"Tiny F1" Online: The Web's Best Testing Ground For The Electric Karting Track

My physical condition is not going to allow me to participate in motorsports, or at least not in the conventional sense. But it's not good to use the word, "impossible." Goals are difficult to achieve; not impossible. When you have a condition like arthrogryposis, the language is not, "You can't do this/that," but more like, "Yes, this can be done, but it must be done with the right equipment."

It seems like we can pretty much agree, at this point, that hardware/software integration is not only here; it's our inevitable future. Under the umbrella of arthrogryposis, this is how I've been able to successfully develop my own race simulator, and really I'm not creating anything new, but using someone else's platform, and wrapping it around my own condition.

So if you are physically-challenged, like myself, then I do recommend visiting MB2 Raceway in Sylmar, California. They are not a disabled-exclusive venue, but they are very friendly toward our community. Even if you can't physically get into a car, being on the kart track is an experience. All-in-all, MB2's facility is a progressive, go-karting event, and disabled or not, I endorse their business. I also strongly recommend visiting them, when you are ready to try a hand at karting, and with or without a disability, Gary and crew will set you up with everything that you need to get racing.

In the meantime, Silvergames.com presents an online racing game, and of all the little "slot car" looking things that you can play online, Silvergames' Tiny F1 feels the most realistic.

You can use your computer's keyboard to drive the F1 car, either in race or practice mode. The on-screen console features a gauge panel, along with a small track overview, track time and other performance stats.

Really, it's just not the same as hitting the track at MB2. But for myself, I never raced go-karts until this year, and from the spring of 2013 till this year, Tiny F1 was my testing vehicle. That's because I've never raced cart professionally, and so the concept of track time was one that I desperately needed to learn.

This was true at MB2 Raceway, and though not a real, F1 car, Silvergames.com's Tiny F1, especially when linked via Bluetooth, feels like a lot of the faster slots of the '90s did: fast-and-nimble, yet very easy to crash! The last time I ever raced at MB2's, my 3-year-old nephew was watching, and I ate it on a side barrier. It was embarrassing, but in the future, it's good to know that I'll be able to train on Tiny F1.

Be sure to check it out on the website, and I recommend running the car in "practice" mode first, just because it makes it easy to record track times, along with other vital statistics that you may wish to record. From there, you can race against other F1s, or my preference: run the car on "practice," earn credit toward performance upgrades, then keep repeating that motion, until the F1 is dialed-in at about a 4:2, motor-to-grip ratio.

With that particular setup, I was able to run a track time of 2:25:13. That practice run was just this morning, and it was a dramatic increase over my previous track time of 2:25:28, recorded on October 25th of this year.

Because your smart device or keyboard links itself, electronically to the tiny F1 car, it makes your device part of the car itself. It has the reflexes of a traditional slot car, but without the motor heat. Also, you'll never have to worry about cars jumping off of their tracks, because with the Tiny F1 application, it's all-virtual!

Check out Tiny F1 when you can, from Silvergames.com, and if you did grow-up in the time of large-scale slots, then as soon as you drive Tiny F1, you'll know what "reflex" I am speaking of! Needless to say, it's a beautiful thing!

Permobil And The Challenged Community: How the C500 Became The Disabled Enthusiasts' First One-Off

I am one who was born, like a lot of small kids have been, with a physical challenge. In this case, arthrogryposis, and what that is is a condition with a Greek root, "Arthrogryposis"= "Fixed/hooked joints." That's problematic, because having your fingers, elbows and other bodily joints fixed into place keeps you from developing a grip.

Literally, depending on what degree of "AMC" one has, the condition can allow you to be better than any of your able-bodied friends, socially or otherwise. You can work out, go to the races...but then, when it comes to the more simplified tasks, using the restroom independently, taking a shower, self-feeding...these are the physical challenges that arthrogryposis brings about.

So that doesn't mean that I can't walk or bear weight, but I have to use a power chair anyway, because without it, I can only bear weight on my feet for so long. But there's a twist: because I depend on the chair to access my community, each and every one I've ever owned has become my ride.

Ask either of my parents, ask Aaron Baker...ask any of them. As I've said before, my parents' cars were extensions of their personalities; I always felt the same about my power chair. This is why every single power chair I've ever had has resembled the "Kustom" culture, if that's really what that was.

The idea was this: if you can't drive an actual vehicle, then use the one that you already have. For each person, that "vehicle" differs. But when you really start to look into ideologies, you find that there is a saying that's absolutely true: the vehicle is irrelevant. Each person, able-bodied or not, has needs, and those needs are personalized ones. While I needed the Permobil C500, disabled friends like Aaron and our mutual friend, Russel Burke, may have needed a different platform from the same manufacturer.

For me, I went with the power chair that I wanted, because it had the right suspension and battery range. But let's be honest: I also did it, because I was a car guy. I did it, because I knew that between the Permobil 300 and 500, the first was just a stock Malibu, while the latter was a Super Sport.

That may not be completely accurate, since it was my mid-wheeled Quickie, from back in high school, that was supposed to be the "pro-street" build of power chairs. But by the time I had gotten into the Permobil marque, it was clear to everyone, including myself, that what me and a lot of disabled enthusiasts were looking for, was that perfect balance between performance, looks and luxury. That was the same balance that the muscle car movement, for so many years, tried to achieve, and when we couldn't find any other way to translate that to a power chair, Permobil became the only manufacturer who was able to pull it off.

Tri-Five Chevrolet: My First Love, My Best Life, And My First "Job!"

During the summer of 1998, I was graduating from junior high, and my mom must've known, both of my parents really, that as early as age 13, I was on my way to Universal Tech.

