It Feels Like Christmas ...

 Just got my anniversary present in the mail - Thanks Maggie! - a pair of Euro flush mount turn signals. These will replace my current US spec "frog look" bulbous ones. The car is an Euro edition, so I'm just returning it to spec.

I also scored on Ebay a nice set of front grills. These came off a car that has been stored for the last 25 years and the chrome was in great shape. One slat was broken, but JB Weld came to the rescue and they look great. New ones, if you can get them from BMW - backordered the last I heard - go for over $800 a set.

Also heading my way is all new outside trim. I was part of a group buy for a set of stainless steel trim on the BMW 2002 FAQ web forum. With stainless I won't have to worry about polishing it all the time. The current trim is dirty, dented and looks okay at 25 feet, but would really stand out against the new paint. The new trim should make the paint really pop.

Meanwhile, work continues apace on the 44 racecar. After the rain light install the next item on my tick list was an overhaul of my video system. I had been running a digital camcorder being fed from some lipstick cameras, but have been unhappy with it lately. I run a Chasecam Picture-in-Picture (PIP) box to mix the 2 cameras and then feed the camcorder. The video quality from the 2011 Nationals was terrible and it was time to do something.

Something was a Chasecam digital system that I got off Ebay. Lipstick cam, digital recorder, memory cards, wires, all for $250. Since new we're approaching $1K I was pretty stoked with the deal. I sent it back to the manufacturer for a firmware update and installation of SuperCaps. This allows the system to start recording on power up and gracefully shut down when power is removed. Perfect for a racecar.

Video Stack - PIP processor + digital recorder 

It was a plug in play with the Chasecam PIP box. I mounted the forward camera in front of my mirror. This keeps it out of the elements and makes sure it doesn't need to compensate for the interior and external light levels.

Lipstick cam hiding in plain sight - attached to the roll cage

Rear cam is the same Hoyt Technology camera from before.

Now all I have to do is flip the Video switch on the console stack, and 3 seconds later it's recording to a MPG file. When done, flip the switch off and it powers down and gracefully closes the file. Pull the SD card, stick it in a computer and it's ready to go. No need to convert or transfer. The 16Gb card can do 2+ hours, so no need to worry about those 90 minute enduros. Me happy now.