Grassroots Motorsports: The Hardcore Sports Car Magazine

We’re protecting the fog lights with Lamin-X.

We found a set of used fog lights from the Aero model on Saab92x.com for $60 shipped to our door. What’s really neat is that all we need to do now is order a relay (about $10) and a switch (about $30), as all of the other wiring is already in the car, ready to be plugged in. While the fogs aren’t as good as those on our rally car, they will help us find our way to work on those foggy Florida mornings.

The fog lights are being protected by yellow film from Lamin-X. You can visit their website here:
Lamin-X

We’ve got about two weeks to go before we pack up the truck and drive to Tennessee for Cherokee Trails. To get an idea of what we’ll be facing, we’ve been watching some really neat videos that Randy Zimmer has on his website. You can see them here: RandyZimmer.com

Co-Driver
1) Pick up Jason Grahn at the Atlanta airport on Wednesday on the way to TN.

Registration and License
1) have Nasa membership card.
2) have Nasa RallySport competition license.
3) We are registered.

Personal Safety Gear:
1) Driver’s Suit: Have.
2) Nomex underwear, socks: Have
3) Helmet: have SA2005 G-Force closed face
4) shoes: Piloti Monacos
5) Neck protection: have high-density collar from Pyrotect.
6) Gloves: have

Car Prep:
1) Basic car status: It runs and is reliable. Horn and all lights work.
2) Rollcage. Status: Done..check with NASA guys to insure legality…done, added gussets.
3) harnesses. Status: brand new GForce harnesses installed.
4) Rollcage padding. Status: new high density padding installed.
5) FIA legal seats. Status: have 2 Racetech seats mounted.
6) seat brackets mounted
7) Fire bottles: Have two 1a-10bc, bought the second and mounted it in front of co-driver…just in case.
8) Tow Hooks. Status: installed.
9) skidplates. Status: installed.
10) mudflaps. Status: mounted OE ones.
11) Window nets: have, need to install. Not required but recommended.
12) Rally computer: installed and wired TerraTrip.
13) 3 warning triangles: have
14) First aid kit: got from Safe Drives, in trunk toolbox.
15) Tow Rope: have
16) Intercom: TerraPhone mounted and ready to go.
17) Paul Eklund recommended some spares of the lower control arms and struts. Got several front LCAs and a set of 4 struts/springs/assemblies.

Event Stuff:
1) Tow vehicle. Make sure we have a tow vehicle and trailer to get up to TN. Status: Pathfinder/TrailerWorld ready to go.
2) pack food (Paul Eklund recommends lots of comfort food to calm driver/co-driver down. Good idea!)
3) Get car teched.
4) Go through novice orientation to complete license requirements.
5) Buy the stage notes?
6) Go on Recce with tow vehicle with co-driver taking notes.
7) calibrate TerraTrip.

Kim readies for her last run.

The MINI posted 1-2 on overall index out of 94 drivers this past Sunday. The course was pretty gritty as this was our first event there this year. In the past, grip has improved considerably throughout the season as we hold more events on this old runway site.

The set-up of the car was almost the same as the Ft. Myers concrete with one exception, instead of 60 psi in the rear tires, we backed it off to 45. The fronts we kept at 47. This is our “low grip” set-up that works well in low-traction conditions or cold weather. Sunday was both.

DeLand Pax results

Although that title sounds like something Freddie Mercury would have sung about (and I’d have happily paid to hear it, too), it actually refers to my newest kitchen toy.

Now, I realize that I’m talking about a kitchen gadget to a bunch of car guys here, but believe me, this is so cool that ANYONE would want to hear about it. (I picture a bunch of terrorists in their bulky jackets and head scarves crowding in to listen at this point.) It’s the Back to Basics Egg & Muffin Toaster.

See, it toasts your toast and poaches or soft-boils your egg ALL AT ONCE. (Get it? All at once!) You put the egg in the little poaching tray, the bread in the toaster slot, and push the lever down. The toast (or bagel or English muffin or cocker spaniel or whatever) pops up, hot and fresh, when the egg is perfectly poached. Or soft boiled. Or hard boiled. Already, you can see that the possibilities are endless.

