Who else is in? Asphault Adventures - Explore the shore

sporqster wrote: Anxiously awaiting Saints 2 Sinners!

July 2014 :)

I'm hoping to have some event details out there and registration open soon but we need to get through ETS to test some things to see what adjustments will need made for S2S.

Still hoping saints to sinners is in the cards for the kids and I next summer. Also hoping the gulf coast becomes a route at some point.

mazdeuce wrote: Still hoping saints to sinners is in the cards for the kids and I next summer. Also hoping the gulf coast becomes a route at some point.

Hmmm...well I do have other interests on the gulf coast these days so I suppose anything could happen.

Seriously though, we are definitely looking to keep it fresh each year and moving around, there's lots of the country I want to see so this is my excuse.

Well, bad news update from me...

This past week the original bike i was gonna take ended up going down hill. I hopped on craigslist and sourced another beater bike and started taking to the owner. Everything was set to go for me to pick it up after work on saturday. Someone came with cash before i got there.

So no beater bike for me.

I went to plan B. Beater car. Problem is, i still have not received keys for it. Tuesday might be the first day i can get em. And even then the car does not run for more then 45 minutes before it shuts off.

My go to plan is to take my FZ1 or the 270,000mile saturn to the event and just go to have fun regardless of a beater status. (although the saturn was bought for 75$...)

I'm in! It looks like my beater class SAAB c900 turbo won't have its issues sorted in time, so we'll be rolling in the almost a beater 9-5.

Just returned from the Gulf Coast (see I told you I had other interests) and doing my best to get all our ducks in a row.

Luckily "da boss" is now doing this fulltime (not that it pays the bills but she got laid off) so she'll make sure its right.

Looking forward to seeing everyone there :)

In reply to CarKid1989:

Here's a deal for ya.
An Old Ciera that I will sell to you for $500.
http://grassrootsmotorsports.com/forum/200x-classifieds/beater-with-a-heater-oldsmobuick-in-toledo-oh/71058/page1/
Since "safety items" are budget exempt, this is a package deal:
Used but recent brake work: $400
Used but recent 4 tires: $200
Used but recent struts: $200

$1,300 and all this Beige-tastic-ness can be yours. Pull the hubcaps and all the world will believe it is a $500 car but it just so happens it will make it there and back.

All is not perfect, it will need a $20 fan blower or suffer the indecency and inconvenience of only running the blower loud and on high.

JohnRW1621 wrote: In reply to CarKid1989: Here's a deal for ya. An Old Ciera that I will sell to you for $500. http://grassrootsmotorsports.com/forum/200x-classifieds/beater-with-a-heater-oldsmobuick-in-toledo-oh/71058/page1/ Since "safety items" are budget exempt, this is a package deal: Used but recent brake work: $400 Used but recent 4 tires: $200 Used but recent struts: $200 $1,300 and all this Beige-tastic-ness can be yours. Pull the hubcaps and all the world will believe it is a $500 car but it just so happens it will make it there and back. All is not perfect, it will need a $20 fan blower or suffer the indecency and inconvenience of only running the blower loud and on high.

Brakes - budget exempt Tires - nope but I usually won't sweat someone on it Struts - nope

All that being said, I'm fairly lenient as long as someone isnt trying to pass off a 4 year old Taurus as a $500 car because they "bought it at auction" (it happened on another event)

Now a $500 car but $800 for brakes (with brake work receipt to prove it.) = $1300

In reply to JohnRW1621: More likely the blower resistor if only high works. My Cavalier pops one every so often.

I plan to swap out the whole blower motor, maybe this weekend. I have the exact issue as shown in this clip.

For those following along at home the "pre-game" for this event is kicking off tonight in Hazlet, NJ and the event starts tomorrow.

I won't be pestering the forum with updates but we are trying a new scoring system which will allow us to live blog selected photos from the teams. Follow along on the blog at asphaultadventures.com

Looking forward to seeing all the GRMers out there!

Our final challenge of the day was a group shot. Love it. So many great people. New friends and Old. Got to meet Mike and Katie of Tunachuckers fame, great folks as well as other GRMers and Lemons folks. Still collecting my thoughts and sanity for a full event wrap up, so much to go through but it was a great event and has us looking forward to the next one and improving on the lessons learned from this one.

The official announcement for Saints 2 Sinners, the big 5 day adventure next summer was made so I'll let folks here know too. The event is on! It will happen July 3 - 7th starting in St Louis and ending in Vegas. Join the FB group and/or check out the website for details which should be forthcoming in a week or so. One big lesson learned from this event is I can only manage so many teams at once and keep things running smoothly so there will definitely be a limit on entries for the event. You'll want to apply early as this will be sold out and I have to learn to say no and limit it to what is manageable.

Had a great time at the Explore the Shore rally this weekend. The faithful Volvo Amazon Estate made it through the entire event with nary a complaint, even while bombing down the Garden State Parkway at ehem totally legal velocity to make it to Atlantic City on time.

The only mechanical malady we experienced all weekend happened on the way to the beginning of the event. I'd had the battery out of the car the week prior while doing some preventive (and corrective, and deferred) maintenance on the old girl, and when I reconnected it I must have routed the positive cable slightly differently. This situation became apparent to me as I downshifted and floored the accelerator to get around some traffic near Philadelphia and, upon releasing my foot from said accelerator, it decided to stay planted to the floor.

At this point, my first instinct was to declutch the transmission from the engine, to prevent immediate frontal impact with the car directly off the Volvo's bow. This, however, caused the engine to rev uncontrollably, to which my next response was to cut the ignition. As we coasted, I fiddled with the go pedal and eventually freed it, and as I keyed the engine back on the hot exhaust ignited the gasoline that the redblock had been pumping through it into the muffler. The muffler exploded, a massive cloud of sooty carbon enveloped the traffic behind us, and the car suddenly sounded like a '92 Civic with an Autozone fart tip.

All this because the battery cable had snagged the accelerator linkage.

Geeky car stuff aside, Katie and I felt very welcomed by the veterans of the event and made lots of new friends at the "before" party in Hazlet, the tiki pool ceremony at the Oceanic, and while stumbling along the Wildwood Boardwalk at 1AM with some other racers. Sunday morning we checked out of the Hotel and had breakfast at the Sunset West Diner. Their breakfast was amazing- Shrimp, asparagus, and Machego cheese omelet sided by a fried potato wedge topped with creamy horseradish sauce for me, and Ricotta- Lemon pancakes for her. Afterwards we walked the boardwalk and the beach until noon, then hopped back in the Amazon and headed back to Maryland.

Kelly and Jim, great weekend. I can honestly say that we might actually come back to New Jersey at some point of our own accord.

Sounds similar but less catastrophic to a situation I had on BABE rally in 08. Routed a 4 ga powerline too close to the clutch pedal and it eventually wore through it. Pushed in clutch, huge light show under the dash and then no more clutch. It had welded the clutch cable to the external casing and the cable was seized.

Glad you made it safely, I hadn't heard about that adventure. I apologize as I was torn in 100 directions all weekend and really wanted to get to spend more time with everyone.

If you and Katie ever decide to come back up to Wildwood (like this weekend for the race of Gentlemen) let me know. We go down there quite a bit, nice little shore town.

Wrap-up article is online http://asphaultadventures.com/wordpress/?p=806