Not too many people have heard of the sport of autocrossing and whenever I mention that I race cars, I get sideways glances and questions of legality and such. Autocrossing is not illegal street racing in some far off clandestine part of Los Angeles late at night in front of a group of excited spectators brought together by IM with the police showing up to haul drivers away to jail, impound cars, and suspend licenses. Autocrossing is also not wheel-to-wheel racing at ludicrous speeds on a race track or road course, nor is it drag racing the quarter-mile down the strip or rallying across every terrain known to man. Instead, autocross is about precision driving at the car's and driver's limit - but within legal highway speeds - on a closed, timed course lined with cones (aka pylons). The best descriptions I've ever run across on autocrossing can be found here and here.

Two LA rainy seasons ago, I was driving home from a late night of swing dancing at the Atomic Ballroom in Irvine. The roads were slick from the day's rains, so I was driving pretty conservatively in my three-month old 2006 Miata. On Sunset Blvd., just past UCLA, I decided to give the car a little bit of gas in a turn to see what would happen. I was going about 35 mph at the time. As typical of what happens when you've got a driver who doesn't have much experience driving short wheelbase, rear-wheel drive cars on slick roads, the car fishtailed heavily left, then right, before spinning into the opposing lanes as I kept overcorrecting the steering wheel. On a public road. Fortunately, it was 3 a.m. and there were no other cars around and the only thing I hurt was my pride as the car gently came to a rest in the lane I was originally driving in. After that hair-raising experience, I couldn't bring myself to drive more than 25 mph the rest of the drive home.

Over the coming months, that spin stuck in my mind every time I got into the car. I had to learn how to drive this car properly, but how and where? I had been doing speed limit canyon driving for a while, but I could see how dangerous it would be to keep upping the ante on speed until I lost control of the car and ended up over the edge or, worse, collided with another vehicle and hurt another party. Performance driving schools cost at least $500 for a single day with $1000-1500 being more typical of better ones. More if you didn't use your own car. I had been cruising miata.net for information on Miatas ever since I bought the car and I ran into a suggestion that sounded intriguing: If you want to learn how to drive your car at the limits, the best and safest place to learn was autocrossing. Several posts mentioned that local autocross clubs sometimes hold beginner's schools to introduce new people to the sport. Now, it was a matter of finding out if there was a local autocross school or not.

Thanks to miata.net, I found out about Sports Car Club of America and Solo 2 autocrossing, the least expensive motorsport you can participate in with your own vehicle. It's reasonably safe as accidents rarely happen, though there have been two notable accidents this year - one in the Pacific Northwest region involving over $200,000 worth of damage to four cars when an experienced autocross driver driving a Porsche GT3 for the first time mistook the clutch for the brake pedal (fortunately, no one was hurt) and a Mazda RX-7 in Atlanta that lost all four of its wheels when the store sold the owner the wrong lugnuts (resulting in a lot of views as it was posted on Inside Line.) . But these incidents are more rare than you think thanks to the nature of the sport as the most damage most anyone does is hit a cone or two on a single run. In fact, you're FAR more likely to get into a collision heading to and from an autocross event than actual autocrossing. I spent a couple of months cruising the California Sports Car Club website, hoping that an autocross school would come up. I even went ahead and purchased a helmet so I couldn't use that as an excuse not to participate as a helmet is required.

On July 29th, 2006, I took my 2006 Miata out to the CSCC beginner's autocross school. Cost for one day of school plus one day of practice was $110. There, I learned how to handle a slalom, why learning to drive on a skidpad is important, how to read the different elements on an autocross course, what to look for when walking and then driving an autocross course, and even got the car to spin - with the only danger being to a bunch of orange cones. All while going as fast I possibly can. It was just about the most fun I'd had driving a car since ... well, ever.

I could have just walked away right there and be done with it.

But autocrossing is a motorsport and is built on competition and I'm pretty competitive so it was just a matter of time before I came back to something I had so much fun in. Just like any sport, autocross competitions happen every month for points, bragging rights, trophies, etc. For each competition, you may sign up for a practice that occurs on the day before, but participation in a practice isn't mandatory. Sometimes there are two-day practices without competitions. There are autocrosses held at the local, regional, and national level with the nationals held in the fall in Topeka, KS, where SCCA is headquartered. There are also other clubs that host autocrosses - like the Porsche and BMW sports car clubs.

