2010 race update

Bobby Rahal's group "Historic Motorsports Productions" has announced another event at " Barber Motorsports Park" in Birmingham, Alabama on May 20-23, 2010. That's two trips south so far.

Loading up!

Heading up to Vintage Racing Services in Connecticut this week for the exhaust system. The car fits with no problems in the back of my van. The first time I picked up the car in the van, I used a loading dock in St. Louis to get it in and my front end loader at home to remove it. But neither of these would be available at the race shop. So made some ramps and put a winch in the truck, and voila.

2010 schedule

Next year looks to be very interesting in vintage racing. Bobby Rahal has started a new vintage race club called "Historic Motorsports Productions". The focus is on GTP/Group C; Formula One - 3.0 Liter era; F.I.A. Championship of Makes' 2.0 Liter Sports Racers; Trans-Am; Can-Am; NASCAR; IMSA GT/Production Cars; Open-wheel BOSS cars, including Indy cars, and F5000. HMP plans to organize and stage aligned premium automotive lifestyle events, such as local parades of race cars, vintage period fashion, food and wine festivals, concerts, auctions and concours d'Elegance events. First event will be at Watkins Glen June 11-13, 2010. Sounds interesting, don't know what the Formula 5000 group has planned yet, I'm sure we will be at Road America in July and I know they want to have a race on the west coast, should have their schedule in December. As for my first event, looking at April 8-11 at Roebling Road Raceway in Bloomingdale, GA

Before the car goes out for the exhaust headers, wanted to take a look at the rear wing mount again. This mount was with the car and the photos show that. But the wing does not attach to it. It's one of those questions, use this mount and modify the wing or use the other mount and modify brackets for the car. ?

First mount.

Hans.....One more look

Really needed to make a decision before the car went to the shop. Taking a second look I found that a small amount of bodywork would have to be removed for the device to fit with the minimal contact. With no body on the car, the device just about touches the roll bar. I'm going to wait until a I can get a few laps in the car, this will give me a better idea of my actual driving position.

Back to the Hans Device.

Just received the Hans device and could not wait to try it in the car. The problems where as expected. It hits the back of the body and the angle could be better. But I believe with a little padding behind my back this will give a little more support. The other option is to remove part of the body work behind my helmet. Really don't want to do this. But at least my helmet is below the roll bar. Many cars I see the drivers helmet is even or above the roll bar. It will take some testing in the car to see what I will need to do next.

Return from Hershey

Must of walked 10 miles, this place a like a city.

How about this for a tow vehicle?

Many years ago there was a airport right in front of the Hershey Hotel, now just a abandoned runway used for parking. Found a few Magazines on F5000 events, but that was it. Little money spent and a lot of exercise, not a bad day.

Hershey, PA

Driving out to Hershey,PA. this Thursday for the big antique car flea market. Over 9,000 vendor spaces and lots of things to see. Always looking for anything connected to F5000 or just racing.

Hans Device

Hans stands for "Head and Neck Support". A safety item that the driver is being required to wear by more clubs including SVRA which I race with. It sits on your shoulders connected to your helmet and held on by your shoulder belts. The newer race car seats has the driver in a more upright position. Maybe 20 or 30 degrees, which the Hans device is available in. My seat puts me at 55 degrees. I'm going to try a couple of different sizes and see what happens.

Back to the racer

One questioned that was answered at the past race weekend was, what held the nose on. Looking at one of the other Lola T192, it was quite simple. The nose has a pipe that runs through it and supports the outer wings. That pipe mounts on a pair of horse shoe like brackets that are on the radiator support. Mine are missing. You can see in the lower photo of a Lola T192 where the red pointer is. Another winter project.

Non race week

Been playing catchup and have had no time to work on the car. Was talking to one of the organizers of the F5000 group at Watkins Glen this past weekend. There working on a schedule for next year, hoping for races at Laguna Seca, CA., a event in the mid-west which might be a Mid-Ohio, Road America, WI. and Road Atlanta, GA. Sounds like a lot of travel.

Successful weekend

Sunday, no rain in the forecast. Eric (Lola #8)was having some issues with the engine running a little rough and unable to get past 6000 rpm. The last work was done Sunday morning, and the test was going to have to happen in the race later in the day. The race went well, Eric was able to improve on his lap times the engine sounded much better. I was able to get a lot of photos I need for my Lola, and Brian, who will do the exhaust and other work I need, was at the track and got a look at 2 other Lola's similar to mine.

Sunday Watkins Glen

Saturday started out with rain in the morning, but remained rain free the rest of the day. The first qualifying was on a damp track consisting of only 2 F5000, Eric Haga in is Lola T190 and Ted Wenz in his McRae. Midday was the drivers from the original series signing autographs.

Saturday Watkins Glen

Friday morning was a session with the F5000 cars, 8 on track. The next qualifying session would happen at 5 pm. After waiting all day, 15 minutes before 5pm it started to rain. No one went out. Saturday forecast is rain on and off all day.

Friday Watkins Glen

Thursday being the school and test day only one F5000 car was out in the morning. But later in the day a few more went out. Today, if it doesn't rain, I'm sure more will be out on the track.

The blue #21 is a Lola T192, the same as mine.