Arse-Freeze-Apalooza Dec 7-8th 2013 - Sonoma Raceway

It was a mess of a weekend... things went wrong from the start with the Spitwad and ended wrong in the RX7..



The weather was not so bad during the day, the sun was out and there was no rain. The nights were freaking cold.. As for the race.. The 1300 motor in the Spitfire did not last the first green flag lap of the race. So we ended up spenind a majority of the track time Saturday swapping back in old faithful, which got us through it, allowing each driver to get their share of seat time.



There was some confusion and conflicts on our team, and between the two teams (RX7 and Spitfire) that took a lot of the joy out of the weekend. Don't get me wrong, I had my fun, got my wheel time, and had some laughs.. but this race has brought me to understand some people just don't see eye to eye, and it was not even all about the racing.. some of it was about personal space. Basically from now on.. no more cramming into the same RVs.. Lucky for us our friend Paul, who raced the RX7, let us sleep in his RV or I don't know how we would have gotten through the cold. My dad also had two guests sleeping in his RV. The cost.. well I took a pretty large hit this race. It is going to be hard.. but I will now have to require people to pay more because I was not including other expenses. I also will be arranging my own space to sleep as well. It is just not worth the conflict. We do this to have fun.. and when the fun is stripped away because of the social aspect.. why bother. So we will take a long brake and only do a single race in 2014, with a single car. The RX7 is finished and being parted out.



Now enough with the downside.. Before the wreck in the RX7.. it was hauling BUTT! The drivers were having a blast in it. My dad had finally got that thing sorted and out. I wish I could have had a chance to give it a go before it demise. .. Also once we swapped the motor in the spitfire, it ran great till the last 10mins of the race when something in the drive train failed.. Sure it was a little loose in the rear, but it was still fun to drive. I learned some more lessons with the setup and have a plan to get it hooked back up right before it hits the track again.



Paul made it out just fine.. not even a scratch from the crash. Understandably though, he likely wont be returning to race LeMons with us anymore. Every race he has been in with us, he gets hit, and now this one.. someone spun in front of him with no where to go. From his prospective it is just not worth it, he has a classic MGB to race anyways. It sucks because he is great to have around, but that is just how shit goes.

I took some photos at the race, some of them I uploaded HERE. I will go through the rest of them eventually, collect others from cellphones, and get them uploaded later. I also have some video to work on.. only one is done so far... check it out HERE. The video of the RX7 crash can be found HERE

Racing is something I will continue doing.. More LeMons races for sure, but a much needed break is going to be taken. I have a wonderful girl to marry in 2014 and that is much more important.

Getting Ready for 24 hour of LeMons Arse-Freeze '13 @ Sonoma Raceway!

Well.. we have been working on the car, did some things here and there, the car is running well at the moment. Tomorrow morning we leave to head up to Sonoma Raceway for the 24 hour of LeMons season ender, Arse-Freeze-Apalooza! And man is it going to be a freeze... Weather reports are showing temps in the low 20s°F. Good thing is the chances for rain are very low!





We got some tires, fixed problems we found, had some laughs.. It's not perfect.. but hell this is LeMons.



I set up the old xbox 360 with Forza 4 so everyone could get in some laps and learn their way around the track before we actually get there. Not the greatest simulator, the game wheel sucks, but better than nothing!.



We are as ready as we are gonna be.. if we can manage to keep the car running most of the race and not freeze to death, good times will be had!

We will be taking lots of video and photos at the race.. once we return and the dust settles, I will share the story of our hopeless adventure.

Spitwad Motor Swap - Getting ready for 24 hr of LeMons Arse Freeze '13 - 11/2/2013

So it was a long work day for us but we got the motor swapped in the Spitwad! The old motor served us well and ran strong for 5 LeMons races and 1 Chump Car race, but began to develop a wicked bad blow by. It had got to the point where oil was spewing out of the dipstick hole at our last race. Side note.. thought I was really smart and wrapped my camera in a plastic bag so I could use it with greasy hands but failed to notice the autofocus was off.. so yeah the pictures are blurry.



We had our new team member come over and help us out. Good guy, easy going, and can turn a wrench. Also a fellow Triumph fan who owns a TR6. Glad to have him on the team.





The old motor came out.. with only one snag.. Kinda forgot to unhook the exhaust mount from the trans. After that though, we got it out pretty easy. Hopefully some day I will finally rebuild one of the 1500 motors. With three of them now needing a rebuild, I should get at least one done.