One unique aspect to autocrossing is that everyone who races also works one of the many positions available. It's a community building experience as we all take part in making these events work smoothly for everyone involved. Like any community, there are rules, infighting, and such, but it's still one big, happy, if sometimes dysfunctional family. I've met quite a few people autocrossing, some of whom I consider good friends, so it is very much a community where the more you put in, the more you get out of it.

If there's a drawback to autocrossing it's the amount of time you spend on each course, which is different every time out: courses typically run from 30 seconds to 90 seconds long with 60 seconds being an average course. On practice days, you get anywhere from 12-16 runs on a course - about 12-15 minutes of 'seat time' - while championship events only allow three or four runs depending on the region you're participating in. That's about three to five minutes of racing for the day. That's it. There's a joke we have in autocrossing where we say that we spend more time chatting with friends we've made at these events and preparing our cars than we do actual racing because our day runs from 7 a.m. until we're done - which can be anywhere from noon. to 6 p.m. depending on when we finish our runs and doing our work assignments.  I won't even talk about the time spent going to and from the events.

Two months after the autocross school, I decided to sign up to join CSCC, the local SCCA chapter. I joined with CASOC, the same club that Mike Flores, my instructor from autocross school was in, and got into a free practice. I had originally thought about just doing practices to get better at autocrossing, but Saturday practices are mainly used as precursors for the Sunday championships and there is a limit as to how many participate in the practices (usually between 60-80), whereas there are as many as 250 championship participants. So, I signed up to participate in the October championship as a Novice.

I 'won' the Novice class that day, beating out a more powerful Mazda RX-8 for first place. As the results were later posted on the CSCC website, I learned just how slow I was compared to the fastest drivers that day as I was 9.5 seconds back from the overall leader based on the PAX handicap times and was 150th out of 182 drivers overall. Ouch. That's pretty far back. While that was pretty slow, I did learn something: I like doing the championships more because you can actually compare how well you're doing with other drivers and see just how well you're improving, if at all. You hit a cone or set the top time of day in practice, nobody cares later. You hit a cone in competition and it's a two-second penalty and can knock you from 1st to back of the pack in one run. Plus, in a championship you only get three or four pressure-packed runs to drive each new course instead of 12-16 in a practice. Some people don't like that kind of pressure. I found it a challenge.

I had to learn more about this sport, so I did more reading and found tips on how to go faster and even found schools run by National Championship-winning drivers dedicated specifically for autocrossing at half the cost of the least expensive performance driving school. Learn how to race from pros at a fraction of the cost of other schools?  Sign me up!  In January, 2007, I signed up for Evolution School Phase I and II to make sure I didn't continue to develop any bad habits early on. A week after, I took my car in for its first racing alignment at West End Alignment. Improvement was slow and steady over the course of the next few months as I made it a goal to get my first trophy in the tough local street tire class within my first year of competing in it. Pretty daunting considering I was a good seven seconds back from the leaders to start off, which is a LOT of time on a 60-second course. I started attending practices and doing ride-alongs with all sorts of drivers, trying to learn how to go faster while watching others and eventually learned where to place the car for maximum speed and, most importantly, how the car is supposed to feel at speed and what kind of driver inputs work best for me and my car. Four months after my first Evo school, I gave up on the 2006 Miata - though it is a GREAT street car with a good, smooth ride on the highway and good grip in spirited driving, it lacked the firm suspension tuning of older stock Miatas and I found it more and more frustrating to autocross thanks to its glassy steering feel combined with soft body motions. I didn't want to spend the money to move the car up to a more difficult class to get the feel of the older Miatas because stock class is far less expensive and I'm very budget minded.  So, I sold it. And bought a previous generation 2004 Miata.

When I first got the 2004, I was pretty excited about it, but within four days of purchasing the car I found out it wasn't the car I thought it was as it had an Achilles' heel - it didn't have a limited slip differential, a part crucial to racing as it allows you to put the power down efficiently in a turn and in autocrossing, you turn a lot. Undaunted, I took the 2004 out to its first championship at the end of May. And placed 9th with the car still right off the showroom floor with nothing but a tire upgrade. Since winning Novice in October, I had placed no better than 5th and as low as 15th in my class in the 2006. Despite the low finish, the 2004 was undoubtedly a better car than my 2006 as it gave me a lot of tactile feedback that was missing in the newer car. I couldn't stop giggling while out on course as the car was just plain fun with its buzzy engine, rattly chassis, and lively steering. All it really needed at this point was a good racing alignment. After getting the alignment done, I took my fourth autocross school day - the Evolution School Challenge, where we got to apply all we had learned in Evo Phase I and II. I thought I hadn't gotten as much out of it as I wanted as the only thing I learned was this:  I have the driving skills and the discipline to go fast in the fast parts and slow in the slow parts, but I'm not aggressive enough in competition.

