Well crap! All I gets 40 cents for clean aluminum, no matter what kind it is.

I know how you feel about the old cars. I try to sell what I can rather than trashing any good parts.

 

I try to sell my parts too, but have almost no luck selling anything. I only list stuff locally and on craigslist. I now have a pretty big pile of parts that I would like to sell, and a few cars that I'd like to sell. I'm doing what I can to put the parts in a safe place, and if both my Ford pickups don't get sold before the end of August I will most likely gut them and they will go in for scrap. The best offer I got on my 68 F250 was 50 bucks and the best offer on my 86 was 400 bucks, which I spent well over 2,000 bucks on. At those prices might as well take them in for scrap, sad. Maybe it's just the heat, but things are just getting me very frusterated today.

 

My computer took a crap for over a week, took it somewhere to get fixed and just got it back. Still works for crap, but at least it turns on and opens the internet.

While it was down I sold a crap load of parts, so I was able to replace a bunch of my broken stuff, like a new pushmower, dishwasher, parts for my 66 Merc, got my computer fixed, stuff to fix my 2 car garage, shed's still screwed. Fuel for my van to go to a van-in. Still can't pay my bills though

Put a good tire on the right rear of my 86 F150 and put fuel in it, been using it for tooling around the yard, going to take it on a 100 mile trip on Tuesday, never went farther then the yard since my last repair, going to hook up the trailer to the van and put fuel in it so it's ready in case or when the truck breaks down again.

Hope all is going well for everyone lately.

 

Yesterday there was another autocross event in Tulsa that I attended. Overall, it was a pretty fun day, even though we got rain just after getting everything set up, but the rain stopped before we were ready to get started.
A local CBS affiliate came out, and did a story about our group and the event, which was broadcast on the news last night, as well as being rebroadcast today. Link to the story: NewsOn6.com Videos - NewsOn6.com - Tulsa, OK - News, Weather, Video and Sports - KOTV.com |
While most of the filming was done during the 2 heats in which I wasn't driving, my car is visible in the background of 1 interview (co-driver can also be seen putting his helmet in pass window, and me standing close by), and I was riding shotgun in at least 2 of the action shots (Pasta burner and gray car with massive wing).
I ended up taking home 2nd place in both CSP (co-driver beat me due to me making a major error, so my car took 1st and 2nd) as well as 2nd overall in open street tire class, my first time ever getting a trophy in the open class.
I doubt they would have used any footage of my car in action, due to the loudness of the exhaust. Rotaries do make a lot of noise, when a free-flowing exhaust is installed.

 

Rogue that is really neat and congradulations on the trophies. So autocross is a parking lot or something of the like with a course setup with cones and you are just trying to beat the clock, kinda similar to drag racing? I've never seen anything like that around here. I wonder if they allow vans or pickups? So is there a sanctioning body for this?

 

Yep, we just set up a course in a parking lot, and try to get thru as quick as possible without hitting any cones (each cone adds 2 sec penalty). Depending on course layout and length, there can be 2-4 cars on course at a time, but they seperated by a large margin, and we have several flag stations to stop the cars if need be.
Vans are typically not allowed, nor 4x4's or SUVs, due to high center of gravity. 2wd trucks are allowed, and I can't believe they didn't use footage of the Dakota that was out. It's one of the quickest vehicles everytime he brings it out.
Sanctioning bodies are plenty. There's SCCA (the one I run in), NASA, and many large car clubs (BMW, Porsche, Corvette ETC) that have national sactioning bodies, and plenty of smaller regional/ local groups that do these.

 

I have got to find time to take my CVPI to one of thoes.
Looks fun!

 

Mega fun is more like it.
Not being rude, but CVPI aren't really that good for this. Doesn't matter whether the lights/sirens are there or not. They're still a big, heavy car, with less than great nimbleness. The auto trans also isn't the best item to have on car for this type of activity.
Yes, the CVPI can be run thru the cones, but, don't be surprised when stock civics and corollas just obliterate your times.
Even as nimble as my RX7 is, in the street tire class, I was murdered by a stock corrolla. Of course, it's an indexed class, so I would have to be 10% faster than the corrolla, just to tie it. I was only ~1/2 second slower in actual time, but after the index multiplier was factored in, it became ~3 seconds slower.......

 

I know. It gets a bad push at low speeds in tight turns, and snaps loose under throttle.
It would just be for fun with no hope of winning.
Now, get one of thoes 4 banger cars on a 2 mile stretch of highway and they will not even be able to keep me in sight.

