The last 2 weekends we have been working on getting
the canopy finished up enough that we can run it at the July El Mirage
meet (This Sunday, 7-15-01). However, there are a lot of rules that kick
in when you enclose the driver besides just attaching a canopy. We had
to add an air vent for the driver and canopy release that can be activated
from both inside and outside. We did most of that stuff the first weekend
in July. The canopy is made of Carbon Fiber and Kevelar and can be a pain
to work with. It took all of us to trim it for the Lexan windshield. On
July 4th James & I installed the drivers side windows and
added & sanded off a lot more Bondo.
This last weekend, with the canopy nearing completion, we took on another issue that’s been hanging around for years. (The following will excite a few people reading this). As a race team we actually own two vehicles, the race car and it’s trailer. The trailers suspension has been a problem for a long time. This can become a real issue if the trailer is not loaded right. We kicked around a couple of different ideas but after talking to a few trailer shops about trailer length and loads we decided to start by just changing out the trailer springs and moving their location (the originals were from a 1950’s era pickup truck). The trailer and the race car are each under 1000Lbs, so we went with a 3000Lbs setup. The new springs look like toys compared to the old ones but can carry a heaver load. Additionally, the new setup removes about 100Lbs from the total trailer weight.
This Sunday will be the last race before the August/Bonneville meet, and the last El Mirage meet we run on the 750cc motor. (We are NOT taking the car up to Bonneville this August, instead we are taking it in October when we can attempt a world’s record. Worlds record attempts are only run in October at Bonneville) This will give us 2 months to change over to the Hayabusa motor, finish the body work and paint it.
If you are planning to come up to the races this weekend, it will be HOT!
Bring lots of water & shade.