Mazdeuce does One Lap

darn can't get the pic to work on my mobile. You were spotted in beautiful dalhart texas. Heck you should be in amarillo with me about now.

Okay, that's seriously cool, right there^.

In reply to Woody:

The Ariel guys have to be loving this weather

In reply to icaneat50eggs:

It must have been the kid in the Miata. When he was snapping that I was wandering around the parking lot talking to Tony. We were only there 25 minutes ago.

icaneat50eggs wrote: The Ariel guys have to be loving this weather

The story that I overheard was there was enough water in the cockpit that when they accelerated it sloshed into the seat. I can't believe they didn't drill holes in the floor. I know I would have.

What time should I try to get to MSR for the full spectating experience?

The first cars out will be at 8-8:30. The schedule says we're running the 1.3 first and I'm not sure how that part of the track is to spectate. After that we'll run the 1.7 and the full course and I know those are good to watch. We'll be running pretty constantly from when we start (which has been 8:30 contrary to the official schedule) to probably 4:00.

mazdeuce wrote: Thanks to wawazat I just got off the phone with Tony Roma who is the chief engineer for the V series cars. We talked about the axle and he explained how the differential goes together and why hammering is actually the correct procedure, so I'm feeling pretty good about my parking lot fix. He wanted to know if I needed any help right now making it through One Lap and to call him when I'm done so I could get it fixed and they could use the data point to make the V cars even more robust. Huge thanks to Tony and Cadillac and this forum for making the communication possible.

Most excellent. I'll bet he was proud, too. I must have missed it, a BFH is definitely the tool for seating these. Glad to hear you heard it from the man.

Racing does indeed improve the breed. Two related stories:

• the first NC MX-5 Cup Miatas were raced in the 25 Hours of Thunderhill. Like, the very first Cup cars. They didn't even have the Cup suspension as there was only one set extant. Anyhow, we quickly discovered that after 200 laps or so, one of the shift forks would break and the car would jam in gear. Before the race was over, the Mazda USA guys were talking to a very concerned head of Mazda R&D about the problem.

• During the 2011 Targa Newfoundland, Ralph Gilles was driving an SRT Viper. He was the head of SRT at the time, I believe. He melted the plastic throwout bearing on the car at some point. Unhappy boss, no more plastic throwout bearings on Vipers from that moment forward.

mazdeuce wrote: Thanks to wawazat I just got off the phone with Tony Roma who is the chief engineer for the V series cars. We talked about the axle and he explained how the differential goes together and why hammering is actually the correct procedure, so I'm feeling pretty good about my parking lot fix. He wanted to know if I needed any help right now making it through One Lap and to call him when I'm done so I could get it fixed and they could use the data point to make the V cars even more robust. Huge thanks to Tony and Cadillac and this forum for making the communication possible.

I thought Tony would appreciate knowing what you were doing with one of his babies!

I'm glad you were able to catch up to him Seth.

Todd

Great stuff here guys. Keep it up as we're living vicariously through your adventures.

Whoa, I'm glad I checked this thread. I've been pretty absent on the forums lately, mostly I started a new job working at PST at MSR Cresson.

If you read this, stop by PST and say hi. Ask for Jake. I'll try to find you if not, I usually take lunch around noon.

This thread just gets better and better.

Keith Tanner wrote: - the first NC MX-5 Cup Miatas were raced in the 25 Hours of Thunderhill. Like, the very first Cup cars. They didn't even have the Cup suspension as there was only one set extant. Anyhow, we quickly discovered that after 200 laps or so, one of the shift forks would break and the car would jam in gear. Before the race was over, the Mazda USA guys were talking to a very concerned head of Mazda R&D about the problem.

Rick Weldon told me the story of prepping for and running that race a few years ago. I didn't register that you were also part of that team.

Sorry for the tangent. Back on topic

Mazduece,

It has been really fun to follow your story. Thanks for including us in your adventure.

Rusted_Busted_Spit wrote: This thread just gets better and better.

Agreed, I'm enjoying following along. Good luck with the rest of the journey!

Since this is on my bucket list I am a bit worried about hearing the cost tally when you get back.

Fr3AkAzOiD wrote: Since this is on my bucket list I am a bit worried about hearing the cost tally when you get back.

$3000 just to enter. Add in tires, food, gas, etc.

We're keeping very careful track of the costs. Entry, gas, hotels/food, and all of the expenses that got us to South Bend in the first place. When it's all over you guys will be informed.

This morning, sitting on grid at MSR Cresson waiting for my co driver to drive the 1.3. In the background one of the HHR's is getting loaded on a flatbed due to some broken suspension.
He ran the 1.3 in 41st place and the 1.7 in 39th. We're currently in 38th waiting for me to suit up and run the connected 3.1 mile course. I've never run the whole thing before, I'm excited.
Talked to unevolved at the shop at the track. Poor bastard has to work instead of watching us play with cars.

Thanks for stopping by, it's always nice to put an internet name to a face.

Just went for a walk around the grid, that looks like a ton of fun. Hopefully I'll get to do that one day.

Finished 33rd for the 3.1 at Cresson which moves us up to 37th overall and now we're off to the drag strip in Denton to see how incredibly bad I am at drag racing.

Good luck! I just checked the schedule, you've still got a surprising number of events. This is one long race.

mazdeuce wrote: Finished 33rd for the 3.1 at Cresson which moves us up to 37th overall and now we're off to the drag strip in Denton to see how incredibly bad I am at drag racing.

Is it bracket racing? Lots of entrants totally misunderstood bracket racing and did poorly when I went out to see the One Lappers in Gainesville a few years back.

So we arrived at North Star Dragway in Denton Texas. I should have been all excited about driving on a drag strip, but I was really geeked about the classic car junkyard next door.
After half an hour of drooling through the fence we had a single shot at the strip to set a low ET and use that for our dial in time for the brackets. I ran a 8.494 at 85.16 (1/8 mile clearly) and that was good enough for 16th. I hit the rev limiter on the 1-2 shift and thought I could do a bit better, plus I didn't want to break out, plus I don't know what the hell I'm doing, so I set my bracket time to 8.3 and got back in line. My first time through I was up against the last remaining super modified VW and he redlighted. My next matchup was against the BMW X6M. I looked over and noticed he had paddles. Dammit. Unsurprisingly he beat me when I ran an 8.54.
This was the first time down a drag strip for me, and don't tell anyone, but it was fun .
We're back in the car and headed to Hallett Motor Racing Circuit in Jennings OK to wash my pallet with proper curves and stuff so I can forget about racing in a straight line. Oh, and we've moved up to 34th overall.

Nice work!

Next time dial better and drive the other end with the brake pedal.

If you have any more events which require drag racing, call me or E-mail me and I'll walk you through it. You dialed way too aggressively.