Sleepyhead needs a Second (OneLap Content)

So, here’s the thing…

I’ve tried for three years to help a buddy get a miata to OneLap. That buddy is sitting this year out.

Since the route was announced, I’ve gone through my normal list of susceptible friends, my abnormal list of susceptible friends, and have inquired friends-of-friends, and one GRMer who showed interest in OneLap in the past.

I don’t want to miss OneLap this year, and would like to help get some more GRM people out to the event.

I’m open to having a transit driver only, a transit driver with autocross experience (and can do a limited number of events), or someone with HPDE experience to share the on-track portions (if you’re in novice, I’ll want a copy of your “approved for solo” rating.).

Costs

If you’re a transit driver, then a share of hotel costs, you pay your own food, and $500 towards entry free. If you’re a co-driver, then the same as above except $1k towards the entry fee.

Schedule?

I’d want you in South Bend by 9am May 5th, and you’ll want to plan to be with the car until about 1pm on May 13th. (I’ll probably be driving out from DC area on May 4th).

Car?

It’ll be stock-ish, FWD, 5 or 6spd manual, with brakes and tires done. I have a primary car, and a backup car selected. I tend to run towards the back, and if I can keep the primary car happy… we might be able to keep up with mazdeuce in the Civic SI.

Any takers? (note, offer limited to 2)

Have questions, feel free to PM me.

If I don’t hear anything back by March 1st… then I’ll probably be selling my soles out to Brock for any open seat there is.

Hmmm... I live in the DC area. I have been wanting to check the event out for years. I would only want to be resposible for transit times not track times if it's not my car.

Justin

I just want to throw an endorsement in for sleepyhead. We've shared a car the past two years. He bummed a spare seat in the V-wagon two years ago and invited me to drive his car last year and both experiences were great. He's done this a lot, keeps to schedule, doesn't speed on transits and is safe on track. Easy to get along with and reliable. If you sign up with him, you'll have a good time.
If I hadn't committed to another friend before this came up I'd be in the car in South Bend myself.

thanks for the vote of confidence mazdeuce!

I'll note that you don't have to be from DC to join up with the car. flights in to chicago can usually be pretty cheap... and sometimes cleveland too (which is one of the airports on the way).

i'll note that this photo: is the main idea behind my username.

edited to change columbus to cleveland

Ooo... This seems like an easy entry point into something I have wanted to do.

Let me look into flights to see if the logistics are possible.

if you're looking at flights, a couple things to keep in mind:

1) I live 10mins from Dulles (IAD)

2) Pittsburgh, Cleveland, and Toledo are "on the way". Chicago is "out of the way"... but only by an hour and a half.

If I was 20 years younger, I would tke you up on the transit part. I will ping a couple friends from the DC area who are W2W guys.

sleepyhead wrote: if you're looking at flights, a couple things to keep in mind: 1) I live 10mins from Dulles (IAD) 2) Pittsburgh, Cleveland, and Toledo are "on the way". Chicago is "out of the way"... but only by an hour and a half.

This helps. If I was able to make it work I would need to fly out of MLB.

I've wanted to go on this and would love to take you up on driving the transits but I just checked and can't get that week off.

Wall-e wrote: I've wanted to go on this and would love to take you up on driving the transits but I just checked and can't get that week off.

I guess I'll have to pencil you and Bobzilla in for next year

It's safe to say you won't be running a Soul then since we can't have them.

I saw this posting right away on Thurs when you posted it. Since then, I have given this a bunch of thought but I have to admit, I haven't figured it all out.

One Lap is something I have wanted to do since reading C&D in the Brock years.

I live right off the route, directly between Cleveland and Toledo and then just about 5 miles from the Turnpike.
I can take the time off work.
The time off the family is not as easy. Since it's a May event, my wife, the school teacher, will still be in school and have to deal with dropping the baby to daycare every morning, which I usually do.

If I am reading your offer right, you are offering a guided tour to The One Lap for a cheap buy-in. Very tempting.
I have many previous years auotx experience (I've even autox'ed at the Tire Rack Skid pad before) but no track experience. I have some drag experience meaning I have done it before but not a pro.
I also think nothing of driving 40k+ miles per year so I'm good with transits.

