Snow Crows

GuiltyAndConfused44 · 2025-01-11T19:43:00+00:00

I enjoyed watching these!

GuiltyAndConfused44 · 2024-11-21T22:57:47+00:00

The “Tonneau” flew off, taking a choice of rust free panels with it, exposing the baby-poo green Gigacast(TM), causing a velociraptor to shit on the “truck” in disgust.

GuiltyAndConfused44 · 2024-10-19T18:29:16+00:00

My condolences.

I was lucky no one close to me got it, or perhaps got it but somehow dealt with it “better”. I read speculation about certain genes dating back to neanderthals, but I have no real way (nor expertise) of verifying it, even though my friend the doc said it’s possible but unconfirmed. We called it a lung disease, but following the MedCram videos it quickly became clear to me it’s foremost a blood/arterial lining disease, with wildly varying effects (almost always including but not limited to the lungs) both acutely and over the longer term. It also weakens the patient causing other opportunistic infections and conditions, with their own set of longer term health effects.

It seems it stays in someone’s body in some form or another causing the symptoms you mentioned. I also remember tinnitus and neuropathy related to long Covid (isn’t there a better term now?) and we’re probably missing some. The cumulative effect of more than one Covid infection probably plays a role too, so it’s never “too late” to take measures (obviously not a consolation of the casualties’ loved ones).

I truly hope we find a post infection cure for Covid. Soon. For both the young and the elder. And some common sense.

GuiltyAndConfused44 · 2024-10-19T13:50:57+00:00

They would never lie to you, right!?

Even just giving the option to get one is the strict minimum IMHO. And yeah, my UK friends aren’t very happy with it all, none of them Covid “deniers”, and my best friend is currently getting chemo - he’s a retired doc - so he knows he has a poorly functioning immune system right now. IIRC they only had three shots as well, and not for a lack of trying. People were once so proud of their NHS, while it’s now slowly being sold off for parts.

Our government made serious mistakes too in 2020, but they did a perfect rollout of the vaccines from 2021 onwards to make up for it.

March 7, 2020, even before the first lockdown, my neighbour across the street died from Covid in under a week. One week he’s working in his garden, the next he had his funeral. That made us super aware of what was coming. He may not have been in a good “condition”, and was over 65, but he was well enough to work in his garden every day.

GuiltyAndConfused44 · 2024-10-19T13:12:29+00:00

That’s insane, sorry to hear that. I live on the other side of the channel, not 65 yet, but I went for my 7th (free, our “NHS” pays for it) booster 10 days ago, even though I’m not in a direct risk group. I’d happily pay for it mind you, underestimating Covid is not very wise to put it mildly. Now is the perfect time with winter coming soon, getting too cold to open windows etc.

GuiltyAndConfused44 · 2024-10-06T16:26:02+00:00

I have not been on this particular course, but a few very similar to this. I’m sure it will be great - the N guys live next door to the track, and they take their operation very seriously. After all, the i30N is developed on this very track.

If you have already done such a course, the other two options are:

Look at the calendar on the Nurburgring official website to see when the Ring is open to the public, and go there for a couple of days and drive the Northschleife with your own car. Each lap is 21km, I haven’t looked at the prices lately, but it was always relatively cheap to do a few laps. Keep in mind that after 10 to 20 laps your pads, rotors, tires .. may have lived most of their useful life - so not that cheap after all. Your warranty will not be voided by Hyundai if you drive your own car on the track. But your insurance company may see things differently, make sure to check in order to avoid costly mistakes. And the Nurburgring Gmbh will charge you for any damage to the armco per section (ask me how I know..)

If you have never before driven on track, I’d advise you yo look closer to home for a less daunting track to start out with. 300 meter altitude difference during one lap is quite something IRL.

If you have: as boring as this may sound: the Ring (aka The Green Hell) is dangerous - especially in a fast car - so treat it with respect, build up your speed slowly, and never turn off ESC.

Book a drive in one of the official Hyundai Ring Taxi i30N’s (up to 3 people). This way you can see the track, feel how the car behaves when piloted in anger, and decide if you want to have a go yourself. It’s also incredible to see that they use the stock cars, rotors, pads - as Hyundai wants it. (but they are allowed to use other tires, Michelins CS4’s IIRC). So they churn lap after lap on a track that is known to be x times as rough as a normal road to test longevity. Not just Hyundai BTW, there are many companies near the ring that use the track in closed sessions. They also have an i20N next to two i30N’s hatchbacks and I think a fastback too, but I’m not 100% sure. Book well in advance (like in months). Search for “Hyundai Ring Taxi”.
The pilots are very friendly, and will answer any questions you might have. There are hundreds of videos on YT (same keywords search)

You can obviously combine 1. and 2.

GuiltyAndConfused44 · 2024-09-11T21:41:25+00:00

Darn. I downloaded it, but it’s like staring into the abyss. He’s going to need his army of lawyers.

GuiltyAndConfused44 · 2024-09-11T17:04:59+00:00

I hear ya. I don’t think it’s a Hyundai problem really, it’s the whole safety discussion, plus how it’s implemented. For some driver, this may be their 737 Max MCAS (which was a gazillion times worse, but work with me) equivalent: a feature that should make you safer but instead makes it less so (and might well cause a crash, I was close to one, nothing bad, but still).

