This is a long time in coming but, better late than never!!
Despite the weather, I do believe that Sprite Spree was a rousing success,
and a HELL of a
good time. Those that didn't make it DEFINITLEY must make the next one, wish
it wasn't 5 years away.
Rick, his wife Cindy and 2 sons deserve a much bigger ATABOY than can be put
into words.
They did and INCREDIBLE job to pull it all off, with very little snafu's.
Even tho a few cars broke down, none were serious, and EVERYBODY had a good
time.
I drove out from Long Island Tuesday, hauling the POS parts RB Midget. It
didn't rain until I got within 15 miles of Hershey. It was a steady drizzle
all day long. Most of the group were out on the rally by the time I got
there, but I had a great chat with several people that didn't go, in the
meantime.
Frank was kind enough to allow me to drive Pieces to dinner, even tho I
had never driven a
right hand drive car before, or a Sprite at all in 20 years. Peices had no
top on her, so of
course the drizzle continued on the way to dinner. No matter, it was a
BLAST! And I didn't
miss 1 shift! I was fortunate to be seated with the Aussie contingent for
dinner. Mike
Gigante, Russ Cox and Tony Bennetto were extremely good dinner companions,
and hilarious is an understatement! Food was good, (psst Alan, it was
Jamaican) :-) but the floor show was much better. Mike and Russ graciously
offered to trade rides for the drive home, offering me
Frank's LHD Red Midget with a top. Since it was still spitting rain, I said
sure. Not long after, I found out why. Let's just say the Red Midget handled
curiously. :-) It WAS dry, tho.
The next morning, everyone got ready for the Autocross. It was a very
interesting course, the circle in the middle crossed up several people.
Everyone appeared to have a ball, and got out of their cars with smiles on
their faces. The guys with the five speeds definitley had an advantage with
their non-synchro first gear. I think Mike Weeks had the neatest technique.
Through all the left hand turns, including the slalom, Mike braces himself
by hanging his left arm over the door. It obviously worked well for him as
he had very fast time, especially since he's not an experienced autocross
maven. Mike Gigante and Russ Cox shared Pieces. This must have been tough
since it was a RHD car on a predominately left turn course. Pieces tires
were HOWLING, and they both were scrubbing the sidewalls off the tires.
After a couple of runs they learned the the battery had been punctured by a
screw. It was siliconed up, the tires pumped up from 25 psi to 40, and off
they went at it again! They both ran faster and the tires didn't roll over
quite so hard on the sidewalls after that. They proceeded to run very fast
times cosidering Pieces is hardly set up to be an autocross car. They are
both quite accomplished drivers, very entertaining to watch! Larry Macy did
quite well considering that he did his runs with one of his sway bar link
nuts gone. We tried to Zip tie it, but only lasted through part of another
run.
There was a person that stood out as having the most fun tho. I forget her
name, (sorry!), but she could be heard by just about everybody in the
county! Shrieking with laughter and YAHOOing like crazy through her full
face helmet! She was driving the Orange Fire colored Mark III, looks copper
colored under the clouds, but when the sun peeked through, it really
sparkled!
I had to split early in the afternoon for some family commitments, but was
able to sell a few parts off the Brown midge before I left. Not as many as
I'd hoped, but a couple of people will get some good use out of it, which is
all I wanted. Hey Dave, how did that gas cap work out?! :-)
I know you weren't making fun of my car Peter??!! It has RARE Imported
Aussie rims, I'll have you know!!
After driving back out on Thursday morning, the weather was a little better.
The sun actually peeked out for a bit. They set the Sprite Olympics, and a
few people put out things for the swap meet. The Olympics were alot of fun,
although I messed up both Frank and Larry, sorry guys, bad navigating!!
Larry then proceeded to change his front A- arm in about an hour and a
half!! Outrageous and Outstanding!!
The car show was set up after that, and the weather still cooperated for
everyone. The cars all looked very nice together. It was a REAL tough choice
for everyone to come with a winner for every class. After some perusing
around the swap meet area, I spent the money that I got for the Midget
parts that I sold, for some Bugeye parts that I need, well want anyway. :-)
After that we packed the meeting room for Peter C's shock seminar. Very
informative, a lot of great questions were asked, answered and they still
seem a bit of a mystery in some respects. Like how to change the damping
rates, since the same basic shock body is used on so many different cars and
there are no definitive way to tell the which cars came with which springs
on the damping valves!! One basic thing, DON"T USE STP IN YOUR SHOCKS!,
you'll ruin them!
It ran long, because we kept asking so many questions, so many of us were a
little late for dinner. The chinese and regular auctions had some very good
items dontated, thanks to all that did!! Hey, chuck, I won some really neat
stuff in the chinese auction!! Stuff we NEED!
After eating the Sprite cake, (from what I understand it was the first time,
too bad, this one was delicious!) I was fortunate enough to chauffer John
Sprinzel to Newark airport to catch his plane back to Hawwaii. What an
absolutely fabulous expereince!! We talked about
tons of different things, not just cars and racing. I wish it hadn't ended
so quickly, the 2+ hour drive flew by! I wanted many more hours to talk to
John. It was an experience I'll remember for the rest fo my life. After
about another hour or so drive, the Brown Bomb and I rolled into home about
3 am, Exhausted and exhilirated. Definitley can't wait for the next one, my
Bugeye WILL be there then!
well I've rambled on long enough,
Thanks for reading,
Brian Seavey
Bugeye under resto.
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