Last year as I followed The One Lap I saw that there is a class for Classic Import, prior to 1991 so I take that to mean 1990 is the newest you can run. I just so happen to have a 1990 car that has 300 hp, rwd limited slip and a reasonably athletic suspension given its otherwise large (and comfortable) stock nature. Also has abs (good for tire preservation) which is a rare thing to have on a car from 1990.
As an example, I found this quote, "...(modern abs systems) first appeared in 1978 on the Mercedes S-Class, and became standard on all Mercedes-Benz automobiles in 1992."
The EU required ABS on all car in 2004 and though popular, it was not required in the US until 2013!

Though now 27 yrs old, it happens to only have 75k-ish miles on it and runs as well as you would expect a current Japanese car with such miles. The interior is mint and plush for the long haul.
The only thing that would make it even a better performer is if it had a manual trans. There are trans adapters available!

Running the car this year would be awesome and possible but if you have something already in mind then this year could serve as training to run it next year!

Financially, this would not be a great year for me to bite off the entire entry fee and I'll admit, I do not know what the vehicle safety demands are or what that would require in car mods so I'm unsure of what car prep would be needed. It currently get some fun driving in the summer months but has been sitting all winter. Coincidentally, today I had to move it and it started right up with one turn of the key after sitting for more than 3 months in cold winter temps.
Last summer it did a couple of autox and a couple of drag nights.

The year before that, I drove it 1,000 miles to The Challenge and 1,000 back home, taking 10th overall.
Returns about 18-20 mpg on the hyw requiring premium. Much less mpg when flogging it.

Add me to the list of interested but unsure. Some things still to be worked out.
We should talk.
I am available any day 9-9.
jwelsh02...yahoo...
4one9-54one-one335

I should probably update this. I've had one PM with interest in transit/autocrossing; and another PM with interest in transit driving and committing 100%.

to be completely honest... my ideal setup would probably be one transit/autocross driver, and one track driver. Just below that is the option of a transit driver, and a transit/autocross driver.

And, theoretically, I'd entertain the idea of one transit, one autocross, and one track driver... although... I'll have to think that one through (that makes my car selection a 50/50 toss up), and I might have to setup a skype call to make sure the four personalities will mesh.

In reply to JohnRW1621:

The short answer is, yes you are reading this right. This is a cheap buy-in... mainly because otherwise I might miss out on OneLap... and I've had to do that more times than I've wanted to. Additionally, this is a way for me to give-back in some ways to GRM for the forum, and sponsoring the event.

Don't worry, I've got at least one car I can have ready for OneLap. No need to bring the Q out this year... although, I'd be thrilled to come along if/when you decide to take it.

But, I'll try to give you a call tomorrow. If/when, it'll come in on a 703 area code (verizon for some reason gives the wrong caller ID)

This morning, I reread Seth's thread about running the CTS-V wagon in The One Lap.
I was reminded of his accounting...

mazdeuce wrote: What did it cost? Lots of you want to know this. I'll start with what it cost the two of us to do the event itself. $3000 Entry fee. $875 Seven nights in hotels at $125 a night. Also two nights for free at my brother in law's house. $952.05 for 336.66 gallons of gas (18.36mpg for the trip) $700 for food and shirts and stickers and stuff. We spent right about $350 each. $5527.05 for two of us to do One Lap of America door to door. We're splitting costs so my part of this is $2763.53 We could certainly have done it for less, but not a LOT less without bringing on a third driver. Now I'll figure out what it cost me to get ready.

