Anyone on the grid except Clark and me? The race is March 28th at Spring Mountain Raceway in Phrump, about an hour outside of Las Vegas.

Phil promised no ringer from the UK Challenge this year and I HOPE there won't be a repeat of the carnage we witnessed last year. It's not a demolition derby, after all, just a road race. Not much is at stake here except series points and bragging rights. Of course we want to put on a good show, but there's no reason to muck up each others' pretty little race cars, is there?

Randy?
Brian?
Bones?
Waylen? (wait, I know you're working the booth on Friday)
Anyone else?

Cheers,
Jerry

 

This week I'm doing the final prep on the car before loading it on the trailer and heading for Las Vegas on Thursday. We worked the electrical bugs out of it at Thunderhill and it's running pretty strong. My old Toyo RA-1s are a little low on tread but there should be enough to gallop around Spring Mountain Raceway for a few laps on Friday. It will be good to stack the car up against some other Mini race cars since it has only previously run against other marques on the track.

I'm supposed to rendezvous with Ed from Mini Mania down there to get my sponsor's stickers on before the race. We'll be adding some Mini Mania parts before the next race at Infineon April 12-13 and I can't wait to see what a difference they make in my performance and handling.

I hope to see some of you at the track on Friday. Stop by my rig and say hello!

 

so . . . wha' happened?

 

AMVIV

It’s the weekend of A Mini Vacation in Vegas, organized by Sin City MINIs, and next to MINI Takes the States and MINIs on the Dragon in North Carolina, probably the biggest MINI/Mini event in the US. This year, almost 600 cars and their owners showed up for trips, tours, cruising the Las Vegas Strip and the vendors’ tents, hanging out with old friends and meeting new ones formerly known only by their internet handles.

Phil Wicks’ Track Day and NAMCC Race

Every year for the past three, Phil Wicks holds a track day on the weekend of AMVIV. The first year was at the Las Vegas Motor Speedway, not a very friendly road racing venue. For the last two years it has been held at Spring Mountain Raceway in Pahrump. Last year, you may remember, there was carnage with only two or three cars escaping damage. It showed in this year’s roster as only 3 cars showed up to race. There were events for everyone though, a novice training school, a track day a Solo I run, track tour for the folks who had been out to Death Valley and a NAMCC race event.

Due to schedule slippage, the race shrank from 15 laps to 10, to 8 and finally to 5. I made a terrible start, somehow misplacing second gear, and Jeff led off the first lap. Clark and I caught him and passed on the back straight. We had agreed that due to the shortness of the race and the fact that there were only 3 of us and that our power to weight ratios were so different, we would put on a good show for the crowd instead of just droning around widely separated. Well, it seemed like a good idea at the time. But I’m taking a lot of flak for it. Judge for yourself. The full story is here.

If anyone has any photos of the race or Shiva in the paddock, I’d love to see them.

 

Ah - HA! Found your report Jerry. Thanks. Glad to see someone came to race. Why didn't Matt make a go of it in Waylen's car?

BTW - show or go? I'd vote GO!

Good job controlling the ol' adrenaline.

 

Waylen took Matt's car to AMVIV this year instead of the race car so he could tow the trailer full of parts, and Matt's car doesn't have a roll cage. I just got off the phone with Way, and it sounded like he had a really good time in Vegas, but I don't think he's a big fan of driving across Texas