I have been using driving shoes for many years now, since they provide much better feedback required for driving compared to normal shoes that have a lot of padding in the sole. Or so I thought. The shoes I’ve been wearing, which range from Puma to Piloti, have much better soles than running shoes, walking shoes, cross training shoes, hiking shoes, etc. and allow my feet to get a better sense of what is going on with the pedals. This enhanced feel allows me to get a better sense of what the inputs to the controls are, which allows me to better control the car. These shoes allow me to better “see” what’s going on with my driving inputs. They really provide me with enhanced feedback, so that I can modulate the controls with greater precision. With normal shoes, my feet are “blind”.

So I thought normal driving shoes allowed my feet to see much better than normal shoes. This was until I experienced the sight given to me by Vibram FiveFingers shoes. The FiveFingers made it seem like all the other driving shoes were making my feet blind as a bat. Now, until I experienced the FiveFingers, I thought normal driving shoes are great. Little did I know how much they actually sucked, and how awesome the FiveFingers really are. The FiveFingers give you such precise feedback that you can feel the texture of the pedals through the nerve endings in the bottom of your feet. You can also articulate each toe, which allows you to more precisely apply pressure on the pedals, and gives you much more information about how far the petals a depressed, and how much they’re pushing back. This amount of detail is totally not available with normal driving shoes. The FiveFingers also allow your heel to “listen”, which opens up entirely new experiences in heel toe downshifting. I had no idea how much feedback you get from the gas pedal when your heel is not actually numb.

Not only are FiveFingers awesome shoes for running, walking, fitness training, martial arts training, but they are absolutely amazing for driving in. The shoes represent such a paradigm shift in shoe design that is almost the design of “no shoe”. By removing the shoe to the point where you can practically walk barefoot, without actually injuring your feet, this shoe enables your feet to sense things that were previously being filtered out due to thick soles and too much structure that really didn’t allow your feet to do what they were designed to do. Your feet are tremendously sensitive instruments which have built shock absorbers and by adding unnecessary structure and thick soles, it really defeats the purpose of having functioning feet. Orthotics, in my opinion, are quite useless and counterproductive and are not healthy, for people with healthy feet. Over long periods time, by not allowing your feet to do what they were designed to do, orthotics and normal shoes just ruin your feet and take a toll on your ankles, knees, lower back, and the rest of your spine. Regardless of the health impacts, FiveFingers are absolutely brilliant in enhancing the driving experience and allowing you to have a greater degree of control and feedback than was previously possible.

I’ve been meaning to write this post for a while now, and have been collecting and refining my thoughts on this subject. I respect nature and strive for a balance with it, in all aspects of my life. I’ve never thought that it made any sense to senselessly waste resources, whatever they may be. I’ve always strived for better ways of doing things, in my life.

Before starting ScreamingToaster, when I worked for other companies, I had to travel a lot. And I found it stupid to have to travel all over the US, from coast to coast, for meetings when it would suffice just to have a video conference call, over webex or skype or even those nice Cisco virtual meeting rooms. It didn’t make sense to me to needlessly travel so much. Tons of fuel being wasted, along with precious time in transit. I’m not averse to travel, just needless travel.

The same with commuting. I find it silly to sit in traffic for 2 hours a day! I’ve always strived to live close to where I work, so I wouldn’t have to commute everyday. I love cars and driving, but not sitting in traffic. Granted where I live, public transport isn’t really an option, but I’ve been able to work from home for the last 6 years or so.

Now back to cars. So there’s a huge green movement to reduce carbon emissions. This is a good thing. But this is not a simple issue to resolve. China burns tons of coal. And it’s not stopping. Some studies project that even after the developed nations cut carbon emissions drastically over the next few years, China stands to pollute 2x the whole world’s carbon output (as it stands today)! While individual attempts at conservation are great, there needs to be a much more concerted global effort to address the issue, otherwise, it will be for naught.

