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Home at last!  Arrived late last night.  I'll post a race report in a day or two.  Need to catch up right now

Bristol, VA

Passing through AL,GA,TN and now in Bristol, VA.  Our stop for the night. A little over 500 miles to home.  Looking for a very late Wednesday or very early Thursday arrival.

Livingston, AL

Our evening stop is Livingston, AL  The antique day was a bust.  Tomorrow is another day.  Photos later

Antiques today

Now we switch over to our antique buying schedule.  Get up a little later, drive later into the night.  Looks like we will overnight in Alabama.

Beaumont, TX

Overnight in Beaumont,TX.
This morning we took a trip into Austin for a little antique shopping.  Found a nice mall but needed the truck for some larger items.  That was still at the track. Still needed to return the car and golf cart.
Back to to the track to finish packing and take down the tent.  Then we could return the golf cart and then to the parking lot to get the car.  We had to park the car in the lot and catch the shuttle to get to the race car. Took the car back and then return to the antique store before it closed.  
Left Austin around 6pm and arrived at the hotel around 11pm.
Tomorrow we plan on doing more antique shopping and probably return to NJ Thursday.
Weather wise it is going to be in the 80's tomorrow.

Post race

In the morning I changed the dog rings and adjusted the clutch.  Started to put a few things away, getting ready for our return trip.  Before I knew it, time to get in the car.  We sat in the pre-false grid for 1/2 hour.  They needed to land a  helicopter in the main grid.  It was going to be a 30 minute race.  I had a good start and maintained a good pace throughout the race.  Finished 3rd in class.
This evening we enjoyed the COTA party and was entertain by "The Edger Winter Band".
Tomorrow we'll head back to the track and finish packing.

Edger Winter Band

Saturday...Race day

Good news, the chance of rain has been lowered to 20%.  Our race isn't until 3pm, lots of time to take care of those items on the check list.
It's a beautiful track, great facility and has been perfect weather.  The only negative is so many newer cars in our group.  I just don't understand what is so historic about a group of 1999 Indy light cars.

Afternoon Race

The afternoon race didn't start until 6pm.  The car ran well, did drop lap times a little more.  Tomorrow I need to adjust the clutch and change to new dog rings.  The weather will be in question, 40% chance of rain.

Morning Qualifying

Morning session went well. Lap times are improving. Another session late today. 

Afternoon session

Afternoon session went better.  Learning more of the track and getting more comfortable.  See what tomorrow brings.

First session this morning

This is going to be a long learning curve. Many of the turns are blind and no good reference points. The session was blacked flagged twice, only got three laps in. See what happens this  afternoon. 

Ready for tomorrow

That's it, time to call it a day.

The COTA tower.  We went to the top today

Mid day

Perfect weather today. Starting to learn the lay of the land. This evening is a drivers meeting.

Wednesday, day off

Today is test day for some others but we skipped it.  The cost was almost as expensive as the race.  I'll get the setup done this morning and tour the paddock in the afternoon.

On an other note, it looks like I might be able to upload photos.

Setting up

We got moving around 2:30.  Almost done on the setup, we'll finish tomorrow.  The car has been through inspection and it's ready for Thursday.

Guess what...still waiting

We along with most everyone else is still waiting. I'm glad I'm not running tomorrow. 

It's a long line.

Still waiting

Still waiting to get inside to setup, might be awhile. 

Here at last!

Day 4 Bastrop, TX

This town is our base camp.  COTA is about 20 mins from here.  Yesterday turned into a very long day.  Starting with a power steering leak on the truck.  Was only a couple of miles from a Ford dealer.  Spent 5 hours in there waiting room, but the problem was fixed. Their was a positive twist, an antique shop we wanted to visit wasn't going to open until 12pm.  We had planned on leaving the hotel at 9am.  Due to the delay we got there at 3pm.  Great shop and bought some really cool items. Arrived in Bastrop around 11:30 last night.  Today is setup day at the track.

Day 3 Mount Pleasant, TX

Last night our stop was in Mount Pleasant, TX  We didn't find any antique store worth stopping in during the day.  So today we have another 350 miles to Austin.

Day 2 Jackson, TN

Yesterday was a much better travel day. Stopped at few antique stores along the way. Found a few things, nothing great. We're just a little past halfway to Austin. Jackson, TN is past Nashville, which was a goal.

Jackson, TN

Day 1 Roanoke, VA

Made it to Roanoke, VA. last night. A little later than he hoped. Had to sit in a 2 hour traffic jam. Today we go another 400-500 miles.

Leaving later today

Leaving NJ this afternoon and overnight somewhere in VA.  Working on getting to Austin Monday evening.

Getting closer

Car, spares and tools are loaded. Spent a little time on trying to conserve space. Having this trip being part business. We need to keep space open for antiques. Today we'll pack everything else and maybe leave tomorrow afternoon.

Another try on photos

The past couple of races I've tried to upload photos on my Picasa site during the event.  We'll, I'm giving it another go.  Click on the Circuit of the Americas image to the right.
The hotel WiFi needs to have a strong signal.  It works at home, so I know the method is correct.

Keeping busy

For the most part, the car is ready.  Now working on packing the truck and loading in the car.  All that should be done today or early tomorrow.  Still looking at leaving Saturday.  Seb wants us to be at COTA on Tuesday between 10:00 and 11:00 am.  If we go in together, there's a better chance of us being in one area.  We'll see.

A little more decal work

The nose decal gets a bit of wear.  Had more of these in stock.

Less than 2 weeks before COTA

Just doing the normal things that need attention before a event.

Polishing the rims.

Instead of Goodyear under the rear wing,
 I placed the Justice Bros. decal.

Just mainly cleaning and a once over check.

COTA 2013 entry list

Click here for the 2013 COTA entry list. 

COTA Race schedule 10/10/13

Justice Bros. decal

Applied the new JB decal, looks good.  No other ground breaking news to report.  This week I'll spend a day on truck maintenance.  As for COTA, thinking about leaving Saturday the 19th.  Like to do some antique buying along the way.  We do have another show coming in early December.  Hope to arrive Tuesday night in Austin.

Team shirts

I had added "Racing Team" to the JB jackets way back when.  But is seems that when we race, it's to warm for jackets. So, I've been collecting JB patch's on ebay when available.  I had just enough to do three shirts this year.  Then decided to add "Racing Team" just like the jackets.

Decals and stuff

Just finishing up storing away the antiques we had at our show this past weekend.  Won't need them again until December.
I picked up the new decals, as always very nice.  I brought down a piece of the old wing as a copy of what I needed.  Had the Goodyear decal made since it was there.  I'm going to place that one under the rear wing.