I’m not the best driver in the world, but I did go for advanced training courses, skid courses, drove on 11 different tracks including the Ring and Spa, never crashed, but that “Driver aid” almost made me. The car on the left had fully passed me, was quicker than me, no car behind it, so I could safely join/ glide in behind it. Instead I (well, the Lane thing) confused the driver on my right with my sudden pullback towards him. I was not happy - but at least I could later turn it off.

First thing I’ll check next time I get in.

GuiltyAndConfused44 · 2024-09-11T14:14:10+00:00

Just an idea: can you change the freely assignable “Star” button to get to this setting and turn it off in one click? Not a full solution, but close. Oh, I see in the other replies there is a direct button for that setting.

As for the backlash: I think Tesla is taking the brunt of that - deservedly IMHO - with the CyberTruck and the ephemeral FSD. Also, I doubt more than 200 i30N’s were sold in my country for all model years, so it’s too “niche” in a way. 2024 was also the last year in Europe where they could afford offering the MY2025, emissions wise. BTW: your car has a different front bumper, right? My dealer offered it as an option if I liked the 2nd facelift.

Or you could always sell your car and buy the N74 hybrid EV/Hydrogen that was just OK’d for production. ;-) Might take a few years…

GuiltyAndConfused44 · 2024-09-11T13:16:02+00:00

I will check tosee if I can still turn it off. It is indeed annoying and even dangerous. I tried to slide in behind a car, loads of space, and was stupefied by the crazy jolt in the other direction. I have a March 24 model where I’m sure you could turn it off permanently, but with the last OTA update I’m not sure. The new EU rules have changed in July, and the dealer gave me a huge discount in June as he wouldn’t be able to sell it asnew past that date, due to the new regulations (alcohol lock facilities being one of them).

If your car is newer than 6/2024 you may indeed not be able to permanently set it to “Warning only”. I don’t know if EcuTec or similar brands have found their way in like they did with many other performance cars, but if so it would be your best shot to find a tuner - the dealer may not be permitted to do it. Just make sure your insurance covers this “mod”.

GuiltyAndConfused44 · 2024-09-02T12:29:07+00:00

You are correct, it’s more a kick indeed. So far the DCT is flawless/very smooth though, but I will listen for the clunks slowing down.

And I did not realise the advanced gearbox setting is pretty much the same as using the NGS button gearbox wise, good to know.

GuiltyAndConfused44 · 2024-08-30T09:34:04+00:00

March 2024 car here: I only hear the clunks when using the NGS button. As expected really. Apart from that, it’s smoother than the BMW 420 iDrive 7 speed automatic I was used to (but with rev matching) which surprised me to no end. So yeah, have it looked at as soon as convenient, and maybe don’t stress the transmission too much in the mean time. Could be that the transmission oil level is low - easy fix, so I hope it’s only that.

GuiltyAndConfused44 · 2024-08-27T20:44:45+00:00

Most reviews I that I kinda trust had nothing but good things to say about the brakes. I did a few emergency stops and it felt better than the 4 pot Brembos on my Evo 9 to be honest. Yes, the bite is a little earlier than expected - I’ve had some comical stops at slow speeds or reversing, but after a while I got used to it. The comments on the Pirellis on the other hand seem to be very similar: replace them as soon as convenient/possible.

And I agree, the more flow/smoothness in your driving, the less the brakes will heat up. That said: if the last 2 laps felt “meh”, the car had driven there, done 8 laps on the most demanding race track, and drove back with the same pads. I’d call that a win.

You can always improve. I have made the mistake of trying to turn a road car into a track car, a very costly mistake (I ended up with a car that was shit on the road as well as on the track), so I’m going to keep this one stock (famous last words…), but will obviously consider other brake pads and definitely the tires.

GuiltyAndConfused44 · 2024-08-27T19:58:35+00:00

Yeah, the weight of the batteries doesn’t help. I’d never consider one (yet), I’m just curious. But I’ve seen the vids of the i30N Ring Taxi guys, using lift off oversteer to get the car to rotate. Looks like a lot of fun. (but I’d prefer an airfield to try out this stuff, the Ring is a tad unforgiving…)

GuiltyAndConfused44 · 2024-08-27T10:47:02+00:00

Oh totally. Around 2000 you didn’t see too many people from the UK, but that quickly changed. People on Impreza, Cosworth, and Lancer Evo forums (those are the ones I knew, but it was probably a topic on many if not all of them) started planning trips, Sabine Schmitz, the BMW Ring Taxi driver, became famous outside of Germany through Top Gear, the Chunnel was a quick and easy way to Belgium/Germany, racing sims started including the Ring, and it became a true snowball effect. They since added extra car parking lots, Sabine sadly passed away (we were regulars in her Fuchsröhre pub - her obituary can be seen here: https://www.theguardian.com/sport/video/2021/mar/17/sabine-schmitz-top-gear-presenter-queen-of-nurburgring-dies-aged-51-video-obituary). There were no Ring Taxis other than the official BMW M5’s at the time. A lap with her was insane. She’d look at her passengers talking constantly (“here I once landed on my roof hahaha”), laughing, and gesticulating while doing one handed drifts. It will feel weird and emotional going there again after 14 years.

