[DeTomaso] Another great day at the track....

[asajay at asajay.com]

Mike,

A wonderful report.  The thing that makes this one so great is the  
fact you drove your car so much on the track this year.  I know in  
years past you've brought other cars, but this year was the year to  
shine in your Pantera.  Glad to hear it ran well and could have kept  
going into the night.  I'm only sorry I couldn't make it out to the  
track myself to get a ride.

Asa Jay

Quoting MikeLDrew at aol.com:

> Hey guys,
>
> I awoke to find fantastic weather once again, and left the hotel for the
> nice 30-minute drive to the track.   Spectator attendance was well down from
> yesterday, due to the host of competing events such as the paddleboat cruise
> on Lake Tahoe, tour of the custom wood boat restoration facility, etc. etc.
>
> Things got off to a quiet start; Brett Santos helped me jack up my car,
> pull the left wheel and replace the missing collector bolt and header gasket,
> which had disappeared during my track run yesterday.
>
> I didn't really go out on the track much before lunch, but afterwards I was
> determined to enjoy my car to the most, and share it with as many people as
> possible.   I would pull off the track, eject a passenger, have that person
> help belt in the next passenger, and then head right back onto the track.
> During the "A" run group, I dashed back into town to fill up the gas tank;
> when I came back to the hot pits, Russ Britschgi leaned into the window and
> saw my gas gauge, and said, "Oh no...."
>
> For I have a well-deserved reputation of absolutely refusing to leave a
> perfectly good racetrack.   By about 3:30, many drivers were just   
> worn out and
> ready to head back to the hotel, but not me.   I went around and around and
> around, literally the only car on the track for quite some time, only taking
> very short breaks for passenger swaps.   The weather was perfect but I
> could see clouds looming on the horizon, and in fact some virga fell  
>  overhad the
> track but no moisture ever made it to the ground.
>
> Eventually, after 5:00 p.m., it started to get dark, and finally the
> checkered flag was thrown on me.   I pulled into the hot pits and raised my
> headlights and offered to continue in the darkness, but they were   
> having none of
> that!
>
> Sometime during the run, my muffler gasket blew out again; I think the
> too-soft suspension is hitting the underside of the passenger side   
> tailpipe and
> stressing it, crushing the donut gasket between it and the header, for the
> bolts are all still there, and still tight (with stover nuts).
>
> Ah well, it sounds like an old farm truck now, but it's running!
>
> My motor is still incredibly weak, and my ancient BFG Euro T/A tires (in
> the rear, equally ancient Z-rated BFGs in front) are next to useless.   So my
> car was among the slowest out there, certainly in terms of acceleration and
> cornering speed.   But my Wilwood brakes are simply awesome, and passengers
> were shocked at how well the car slowed down, even though I wasn't using
> them overly hard.
>
> There is one particularly nasty downhill off-camber right-hand corner, very
> slow, with deep compression in the bottom, and my left front tire whanged
> the underside of the fender lip hard enough to crack the paint.   Oh
> well--paint can be fixed relatively easily, and I've got a new set   
> of Koni shocks
> from Pantera East sitting on my livingroom floor, ready to go onto   
> the car (no
> time to change them out ahead of the event unfortunately).
>
> Yesterday I was fairly proud of myself for logging 140 miles on the track;
> today I managed 168 miles, and would still be out there now if they'd let me
> keep running!
>
> We had no incidents or mechanical maladies of any kind, and everybody
> agreed it was the most perfect day at the track they could remember.
>
> Upon returning to the hotel, I quickly changed and then walked about 15
> minutes down the street to the National Automobile Musem, where we enjoyed a
> fantastic dinner in the company of some of the finest automobiles in the
> world--people were extremely impressed.
>
> I just returned to my room to ditch my camera, and am now heading back to
> the hospitality suite for what promises to be a long, long night. :>)
>
> I cannot begin to convey the enthusiasm for the Reno event being expressed
> by the people who are here.   They are simply amazed and dumbfounded at how
> great the facility, location, and activities are.   I have yet to hear from
> a single person who would even remotely entertain the idea of returning to
> Las Vegas next year--the people here are totally sold on Reno!
>
> Mike
>
>
> **************
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