John is our anchor man here in RTP. Does a good job of getting us together several times a year for NSX events. Probably one of the tighter NSX communities you will find. We all know each other and our cars. For example: I was buying a new suit the other week, the guy fitting me saw my car asked me about it and told me one of his friends offer to let him borrow his car when his was in the shop. I told him who owned that car to his astomishment.
Steve is our local mechanic who can do just about anything you want to have done on your car from simple maintenance to more involved things. Accolades abound about his work. Nice to have someone who knows these cars inside and out here. We would have never have found him eexcept for the fact that John had organized a meet for us at Grill 66 where we met Steve. (riding his Harley that day)
Pretty NSX friendly area by any standards.
The weather? Well it beats the crap our of Chicago land. Lived in both places and I'll never move back. Right now its humid and muggy and downright unpleasant to do work on cars. I changed plugs the other day and although sweat was dripping in my eyes contsantly, its doable. Chucked the wrenches to the side when I got to the fuel filter. (Anyone got a spare pair of hands they want to lend me this weekend? Its a two man job) Typically the humdity breaks the last weekend of August and you have good weather through early November. December through late February are a bit too cold for me to work in the garage, but basketball season is on by then, so I'm usually at an NC State ball game a couple times a week then. It is good driving weather for the most part. Snows two or three times, but is gone in a day or two.
You will need to make a choice when you get to town as to who you support college wise. State, Duke and that other school 28 miles to the west of Raleigh are your choices. Its a basketball state and you will need to pick a team. People at work will not accept the "I like all the teams" excuse. You don't have to decide right away, but a choice is expected. The people you will be working with will want to talk college basketball and it will be a constant thing. Get used to that. Three major universities less than an hour drive apart is quite unique and makes for a lot of fun.
We have NHL Hockey here too (Carolina Hurricanes), so being from the north land, that may be of interest to you as well. They play at the RBC center (which is where NC State plays basketball and the football stadium is right across the street) which is an easy drive from anywhere in the RTP area. Right off I-40, easy in, easy out. Leave it to the Engineering school to figure out how to move traffic quickly and efficiently. Yea, I'm biased towords NC State. Steve also gives an NC State discount (he tells me) since his kids are currently enrolled there. ;o)
An added bonus is that the mountains are a few hours away, so if you want to do some spirited driving on curvey roads, it makes for a good weekend. VIR is a little over an hour away, so if you want to track the car, that is almost too convienent.
Good luck, hope to see you here soon.
Tim
