Hey there D***,

So far the years been non-existent with regard to racing. The Fiat's taken WAY too long to prepare but will be done by the end of this week.
We've missed three races in Sovren and two in Conference. All told, about 7000 dollars have been put into the body AND engine. BUT it should run very well. Both body and engine has been completely
redone. I raced it at about 1700 lbs, now it'll be around 1400.
When I ran it, it was running with bad rings and I had to short shift into
4th. It'll have about 25 more HP now..it'll be a different vehicle..

Currently, I'm a teacher (p.e.) who's getting wrapped up for the year, so I'm pretty busy. I'll take about a week off here then start home work for the summer and get into some heavy racing work.

My next race is the Seattle Historics (www.sovren.org to see poster)..
Good race with about 50-60 cars per group.

Then we'll go either to Portland for their historics And/or Spokane for the conference race (www.icscc.com).

Looks like you have a break in the action in VARA until July, is that your next one?

BTW..what kind of camera are you using in your car?

mac

By the way I meant to tell you I really like the blue stripes on your car I thought that when I have the time and money I would add something like that only in maroon similar to James Deans "Lil Bastard" 550 Porsche.

Thanks! Actually the stripes are purple. Hard to tell with the pic. We've also added black pin striping to them so they look even more dramatic. All decals added include a 60 c.u. on the front, like they used to do with old NASCAR cars.(cute pun on it, considering the NASCAR engines had a slightly bigger number on them!! ))))

Think your car would look good with the stripes, but I'm a big stripes guy! LOL

Dad funds our race endeavor so money is somewhat less of an issue with the car for ME LOL, BUT body work, paint etc, is VERY expensive. Our paint job costs us 3000 and that was removing some things (fender fflares, etc) and fixing some existing damage that we got when we bought the car. That work would cost more somewhere else but dad knows a guy who knows a guy...LOL

my myspace page is..
www.myspace.com/macpioneerpe and you can see the "tape" job on the right side..(on the background image)..definitely needed work.

Good deal to know that you'll be attending the Big Bore race. It'll be great to have people we know down there.
We are shooting for that one.. That is ONLY if the fiat holds up. Considering we've spent about 8000 dollars on it this year, it stinkin' better! LOL Barring accident and engine fatality, we should be there!

I've been studying Willow Springs on Youtube (videos) and see that it's a screamer. I'd LOVE to check out the vids you have. Did you know you can get any vhs converted to digital? I think pretty cheaply. You might want to check it out. Then you could just download it to Youtube
with an account and send it to anyone or just yourself. The two passbys on my myspace are done with a digital camera and then I stuck it on youtube.

btw..
http://www.newfangled.com/converting_vhs_to_digital_video
http://www.convert-vhs.com/
local might be a bit more expensive but available..

Otherwise, email me here, (nwferret@comcast.net) and I'll send you my snail address (don't want to put that on this public site)..if you send em, I'd definitely get them back!

We have only one set of gearing but it's set for pretty fast tracks. Spokane

and portland

are both pretty fast.
Spokane's straightaway goes and goes...



I am definately planning on the BBB in Nov. at Willow springs my favorite track. If you have never been there before and you have the ability to change gearing bring the tallest you have got this is a high speed momentum track with two long straights (the back stretch is downhill and has a slight kink but is flat out all the way through turn 8).
I'm probably going to invest in this gem..
http://goprocamera.com/
I hear it's got good pix and for under 200, I think it's a pretty good deal.

Thanks for the info and help. Good to connect with a long time racer who's got experience and insight.

You go to the Monterey historics? We are planning on returning for the 6th year.


Mac

So sorry we didn't make it down. We blew up our engine at Portland and didn't have the ability to put together the funds after repairs. Personally we are debating on trying over with a new vehicle. The 850 isnt' the most reliable car. We are mothballed until next season btw..

BTW...D***, can you email me at nwferret@comcast.net. Want to discuss how things are run and raced in Cali.

Thanks and sorry we missed you

Michael McKinley