The concept of karma is strong in sports, especially racing - it is the theory of moral cause and effect. In other words "what comes around, goes around". Help a guy out in the pits, and he may be the guy who next time passes you clean when he could have spun you out. Same thing goes with buying and selling race cars. I figure you better be straight up when selling a car … [Read more...] about RACING KARMA
THURSDAYS AT THE BAJA CANTINA
Every Thursday night from spring until fall the Monterey and Carmel gearheads gather at the Baja Cantina for an evening of benchracing, bar-b-que, and beverages. Tonight I made my maiden visit as a guest of a couple members of the Rats To Riches car club. The Cantina had some live music outside, the parking lot was full of great rides, and I can't wait for my next visit. … [Read more...] about THURSDAYS AT THE BAJA CANTINA
STRING ‘IM UP!
In prep for this upcoming weekend's SCCA Vintage race weekend at Laguna Seca, I took the Race Wagon down to the secret location of the IEM Racing bat-cave for a suspension and steering tune-up. We strung up a string box to confirm front-to-rear alignment, reset the front and rear toe and camber settings, then adjusted the cornerwieghts to get the crossweight back to 50-50. Bad … [Read more...] about STRING ‘IM UP!
GETTING THROUGH TECH
An important part of driving your car on a racetrack is passing the required technical safety inspection prior to getting access to the track. While the level of scrutiny will vary by organization, the goals are the same: minimize the possibility of injury to the driver due to a mechanical malfunction, and ensuring that required safety equipment is properly installed. A … [Read more...] about GETTING THROUGH TECH
VARA HIGH DESERT CHALLENGE 2011, Part 3
Wagons, wagons, everywhere... Maybe I'm just noticing old stationwagons more these days, but at this weekend's race there were cool wagons everywhere! I've never been a trend setter, so it's certainly not my doing, but I sure like this fad. These wagons were all cruising the pits at Willow Springs, except the last shot, that one's my wife's ;-) … [Read more...] about VARA HIGH DESERT CHALLENGE 2011, Part 3
VARA HIGH DESERT CHALLENGE 2011, Part 2
Racing by the numbers This weekend's race schedule was one of the busiest ever for me. Saturday included a 30 minute timed practice, a 40 minute qualifying race, a 30 minute enduro practice, and a 70 minute enduro. Sunday's schedule added another 30 minute practice and a 40 minute flag race. 240 minutes, that's 4 hours! Take off 10 minutes per event for warm-ups, … [Read more...] about VARA HIGH DESERT CHALLENGE 2011, Part 2