We're racing, and crashing!

The race is on and we're doing great!  After Chris's stint we're running 6 laps off the leader and the car is great.  Quinn just got in for his stint and almost immediately he got T-boned in turn one.  Major damage but it doesn't affect our driving.  Better yet, no penalty!

It's hot but things are going well.  Stay tuned for updates.  Also if you'd like to watch things live, there is a webcast located here.

We are through inspections, but not without a little work

Well now comes the part where we just sit and wait for race time.  We went through tech this morning, but had a little issue.  It seems they didn't like our exhaust.  No big deal.  Chris and Phil ran to NAPA and got some junk to make us "legal".  Now that our car was legal for racing, we moved on to BS inspections.  No trouble here.  As a matter of fact, they almost didn't even want to look at us.  I guess a Colt isn't that threatening of a race car?

Well I have all sorts of pictures to share of today's activities, but it seems that everybody is trying to use the same WiFi access point right now.  You'll have to wait.  But, suffice it to say, things are busy and fun.  We fried a turkey this morning and we are currently smoking some pork for tonight.  Chris managed to officially enter his prized moonshine into the contest with the judges and there are plenty of cars that are getting some serious heat in the BS area.  Cheaters.

More to come, stay tuned!

And here we are again

It's Thursday night, 8:30pm, and Chris, Phil and I are here at CMP with camp all set up and ready.  Go figure, we wound up in the exact same spot as we had last year.  And as a bonus, the Tunachunkers just got here and set up right next to us again.  So we're just hanging out snacking and listening to the radio.  Jeff is on his way and Quinn should be here tomorrow night.  For those of you who were here in the spring, you know how to find us.  For you new Lab Rats fans here's a map of how to find us.  Park where the blue "X's" are and we're at the red dot.  Just head for the Timing & Scoring tower.

 

Stay tuned for updates as we go through tech and BS inspections.  And if you're coming down, we'll save some BBQ for you!

CMP here we come!

It took a while, and there were times when things didn't look that good, but now we're ready!  Saturday we all got together and completed our final tasks.  The Colt got the finishing touches put on her including the camera mounts.  More importantly, she drove around quite a bit.  Everyone agrees, she feels great!  No more stumbling, hesitation and stalling.  Hit the gas and she goes.  The Colt E is ready.

Most of our work revolved around stripping the parts car down.  You see, it just so happens that we found an identical twin to the Colt E just a few minutes north of Charlotte.  That car, having long given up being a useful automobile, has decided to live on as an organ donor to our beloved Colt E.  It took us a couple of hours to remove all the critical parts that we might need in case of a major accident.  My hope is that we will never need any of it, but we're prepared for the worst.




So now what?  The car is ready.  Phil has this week off on vacation so he is going to load the car on the trailer and pack the truck with our supplies.  Chris, Jeff and I are going to try and make it through 3 days of work without going crazy with anticipation.  The plan is to head down to Kershaw Thursday afternoon so that we are there at 5pm when the gates open.  Remember, first come first served when it come to pit locations!  Just like last time, I'll post a map to our exact location in the pits on this blog.  We look forward to seeing all of you at the race, but if you can't make it just check in here to see how we're doing.  I'll be posting race updates often throughout the weekend.  See ya!

NEWSFLASH!!!

I have just received word that the Colt E is alive!  Chris and Phil worked furiously into the night and managed to get her up and running strong.  Due to the late hour however, they were unable to take her for a spin, but that will more than likely happen tonight.  This puts us on schedule for a full shakedown this weekend.  If you'll recall from last spring, this was the element of our plan that was missing.  Had we actually tested the car BEFORE the race, we might have discovered our fuel issues.  This time around the Colt E will have a solid 30 minutes or more of shakedown time underneath her, so we can be confident she'll be ready for the track.  Stay tuned for video of her first drive since April!  CMP in 10 days!

We worked, but the car doesn't

I got to Phil's house at 8:30am this morning. The rest of the crew got there shortly thereafter. We didn't leave until 5:30pm. In those many hours we all accomplished quite a bit. Not enough to get the car to run yet, but close I must say. How many weeks until the race you ask? Two more working weekends until showtime. Some of us may be taking some extra unplanned vacation time soon.

But on to the good news. The brakes are done! It took eight weeks, and phone calls all over the country, but have we got a set of great brakes. We have upgraded from the stock tiny solid rotor, to a beefy cross drilled and vented aftermarket rotor for a 1.6L turbo Colt. To go along with that we installed bigger calipers, and top of the line brake pads. I have the utmost confidence that our brakes will perform flawlessly on race day.


Another major accomplishment, and one of our prime off season modifications, was the installation of our new custom intake manifold for our SU carburetor. Jeff designed and built this thing from scratch and it looks awesome! This took Jeff and Quinn most of the day to install and set up the accessories, but it is worth it. The SU is going to be a great replacement for our old junk carb. There will still be some tuning once we get the car running, but the worst is over.


Other completed projects include the installation of the larger radiator, the final installation of the exhaust (again) and the main hoop diagonal bar is tacked in place. We attempted to start the car for the first time with the new intake, but we have a little electrical problem. Phil will be tracking that down at night this week and hopefully next weekend we can fire her up. With two working weekends to go and the Colt needing some test and tune time, we're cutting it close. We got it covered!

Do stickers count as work?

You read that right. Stickers. That's about all we got done on Saturday. Well, actually we did accomplish a little more than that. Our exhuast system that had broke off last race is now fixed. Chris and Jeff welded the whole thing up and used heavy bolts to hold it in the car. It sits a little low, but should work fine.

Myself, I started trying to fit the radiator in the car. It fits OK, but I have to modify the lower hose a little bit so that it doesn't interfere with the transmission. I'll get it......eventually. Phil got a little farther on his battery relocation project. That should be done during the week.

The really good news is that the front brakes are on their way! Chris finally found what he was looking for on Ebay. They should arrive this week. With those on the car, we can put the tires back on and set her on the ground. So I guess we're making progress, it just doesn't seem like as much as we did the first time. As long as we're ready for the race, right?