Cars

Great Race

We were done house hunting and didn’t plan on geocaching today either, so we were trying to figure out what we wanted to do, when Donna saw in the local paper that something called the Great Race had a lunch stop planned at Crater Lake. The Great Race is a timed rally of vintage automobiles that started in 1983 for pre World War II (since changed to pre 1967) automobiles. The route varies each year and this year’s event started in Riverside, CA and after 9 days will finish in Tacoma, WA.

Their lunch stop was planned for noon and it was already 9:30 and we hadn’t really started moving yet. Crater Lake is about an hour and a quarter north of where were sitting, so we jumped into high gear, getting dressed and packing some snacks. When we arrived at the south entrance of the park at 11:30 there was a line to get in, that had traffic backed up to the main road so that people coming from both directions had to alternate getting off Oregon 62 into line. We sat there for a few minutes barely moving before changing our plans on the fly.

We knew that the cars were coming from Grants Pass so the only way the could get to the park is via OR62, so if the cars hadn’t made it into the park yet, we could catch them on their way up. We got out of line and headed west on 62. And if they were already in the park, we could loop around on OR230 to the north entrance of the park and catch them on the way out, when they started to their overnight spot in Bend, OR. About five miles later we passed by a large parking area for a sno-park and there was a small sign on the side of the road that read, Great Race, and sitting there was a minivan with its back hatch up. I pulled a U-turn and parked near the minivan.

There was a couple of folks sitting behind it, facing the road, with a small table set up, they we official timers for a running check point. We asked if all the cars had been through already. They said that none had been there yet and as a matter of fact, the first car, if it was running on time, would be here in 10 minutes. It was our lucky day. We peppered them with questions for awhile and then left them be to carry out their duties as the cars came by. One hundred and six cars, out of 150 starters in Riverside, started that morning at one minute intervals and they started coming by at pretty close to that pace.

We hung around and watched a couple dozen cars before continuing west passing more race cars as they headed towards their lunch stop in the national park. We stopped a couple more times along the side of the road to watch a few cars go by before turning back east to Klamath Falls.

I took about 15 or so photos using the cell phone camera, but because of shutter lag and my ineptitude maybe 5 had the whole car in them. The best one is probably the one above which was the first or second photo I took. But do your self a favor and click on this link – Great Race – and check out the professional photographers pictures from this leg.

Ladybug’s New Shoes

The first time we looked at the Mini from behind, not long after we brought it home, we both commented on how skinny the tires looked. Being used to seeing the 205mm wide Miata tires, the stock 175mm wide tires on the Mini looked like bicycle tires.

After a little over 32,500 miles, the 7-year old tires were right at the wear bars, so I decided to go tire shopping. I started in the usual place, tirerack.com, and quickly found out that a replacement in the stock tire size left you with only a few choices. We sort of wanted something a bit wider to rid the car of that Conestoga wagon look, but because of the narrow stock rims, 5.5″, the widest recommended tire was only one step up at 185mm.

At least at the 185/60 R15 size there was a much wider range of tires to choose from. There were ten tires in the Grand Touring All-Season category, ranging in price from $65 to $125 a tire. After sorting through the group, weighing price and review results, I settled on a set of General ALTIMAX RT43 tires.

While I love the TireRack experience and have bought a ton of stuff from them, and will again, I always like to check at my favorite independent local tire store. I don’t mind spending a few bucks more to support the locals. Turns out Aiken Discount Tire could get a set of the exact same tires, for a little more than $10 a piece more than TireRack, so I bought the tires from them.

Dream Car

Painstakingly restored by the fine folks at Lamborghini, this Miura is probably worth well over a million bucks. That price is helped along by it being one of only 6 finished in this blue Azzurro Mexico color and having been owned by renown Italian singer Little Tony.

From the CarBuzz article:
In addition to supplying the car’s production specifications from its archives, Polo Storico also offered its expertise on the right working methods to “ensure that not only the final appearance was perfect but also that all the phases of the restoration work respected the way things were done in that era in Sant-Agata Bolognese.”

The most important thing I want to know is, before I plunk down that kind of coin, does that 8-track player still work? 🙂

Track, Daily, Crush

On the last Everyday Driver podcast I listened to, one of the social media questions was “Track, Daily, Crush: a UPS truck, a FedEx truck or a DHL truck?”