mazdeuce wrote: When I decided to do One Lap I had never driven on a proper track. I had the V, a helmet, and a couple years autocross experience. These costs will vary a LOT depending on your experience level, the car, and what safety gear you already own. $1500 for three NASA track weekends. Entry for these is a touch over $300 and after gas and hotel they cost me about $500 each. $1100 for 18x9.5 wheels which let me run a square 275 tire setup. $1200 for my first set of tires, Hankook RS3's mounted and balanced. $1200 for my Bridgestone RE71R's that I did the event with. However I got a 25% discount because they were used on the event so the total was only $930. $315 for a new set of brake pads. $540 for a fire suit. More than necessary for One Lap, but proper for any other racing I will do. $895 for a Simpson R3 HNR that works somewhat with stock seat belts. Not perfect, but the best option, and well worth it. $100 Nomex gloves. $300 vinyl cutter and vinyl. $25 road triangles. $80 fire extinguisher and mount. $200 in extra oil and memory cars and odds and ends. Let's add that up! $7185 This is what it took me, in my car, to be where I wanted to be the day I left for South bend. Add in the $2763 that the event cost and I'm out $9947 that I wouldn't have spent if I stayed at home and watched TV. I told Mrs. Deuce it was gong to cost me $10k when we first sat down and talked about it.

I went though this because I am trying to monetize my commitment.
Seems that as an autox driver I could be looking at $1,000 for entry and about $500 for half of the hotel bill. Add to that food drink and fun spends but I have food and drink expenses even if I stay home.
I'm cool with these numbers.

I should also point out though my analysis may look rigid, I'm not a stickler for "even". Some people like to see things as black and white in budgets. I know this would be an evolving spend. Said another way, "let's have fun."

Thinking further, this "bridesmaid" approach to OLOA is cheap but to be the full bride , for me, could be expensive.
Like Seth, I would need the full compliment of driver trainings. That is something I would like to shoot for but with life's competing demands for money and time (and time is the big factor), I'm not sure how long it would take for me to make it to the bride position.

I write this because I am trying to keep the door open for you to choose someone else who is more likely to take your offer and then progress to the bride position.

On the other hand, you say you have missed years past. Maybe what you need is a dedicated bridesmaid (crew) willing to keep at that level of commitment for a couple of years.
I've raced sailboats for 20 years and never owned a boat rather crewing on other people's boats that whole time. I am proud to say that from '05-'09 I raced boats on all 4 coasts of the US each year. So, yeah, more than just a little sailboat racing in crews of 4-8.

Pardon me, much of this has been written rambling and a typing of my competing thoughts. Thanks for letting me air it out.

JohnRW1621 wrote: I went though this because I am trying to monetize my commitment. Seems that as an autox driver I could be looking at $500 for entry and about $300 for half of the hotel bill. Add to that food drink and fun spends but I have food and drink expenses even if I stay home. I'm cool with these numbers.

FTFY.

I consider a co-driver someone who drives on track; doing autocross is less wear-tear & risk than the 3-lap track session, so therefore cheaper buy-in. I'm a little surprised at the $125/night average. Brock usually tries to coordinate lodging for OneLap that is closer to $80-$90 a night... which is what I've got in my spreadsheet other than the night between Dominion & Gingerman which shows us getting in around 3:45am which is a time when I start to think that spending $80 for a hotel is wasted money.

Sleepy;

My emotional side is saying "hell yeah, go do this". But my finances side is saying "That's the money for lessons and tires I need THIS year to do my own run NEXT year".

My hotel accounting was probably wrong now that I read it. I was just presented with my half of the total bill and did some division. Our trip had two free nights at my brother in law's house, but also included two nights on the transit back and forth from Texas that were included in the total bill but not the division. We should know what the hotel cost is going to be soon, right sleepy? That hotel list out yet?

hhaase wrote: Sleepy; My emotional side is saying "hell yeah, go do this". But my finances side is saying "That's the money for lessons and tires I need THIS year to do my own run NEXT year".

I support this decision 100%

I fully understand and encourage the continuation of the plan you already have set out

mazdeuce wrote: We should know what the hotel cost is going to be soon, right sleepy? That hotel list out yet?

It's not out yet, and yes hopefully it will be out soon.

Well, it looks like, thanks to Jah29 we're 100% ready to go. There's still 1 seat open, but it looks like NordicSaab and JohnRW1621 are the first in line for that seat.

I'll be starting up a new "Sleepyhead Does OneLap" Thread soon, but if there's any further interest in coming along, this would be the place to do it.

As I mentioned before... one week sooner. lol.

Sleepy;

As I also mentioned to 'Deuce, If you guys want some forum specific OneLap vinyls, I'll supply. Something with forum user names kinda thing. A bit of group camaraderie thing for those of on the forum who are running it.

-Hans