After attending my third practice in a row to do ride-alongs instead of driving, one of my friends asked me why I never actually drove at the practices as 'seat time' is the most important way to improve. I explained to him that 1) ride-alongs are more fun than Disneyland with much shorter waits between rides, 2) I learn a lot by observing, especially after I've had good instruction, which I've had, 3) I get to view the next day's champ course in reverse, and 4) it's cheaper as I'm not beating my car up as much. But, he was right, I needed to get more seat time in. The only way I was going to get that first trophy was to race more. I decided I'd do better by doing Time-Only X-Runs when offered after my runs on champ days instead of doing Saturday practices. Though the times are recorded, X-Runs don't count for or against you on champ days.  They are just for practice and you get to see whether not you can improve on your championship times on the champ course, something you can't do on practice days, answering the question of 'what if...?'

The next two Cal Club events in June and July, I placed fourth - missing third place and that first trophy by .5 and .4 of a second, respectively. In the July 8th event, we were running on a very difficult course and I was eight slalom cones from the finish on my third and final run when I hit two cones, one of them only four cones from the finish, pushing me out of trophy contention. Rats. So close ... The interesting part was that I improved my best championship time that day on my X-Runs - on my fifth run of the day, I ran a clean time that was 4.4 seconds faster than my fourth-place run and 1.4 seconds faster than my fastest raw competition time.  I was still leaving too much time on the table in the championship and could have been faster with more aggressiveness, I thought, just as they told me in the Evo Challenge. Regardless, I did learn one thing from those X-Runs:  This 2004 Miata and I are definitely capable of getting that first trophy. 

In the quest for more seat time, on July 15th, I got up at 4:45 a.m. and drove down to San Diego for a championship. It would be my 13th championship event in nine months. George Schilling, one of my mentors in CASOC, had decided to compete in my car's class, the first time I had competed directly against him in four months - and I was a good 3.5 seconds back from his second place time that day. One of my other mentors, Reijo, was down there as well - I like walking course with Reijo because he and I analyze the courses very similarly and he's been autocrossing for over 20 years and knows what he's doing as he's one of the fastest drivers in our region, so it was good to have him. As Reijo, George, and I walked the day's course, George was pretty disappointed with the course layout as we were just coming off one of the most challenging Cal Club autocross courses designed in the last year and this San Diego one paled in comparison.

George turned to me and said that I was probably going to beat him in his Mini Cooper today. "Yeah right," I thought, "the best I've ever placed down here was 5th" in two previous San Diego championships, one in the rain. I always wonder if George just says stuff like that to build my confidence. When George first got his Mini earlier this year, he borrowed some R-compound tires and competed in the 2007 SCCA ProSolo in El Toro, where on his last two of 12 runs, he beat one of Arizona region's most talented drivers, Brian Peters. Peters had been brought in to drive a Mini to help the car's owner win a set of R-compound tires and had a full one-second lead after Saturday's six ProSolo runs.  I spoke with him as I exchanged work positions with him Saturday afternoon.  He was pretty confident going into Sunday's six runs, telling me "there's no competition here."  On Sunday, he was late and missed his first two runs, then coned away or red-lighted the rest of his runs and lost to George by a mere tenth of a second. Oops. That was the first time George ever raced in the Mini - and he bought it the Thursday before the weekend event. Ouch. Usually George competes in a Honda S2000, so it was unusual to see him with the Mini. Needless to say, I wasn't expecting much as there are a lot of great drivers in the street tire classes in both Cal Club and San Diego.

I also took note that one of the other drivers in our region, Ken Lord, had purchased a 2006 Miata and was also competing in our class this day. At the same ProSolo George won in his class, Ken won the Bonus Shootout. Both guys have been autocrossing for several years. A couple of other solid local San Diego drivers were there as well: Andrew Vo who had won his class the previous month and Tyson Newman who had administered a novice course walk to me (and others) the last time I drove in San Diego. So competition was going to be tight and the best I thought I could hope for was 5th or 6th. Also, we learned we were going to get four runs on the course, which was good for me because I could use the seat time and it was a long drive to get there, so I might as well get the most for my time and money. My goal for the day was to just try and stay ahead of Ken. After all, the last thing I wanted to do was end up with a slower time than a car I had just sold two months earlier.

