A Nice Sunday Drive

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Minidave
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A Nice Sunday Drive

Post by Minidave »

to the racetrack!

Well, sorta....

Don brought out his P'up and I took Buzz for about 150 mile shakedown run this morning, the temps started in the low 50's and on the way home it was mid-60's. Going south with the wind behind us it never got above 165° - coming back - uphill so to speak and against the wind - it ran between 180-190°. It would slowly climb up to 190, then it's like the thermostat opened and it would drop back, then slowly climb again. If that's where it runs I'll be a happy camper, but I won't know for sure till it starts being 80-90° out - that will be the test.

We took back roads down to Lake Garnett, where they used to run SCCA races in the 60's.....I attended many there, and in fact that's where I first saw what later became MY Dino Ferrari. The track was simply the road that ran around the lake, and at one end after a long straight section there's an almost 90° turn, leading onto the dam, which has lovely rock columns all along it, and then at the other end a sharp 90° right turn again leads into the curvy part of the track with a sharp 270° turn back onto the straight, which is a bit of a misnomer since it wanders a bit and is rather lumpy along the way.

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Yep, ol Carol brought the factory Cobra team there a few years too....

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Back in the day you'd have Cobras and Corvettes duking it out around this course which is barely 2 lanes wide, and they'd be hitting up to 120 mph down the straight before having to fight for the right line onto the dam, with it's lovely rock walls!

Today they hold a revival meet there every Oct and take laps round the track in controlled groups, the fastest of which were hitting 90 or more down the straight.

Here is the web page for the new event with some vid of the cars going around the track. Note the complete lack of guard rails, hay bales or anything else to protect the cars if you make a mistake!

http://www.lggpr.org/2014Event.htm

https://www.facebook.com/pages/Lake-Gar ... 062?ref=hl

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And here's what it would have looked like from the cockpit of my 948cc Sprite MkII, mind you we didn't have a chicane to slow us down before the dam!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CEI-s53HYR4

Don and I did about 5 laps of the course, we didn't go too fast - even tho there was no one there - we didn't want to get into trouble if someone saw us burning laps around the course. It brought back a lot of memories to me, not only of spectating, but working as support for two different racecars over the years, and my own Sprite. As I said, that's also where I saw my Dino the first time, four or five years before I bought it, and I was also there for the last race - one of the drivers in C-Sports racing lost control of his Zink Daytona while trying to pass a slower car and hit a tree head on....that was the end of it. To my mind, I was surprised more people didn't die given all the trees and natural hazards around the track......

But what a great day for a drive in a classic Mini!
Hi! My name's Dave!

'09 LB/LB Clubman S - "Max"
89 Mini "Racing Green"
94 SPi Project (The Hot Rod)
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kenshin138
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Re: A Nice Sunday Drive

Post by kenshin138 »

Very cool. I went down for the revival last year and had a good time, despite the muddy drive required to get back to the track as a spectator. I imagine that was a blast in Buzz.

Never knew you have/had a Dino.
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Re: A Nice Sunday Drive

Post by Minidave »

Well, we didn't go too fast, we didn't want to cause a problem or get kicked off the property, but it sure brought back some memories.

I owned a Dino for a few years, I bought it with a blown engine, spent three freezing months fixing it in the previous owner's garage and drove it every day after that till I sold it right before I moved to Colorado, a few years later.

Somewhere I have that pic, I'll see if I can find it......
Hi! My name's Dave!

'09 LB/LB Clubman S - "Max"
89 Mini "Racing Green"
94 SPi Project (The Hot Rod)
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Re: A Nice Sunday Drive

Post by dimini »

Great find on the news clips. I can't imagine topping 100mph on that course. Yikes!
We had great weather today, which made for a really nice outing. It's great to get the classics out of winter dormancy and back on the roads. We turned enough heads in Garnett while fueling and eating lunch--one would have thought we were both drive Testa Rosas like the one pictured in the race clip.
'06 MCS JCW daily driver & classic mini pick-up
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Re: A Nice Sunday Drive

Post by Minidave »

These are the pics of my Dino that I took at Lake Garnett in 1972 at the race. I bought the car 4 years later and didn't realize it was the car I'd photographed until a year or more after I'd bought it. I took the pics because I thought it was the most beautiful car I'd ever seen - still do!
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Hi! My name's Dave!

'09 LB/LB Clubman S - "Max"
89 Mini "Racing Green"
94 SPi Project (The Hot Rod)
Chatis
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Re: A Nice Sunday Drive

Post by Chatis »

Pleased you enjoyed it. We are hoping to see some of you down there for this years LGGPR.

Thanks for bringing this up to the forum.

Lake Garnett Grand Prix Organizing Committee
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