Having said this, I’ve taken a lot of effort in my daily life to reduce resource consumption. But how is a self professed track junkie and car nut supposed to do this? Well, I don’t drive my sports car, or any car, every day. I live near a grocery store in a town center, and walk to it. Also, my wife and I have optimized our grocery runs to once a week to conserve resources in general. We’ve gone as far as to create digital lifestyle software to enable this! MyListy allows us to create lists that are geocoded, so that we can optimize driving time and make sure that we take distance into account when planning for any thing! In fact, in all the digital lifestyle software that we create, location is a key component of it. The reason we did this is because we started thinking about distance being an attribute that could limit what it is that we were trying to do. Without this physical context, the impact/cost/consequences of certain tasks can’t be measured. Eg, it’s simple to realize that flying from one coast of the US to the other for a 1 hour introductory business meeting is wasteful. But what about little micro trips that people make every day that they might not even realize they’re making? So anyway, whether it’s lists or notes, or any other information or collaboration, all our software takes distance into account, among many other things…

I love going to the track when I can. I love driving laps around a track. And I realize that it consumes a large amount of fuel. And I’m totally cool with it. Like, I said, unless China becomes a team player and takes a leadership role in the world’s effort to not-pollute, it doesn’t matter how many efficient electric, gas hybrid vehicles are produced, or not. I said in the beginning that I strive to find balance with nature in my life, and this is a balance that I can live with. I try to conserve as much as I can 365 days a year so that I can experience car nirvana for 2 weeks (if I’m lucky that year).

Other ways in which I conserve include not buying paper books anymore. I either get digital downloads or use this service. I don’t needlessly use air travel. I don’t consume excessive amounts of heat or cooling or electricity or water. Insulation is a good thing. And I don’t waste food.

I like cities that have a commitment to community spaces, and public transportation, in favor of parking or too many roads/highways. The PBS show E2 is a great thing to watch to get an idea of what people and communities around the globe are doing to create more sustainable and harmonious existence in the context of our physical environment. Sustainability is a far reaching concept. And it’s not simple. Having started ScreamingToaster 3 years ago, that was one of my goals, to create something locally sustainable. To give back more than I take, and to do things smarter, and to respect people and ideas, and never to compromise on quality or integrity. It’s been and still is a rough journey, but hopefully we can create something worth creating and sustaining at the end of all these struggles .

- Nazmul.

Here I thought the Audi R8 was awesome, and I see this thing. The F458, replacement for the current F430. What a car! A 560 hp motor that revs to 9k! With 80% of the 400 torques coming on at 3k rpm! Low end grunt!

The fact that the design of the car was influenced by Michael Schumacher is awesome! Wow! More controls are mounted in the steering wheel than before thanks to his input . Very cool! Lots of suspension, differential, braking, and traction control enhancements in this car as well!

And it looks stunning! What a beautiful car, to say the least! I still like the R8, but now I want the F458 and R8 .

Continue reading the rest of ‘Ferrari F430 replacement’ …

Upcoming driver coaching program

I wanted to make everyone aware that the Jeff Andretti Coaching Group is putting together a program on Jun 22nd & 23rd at NJ Motorsports Park. You too can learn to drive like an Andretti! Jeff is a friend and celebrity member of Drivelikeagirl.com so I hope some of you can make it to his event. This will be an amazing opportunity to get driver coaching from a real race car driver and much more personalized than a normal DE track event.

Also, the NJ Motorsports Park is one of my fav tracks, it is amazing!! 

If you are interested, please contact Jeff Andretti via his website or his Linkedin page. Information about fees/costs can be found on Jeff’s website also.

About Jeff

Wikipedia entry on Jeff and the Andretti family.

All about Jeff, from his personal website.

About NJ Motorsports Park

Track overview

Here is a link to pictures of the track maps.

Today I’m at the park relaxing and pondering my existence. It is always important to take some time for yourself and get away from everyday life and immerse yourself in nature or cars… I think either one is equally healing to the soul.

Today I am at the park with my best friend. Here is a pic of him at the park. A pic of the pretty lake I walked by and a pic of where I am sitting now writing this post, on a pier by the water.