On my first run, I scored a 62.858 second lap. Ken ended up with a 63.896 and George ended up with a 61.952-second lap, good for first in our class. Thanks to George's handicap, he had a 2.3-second lead on me, but he said that was pretty much all the car had. I had only improved that much once in the entire time I've been competing. And that's when George was mentoring me. And I had gone from 10th of 10 in the class that day to ... 10th of 10. So, I dismissed getting first. On my second lap, despite almost missing a gate (which would have been a DNF - did not finish the course, resulting in no time recorded), I improved slightly with 62.318 raw time, but managed to hit a cone and had to stand on my first run. Ken was still running 63s with a 63.405 on his second run. On my third run I tried to catch George by cutting down my time, but ended up with another 62 as George had gotten two 60-second laps with his best clean run being a 60.576 on his second run. Then, Ken scored a 61.734 on his third run, getting ahead of me by a half-second. Ouch.  However, I had one more run left. 

On my last run, I drove up to the grid master and, as he marked off my final run, he leaned down and and said "This is your last run. You know the course and you know what you have to do. Stay calm and focused. Drive fast. Good luck." Focusing on the course ahead, I nodded and drove up to the starting line. I told myself to keep my head up so I could look as far ahead as possible to plan my moves and, most importantly, not miss anything and DNF. The starter dropped the flag and off I went, driving the fast parts of the course as fast as I could and being patient in the slow parts. I hadn't hit any cones as I approached the final three turns and could see the finish. That's when I felt the car's rear end start to get light and swing around. I nearly panicked, but kept my eyes on the finish line, determined not to lose it. The LAST thing I wanted to do was spin at the finish with everybody watching and possibly hitting the timing lights, which would pretty much ruin everyone's day. I made a couple of minor steering corrections to keep the car pointed in the right direction and crossed the timing lights just as I got the car under control.

Reijo was handing out the timing slips for this run group and, as I approached him, I couldn't help but glance over at the timing display. I thought I was imagining things as a 60.920 was staring back at me. I gave a whoop and raised my arms in triumph. I had dropped 1.3 seconds off my fastest time, staying ahead of Ken and coming within .5 seconds of George's fastest clean time. It was the first time I had ever been that focused in an actual competition before. I kept waiting for the announcer to say if I hit any cones or not, but that announcement never came.

After pulling my car out of grid, I watched George and Ken complete their fourth and final runs. George was unable to improve upon his fastest run as he hit a cone on his final 60-second run. Ken was also unable to improve on his 61-second third run as he slowed down by .9 of a second, leaving me ahead of him. When George and I parked our cars back in the paddock,  I told him my time and he said that was a pretty good one, figuring that I was in 2nd or 3rd. I thought it was good for 4th or 5th with all the other great drivers there.

The results for our class were posted 20 minutes after we finished and I didn't have to look very far for my name as I placed 2nd out of 12 drivers in my class with only George ahead of me. I had won my first trophy - three months before my goal of one year of competition to win one on a day when I was only looking to get seat time in. Overall, I was 1.4 seconds behind George thanks to his car's softer handicap, but that 1.3 second improvement on my fourth and final run was good enough to go from 7th to 2nd place, just .017 of a second ahead of Andrew Vo's third place time and I was the fastest stock Miata on street tires for the day. Ken ended up 6th as his 61-second lap was his best run. I have to admit, it was odd to see the other drivers compare their times in relation to mine as I'm usually the one playing catchup. It was a great feeling of accomplishment and validated all the moves I had made these last few months - selling the 2006 and buying the 2004 Miata, attending the Evo schools, going to practices, etc.

With my first local trophy out of the way, my current goal is to continue to improve as I now know what it takes to get an autocross trophy - that 1.4 second gap between George and I shows there's still a lot of room for improvement and I still haven't proven I can get it done in the three runs we're allotted in Cal Club as it took me four this time in San Diego. Also, the car needs work as it could use a better set of shocks and the all-important limited slip. I'm also planning on purchasing an extra set of wheels so I can start using R-compound tires and moving away from street tire class. So, I'm definitely up for the challenge and this level of confidence is something I haven't felt in a long time and it feels good.

