Track Days

[barfle]

I finally found the post, but of course since the syntax has changed since those days, I'll show the picture instead.



barfle (Jim), Stravinsky (Valerie), and Bones (Steve).

[bignaf]

Bones is human?!

[Serenity]

Yep, I think his ID says "Bones" but it's a bit out of focus.

[piqaboo]

And a very nice human too. Altoid is still driving a school bus and keeping her keys on a Washington DC keychain, courtesy the Boneses.

[barfle]

Scott mentioned earlier today (man, am I glad I can multitask - the BBB is creaking along here at the office) that the Honda F1 team will be running cars without any sponsor's decals.

This was probably most recently done by a team owned by a gentleman named Alexander Hesketh in the early and mid 1970s, with James Hunt as the driver. He deliberately treated F1 as a hobby, and avoided sponsorship. He found, as did I, that auto racing as a hobby is an excellent way to occupy your surplus funds.

I have a photo of Dan Gurney driving a Porsche in the Dutch Grand Prix hanging in the stairwell to my basement. The car has only a number on the side, and if you look closely at the wheels, you can see that they are just like the ones on VWs of that era.

I think the wings and airfoils on the cars ruined their beauty, and the world's fastest billboards tend toward gaudiness. But there's soooooo much money involved in putting together a competitive car these days that sponsorship from a deep-pockets sugar daddy is imperative.

[BigJon]

Pretty cool, not at all plain. Of course, at speed it won't look like much. Kinda silly actually.

[BigJon]

Back on topic. We are having track days again this year at Pocono. PM me for more details.

[barfle]

Yeah, it does seem a bit busy for something that's going over 100MPH whenever it's in public view. But then how many Millers have you bought because you saw an ad on a race car? OK, bad example.

Track Days sounds like it could be fun, but I recently dug out my helmet, and I don't think it'll pass tech any more. It's really nothing more than a souvenir any more.

[BigJon]

We provide loaner helmets. Only slightly fouled with flop sweat.

[Serenity]

What is that website advertised on the car? I can't see it even with reading glasses.

[Trumpetmaster]

We provide loaner helmets. Only slightly fouled with flop sweat.

[BigJon]

I'm glad I can ammuse you Trumpie.

Are you coming to our track day Barf? Our club runs the big track at Pocono. None of this wimpy North track stuff, like the PoPipSqueak car club.

BTW, the website on the Honda F1 car is:
http://www.myearthdream.com/

[barfle]

Well, I certainly don't have a vehicle I would be willing to race, and as I noted my helmet is as over the hill as I am.

But it might be fun to stop in there and watch. I could have a schedule conflict, though, since that's right about the time I want to be fishing in Alaska. It might be my dad's last chance at it. He's in good health, but he'll be 85 years old.

[BigJon]

What is in your current fleet? You may be surprised what get taken around the track. My friend takes his 80's vintage Volvo 740 turbo wagon around and has a blast.

[barfle]

I have an '07 Subaru Forester which, although nice and capable of carrying things on the roof, is as gutless as the stock '79 bug.

And since someone else won the lottery, I won't be building cars full time just yet.

[BigJon]

The Forester would be just fine.

[barfle]

But the bug would be far more fun.

[Trumpetmaster]

I have an '07 Subaru Forester which, although nice and capable of carrying things on the roof, is as gutless as the stock '79 bug.

And since someone else won the lottery, I won't be building cars full time just yet.

Barfle,

I bought an '06 Subaru Forester last August...

I like the ride.... heating in the vehicle is excellent!
Problem I have is the location of the cup holder as well as the
seats in the front seem to be a bit too small and trying to lock
the seat belt is awkward...

How do you like it?

TM

[barfle]

How do you like it?

It's a nice car, although I got rid of a 92 GMC Jimmy 4X4 (which was losing its ability to get my wife home from work), which was a more robust vehicle. It has very good mileage, but the tradeoff is that it's gutless. But it has many spiffy bells and whistles like heated seats and that cool little heater for the windshield wipers, as well as a moonroof and one of those little button thingys on the key chain that locks and unlocks the doors. But figuring out the alarm was a pain. Much of the body feels like it's plastic, which I haven't decided is good or bad.

I've added a little utility to it by adding a factory trailer hitch receiver and a flat roof rack. And a beethoven.com window sticker.

We took it on our vacation to Quebec and Niagara falls last October, and it drove fine, even on long hauls. But I won't be taking it off-road.

Probably my biggest beef in driving it is that the gear shift has Drive in between Neutral and Third, with no detents for Drive. The rest of the gears has the lever going through a labyrinth, but finding Drive by feel is done by hitting third and pushing it a bit forward. There is an indicator on the dash in the speedometer, but it's an alphanumeric display, so you have to read the durn thing to tell. Glancing doesn't quite show you if it's in D or 3.

The engine and transmission are almost familiar looking to an old VW bug man like me. The engine is a horizontally opposed 4 banger, although it's in the front, water cooled and in an iron block, instead of the case and jugs the bug has. The transaxle looks quite familiar, even though it's an automagical, with a drive shaft coming out of the tail of it for the rear wheels ("symmetrical AWD," whatever that entails). I have some of the service manuals, but there are about six of them, so maybe I'll get more as time goes by.

[ScottB]

Here I am!! I would love to be able to get a car on the track. People around this area like to go up to the western hills of CT and go to Limerock raceway.