I hope you enjoy the pics and don’t forget to take some time to zen out and ponder your navel .

-Izabel

Park+bff

Lake, nice!

Lilly pads are highly underrated

My Porsche experience

My Porsche experience isn’t as extensive as I wish it was. Being only 26 I am super privileged to have even sat in a Porsche much less owned 2 of them. Here is a quick history of my 911 ownership:

2001 996 (sold)	2007 997 S (currently drive)

I don’t consider myself a Porsche fan-boy/girl because I do acknowledge there are other great cars out there for daily driving and the track. I am biased of course, because I love Porsche very much but I do understand other cars exist in the same universe, hehe . My track experience is limited due to my lack of funds currently and the track events I did were all in my Mini Cooper S with JCW package. So I can’t wait to take the 911 (black one) on the track. I feel that it is important to take a car you love to the track and go to the next level in your relationship with the car. There is a special bond between car and driver once you have tracked it that you can’t get driving on the regular roads. However, I am intensely in love with the 997S even though I haven’t gone to second base with it, hehe. This is all just from driving it around to the store and on road trips, etc. That’s pretty amazing to feel such a strong bond with a car you have only experiences 1% of, I can’t even imagine what I will feel after I go to 1 event with it, I will be sure to write about it, of course .

I didn’t drive the 996 much, it didn’t have PSM and I was just learning to drive stick shift at the time… and then it was sold in order to save money. But I did ride in it a lot and it was some what of a local celebrity around where I live, because it had straight pipes (no muffler) and sounded like a GT3 cup car. I used to fall asleep riding in it, to the sound of the exhaust. It was so relaxing and nice. The squeal of the track pads when they were cold was also nice too, ahh .

The 997S is a very different car, it is way more calm, almost cold in compared with the 996. The 997S doesn’t like to get out of sorts and feels very stable for everyday driving, assuming you are used to driving a sports car I guess… I drive it a few times a week to get groceries and go to movies. But since I moved so close to work I don’t drive much at all, sad. I wasn’t able to really bond with the car until I started taking it for short motoring trips (3o mins or so) around town by myself, just me and the car, and nice music too. These motoring trips, as well as my frequent trips to the grocery store might seem like nothing, but they have allowed a very strong a special bond to form between my and my 911 that I never thought possible.

What is behind Porsche?

What do I think of when I drive my car? What words come to mind? What does the car say when I drive it?

The words that come to mind are: magnificent, un-compromised, real, complete, exceptional, sharp, delicate, as well as super strong. It is not pretentious and not showy, and it is not trying to be anything it is not. It is kinda delicate when you drive it on every day roads with bumps and in parking lots, because it is not made for such things. It isn’t trying to be a daily driver all terrain vehicle (mud, gravel, dirt). I respect it intensely because I think it is the only “real” car I have ever driven. It isn’t a toy like a Mini Cooper, or an M3, or even Lamborgini Gallardo. If you fuck with it, it will fuck you back. This comes across loud and clear from the car. It is very obvious that there are for real consequences if you go fast and don’t know how to drive or you drive it like a jackass. It rewards a talented driver, and a delicate driver, and it likes to be treated with respect and care.

Now I am talking about the kind of delicate touch someone like Michael Schumacher has when we drove his Ferrari, he would go fast and bash the car to hell, but he still never failed to give it super smooth loving inputs. The 997S really responds to this too (so did the 996 and I’m sure all Porsches). I love this about the car, perhaps it appeals to my female nature? . I am a no-bullshit kind of person, I don’t like for a car to lie to me and make me feel more secure than I am or make me feel like I drive great if I don’t. This is also part of the 997s’ “realness”. When you are driving at legal speeds around town and you take an on ramp wrong, you unwind at the wrong time or come into it too hot, it screams at you to tell you that you did something wrong and it didn’t like it and perhaps if you continue to do that it might spin or you might crash if you go faster. It is like an early warning system and it doesn’t hide things or lie to you. I can respect this. Life is full of people bullshitting you, or putting on a face, or acting political, or having an underlying motivation for everything… it is so refreshing to have something in life that doesn’t bullshit you! .

