Francis and I spent the day in South Bend, most of it at the Tire Rack facility. After waking up and getting breakfast, we drove over there and began our preparations. We washed the car and then applied all of the stickers to it. Once that was complete, we did our technical inspection.
The tech inspection is pretty minimal; they expect you to have gone through the car mechanically. All they are doing is checking your racing suit and helmet and that you have all of the approved stickers on in the correct places.
One of the coolest things about One Lap is that is like summer camp in a way. You see the same folks year after year; there are always some new ones and some who do not return, but you just pick up where you left off a year (or three in our case) ago. The camraderie of sharing this crazy automotive adventure is infectious.
We spent quite a while wandering around talking with all of the competitors we knew and meeting a new bunch of folks as well. It's really interesting to see what cars people bring, what they have done to cars the have run before, and generally what's going on in their lives.
In early afternoon, we changed the brakes from our street pads to our race pads. We'll run those for the next week now, changing them once we get back to South Bend on Saturday, May 7. We had a drivers' meeting at about 4, then packed up and came back to the hotel.
Francis is out driving around in the Roadster. It is a beautiful sunny day, windy and somewhat warm; a welcome change after three days of rain and snow. He's going to see if he can find an aerosol cleaner for our MAF (mass air flow sensor). It has been suggested that if it is dirty, it may be contributing to the misfire codes we keep getting. We'll see.
Miles driven: incidental
Wildlife seen: none.
Saturday, April 30, 2011
Friday, April 29, 2011
Racin': Driving to South Bend: Day 3, Esko to South Bend
As I stood in the bathroom at Mary and Phil's house this morning brushing my teeth, I looked out the window and saw snow falling to the ground. There was a light dusting on the Roadster from overnight, as well. After having breakfast, re-packing the car and saying my goodbyes, I started out at 8:00 a.m.. The time and temperature sign at Esko High School read 8:03 a.m., 34 degrees.
I drove into Duluth encountering the second worst traffic of the trip, it took about 30 minutes to go 5 or 6 miles. I crossed the river into Superior, Wisconsin and then headed south on Route 53. Just out of Superior it started snowing and continued snowing for the next 100 or so miles, until about 50 miles north of Eau Claire. The rest of the trip was relatively uneventful, just a lot of miles on Interstate 94 heading east through Wisconsin and then into Illinois.
The trailer is behaving itself, but that one headlight we worked on Monday night is out again. I don't think it's the bulb, but we're going to have to do some investigating to make sure.
Chicago was its usual traffic fest (yes, it was the worst traffic of the trip). To top that off, the tolls are outrageous when you are towing a trailer. I probably dropped about $20-25 in the area right around Chicago.
I just got back from the South Bend Regional Airport where I picked up Francis, my son and co-driver. We'll be joined at the hip for the next 8 days of automotive fun and mayhem.
Mileage today: 570
Mileage to date: 2,202
Wildlife seen: 1 osprey (also, I forgot to add that yesterday I saw a wild turkey and Tuesday I saw 6 pronghorn antelope and a crane (I think it was a sandhill crane but am not sure).
I drove into Duluth encountering the second worst traffic of the trip, it took about 30 minutes to go 5 or 6 miles. I crossed the river into Superior, Wisconsin and then headed south on Route 53. Just out of Superior it started snowing and continued snowing for the next 100 or so miles, until about 50 miles north of Eau Claire. The rest of the trip was relatively uneventful, just a lot of miles on Interstate 94 heading east through Wisconsin and then into Illinois.
The trailer is behaving itself, but that one headlight we worked on Monday night is out again. I don't think it's the bulb, but we're going to have to do some investigating to make sure.
Chicago was its usual traffic fest (yes, it was the worst traffic of the trip). To top that off, the tolls are outrageous when you are towing a trailer. I probably dropped about $20-25 in the area right around Chicago.
I just got back from the South Bend Regional Airport where I picked up Francis, my son and co-driver. We'll be joined at the hip for the next 8 days of automotive fun and mayhem.
