Racing a 1971 Datsun with Beach Dudes Racing

It was still dark when we arrived at Ridge Motorsports Park… foggy.. and a bit cold. Driving around the pits looking for my team I wanted to be as quite as possible and  not wake anybody up in their tents….hey it was only 5:30am, only 3 hours to green flag. I was already ready to race…! How could people still sleep…? Still baffles me…

 Anyways, I would be racing a 1971 Datsun station wagon with team Beach Dudes Racing. The car deserved that name with a surf board on top, although none of the drivers were surfers. Perhaps a contradiction… but so was the car. Under the hood it had a Nissan Pathfinder V6 engine delivering a healthy 210 HP to the rear wheels. Weighing only ~2500 pounds I knew this was a going to be a great combo… but little did I know about the track, the Ridge.

 Over the years racing with different teams, different cars on tracks I had never been on.. I came to expect challenges. But Ridge was different, it was a maze of technical high speed, low speed and off camber turns with massive elevation changes. Youtube videos do not do justice for elevation changes(nor iracing).For example the most dramatic is the last turn in Road Atlanta of course.. a true roller coaster ride, but on the videos it always looks like a small hill top.

 I would be starting the race, a 2 hour stint to be exact. I literally had to learn the track the first few warm up laps before green flag dropped… and to be honest it took me at least 20 minutes to figure the damn track out. I took it nice and easy at first as I discovered the car had massive but predictable over steer. I think it was ~30 minute mark when I radioed-in that I would be opening her up… and off she went.

 I don’t remember much after that to be honest… I remember being radioed in to pit in which felt like 20 minutes but was actually 2 hours, getting out of the car and asking where the mechanic of the team was,, and I remember congratulating him for that engine. The brakes and handling struggled but the engine made it up for anything…I mean anything on the track. I don’t think I got passed the last 90 mins of the stint, and surely could have gone even faster if I had bigger balls. Regardless I set the fastest time for the car with a ~5 second margin.

 Thanks to Beach Dudes Racing for giving me the opportunity to race with them and I hope I get to join them for future races… They really have  a great operation, a first in junk car racing, a fully dedicated pit crew, mechanics and the best food on the track!

 Oh.. and of course Coco… the team mascot J

 

 

The Helmet

It was about 8pm or so when we parked in front of a unfamiliar house in the suburbs. Felt a bit odd and awkard place to pick up a piece of art, a helmet to be precise,,,it was also getting a bit dark too.
I was super excited to see my new helmet for the first time... I did not know what to expect, but had been thinking about this moment all day at work.

It was a few months ago when I met Jerrett @ the local kart track during one of the league races. We briefly talked about his helmet designs and some of his earlier work... a racer designing racer helmets! I knew i had found the right person for the task!

We exchanged contact info that day and a few weeks later i received the first sketches of the design. I was super excited to see this in my inbox, as i knew he was onto something...something special, special for me.

 

The design had all the characteristics of an era of Lotus Racing which i had been a HUGE fan off since i was a kid.  The black & gold JPS Lotus livery had been used extensively in the 70's and 80's,  a golden era for Lotus F1...  The cars between 1972 - 1986 ran these colors and won multiple championships and races, driven by the racing gods of those era's. This was a special time for the Lotus team...and the car looked beautiful from every angle.

 

So as a big Lotus fan boy, i knew exactly what type of helmet design i wanted. It had to be dedicated to that time, that era, to Chapman's team and their success! and with such a great color combo i knew this helmet would pop...and stand out, and most importantly give me a warm feeling every time I looked at it.

 

But a vision is nothing if you don't have the right hands, the right tools and the right eyes to craft it.

I knew I didn't, but Jerrett did. Just check out his website, his previous work... you'll get a sense that he is not just painting helmets for racers as a racer himself, but painting pieces of art that you wear during the most intense experiences and moments of a drivers life.

 

Strong and intense experiences allow people to connect and bond with the things they are attached to in those moments, and a helmet is no different. Each race, each "oh shit" moment, or the few, the rare victories... all help strengthen the bond of a driver and his helmet. These helmets don't just protect your head but can inspire you as a driver, be a visual trigger to endless racing memories...moments you can look back and remember. For others they are just pretty objects, but for us its much more then that...and Jerrett, the racer, knew this.

 

Long story, long story... I was happy like a kid when i saw the helmet that night, in his garage, on the desk he painted numerous other helmets. It was beautiful, crisp and to the point... and it had every single detail and the great lines that capture the essence of a JPS Lotus F1 car from that era... I'm a very happy customer, and look forward to working with Jerrett in the future again...and also racing against him! :)

Here are some pictures I took last night, enjoy:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

End of Summer

How can something end, if it hasn't even started..?

