Well, I guess this may be the initial report from the scene of the
crime.
Due to work factors I missed the first 2 days, but it sounded like a
good time was had by all.
The Rally apparently went off with out a hitch, well except for the
rain. But that was Tuesday, I got there early Wed AM.
Was a pleasant top down cruise of about 2 hours from home. I arrived
about 8:15ish, just as they were heading out for the Autocross. I
hitched up with not-so-big chuck right off the bat and over to the
course area we went. While all the cars were getting teched the AutoX
dude (first name Del, could be Dale) laid out an interesting course.
Then we had the meeting and took a walk-through on the course. Out of
the blocks was into a left and then a slalom. then a chicane into
another left and into a circle. Then out of the circle, hang a left
(which ended up being the toughest corner on the course) and back
around the course. Out of the 2nd time through the circle, a sharp
right hander (only right on the course) and back through the timer.
Fastest time as 1:05 and change. Next was about 1:11 or 12. That red
Bugeye was quick. I captured first in my class (1500 Midget) at about
1:16 and change. Mike Weeks grabbed a 3rd or 4th in class (modified) in
his first AutoX. 2 Off Courses, then a very quick run!! Congrats Mike.
Not sure about the other results. My time put me about 5th or 6th
overall, but nobody was scoring that ;-) Hey I thought I did good,
running against all those littler. lighter cars!!
Now the high spot(s) of the AutoX was twofold. Frank, driving like he
stole it, ran down a pylon early in the first lap, then proceeded to
finish the course, with the pylon stuck under the car. Unusual noise
those things make as they are being ground up under a modified bugeye
;-)
Then Mike Gigante drove PIECES (Frank's hybrid bugeye nose, square body
back, RHD) around the course. Now Mike is not a slender person, (shall
we leave it at that??) and he is driving a RHD car on a course that all
the turns are lefts. Starting to get the picture?? That was a the most
impressive demonstration of driving on two wheels I have ever seen. And
the Australian pulled it off with the biggest sh^t eating grin I have
seen in some time. You can no longer read the logo on the Goodyears on
that side of the car, but it was a hoot to watch.
After the AutoX we went back to the Inn where a few teams participated
in the Drag Race. Yep, Drag a Midget, with the brakes tightened up,
uphill, through a slalom!! We grouped up in teams of 5, grabbed a hold
of a harness and ran up the hill, with one member in the drivers seat
for steering and safety.
My team, The Cool Dudes (Mike Weeks, Biff Jones, David Leib, And
someone whom is gonn kick my ass, because I am drawing a complete blank
on his name, and myself). Took the first run. 19 seconds. We thought
that was pretty damn good, until the next team pulled a 15 and the
following one an 11. I mean the girls got a 15 sec run in fur cryin'
out loud. So we took another run at a heart attack. managed to tie that
11, but the winners?? Frank grabbed Rick Moses's 2 kids (about 20, tall
and athletic) and pulled out a 9 with Mike Gigante in the car!! I tried
to get them to handicap us by age, but it was a no go!! (Let's see
Frank was scoring, Frank was on the leading team, coincidence??? I
think not)
Later we drove a string of about 40 Spridgets down to dinner. Pretty
damn impressive, seeing that many Spridgets in a line on the road. At
dinner the days awards were given out and mucho food consumed (hey it
was a buffet).
On Thursday, we started out the day driving another long string down to
breakfast. Then after breakfast we had a little swap meet and I took
the time to check out why my drivers side headlamp didn't have a low
beam.
Well that was pretty easy, broken wire in the wheel well. But what I
saw while I was looking for the problem shook me to my soul. (well not
really, but it was pretty bad). The passenger side A-arm was broken at
the fulcrum pin. Not cracked, broken. The front bushing was not
attached to the A-arm in any way, except by the fulcrum pin!!! The back
side was OK (well if you can call anything OK in that spot OK at that
point). After some internal head debate (I was thinking about driving
home CAREFULLY) I opted to ask chuck for some advise. I was really
hoping he would say we can weld it and I can get home to fix it later
(like later when I could afford a new A-Arm). But then my common sense
walked up and slapped me down off that silly platform. Fortunately Alan
Fisher was there and had a new one in his trailer. So after Brian Seavy
and I drove Franks Speedwell Bonnet Bugeye in the funkhana, it was down
to business.
Grab chuck's floor jack and start unbolting. Anyone that has ever done
this job knows where I am gonna hit a major snag, trying to do this in
a hurry (didn't want to miss the picture), in a parking lot, 100 miles
from home, with mostly just the tools in my tool bag (there were LOT'S
of tools around though). That's right folks, that fulcrum ain't never
ever gonna come outta there. Especially when the darn thing is broke
right at that spot. Well the only thing I have to say to that is BE
SURE YOU GREASE YOUR SUSPENSION ON A REGULAR BASIS (like me ;-). That
pin screwed outta there jus' like it was supposed to, when they
designed it at the factory lo those many moons ago. Major big sigh of
relief. BTW I saw another posting on how to get those springs out, just
like Frankie says. Drop the king pin and kick the A-arm. easy as pie. I
also have poly bushings so I didn't have to worry about the bushings
coming out screwed up. With the help of quite a few folks around I had
the new A-arm in the car and driving in nuttin' flat. Cleaned up and
off to the photo shoot.
Doug Chadwick (I think) has that old 1930's model panoramic camera and
was doing this in front of the Penn National horse track. We boogied
over and took some time to line up. So now we got a nice big photo of
something like 25 Bugeyes (including a real full closed body Speedwell,
just lie the one John Sprinzel used to drive, could even be the same
one), 13 or 14 later Sprites, 2 Midgets and an A-40. Back to the hotel
for the car show. All the cars were entered ;-) I even found out how to
tell the difference between a Mark II, III, and IV Sprite!! Don't
recall all the winners, but the A-40 won the "Other" class ;-) Then a
very informative tech session by Peter Caldwell, World Wide Auto Parts.
Our premier supplier of quality rebuilt lever shocks, on, of all
things, lever shocks, How they work, how they break, and how they
fix'em. Then the Banquet ended up the festivities. After all had eaten
the Aussies and Sprinzel passed out balloons and we had an indoor
balloon fight. That was followed by awards speechifying and a break.
After dinner entertainment was a Chinese Auction and a real auction. I
had to boogie as I have to work today (sitting at my desk typing this
AND getting paid ;-).
Was on the road in a drizzle and missed the darn eclipse last night.
Personally, I had a blast. I hope the rest did, and I am looking
forward to 2008. That will be the Sprite's 50th.
Larry
--
Larry B. Macy, Ph.D.
macy@bbl.med.upenn.edu
System Administrator/Manager
Neuropsychiatry Section
Department of Psychiatry
University of Pennsylvania
3400 Spruce St. - 1015 Gates
Philadelphia, PA 19104
The bottom line: Sure, there's pain in adopting the Mac. But if I accept
that, I get to use a computer that works, and that pretty much does
what I
expect and want a computer to do.
Stewart Alsop
FORTUNE.com
Monday, June 25, 2001
/// unsubscribe/change address requests to majordomo@autox.team.net or try
/// http://www.team.net/mailman/listinfo
/// Archives at http://www.team.net/archive/spridgets
|