Mileage today: 570
Mileage to date: 2,202
Wildlife seen: 1 osprey (also, I forgot to add that yesterday I saw a wild turkey and Tuesday I saw 6 pronghorn antelope and a crane (I think it was a sandhill crane but am not sure).
Thursday, April 28, 2011
Racin':Driving to South Bend: Day 2, Billings to Esko
Not much excitement today, just a lot of time in the car.
I got up at 5 and was on the road with breakfast in a Mickey D's bag by 5:50. Before I got going I checked the fault codes in the computer. I had misfires on 4 different cylinders; 1, 2, 3, and 4. I also had an oxygen sensor (pre catalytic converter) limit on cylinders 1-3 and 4-6 (which makes sense with all the misfires). Nothing much to do about it at this point, just keep an eye on it I guess. I did put that one bottle of fuel injector cleaner in the gas tank yesterday. I'll do another one tomorrow, or maybe wait a couple days and do it.
I drove 829 miles in about 12.5 hours and am now in Esko, Minnesota at my sister and brother-in-law's house. Normally when I'm driving to One Lap, the weather is good enough for me to roll with the top down. So far, the top has been up almost the whole time. Yesterday, it was raining off and on all day. Today was the same. When I got to Moorehead (first city in Minnesota across the Red River from Fargo, North Dakota) I put the top down as I finished getting gas. That lasted for about 50 miles. Up ahead as I drove east on Highway 10 I could see dark grey clouds. I figured that I would be getting rained on soon, so I pulled over and put the top back up.
10 minutes later I was driving through a snowstorm. Then I remembered, "Oh, yeah. I'm in Minnesota. It snows on Mother's Day sometimes." Still, it made me nervous. Even though the road stayed bare and wet, you never really know what the traction is like until you lose it. Not cool, especially when towing a fairly heavy trailer. The snow kept up through most of central Minnesota and turned to rain as I approached the Duluth area. My sister, Mary, and I went out for a bit and as we returned to her house, it started snowing here. As long as it doesn't stick, I'll be ok.
Mileage total: 1,632
Wildlife seen today: 3 bald eagles, 5 pronghorn antelope, many hawks hunting by the highway, wild Canada geese (not like those fat, tame ones around Greenlake in Seattle)
I got up at 5 and was on the road with breakfast in a Mickey D's bag by 5:50. Before I got going I checked the fault codes in the computer. I had misfires on 4 different cylinders; 1, 2, 3, and 4. I also had an oxygen sensor (pre catalytic converter) limit on cylinders 1-3 and 4-6 (which makes sense with all the misfires). Nothing much to do about it at this point, just keep an eye on it I guess. I did put that one bottle of fuel injector cleaner in the gas tank yesterday. I'll do another one tomorrow, or maybe wait a couple days and do it.
I drove 829 miles in about 12.5 hours and am now in Esko, Minnesota at my sister and brother-in-law's house. Normally when I'm driving to One Lap, the weather is good enough for me to roll with the top down. So far, the top has been up almost the whole time. Yesterday, it was raining off and on all day. Today was the same. When I got to Moorehead (first city in Minnesota across the Red River from Fargo, North Dakota) I put the top down as I finished getting gas. That lasted for about 50 miles. Up ahead as I drove east on Highway 10 I could see dark grey clouds. I figured that I would be getting rained on soon, so I pulled over and put the top back up.
10 minutes later I was driving through a snowstorm. Then I remembered, "Oh, yeah. I'm in Minnesota. It snows on Mother's Day sometimes." Still, it made me nervous. Even though the road stayed bare and wet, you never really know what the traction is like until you lose it. Not cool, especially when towing a fairly heavy trailer. The snow kept up through most of central Minnesota and turned to rain as I approached the Duluth area. My sister, Mary, and I went out for a bit and as we returned to her house, it started snowing here. As long as it doesn't stick, I'll be ok.
Mileage total: 1,632
Wildlife seen today: 3 bald eagles, 5 pronghorn antelope, many hawks hunting by the highway, wild Canada geese (not like those fat, tame ones around Greenlake in Seattle)
Wednesday, April 27, 2011
Racin': Driving to South Bend: Day 1, Seattle to Billings
Got to bed last night at 11:30 after packing the trailer and working on the headlights with Francis (one was burnt out, the other had to be aimed better). I got up at 3:00 a.m. so that I could get out of the house by 4:00. I wanted to get to Missoula, Montana in time for lunch with our other son, Walter, who goes to school at U of M there. I got there, but it took some doing!
