Mazdeuce does One Lap, again! 2016 transit edition.

That's right, I'm back! Sort of.....
Last year my co-driver and I adopted this guy, Tim, when his car vomited out all of it's oil in the parking lot in South Bend before One Lap 2015 even started.
His co-driver, Greer, drove the dying car back home and we adjusted our luggage (driving a giant car has it's benefits) and Tim tagged along and hung out and and took pictures and managed to salvage a fun vacation out of the ordeal.
I knew they were back in it for 2016 and was all prepared to follow along on the internet when I got message from them. It seems that Greer NEEDED to be at work during One Lap. Since a team needs to have more than one person at the event, and doing the long transits alone would be exhausting and potentially dangerous, they asked me if I would be willing to help out. They have the weekends (and maybe Monday) covered, so they'd fly me up, I'd drive Tim around for five days or so, and then they'd fly me back. How could I say no to that?

In what car?

Can't think of any reason, ...nope still can't. WOOHOO ROADTRIP

That's great! Monday is Pitt Race and Tuesday is Palmer, where are you flying into and when? Several big airports near the route between the 2.

2002maniac wrote: In what car?

That is an excellent question. A recent teardown of last years Miata revealed non-functional bearing surfaces. There are a couple of ideas being tossed around but I don't have any say in it. I'm just going to be super relaxed and take things as they come.

In reply to Sonic:

The final particulars are being worked out this afternoon. Understandability Greer would like to stay with the car as long as possible and it figuring out how to make that happen at work. Tickets will be purchased this evening and then I'll know exactly when I join in.

From the title, I thought you were One-Lapping one of these with the 3.5 Ecoboost.

In reply to G_Body_Man:

Should have labeled it "transit driver" I guess.

Please, one-lap the Transit. Go all Ford Supervan on it. I feel this is something the world needs.

G_Body_Man wrote: From the title, I thought you were One-Lapping one of these with the 3.5 Ecoboost.

I was with you on that one. I don't know if I'm relieved or disappointed.

EVERYONE has asked if I'm going to do One Lap in the R63. I tell them no. For now.......

mazdeuce wrote: That's right, I'm back! Sort of..... Last year my co-driver and I adopted this guy, sleepyhead, when his {co-driver Greer's} car vomited out all of it's oil in the parking lot in South Bend before One Lap 2015 even started. His co-driver, drove the dying car back home and we adjusted our luggage (driving a giant car has it's benefits) and sleepyhead tagged along and hung out and and took pictures and managed to salvage a fun vacation out of the ordeal.

fixed that for ya

mazdeuce wrote: In reply to Sonic: The final particulars are being worked out this afternoon. Understandability Greer would like to stay with the car as long as possible and it figuring out how to make that happen at work. Tickets will be purchased this evening and then I'll know exactly when I join in.

We'll me taking my 2012 MINI Clubman S... since the other miata prev mentioned co-driver bought can't fit 3, if that ends up being a possibility (we probably won't know until we're in the middle of One Lap). It'll be stock other than wheels/tires/brakes.

The way our packing looks now we should be able to squeeze stuff around to fit someone in the back seat if you want to stretch your legs out a bit more than a mini allows on a transit if you end up with 3.

Oh boy, this is getting awesomer. Welcome to the hivemind sleepyhead.

G_Body_Man wrote: From the title, I thought you were One-Lapping one of these with the 3.5 Ecoboost.

I was sooooooooo hoping for this too.

thanks TRoglodyte!

I'm a bit new to the whole "forum" thing... so, pardon me if I step on some toes while getting up to speed.

Sonic wrote: The way our packing looks now we should be able to squeeze stuff around to fit someone in the back seat if you want to stretch your legs out a bit more than a mini allows on a transit if you end up with 3.

I said it was a clubman, right?

I actually tried it out last night with a partial packing (tool tote + spare), and the back seat space felt about the same as what I remembered of the CTS-V. But, if he hops ship, I'll be happy to help the 'squeezing of stuff'.

