WestTexasS2K

Yeah Keith it was highway 50. It would probably be a beautiful drive during the day but a little scary at night. At about 3.00 am we were really having a hard time staying aw20 ake. We had slowed our speed down with the recent elk scare to about 55. We thought if we could get behind a truck to run as deer block we could step it up a bit. Sure enought about 20 min later we see lights coming up pretty quick. We were in luck it was a NAPA truck the 25' box van type. That guy must have driven that road a hundred times. We hung with him for a while but eventually pulled away from us. We were just to tired for that much concentration. We had to pull over for a short nap after we got our ass's handed to us by a box truck.

Keith are you from Grand Junction CO.? I was pretty sure you were from Colorado. We went thru Grand Junction on the way to Pueblo this year on the 1 Lap. We came in on 70 and had a broken brake line when we hit the brakes. Luckily there was an Auto Zone on the left. We coasted into there at 9.02pm they had just closed but we banged on the door and the guy was nice enough to sell us a hard line that we replaced in the parking lot. Then we almost got kill going thru the mountain pass. It was about 1 am we were doing about 70 going down a winding hill and we make a right hand turn going onto a bridge with cement walls on both sides. about 150ft down the road some DA was parked sideways across both lanes with his lights off. Luckily he was in a white car and we saw him a little soonier that we probably would have other wise. We hit the brakes hard. Still had mostly front brakes because we didn't have a hose to bleed the rears and didnt want to ruin the newly powder coated wheels. We almost ended up ruining the whole car. With our trailer on behind us there was no way we were going to be able to stop. about 50ft before we hit him he turned right and pulled over a bit and we able to just squeeze between him and the wall with inches to spare. It is a good thing Kevin left his gun in his truck because he would have stop and shot that DA he was so mad. Luckily it kept us up for the next 10 min. That was an eventful night. The elk on the road about 50 miles later was another good adraline pumper.

Want a whinning knob that guy was. Kevin took our car around to 9 different stores for promontional deal that we had with our sponsors after the 1 Lap. He gave a few demo rides, the ones that were the most excited about it were the older women 60+ that all came back with smiles from ear to ear and not one complaint about this seat is to tight this thing is to loud. Nothing ranting about how much fun that was. ( And I can assure after that 5k miles trip there isn't alot of packing in the muffler. And at 9k rpm it puts most sport bikes to shame the noise is on the verge of painful.) Some people will just never get it!

Thanks Jerry. I had planned on installing a 1x1 angle on the top rail of the trailer to provide a 1" overlap to help keep the weather out while going down the road. I think this will help lock the top to the side. But a locator pin on the rear wouldn't be a bad idea. I hadn't thought of that myself. I had also thought of putting an outside support bar that would go up and tie into the side. Not sure if I want to do that. Those support tubes outside the trailer tend to snag on things when tuning if you are not careful. I attach a drawing to show what I mean. What are your thoughts. [/img]

Keith I thougt about adding some triangular supports but that just adds more weight and it is pretty stiff as is. Besides it will have .040 aluminum skin with screws every six inches that should lock it all together. All the enclosed trialiers that I have ever seen have had just the vertical struts and they are usually made of even lighter material than what I made this out of. As far a jack knife angle the 4" longer than the width of the tow vehicle so it should have a really good turning angle.

Nothing like the smell of burnt rubber in the morning to get you going for the rest of the day.

Thanks Locost. Its 16g 1x1 and 2x1 16g around the perimeter. The steel place is right around the corner from my house I will get the weight of the 2x1. i assume i would have to use some percentage of the total weight since it is hinged in the front and it will not be picking up the whole top. What are your thoughts?

lowflyer I thought about the tapered front but with my top hinging there it makes it a little more difficult to do. And sing the customer is pulling it with an SUV the truck will block most of the wind and makes it less of an issue than if it were pulled with a pickup. I had even thought about tapering it into a wedge at the front but then that really limits some storage space in the front and may also limit the resale of the trailer. So I decided to just keep it a little more universal approach with a slant to 7 use. Having not completely finished this trailer yet I am not sure of how I am going to come out on price. I have a good Idea. I am building this one for 3600.00 with aluminum skin but if I were to do it again I would most likely have to go to 3900.00 or so I had a few expenses that I missed on my bid for this one. P.S. the gas struts were sorced from http://www.mcmastercarr.com they have struts of all different lenghts and lift capacity. I will have to get some softer ones these are way to stiff. They are 150lb lift each I have to hang on the back to lower it. But I will wait till I have the skin on and then weight the top and see what is needed I am thinking about 75lbs each.

