So there you have it. I can now update my homepage quicker and easier using blogging technology, and hopefully that means many of you will come back to it more often then to just see pictures of stuff, see what new firearms are in the safe, or how much more work I've done to my cars! Take a look back at some of the previous blogs I dated back in time before I had the blog (or the site for that matter) that were featured on my original style homepage. You can also leave comments to each one of my blogs, give it a try now (if you aren't a registered member, they will have to be approved by me before they are published, however) and let me know what you think of the changes or click on the "reaction" you choose, thumbs up or thumbs down!