It's a go!
Wasn't gonna do it. Had no intention of doing it. Did it last year, had fun. Spent too much money. Wasn't gonna do it this year.
But, I haven't done a track event since October, and I'm jonesin' for some action. And I just bought a new car. And I'm itching to do a road trip. I *need* to do One Lap!
Okay, okay... so a couple weeks ago I was having these thoughts. I knew Jeff Lloyd (the other half of last year's Team Miss Direction) couldn't afford to do it this year, and his car's not prepped enough to be as competitive as he'd want to be. Nobody else I could think of would be able to do it on such short notice.
Oh, did I mention that my new car is a Toyota Yaris? Yeah. It takes a "different" kind of person to want to do One Lap in a Yaris. I figured the only place I was likely to find that person would be the Yaris forum. So, I posted a feeler in the track section of the Yaris forum (really, they have one!) to see if there were any crazy Yaris folk with enough money and time to partake of this nonsense.
Not too surprisingly, there were a handful of "I've always wanted to do that" posts, but no serious takers. Until a few days later when I got a private message from a guy named Jeff Lushe.
After swapping some emails, taking the weekend to think about it, and an hour long phone call... it's on!
Now the fun begins... we have a little over 3 weeks to get registered and prepared. Having done this event last year, I know that this is the hardest part. 8 days on the road with little or no sleep, living on Twinkies and Red Bull, driving all night, racing every day... that's a piece of cake!
Things to do:
Things to do:
- Get physicals for SVRA
- Get SVRA membership
- Register for the event
- Make hotel reservations
- Install the suspension (due in this week)
- Set ride height
- Align the car
- Test new suspension on a race track (crap! we don't have time to do that!)
- Order brake pads
- Ship Jeff's wheels from CA to FL
- Order tires from the Tire Rack
- Get tires mounted
- Install brake pads
- Change transmission oil
- Change engine oil
- Pack supplies and tools
- Other stuff
Below is the car as it sits today...
