Current Stories
PermaLinkBetter than chrome04:11:37 PM
Written By : Scott Good

Back when I started racing (this car), I bought first one, and then a second set of wheels for my dry tires. After powdercoating.Both sets were from CCW, who make great--and reasonably-priced--forged wheels. The second set was polished and looks almost like chrome. More importantly, brake dust, of which there is a lot, falls off almost effortlessly.

But the first set was not so lucky. You can see it in the lower photo in this post. For reasons I won't go into, the first set were shot-peened to a rough surface and then brite anodized (yes, that's the right spelling) a somewhat drab silver. They have never been as pretty as the polished ones but, more importantly, they are miserable to get clean.

Miserable.

Well, I was whining about this the other day to Bryce at Wheel Medic, one of my racing sponsors, and he said, "well, let's just powder coat them." He then proceeded to explain to me why you can't chrome plate racing wheels and probably shouldn't chrome plate any wheels: It makes them brittle. Also, chrome is prone to chipping off.

But it turns out there are new powder coating techniques that can give your wheels a polished- or chrome-like finish but without compromising the strength of the wheel. When Bryce suggested using that I said, "yeah, but my wheels have this rough surface on them. Won't that look like...you-know-what?"

He said, "No problem. It will fill that in." To be honest, I didn't completely believe him but he's the wheel refinishing expert so I took his advice. This afternoon I picked the wheels up and he was right: They are beautiful and smooth and, well, look like jewelry.

That's the upper photo in this post.

As they were before. Yuck.

It's a little amazing.

While mine are a chrome-like finish (except, I think, maybe just a teench darker and prettier), they will have a black chrome color as early as next week and can also tint the wheels so you get a colored chrome look (like, blue or purple or whatever).

It costs less than chrome, looks as good or better, is more durable, and doesn't make the wheel brittle. It's pretty amazing and they can do it for cars or motorcycles or probably any other kind of wheel you can think of. If you want to know more, call Bryce at 800-826-5795 (and tell him you read about it here).

Really...they look spectacular.


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PermaLinkMore than you ever wanted to know about Domino date fields02:48:17 PM
Written By : Scott Good

We are nearly finished with Internationalizing our workflow tool, ProcessIt. This has been a pretty significant effort, out of which has come a whole suite of tools that make it much easier to convert any Domino application to support multiple languages.

DatePicker.jpg


I'll write more about the whole toolset another day. Today, I want to concentrate on a single tool in the box and some interesting things we learned along the way.

This release of both the toolset and ProcessIt has concentrated on web-facing applications, although we have built all the tools with an eye toward making things work in the Notes client, too. One of the biggest challenges has been getting a great user experience for all the various dialog boxes you have to use.

Workflow applications, like pretty much any sophisticated Notes/Domino application, involve some amount of user interaction in the form of prompts, calendar pickers, date pickers, etc. One of our goals was to get rid of anything that required opening a new window. We wanted a modal-dialog-like experience.

And, we (which is a nice way of spreading the blame around by not saying "I, the anal-retentive one") didn't want to use the DoJo dialogs as they are, how can I put this nicely?, SLOW. As a result, we have spent a not-insignificant amount of time rolling our own, one of which you can see in the image above.

The calendar picker, which you see here, had a whole set of special problem because date fields have all kinds of different formats you can set them to use. So, we had to make it smart.


Read More . . .
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PermaLinkLike a real, live, video game07:41:23 AM
Written By : Scott Good

Our most-recent weekend at Mid-Ohio found a friend, Scott Berkowitz, starting from the back of the pack in a very fast car for Saturday's race. This video is of his full race but of particular interest is the first lap. Heck...the first straight. By my count, he gets by 15 cars before the first corner of the race.

Wow.


When he finally becomes Mortal again, he's just a few cars back from me (in the blue car) but that doesn't last very long either, try as I might. (But--hey--I at least eeked out a full lap...nearly...before he got me!)

Running in GTS3, the next-faster class from ours, Scott finished 2nd overall. Great drive.


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PermaLinkStonehenge solved...?05:27:29 PM
Written By : Scott Good

Now, then... that wasn't so bad, was it?