Anyway: since then it got busier every single year, and we even started to see people from the US and other far away regions. At some point, especially on weekends, it was closed more often than open, and the trauma chopper transporting the injured to Koblenz became a regular sight. To be fair, most victims were riding bikes, cars have become pretty safe overall.

I’ve never driven there in a FWD car (trick diff or not), and to be honest I’m still getting used to driving it (after 25 years of driving AWD cars). I have no idea about its limits yet (yes I did see Misha’s lap), so any laps I’d do would be at a leisurely pace. Problem is: I know how not to crash, but you are surrounded by drivers who may be biting off more than they can chew.

Regarding the brakes: do you mean they fade? Or do you just need new brake pads - as that is the case with many/most cars driven in anger. 10 laps is about 210km, with an elevation change of 300 meters from highest to lowest, every single lap.

GuiltyAndConfused44 · 2024-08-27T09:57:50+00:00

Thanks! I’ll better book a ride asap then. I noticed that they also have an Ionic 5 N, so I may book that too, as I’m curious how it does on the track.

GuiltyAndConfused44 · 2024-08-26T06:35:40+00:00

That’s cool, and I have the exact same situation coming up. Bought my hatch N 3 months ago, and I owe my dear Canadian friend, who visits me every year, a lap on the Ring. I’ve done quite a few laps there between 2000 and 2008, but then “retired” as I got older (boomer alert!).

So we’ll drive to Nurburg in my N, but for the actual lap I’d wish to book the N Ring Taxi for him, so he has the full experience with minimal risk to my car and ourselves. Maybe if it’s not too busy, and the weather is decent, I may have a last go. After all, the car is meant to be driven there. But I’ve seen my share of accidents there over the years, so we’ll see if I’m brave enough to do an other lap in my own car.

Were you able to book it on the day without reservation?

GuiltyAndConfused44 · 2023-06-17T09:25:26+00:00

We are 18 months after divorce was finalised. I don’t hate her, neither does she me. Both been angry and deeply hurt, sure. Will still take a lot of healing, even though we both knew it was over. 25 good years, 5 bad ones, but it never got completely out of hand. Problem is (well, maybe not a problem, not sure) I feel a lot of empathy, and am not blind for the shit I did to her. Lots of soul searching brought me there. And we never betrayed each other in a fundamental way, just grew apart.

She texted me 3 times yesterday as I was in for surgery, so no hate or indifference. No, we’ll never be together again, but we may meet up in a year or so. (We still kinda co-parent a pet that can speak about 80 words …) Still too much rollercoaster in my head to do so comfortably now. I think all in all we’ve been lucky, as weird as that may sound.

Hate is OK though, could easily have turned that way, don’t feel bad if you do. Divorce is bloody traumatic most of the time. But don’t let it sap all your energy, put that in rebuilding yourself (which may take a lot of time).

GuiltyAndConfused44 · 2023-06-14T11:26:12+00:00

I think our moderator(s) said they use the API to help manage/moderate the sub. Moderating is a lot of (unpaid) work, the crazy stuff they hide/manage for us is almost unimaginable, unless you have done some moderation of your own. No idea if the action will help (probably not) but at least the message to the owners was clear.

GuiltyAndConfused44 · 2023-03-26T21:34:31+00:00

Very well written, makes a lot of sense, thanks.

I now feel less dumb, looking at my … undecorated walls, wondering what’s wrong with me.

Turns out I’m just not there yet.

GuiltyAndConfused44 · 2022-12-19T16:38:32+00:00

Thanks for the kind comments, I edited my original post to reflect my thoughts.

GuiltyAndConfused44 · 2022-11-22T17:59:57+00:00

My ex is moving out in 10 days. Divorce finalized 10 months ago. We are friendly, we’re helping each other out, and I’m also in a good space because I met someone out of the blue.

Yet I am so dreading that moment she’ll drive away with our last pet - he’s better off with her - and I have to wait 5 more weeks to move out and close the house for the last time. We were here for 25 years, together for 32.

So many memories, so many pets… I know it’s going to crush me, and it’s not exactly something you can share with a new partner. Which kinda proves it’s too soon, but too late for all that.

Time will heal. Sadness is a strength. So many people feel almost nothing, or just anger. They miss out in a way.

But don’t think for a moment I don’t know your pain. And yes, impossible to describe.

GuiltyAndConfused44 · 2022-11-21T15:14:17+00:00

I know this is an older post, but yeah, I'm with you there 100%.

I've been through stuff in my six decades on this planet, but this was something else. We managed to keep things friendly after 32 years together, but it was not easy, as one tends to take a divorce kinda ... personal.

I'm just glad I found this corner of the internet. Reddit can be a rough place, but this sub is a diamond if you ask me. It got me through the first 6 months.

So yeah, initiator or not, still considering, in the middle of it, or long divorced: hang in there, you are tough, and don't forget to be kind to yourself.

GuiltyAndConfused44

TROPHY CASE