Happy Birthday to me (280z build)

[drummingpariah]

A bit more dash plug forming

[drummingpariah]

And now for some sad news. A setback that could be big enough to prevent me from making it to Ascutney 1 (but I'm still thrashing to make it happen). My budget is definitely exhausted, and the front subframe that I brought up to Joey is twisted. That means he doesn't have straight pickup points to weld in, and without magically finding pickup point measurements within the next week or so, there's really no way to get it in properly. This is a tough one, given the time constraints.

[Rabbit Farmer]

I have found that building a car AND trying to rush for its first event is not a good idea.

When I was building my first caged car..... and it was no where need the fabrication that you are doing (just bare shell, cage, paint, put it together)... we pulled the plug on it for the small stuff before Okemo (many, many, many years ago) such as alignment, etc.

Getting the car together, driving it around, feeling things out BEFORE racing up a mountain road is advisable.

My 2 cents, for what it is worth.

Steve

[drummingpariah]

I have found that building a car AND trying to rush for its first event is not a good idea.

When I was building my first caged car..... and it was no where need the fabrication that you are doing (just bare shell, cage, paint, put it together)... we pulled the plug on it for the small stuff before Okemo (many, many, many years ago) such as alignment, etc.

Getting the car together, driving it around, feeling things out BEFORE racing up a mountain road is advisable.

My 2 cents, for what it is worth.

Steve

That's what the rational side of my mind is recommending as well. There's so much left to do on this, it's still going to be a stretch to have it properly ready for Okemo1 2016.

The other side, though ... that's the side that convinced me to buy a Miata the week before my first event ... and got that car caged a week before Okemo. The absolute best I could hope for at this point is to be able to take a leisurely fam-run-speed drive up Ascutney a half dozen times, and see what the hill thinks should be rattled loose on the car.

[sachilles]

No need to stop pushing to hit deadlines, however don't make poor financial decisions so you can hit an event. If your funds are exhausted, take a breath, reset, and choose a path that doesn't make you have to eat Ramen for weeks on end. One of those moments it sucks to be a grown up. Happens to all of us.
My point is not to take shortcuts, because time and money bind you. Those things have a habit of costing you twice as much money and time down the road. Happens to all racers at EVERY level.

[drummingpariah]

No need to stop pushing to hit deadlines, however don't make poor financial decisions so you can hit an event. If your funds are exhausted, take a breath, reset, and choose a path that doesn't make you have to eat Ramen for weeks on end. One of those moments it sucks to be a grown up. Happens to all of us.
My point is not to take shortcuts, because time and money bind you. Those things have a habit of costing you twice as much money and time down the road. Happens to all racers at EVERY level.

Well, it looks like the car won't be ready for transport 'till mid/late May anyway, so there's nothing I could do to push it forward anyway. I secured a bit of extra money from some sponsors who wanted to see the car on all the hills to buy Jason's 13b, and had a suspension and alignment deal. Now that I'm responsible for those on my own (sponsors don't want to invest 100% for 50% of a season) it looks like I'll be lucky to make it on any hills this year.

Gutted.

[drummingpariah]

In the meantime, I can't just sit around being disappointed. I'm going to push to get the CRX ready. It doesn't need a lot to be a decent X-car, but I still don't think I'll be able to have it together in time for Ascutney. All of my money is tied up in the Datsun until July-ish, so I don't know where funds for all the little stuff will come from ... but I'm going to have to sort something out. It won't be fancy or fast, but it'll serve as a stand-in until I can start working on the real race car.



I've never missed an event yet, and don't intend to start now.

[dsldubn]

bummer about set backs, but don't let it get you down. In the end they are all just cars. It'll get done and you'll run it.

crx will be a fun back up. I'm not sure if you already got rid of all you miata stuff, but if you need any spare 4x100 wheels I'll give you some.

still have your cb or cl360?

[drummingpariah]

bummer about set backs, but don't let it get you down. In the end they are all just cars. It'll get done and you'll run it.

crx will be a fun back up. I'm not sure if you already got rid of all you miata stuff, but if you need any spare 4x100 wheels I'll give you some.

still have your cb or cl360?

I still have the 15x8 RA1's from the Miata, so those should be good enough shoes for the season. Gearing will be a little bit of an issue with them, but the CRX should have enough extra power over the Miata that I can live with it.

I still have the cl360, just finished rebuilding that engine ... and I picked up a cb360 for my girlfriend last week, which has the engine torn apart right now ... and my friend Laurie's cb350 ... in addition to my gsxr750. So many bikes, so little time.


There are only so many parts you can even buy for these.

[dsldubn]

cool, the bikes are a good distraction while waiting on the car. I've always found bike builds to be more relaxing too...and cheaper