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PermaLinkWelcoming a new sponsor!09:27:53 AM
Written By : Scott Good

Infinite Fiberworks Co, a great source for high-quality Porsche fiberglass partsI'm pleased to announce that Infinite Fiberworks Co has joined as a sponsor of my racing efforts.

Located in Racine, Ohio, deep in the Southeastern part of the state, IFC makes excellent fiberglass parts for Porsches. I first found Mike via, of all places, eBay, where he had listed a replacement panel for the front of my car (to cover the area where the headlights used to be).

The price was very reasonable but even more impressive was (a) the part itself and (b) the way it was packed. By way of comparison, I bought an expensive fiberglass hood (which later delaminated at about 100mph on the front straight at Putnam Park) from a well-known Porsche fiberglass source in the middle of the country. That hood arrived literally jammed inside two sheets of corrugated cardboard...and with no other protection.

Even worse, the expensive hood from the well-known source didn't fit. The attachment points on the underside of the hood were not even close to being in the right places so rather than bolt on as advertised, the whole thing had to be reworked to get installed on the car in any semblance of the right position.

IFC's nose panel, on the other hand, was a perfect fit and came nestled inside a wood-and-cardboard box that very clearly had been built specifically for the delivery of that part. More recently, a replacement fiberglass hood from IFC arrived the same way--in its own carefully-constructed container. And, I have to say, the quality of the parts is excellent.

If you're in the market for fiberglass parts for your car, give IFC a look. You can find them at www.allporscheracing.com. They have an ever-growing list of available components and if they have what you're looking for, I can assure you, you'll be impressed.

Welcome aboard!


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PermaLinkI'm an idiot04:39:34 PM
Written By : Scott Good

We were racing again at Mid-Ohio this weekend. Saturday was an easy win with a 7-second margin over my friend Brad, who finished in second place with a 14-second margin over third.

Copyright 2008 Chris Clark Sunday might have been more of the same, but the operative word in that statement is "might."

I qualified on the class pole with a 1:38.7, my first-ever Mid-Ohio lap in the 38s. Even more encouraging is that it was sloppy; I know for sure I can go faster than that and am now dreaming of a 37....

So I was feeling good. Brad qualified second, also with his personal best Mid-Ohio lap (a 1:39.421...the only other car in our class under 1:40).

During qualifying, my brakes had felt a little soft. So, before the race I took the time to bleed them to make sure I didn't have any soft-pedal issues during the race. After all, we had all the time in the world between our 11:30AM qualifying and the 4:30PM race. Had to do something.

I took my time with the brake-bleeding and other routine maintenance I was doing, trying to be more methodical than I usually am, and savoring the available time. So, I don't really have any excuses, but somehow I managed to not tighten one of the bleeder valves quite all the way when I was done.

You can see where this is going, I'm sure.


Read More . . .
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PermaLinkWhaaaaaa...? Hmmmm?08:33:28 AM
Written By : Scott Good

One of my neighbors, Randy, stopped by the other day and OlympicSleep.jpg complained he was suffering from "Olympic Sleep Deprivation."

I laughed, but I know what he means.

I'm too old (or too used to getting up early) to stay up past midnight every night. I need my beauty sleep. But I need to see who's going to do what in the Olympics, too.

Thank heavens it won't be back for another four (OK, two) years...


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PermaLinkDi-Hydrogen Monoxide? Ban it!11:49:46 AM
Written By : Scott Good
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SMRT Racing Team

Thank you sponsors!

Infinite Fiberworks Co, a great source for high-quality Porsche fiberglass parts

Infinite Fiberworks Co.

If you are looking for fiberglass for Porsches, IFC is the place to go. I have used parts from most of the major suppliers and IFC's are easily the highest quality and the most reasonably-priced. Contact Mike at Infinite Fiberworks for more information.

Located in Racine, OH (so far Southeast they're almost in West Virginia), IFC's goal is to be The Best. Give 'em a try.


Bent or ugly wheels? Call Wheel Medic!

Wheel Medic & The Round House

Whether you need to repair, repaint, refinish or just replace your wheels, the guys at Wheel Medic/Round House can get you back on the road in no time!

Wheel Medic, Inc is a family-owned company which specializes in the repair and restoration of aluminum wheels.

The Round House was founded to service Wheel Medic's clients looking for more than just repair work...from custom wheel colors to high-end wheel applications and body kits, the Round House is there to serve the discriminating automotive enthusiast.


