Palomar Solar Racing

[BasilHayden]

Well we made it, it was quite the journey just to get here but even with the trip up to Laguna Seca we had challenges, thanks to those who offered advise as we lost a wheel bearing on the trailer in the middle of the night on the way up. First a thanks to those who got us here.

Well the Friday before we were to head up to the Reunion, we sent the car in the trailer up to Buttonwillow for a quick shakedown. After all the work would it run as we hoped?
This was actually the first time I saw the car finished, it was stunning.

After a few track sessions we realized we had the car back and it was ready...it was time to head up the 101 to Laguna Seca. It was time to show the car to those who came to see the 2018 Reunion. This has been a bucketlist event for me to bring a car and be a part of it, I cant say how proud i was to see Mike in the paddock with his car that we brought back from a total loss just months before. It truly was beautiful.

 

[BasilHayden]

Saturday night we arrived, technically during the pre-reunion, but we were able to load in and be a part of the show and have a day to just relax and enjoy, after the last couple months Mike needed it, he was wasted.

It was a fun but tiring drive up, not sure if any noticed but it was hot that week especially in the central valley, glad I had AC, top was down and I was moving a bit faster than 65. Love this car, my Dad bought it new in 86, I crossed 113k miles on this trip.

We loaded in Mikes car as well as a few others we were pitting,

 

[BasilHayden]

I was able to arrange for our Dad to come up and spend the weekend with us. Dad brought us here back in the 80's; for him to see his son in a car on the grid was very special for all of us.

There was a track tour lap for the Datsun photos, Roxie was having a blast

pretty good company to be had, pretty sure a few of you can place the names to these gentlemen, one of whom was still wheeling not only a Z this weekend but also a Tiger.

Here was the group photo

 

[BasilHayden]

I have tons more but here a re a few just for fun, beginning with CYA's flat out stunning 356, and he wheels the shit out of it, first 356 in his group.

everyone needs a ranchero tire carrier, right?

Tommy, next year if we come, I need you to make it here, I suck at photos and it is honestly sensory overload, you never get a chance to see this much hardware in one place. By the way if Im not mistaken there were more than a few RDP folks here with their cars. I wish I had met the Canucks...Here are a few of the cars

who doesn't need 2, this is so amazing...

anyone like CSL's

Maybe you prefer F1

of course you need a car to get home, why not a McLaren

Thousands of pics, this was worth the effort to make it.

 

[Taboma]

Awesome thread and thanks again for taking the time to share

 

[spectras only]

Was nice to meet you and Roxy. Your car looked great in person and on the track. Met Kent, Kent junior and his dad Mark with the Chevron car too. Did you see the three Porsches Gregory from Vancouver Island had there? He had the silver Freightliner moho with trailer. My buddies are building two 904 Porsches just like Greg had on display.
BTW, got a warning speeding ticket 7:45 in the morning going through school zone a bit faster Didn't know your school zones are 24/7 Ours are between 8:00am to 5:00pm. Seen cops hiding there afterwards, every morning, going to the track, great revenue generation spot Monterey gone ballistic about money, they charged $200.00 to go gawk about cars at the Concorso Italiano,lol. Years ago, I went to see my friends car at Pebble Beach, was only $10 at the gate.

 

[C Ya]

Was nice to meet you and Roxy. Your car looked great in person and on the track. Met Kent, Kent junior and his dad Mark with the Chevron car too. Did you see the three Porsches Gregory from Vancouver Island had there? He had the silver Freightliner moho with trailer. My buddies are building two 904 Porsches just like Greg had on display.
BTW, got a warning speeding ticket 7:45 in the morning going through school zone a bit faster Didn't know your school zones are 24/7 Ours are between 8:00am to 5:00pm. Seen cops hiding there afterwards, every morning, going to the track, great revenue generation spot Monterey gone ballistic about money, they charged $200.00 to go gawk about cars at the Concorso Italiano,lol. Years ago, I went to see my friends car at Pebble Beach, was only $10 at the gate.