Looking at my friends Facebook summer vacation pictures in a office with no windows... i tried to remember last time sand was stuck in my shoes. :)

It has surely been a interesting summer so far, a lot of challenges, a lot of learning... and learning that i need to learn more. But looking back at the early days of summer, i had no idea what was in store for me.  If i had to describe my summer in a few words, probably would be "A bit of a discovery...".

It was also a bit of a discovery, when i finally took the drive 2 hours up North to the Canadian border last weekend to a new karting facility, Sima Raceway. I would be driving a 30HP 125cc Parilla non-shifter kart for the first time on ~1 mile track. (With top speeds ~80mph)

Compared to the rental karts I have raced in F1 Outdoors/Indoors(Boston) and PGP(Seattle) which come with ~9HP... 30 HP was a true "discovery" for me.

I still remember, the first time getting out of the pits, on the front straight... the sheer force of the acceleration, just felt endless... as i approached the first turn, i noticed the brute force of the brakes, discs all around and the amount of grip those tires had. The G forces were absurd... i felt like i was about to fly off the kart as i picked up speed.

The sensitive pedals, required respect... A skidding, bouncing kart, would cause my feet to modulate the pedals even more, and cause even more bounce.... in the process destroying ones rib bones. Luckily I had my new rib protector, which saved my life.... well until my neck,couldn't take it anymore :)

My instructor, who is a sponsored pro racer from Italkarts, David Jurca was great. We walked the track, went over different approaches one takes for driving a kart at speed, and he showed great patience,,, with my in-patience :)

I think he was a bit concerned at first, with my lack of cautious approach, he had to call me in a few times and ask me to take it easy :) But i have to say, not one spin, not one wheel off... we both figured out i could handle it at the end of the day... but the weakest link was my neck.

Watching kids 1/2 my age take on 20 minute stints, while having to pit after 5-6 laps was embarrassing to say the least. But apparently a common expected outcome for average joe stepping in a kart my instructor said :) So i guess, i need to get in shape.... this winter for next season :) Not sure how to improve my neck muscles though...

Here is some on board action from my last session:



On other news, i will be racing at 14 Hours of Chump Car @ Ridge Motorsports Park with Team
Beach Dudes Racing :) A 1972 Datsun 510, with a V6 swap!!! :) More to come on this later... But here is the sketch of the car from the team:

Getting my hands Dirty :)

Yes, finally I can sit down and put my thoughts, and words together.

It has been a bit more than a month since I completed the move from Boston to Seattle.

It has been completely crazy in so many different levels… moving to a new town, finding a new place, getting used to a new job… a whole new job, which is both exciting and demanding. It is no exaggeration when I admit that I have been working probably 60 hour weeks since I got here…from day #1.

I joined the new job at a time when a lot had to be done, a lot was expected,,, and I knew I had to get my hands dirty, and dirty fast…and break all mental and emotional barriers that will slow me down, and focused on getting up-to speed right away….  Am I there? No…but my hands are dirty…and each day I am learning, improving, and understanding my new purpose in life J

The thoughts of leaving so many things behind also adds a bit of spice on top…but life is a bit like racing, you have to stop looking back, the things you have passed… and look forward.

Just like I dived head first into the new challenge, the new job… I decided to jump right into to some racing action… to help with stress J I found a great outdoor karting track(Pacific Grand Prix), which either run’s bi-weekly league’s or 90 minute enduro’s every other week. So I signed up to both events … the first weekend I arrived here J

Pacific Grand Prix track layout supports multiple config's and the great thing about this place,,, outdoor track,,, in Seattle it rains… and they are using made in china, cheap hard slick tires J So expect some great rain action from me.,, when it starts to rain of course, I’ve been honestly waiting for it to rain…where is the $@$@$ rain in Seattle?!?

I have already started winning races in the league’s which consists of a 15 minute x (practice + qualifier + heat #1 + final race).But I have found myself attracted to a greater challenge, the 90 Minute Enduro…in the Ironman class, which means while most people race in 2-3 people teams and switch drivers during a 90 minute race,,, I race with a select few crazy, hard core karters who go 90 minutes solo…rain or shine J We all know each other by name… J

My first enduro,,, and I was leading 80 minutes of the race, until when I was re-lapping somebody, who took both of us out and also fractured my rib in the process… I continued the remaining 10 minutes of the race with tears in my eyes… while losing -5 seconds a lap because I couldn’t turn left anymore,, and came in second. Right now,, I’m waiting for a new rib protector in the mail, and also waiting patiently(!) for my ribs to heal…so I can go out, and kick some ass!