Everything seemed fine as I headed east on I-90 out of the Puget Sound lowlands and into the Cascades. It started to snow just before Snoqualmie Pass which made me a bit nervous because I have high-performance summer tires on the car and they are as wide as steamrollers, not the best for driving in snow. In addition the rubber compound in the tires is meant to work in the Spring, Summer and Fall. In the cold it gets quite hard. Luckily the air temperatures were not that cold. I hit snow several more times during the day, but the roads stayed bare and wet, so it was quite safe.
On the way up to Snoqualmie Pass, the car started running really rough and immediately threw a Check Engine light. The car felt like it did the time I blew a head gasket, with two cylinders not firing properly. If I blew a head gasket, my One Lap adventure would be over practically before it had gotten started. I was seriously worried. This time, it felt like only one cylinder had dropped out. I started to come down the other side of the Pass and pulled off the highway at Cle Elum to take a look. I shut the car off and restarted it and it ran on all 6 cylinders. Yay! I still have to pull out my code reader and take a look at what faults are stored in the computer, but will probably do that tomorrow morning before I take off.
The next bit of excitement occured at the first gas stop. I decided to push all the way to Ritzville, forsaking all the open gas stations at Moses Lake. I have this thing about getting the most out of every tank of gas. I want to keep driving as long as possible and stop as infrequently as possible. Pushing gas stops helps me do that, but it can make things nerve wracking on occasion, like this morning. When the Reserve light comes on, I know that I have about 30 miles before the tank runs dry. When the light came on, I was passing a mileage sign; Ritzville 31 miles. I knew that if I got there, I would be running on fumes. I wasn't actually all that worried because Francis and I had put a 6 gallon container of gas in the trailer, but it is a bit of a pain to do it on the side of the road if you don't have to.
Anyway, as I was pulling in to the Shell station in Ritzville, the engine coughed. I had just made it. The Roadster drank 13.298 gallons of premium. The specifications in the owner's manual say that the tank capacity is 13.2 gallons including the reserve. I guess the extra .098 gallons went into the filler neck. That is cutting it much to close and I have modified my behavior somewhat. The worst part of this is that the car got 17.19 mpg on that first tank. The trailer is extra heavy this year will all sorts of tools and stuff. Probably too heavy, but there's not much to do about that except to consume the consumables as quickly as possible. We have a cooler strapped to the tongue of the trailer with 36 Diet Pepsi s and 30 16 oz Talking Rains. That's about 57 pounds of liquids, not counting the ice! Guess I'd better start drinking.
Across the street from the Shell station is a Starbucks. I had finished my morning coffee brewed at home and was ready for another, so I drove across the street and into the parking lot. As I did, the wheels on the trailer locked up. They shouldn't as they are just spinning freely on the axles, so I got out to look. The passenger side trailer tire was wedged against the back frame and the driver's side tire was wedged against the front frame. The curbing on that street in Ritzville is very steep. I must have hit it at an angle and twisted the axle on the leaf springs. I dragged the trailer forward into the parking lot and got to work.
I could see that all I had to do was jack up the trailer, loosen the bolts holding the axle to the leaf spring via two big U shaped bolts and then move one wheel forward and the other wheel back. It took about an hour to get that done, but I did get it done. Those bolts are really tight now. I rewarded myself with the Americano that I had been wanting since earlier.
I was pretty nervous getting back on the highway and up to speed, but everything seems to be holding together well. I've put almost 600 miles on since the repair. Of course I am obsessively checking it each time I stop for gas or food or whatever, but it is holding up so far.