On the day of my middle school graduation, there were only 3 three pronouns that I had in mind: Melissa D'Addio, Stacy Valentine...but wait a tic, why am I being driven-around in our family's Chevy van, when some other kid is being whisked-away in a glass-packed Lincoln?!

Skip ahead to that afternoon. My mom had given me a graduation card, and it read, "Here's 20 bucks for college, or the '57 Chevy." There's a backstory to this. In junior high, I was living at home in Northridge. The challenge that I issued to mom was this: I'll walk laps across our living room, if she would pay me per lap, so that I could save up for a shoebox, at least by the time I was in high school.

Well that never did pan-out, because kids, as it does turn out...$15-20 per session is just not enough for a '57 Chevy, and this is even under the context of a 1998 economy, and from what I remember about growing-up, it wasn't too bad!

Mom and dad are car people, and no matter how hard they may try to argue that, every single car that they ever purchased, literally from freaking 1980 to the present, was an extension of their personalities.

I can already read their minds: the kid's fanatical about cars that weren't expensive ones. A Monte Carlo, a '57 Chevy...when me and my sister were growing-up, those were extremely beautiful cars, and then they were also the kind that we drove to backyard BBQs.

In 2007, I found myself at Cal State Northridge, studying literature and creative writing. One night after class, I went to Bob's Big Boy in Toluca Lake, because that was the original. I told my mom about a Monte SS that had been at the cruise that night. It was one of the few times that mom and me had connected over automotive, because that was me and dad's thing.

But I was her first child, and as you learned from my previous blog, I have a muscular condition called arthrogryposis, so doing the car thing in front of mom was just as important as it was in front of the old man. Going back to the '57 shoebox that I was supposed to have had by high school, it never did happen, but during the times that mom was paying me to walk those laps, I felt the car coming together.

One of these days, I may have to call my mom at her work in Reno, just to let her know that I'll be walking those laps, largely due to Aaron Baker and CORE. With that kind of RND to back it, hell...why not even go for a raise?!

A Jedi Speaks About Star Tours And Motoring On The Tatooine Planet: How The "Permobil 500" Became A Real Road Car...

By the time 1987 had rolled-around, the battle of Endor was an event, by then nearly five years in the contemporary past, that had changed the very face of intergalactic travel. It was more difficult in those days, to transport everyday people with their luggage, to and from an ecosystem that was mainly forest.

But consumers are who they are, and so most American tourists wanted to be able to travel space; they weren't concerned about intergalactic turbulence! Some inventions of the aircraft and automotive markets proved that, but by this part of the 1980s, Syrinx's temples were in full-swing, and even Disney had been looking toward space as a possible business venture.

Where me and my dad came from, no one had a Maserati or a 911 Turbo; it was a desert planet. Skip ahead to the 1990s; my father had already established our family's land speeder garage on Tatooine, but my parents' business could never meet the demand for Endor travel.

Intergalactic transit was always a hobby of mine, but my parents could only give me so much money toward a craft of my own. After school, the Pizza Pod was my favorite franchise; greasy food, singing animals...Pod's had it all! But then I realized something, if my parents are unable to drive me places, if there's just no way that they can provide me, 24/7 with transportation, then I'll have to learn HoverRail.

Truth be told, HoverRail was Tatooine's transit hub long before Star Tours was even a thought. In fact, HoverRail established a light rail system, from Tatooine to Dagobah, nearly 25 years before the Metro Orange Line.

In a large way, this is how systems like HoverRail were the innovators, because in space, they invented public transit long before the earth!

But then Mr. George Lucas and the Tatooine Tech Committee devised a plan: pressure-test the Star Tours Transit Hub from Disneyland. Of all locations, we thought...Tomorrowland USA, but it worked! By the summer of 1987, Tatooine Tech and Disney made sure that Star Tours was in function. In fact, it became not only George Lucas' contribution to the Magic Kingdom, but it became the first transit hub to repair the Starspeeder 3000, on earth, while housing the "People Mover" transit way.

People Mover soon became HoverRail's "love child," but it was one that served Disneyland commuters, literally till around 1995. After I dropped-out of Jedi Tech, I applied to Disney; that's where I made a couple of unique friends.

C3P0 and R2D2 were a droid team, but they were very fussy together! Even so, they worked well, and when it came to going "Captain EO" on my father and others, these two were always on deck! Like Ziggy Stardust and his spiders, me and my droid friends would build that business, the one that would become Tomorrowland Performance Division.

My dad, a business man from the desert planet, helped me and Mike Eisner to construct the entire, Star Tours Transit Center, along with that Autotopia variant that very few know: Tomorrowland Performance Division.

Actually, my dad helped me to brainstorm my first project car, but I had to go behind his back to build it. That's where the droids came in. C3P0 and R2 helped me to find a pre-existent body, because even space people knew what American muscle was. Oh yes, people from Tatooine were very familiar, even then, with Van Halen, Grand Nationals...and the like!

But who needed those?! I had droids behind me, real ones, and when the old man wasn't looking, they were the ones who helped me, both from Tomorrowland and Tatooine, to construct the galaxy's greatest road car!

Collectively, the droids and I called the car the "CSX500," because Carroll Shelby was a motoring legend in space, as he was on earth in America. The car became "Spanish Castle Magic" at the galaxy's best in pod racing, and truth be told, Buick and GM sold the "Stellar" prototype to Tomorrowland, long before ASC-McLaren even got clearance to build the GNX.

I'm not saying that American muscle failed; it's just that I'm from space, I live and I breathe it, and so while Shelby became the "Ferrari" of America, Stellar--the turbo Buick's predecessor--became the muscle car of the future, and our GM-based, "500" road car became an automotive masterpiece, one that earth just wasn't ready for!