Attempting to embrace a less-is-more philosophy with my Myspace page and blog. 

..>..>

You Have A Type B+ Personality

B+ You're a pro at going with the flow You love to kick back and take in everything life has to offer A total joy to be around, people crave your stability. While you're totally laid back, you can have bouts of hyperactivity. Get into a project you love, and you won't stop until it's done You're passionate - just selective about your passions

While growing up, my father and I used to take care of his cars - washing them, waxing them, changing the oil and flushing the radiator etc. It was one of the few things we ever really bonded on as we either fought over everything else or he would simply lecture on and on about how I should be living my life while I internally rolled my eyes and would drift off into my own little world.

When I later got my own car, I continued car maintenance without him as he would spend his Sunday mornings out playing tennis, a sport I have since long given up on, while I would spend mine washing my car since I had the driveway all to myself. As time went on, neglect would settle in on what was once a new car and the finish would deteriorate into a well-maintained, but crappy-looking ride. As I am now on my fourth car, this one six months old, I'm still in a bit of a honeymoon phase of care: wash it at least once a month, wax it every three, etc.

Now, I've been living in my current apartment for, oh, five or six years now. My memory is a bit hazy on this subject because I'm at that time in my life where days blur into each other because I've got a pretty set routine despite having a variety of interests that barely have anything to do with each other. A couple of weeks ago I got notice over e-mail that our apartment would be painted. I didn't give it much thought. Bad idea.

Last Saturday, I walked out of my apartment and took note of the guys on ladders painting up above. My neighbor, Brie, was returning from an outing and asked me if I knew this was going on beforehand. I did, I replied. Evidently, she hadn't been reading her e-mails or simply never received this one. E-mail, as you may have noticed, has become notoriously unreliable these days thanks to all the spam filters running around and this message, due to the large number of recipients, probably got caught up in her ISP's filters. That's my guess, anyway.

I then made the mistake of walking out to my car.

There was a rather stiff wind blowing that day with cloud-cover blanketing all of Lalaland. The painters were using spray guns. With white paint. My car is Gray. Not just gray, but also a convertible with a vinyl top. A black vinyl top. Not a good combination.

I took note that three of the cars in our lot were covered, but none of the other dozen or so were as the wind whipped these covers around. As I walked over to my car, I saw that it was covered in a rather fine mist of paint. Other cars in the lot also had paint over them as well. Over every square inch of them. If this was my dad's car, he would have thrown a fit and broken out his guns. As it was, it was my car and, though I don't own a gun and my heart didn't exactly sink as I realize it is just a material possession (in fact, I've stopped naming my cars as of this one), I was pretty pissed off. I tried getting some of it off my trunk with some detail spray. After scrubbing for ten minutes, I was able to get a clean spot. A very small one. That's not good, I thought. I couldn't deal with it at that moment because I had a going-away party to attend. The car could wait.

Now, some Americans would take pictures and prepare for a lawsuit. However, when something is wrong, I try to right it myself as soon as possible and avoid all legal tangles because, well, that's the way I am. Could be my obsessive-compulsiveness - the same OCD that drives me to do well at just about everything I attempt - or it could just be plain idiocy. Either way I ignored all those logical, sensible steps we Americans are 'supposed' to do. Those who know me know that once I get started on a task, I do not stop until it is done, even if it takes months or, gasp, years. That's why I've been able to put together three vanity collections of my comics over the past seven years. Anyway...

The next day, I grabbed two buckets, car soap, wash mitt, and a bug-tar removing sponge and got to work scrubbing. Five hours of scrubbing later... yes, you read that correctly ... I was able to get about 90% off the paint, 75% off the windows, and a mere 5% off the vinyl top. The head worker apologized when I showed him the damage he and his crew had wrought. I was too tired to really yell at him, but firmly, and politely, told him he should have covered ALL the cars in the lot.

Little did my neighbors and I know that was just the beginning of our headaches with the painters. Other problems popped up as the workers dropped paint everywhere - on the driveway, on the stairs, on people's doormats, etc. Not to mention broken flower pots, broken dishes from moving exterior pieces without checking to see if they were attached to anything inside, aloe plants that had been cut, flower pots with paint... the list goes on. It got so bad, they got nicknamed 'The Wrecking Crew.'