Sure, the doubters among you are probably muttering something about how you’ve never perceived any such need (or you’re reaching for the detonation button), but believe me, you need this. How else are you going to make a PERFECTLY TIMED breakfast sandwich right there at home? And you know how hard breakfast sandwiches are to get–and how much they cost! Right here in my hometown, we pay as much as 99¢ for such a delicacy, and sometimes have to wait as much as 5 minutes to get it.

You can read more about it here. I’d tell you more, but I’ve got another perfectly timed sandwich about to pop.

The TerraTrip is mounted to the dashboard in front of the passenger seat.

We mounted the sensor to the left side of the transmission.

Moo.

We mounted and wired up the TerraTrip yesterday. It just needs to be calibrated with the larger Kumho R700 rally tires. That sounds like a job for our co-driver, Jason Grahn. Afterall, he’s the darn fool that’s going to be using it.

Speaking of Grahn, we had our driver/co-driver names cut in vinyl for the rear quarter windows..making the car look even more “rally” –complete with country of origin flags for both of us.

Also, got the passenger seat mounted finally.

So, We think that’s about it. We’ve been entered, we’ve got our Nasa RallySport license, we’ve got our Nasa membership, we’ve got what we think is a safe and equipped rally car, now we just need to wait a few weeks for the big event. We’re leaving March 16th for the drive north to Tennessee.

Unfortunately, the RallyCross that was scheduled for Saturday was cancelled due to a miscommunication. Oh well, at least we got to check out the new site and hang around some cows.

Along with Black Sabbath, Lynrd Skynrd and others, the Sex Pistols were elected to the 2006 class of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. In true Sex Pistol fashion, frontman John Lydon posted the band’s official reply to the hall on his website here.

In an age when the Roling Stones are playing halftime at the Superbowl, and the music of Led Zeppelin is being used to sell Cadillacs, it’s actually rather refreshing to see that someone still remembers that Rock and Roll is supposed to be about sticking it to the Man, and not kissing his ass all the way to the bank. Bless you, Mr. Lydon. Rock on.

After about 10 hours of driving, our rig made it from Ormond Beach, Fla., to VIR with little drama.

The Pathfinder made a good base for the weekend. Its cargo hold also had no trouble with our gear, including a pop-up tent, tool box, camera gear, luggage, floor jack and other bulky stuff.

The drive back was about as exciting as the one up, although we did miss a few turns since we were reverse-engineering our directions. Here we are at one of our gas stops.

And a quick look back. No matter how hard we tried, we could never ditch that tailgater in the Civic.

Our Pathfinder’s first big trip went well, as it made the 10-hour trip each way to Virginia International Raceway with no problems at all. The cargo included two GRMers, our Honda Civic Si race car and a ton of gear. The occasion was a NASA weekend at the famed track, and the Pathfinder made an excellent support vehicle.

Been a busy little bug, got my NASA competition license last weekend at VIR which is cool, and this weekend and into next week I’ve got a gen-u-wine vacation of the skiing variety to look forward too. It’s been a whole year since I got to strap slippery planks to my feet and go tear-assing down a steep snow-covered hill. Very excited at the prospect, although the only bone I’ve ever broken was courtesy of Snowmass near Aspen, where I tried to shoulder tackle a mountain and ended up with a snapped right clavical for my troubles. Here’s to lots of carving and no broken bones!

Colorado here I come….

The Eagle F1 GS-D3 is not only a great street tire, it also rocks in the rain.

We picked up a new set of street tires for the MINI. The Goodyear Eagle F1 GS-D3 will be our “drive to big events and use in the event of rain” tire. This maximum performance tire has great wet weather capabilities, while remaining a great street tire. By using them only for drives to big events, we’ll keep them fresh through the 2006 season.

Last night, we attended a meeting of the Daytona Area MINI Motorists, a group of enthusiasts that is starting to host events in our area.

Daytona Area MINI Motorists