Well there you have it, sounds like the big Mini is the car. Sleepyhead is a good guy, I expect we'll have a fun time. We certainly didn't carve out a big space in the back of the V for him, it was more of a human shaped pod. It was cozy for sleeping. I was happy for the tarp and the hammer and jack stand and the other stuff I used to whack stuff back together though. I'm sure we'll make it work and Lord knows the One Lap crew is as awesome and helpful as they could possibly be.

sleepyhead wrote: thanks TRoglodyte! I'm a bit new to the whole "forum" thing... so, pardon me if I step on some toes while getting up to speed.

That's pretty hard to do here. We're all pretty cool.

Welcome Sleepyhead!
I'm following interest. One of the plans for the Challenge Q45 this year is a track day. Maybe I should add One Lap to the list of things you can do with a 25 year old luxobarge.

JohnRW1621 wrote: Welcome Sleepyhead! I'm following interest. One of the plans for the Challenge Q45 this year is a track day. Maybe I should add One Lap to the list of things you can do with a 25 year old luxobarge.

Yeah, I've been pondering for a couple years doing the "GRM Trifecta" Challenge, One Lap, and then Ultimate Track Car Challenge... all in the same car.

but, I'm not a good enough wrench to build a challenge car, and I'm not NASA TT certified for UTCC.

mazdeuce wrote: We certainly didn't carve out a big space in the back of the V for him, it was more of a human shaped pod. It was cozy for sleeping.

I should probably make a couple things explicit, right from the off. (sorry, y'all got me hooked on project blinky) 1) A big thank you goes out to mazdeuce for letting me hop into that little pod last year. That was a heck of nice thing for a lap puppy to do. 2) A big thank you goes out to mrs. mazdecue (and her mom) for letting him 'drop everything' and help me out of a jam again. 3) A final big thank you goes out to Brock, for so graciously handling these last minute hiccups this year and last.

mazdeuce wrote: I was happy for the tarp and the hammer and jack stand and the other stuff I used to whack stuff back together though

not to belabor the point... but this isn't my first One Lap, this'll be my fourth attempt. I did One Lap back in 2011 in a miata, and we were planning to do it in one this year as well... so, I've got the "small packing" thing down.

I'm also open to... creative leg room enhancements. In another note... anyone know how to un-mount the bottom glove box in an R55?

In reply to sleepyhead:

Not so much a forum as a community, if all else fails. SHOTGUN.. Mazdeuce knows about the on road list. We are serious enablers.

In reply to sleepyhead:

I have complete faith in the efficiency of your packing after seeing how you packed your personal stuff. We simply had so much room last year that we threw in a bunch of "what if" items, some of which were useful, and still managed to rearrange things to fit a whole additional human which was something we hadn't planned for. I'm SURE there will be no problem at all with the Mini.
And yes, my wife and mother in law are both awesome. I have already been instructed to bring my mother in law a souvenir, which I will do.

so, I needed to do a bit of an image test... I used the bookOf.feces exclusively for updates last year. This year I've been encouraged to make my images more readily accessible to non-feces platforms (like this one, or that weird alien frontpage thing).

so, what better way to check that this all works, than share a few pics I took of the ELM CTS-V last year! looks good

hmm, looking a bit wide

yeah, definitely a bit wide there... good job straightening the wheel though!

keep it going... wait for...

the {dirt} compression

now, look where you want to go...

and rejoin smoothly!

this ends the test of the interconnected image and social platforms hosting system. please contact your local sleepyhead for further information.

I regret to inform you all that I will not be joining you on the One Lap after all. It turns out that the car owner/co-driver/he who's idea the whole thing was thinks that all planning should be reserved for the last minute, and didn't like it when I explained that this E36 M3's only a month away, and maybe he should order some berkeleying tires.

Sorry guys. I really wanted to have fun with you.