I’m now signed up for 2 races in the next 5 weeks, both at VIR. In less than 2 weeks, the Zone-2 PCA Club Race will occur, and in late July, NASA has a race there, too. While I don’t always follow advice, no one on Dorkiphus suggested anything other than “you need a Cool Shirt” so I just ordered one. And it turns out that, due to availability issues, they’re currently shipping with the upgraded cooler (check out OG Racing’s site here: https://www.ogracing.com/catalog/1-Driver/21-Cooling-System/item-899-FRESH-AIR-SYSTEMS-RACER-SERIES-COOL-SUIT-SYSTEM. The car isn’t totally done (are they ever) with the short to-do list including adjusting the sway bars, replacing wear parts in the shifter linkage, and (finally) installing the engine cover grill.

So here’s the question: when I calculate how much over budget this project is, do I need to count the tow vehicle and trailer I bought (I was planning on driving to the track)? Speaking of tow vehicle and trailer, my son and I drove to Cleveland this past weekend (visit his GF, get stuff from his storage locker, and pick up trailer). The 2006 Dodge Durango drove really well, and got surprising mileage: 21 MPG on the highway unladen, and 15.3 MPG on the highway towing an empty (approx. 1600 lb) trailer! They added “variable displacement” to the Hemi engine in 2006, shutting off cylinders when not needed – and it works.

Wow, way late with this post. Need a fill-in but don’t have the time right now. Long story short – the coupe got it’s cage from Piper Motorsports, then body work from a pro (in his own time) in Richmond and the car was brought home. Rebuilt the transmission with an OS-Giken LSD (recommended by and purchased from Steve Weiner at Rennsport) with the help of a friend (ha! – he did just about all of it and let me do “some”), purchased a nice, clean, but not rebuilt engine from a Dorki and swapped that into my gold Targa, taking the IMA-rebuilt engine from the Targa for the coupe. Put on a used GHL stainless steel exhaust system and put that on. Purchased a suspension (23/33 mm hollow torsion bars, custom valved and shortened Bilstein shocks) from the ORIGINAL owner of my 1986 car, who now lives in Chicago, and installed that, and had more than a bit of rewiring to do (including recreating the part of the DME harness that goes from under the seat to the front of the car). Put on fiberglass bumpers and tail, and installed what seemed like miles of roll-cage padding, and it runs. Sorted it out this past Sunday at Summit Point Shenandoah (and the skid pad) – and it did really well! Photos to come.

But here’s the big news. I signed up for the NASA Competition School (and race) the 3rd weekend in July, and was set to practice with it at Watkins Glen (PCA Potomac DE) in 2 weeks, but due to track work that event was canceled. So…if there’s still room, I’m going to move my start-of-racing up a little and enter the PCA Zone 2 Club Race at VIR the last weekend of June! That’s 2 weeks and 1 day away!! Car is almost ready.

Also, I bought a tow vehicle and open (Econo) trailer, both used. So much for the compromises I made for a street-legal race car…