How to Jump Start a Car

Today I had to go over to my brother's apartment to help him get his Mazda3 started.  The culprit?  A dead battery!  It had been awhile since I had actually done a jumpstart with a car, since I usually use a “jumpbox” when a car has a dead battery.  It was a good refresher for my brother and me.

First thing you want to do is make sure the car with the good battery has sufficient gas.  My 96 Honda Accord had plenty of gas before going over to my brother's.  Also you want to make sure you have jumper cables.  This is embarrassing to admit, especially since I have an auto blog, but I did not have jumper cables in my car.  I had to get a set out of another car before going over to my brother's apartment.  I will buy jumper cables for my Accord though!  I promise!

When I got over to my brother's apartment, I parked my Accord as close to his car as possible.  Obviously leave enough room for you to get between the cars.  Hook up the cables in this order:

  1. Red Positive Cable onto Positive Terminal to Dead Battery
  2. Attach the other Red Positive Cable onto Positive Terminal to Good Battery
  3. Black Negative Cable onto Negative Terminal of Good Battery
  4. Attach the other Black Negative Cable of the Engine Block, Alternator, or Some Ground
Here is a good picture on the jumper cable bag, if you feel my instruction don't cut it!
How to Setup Jumper Cables!

After you have the cables hooked up start the car with the good battery and let it run for about 5-10 minutes.  It's important to make sure the cables have a good connection or you will be wasting your time.  (I know this from experience, but got a reminder about it today.)  After letting you car run for awhile, therefore letting the good battery charge the dead battery, try to start the car with the dead battery.  If it starts, let it run with the other car with the good battery for 2 minutes.  If not, keep the car with the good battery running since the dead battery needs more time to charge.

Once you have the dead battery car running keep it running for awhile to let the alternator charge the battery, shut off the car with the good battery.  Remove the cables in the REVERSE of how you put them on.  Refer to the instructions above.  I would drive around the car that had the dead battery to bring up the charge.  It might even be good to head over to an auto parts store that will test your battery for free.  You could wait a day, drive it around, and then see if it gives you trouble.  Most likely if you do go to an auto parts store after having to jump it you will be told the voltage will be low.  My brother and I still did this today to see if what the voltage of the battery was.  I would recommend driving it around to give it a chance to bring the change back up.  If the battery has been giving you trouble and been dying on you a lot, I would recommend changing it, since that battery will only continue to give you trouble.

I hope this post helps people who do not know how to Jump-Start their car.

Jumper Cables

The Inaugural Baltimore Grand Prix, a Successful Racing Weekend for Everyone

Pits next to Camden Yards at the Baltimore Grand Prix

Baltimore had an amazing 3-day Labor Day weekend with the Inaugural Baltimore Grand Prix.  It had everything you could ask for. huge crowds, good food, checkered flag-girls, tons of media, and a whole lot of fast cars.

In the Izod IndyCar series Will Powers won the Baltimore Grand Prix in a stunning victory. He came out early in the race commanding the track over his rivals and won with 10+ second lead. The win wasn't a complete surprise as he lead the pack during practices.  Second place runner up was Oriol Servia, who felt his name helped him in the humble city of Baltimore (Oriol translates from Spanish meaning Oriole.  Passing Camden Yards must have been good luck!)  He came from a 14th place start.  Third place runner up was Tony Kanaan, who rallied from a 27th place start and recovered from an interesting accident where he flew over Helio Castroneves during the warmup session.

In the American Le Mans series Guy Smith won the in LMP1 class, Kyle Marcelli in LMPC, Wolf Henzler in GT.  An accident where he lost one of his tires during a qualifying lap could not keep Jeroen Bleekemolen from winning in the GTC class.  Amazingly he jumped out of his car grabbed the tire put it into his car and drove into the pits to get it installed.  Luckily nobody was injured and nor was Jeroen's Porsche 911 GT3 racing car.  A great win for Jeroen!

It's clear this was a great event for Baltimore.  “We've set the stage to make this a staple event for Baltimore and the region…We had 160,000 fans over the 3 days.” commented Jay Davidson president of Baltimore Racing Development, the private company that oversaw the planning for the Baltimore Grand Prix. “Baltimore has a successful event to build upon for next year and for years to come.” exclaimed Stephanie Rawlings-Blake, The Mayor of Baltimore.  Scott Artherton president of the American Le Mans series added,  “For a first time event.  Honestly it could not have gone better.”

Many drivers commented on how great the weekend went.  Will Powers winner of the Baltimore Grand Prix noted, “That was the best podium ceremony of my career!”  Other drivers lauded the event as well.  “I couldn't believe the incredible number of fans who came out all three days. Street courses are always a good way to draw a good crowd, and the way the circuit was laid out… reminded me of the huge events we've had at places like Surfers Paradise, Long Beach, and Toronto…  I know we as drivers loved racing in Baltimore.” said Helio Castroneves on ESPN.com.  Tony Kanaan, third place runner up, “It's a beautiful track, bumpy and interesting.”  Oriol Servia “This track is a challenge for both drivers and engineers… I think it is fun.”  Scott Artherton on all the positive feedback from drivers, “Race car drivers are the first ones to offer up an opinion.  Normally it is not constructive and normally it is not good.”

Fans were extremely pleased with the event as well.   “It's awesome.  I go to a lot of these races, Long Beach, St Petersburg, Indianapolis.  Top-notch street course for sure!” said Peter Romero, an Albuquerque Lawyer and immense race fan. “This could be the second crown jewel in the IndyCar circuit…This venue is nicer than Long Beach.  It's crazy!  It's a perfect storm for a street course.” referring to all the hotels and accommodations located around the track.  Many other fans and spectators were equally pleased and enthusiastic about the weekend.

Even with all the delays on getting the track open on Friday for practices, issues seemed to get resolved for the rest of the weekend.  “It's part of the growing pains of dealing with a new track and new race.” said an Andretti Autosport team member whom I spoke with about the delays.  The general confusion among the staff seemed to be resolved as the weekend went on as well.  Everything was smoothed out by Sunday.

This was the first big racing event for the Mid-Atlantic region since Washington DC had a Grand Prix race in 2002.  IndyCar and American Le Mans feel this is a market that needed to be tapped and judging from the crowds, they could not have been more right.  It was truly amazing the sheer number of people all weekend..  The energy was sky-high everywhere.  The event was blessed with great weather, as it came after Hurricane Irene and before an immense amount of rain in Baltimore the following week.  The fans, drivers, media, and policy makers of Baltimore have spoken and many hope racing will be here for a long time to come.