I’m kidding of course, I laugh in the face of danger*. Also, my BMW is only capable of modest speed.

Out of the 6 videos posted I recommend SE30 Race 2 from Sunday as the most entertaining to watch, posted below. I mentioned previously that I blew the start when I couldn’t get into second gear and I count 9 cars that pass me immediately. I end up in finishing in the same position that I started in, so there are a few passes and close racing in there to hold interest.

In related news I gutted my tranny searching for the problem that was keeping me out of second gear. I was looking to rebuild it with a new set of synchro’s or two, bearings and maybe shift forks, but the parts have been harder to find than I was expecting. I’m taking a Craigslist lifeline on this one and I just picked up “good” used transmission on Saturday, which will come out cheaper than the parts needed for a rebuild.

I’ve also got the interior stripped back out of the car so I can put a much needed coat of paint on the roll cage and interior. I’m looking forward to getting this task taken care of and out of the way as I’ve never been great with motivating to get cosmetics done. This should make a big difference in how the car looks inside, so I’m anxious to see how it turns out.

Scathing reviews are welcomed from those that take a look at the videos.

My next race is at Infineon March 19th and 20th.

Regards,

Bryan

BTW, if you missed the first two emails they can be found here:

FEB 15th: Results from the Race
FEB 11th: Headed up to Infineon

*when supported with the finest in safety preparation.

Some final prep on the car on Wednesday, oil change and brake bleeding.

From SpecE30

From SpecE30

My first NASA SpecE30 race was in October 2010 at Infineon, and with a weekend crushing incident at the start of the Saturday Race I would say it didn’t go so well. See the videos below for convenient documentation of all that happened, I’m in the red car at the back kindly opening Rick Row’s trunk for him…

Video Link: Vimeo of incident
Video Link: YouTube of incident

The result included a bent up left frame rail, bumper, and surrounding bodywork, along with a punctured radiator and broken tranny mounts. As my first event on a Provisional License I was subject to increased scrutiny and was disqualified for the remainder of the weekend. 

After scrambling for what seemed to be 8 months straight to get the car race ready, even up to late Friday night before the event, piling on another 4 weeks of scrambling to make the season closer in November felt like an unnecessary stretch on my dwindling time resources. After a good four evenings of work  I pushed the next race back to the 2011 NorCal season opener in February.

Event: NASA NorCal SpecE30 Race
Location: Infineon Raceway, Sonoma CA
Date: October 09-10 2010

Saturday Qualifying: 16th out of 19 cars, best lap 2:02.038
I went out for a short session and was working on getting used to the car. Running a 2:02 put me about 4 seconds back from the front runners, and without much history using a transponder for lap times it also marked a personal recorded best.

This was the first time out with an LSD and it felt like a big improvement. Overall the car feels as solid as ever and I’m looking forward to getting some seat time to get comfortable behind the wheel.

Saturday Race: DQ
Incident in turn one (not me) calls for a restart. Incident on restart (me) ends my weekend early.

Sunday: DQ
Saturday wreck meant a Sunday DQ

I want to be there in my ’56 sometime in the next several years. I’d like to say the next “few” years, but can’t justify it without being fully committed to getting my car on the road already. It takes a lot of car preparation, logistics work, and scrilla to get ready for that race.

Much respect.

I picked it up in Paso Robles on Friday, and am proud to show it all fit very nicely in the villager. Minivans are the shite!

Major props to Ryan for setting up every detail of the weekend. Solid car prep is the reason we were on the top rows of the results page the whole time, and it made for an awesome race. And pool + hot track days = genius.

Now that I’ve done four or five of these races and several track days I’m starting to appreciate LeMons specifically because it’s an endurance event. It’s fun to drive a track flat out for a whole tank of gas, and there aren’t many venues for that, even if you were to have a real racing license. Also nothing as cheap. I’m stoked to see it’s done so well.