Now I’ve heard of F#@k, Marry, Kill. It typically is 3 actors or actresses, but can be applied to most anyone. From the three guys or gals in your high school Biology class to the three Baristas at your local Starbucks.

But I’ve never heard Track, Daily, Crush before. Its the same principle, just applied to cars, so given a list of 3 different vehicles, which one would would take racing, which one would you use for everyday and which one would you sentence to the scrap heap. If I was to apply it to say, the first 3 generations of Miatas, it would be NA for the track, NB for daily (naturally) and crush the NC.

The three items idea works, but I think given a larger list of similar items might be fun too. How about this idea for Track, Daily, Crush. Go to the car auction web site Bring a Trailer on a certain day at a certain time and out of the couple hundred cars listed pick which one you’d track, which one you’d daily and which on you’d crush.

Okay, here you go, at Thursday, May, 23 2019 at 9:30 PM eastern time:

Track Daily Crush
1957 Porsche 356A 2003 BMW M5 2001 Jeep Cherokee Sport
No mistaking this look for a street car. Back when M5’s still had the sleeper vibe. No sleeper look, just pedestrian looking.

10 Cool Miatas & A Cool Pickup Go See 30 Cool Cars

Cross posted from the Miata Club web site…

When we rolled out of Greg’s Gas Plus at 11:30 for the drive to Greenwood we were 8 Miatas strong. We also had an OTM bringing up the rear, a Ram pickup truck, because Caleb and his friend refused to ride in the trunk of Jennie’s Mazdaspeed Miata. The Wilms’ got a late start and met us at the lunch spot and Daryl Shipman met us in Greenwood.

The drive started cloudy and a bit chilly so everyone’s top was firmly in the up and locked position. The fog was supposed to break near midday, so we hoped to be able to put the tops down part way to Greenwood, instead, the further north we got, the thicker the fog became. Amazingly enough our practically mile long conga line of cars remained intact on the back road drive, until we got into the Saturday afternoon traffic on the US25 bypass around Greenwood. The left turn into our lunch spot was the trickiest part of the drive and true to form, we lost one car, temporarily, in the maneuver.

On the recommendation of Mr. Shipman, lunch was at a place called Migs Pizza Castle and it turned out perfectly in nearly every way. You ordered at the counter, so no waiting to be seated and can I get you drinks, etc. It was crowded so we sat where we fit, no rearranging the furniture into one long “last supper” style table. The food was actually quite good and the service was fast, I’d be willing to bet this is the first time in history that 20 people from this Miata Club got out of a restaurant in an hour.

Knowing the trouble we had getting into lunch, with the left turn needed, it would be impossible to get eleven vehicles in row, so Brian made sure everyone knew the short route to meet up with the Corvette Club just short of our final destination. When we got to the correct Greenwood High School parking lot we found not many Vettes and a whole lot of pickup trunks and SUVs. Quite a few of them were coming with more than two guests. It was suggested that anyone who could, carpool, so as to not overwhelm the quiet subdivison we were headed to. It helped some, but we still lined the street in front of the Von Seleens.

Arranged up the driveway hill to Hartmut’s two garages were a series of Porsche automobiles to boggle the mind. From the amazing 911R, to an 80’s cool slant nose 930 Turbo Convertible, to the insane 911GT2 RS, to the bonkers hybrid 918 Spyder, to my favorite, the 1969 911S in Cream with a brown interior. At the end of the driveway was the Lava Orange 911GT3 RS that came to Deals Gap with us in November. There was also the relatively sedate late model 911GTS and LeMans race car in street car clothing, a Carrera GT.

All these cars fit in the one garage at the top of the hill, with the red and yellow tiled floor and one wall covered with trophy cases filled with awards from car show and racetracks across America. The two car garage attached to the house held the “pedestrian” family cars, a Porsche Macan SUV (the GTS version) and an S Class Mercedes Benz (the AMG version of course.)

If that wasn’t enough, we then packed up and drove a couple miles cross town to visit Hartmut’s other garage where he keeps his more eclectic collection of cars. There were a little over 20 cars parked cheek by jowl and ran the gamut from a 1959 Corvette race car to a McLaren 650s Spider, a 1963 Porsche 356C to a Spyker C8, including the first car he bought when he came to America, a 1970 Mustang Boss 302. The last photo below is a 90° panorama I took from the front left corner, how many cars can you identify?