Preparing for SPEC TECH

First off, that is an iPhone screen grab image - I was too lazy to go out and snap a photo(which I thought I did in the first place).

But, there is always doing on a race car. And I needed to add a cover to all the electrical switch cut-off wires. Now, that is racy. it is the bottom of an baby-wipe bottle.

Then, I needed to add an external pull cord so I could race with PCA. NASA does not require this, but the ol' club does. So, I gathered one up, thanks crew at Vintage Racing Services, and I was able to put it in in about an hour. Now, I just need to get the sticker to put right next to it and I should be good.

We'll see as I take the car to tech on Monday.

New Windshield for the 901

A few weeks back at my last(only) race of the season my windshield had a rock chip, that spread to a small crack. Then, on the last lap and clipping an apex which always results in a pretty good shock to the car, it cracked to about 2 feet in length.

Not good.

The reason being, that your car won't pass tech inspection with a large crack that is in the line of vision. So, until I replaced it, the car was illegal to run.

Side benefit, the original glass was super rock-chipped and sandblasted. Contributing in no small part to me missing a turn in the last race due to sun glare.

Calling around I was getting prices, installed, of between $290-$400. Ouch. Lexan would be near $400 and need $50 tear-offs to protect it.

Finally, I got in touch with Preferred Auto Glass in Denver and had them come to my house and install the windshield for $236. The lucky gentleman did a fine install in my well-stocked raceshop(street). Perfect.

How to Save $5 but Waste 4 Hours Making a Racecar Safe

Most racing sanctioning bodies require that the cars on track have the fire extinguisher and the tow hooks clearly labeled.

I could simply have ordered some decals up to add to the car, but since it was a long weekend I thought I would paint them on. Painted lettering on a racecar always classes it up a bit.

So, I made the decals in photoshop, the less scrupulous could simply print them out, and then cut out the stencils.

For the E, it was a simple one-piece stencil.

For the tow arrows I made a background stencil in the shape of the arrow(black part), then a stencil for the word 'tow'.

Simple. I used paint I had on hand or this would have been foolish to purchase paint for this.

For a tacky glue, I used Elmer's spray adhesive as it is easily cleaned off but did a good enough job to stick down the paper.

A couple of the lettering edges are not perfectly straight, but, that is what makes the proper.