Spectras,

Would have liked to have met you. From your pictures it looks like some of your cars were in my run group. Are you guys coming down for Rennsport?

C Ya!

 

[spectras only]

C Ya, no we won't be there. Plan to come next year again to Laguna Seca. Healey guys we stayed with are from San Diego. Don't know if they planned going to Rennsport. Healey specialist Terry broke the crankshaft in his Healey Sebring Coupe, so probably won't make it either. Canuck Gregory might attend with his yellow Elva Porsche MK VIIS, albeit didn't hear him mentioning it.

 

[RaceTec]

Great Thread!!! So many great memories for me at these tracks!

 

[BasilHayden]

Was nice to meet you and Roxy. Your car looked great in person and on the track. Met Kent, Kent junior and his dad Mark with the Chevron car too. Did you see the three Porsches Gregory from Vancouver Island had there? He had the silver Freightliner moho with trailer. My buddies are building two 904 Porsches just like Greg had on display.
BTW, got a warning speeding ticket 7:45 in the morning going through school zone a bit faster Didn't know your school zones are 24/7 Ours are between 8:00am to 5:00pm. Seen cops hiding there afterwards, every morning, going to the track, great revenue generation spot Monterey gone ballistic about money, they charged $200.00 to go gawk about cars at the Concorso Italiano,lol. Years ago, I went to see my friends car at Pebble Beach, was only $10 at the gate.

Ok now i feel like an ass, I am trying like hell to remember meeting you. I know I walked past your pits on Saturday though. It was so much to take in and make sure that we had everything ready to run when the clock said it was our time. I am pretty sure I have pics of your cars on the track, I will try to run through and find them for you.

 

[spectras only]

Well, it was a breef meet, so I'm not sure which one of you were rcmike or Andy. Roxy was with the driver of the Nissan. I'm thinking Andy was with Roxy, right?
This was me you see in the Jag.

 

[BasilHayden]

Ok,

Of course I remember now, it was great to say hi. Mike was my brother who drove the car, Roxie and I just like enjoying the show and believeing we make a difference.

 

[rcmike]

So the event started with the need to test. We knew the work we had done, but there is still nothing like driving the car into a corner to know what is really there. My same friend who had run the track day that Andy ran his first event at was running an event at Buttonwillow. We decided to go!

The only problem was that Laguna Seca had told us we needed to be there by 5pm or the trailer dolly would be gone until Tuesday. So I left Friday night to have the car ready to go Saturday Morning. The only problem is they shut the gates at Buttonwillow at 10pm. I had the timing perfect. Came down the hill, and I was past the 5-99 split before 9pm, when suddenly the trailer decided to toss a wheel bearing. I pulled the trailer over, looked at what was going on, and decided to pull the 3rd tire and limp the trailer in for service. Got off the freeway, and ran slow into the town of Buttonwillow.

Saturday morning early, the local mobile trailer guy was not answering, so I made the call. Limp the trailer up to the track, and unload. I decided if we needed to take it somewhere, it would be a lot easier empty. And in the mean time, we could get the testing done while the trailer got fixed. Andy arrived shortly after I got the car out, and we got ready to run.

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As we were prepping to run, the guy from the race shop on the track came up and asked what the deal was with 5 wheels on the trailer. I told him the story, and asked if he knew somewhere we could take the trailer to for repair. He looked at it, and pointed at his shop. "Let me move a few things, and then bring it over. We have all those parts."

So we went decided to get a run on the car. I hopped in and drove up, and they were looking for another instructor for the lead/follow session for the intermediates.. I laughed and said lets do this. So I ran 2 laps in 2nd gear showing the line, then ran 80% for 3/4 of a lap until I caught the back of the line. Pulled the car off, and brought the trailer over for service. We changed the car over to the slicks, so we could feel the car on the right tires. Went out and ran 4 laps with the advanced group. The car worked. Huge lift. And we had gotten our first mark on the car...