We got the flywheel, clutch, pressure plate, and trans mounted to the new (old) motor and got it in the car. With a few small things to change, it took us a bit longer to swap.



But... she did finally start up and ran nice! Really gotta thank my dad for freshening up this old motor. I am excited and a bit relieved that it is done.



We still have a few things to get done before the race: put on a muffler, finish reworking the brakes, putting the old stiffer & shorter rear shocks back on, some bushings in the rear to tighten things back up... but I am going on vacation so they will have to wait....

Great day!

Cal Club Pacific Coast Road Racing Championships - Buttonwillow Raceway 10-26-2013

This was a really cool event to see, not as fun as driving though, that is for sure.... We went up to watch a friend of ours race his classic MGB and enjoyed the nice day at the track. The event had less cars than expected because of other events, but there were still plenty of cars to see.



I decided to put this Tamron 70-300mm Di VC USD lens to the test and work on my panning technique. I had recently looked at some photos where the photographer did panning shots with the camera angled, so of course I had to try this.. The lens's vibration control was able to auto detect and handle the panning motion even when at an angle, pretty fancy...



I took a majority of my shots at 1/60 so a low percentage of my shots came out to my liking.. but the ones that did really made it worth it. Honestly, I really over did the angled panning.. so there is not much variety. A few more mistakes I made were shooting into the sun when I could have just shot elsewhere, and over exposing many of the images. These were not much of a problem though, I was able to clean most of it up with the View NX 2 software that came with my camera.





I am starting to learn to take a better look at "mistakes" as they can turn out to be quite interesting photos, like the one directly above. The front of the car was cut off, but by cropping the image, it really turned out quite interesting. Or like the black & white image above it, just by being lazy and removing color.. it solves a lot of lighting, color, and exposure problems after a few simple adjustments.



Shooting into the sun was quite difficult, but really I was impressed with how many of the photos came out. I am not exactly sure if it is the glass in this lens, the longer lens hood, personal improvement, or a combination of all three, but back in March at the Sonoma LeMons race, no shots I took into the sun were worth a damn..







Most importantly for me.. was that I had a great day with my girl, and a few friends, watching race cars do their thing while taking pictures to my heart's content.

The rest of the photos from the event that I uploaded can be found Here Enjoy!

San Diego SCCA Solos @ Qualcomm - 10/20/2013

So here is the deal, I went down to Qualcomm Stadium for a few hours on Sunday and watched the SCCA Solos. Sadly I have to admit it is not very exciting from a spectator point of view, but really, that is not the point. SCCA Solos are all about taking what ever car you have and pushing it and yourself to the limit. It really is that simple, but there is beauty to be found in this simplicity.



These are normal everyday people, bank tellers, grocery clerks, small business owners, engineers, mothers, fathers, husbands & wives, hell.. I am sure there is even a dentist in the mix. One thing they all have in common is the joy of driving.. but not just your every day trip to the store, really driving. I could hear them talking about each corner, discussing how to improve, how it felt, and all with a smile. These people, at least the ones I listened to, do it for themselves. Not to be cool or to compete.. just to enjoy that one minute alone with their car and improve.



The variety of vehicles driven at these events is quiet stellar. So if you just strait like cars, there are some interesting vehicles to see. You can also get a good idea of how they handle by asking the owner. Some of them will even offer you a chance to ride along with them, though I hear chances of getting a ride along are better on practice days.







Understandably, the most common car found at these events is the Mazda Miata. Relatively low cost, quick, and great handling. There are much "faster" higher cost vehicles out there that can't touch a properly driven Miata on a track, or in this case, a parking lot.





I personally did enjoy watching people drive their muscle cars around. Never driven trailer cars bug me to no end. Who cares if your ride is pristine, or has a motor built that put out 650HP readings on the dyno, if you don't drive it, it is just a pretty hunk of metal. This lot shows what cars are made for...



Wheel to wheel track racing is definitely more my thing and I can't see giving it up for solos, but I am for sure interested in bringing the Spitwad down to the Solos next year to have some fun. That is, if we don't destroy the hooptie first.



So if you have a car, no matter what it is, and always wanted to see what you could do with it, look into the SCCA solos. It is for sure a great place to get started really driving...

Barona Speedway - Season Ender 10/12/2013 (Tamron 70-300 USD VC)

Once again we grabbed the cooler, some beers, a couple sandwiches, the camera, and headed up to Barona Speedway for the last race of the season. A few more friends and my dad accompanied us, a great odd bunch we were. It was a bit cooler but man was the track tacky. All that grip lead to lots of exciting side-by-side, and often three-wide, door-to-door battles!