 

Very true. Police cars are well suited for high speed chases for many reasons. On the top end, there's little that can outrun the law. 2 wheeled vehicles not included.....
In the right hands, a cruiser is even a decent match for much more nimble car that's being piloted by an unskilled driver, (particularly if said rookie driver just stole the car,) even if the chase is taking place in tight quarters.

The pushing in tight corners, and loose under throttle are both drawbacks in this type of event. SCCA events are designed to limit the max speed attainable by most stock cars to under 65. In fact, I seldom get my RX7 above second gear during an event, but I'm on/off the throttle and brake many times, and turning the steering wheel many more times, even though the average course lasts between 40 and 60 seconds. In that minute or less, there's more throttle/braking/steering inputs required than in an average lap of an F1/grand prix race, even though we seldom hit over 50 MPH.

 

I was reading the SCCA rules, they rule out minivans and 4x4's, they don't mention full-size vans or 6x6's The closest place they seem to run the events by me is about a 2 hour drive. It looks like a bunch of fun as I like to participate is any kind of racing. Guess I'm stuck to the circle track by me, only a 30 minute drive, I've raced there a few times and have done very good, now if I could only afford my own car.

You mention good getaway vehicles, I think a deuce and a half 6x6 tanker truck with like 3000 gallons of fuel with bulletproof tires and the like would be a good getaway vehicle, they would have to wait a long time to for you to run out of fuel.

 

Regardless of what type of vehicle you are driving, it's dern hard to outrun the radio, and I can promise you that you will be outnumbered in very little time.


One good point about autocross. It requires no special equipement or car preperations. The car you drive to work/school/shopping is likely to be able to meet the basic safety check before being able to run. Only 2 safety items needed, are closed toes shoes, and a helmet. Most any motorcycle helmet produced in the last 10-15 years will meet the requirement. Most clubs have loaner helmets for those that don't have a helmet, or have one that doesn't meet the minimum spec.
While 4wd trucks and SUVs are barred from use, we did make an exception for one of the drivers seen in that story last year. He was allowed to drive his 4wd CR-V. Of course, it was lowered, had coilovers, and high-end street tires, plus we knew he had used it previously at other events held by clubs that didn't bar this type of vehicle, and he happens to be a very skilled driver. As the cheif of safety, I had the final word in letting him run. I told that if I had to fill out an incident report over that vehicle, I was going to pretend it was his CRX, not a CR-V......

 

nope can never outrun a radio, stupid technology.

From what I read of the rules I'm not sure if any of my vehicles would qualify for the events. I will do more research into it though, it looks very interesting and might be something I can afford to do. I don't know how they feel about cars being trailered in as the events are far away and I would hate to be stuck far away from home with no way to get back. And the only car that would fit on the trailer would be my Falcon with the Boss 144. Huge rulebook though and some of it don't make any sense, I don't suppose they have a readers digest version for dummy's?

 

Trailering in a car is fine. Since nearly anything from a new econobox to a full out racecar can be used, plenty of cars arrive on trailers.
The falcon would be fine. Might not be the quickest car that day, but would most likely be the quickest falcon there......
Truthfully, anything listed in your sig (except the van) would be acceptable. I re-watched the video, and you can see a short glimpse of the dakota that runs with us. Granted, it's been lowered considerably, and normally has 335mm wide DOT r-comps on 10" wide deep dish wheels. Stability isn't an issue in that truck, but keeping the rear behind the front can be.......
Basicly, if it's a street legal car, that has DOT legal tires, and the battery is tied down good, good brake pedal feel, no excessive slack in the steering or wheel bearings and a good throttle return spring, it's good to go. Of course, all loose items must be removed from inside the car (including trunk) and it's good to go.
If the vehicle is old enough that seat belts weren't factory, a lap belt must be added.
It's really that simple. The only rule pertaining to how old a car can be is this, over 20 years old, not eligible for nationals in stock class. At a regional (local) type event, a model T could be run in stock class, so long as it could pass the safety check.

 

Rouge just curouis where do you live?

Because we watched a group run these courses this last weekend at our airport.

My buddy tried this out last summer, (i rode with him twice), he drove a 5 speed v6 mustang when he did it. He had to pay i think 35 dollars to do it all.

I would have a hell of a time trying to run the course, you really got to know it or you will get lost and start nailing cones! haha