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The trailer guys finished up, we loaded the trailer, and it was time to go. We were going to be close on time, getting to Laguna Seca. As we were pulling out of Buttonwillow, saw an omen. I was not sure if it was good or bad..

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We fueled up in Lost Hills, and got on the road. Andy took off, so he could make sure we would get in to Laguna. I followed up in the trailer, planning to get there right around 4:50.. After getting past an accident on highway 68, at 4:56, I rolled in the gate..

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We had made it. By getting in Saturday, we would be able to set up, and not be fighting to get it done while the other trailer were coming in. Huge thank you to the track workers who stayed a few minutes late to get the trailer parked. By the time we were there, there was no way we were going to be parking with the truck..

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We got some beers for the volunteers, and called it a night..

 

[AZBrummett21]

Was nice to meet you and Roxy. Your car looked great in person and on the track. Met Kent, Kent junior and his dad Mark with the Chevron car too. Did you see the three Porsches Gregory from Vancouver Island had there? He had the silver Freightliner moho with trailer. My buddies are building two 904 Porsches just like Greg had on display.
BTW, got a warning speeding ticket 7:45 in the morning going through school zone a bit faster Didn't know your school zones are 24/7 Ours are between 8:00am to 5:00pm. Seen cops hiding there afterwards, every morning, going to the track, great revenue generation spot Monterey gone ballistic about money, they charged $200.00 to go gawk about cars at the Concorso Italiano,lol. Years ago, I went to see my friends car at Pebble Beach, was only $10 at the gate.

It sure was nice to meet you Attila. My dad who is also named Kent had a poor weekend in the Chevron. The car lost second gear in the first practice session and then the distributor broke at the end of the second practice session. After several calls to the UK and driving around Monetary we were unable to find parts. We were sidelined and played tourist for the remainder of the trip.

I wanted to make it over to meet you Mike but every time I had a spare minute I ended up watching the races or playing with my boys. Mike the car looked fantastic! The hard work and long hours payed off big time. I look forward to more racing stories and hope to meet you and the crew soon.

 

[spectras only]

Saw the Chevron on the track once and wondered why didn't see it more during the event. That sux about broken parts but shit happens racing. Was nice meeting you and your family. I'm sure your boy is or will be a gear head.

 

[rcmike]

Spectras, great to meet you too! I know we talked a couple times!

The Saturday arrival gave us time to get ready and enjoy the Sunday racing. We got the tents up and the cars out..

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Then we got a chance to see C-ya's race. It was funny seeing the V8 powered monsters out front getting chased down by the little 356s..

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Monday we had to wait for the 3rd roadster to arrive from Wisconsin, then we decided to run up to Canepa to see the shop. This was something I had wanted to see for years, and I had heard they were going to have the entire shop open to see what was going on.. I have to say this place was mind blowing!

Boat content..

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Just one of Dan Gurney's F1 cars..

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Porsche 917 getting ready for Rennsport

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Porsche 959 almost finished.. The bumper was coming out of the paint booth. There were a total of 11 959s in the shop.

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A couple 917s...

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Porsche turbo powered Pikes peak race buggy..

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Anyway, it was amazing.

Wednesday, Roxie was able to get up to Monterey in time for the Nissan/Datsun class picture..

Lined up for our backwards trip around the track. I have never done this, even when we went out after hours to look for a 45 year old center cap that came off a car at R's day..

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Out waiting for the photographer to line everything up.

And now with the cars set in place, they brought in the "celebrities"... John Morton, Peter Brock, and Steve Millen.

Thursday, the racing would start!

 

[spectras only]

Great pictures Mike. 959 Porsches are iconic, I guess they're now street legal? Jerry Seinfeld could only driven it on the tracks I've heard. Dig the barrel back boat in your pics, what brand is it?

 

[spectras only]

Got a picture of Cya's Porsche in the lineup. Didn't know it was him at the time.

