"Better to be lucky than good"

Ooo, ooo, ooo, the new GRM issue is here! And it's the Challenge edition!! Woot!

Where's my car, where's my car... Oh, there it is- page 63.

7th place overall!... And GRM said, "Sometimes it's better to be lucky than good..."

Hey, wait a minute! Ummm... I'm not sure how to take that!

I guess it's true. I WAS lucky. And a bunch of you vultures were so jealous that I felt like I was dodging bullets.

But I still placed 7th. Proud of it.

FWIW, I also put more effort into that car than most of my other challengers. Suspension work, power increases, huge rust repair. It's not easy to reduce a MINI by 300 lbs carefully so you can undo the work and return it to the street.

Sigh....

It's OK. I'm used to being misunderstood. At least I got a good signature out of the deal.

...and I'm still enjoying driving my (very fast) MINI!

Hmm... signature didn't show.

There it is!

Why isn't the Mini in your rides!?

You were totally lucky. What should have been a huge, crushing expense was just a bum alternator. That car might have been the deal of the event.

And that's why I love the Challenge. It separates the armchair quarterbacks from those who get their hands dirty.

GameboyRMH wrote: Why isn't the Mini in your rides!?

Because I'm a lazy E36 M3, and/or too busy with daily life to worry too much about keeping my profile up to date. And, I find the off-site hosting thing kind of annoying.

In reply to David S. Wallens:

Of course I was lucky.

But the supercharger wouldn't have stopped me. I would have put a $500 ebay supercharger on it, and STILL been very competitive!

The supercharger issue allowed me to buy store bought camber plates,instead of making them, which freed time for the rust repair and suspension tuning.

But I could STILL put some elbow grease into it and free up nearly $1000 in the budget.

Not gonna do it, because I have learned that it is really hard to drag race a MINI, and I am just having too much fun with the car!

wait, what? the supercharger didn't E36 M3 the bed?

Yea I read that in the magazine and was even more jealous...

Oddly enough, that's not an uncommon thing. I replaced a supercharger on a friend's MINI and it turned out to be the alternator. If I don't have "owner help" I could probably replace the alternator in a MINI in a couple of hours. Pop the bumper cover off, put the MFE in "service mode" and the alternator is right there... sort of... above the a/c compressor... Unfortunately, my friends always 'want to help' so everything takes twice as long for some reason... One reason I don't work on friends' cars anymore...

I'm used to being misunderstood

I for one am confident that neither one of us has EVER taken the other the wrong way!

Congrats on a good score (car) and a good score (event). Double score.

We got off track.

My point was not about the "luck".

My point was the implication that I was lucky, but NOT GOOD.

I thought it was funny. I figured that GRM was quite careless on the politically correct scale, by calling a long time reader and participant no good.

You guys are a riot.

On the other hand, maybe you meant it.

In which case i should take it personally and be really offended...

...naaah. I love you guys, even if it is unrequited!

AngryCorvair wrote: wait, what? the supercharger *didn't* E36 M3 the bed?

Right. Thanks for the pizza!

LOL! I like the sig idea!

I'm going with "Even a K-car will do."

"In the Shadow of a giant".

You could take it as "Even though you are good, this time luck played a larger role" (all related to the purchase of course, not the build )

And besides, who doesn't like getting lucky?

Yes, the implication was about the car needing an alternator instead of a supercharger, and not any indication of talent. Reading comprehension is your friend.