The road to Daytona 2021

[pdub]

I don't want to mess up SBG's thread about "The road to Optima Challenge 2021." So, just sayin' the road to Daytona.



I'm going to take Red's radio out. I unplugged it years ago when it was running the battery down. I didn't have sense enough to just pull the fuse for it. Nooooo I had to tear the console and all out and take the radio loose and unplug all the wires and then mount the radio back where it was. Dan Stokes told me to do it that way (no he really didn't).



I'm going to make some kind of a panel for the hole and put THIS there, all $30 worth of it:



I've been using a GPS for Red's speedometer since his is so screwed up from the rear gear change and the smaller tires and I'm deathly afraid to try to fix it with a tuner. The GPS stays in Red all the time and about once a week the windshield sucker cup gives up and it falls off of there. That is NOT what I need slinging Red around on the Rolex 24 road course. This ingenius upgrade can be filed under safety, aesthetics, and bling. I'll post pics of the finished product after I blank out the radio hole with a carved up Frosted Mini Wheats box and duct tape the speedometer box to that.

I'll be providing many other nifty updates in the (two) weeks before the track day so stay tuned. And please, no wagering.

[SuperBuickGuy]

and you're still closer to Daytona then I am Willow Springs.... I do live in the hinterlands....

[pdub]

and you're still closer to Daytona then I am Willow Springs.... I do live in the hinterlands....

This'll be more like a real vacation for us. Unit's going along and she hasn't been out of the immediate neighborhood for quite a while and it'll be a good thing. I should have made it to the Arkansas race in 5.5 hours on the interstate but they had a westbound bridge under construction on I-40. I knew it ahead of time but I went that way anyhow. I didn't realize the bridge was good for adding 2.5 hours to the trip, parked or crawling.

While I was in Arkansas they started hammering on two interstate bridges in Chattanooga. Scheduled, forewarned and announced. On the way back from Arkansas I got as close to Chattanooga as I dared and then got off the interstate. The GPS said the scenic tour added 45 minutes to the trip, but I'll bet it saved a lot more than that. So right now you can't hardly get through Chattanooga on the interstates any time soon. I'd rather be driving than parked.

Plus if you're going to Florida from here you "have" to go through Atlanta. It's an obstacle unless you take cow roads for a really long way, which we will definitely do and make two days of it each way. It's sort of like flying - it's been said that if you die and go to hell you'll have to go through Atlanta first if you live on the eastern seaboard. One time I was flying to Canada from Chattanooga and I had to go through Atlanta.

The Arkansas trip was sort of a training mission for Daytona. I found out Red can go 160 with enough room to motor and a tailwind. I also found out that I can sit in the "shaped like a race seat" for 8 hours and still get out of the car and walk around. It ain't pretty but I can still get out.

[SuperBuickGuy]

My family lived in California for a couple years of my life, and the extended family lives there. I've made the trip so many times that I have 2 'leave' times and one rest stop (and 'normal' fuel stops in Salem, Redding and Bakersfield) The trick of the trip is to miss all the rush hours of Seattle, Portland, Salem, and Eugene (there's still Roseburg but I go through late enough it's not a problem). I stay at one of two rest areas for 4 or so hours - that are both well travelled by not easily accessible from any towns, The next day, I get through Sacramento before 10 am and roll into LA after rush hour. Willow Springs is north of LA but it's well east of the freeway so I expect I'll roll in there about the same time as I would if I went over the Grapevine and ended in LA...I usually leave at 2 am or 10 am. 3 1/2 hours to Portland, 1 hour to Salem, 1 1/2 hours to Eugene.... 1114 miles. Utah Motor Sports, strangely, is only 872 miles.

[pdub]

Well, I got the radio bezel apart too good. The legs that hold the screws for the climate control switch bank had rotted and broken all but for one. It's a wonder the switch bank didn't fall into a dark hole whenever I was adjusting the air. I finished breaking it when I took it out.



JB Weld to the rescue.



.093 Lexan sheet.



Wow, it FITS!



I'll glue that to the bezel after I gotta wait for the speedo thingy to get here and see what the mount looks like. I tried out some satin black rattle can paint on a scrap piece of Lexan and it's a close enough match to hide behind the speedo thingy. I feel like a real fabricator so something will have to go disastrously wrong in the next few steps of the process I'm sure.