 

[rcmike]

Great pictures Mike. 959 Porsches are iconic, I guess they're now street legal? Jerry Seinfeld could only driven it on the tracks I've heard. Dig the barrel back boat in your pics, what brand is it?

The boat was a Chris Craft I think.. There was almost no info back in that room, they were the project cars getting ready for work. Most just had a name and a reference number on them.

The Porsche 959 is now completely legal. It's kinda a funny story. Mercedes got the grey market imports declared illegal, period in the early 80s. Jerry Seinfeld and Bill Gates were responsible for the "Show or Display" exemption and the 25 year exemption, because both wanted a 959. Any car that can be shown to the DOT to have been produced in such limited numbers and of such significant historical and technological importance that it merits importation can be imported at any time, and if it meets EPA emissions standards, can be driven on the roads for up to 2500 miles a year. At 22 years, EPA declares imported non US market cars to be exempt from regulation. At 25 years, DOT declares that the car no longer needs to meet federal crash, lighting, anti-theft, or any other standards, and if it was already here under "show and display" that restriction ends.

It is thanks to Bill and Jerry that I was able to import my Skyline GTR under the 25 year exemption.

 

[spectras only]

My friend who's Austin Healey we brought to Laguna, owns a one and only Noble M400 in Canada. It's a 2007, the last Noble before Rossion Q1. He had to get it through the US, partially dismantle it there and brought it to Canada as a kit car. He could only register it as a U-built. He wanted to become canadian dealer/distributor. But, since Noble only built about 260 cars, never crash tested them, he couldn't get a licence to import. So, Noble is a unicorn in Canada with about 60 units imported to the US.

 

[rcmike]

The saga continues...

This weekend we are running with VARA again at Willow Springs. Took some doing, but we were able to get the cars ready and up to the track Thursday night. We were able to get Andy out on the track today, with some lead/follow action. Unfortunately one of the open wheel cars oiled down the entire track, but after they cleaned it up, we went out.. Andy was really feeling the car, but that oil dry was pretty slick..

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Andy was able to bring out a little more speed as the afternoon went on, before a tuning issue sidelined the car. Really a fun day, playing teacher.

Looking forward to this weekend's racing!

 

[rcmike]

So just when we were starting to sigh and relax, we go up for the Willow Springs Commemorative Road Races. Saturday morning starts with the usual drivers meeting, blah blah blah don't hit anyone, we don't race to the yellow, noting to win but a flag, but everything to lose, etc..

9 AM we lined up on the grid for our morning qualifier. Andy gives me the thumbs up, and the plan is to put in a decent lap and be at the front for the afternoon timed runs..

First timed lap..

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Ok? I am beyond upset. Honestly do not even know what to say. The back third of the car is a pretzel..

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We are trying to decide where we go from here. I really think the best idea is to build a tribute car, then slowly rebuild the real car..

But we will talk and figure it out in the near future..

 

[Taboma]

So just when we were starting to sigh and relax, we go up for the Willow Springs Commemorative Road Races. Saturday morning starts with the usual drivers meeting, blah blah blah don't hit anyone, we don't race to the yellow, noting to win but a flag, but everything to lose, etc..

9 AM we lined up on the grid for our morning qualifier. Andy gives me the thumbs up, and the plan is to put in a decent lap and be at the front for the afternoon timed runs..

First timed lap..

.

Ok? I am beyond upset. Honestly do not even know what to say. The back third of the car is a pretzel..

.

We are trying to decide where we go from here. I really think the best idea is to build a tribute car, then slowly rebuild the real car..

But we will talk and figure it out in the near future..

 

[C Ya]

So just when we were starting to sigh and relax, we go up for the Willow Springs Commemorative Road Races. Saturday morning starts with the usual drivers meeting, blah blah blah don't hit anyone, we don't race to the yellow, noting to win but a flag, but everything to lose, etc..

