We're here enjoying beautiful weather in St. Petersburg now and the Project Si made it here with no major troubles. With the silencer stuffed into the exhaust tip the car is much more liveable on the freeway, though with all that added exhaust restriction it definitely feels a little constipated when you explore the upper reaches of the tach. At a steady cruise of 80ish mph, the car returned an average of nearly 30mpg. The ride is surprisingly comfortable for the most part, only reminding you of its reduced travel and extra stiffness when driving through the construction zones spattered across south Georgia. The only issue I faced with the car was a strange brain freeze of the navi system. It seems to have been somehow related to MP3 playback through the car's in dash CD player. After trying a number of different things, I finally remedied the problem by switching the source from the CD player to the FM tuner before shutting the car off.

When I arrived here yesterday afternoon, I was quickly whisked to our designated display spot. I quickly jacked the car up and changed the TSX wheels out for our 19" SSRs. (Special thanks to TOV member Bankston_Honda for sending a spare set of lugs). Since our A-Spec racing sway bar had broken (during our last track outing) and replaced with the stock bar, I asked Progress if we could try their swaybar. They sent one to me that arrived late on Wednesday afternoon, so while I had the car jacked up I went ahead and installed it. It was a very simple job. Now I can't wait to try the car with it.

If you want to come check out our car, it's parked right in front of the Mahaffey Theater facing the Honda Plaza. See Map

Anyhow, today's the first day of real track action. After the mandatory safety meeting for photogs, I sprinted out to the track to catch a bit of the World Challenge touring car practice. You can see a few of the photos below. A schedule of events is available here. I will do my best to provide updates through the weekend, but we're going to be pretty busy and I'm not sure where or when I will have access to the 'net.