New Cat at Home.

After a long, tortuous and intense search for a family classic car I finally found one.

I thought I was priced out of MKII Jaguars, but was able to find one for sale in Mass. that fit the bill. And am over the moon about it. Even though I have not even seen it in the flesh. My brother taking care of the transaction as I am in Colorado.

It is a 3.8 manual with overdrive. Restored over the past decade. New interior from BAS. New wiring, motor overhauled, etc. All done to nice driver standards, not concours standards. It seemed that all the other MKIIs that I looked at were rusty piles or over-restored show cars. I didn't want a project and I didn't have $50,000. Or more, for something from the MKII gods JD Classics.

In opalescent blue with blue interior it looks the part. Like a boxer in a suit. Much, much more to come on this.

Meals and Wheels Another Porsche and Food blog...

The above photo is from a German blog titled Mealsandwheels.com

It is the work of a female 911 driver and racer who is also a food nut like myself. Most of the posts are in English so you can read about her and her hot schnitzel photography.

Worth checking out.

When Toyo RA-1 Start Getting Fast

Just raced on July 3rd at PPIR. We raced it backwards so we were all rookies on this track.

I don't know if it was confidence in the car, the even playing field or what, but I did very well. Was in the top 4 of the RM SPEC 944 group all day. Was nice to be up front and competing for FTOD and the win. 

But what I do know, is that my tires are just coming into their sweet spot. No one ever showed me what RA-1s should look like when they start being fast. But the above pic shows them just getting there. I am about 18 heat cycles in. All the tread blocks are just worn down. What a difference. They are now so much stickier and more progressive. I think they will be great for me for the last two races on my calendar.

Family Fun Car - What is it?

My lack of posting as of late has been a result me being completely and utterly sucked into looking for a replacement for my sold 911SC. Not a replacement actually, but a family car.

And after several weeks of probably four hours a day trolling the US and UK for a car, I have come to the conclusion that a parent with sporting persuasions and a $20k budget does not have too many options. 

There are the beautiful Rolls Royce Mulliner Coupes from the late 60's but they are a bit slow. Then there are the Astons, too expensive. Bristol's, too elusive. Interceptor's, too fussy. 

Really, there are Jaguars. They kind of sum it up with the maxim, "grace, space and pace.' No other cars fit the bill.

So, I think I found my car. It is a Jaguar. 4.2 litre. Four speed with overdrive. Four doors. Wire Wheels. Lots of leather and wood. My brother will go look at in a couple of weeks and if as advertised, it will be mine. I already put a small down payment on it to hold it.

A hearty harrumph to anyone who can guess what model it is from the above interior shot.

Memorial Day Race Weekend Recap

Sorry, this took so long, but I was waiting for pictures. Am still waiting. I will add them when one of the photogs from the race posts them up. 

Now, on to the recap. First, on Saturday during the warm-up I ran a 2:21 lap. Not bad, and not pushing too hard. So I decide on a goal of 2:17 for the weekend.

In the qualifying race. I ran a 2:19 and this put me in 9th out of 18 cars. I finished the main race in the same place with a time of 2:17.

Goal reached. So set new goal. A 2:16.

Hit that on Sunday qualifying and the ran a 2:15:02 in the main race. Sweet. This was the fifth fastest lap time even though I finished the race 8th. 

It was great to be really in the mix. Lots of banging. Three of the four corners of the car got some other color paint on them. That is how close this racing is. It is incredible. Sure there are faster cars, but none that run as close as us.

Finally, on Monday in the enduro, my co-driver Chris Mosera of Garage Films and I managed to finish 9th out of 21 cars. And third out of the six or seven 944s. What a weekend. 

The only carnage was a set of wheel bearings from having a grease seal fail. But after a total of 5 and a half hours of hard racing to only need $40 in repairs was great. Engine was solid, brakes, suspension all doing well.

And for the next race, my RA-1s are just coming into the sweet spot, so they should be fast when we head to PPIR over July 4th.

Death Creates Life

To bring a new classic into the house, I had to sell one.

And what I sold was the Porsche I owned the longest. My 83SC with only 63k miles. Totally original and well-preserved. I looked after it for 6 years. I felt as if I was its caretaker the car was so nice.