Used Porsche parts, great prices!

A Part Above

Looking for used parts for 944s, 924s, 968s or other late-model water-cooled Porsches? Contact John at A Part Above.

Located in Strongsville, OH (20 miles south of Cleveland) their goal is to provide top quality parts and services. I can tell you, John is great to work with and the prices? Very hard to beat.


SMRT Motorsports wants you!

SMRT (that's short for Skid Mark Racing Team), a very-

loosely organized band of fun-loving friends who enjoy auto racing (heck, cars in general), and the occasional adult beverage, wants you to be a part of our team.

Go here to find cool T-shirts, sweatshirts, caps and mugs with the SMRT team logo.

The BlogRoll
Speaking engagements, etc.
January 20-24, 2008
Lotusphere 2008 (Orlando, FL)
  • AJAX and JSON for IBM Lotus Domino Applications (JumpStart session)


  • Moving IBM Lotus Notes applications to the web (with Henry Newberry)


  • Implementing AJAX and JSON in Domino Applications (hands-on, with Henry Newberry)


  • A look under the hood at a world-class IBM Lotus Domino Web application (with Henry Newberry)
April 11-13, 2008
Mid-Ohio race course (New Lexington, Ohio) May 15-16, 2008
Mid-Ohio race course (New Lexington, Ohio) May 17-18, 2008
Putnam Park race course (Mount Meridian, IN) June 7-8, 2008
Grattan Park race course (maybe) (Mount Meridian, IN) July 11-13, 2008
Mid-Ohio race course (New Lexington, Ohio) August 15-17, 2008
Mid-Ohio race course (New Lexington, Ohio) September 13-16, 2007
Mid-Ohio race course (New Lexington, Ohio)
  • Racing for the NASA GTS2 National Championship
October 11-12, 2008
Putnam Park race course (Mount Meridian, IN)
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What I do for a living


I am the President of Teamwork Solutions a long-time Lotus, now IBM, Premier Partner.

With offices in Columbus and Cincinnati, Ohio, we specialize in custom application development for Notes, Domino, WebSphere and Workplace. Our software product, ProcessIt! (see below), is quite possibly the world's best, most powerful and easiest-to-use workflow tool for Notes and the web.

Our clients are some of the world's largest corporations along with others that aren't so big.

We do excellent work, quickly, and often on a fixed-fee basis. We'd love to talk to you about your next project.




I am a Contributing Author to Lotus Advisor Magazine, with more than 40 articles under my belt.

I've written how-to series (serieses?) on LotusScript, JavaScript, Cascading Style Sheets (CSS), and now, AJAX (Asynchronous JavaScript and XML), as well as a bit on miscellaneous web development topics.


TheView.jpg

I also write for The View as of the July/August issue where I showed how to take an ugly Notes applications and make it beautiful with just a few minutes' (careful) work.



I am the chief architect and one of two primary developers for what many consider the best all-around workflow tool for Notes/Domino, anywhere, regardless of price.

It's called ProcessIt!, and you can read all about it at www.notesworkflow.com but the bottom line is this: ProcessIt! is fast and easy to learn, extremely powerful, and can be used by mortals. Even--dare I say it?--common users.

You can spend a lot more on a workflow tool but you won't be able to do a lot more for all the extra money.

Don't believe me? Download and try it for free for 60 days.



Copyright Porsche and NASA...not me!

After many years away from it, I'm now back and racing a Porsche 944 S2 in events put on by the National Autosport Assocation (NASA) and other groups.

Blame this event for starting that particular money drain all over again.

This year I hope to win the NASA National Championship for the GTS2 class (fingers crossed).

I'm a Nationally-Certified Instructor for the Porsche Club of America and active in teaching high performance driving for them and other enthusiast groups at race track events throughout the Midwest.

In a prior life, I was the Midwestern Regional Formula Atlantic Champion and, in 1991, the Ohio Vally Region of SCCA's Regional Driver of the Year (but that, alas, went away when my credit cards let go of the rope!).




I'm writing a book...or at least trying to.

It's murder mystery in which, not too surprisingly, the main character runs a small software company and races cars for fun. Oh yeah, and lives near where I do.

Just where do they come up with these crazy ideas?