I have never spun the 997S and since I haven’t taken it to the track yet there is a lot of uncharted territory there, but I can feel how special it is. All of what I just said is amplified considerably when you go about 4 or 5K rpms. Everything gets very serious very fast when the revs get high. But, if you keep them to 4K, it is totally civil for driving around town, how cool is that?

The 997S isn’t perfect, because the engine is in the wrong place. It is inherently imbalanced and not the best idea of how to make a car, especially a fast car (race cars aren’t rear-engined, they are mid-engined) but taking that into consideration all of the engineering to work around such “limitations” or I guess you can call them “features” of the 911’s chassis is spectacular. This allows the 997S to stop like no other car and it gives the driver a truly one-of-a-kind drive.

When I drive the 997S, it says to me “Fuck mediocrity. I stand for something. I am real. Everything fake can go die, I really don’t care”. Something along those lines .

Stark contrast with the world

The 997S is such a stark contrast with the world, and with humanity. Humans are always finding new and creative ways to kill, hurt, and keep other humans down. They are always finding ways of reducing things to their least common denominator. That is all “culture” really is, a collection of prejudices, rituals, and actions of a group of people from some point in time reduced to the least common denominator. If you don’t agree with me here or don’t get it, think about it for a while and perhaps you will, but I digress .

I almost forget sometimes that the 997S is a machine made by people, but these people are not normal people. Those few special people that work for Porsche and that produce such things as the 911, are not like most humans. They are exceptional. I can’t imagine the magic that goes on everyday in the Porsche facility. The 997S is a by product of people who who do not compromise or cater to any focus group. They understand passion, hope, and the human spirit and somehow magically engineer this into a car, amazing… If only more people could contribute positively in this way, the world would not be the same as it is today. Hopefully, I can be one of those special few people too in my own way .

Me and my 911

Often times when I am very stressed out, and things are bothering me, and life is really getting to and it seems the weight of the world is on my shoulders the 997S is one of the things that gets me through hard times. I go and drive it and it feels like a shiny beacon of hope and light in the world. It reminds me that all people don’t suck and that the work of just a few (Porsche employees) can offset the crap of so many people who cause hurt and pain. It makes me want to let go off all the bad things that have happened in my life and all of the things/people I am angry at and just bask in the pureness and bliss that is Porsche . It is like my therapy session, and I always come back feeling renewed and with new found hope. It reminds me that I can’t give in or give up and I must be myself and continue to seek the truth in all aspects of life and myself. It makes me want to be all I can be and discover all that I am meant to do with my time on this Earth. I want to be just like the 911 when I grow up, hehe .

What do you think? Is there a substitute?

My next baby

The Audi TTS, “Lays waste to ambivalence”.  Aw, I was smitten the moment I saw it!

I am sure most of you have heard about the TTS , but here some some of the most important specs in my opinion:

• 265 HP
• 258 Torques
• Top Speed 155pmh
• 0-60 is 4.9 seconds
• Fuel economy is between 21 and 29pmg, much better than my 911:) .
• Stronic dual cluth system with launch control – very cool, now I will feel like an F1 driver..sorta .
• Quattro, of course!
• Adjustable Audi Magnetic Ride, allows for a more or less sporty suspension feel at the push of a button, wow!!
• There are 3 trim packages, Premium, Premium Plus, and Prestige. I am going to get the Prestige because it has more fancy bits on the inside, as well as a nav systems, parking assist, and the upgraded sound system. If the upgraded sound system was an option alone, I would just get that, because that’s really all I want .

Here are the rest of the details for the new TTS from Audi’s website.

However, in the end, specs aside, a test drive is really all that matters. I have driven the regular TT but not the S, so I am going to try and schedule one this weekend…please check back next week for an update.

Continue reading the rest of ‘It is official, Audi TTS is my next car!!’ …