I called Francis to let him know about the Check Engine light and the trailer snafu. He was impressed with the way I McGyvered the axle. Later in the morning, he called me and suggested that I run some fuel injector cleaner through the motor. I've never done that before and now that this supercharged S52 motor has 203,000+ miles on it, maybe it's about time. I picked up some at an auto parts store in Missoula after lunch with Walter at 5 Guys Burgers and Fries and put it in at my next gas stop in Butte. Gas mileage had been in the 17s all day; very depressing. The tank with the injector cleaner came in at 19.25 mpg! God, I hope that continues.
I'm in a Motel 6 in West Missoula and am going to bed soon. I've traveled 803 miles today and have another 800 mile day in front of me tomorrow if I am going to get to my sister and brother-in-law's house in Esko, Minnesota as planned. Going to get started at about 5:00, so I'd better get to bed soon.
Everything seemed fine as I headed east on I-90 out of the Puget Sound lowlands and into the Cascades. It started to snow just before Snoqualmie Pass which made me a bit nervous because I have high-performance summer tires on the car and they are as wide as steamrollers, not the best for driving in snow. In addition the rubber compound in the tires is meant to work in the Spring, Summer and Fall. In the cold it gets quite hard. Luckily the air temperatures were not that cold. I hit snow several more times during the day, but the roads stayed bare and wet, so it was quite safe.
On the way up to Snoqualmie Pass, the car started running really rough and immediately threw a Check Engine light. The car felt like it did the time I blew a head gasket, with two cylinders not firing properly. If I blew a head gasket, my One Lap adventure would be over practically before it had gotten started. I was seriously worried. This time, it felt like only one cylinder had dropped out. I started to come down the other side of the Pass and pulled off the highway at Cle Elum to take a look. I shut the car off and restarted it and it ran on all 6 cylinders. Yay! I still have to pull out my code reader and take a look at what faults are stored in the computer, but will probably do that tomorrow morning before I take off.
The next bit of excitement occured at the first gas stop. I decided to push all the way to Ritzville, forsaking all the open gas stations at Moses Lake. I have this thing about getting the most out of every tank of gas. I want to keep driving as long as possible and stop as infrequently as possible. Pushing gas stops helps me do that, but it can make things nerve wracking on occasion, like this morning. When the Reserve light comes on, I know that I have about 30 miles before the tank runs dry. When the light came on, I was passing a mileage sign; Ritzville 31 miles. I knew that if I got there, I would be running on fumes. I wasn't actually all that worried because Francis and I had put a 6 gallon container of gas in the trailer, but it is a bit of a pain to do it on the side of the road if you don't have to.
Anyway, as I was pulling in to the Shell station in Ritzville, the engine coughed. I had just made it. The Roadster drank 13.298 gallons of premium. The specifications in the owner's manual say that the tank capacity is 13.2 gallons including the reserve. I guess the extra .098 gallons went into the filler neck. That is cutting it much to close and I have modified my behavior somewhat. The worst part of this is that the car got 17.19 mpg on that first tank. The trailer is extra heavy this year will all sorts of tools and stuff. Probably too heavy, but there's not much to do about that except to consume the consumables as quickly as possible. We have a cooler strapped to the tongue of the trailer with 36 Diet Pepsi s and 30 16 oz Talking Rains. That's about 57 pounds of liquids, not counting the ice! Guess I'd better start drinking.
Across the street from the Shell station is a Starbucks. I had finished my morning coffee brewed at home and was ready for another, so I drove across the street and into the parking lot. As I did, the wheels on the trailer locked up. They shouldn't as they are just spinning freely on the axles, so I got out to look. The passenger side trailer tire was wedged against the back frame and the driver's side tire was wedged against the front frame. The curbing on that street in Ritzville is very steep. I must have hit it at an angle and twisted the axle on the leaf springs. I dragged the trailer forward into the parking lot and got to work.
I could see that all I had to do was jack up the trailer, loosen the bolts holding the axle to the leaf spring via two big U shaped bolts and then move one wheel forward and the other wheel back. It took about an hour to get that done, but I did get it done. Those bolts are really tight now. I rewarded myself with the Americano that I had been wanting since earlier.
I was pretty nervous getting back on the highway and up to speed, but everything seems to be holding together well. I've put almost 600 miles on since the repair. Of course I am obsessively checking it each time I stop for gas or food or whatever, but it is holding up so far.