Steve that is fiber backed insulation that is used on metal buildings it come in rolls 6x150' works really well on a metal buiding at least I can work in my shop year round in relative comfort. Just open the doors the let breeze thru in the summer. I do have a big shop fan for days with no breeze. It doesnt get real cold here often but I have worked out there for days in 19 degree weather and a small kerosene shop heater to knock the chill off.

photos wont upload someone help me here. It looks like it all goes thru but no picture on the thread.

i can not get the photos to upload what gives? I hit the upload image and put the file in there and hit upload and nothing. What am I missing here?

Here are some pics of the trailer that I am currently building for someone on this site. I will leave it up to him to claim it if he wants. But it is a 7x12x4 with a tilting top to allow easy access in and out of the car and 4ft ramp door with sloped rear floor. The idea is to have a low overall height for easier towing and better gas mileage. It has a 3500lb braking axle and will be covered in white .040 aluminum panels 3/4 plywood floor. It should be a reallty sweet trailer when all finished. I would consider building others if anyone is interested. http://www.usa7s.com/aspnetforum/upload/918984742_DSC01568.JPGhttp://www.usa7s.com/aspnetforum/upload/30630948_DSC01569.JPGhttp://www.usa7s.com/aspnetforum/upload/603770155_DSC01570.JPG

I have in my garage a new Ultralite Kit that I intended to build after selling my Green Car. I have found myself in a quandry with having two Ultralites. My green car has to fulfill sponsorship obligations thru the year and cant be sold until that is done. So I have decided to gauge the intrest of selling my new kit to some lucky sole. This chassis has a few custom touches per my request when it was designed. It has two side impact bars that tie into the cage and front hoop. They are low so it is still easy to get in and out of but does offer extra protection on the road. The rear hoop is crossed braced for added strength. This cage should be NASA and SCCA compliant. I will be willing to sell the car as a kit or as a rolling chassis complete with paint or fully finished. The kit has all the following. It has front and rear suspension,front and rear fenders 4 Wheel disc brakes. Master cylinders pedal assy. wiring harness, dash, hood, radiator, shocks, springs, rear diff axles and uprights, the chassis is powder coated near chrome which has a polished aluminum look. Items needed to finish will be seats, gauges, wheel/tires, engine and transmission. I will take 17500.00 as kit. Roller chassis will include the car painted you color choice (single color) Wheels and tires or 1500.00 credit chassis and wiring harness fully assembled with lights, interior. All that will be needed is to install engine and trans. asking 28,000.00 Fully assembled car painted your choice of color with your supplied engine and transmission 29500.00 My supplied engine and trans is 35000.00 Car could be yours in about 6 wks time. Why wait for 4-6 months for your car when you could have it in less than 2. P.M me or call 325 650 7049 and lets talk. I will attach some photos later on. http://www.usa7s.com/aspnetforum/upload/169652061_DSC01572.JPGhttp://www.usa7s.com/aspnetforum/upload/1829404535_DSC01571.JPGhttp://www.usa7s.com/aspnetforum/upload/627818036_DSC01575.JPGhttp://www.usa7s.com/aspnetforum/upload/1199918378_DSC01576.JPG

Kitkat congrats on finally jumping in with both feet. The rough ride and cramped quarters, stiffiling heat all seem to go away when you find a nice shaded twisty road or a track. Interstate driving can become very boring in a seven. You should be getting a load of thumbs up by fellow motorist and a few snap shots of you cruising down the road. Every gas stop will take 15 min longer than normal with people coming up to ask what it is and 100 other questions. Sit back and enjoy the rest of the drive. Hopefully it wont rain.

Tires are pretty much shot after that race anyway. I only had about 2/32 when I started the burnout ended with a bald tire.

VIDEOS FROMT HE BURNOUT AT THE TIRE RACK FINAL ROUND. THERE IS A FEW MIN OF ME SMOKING TIRES IN THE ULTRALITE. IT IS ABOUT HALF WAY THRU.http://2007oloa.blip.tv/file/227823/

Where as the Gumball and Bullrun are first to get there wins type race the people take stupid risk and drive very reckless. On the 1 Lap of America aka Cannonball Run has gotten away from that type of racing because of liablility and the poor publicity that those stories generate. As Brock Yates was saying at this years send off, There are about 35 million more cars on the road than there were in the 70s when he started the Cannonball Baker Memorial dash. So about 25 years ago they changed to the format that they have now. It doesn't matter how fast you make your transit legs there are no points assessed for that. The only points come strictly from track events. There are not even check points on most events you can take what ever route you want. As long as your at the track when your run group goes then your good. If your late they will asses a penalty points for missing your run group. It is of intrest to note that Brock and Brock Jr call every state law enforcement agency and tell them the days that we are coming thru. This is to discourage people driving stupid. Kevin and I drive between 75-80 95% of the time. There were occasions this year going thru Kansas that was really open and no traffic we kicked it up to 85 or so. If it is reported that you are driving reckless you can be kicked out of the event. Has this ever happened, not to my knowledge one of the participants got stopped for over 140 this year and he finished the event and it was known that he got the ticket. We find steady and consistent is far better than blasting down the road at 120. You have to stop for fuel more and it is hard on the car. We want the car to last the event. We don't stop for food we eat when we fill up and go to the restroom. We find that a pit stop on the side of the road is much faster than pulling in to a station. It never fails someone will come up and start asking questions and your there for 15-20 min. That was one of the main reasons we put a nurse tank in the trailer we had a spare 21 gallons that we could transfer to the car to minimize stops. We often beat people to the hotel or were there soon after them even if they passed us like we were standing still. Another reason is I cant afford a felony speeding ticket, I will lose my job no questions asked. The reward of an extra hour of sleep does not justify the expense to me. And luckily my co-driver feels the same. It is a really fun event and should be tried by everyone. It has a really good record too. No one has ever been killed or seriously injured in the race during its 35 year history. There are a few minor fender benders but usually not 1 Lap participants fault. Last year a girl got hit in the rear by a Mack truck on the Chicago turnpike. Considering that the participants covered a combined total of 460,000 miles this year and no on road accidents says something. Especially considering the sleep deprevation everyone is going thru. It is really important to sleep when you can and when driving the instant you start feeling drowsy pull over and switch. At the end of a long day it is not uncommon to switch drivers every 20 min or so. If it get to where you cant go for 20 min we just pull over and take a nap for 30-1hr and hit the road again.

Check out our blog from the 1 Lap. It is not complete but has the first 4 days on there. There are some good pics and more details on the trip than I had posted earlier. We are working on updating it. It just takes alot of time to compile pics and convert and upload to the website. Plus we have to catch up on all of our work now that we are home. http://www.organicracing.com/mainblog.html I will let you know when we get the rest finished. Loren

I agree the probe type is the only type to use to check tire temps. Surface temps do not mean anything. Now if you are going to check EGT or other temps the IR units work well.

1000 miles thats a good day drive. Having just completed 5k miles in 7 days it can be done. Of cours it is more pleasureable if you split it up into a few days. I am not sure what kind of windshield or wind screens that car has but I wore my helmet for the whole week. I took a nice little seat cushion along to help the old tush out. You can also take some 1" foam used to recover chairs and cut it up into 10" wide strips and stuff it in the back of the seat or in the lumbar area. You can move it around on occasion to make it more comfortable. Just take a few tools a decent craftsman set that has mix of wreches and sockets metric and standard should do the trick. Just wear earplugs, hat and sunscreen and injoy the scenery. Or you could take the easy way out and drive down in a comfortable car and haul it back. Ever thought about buying a used 12-16 trailer go down pick it up. Then sell the trailer after you get it home. It will cost you nothing to do that. Then you wont have to worry with the 2 wheel dolly. Like it was said before it will not tow well if the steering colomn doesnt lock. I would remove the drive shaft and tow in forward if you were to tow it. I have seen a few transmissions get ruined towing with the front high in the air. All the fluid runs to the back of the tranny and the front bearings and gears get oil starved. Good luck with your purchase let us know how it goes. Keep a diary it can make for an entertaining read for us here.

Well I have a automotive painting background. I have done most of my own cars for the last 20 years. There are a few things that go against you. Paint materials have gotten super expensive. Most primers are now catalyst based and can cost as much as the paint. When going on bare aluminum a etching primer must be applied first then the filler primer is applied and block sanded and then a second coat of filler is applied for final sanding usually with 400-600grit range. Heck a good roll of tape is 8.00. Just for instance. I painted my car completely fenders hood and side panels. I started with all new panels so there was no stripping involved. Just initial sanding for the etch primer blocking the fiberglass hood and then applied a few coats of primer blocked sanded with a final grit. Masked the car off and cleaned and painted it in a friends booth which was free. I used 2 quarts primer, 2 quarts of paint and 3 quarts of clear. With sand paper and masking materials and associated supplies I spent 800.00 in materials. PPG brand paint. There are some a little cheaper but not much could have gone with the cheap stuff and saved about 100.00 in all. And I sprayed the car and did all the labor myself. So if you can find someone to do all of that for 800.00 in my opinion it is a deal. 1200-1500 would be a decent price. Now you can find small back yard shops that do really good work. They will give you the best deals but may take a little longere since they are usually doing it on the side. Stay away from the large shops because they will usually only do insurance repair work. And if they are willing to do your car you will pay 65.00 hour labor plus materials. As far as stripping the hood most chemical stripers will mare the aluminum. You can try to find someone that does soda blasting or dry ice blasting. These methods strip paint quickly and do not cause the pitting that sand blasting does. But you are going to have alot of work ahead of you sanding the hood thru stages of 220 400 600 1200 2000 2500 4000 grit before you can get a good polish on it. This is what my experiences have been good luckwith your project. Loren

