Ordered one from New Hampshire. Seemed to be the best deal in my quick look. Now crossing fingers that it gets here in time. Full disclosure, spacecadet told me about two months ago to do this and I didn't.
Ordered one from New Hampshire. Seemed to be the best deal in my quick look. Now crossing fingers that it gets here in time. Full disclosure, spacecadet told me about two months ago to do this and I didn't.
So, one of the “jobs” mazdeuce has for me for this year, is to “take pretty pictures”. I’m trying out a new setup that will be lighter weight this year... and hopefully will reach out a bit further. Editing is a bit different, and I’m not sure I’m all the way there.
So, here’s four shot to test out the “end to end” of shooting, adding, editing, and posting.
Moon, handheld, cropped ~60%
Renault, testing everyone’s OCD
Freak snow storm, BMW
Two weeks later from the snow, and the trees are blooming
Let me know you can see these, “constructive photo critique” comments welcome.
When your car is slow enough you can assign jobs to members of your team. 
sleepyhead said:
Renault, testing everyone’s OCD
HNNG! why?!?!
In reply to bluej :
Renault Stylists: We designed a beautiful wheel!
Nissan Engineering: But it's so small, we can only use it on the lightest cars which require a 4x100 bolt pattern
Renault: How do you not understand: We designed a beautiful wheel!
Nissan: Ok, fine... here's all your wheels.
Renault: merde
I'm just spitballing, though
Renault equals 4X100 
It's just.. ok, you need 4x100, I get it.. but you couldn't align ANYTHING?!
I figured the OCD statement had to do with a 4 lug but a 5 spoke pattern...Or, that there are 2 different lug nuts on the 4.
However, the wheel picture is very good because most all of the black on black writing is easy to read
First test pack of the car. Spare, tools in the bin, Jack, two of the three scooters. The big things to fit in back are three helmets (maybe two) and two fire suits in their containers. The former back seat is designated for hotel gear. Looks like chairs are going to make it which will make the week nicer. All kinds of room.
Scooter #3 Acquired
Highly recommend for anyone who will be doing national autocross events or anywhere moving around a large paddock...
There are the ones we use, not overly heavy but large enough wheels to avoid smaller obstacles.
I miss my scooter.... been too lazy to get another one
As a lifelong skater (insert uncomfortably true stereotypes) I hate scooters and have little patience for the folks who buy them for kids and proceed to drop the kids at the skatepark with no instructions or supervision. Free daycare ruins everyone’s fun. Anyway. This use of scooters is acceptable.
Also. OLOA. One day.....
I got a great shot of Mazdadeuce at COTA on the scooter
Dude, that's really accurate!
I pretty much look like a weird 15 year old having too much fun on a scooter, this is true.
In regards to skateboards, my co-driver from the Civic is a bit of a skater and he brought a board our first year. He found that there were a couple of tracks (like Sebring) where the surface was just too rough/cracked to use a board. I couldn't even use my small wheel scooter at Sebring and it almost dumped my on my face on of the of the courses that included a drag strip as the straight. The big wheel scooters are a HUGE help. It's the difference between getting a single walked lap and 2-3 scooter laps. Of course then you have bikes, and those let you get in 5 or so laps if you've got the stamina for that kind of bike ride in the morning. Track walks are very important.
When doing One Lap we always make sure each driver has a key to the car. You never have to worry about the guy holding the key taking a nap when a session is getting ready to start or waiting for someone to get back from the bathroom at a rest area to unlock the car. The Accord came with one key. Keys themselves are cheap at about $10 each for the keys with door unlockers in them. Cutting is another $10 a key. The problem is getting them programmed to the immobilizer. That's about $50 each at either dealer or a locksmith. I spent $200 on this gizmo and did it myself.
The more mathematically inclined of you might note (like my wife did) that this was not the cheap way to do things. I'm planning to break even in the future.
John Welsh said:In reply to Patrick :
My plan is to go to Nelson Ledges also to spectate. Just remember, these are morning events. I may plan to be there near 7am and the best action happens between 8am and Noon. By 2:00 the place will begin to empty out quickly.
Cinco de Mayo at Nelson Ledges!
Sunday morning racing!
I’m planning on bringing the kiddos out as well. Looking forward to it!
In reply to chandler :
Please come find us, and if your kids know who Travis is, go say hi. He's a genuinely nice dude.
A little bit of packing work today.
There are a few things to think about when planning OLOA packing. Firstly, everything needs to fit. Second, you don't want any one thing to be too heavy, but you want as few seperate things as possible. The goal is to have the car packed and ready to go in the time it takes to strip off a fire suit and put on regular clothes. This is all done by the one guy who isn't taking off the fire suit, or this year, by the two guys. Your containers are ideally waterproof. With all of that in mind I picked a flat clear tool bin and I've been experimenting on packing it. This is when you open the lid.
This is the top layer and the towel that seperates them. Torque wrench, tire pressure gauge, pump, jump pack, flashlight, code reader, the things that you need every day if things are going well or things that you might need on the side of the road along with a roll of screwrives and pliers and such.
And the bottom layer, tools, jack stand, hammer, spare brake pads.
There is still a few things that need to be added, but the foam for the sockets and the towel between layers has things riding quitetly, which will be nice for 6500 miles of bumps.
That's a nice looking hammer. I appreciate a good hammer a great deal.
A week from now sleepyhead won't quite be over US airspace, spacedadet will be the most annoying guy at work, and I'll be sitting around counting minutes until we leave that afternoon to start heading north. The car is on the lift for it's final nut and bolt and a refresh on the front brakes after last weekends track use. They look fine, but it's cheap insurance. One last bleeding. Nut and bolt things. Set it on the ground on the fresh tires and it's ready to go.
My stress level is at about 105/100. I've taken every suspension part off the car more than once. Multiple iterations of brakes on each end to get where I'm happy. My fingerprints are all over everything with nobody to blame but myself if anything goes pear shaped.
mazdeuce - Seth said:My stress level is at about 105/100. I've taken every suspension part off the car more than once. Multiple iterations of brakes on each end to get where I'm happy. My fingerprints are all over everything with nobody to blame but myself if anything goes pear shaped.
I think you know as well as any of us that the pressure you're feeling right now makes every achievement during the event itself that much better because the inverse of "nobody but myself to blame if it goes wrong" is true as well... and if anything does get out of hand, bad situations make for good stories!
In reply to ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ :
Yes. The car did about 8 and a half hour on track last weekend and it was great. It's in a good place development wise and that makes me happy. We'll have about 1/3 that amount of track time over the whole week of One Lap.
We never do this to go fast. We always do it for the experience.
mazdeuce - Seth said:
My fingerprints are all over everything with nobody to blame but myself if anything goes pear shaped.
Maybe swing by a Grainger or something and get yourself a tube of torque-stripe paint. Then at least you can mark bolts as you torque them down and have some piece of mind that nothing got missed.
Are you only allowed to use the OLOA approved sponsor stickers on your car, or are you allowed to include any personal sponsors as well?
Just curious.
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