Next two races

Sat July 01, 2006 @ 6:00pm
Sand Lake 4th of July Festival, Sand Lake , MI
'78 & Newer Demolition Derby
& Compact Figure 8
Map

Wed July 05, 2006 @ 7:00pm
Montcalm County 4-H Fair Grounds, Greenville, MI
Figure 8
Map

Both of the maps are for places on the right street within a block of the race.

Cadillac Figure 8

We took the 200 mile round trip to Cadillac yesterday to race the first figure 8 of the season. It was a glorious Saturday - not a cloud in site and temperature in the 80s. Strangely however there was a small turn out of cars and just as many in the V8 class as there was in the compact class.

I was drawn in heat 2 at the back of the field for my heat and didnt feel like I was doing that well. The track had just been watered by the fire truck and I was having great difficulty cornering. It seemed to be a day to just keep plugging away and I finally ended up in second. Not good enough to qualify for the feature but the car was still running at the ned which is always a minor victory.

I came back out for the consolation and was again drawn at the back of the grid but only two of us actually made the grid, so thats exactly where I wanted to be. I waited a few laps looking for the opportunity to spim 163 who was in front of me and finally got him. From there it was time to drive a steady and cautious race and stay out of the way of him until I brought home the chequered flag. My first ever win and a trophy to boot.


That qualified me for the feature and again I was drawn at the back of the grid. The feature turned out to be a very rough and tumble race and I was doing reasonably well until I ended up in the deep mud off in one corner. I had a challenge extricating myself from that muck and ended up fourth at the finish.


The Cavalier still runs and will be out again at Sand Lake next week. I just have to fix one wheel and a hole in the radiator. The whole back end is bent to hell too - even the frame is buckled but it still runs.............

Other good web sites

I was digging around last night to see what other good web sites I could find that talked about derbies or figure 8s or scrambles. Here are a few that I thought were good.

Nick's Demolition Derby Page.
Nick is another Michigan driver who mainly runs derbies and has some good set up tips as well as lots of before and after pics.

Banger Photos
Great banger racing photos from England. They even have a picture of a Rolls Royce banger

Autospeed is another English site. They are the promoters of the track that I grew up going to in England - Smeatharpe Stadium. The track used to be a US bomber airfield in WW2. That area had a number of the airfields in WW2 and one town 5 miles away, Upottery, was the location referred to in the HBO miniseries Band of Brothers.

Cadillac

I am off to Cadillac today for a figure 8 race. It starts at 7 PM at Cadillac fairgrounds which is just North of town.

There is also a demo scramble at Hudsonville tonight too

Mud in the eye

For the last couple of races I have been challenged by mud coming through the gap where the windshield used to be, or actually still was, leading to dramatically reduced visibility. I have been thinking how I can get around this and after watching a few NASCAR races where they have tear off windshields I have come up with the idea of a tear off for my helmet visor. Naturally as I dont have the budget of NASCAR I have crafted my tear offs from as an artists would say "found objects." In this case duct tape and the clear fronted Priority mail envelopes. I think its gonna work. If it gets covered in mud one pull of the duct tape and it's gone.

Parrot

Parrot
Originally uploaded by figure_8.

This is so good. It was suggested that the car needed a parrot and after I went and grabbed a picture of a Macaw from the web, I couldn't believe it as my friend spray painted the most perfect parrot. All I can say is thanks this is so cool.

Margarita glass

Margarita glass
Originally uploaded by figure_8.

Naturally the tropics inspire wasting away in Margaritaville so the car needed a frosty beverage

Palm tree

Palm tree
Originally uploaded by figure_8.

Palm tree on the hood

What would Jimmy Buffett do?

What would Jimmy Buffett do?
Originally uploaded by figure_8.

The theme was what would Jimmy Buffett do - so we thought it had to be written on the trunk

Side View of the ZX2

Side View of the ZX2
Originally uploaded by figure_8.

One of my friends had been disappointed that he had been unable to join me for a car painting evening before so I saved him a nice blank canvas - a white Escort ZX2. Though there was a plan to do a tropical Jimmy Buffett theme.

Bye bye kitty

It was a little sad today as the infamous Hello Kitty Cavalier was hauled off to the junkyard. All that I have left are memories, photos, 2 wheels and a timing belt.

On the positive side there is another acquisition in the driveway - an 89 Buick LeSabre with teh 3.8 V6 and I may have finally found a scrap guy to work with on getting as many cars as I need.