Well we finished the One Lap of America. It was no small feet I can assure you. We had a very rocky start and we had to play catch uo for the rest of the week. We started with the wet skid pad at the Tire Rack headquarters in Southbend In. We knew this was going to be one of our weaker events due to the light with of the car. The front wheel and all wheel drive cars dominate this part of the competition. We quickly loaded and ran to a small 1/4 paved oval with 16 degree banking. We get to take 1 warm up lap and then stop at the start finish line for a combined 3 lap run timed run. The Ultralite redeemed itself on this run from the wet skid pad. I just left the car in 2nd gear ran it up to 9000 in the straight when it hit the rev limiter tap the brakes and turned in and power thru the turn. The little vtec engine at 9000 rpm bouncing of the concrete wall received a standing ovation from the spectators in the bleachers. We place 7th there up from 60th in the skid pad. (92 cars started the event). We then headed about 200 miles to Joilet ILL to run at Autobahn CC. As we got closer to the track we noticed a strange noise coming from the rear of the car. We traced the noise to the rear diff. So we jacked the car up and pulled the diff out in the grass area of the track to see what the problem was. We quickly noticed a large chunk of metal stuck to the rear magnet and upon investigation found the pinion gear missing a tooth. We had no choice at the moment but to run the car because our run group was quickly approaching and no time to go get a spare. We ran this event at about 65% so as not to cause alot more damage and to give us a chance to find a place to find a spare. (Remember no support vehicles or tow vehicles are allowed. YOu are on your own) We called a few local yards that had just what we were looking for but they all were closing in less than 30 minuetes and still had the diffs in the car that they were not willing to pull out until monday. Not and option for us since we were suppose to be in Salt Lake city that monday morning. So we call our good friends Chuck and Barb Spera because I know he has spares. We had just left him 3 hours earlier at the Tire Rack facility, He was returning home to ready his car for an autocross on Sunday. Now Chuck lives outside of Detroit some 3 hours away from Tire Rack and We were about the same distance so we agreed to meet at change the diff out. Chuck not only dropped his car prep and race to bring us the diff but wouldn;t take a dime for the diff or gas money for his 6 hours of driving to save us from sure failure. What great friends. So a diff change was performed in the parking lot a midnight by flashilight and headlights from chucks truck. At this same time we noticed a heavy oil leak with was traced to a cracked brass T that feeds t he supercharger. When we tried to remove the fitting it broke off in the block flush. We had no EZ outs available but manged to get it out by driving a torque bit into it and easing it out Luckily we had a spare set of fittings with us. We hit the road a 12.30 am head for Mid America some 650 miles away we were due at 8 am. We drove all night in the pouring rain doding numerous tornadoes to arrive at Mid America at 900 am late for our session but due to the heavy rains the track was muddy and had large puddles of standing water to clear off. We performed poorly there due to the wet track. See skid pad results. We placed 60th overall. same as the wet skid pad. Our next stop was a measly 1080 miles away west of Salt Lake City Utah at possibly the nicest race track in america Miller Motorsports park. Now the Diff the Chuck had brought us was 3.54 we had originally had 4.11 so the car just didn;t have the drive out of the corners that we wanted and it place our shift points all out of wack. We did ok placing 19 or so there on both events. We decided that a 4.11 had to be loacated for us to do well. So we found a local yard that had a 4.11 on hand so we left the track and headed to the wrecking yard to fi

Man the guys on the site are amazing we went from like 150 on the list to 1st in 7 hrs. Now we just need to stay there and hope the judge likes our car enough to invite us.

R1 you got my vote.

Kevin my co driver in the one lap and partner in the Organic Racing is from Georgia and he loves that track. He has done a few Panoz schools there.