Shoe String Racing

there's old pilots and there's bold pilots, but there ain't no ..........(you know the rest).

Sunshine, 75 F warmth and 2 miles of twisty quirky track :driving:was the order of the day at Thunderhill West. Thanks :cheers: to Bruce Beachman and the hearty NW crew who are in California for some speed and G's. Only 7 guys and 5 cars were here to play, so plenty of clear track all day. If you thought about it but didn't show, eat your heart out. :nopity: Bruce on the left.

Glad to hear that. That was my experience in CA of all places and I was more than a little skeptical, thinking the clerk probably made a mistake. There were lots of forms, instructions, guidance on the DMV website for a kit car (aka "Special construction") to be registered in CA (the process known as SB-100). But my concern was that there was no specific (or inferred) statements that out of state finished and titled cars didn't have to go thru the rigorous SB-100 process. Restores my faith in government. :smash: Haha........NOT. OK just a little.

I'm just a noob here sitting in the peanut gallery, but I gotta say, I could not be more impressed after reading about the Beachum runs in the 25 hrs. It's one thing to crunch some numbers about running at those speeds for 25 hrs, but, for me, having been there crewing for a team, it's another to "feel" the fatigue and challenge for 25 straight hours in cold and often wet conditions. So, long way of saying I'd be asking Bruce how they kept the car and crew together for all those miles.

Brunton SS #154 was built by Gray Fowler in AZ. Pictures of the finished car are here: http://www471.pair.com/stalkerv/gallery2/main.php?g2_itemId=22324 Some build progress pics are here: http://www471.pair.com/stalkerv/gallery2/main.php?g2_itemId=21563 Feel free to ask questions and make comments on how something was done; I'm not real experienced with automotive systems let alone specific ideas for these cars, so fire away. I swapped my Formula Mazda for it last month. The full long drawn out story is here http://stalkercars.forumotion.com/t158-california-dreaming and here: post #723 http://www.usa7s.net/vb/showthread.php?153-So-tell-us-a-little-about-yourselves/page73 I plan to explore the limits of the car on track since I've never had obscene gobs of HP in any of my race or sports cars although the Formula mazda wasn't too bad for a momentum car. I'm very hopeful this car will be predictable and forgiving at the limits. My other cars, not so much. I also plan to cruise around town, maybe stop by a monthly car show, maybe shoot some pretty girls in bikinis hanging on it............And after I learn the car's handling idiosyncrasies, I'll blast around the twisty bits up in the hills of California's gold country. That sound like a way for a retired engineer to conclude a mid life crisis that started at the age of 18?

just to make a long drawn out story even longer, here's my checkered past as a Formula Mazda guy. http://tidlof.wix.com/shoe-string-racing I'm still very much into that scene since my teammate Bruce is younger and still hard core. I engineer and spot for him when we race with the Formula Car Challenge. http://formulacarchallenge.com/

OK will do. Or, the builder posted his build pics over on the stalkercars gallery page. http://www471.pair.com/stalkerv/gallery2/main.php?g2_itemId=21563

Yes, but I'm thinking of putting them on and seeing if I like that look.

