Thanks guys. I am still on a high from this event days later. Unreal. If you've even considered coming to this event, with or without a car, I can't encourage you enough. I can't believe I missed last year's event even as a spectator. This makes cruising around on the street (which I enjoy) seem boring.

So now just impatiently awaiting for the final results to be posted. :lateral:

Nice see you again.
All I can say was working the autocross and watching him rev that engine to 7400 rpm was crazy.

You too Bob. Thanks.. I think? :lol:

Rich @ Road Touring Customs really got this car into shape and it's a testament to his work that this thing held together for 1000+ miles including the major beating it took. Thanks again Richie! :cheers:

Sounded like a great time. Thanks for the write up and the photos.
Looks like good times for sure.:thumbsup: :yes:

I miss my high revving 377. That was a fun engine and would pull to 7500rpm fast! Weeeee!!!!

:thumbsup:

Well it looks like all the results are in and I am very pleased with how I fared against the big boys of our niche. As I mentioned I really was wanting to finish in the top 1/4 maybe with the hope of hitting top 10 in something.

I finished 9th, 11th, and 18th overall in AutoX, Road Course, and Speed Stop, respectively. And on Road Course and AutoX specifically, all I see above me are known players and heavy hitters like DSE, the Pozzis, Finch, Speedtech -- mainly vendors and past Optima participants -- oh, and that damn Akes guy -- so I don't see how I could ask for more out of my first real event.

What it really does is add even more fuel to my fire even quicker and I feel even more competitive now than I did going into it. I didn't expect to be so close to the leaders, well except in road course. 6 seconds is quite a gap. But had I gotten to use the 10 minute practice session on Sunday morning I am confident I could have figured out my lines and carried more speed. The car really impressed me more than I was anticipating.

Here's a couple pics I was emailed by someone who was there. Thanks Geoff.

http://i236.photobucket.com/albums/f.../RTTCII386.jpg

http://i236.photobucket.com/albums/f.../RTTCII387.jpg

http://i236.photobucket.com/albums/f.../RTTCII383.jpg

Great looking car and HUGE congrats for doing so well...and it being your FIRST event makes it even better! :thumbsup:

Here's a serious question...not a slam! How was it driving that hard with the 4" hood? You are taller than me, but my experiance is that's its very hard to see the pass side front corner with the taller hood...just wondering what your real world thought's are now? :cheers:

The car looks great:thumbsup:

that is f-ing awesome dave!!!
im soo bummed i wasent able to make the event and hang with you fruits.

Good deal Dave, sounds like you had a great time and are still jazzed up!:D

Yeah --- but you're still the same old DB! You're just a bit faster now!


:rofl: :rofl: :cheers: :woot:

nice job Dave, looks like so much fun. Great action shots! :thumbsup:

You know I actually have fallen in love with the 4" cowl. The 4" hood and the 377 are things I likely would not have built from scratch, but I am glad I ended up with them. I dig them both a lot. I think the 4" hood works really well with the 2 center stripes too. And I can see just fine out of the windshield. The seats are fairly fixed as is as far as placement due to the cross bar behind the seats, and I sit pretty high in the car (my helmet touches the headliner). I think I can see everything I need to see so it's all good.

Well... thanks... I think? :lol:

I would say I am still about as high as Charlie Sheen. :D

Thanks guys. If ya'all can make it next time, do it! :thumbsup:

Car looks great! The speed stop is so much tougher that you think it is going to be. At least for me it was. Good to see the hook it firmly set as far as track events go. Have you ever done any track stuff before?

Thanks Jeff. Yeah I was pretty fortunate to nail what I thought would be about the best I could do on the Speed Stop on my 2nd run of Sunday. Saturday was a wash since they were telling us the wrong markers to stop anyway. :lol: Plus I liked the idea of saving my brakes and car in general for the real deal AutoX and Road Course finals of the afternoon.

I knew I would have fun, but man it was just so much more than I was expecting. And then to place high was just icing on the cake.

I would consider this my first real event. I did a small AutoX in the rain about 6 weeks ago in Marina but it rained hard and was all wet and I couldn't give anything past 1/2 throttle on any of my 4 runs, so I wouldn't consider that much practice.

Love your car man, hope to see it run someday.

Trying hard to win my way to Vegas this year since I could not go last year.

Gettin ready for Marina Autocross on sunday. Badmotorfinger needed a little attention after the big road trip to RTTC. Plugs, valve adjustment, etc. Stout performer!!!!:cheers:

It's Mike Honcho. Don't tell anybody but he "Spread his but cheeks for Playgirl magazine" :rofl:

Rich, did you find any loose valves? How is the gear doing?

Shouldn't you be at an open house or something? :lol:

I don't do open houses. :D

Thats beautiful!!!:lol:

Yes all the valves were around .002 to .003 off thier cold adjustment. .015 intake .017 exhaust. Gear is beautiful put a MSD holdown on, lost 6 degrees with the cheap one. Had a bent cheap fuel pump block off, caused leak at RTTC. Distributor cap, center electrode broken, replaced. New plugs, NGK, gapped at .045. Oil was DONE. Shifter still bein funky, workin on that more today and fixing a collecter gasket. Trying out Lucas octane boost,:unibrow: seems to be working. Now try and catch us!!!:willy: We need a good radiator catch can, any suggestions?

Valves were consistently off by about .003 Rich said.