9 AM we lined up on the grid for our morning qualifier. Andy gives me the thumbs up, and the plan is to put in a decent lap and be at the front for the afternoon timed runs..

First timed lap..

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Ok? I am beyond upset. Honestly do not even know what to say. The back third of the car is a pretzel..

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We are trying to decide where we go from here. I really think the best idea is to build a tribute car, then slowly rebuild the real car..

But we will talk and figure it out in the near future..

That makes me sick just watching that. I’m not sure what I would do. I hope they use the 13/13 rule like othe organizations.

Best of luck with whatever you decide.

C Ya!

 

[BasilHayden]

Mike kept himself under self control even though everything in him wanted to lash out, even when the other driver kept saying he did nothing wrong. It was unreal listening "and by the way since you were in the way my car is totaled too."

We will find a way to continue, just waiting for Mike to catch his breath so we can make a plan. If they will waive the rule requiring him to race I believe he will be the champion in his class anyways this year, of course it helps to only have 2 other cars in the group. His lap times the day before on crap tires would have put him on the pole today. I guess thats racing, but it sucks after all the work that was done to put the car back together over the summer.

 

[HotRod82]

heartbreaking........usually "that's racing" applies here, however vintage racing just isn't supposed to go down like this. ugh.

 

[spectras only]

Man that sucks. Mike, I'm sorry about your car. Hopefully you'll be able to repair and race it again.
My son and I are finishing a track only 1990 spec Miata so easily replaceable.

 

[rcmike]

My son and I are finishing a track only 1990 spec Miata so easily replaceable.

Please make sure the cage work, seat, belts, etc, is good.

I had friends running at COTA this weekend, in the NASA nationals, and one of them had a HARD crash in a big turbo Miata. He is in the hospital in Texas tonight with a collapsed lung, broken back, and several other injuries. I got a call last night about flying to Texas to drive the RV and trailer back, but this morning, the hospital told them he could not get on an airplane any time soon, so they are leaving the RV in Texas until he is released.

It's funny, but this was some perspective I really needed last night. It could have been so much worse. I woke up this morning, and literally NOTHING was sore. And all I took last night was 2 Advil..

 

[spectras only]

Yeah, we got the latest cage kit. All new for track only suspension, new brakes, seat and harness. It's a no turbo 1600cc class. There were two NASA Mazdas on the track today. Also a bunch of Radicals.

 

[rcmike]

I had an amazing phone call this morning. My phone was ringing and it said "Performance Specialties"

Rock Vest called to ask if I was alright, and to see what had happened. We had an awesome talk about the last year, and I have to say it cheered me immensely. I think he reinforced my desire to rebuild the car, and get it back onto the track.

I have to say, such a great guy. I wish I had the chance to know him better, but I am still so proud to have the chance to represent his car.

He also said the flooding is not so bad in Lewisville, NC, but I hope my friends in that area stay safe!

 

[rcmike]

So while we made decisions and lined up our plan for my race car, we have been working on getting Andy's car ready, and getting Andy a wheel to wheel license.

As noted above, we had Andy out running at the September VARA races at Willow Springs..

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This gave us a list of things that needed to change to get the BMW through a pre race tech. We got right to work on this, hoping to have Andy ready to run in the car for the German car races at the VARA Oktoberfest race. We were hopeful, but unfortunately, it did not quite get done. We really wanted to get Andy the track experience to get his full competition license, so I made a couple phone calls. We found out that they were running a race school at the Oktoberfest event, and they preferred a high performance street car for the instructor ride alongs. So I called Andy and let him know I was running home from Havasu to pick up my Skyline and would meet him at the track for Friday.. It took some arm twisting, but Andy decided to give it a run. Really glad we did.

Andy got to get used to driving on the right side of the car..

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And then there was the fact that the alternator on the car decided this was a great time to quit. Unfortunately since it is a Japanese market only car, there is no way to run to AutoZone and get a replacement. So we had to swap and charge batteries after every session so the car would run..