Pictured is the new owner. From a Porsche loving family in SoCal. I am sure the car will be loved. He drove it from Denver to SoCal over a blazing hot weekend. The car ran fine. He said he ran a bit hot though.

I miss you White Chocolate.

But, now I have the funds to buy something older, and gasp, not a Porsche. Stay tuned. The Hunt is on....

V8 influenced Wheels on the SC

As the son of a Hot Rodder, I was around a lot of classic Fords during my formative years. As such, I have a love of the Ford Engine Blue color. Just something about it. Just a bit softer than Gulf blue, more grayish.

It brings me back to the 1970 F250 I owned for a couple years as we restored our home. With a 390 V8 and only two wheel drive, it was the best vehicle I ever owned for laying strips. And under the hood was always pleasant to look at because of that blue color.

So, I painted my very tired Fuchs with it. I used the 500 degree engine paint, primer and clear. The 2000 degree stuff requires a heating period so it is not good for wheels. I have painted other wheels with this engine paint and it was durable.

I spent an open lapping day at High Plains Raceway breaking in my new motor. 

Glad to report it was uneventful.

With my old Hankooks aired up, don't want to was the RA-1s, I trailered the 901 out to HPR. I did not hook up the oil cooler as the ambient temps were low and incase something went kablamo I did not want to also replace that. 

But with a brand new radiator, the car barely got above the first temperature mark on the original water temperature gauge and struggled to break 170 on the new oil temperature gauge. Granted, I was hardly pushing the engine at race levels.

I did three 30-minute sessions. The first session kept it under 4,500 RPMS, just basically make sure the car ran and did not have a huge leak or something.

Second session did a few pulls in third up to about 5,000 RPMs on each lap. 

The third session, basically alternated fast laps with cooling laps, revving up to 6,000 RPMs.

I was expecting the biggest difference to be felt at the top end. So I was surprised when the biggest difference I felt was in the mid-range torque. I could fell the car pull out of those third and fourth gear turns much better.

But the proof will be in the racing on Memorial Day Weekend. In the meantime, I still need to cure some oversteer.

 

Shedding Weight Like Biggest Loser Contestants

I was looking to still drop about 25 pounds from my 944 so that I could adjust my weight with fuel. And, after having Hanksville Hotrods, a 944 SPEC sponsor, remove my stock muffler, I got almost all the way there.

It weighed 21 pounds. Who knows how much junk was inside of it, but dang. That was a lot of weight, especially as it hung way out the back of the car. Past the rear axle. Not an ideal place to have weight. Unless you own a 911.

You'll see in the above pick, that I still have the chrome exhaust tip. That was not a move out of vanity. That was because I was able to use the stock hanger by keeping the tip and very end part.

Report on how it functions soon.

I am sure it will be loud.

Car Fail Day.

While not as epic of a fail as the above, I did have a car miserable day. Some days your the hammer, some your the nail. Today I was the nail.

It began when I opened my garage door. A couple of days ago I had drained the oil form my race car and had set the drain pan, filled with oil, on my garage floor. I did this so that I could put thread sealant on the temperature sensor.

Anyway. I open the garage door and I almost fell over because it looked like I my 911 had dumped all its oil on my garage floor. At closer inspection, I noticed the oil drain pan was empty. How the F did the oil get out? Well, it had a small crack in the bottom. Simple. Luckily I have a rubber floor in my garage so thought I could get away with just a messy cleanup. And it was messy. Ever try cleaning up 5 quarts of oil? It took two bags of oil absorbent. And a bunch of towels and rags. I thought I was done. Until I picked up the edge of the mat and saw that the oil had crept under the mat and covered a good 3x4 area. UUUUUUUGGGGHHHH.

When that was done. Went for a drive in the Wagoneer and noticed a drip. Smelled it, it was gas. Saw that the line connecting the hardline from the gas tank to the fuel pump was dry rotted. So, went and bought a couple of feet of house and went to replace it. I somehow was hamfisted and wound up getting about a quart of gasoline dumped on me when I swapped out the lines. I just threw those clothes away. MISERABLE.

Finally. I wanted to remove the end piece of the exhaust on my race car so that I could get a straightpipe welded in-place of the stock muffler to save about 15 pounds. Guess what. One of the three bolts was cross-threaded. NOOOOOOOOOO.

I wanted to do a couple of other jobs but decided to call it a day and enjoy a Colorado Native lager.