[SuperBuickGuy]

I'm supposed to have a radio to get max points - I'm so tempted to simply draw one on the blank plate. It didn't actually say it had to work..... I'm so going to make friends there - first a car that is likely to get ruled out next year, the radio should just be the icing on the cake.....

[pdub]

I'm supposed to have a radio to get max points - I'm so tempted to simply draw one on the blank plate. It didn't actually say it had to work.....

Do the rules specifically say the radio has to be a permanent fixture in the car?

[pdub]

Our first time at Daytona I was mystified when all of the Corvettes magically appeared when it was time to grid up. Where do they all come from all of a sudden, hidden for the rest of the day? Well DUHH they had rented garages and I didn't. I don't need no stinkin' garage, I've never had one at any other track.

Well, not having a garage there was a miserable experience. We spent the first part of the early morning getting yelled at. "You can't park there because..." It was awful, survival of the unfittest. This time I paid rent for a garage. Race and then relax in the shade. And I drew a great location I think. It certainly appears we'll be able to see some of the track from our very own "Our Garage" spot.


All of this is now contingent of course upon our being able to travel there and buy gas on the way. Maybe the created crisis will be over by then, the talkers are saying the dust will settle on that by the end of this week.

[SuperBuickGuy]

Do the rules specifically say the radio has to be a permanent fixture in the car?

I may put a headphone jack in that plate and say it's a remote radio or bluetooth radio....

[SuperBuickGuy]

hard to race without gas.

[Deaf Bob]

I'm supposed to have a radio to get max points - I'm so tempted to simply draw one on the blank plate. It didn't actually say it had to work..... I'm so going to make friends there - first a car that is likely to get ruled out next year, the radio should just be the icing on the cake.....

Maybe install a face plate from one?
you know the ones you remove the face for security

[Monster]

Great idea DB ... you know that we are a bunch of enablers here, don'tcha SBG ?

[SuperBuickGuy]

Great idea DB ... you know that we are a bunch of enablers here, don'tcha SBG ?

I dunno about that... I simply think we're here to encourage right behavior... you know, "if you have a car, it needs a supercharger" and in that, I think we're quite good at providing such solid advice. We really should get a Peace Prize for doing this good work.... but alas, we're just labeled.

[pdub]

Great idea DB ... you know that we are a bunch of enablers here, don'tcha SBG ?

I don't think enablers, I think instigator encouragers. This forum has cost me many thousands of dollars over the years and I've loved and cherished every minute of it.

Sometimes I use the extensive knowledge eagerly doled out here, like right now I'll do it. Guys, y'all see I've got Red's middle tower gutted. I'm waiting on glue to dry and then I'll be waiting on some paint and then some more glue to dry. I'm also in the process of replacing the windshield washer pump/reservoir and it just now arrived. The symptom on the old one was pump not running. Either the pump gave out or it lost connection to the power grid. I've looked all through my whole pile of junk and stuff and I don't have the hardware capability on hand to provide 12V to the recessed pins on the old pump to see if it'll run.

So, I've got the new one and I'd like to try it out wired into the car. This is too long of a story to get to the question, with Red's stuff unplugged like it is, is there any risk at all in turning the ignition switch to the RUN position? He's 15 years old but he IS a computer car. The functional stuff unplugged is the control bank for the air conditioning and the buttons for the dashboard information display - INFO/SETUP/RESET. The other things are just emergency flashers and cigarette lighter.

[Deaf Bob]

I don't think enablers, I think instigator encouragers. This forum has cost me many thousands of dollars over the years and I've loved and cherished every minute of it.

Sometimes I use the extensive knowledge eagerly doled out here, like right now I'll do it. Guys, y'all see I've got Red's middle tower gutted. I'm waiting on glue to dry and then I'll be waiting on some paint and then some more glue to dry. I'm also in the process of replacing the windshield washer pump/reservoir and it just now arrived. The symptom on the old one was pump not running. Either the pump gave out or it lost connection to the power grid. I've looked all through my whole pile of junk and stuff and I don't have the hardware capability on hand to provide 12V to the recessed pins on the old pump to see if it'll run.

So, I've got the new one and I'd like to try it out wired into the car. This is too long of a story to get to the question, with Red's stuff unplugged like it is, is there any risk at all in turning the ignition switch to the RUN position? He's 15 years old but he IS a computer car. The functional stuff unplugged is the control bank for the air conditioning and the buttons for the dashboard information display - INFO/SETUP/RESET. The other things are just emergency flashers and cigarette lighter.

Think how “boring” life would be without Red...