After the first day, there was an amazing sunset in the paddock, so I had to grab a shot..

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Day 2, Andy kept getting faster, I kept telling him to push the braking later, until, he finally took it deep.. There is a jump at the end of the straight going the direction we were going, and it caught him..lol The almond trees got a pretty good dusting, but no damage to the car, and he drove right back in..

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At the end of the weekend, everyone was happy, and the car drove back on the trailer, and they told Andy to get his race car ready, and he would be in the races in November..

 

[rcmike]

So we got to work finishing the BMW, it now has a current dated seat, current fire bottle, new belts, all the catch tanks, electrical system works, a real disconnect, a fresh fuel cell, basically, a new car safety wise. We pushed it through, and got it ready..

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I got the usual beauty shots..

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Andy went digging through the VARA entries, and we realized that there were already several cars in his run group with the 22 number. So Andy looked around and decided on the 07..

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Got it loaded and up to the track, Andy would run the Friday practice, and the Saturday and Sunday races.. The races were run at sunset, both days, driving into the high speed turns straight into the sun..

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As the race went on, the sun went down..

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At the end of the weekend, again, we got to drive the car into the trailer, and I will be finishing prep for the January races. During the weekend, we talked about our plans for my car, and we lined some stuff up for Andy's car..

 

[Taboma]

Thanks for the update, as always, fun, interesting and certainly entertaining

Oh, and glad Mike didn't wrinkle that cool Skyline

Having never driven a right-hand drive vehicle, did Mike find it challenging to receive track instruction on the right, then jump to racing back on the left ?

Are you working on the Rock car, or moving forward with the backup and swapping parts ?

 

[rcmike]

I drive it pretty regularly, and I find going back and forth pretty easy. Andy said this was his first time driving right drive car since college, so he was thinking about it at first. What I have found is that if you are concentrating, driving on the wrong side is easy. I had told Andy to touch the "curbs" so he would have a good feel for where the corners are, and within 2 laps he was touching each one.

Literally the hardest part is positioning the car where you want it, since your mind has decades of training to expect the wheels to be "about there..." and instead they are shifted the other way.. it's like when you get in a VW bus. It's hard to drive your body ALL the way to the wall when parking a bus, because your mid cant accept that you are in front of the wheels..

Update on the Rock Vest car tonight!

 

[nowski]

Cool thread but I thought it was going to be solar powered racing...

 

[BasilHayden]

Cool thread but I thought it was going to be solar powered racing...

View attachment 702991

Hahaha, I sell solar so I can burn leaded race fuel, the kids don't even mind something about all the carbon credits I must have created.

 

[BasilHayden]

Driving the Skyline was a lot of fun, though shifting with the wrong hand was odd for the first session. I literally hadnt driven a right hander since I used to drive a friends 356 in high school. Pretty sure we were 15 and would scream around his block in Huntington Beach.

Driving my car last weekend was a blast and I was improving session after session. I picked up 6 seconds from my last time at the track. There are still a number of things I need to work on, driving tail out, way out, seems to be the biggest. Telling my right front to keep pushing the loud pedal even after my ass says thats all shes got is still tough. Sailing into turn 8 flat out and hearing Mike tell me it will do it was tough the first time. But in all reality we have a 20 year old motor that might be making 110hp, thats at least 40hp short of the slower cars in my class and a solid 110 hp short of where Mike runs at the pointy end of the field. I think I should be able to run with the slower cars next year while I relearn to drive at the limit, might just build a B Sedan motor after next season and start running towards the front.

As for the Datsun, it will be back on the track next season. But we will put together a track car that can be run hard without worrying about the history sooner than later and save the Rock Vest 38 for significant historic events.

 

[rcmike]

So as my friend Kevin has been working on these Datsun roadsters for decades, he has built quite a few of them. In the process, he has acquired quite a few parts cars. So we decided we needed a frame, and a rear tub to fix the race car. The roadster is body on frame, so we needed both.

Roadster frame...