The problem with getting exterior paint onto a car, especially a convertible with a vinyl top, is that the paint sticks like, well, paint. Now, on car paint, it comes off rather easily as I learned. But it's all the plastic and rubber where you've got problems. Same goes with the vinyl top, which requires some care. Every time you try and scratch or rub the paint off a molding and trim, the plastic gets permanently etched. Fortunately, the top is more durable. Unfortunately, it's also rather textured and can peel your skin off if you're not careful when attempting to rub paint out.

The next day, I changed strategies as the head painter apologized again. I guess he wanted me to forgive him, but he wasn't getting off that easily. I wanted him to see me out there working on that car every day that way it would stick in his head that they had done something very wrong. Very passive aggressive of me, I know, but I had already confronted the problem directly. So, this time around, I grabbed a toilet brush and some cleaner and got to work on the top and was able to get 75% of the paint out. The rest, however, was proving difficult.

I got word from my apartment manager that the owner and the painters were willing to work with me on getting my car fixed and was relieved with that as it meant I could stop working on the car myself and find someone else to do it. I was originally going to do that, but my obsessive-compulsiveness and will to finish what I started got in the way.

While trying to remove the paint from the car's finish, I found that using a constant stream of water helped. Three days after my first attempt at cleaning the car, I noticed condensation inside of my car. I thought there might be a leak in the top or something, but then realized that the carpet must have been wet. However, it hadn't rained. Then, it hit me, the convertible top drains from the outside to the INSIDE of the car, then goes out the bottom through drain holes. When these holes clog, they can flood the inside of the car. I had been using a lot of water - more than the car was designed to handle - and this had flowed right into the driver's side of my car. I reached down through a hole in the carpet to feel the insulation. Sure enough, it was soaked.

I immediately pulled all the insulation out of the driver's side and squeezed it dry. There had to have been a half-gallon of water in there. If you leave wet insulation inside a car, mold and mildew will eventually set in and stink up the car. Not good for someone who suffers from bouts with bronchitis. Another problem is rust, though I'll leave that explanation for you scientist types. After I dried the insulation, I put it back in.

However, the next day, there was still condensation in the car and the head painter was still apologizing, but I was pretty much ignoring him at this point as I had other things on my mind. I checked the insulation and, sure enough, it was damp again. After some more investigating, I noticed the front firewall also had insulation and this was wet. After getting home from a night of dancing, I decided to leave this area exposed as I left the windows open so it could dry.

It was 2 a.m. and I was half-thinking sleep and half-thinking I wanted this done ASAP. At first, I left the driver's side window open, but I noticed that as I did so there was a light shining from our apartment building right onto my car and it really made clear that my driver's side window was open and ready for anyone to come in and make it their home. So, I closed that window and left the passenger side open. As I walked back to my apartment, I looked up at the sky and thought, 'nah, it won't rain. This is Southern California.' There was a little voice in the back of my heading telling me I should check the weather just in case, but sleep beckoned.

At 5:30 a.m., I awoke in a panic as I realized it was raining. Correction, it was pouring. I got up and groggily stumbled around half-awake trying to get dressed. Sure enough, it was raining quite hard. I made my way back to the car, closed the window and inspected the damage. The entire passenger side was now wet. 'I must be cursed,' I thought. On the way back to dreamland, I just laughed. This was just absolutely ridiculous.

I spent Friday drying out both sides of my car - this time propping up the firewall insulation, which had a lot of water, and then left my passenger side window open and the seat facing the sun.

Saturday, I used a clay bar and detailing spray to deal with the remaining exterior paint overspray the workers had done and was able to get most of it out. I took note that using the bug-tar removing sponge scratched up some of the plastic and rubber trim and moldings to do it. Oh well. At least I know who did it. But there was still the top to contend with. I hadn't figured out what to do about the remaining 25% from the top, but otherwise, I was now rid of 99% of the paint from every other surface. The top was going to require some extra care - more specifically, a cleaner designed to clean convertible tops.

I spent Sunday morning reinstalling the insulation, waxing my car, vaccuuming the interior, and dealing with the top one last time. This time, thanks to a combination of the right cleaner and a lot of scrubbing, I was able to get 99% of the paint off. I could live with that.

As the last of the paint came off, I got this overwhelming sense of accomplishment over having conquered this situation. It reminded me of those times I had spent with my father cleaning his cars - that sense of pride that comes with a job well done. Now, if only I could get those scratches out of the plastic molding I had done while trying to remove the paint from them. But that's a task for a another day...