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Posted by: trackbird Feb 14 2023, 05:12 AM

If you have always dreamed of owning your own message board, now is your chance. After 20 years, I think it’s time to pass the mouse over to someone else. This place has been a lot of fun over the years and I’ve met some amazing friends through this board. There is a lot of good information here, and I want that to be preserved. These days I haven’t had the time or interest to play with cars. So, I think it’s time to pass it along.

Contact me if interested.

Posted by: rpoz-29 Mar 8 2023, 12:37 PM

I sure hate see this happen. But thanks for all the fun through the years! You've done a great job with this site.

Bill

Posted by: JimMueller Mar 8 2023, 05:04 PM

I hope it can be saved and kept online (it'll take me forever to print out all the posts). How soon are you looking to sell? Weeks, months?

Posted by: trackbird Mar 9 2023, 12:29 AM

I don't really know. If nobody is interested, there's a lot of good info here and I don't want to shut it down. So, I guess I'll just keep it running, but I thought maybe someone would be dying to take over. lol

Posted by: SuperMacGuy Mar 9 2023, 06:29 PM

I'd also like to keep it online but don't have the desire to be the owner/admin. Maybe I can PP you some money for upkeep. Maybe some other people would also. I know the DB must be huge, is there a way to download it directly and run it locally?

Posted by: Rentedmule Mar 10 2023, 12:31 PM

I'm also happy to contribute some coin to keep it going. I take far more info than I have to give so it's 100% worth it for me.

Posted by: Crazy Canuck Mar 24 2023, 01:00 AM

It is a sad day.
Btw, glad i could help to bring it back up

Posted by: trackbird Mar 27 2023, 11:48 PM

Yes. Thank you for all the help. I still have to look into those other files and replacing them (unless you're up for trying that?).

Eugenio got us fixed up for the last outage. We had some old files pop up on a server scan that needed cleaned up and Eugenio took care of it so they'd put us back online.

Thanks Eugenio!

Posted by: zlexiss Apr 4 2023, 01:31 PM

Thank you! Mark me as one more for contributing to the upkeep, there's a lot left for me to learn...

Posted by: trackbird Apr 7 2023, 12:28 AM

Thanks. I appreciate it guys. I've just been so busy that I'm not here as much as I used to be. I still have my Camaro (though I rarely get to drive it). EugenioSS has been helping with admin duties. I just hoped it could transfer to someone knowledgeable who's younger and still "living" cars (more than I am these days).

I don't want to see it go away. It needs upgraded to new software. This version is extremely old and has many potential security issues. The cost is about $1500 (last time I checked, it may be more now) to upgrade to something more current. That's the main thing this board needs. I'm not familiar enough anymore to know if I could move to the competitive software and if there's a cheaper path for upgrades. I think LS1tech was on the competing software a while ago, assuming they haven't changed. I looked into moving towards that at one time, but it's been a long time.

Posted by: timyerby May 23 2023, 12:59 PM

Just saw this post, have you thought about contacting Sam Strano? He would be one I would think of might be good to pass the torch to.

Posted by: trackbird May 26 2023, 12:20 AM

I wondered about Sam and I wondered about UMI. Both are super active in the motorsports and F-body arena. So far, I've just been hanging out to see if anybody pops up that might have the right attitude/interest/approach.

Posted by: SuperMacGuy Jun 2 2023, 07:30 PM

Yeah UMI has a decent website and sounds like a good fit. No offense to Sam, but he is not keeping up with internet tech, so I doubt he'd be able to do any kind of maintenance (himself, he'd have to outsource it).

Posted by: SS2win Jun 28 2023, 02:29 PM

If it helps, I can provide the hosting and back end administration but I'd want to convert the site to simplemachines forum to eliminate the high cost of the software. Would need moderators to keep everything in order. email me if you want to discuss. ss2win at classic gm dot com

Posted by: trackbird Jul 24 2023, 01:33 AM

I'd love to swap this over to a different platform, I didn't think anything would allow migration from this version of the software (but I won't say I really know, I just assumed since it was an older version).

Posted by: SS2win Jan 18 2024, 03:45 PM

I'll have a look

Posted by: trackbird Jan 20 2024, 01:14 AM

Let me know what you come up with. Thanks!

Posted by: CrashTestDummy Jan 27 2024, 05:30 PM

I know this isn't the time of year that's conducive to F-body driving, but get out and at least drive that car!! These electronic cars seem to HATE not being driven!! We have a 4000-mile Dakota R/T that is slowly shutting itself down. It now has ABS and air bag lights lit on the dash, the door locks won't unlock with either the door switches or FOB, the power windows are ions, and now the blower won't come on. All my troubleshooting has been for naught. Our '12 Caprice, which was my DD, now sits in the garage on a battery tender since I rarely get out these days. It's posted a TPMS fault, probably due to dead TPMS batteries (~10-year life on average) and the first drive of the day results in Traction control and ABS faults. None are posting any codes.

So drive it, even if it's just to get it warmed up.

Posted by: trackbird Jan 28 2024, 06:14 PM

I actually love driving the car. I like the "analog" nature. The cable throttle allows me to turn at a traffic light and a flick of the toe will scoot the rear end over towards the outside of the corner. The new cars have no throttle response. And honestly, this thing really handles (I mean, I do own frrax....lol. But really, Ryan at UMI and I worked together to set up this particular car). It's a fun way to enjoy back roads and nice evenings. I never wanted a convertible, but I actually really like it. Sadly, I don't have a 3 car garage here and I have to empty the driveway to get the car out. I think it went 150 miles in 2021. 60 miles in 2022 and 10 miles in 2023. It sits inside on a battery tender. We've been looking at houses and hoping to find some land and a place with a 3 car garage or a large storage garage for the Camaro and the camper.

Posted by: Rentedmule Jan 29 2024, 12:31 PM

I put the Formula in storage last spring and drove the vette last summer. It's a hoot on an auto-X course and the brakes are phenomenal, but I agree, the analog feel of the Formula is so much better. Despite having almost 200 more HP, the vette doesn't feel as violent.

Posted by: GCrites80s Jan 30 2024, 12:19 AM

Hmm, I didn't think about cable throttle response. Everything with an electronic throttle I've had was an NA 4 cylinder so... you know.

Posted by: trackbird Apr 23 2025, 01:18 AM

Any interest? Hosting is currently paid through next spring. After that I am considering shutting the board down if I can?t find a buyer. I?m just too busy these days and I think someone could run this for the next couple decades.

Posted by: BenZ28 Jun 5 2025, 07:47 AM

Any possibility to keep this on "read-only" as an information resource for the coming years... if nobody takes the board over from you?

Posted by: trackbird Mar 17 2026, 02:07 AM

Still looking for someone interested in buying the forum. Let me know if you?re interested. I?m debating just shutting it down in the next year or so if nobody wants to take over.

Posted by: mikedamageinc Mar 17 2026, 05:46 PM

Wish I could, absolutely no time! I would love to be able to download what is there to keep the data and will ing to pay for it, others maybe too which could fund it for a while longer...

Posted by: JimMueller Mar 18 2026, 08:26 PM

What's the site traffic look like this year? How many logins per week/month? What's the cost to maintain it as-is? The site does seem slow to respond sometimes, as if it had gone to sleep awaiting traffic.