Bret Kuhns

Bridgestone Potenza RE-01R tires provide oodles of grip.

I absolutely love “Extreme Performance” summer tires! Last year I put my snow tires on early after noticing the extra wear on my summer tires, hoping to save the tread for this summer. I finally got my set of Bridgestone Potenza RE-01R’s back on last night and I am absolutely floored at the difference in my car. I completely forgot the level of grip these tires provide. It is literally a night and day difference, every aspect of my car’s performance has improved. The stock alloys my Potenzas are mounted on are lighter than the snow tires’ steel wheels, so the car accelerates faster. The lateral grip blows the snow tires out of the water (comparison accelerometer log coming soon!) with an amazing improvement in steering response and highway straight-line stability courtesy of rock-solid sidewalls. But most importantly, the car now tugs at your face a bit in a hard stop.

If you’re driving a performance car without performance tires, you’re absolutely insane. It’s impossible to describe the feeling of confidence you get in the car when you can feel it so firmly planted to the ground. Imagine running around wearing bowling shoes versus a good pair of tennis shoes. That’s how drastic a difference I feel with these tires. Now I just need the money for R-compound tires…

The last semester of my undergrad program in CSE is finally here! This semester I have a Senior Design course where students form their own groups and come up with an idea related to the curriculum and implement it. Now if only I had an idea of what to design…

I’ve been participating in autocross events for years and have always wished I could afford a data acquisition system like those you see used in Formula 1, Indy, Le Mans, and/or NASCAR. With a DAQ, I’d be able to see exactly what my car is doing at an event and use that information to help me drive the course faster on my next run. Hopefully.

That got me thinking. Surely I’m not the only amateur autocrosser wishing for an affordable data acquisition system made for the weekend warrior. In fact, LOTS of people across the nation, and across the globe would probably love such a system. I didn’t know of any that existed on a college student budget, so I figured why not make one? It just so happens this senior design semester is the perfect time to get started. But where to begin? read more »