This time around, we went straight to the top of the main bleachers and found some seats with a great view for the night. I brought along with me my new Tamron 70-300 USD VC lens and figured it would be a good night to just get used to handling it. Physically larger and much heavier, I was not sure how my pictures would come out. Turns out I made a good purchase with this lens. The vibration control (Tamron's version of image stabilization) worked great hand held at 300mm while detecting, and graciously smoothing out, my spotty at best panning motion. The images are sharp with good contrast and in my not at all expert opinion, the focus is pretty damn fast, really an awesome lens for the price.





Gotta love this photo above of the #9 breast cancer research supporting team - I caught a second after the car's tire went flat..





Once again, it was really enjoyable watching the dwarf cars battle it out on this track. Man they look like fun! My pops even started talking to me about dropping out of LeMons and picking one of these up. The tracks are closer (this one only 35 mins away) we could run more races, and the cost is quite similar. I really love LeMons racing.. but I am giving it some serious thought.... maybe just maybe...



My new lens is nothing professional though.. so once it got dark.. things got difficult again. Still, I did manage to get a few good shots..



Was a great night, and I am bummed the season is over. There was one pretty bad wreck, thankfully again the driver was fine. Dirt track racing (verse other forms of auto racing) is really pretty safe.



In a few weeks we are heading up to Buttonwillow Raceway not to race but, to go see our friend Paul and many others race all sorts of road race cars. From classics to modern machines, it should be spectacular. I just hope we don't run into much traffic on the way up...

Here is a link to all the photos I uploaded from the night.. Enjoy!
Barona Speedway Photos 10-12-2013

Barona Speedway 9-28-2013

So I managed to convince my girl that we should head up to the only local race track left in the area to watch some good old dirt track racing. The cost is low, you can bring in your own food and drinks, plus the racing is exciting. I wanted to make sure we made it there this year as rumors are going around that this track could sadly be closed down soon. Even the announcer constantly was stating to "Tell your friends, buy a shirt, buy some food, let's keep racing alive in San Diego!" Anyhow..



It appears not much has changed in dirt track racing.. and that is a great thing! There is nothing wrong with it. Loud, sideways, out of control, a bit of contact, cheaper racing, what's not to enjoy? The classes are pretty much the same: Modifieds, Pro Stock, Street Stock, Pony Stock, Dwarf cars, and the Jr. Classes (age 5-15). For this short track the Dwarf Cars are my favorite, they are smaller, with 800-1100cc motorcycle motors. This yields constant battles, passing, and just more action packed races.



The other class I enjoy are the Pony Stocks consisting of classy finely tuned Pintos, Mustangs, Crown vics, and others. Nothing fancy just good ol' American made cars being flogged around. These are the same types of guys we find racing with us in LeMons, the cars are home built in their garage, family run, and a large part of the cost is the safety gear. Just get it running and lets go have fun!



Well on to my struggle with photographing this event.. I really could not get it right. The first location I chose, I could not see over the fence. I kept getting shots with cones in the way, I kept looking down to adjust my camera missing most of the great moments.. then once we finally moved to where I could see over the fence, it got dark.



My cheap 55-200mm VR can only open up to f/5.6 at the long end.. really this is no good except for in sunlight. So I again spent way too much time messing with my camera instead of just enjoying the racing and shooting away.. very few of the shots came out ok.. and with how high I had to crank up the ISO.. the only way I think the pictures look cool is without any color.. It was nice to get the panning practice at such low shutters speeds though.









If we go up again.. likely I will get there earlier, take pictures only while the sun is still out, then just put the camera down or put on my 35mm f/1.8 prime. Even though some of the shots I got are kinda cool, it just was not really worth it. Way too grainy, with way too many misses...



Still, good times were had, the races were a blast to watch, and there was only one real wreck. A Dwarf car rolled and hit the wall after some contact.. No worry, the driver got out perfectly fine. Definitely worth the $10 and a short drive.. Really should have been going all summer. I totally recommend going if you live in the area. There is one race left on Oct. 12th.. Hopefully we can make it!

Edit - Almost forgot great comment of the night came from my fiance, Cynthia.. "There sure are a lot of white people here eating KFC" Yeah so what if the only 3 non-white people we saw there were with me? Would not have it any other way.