I called Francis to let him know about the Check Engine light and the trailer snafu. He was impressed with the way I McGyvered the axle. Later in the morning, he called me and suggested that I run some fuel injector cleaner through the motor. I've never done that before and now that this supercharged S52 motor has 203,000+ miles on it, maybe it's about time. I picked up some at an auto parts store in Missoula after lunch with Walter at 5 Guys Burgers and Fries and put it in at my next gas stop in Butte. Gas mileage had been in the 17s all day; very depressing. The tank with the injector cleaner came in at 19.25 mpg! God, I hope that continues.
I'm in a Motel 6 in West Missoula and am going to bed soon. I've traveled 803 miles today and have another 800 mile day in front of me tomorrow if I am going to get to my sister and brother-in-law's house in Esko, Minnesota as planned. Going to get started at about 5:00, so I'd better get to bed soon.
Monday, April 25, 2011
Racin': Preparing to Leave for One Lap of America 2011
The past week has been full of preparations for One Lap of America 2011.
The Roadster spent last week at Car Tender getting its needs attended to; new tie rods, new front hubs and bearings, new front brake rotors, rebuilt front brake calipers, a new pulley/tensioner assembly for the supercharger belt and a new blower belt as well, new front wheels and four brand new Michelin Pilot Super Sport tires. It was not a cheap week to be the owner of the Roadster.
The trailer is getting refurbished as well. Francis has been doing all of the work on that. He made sure that all of the lights work, paying particular attention to the grounds for them and buying a just-in-case replacement set (guaranteeing that we would not need them). New Bearing Buddies on the wheels will ensure that there is always grease in the bearings (no more road side repairs at 8 pm on a Sunday night in Oklahoma, thank you very much.). In addition, he raised the spring perches in the back so that we would have more tire clearance when the trailer is heavily loaded.
I'm going to leave work early today and do a final bit of shopping for stuff for the road and then go home to pack the trailer and my bag for 18 days on the road. I expect that by the time May 13th rolls around and I am back in Seattle, I will have covered about 10,000 miles. I'll be writing posts from the road.
I leave tomorrow morning at 4:00 a.m. heading east. I'm going to stop in Missoula, Montana for lunch with Walter and then end the day in Billings.
The Roadster spent last week at Car Tender getting its needs attended to; new tie rods, new front hubs and bearings, new front brake rotors, rebuilt front brake calipers, a new pulley/tensioner assembly for the supercharger belt and a new blower belt as well, new front wheels and four brand new Michelin Pilot Super Sport tires. It was not a cheap week to be the owner of the Roadster.
The trailer is getting refurbished as well. Francis has been doing all of the work on that. He made sure that all of the lights work, paying particular attention to the grounds for them and buying a just-in-case replacement set (guaranteeing that we would not need them). New Bearing Buddies on the wheels will ensure that there is always grease in the bearings (no more road side repairs at 8 pm on a Sunday night in Oklahoma, thank you very much.). In addition, he raised the spring perches in the back so that we would have more tire clearance when the trailer is heavily loaded.
I'm going to leave work early today and do a final bit of shopping for stuff for the road and then go home to pack the trailer and my bag for 18 days on the road. I expect that by the time May 13th rolls around and I am back in Seattle, I will have covered about 10,000 miles. I'll be writing posts from the road.
I leave tomorrow morning at 4:00 a.m. heading east. I'm going to stop in Missoula, Montana for lunch with Walter and then end the day in Billings.
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About Me
- RoboDad
- I'm currently 60 years old. I currently work as the learning management system specialist for American University of Madaba in Madaba, Jordan. I was originally certified as a high-school English teacher and taught school for 13 years (1 year of substituting, 1 year of 7th grade, 2 years of a combined 5th, 6th, 7th grade, 9 years of 8th grade). I've worked for hardware and software companies for the past 23 years doing training, training materials development, certification test development and other education related stuff. My wife and I have raised four children to adulthood; some of them live at home at the moment, but that won't last (they're too independent for that). We live at home with 2 Golden Retrievers, 2 black cats, a crazy cat, and, during the winter, 70,000 coho salmon.