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Roadster body.. This one will eventually be my street car, when it gets rebodied..

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So first we went looking for a frame. We grabbed a car out of the field, the body is rusted out all the way around the bottom. It was actually kinda scary lifting it off.. But the frame is solid as a rock..

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So we have a frame, time to get a back half.. Kevin had bought his son a roadster shell about 10 years ago, planning to eventually build him a car. He later bought a rust free body, because the front half of the car was absolute rusty junk. When this wreck happened, Kevin called his son, who is in the Air Force, and asked if he minded if we used it for the fix. Troy said absolutely, go for it.

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Other than the field dirt falling off the frame, it looks good..lol

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[rcmike]

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Now, at this point, we were going to be using the donor piece. But we checked out the part. It was reassuring during the cuts, as the sound deadener popped off how clean the metal was. But once we pulled the body off the frame, it was beautiful. Only rust spot was right in the corner of the wheel well, which is going to be cut off anyway.

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So for transport, Kevin and I carried the back half cut out of the shop and put it onto the frame, and prepared to get it into the shop.

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We have been looking for a shop that understands the fact that this car needs to be a functional and safe race car, and at the same time understands that this is a piece of history, and we cannot just grab a new shell and start over. Parts of the car, specifically the frame and roll bar, need to be saved if possible. We are confident that the frame is straight from the rear suspension forward, and the body is perfect from the doors forward. The cage is straight except for one of the rear diagonal legs.

Our friend Mike Sweeney at Pacific Throttle House recommended a shop who deals in vintage race cars, so the plan is early this week to get the car up to Monterey and drop both the race car and the parts car at the shop. I should be picking up fiberglass tomorrow at Hannemans, and with luck will be leaving tomorrow to make this happen.

 

[rcmike]

So, the first week in the body shop was spent getting the car to a point that we can start to build. This is ugly. But the stuff that was destroyed needed to be gone, so we can start building a car again.

I had run up to Washington state, so on the way back I stopped in at Empire..

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And the saw keeps going..

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So when I got there, the cutting had finished. The damaged diagonal was removed, and the main hoop was brought down to clean metal to prep for the fix.

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The damaged frame removed, the donor frame had been measured, and cut, and opened, so it could be prepped to be put in place.

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The metal we could save was cleaned, to ready it for the new tub..

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And so here we were with the donor frame, essentially in place.

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In the mean time, the donor body was cut to ready it to go out to blast so we will have fresh metal to weld this on..

 

[riverroyal]

Mrs RR needs some palomar solar biz cards....mail some? Swing by?
Thanks!!

 

[BasilHayden]

Mrs RR needs some palomar solar biz cards....mail some? Swing by?
Thanks!!

Let me get some sent over to you, or happy to have either of you drop by the office. Just crazy busy at year end.

 

[rcmike]

Week 2 started with the tub out for media blast. We wanted it clean and ready to mount. Some minor rust was found, cut out, and replaced.

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When it came back, it was placed on the car to check the frame, then frame was welded up, and then the body was mounted. With the body in place, the roll structure was able to be recreated and mounted.

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On the passenger side, the wheel tub is starting to be recreated. It was too damaged to be fixed..

 

[BasilHayden]

Teaser

You may recal in September there was another incident. Its actually become quite the talk of the paddock since that race, but I digress. Mike and I were beyond upset and discouraged after all we had gone through to bring the car back.

Well it went to surgery last month and Mike is on the way to pick it up now. Still needs paint and graphics, but it looks amazing...

"Very, very nice. I think the flare actually looks better than the original set we installed" quote from one of the original owners of the car

Mike has his swagger back, you can hear it in his voice.

 

[rcmike]

So, to catch this all up, Andy hit the nail on the head. We are almost back! Going back to the week before Christmas, here we go..


