carrera31094
La Carrera 1994, 13 days to go .......
The panic has set in, the uneasiness that makes it hard to
fall asleep, the maxxed out credit cards, frayed nerves, bits of
cars in the living room that remind me that we have less than two
weeks to finish everything up and go race in Mexico.
And just where are we in all this preparation ? Unfortunately
less far along than I'd like;
Paul's car (1986 Dodge Shelby Charger Turbo), although looking
really good (!), was diagnosed two weeks ago with a blown head
gasket and cracked head. He opted to have Long's Auto repair tackle
the job, feeling it would be cheaper in the long run to pay their
shop rates rather than fund the Sierra Nevada Porter Brendan and I
would drink while fixing it ourselves. He'd have been correct if
Long's had not caused more trouble than they fixed, but that was
not the case and now Paul is discussing litigation with Long's
while the Shelby is at the Chrysler dealer being sorted out.
My car (Bugeye, aka "Redcar"), is the antithesis of Paul's at
this point; looking really bad (or capable of running in the
"beater" class, as Pat Vilbrant recently said ...) but running
really well. Although I have a short mechanical "to do" list;
torque head, adj. valves, bleed brakes, etc, the cosmetic list is
looking rather large and ominous. What was the Redcar paint budget
became the new "Super Monster Gumbo Truck Tire" expense, and
covering the fixed trip costs that we lost when several of our
confirmed attendees confirmed that they could not go further
reduced my paint fund to the point where I could just afford a can
of Orchard Supply "Fire Engine Red". Well, maybe it's not that bad,
but right now the plan is buff the car out, spot in the damaged
areas, (contrary to the belief of people that have seen my car, do
*not* comprise the whole car), and then put on the Super-Cool
period graphics that Eye-COM Communications (415.856.1313) are
doing for me.
Other stuff;
The Suburban (aka "Godzilla" as named by young Mr. Kercheval),
now has new tires (ouch), and a rebuilt gauge cluster. Yet to do
are a tune-up & cleaning out of the auxiliary gas tank so it
doesn't cough up something that looks like dirty Jello.
The trailer still need to be re-wired and have a spare found
and mounted, although late-breaking news from our Scott Fisher
indicates that the trailer lug pattern is a Volvo, so we're a bit
closer there.
The accommodations are sorted out, with two nights courtesy of
Our Good Friend and .netter Dave Ambrose, who as payment will be
receiving a Very Special Gift and will be featured in the La
Carrera 1994 video. The remainder of the trip the Magic Arrow
Racing team will be staying at the luxurious Hotel Corona in
beautiful downtown Ensenada, with rooms situated very close to the
bar.
So that's it for now, except I'd like to extend an invitation
to anyone who finds themselves with a few days vacation, a few
sheckles in the kitty, and a burning desire to be part of the
Mexico Mayhem. We have two spaces left, so act now, operators are
standing by ! I'm serious, BTW ......
cheers-
daren
dstone@sc9.intel.com
w 408.765.9521
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