2012 built Brunton Super Stalker. Sacramento CA. Retired civil engineer. Well, perusing some of these posts, it appears many of you had a thing for 7s for a long time. I didn't even know what a 7 was 7 weeks ago and I've had this one for over a month. On top of that, never was a "car guy" til I was in my 30's and have gradually gone down the slippery slope of something different on 4 wheels. Here's my car history resume. :jester: 1986. Bought a 74 911 Targa. Just thought it would be fun to have a hot car/chick magnet. I was single, had a hobby/part time tandem skydiving business and living the dream. Just drove it in the hills of Eastern WA, ID and British Columbia. Enjoyed it, scared myself a few times, learned a few things but didn't get overly excited about it. 1992. Sold the Targa and bought a pristine 87 Porsche Cabriolet; White with navy trim; I was looking like the stud with a fast sail boat down at the marina. Emphasis on "looking like." That was a gorgeous car. Made for some classy pics at my wedding to my 2nd wife (call her my trophy wife since she's 11 years younger) 1994. Sold the Cabriolet to the local banker/bachelor for a nice price and bought a 92 NSX, which I had been dreaming about since 89 when the concept showed up in magazines. Being an engineer, driving a Honda version of a Ferrari 348 made perfect effing sense obviously. Loved that car, drove it on the track and on early morning mountain runs we called "dawn patrols". Got pretty quick for an old fart engineer. Taught HPDE novices with a couple of track day clubs. 2003. Driving to LA, I stopped at Buttonwillow race track for a pee break. Pulling in, I see a nerdy looking guy climbing into a formula car I had never seen the likes of before. (Watched a lot of CART racing but no SCCA club racing). 20 minutes later, as I'm leaving, I see him sitting on his trailer. I roll down the window and ask what that car is. He proceeds to tell me it's a Formula Mazda that he just bought and had it sorted out but the G's make him sick and he'll dump the whole thing with trailer for $30K. It's obvious from his story that he's just a wealthy nerd who collects expensive cars and knows nothing about racing or how to sell this thing. I do a lot of independent research on the FM and him and conclude he really is giving away this $50k worth of car and trailer for a song. And I'd be a fool to pass up something like this even though I had never considered buying a real race car......ever. So I did and found a wonderful bunch of hard core FM racers right here in Central CA. What an experience; from racing to the wrenching to the camaraderie and permanent friendships, it was a major highlight in my recreational life. Selling the NSX as part of the deal with the wife was not too difficult. 2015 By now, in my late 60's I'm just too tired, arthritic and done with working on the FM, so I decide it's time to advertise it on ApexSpeed, the website for formula club racers. The first call I get is from Gray in AZ with a 2012 Super Stalker he wants to swap. A what???? never heard of it? Oh Lotus 7? Oh yeah, I've seen one on track at my favorite track day club. Hmmmmm, hadn't thought about that.........well it might make some sense; American running gear; low maintenance, street legal, yeah, that might be a nice transition from hardcore racing where you work on the car more than you're in it. So while he waits for me to get comfortable with the idea, I do some research and visit a guy in Sonoma who's had a Super Stalker for 7 years, A ride in the beast kind of showed me what a kit car really is and why it's not just "another car." But, what the heck, this was presented to me just like the Formula Mazda; from out of the blue, so.........what could possibly go wrong? LOL. Well, on a wing and a prayer for both of us we shake hands after seeing pictures, a couple of videos and answering a lot of questions........and discovering we had some commonality in skydiving. Well if knowing he's a fellow skydiver doesn't make you feel comfortable for no rational reason, what would? And to confirm he's really a nice guy, he delivers the thing to my garage and picks up my car, trailer, complete kit and drives home. I don't have to do a thing. Can selling a race car get any easier than that??? No way. What a long strange trip it's been. Yee haw. :drool:

thanks bruce. I responded to your PM but I don't see a copy; can't figure out what I did wrong. Anyway, I think the Sonoma 2/7 day with HOD is the way to go. Simple. no risk with weather etc. Private track rentals are always tough. Been there done that with a very healthy group of my local Formula Mazda brethren and it was still tough. Thanks for organizing. It's a thankless job.

by first 3, you mean the 2 days at T-Hill and the Sunday at Sonoma with HOD? what's the plan for T-Hill; open test on Friday and rent the 2 mile track on Saturday? or enter Redline event? what's the plan for HOD? everyone sign up on their own?

any update on this? any of these dates shaping up to happen?

Bruce, I've put out the word and directed them here.

Well boy howdy, this could be interesting. I am a "wet behind the ears" noob here, having swapped a Formula Mazda for a Super Stalker 3 weeks ago. But not a noob to these tracks, having driven and raced on them for 15 years. And lookee here, if I'm not too much of an outlaw with a Brunton, I just may have some time open to be at T-Hill or Sonoma. And there's a local Central CA club I have raced with since 2002 that has 14 Caterhams. So if you want, I'll let them know.