So my friend Revo has been hosting track days for years, as a way to get people to quit racing on the streets. Unfortunately, his health finally caught up with him, and he passed in October. I had already bought a spot at the last track day he had organized, on December 29 at Chuckwalla. With the car back from Empire before Christmas, I asked Kevin if we could try to get the car ready to run. Kevin said if I could help him organize to build some engines, he would go over the car and help me get it ready. Yes and yes!

So it took the better part of a complete day, but we got the car built out. We still need to install a battery box, some general cleaning, but..

.

While we were at it, we spent a couple days on some other engines.. Since we had the U20 tools out, I dragged the dry sump engine out as well..

.

We performed our regular maintenance, pour on some new oil, remove the plugs, and turn it so everything stays wet..

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After a long few days, we were ready to load it up and head to the track. Unfortunately, Kevin had to work, so I would be running at the track by myself. The good news is since it was Revo's day, I would have a LOT of friends there..

 

[rcmike]

So we made the decision to run the car and make sure it was all good before we put it in for paint. Since we had the car ready, I loaded it up and drove out to the desert.. The pre-dawn drive was in the high 20s.. It was going to be a fun day..lol

.

Got out there and unloaded, put on the used Hoosiers from Monterey, and first session in the mid 30s.. The run group before mine, an R35 GTR spins out of the last turn and kills the barrier.. OK, our turn, OMG the car was terrible.. there was zero grip, and the car was sliding everywhere.. I ran 3 half speed laps and pulled it in..

Second run, we were up to the mid 40s.. Still pretty bad.. But it was at least predictable sliding.. Again, 3 mid speed laps and pull it in..

Last session I wanted to run, was right before lunch. High 50s.. I put on a new set of slicks and took it out. First lap was easy to clear the tires.. and now I hit it to know if it works..

.

.

We have a car..

 

[rcmike]

Since the car runs, and we have 3 weeks until the next race, it only makes sense to get it into paint. I mean, I do need to install a battery box, and redo all the roll bar padding, and a few other safety things, but.. It should be pretty..

So I stopped in at the good liquor store and bought a couple good bottles.. After some laughing, both the striper and the painters said lets do it..

Well, here we go..

Sanded down..

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Paint jail..

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Pure gold..

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I didn't want to keep these tracings, but I did.. Fortunately I still have them. So Ron started laying them out..

.

Hope to have the car back for black paint either late tomorrow or Monday..

 

[C Ya]

Since the car runs, and we have 3 weeks until the next race, it only makes sense to get it into paint. I mean, I do need to install a battery box, and redo all the roll bar padding, and a few other safety things, but.. It should be pretty..

So I stopped in at the good liquor store and bought a couple good bottles.. After some laughing, both the striper and the painters said lets do it..

Well, here we go..

Sanded down..

View attachment 717608

.

Paint jail..

View attachment 717609

.


Pure gold..

View attachment 717612

.

I didn't want to keep these tracings, but I did.. Fortunately I still have them. So Ron started laying them out..

View attachment 717613

.

Hope to have the car back for black paint either late tomorrow or Monday..

Mike,

Have you figured out your race schedule for the year yet? Hope to run into you guys at the track again this year.

Chuck

 

[rcmike]

So we got it back from Ron's color works, with all the tape in place. Ready to spray. Had to hit the gold with sandpaper again, clean it, and clean the booth..

Ready to spray..

.

Black going on..

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I stuck my phone in the booth while the painter walked out..

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It was cold, so it took a while to cook off enough so they could peel it, I came back in the afternoon and found this..

.

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Next morning, the car went out and sat in the sun for a couple hours before they could buff it...

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Loaded it up and brought it back to the striper for hand paint. Got it in at sunset..

.

Mike,

Have you figured out your race schedule for the year yet? Hope to run into you guys at the track again this year.

Chuck

We have a pretty good idea. Submiting entries for Spring Classic and Pre-reunion/Reunion. We are talking about the event at Sonoma.

We will run the VARA schedule, starting next weekend at California Speedway.

 

[TCHB]

Now get back to work and finish my buddy’s house in San Clemente.