But in the meantime, here are some pictures from the events & podiums from the league race which I came first, and a video of the final race. (I will be recording more videos from enduro events in rain, when i can heal & and can race again :) )

Here is some racing action, i had qualified 5th, and finished 1st :)

Coast 2 Coast

So I've got some big news! I'm moving to Seattle. The land of umbrella's,rain boots and of course rain tires... here we come :)

I look forward to this new challenge and adventure..but also feel sad that i'll be leaving so much
behind. Instead of racing with Team FarFrumWinnin mid June @ Summit for the
3rd race of the season as initially planned, i'll be packing and moving boxes! This also means i'll be missing out on rest of the season. I'll be updating the team's races on this blog going forward regardless.

I already have a few plans when i hit the ground on the rainy hills of Seattle. A childhood friend and his brother (which we united years later) lives here, and they happen to be major petrol heads as-well. So expect some planning,building and racing from us very soon :) More to come on this later...

So lets get back to the main story, last Saturday, under a sunny ~80F degree weather I met up
with Andre Gomes and Ryan Field @ Devens airfield for my last autox in Boston. It was good
to see Andre, i had last seen him kicking ass @ Summit last year during the 24 Hours of Lemons race where the car he drove won in Class C.
This was Andre's first autox, and he would drive his stock miata on old and useless tires. As expected
he set the fastest time in Novice class. The most impressive part was majority of his runs were clean, no cones, no off courses...all clean.Which is a challenge for many people when they start as it is very difficult to read the course and stay out of trouble at speed.

On the other hand Ryan was much more aggresive but still smooth as expected, and he was able to
set some really fast times. He had a 78.x with 1 cone, compared to my 76 clean on a Lotus! That is
a respectful time from a miata. He also looked like he dialed in the car much better with his recent suspension upgrade.

Although i'm leaving town for good, i'm really happy Ryan and Andre finally met,and i look
forward to both of them kicking ass in the autox scene in New England... perhaps even in SCCA one day!

Time to catch my next flight!

24 Hours of Lemons - NHMS - Race Report

As I was driving the Fox slowly in the pits Friday afternoon i said to myself  "Noo not....again!!".
It had just started to rain.

Rain and NHMS, we had some unfinished business.. a moment stuck in time, a moment stuck with me. The moment when i tried to overtake another car last year at the same exact event on turn 12, under heavy rain, under braking. To be more precise I lost, and found myself in the grass... Yes that was my first rain experience, and I had a lot to learn, and I still do...

Since then I had a bit more seat time in the wet, including karts on slicks, and most notably the recent race in Infineon with Team Sex Pistons and the mighty Spitfire with no windshield wipers driving blind with 172 cars on the same track :)

Lets be honest, the car also had some recent upgrades, a stiffer rear suspension to be exact. If it did not feel like a gokart before, now it did. In the rain the car was nervous, a bit twicthy at the rear.
I was suprised by how easy it was to save. As i was sideways on turn 7 with full opposite lock i was bummed to not have my camera with me :) . But personally maybe it was meant to be an experience just between NHMS, rain and me this time.


As I pulled back into the pits after my brief 20 min practice stint, I had really good feelings for the car, and the track... The track which had cursed us last time, when last year we blew the engine a few hours before taking our first victory... felt like it was on our side this time.

WRONG!... Saturday green flag followed 4 black flags for us. Our craptain Tom got rear ended, then got a pass on yellow. I then got taken out on Turn 1 by a blind driver, and last but not least our
family dentist Steve had a pass on yellow. So we had to park the car the rest of Saturday.

However i did capture some videos of those incidents, enjoy :)


And as usual here are some race highlights from my perspective:


So not a really good weekend for us, however now its time to lick the wounds and prepare for Summit next month!

24 Hours of Lemons - NJMP Race Summary

One either needs the time to come up with an excuse or a story... There are no lazy options available for a blog owner. Maybe a bit of an excuse, a bit of a painful fact.. I have been on the road almost everyday last month. It is only now I have a bit of free time, which means I have plenty of catching up to do...

3am Thursday departure meant we would arrive for Friday practice at NJ by10am.
I was also quite excited to see the team in our first race for the season. However the first practice session turned out to be a complete disaster. We blew the head gasket!

Usually starting Friday practice with a blown and warped head can mean its time to pack and go. Instead of throwing in the towel, the team came together. We found a place to shave the head, got the parts, put it all together before midnight just before Saturday's green flag.

The heroic fix during those 24 hours is forever captured in this:




We focused on optimizing our pit strategy, which paid off with the average 4 minute pit stops compared to last year's 7 minute stop. Also all the drivers drove exceptionally well and we quickly found ourselves in 2nd place. Chasing a first place car which is far more quicker than us, working in the pits, checking the time was a nail biting experience.

At the end, although we couldn't take first place, we came 8th overall out 102 cars ( in a VW FOX!) and 2nd in class B. We also won a honorary 24 hours of Lemons "Lemons Lifetime Achievement Award"! :)

Here are some action shots from my point of view:



Next up is 24 Hours of Lemons - New Hampshire Motor Speedway, which turned out to be far from perfect...stay tuned.