Who's Going to Arkansas - June 7-9, 2019 ?

[RockJustRock]

The top two items, what's the difference between constant and switched?

To be safe I'd use a DPST or DPDT switch and do BOTH. Normally the constant wire would be just for the clock and any memory functions, but obviously it is doing more because that would take like a year to run down a car battery. Be VERY careful doing this because if switched and constant touch, blown fuses, smoke and other BAD things can happen as the radio tries to run the whole car. For that very same reason I'd check classified ads like E-Bay, junkyards and stereo shops for a new Red Radio because if the short gets WORSE all that could happen anyway.

Of course you could get just one or more FM radios. There are a lot of VERY cool ones around. Crank ones, Solar Ones to keep around for emergencies. Big LOUD ones, tiny dainty ones. Cheap Bluetooth speakers have radios in them but those are a pain because the Asian version of an FM radio is something with just two buttons you scan for stations once with and never relocate unless you scan again. If you can live with that I recommend THIS Bluetooth speaker:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Aokeo-Ultra-Portable-Wireless-Bluetooth-Speaker-Louder-Volume-More-Bass-Gold/272517564525?hash=item3f7350086d:g:OVAAAOSw-0xYdUE-

They used to have a cheaper one for $8 but are sold out right now. Generally any Bluetooth with a Micro SD Card slot has the FM radio function, you just need to figure out how to turn it on and what cables it needs to be a radio.

[pdub]

To be safe I'd use a DPST or DPDT switch and do BOTH.

Okay, got it. I can see that. Thanks Rock. I've been so long out oft the wiring business I had even forgot. Yep, there it is. A day project, or three days it you're me. Yep, the worst possible outcome is the radio still doesn't work, and I've got to figure out a place to put the switch, which will be a challenge inside a plastic car interior that's pretty danged busy already. And I don't see why the antenna won't be good for 150 mph. It'll bend over, it won't like it, but it'll sure hang on.

[RockJustRock]

I knowv you hate Rock videos, but if you insist at least this one is FUNNY. Yeah this guy has some odd ideas about rhyming and singing on key.

[silver_bullet]

Jegs sells a replacement radio for Red...less than 300 clams.....may be a better option...
that short in the radio could very well be enough to fry Red before it takes out the 25 amp fuse...
and, if it's in the garage when that happens, I don't want to think about the consequences...

[pdub]

I knowv you hate Rock videos, but if you insist at least this one is FUNNY. Yeah this guy has some odd ideas about rhyming and singing on key.

Good gosh, that's awful. A brand new headache.

But I think we may have stumbled upon the Weeville Garage Episode 4. It's been a long time - "The Battle Against the Radio." Plastic panels and wires and a whole lot of cussing involved. Lots of profanity required. Mandatory profanity. But I'll probably be too lazy these days to bother to run the camera.

[pdub]

Okay, I've sat out there in the garage looking at it. Yep, the switch could go HERE or THERE, depending upon what the backside of that plastic piece looks like when we get if off.

BUT, then I remembered, like a trip down Memory Lane......that wiring harness for the radio, of course they made it only exactly as long as it took to plug into the back of that radio. Wires stretched tight to just plug that massive plug into the radio. No. Uhh, no. Cutting and splicing into that? No, there's no room to work. Hands won't fit. Tempers will fray, tools will fly, not worth the effort. Can't do it anyhow, no way.

[pdub]

Okay, Crew Chief Unit solved it. A little bitty FM radio with earbuds that will fit under the racing helmet.. I am SO stupid. Mystery solved.

[pdub]

Unit does FaceBook, I do NOT. I break out in hives even thinking about FB. But she's been on the ECTA FB page, not the website, the FB page. She says that ....

First, everybody realize that I have no dog in this hunt, none. But she says they'll have no vendors there selling "gas." And some guy posted a photo of a barrel of 110 octane, saying come see me if you need some, I'll be bringing a barrel of it.

Okay, here comes the argument. I couldn't care less, I'm running "Fuel." But how can you have a "Gas" class at a race that doesn't have vendors dispensing the "Gas?" And then seal the tank, etc. How can that be? Only saying that'll be the next argument at the next event, I may as well be the one to start it. And I'm not even involved in it, but that'll be the next argument amongst the guys who are really serious about all of this. Just wait for it, that'll be some noise. On FB at least. Not on here. We get along lots better than that.

[DanStokes]

Pdub - The real answer to that is that ECTA exists to let folks prep for SCTA events, most notably Speed Week. That's why the organization was founded in the first place. So if someone wants to cheat and run inappropriate fuel in a gas class they'll get caught by SCTA (where they DO check) and so they just screwed themselves. So ECTA has backed away incrementally from having a fuel vendor and sealing fuel tanks. DO NOT try that at an SCTA event - one of my jobs at Speed Week (along with the other folks who work in Impound) is to check that any vehicle setting a gas class record does so with a properly sealed tank.

So that's the history. It's like lying about your engine's displacement - you'll get caught at SCTA and if you're willing to get an ECTA record by cheating and can face yourself in the mirror - well, that's your problem. I have NEVER knowingly cheated and never will as I want to be able to live with myself.

Dan

[pdub]

So that's the history. It's like lying about your engine's displacement
Dan

Yeah, that's the conversation that Unit and I had after she told me all of that. And I was reminded, that's the better part of Turk's speech on the back of the pickup truck - if you want to cheat and live with it, that's all on YOU, or something like that.

So, an apparent "speed record" in ECTA won't stand anyhow, right? The track is too short anyhow, and it's all so much fun....That's why I'm there, it's meant to be fun. But boy do a small handful of folks think it's a really serious deal. Those are not the guys I hang out with anyhow. Most of them are on only two wheels. Just sayin.

[DanStokes]

What makes an ECTA (or Texas Mile or any of the others) record a "real" record is that you as the record holder know that you did your best to go by the book. The record is as good as the person setting it. I'm comfortable with my record being "real" because I made it that way - and I'm sure the VAST majority of the records are in the same category. Do some of the guys take the whole thing entirely too seriously - yep. But that's true in any sport.

BTW - track length is sort of a wash. El Mirage is 1.5 (dirt), Bonneville may be 3 or 5 miles (depends on speed), but they have limited traction. We have traction but limited length. So I'm pretty sure that I can run about the same speed or maybe a bit higher on a longer track but the only folks who really know that are the ones who have run ECTA then towed out to Bonneville or El Mirage and run basically a back-to-back data point (there are a few who have done that). I suspect the speeds are fairly comparable unless you're running a streamliner or lakester which need the long track and a really long shutdown.

Dan

[pdub]

I'm comfortable with my record, too, Dan. But I want just a tad bit more. Any little bit more. That's ridiculous, isn't it? The need for speed.

And meeting you has been the better part of the whole experience, it's all a whole world of an experience.

[studemax]

P has talked me into crewing for him on Saturday if I can swing the money. It's 9 hours one way for me from Wichita. I hope the weather is good.

[Monster]

I want just a tad bit more. Any little bit more.

P has talked me into crewing for him on Saturday.

[studemax]

There will be no bloodshed, I assure you (unless this is a subversive plan by P to lure me away to my death).