Distributor gear is in perfect shape. Some more gear material from the previous gear was on the magnetic plug and a little in the oil filter.

Oil was black and a little low (yes we are working on a DIPSTICK solution). :willy:

Timing was down to 30* which was a little worrisome. But Rich discovered we were still using a cheapy distributor hold down that was likely the culprit. Replaced with better MSD hold down.

Replaced old plugs (should have down before probably) with new NGK 7938's.

Old plugs showed a little detonation so timing was set to 36* and Rich threw some Lucas octane boost in the fuel cell so we will see how she runs tmrw at Marina.

EDIT: Rich, I guess we are pretty much on the same page! :D

Rich,

Might give Kemco 130 a try too: http://www.kemcooil.com/products.php?cId=4

I've had good luck with it in my bikes. Leaded with a nice racey aroma. :unibrow:

Wow! Thanks for the tip. That stuff is the real deal. TEL, main ingredient, that'll work.:yes:

How much capacity would you prefer, Boss? I can source this.

Sounds like success. :thumbsup:

Had an eventful day yesterday at the Marina AutoX. Some awesome dedicated track cars there. American AutoX series is pretty serious stuff I found out firsthand. Didn't get to see Brian Hobaugh's red 64 Vette run as I had hoped... he was packing up when we got there.

Mary Pozzi and Brian both encouraged me to specifically come to these American AutoX events as they are big tracks made for bigger car. They were right. Very cool and difficult 2 lap course that resulted in 70 to 80+ second times.

I took 3 runs and of course spun out on 2 of them, but I feel I did okay all things considered. Traction was no where near what we saw at RTTC. The car just wouldn't stick and do what it did for me at El Toro. We had pretty good weather too. 60s and overcast most of the day.

Mary P took my car out for 3 laps after I was done, and I was stoked about this. I learned a ton from those 3 ride alongs. One that stood out was that I hit the brakes like a 9 year old girl. :lol: Man when she gets on the brakes she does it with conviction.

My GoPro was on the wrong setting for all my laps but I fixed it for Mary's final and best run here.



For some reason this vid wasn't as clear as past ones. You can't really view the course that well or get the affect of the car hitting the brakes so much harder than when I have driven. Huge difference.

The course also was a challenge for my car because we had to run in 2nd gear and it didn't get up into its powerband in any of the straights. And I wasn't interested (or was Mary) in take lap after lap screaming at 7000rpm all day. Some courses are great for certain cars, and others not. That's how it is.

Mary and Dave P talked with us awhile after and we discussed several things to take a look at one the car based on how it behaved. Thanks to the Pozzi's for their insight and ideas about my car. Pretty valuable info right there. :thumbsup: and top secret... :D

Oh, and then I ran out of gas on the way home. Doh.

Very cool Dave. Learning from the best is good. :thumbsup: Running out of gas on the way home,...not so good.:(
Have fun buddy.:cheers:

Good write up Dave!

The Pozzi's are such sweethearts! So helpful and eager to share!


So - you need a quick change rear end --- get to the track - switch ratios and get that badmotorwhateverthehellitis bang the rev limiter. :rofl:


Running out of gas! Priceless.


So my story on that.... just completed doing the EFI for the first time on the Nomad many years ago --- I'd put about 10 gal of gas in it -- dyno etc... get 'er done and park it for a couple weeks. Comes the weekend of GoodGuys show here - get up and get 'er washed up - and head out at O'dark thirty. Car goes 10 miles and starts bucking -- then runs fine - then bucks - hiccups - then runs fine. I'm thinking "crap!" Must be a wire on a header I didn't tuck away right etc.... Then she just gives up. No biggie - call a tow truck. A tiltbed rollup comes and gets me. Since I'm on the side of the freeway - we can't hear or talk. He buttons it all up and I jump in the cab. He asks me what's wrong with it.... and I say... I just did full new EFI blah blah blah but it felt just like you'd run out of gas. BINGO! Lightbulb comes on and I tell him to get off the next exit and go to the gas station. While it's up on the bed I put some gas in - hit the key - it fires off immediately... We back it off - I pay him the $175 and off I go to the show... YES I told all my buddies what I did - and anytime we head off somewhere - their first question to me is "do you have gas"? :cheers: :woot:

A quick change is EXACTLY what I need! :thumbsup:

Bad Momma Jomba to you Greggers! :lol:

Your gas story is awesome... I had those same thoughts... why is it missing? What happened now? We just changed the plugs... hmmmm.... :willy:

Lucky I ran out right near a friend of Rich's south of Gilroy so we were back on the road in 10 minutes. :cheers:

But I like your story better. :rofl:

Damn these race cars are thirsty! Thank God for my friends. Was a long day and a great learning experience. Trying to make a multi purpose car is difficult. We will be changing the alignment, adding one degree of camber, bringing it to 2.5 negative.

Ssshhhh.... don't let Todd know any of our special sauce recipe. :_paranoid

Enjoyed the vid and the writeup. :thumbsup:

What's with the Rated 'G' version of a Mary P video? :D

Thank you good sir. I aim to please. Usually.

Because I had the darn cam on wrong setting for the "good" runs. :D

As long as she's not getting soft on us!! :D

Oh no.. my favorite line on her first run was "God it pushes like a dump truck!"

:lol:

:rofl: :rofl:

Too funny!! That's our Mary...tellin' it like it is! :lol: