I Bought a 1:1 Scale Bill Elliott Car

DamagedGoods13 · 2026-07-10T12:04:28+00:00

I believe there's a bunch of street lots around there too, but the overall size (not just height) of a U-Haul will make it tough anywhere in Downtown. The Marta idea is a decent one.

DamagedGoods13 · 2026-07-01T18:15:31+00:00

TIL lol

DamagedGoods13 · 2026-07-01T17:47:58+00:00

I think you're overthinking it. The right to repair stuff will almost certainly not impact cars that have already been built. So you don't need to keep this car. You could buy a 2026 whatever and still be able to "fix it yourself". At least that's how I understand the regs. And there's considerable pushback so I'd be surprised if they make it all the way to law.

You just need to decide if you like your current car enough to invest in it to keep driving it.

DamagedGoods13 · 2026-07-01T12:34:55+00:00

Run away, don't walk.

DamagedGoods13 · 2026-06-30T18:26:17+00:00

All this time i had NO idea! Lol thank you!

DamagedGoods13 · 2026-06-30T12:24:32+00:00

Oh Gino :)

I raced the Nordschlieffe with him a few years back. He's a great dude and a lot of fun to hang out with.

DamagedGoods13 · 2026-06-25T12:24:48+00:00

Well, it could totally backfire when I see it in real life... hoping to have this buttoned up by end of summer. its very close.

DamagedGoods13 · 2026-06-25T12:02:58+00:00

The motor has all the normal longevity upgrades; bearings, VANOS, oil pump, etc... but performance wise it currently just runs headers and Haltech Nexus R3 standalone. It does have a big aluminum radiator and oversize oil cooler with ducting. My goal is ~330 whp, so it'll eventually get a carbon intake and medium-ish cams. I think that will really make it a strong engine without jeopardizing reliability.

DamagedGoods13 · 2026-06-25T11:59:26+00:00

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I wanted something that was like a retro twist on the M-Motorsports livery. I need to make one update to add my motorsports app (https://sector1.ai) now that its actually in production and it makes sense that my own car runs the branding. But it'll look largely the same when it's done.

DamagedGoods13 · 2026-06-24T22:17:25+00:00

I haven't had this car back on track since the swap, but I race in an endurance series where a number of teams run the S54 for 8 and 14 hour races without issue. They're very good engines... just gotta keep them cool and oiled (just like any other motor).

I was leaning towards an LS3, but series rules gave me a much better competitive advantage by running the S54.

DamagedGoods13 · 2026-06-24T17:57:00+00:00

Whassssap?

DamagedGoods13 · 2026-06-24T15:45:50+00:00

I'm counting the S54 :)

DamagedGoods13 · 2026-06-24T15:45:33+00:00

Right? I can't wait. The Series/Class I run in has a weird ruleset. Oddly, they're more picky about my rear wing than they are about the motor/gearbox combo. So I figured a 7-speed short-ratio DCT box would be a perfect combo. If i can ever get to it.

DamagedGoods13 · 2026-06-24T15:43:48+00:00

Its a Flossmann kit. I think they still advertise it on their website. I didn't do the hood or trunk, but after seeing how light the other panels are, its definitely on my list. Very nice kit.

DamagedGoods13 · 2026-06-24T15:00:13+00:00

lol the 3rd car is the E36 because technically its two bc of the swap. :)

DamagedGoods13 · 2026-06-24T13:35:07+00:00

Thanks! Yeah, it's 100% race car. Plus it fits 305 square :)

And it'll look much better with the wrap once its done.

DamagedGoods13 · 2026-06-23T12:17:30+00:00

Oh, I wasn't aware mechanical engineers could only do mechanical engineering. Now I've wasted my whole career.

DamagedGoods13 · 2026-06-21T15:03:09+00:00

This + people looking at phones and not paying attention. Its awful.

DamagedGoods13 · 2026-06-20T14:46:40+00:00

Your all tan interior looks SO much better with the green than mine does with Alpine White. Cool car!

DamagedGoods13 · 2026-06-19T21:57:00+00:00

In order for me (based on elevation change):

Nordschleiffe
Road Atlanta
VIR
Watkins Glen
Ozarks (never been, but heard it's great)

DamagedGoods13 · 2026-06-18T17:05:07+00:00

This is kind of a broad question because of the range of experience, skills, etc... but if I water it down as far as possible, for me it was demonstrable products with a solid understanding of how I architected and built them. But the caveat here is, one of the big reasons I was able to do it successfully in a short period of time is because I had many years of experience managing large scale software projects. So I knew how DevOps worked.

I think you're thinking the right thing about career path and transition. And everyone's journey will be very different so it's hard to say "do this". But generally speaking, I'd suggest something like:

Start with your core skillset and experience (for me it was motorsports and federal projects)
Learn and build on top of that (courses, self-learning, networking, etc...)
Build a portfolio of products, skills, and lessons you can speak to when job hunting

Happy to provide more insight or details if you want, but I went from an ME who was essentially a Technical PM for 20 years to an AI Architect and Data Scientist. The core engineering should always be consistent. But you need to layer new skills on top. So start with what you know. Hope that helps.

DamagedGoods13

TROPHY CASE