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Anyone like racing?

I’ve been shopping for used cars lately and came across this video.


It gets good at about 2:30 into the video. FYI, 300 KPH is about 186 mph.
That's a SWEET Porsche and a great video. Interesting to see how traffic respectfully clears out of the left lane, well in advance, when he comes up on them (obviously not filmed in the U.S.!). Thanks for sharing that JimT.

Mike
 
Hey Jackie,

Your '67 Malibu sounds healthy! And that boat sure looks like it'd get the adrenaline going. Also, your fuel burning Harley really hits home with me, of course! Riding a dragbike is easy - as long as it's going straight. When they get out of shape, however, all bets are off. Sounds like yours bit you hard..

And a question for you, from one dragbiker to another - do you ever get annoyed when the loose screw that's bouncing around inside your head lands on two live wires and shorts out? Just curious.. 8^)

Mike
I have quite a few screws that held parts together while healing. My orthopedic surgeon back then told me I really had no business being alive.

the story on my crash goes like this.

back in the early ‘80’s, we were still running the old 10” wide Firestone wrinkle wall slick. My bike was built on a Kosman frame, Goodyear came out with a new tire for bikes that was really proving to be good.

I got one, but had to modify the frame on the right side to get chain clearance. It took a couple of weeks to get things together. We decided to take it out on a Wednesday night test night.

We got to the track around 5, told the track manager we wanted to make some test runs.

Goodyear recommended from 6 to 9 psi in the tire, the first run was with 9. As the clutch began locking up as the bike went down the track, I could still feel a little fishtailing as the tire slipped.

That run produced the quickest time ever, 8.61 at over 160.

my partner towed me back, we changed the piston rings out, (you had to do this just about every run), and around 8, we were ready again. This time, we put the tire pressure at around 7 psi.

I did my burnout, it felt great. I staged and watch the tree come down.

The tire bit great, she came back on the wheelie bars hard. The bike kinda leaped into the far lefthand side of the lane. It felt so goor, All I could see was 8.50.

In that left hand lane, at about 3/4 track right on the line, there was a bump. I as riding the line, trying to body steer the bike toward the end.

I hit that bump. I was so loose on the bike, I just fell of, or at last that seems what happened. I woke up in the Life Flight Chopper heading to Hermann Hospitol.

I had rolled over 300 feet straight down the track. but I did not hit anything, like a guard rail or timing cone.

I dislocated both shoulders, broke my left arm, knock the knee cap on my right leg, off. And tore the Achilles’ tendon from my right leg. Plus, all of my organs got moved around a lot.

But it didn’t kill me. No head injury. It took them a while to get everything back in place and make a reasonably good human being.

That ended my racing days. I promised my wife that that was it. No more.

But that’s not to say I don’t like romping down on the Malibu’s gas pedal every now and then.
 
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Back in 1980 I worked with a couple friends in Colorado on a ground up tube framed Pikes Peak car. You guys probably don't know them, but they were great fabricators, Terry Wolbert and Bud Whitfield. Bud was well known at the time as a VW air cooled engine guy. Terry did the chassis, Bud did the 2400CC Type 4 VW engine,. and I did the Hewland geared Type 11 trans. I machined a new nose cone that allowed a shaft that I attached a large conveyor ratchet. Another drive shaft went from there to a 260Z rear diff mounted in front. It was now 4wd. Set up this way as the rear tires slipped it allowed it to over run the conveyor ratchet and transfer power to the front wheels.
It all worked great, but mechanical failures ruined the weekend.
 
I don’t know about that. I think Ari liked his 405 better. I have a great picture of him staring at me from 10-12 feet away at Pikes Peak!
How about a 1938 Peugeot 402 Darl'Mat Special Sport. All of 105 built by custom coach builder Marcel Pourtout of Paris. 2.0 or 2.1 litre 4-cyl engines. Three of them finished in the top 10 at Le Mans in 1937. In 1938 one finished 5th overall and 1st in class. Only 30 are known to exist today.

1938-Peugeot-402_2.jpeg
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Back in 1980 I worked with a couple friends in Colorado on a ground up tube framed Pikes Peak car. ... Set up this way as the rear tires slipped it allowed it to over run the conveyor ratchet and transfer power to the front wheels. It all worked great, but mechanical failures ruined the weekend.
It all worked great until it didn't work. ;-(

Alas, Pikes Peak is not the same. You were in on the glory days before it was completely paved.
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That’s not a very good return on investment considering the restoration costs were $402k.
Is that a joke? Very few high-grade restorations come remotely close to positive ROI when the owner is paying professionals to do the work. Many cars sell for half or less of what was sunk into the car. Just breaking even is something to gloat about.

That said, it's impossible to know how much is really invested in the car. The seller is listed as "SWVintage". It may have been purchased and restored by some professional enterprise, with the itemized costs simply reflecting what a customer would have been charged.
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I raced semi-professionally for a number of years, but a young family made it difficult. Had some good times. Had some scary ones, too.

View attachment 1172809
Can I like this more than once...

Nobody here probably knows what it is but the last finisher in the world Vendee Globe finished today.... all the way around the marble, solo unassisted.

The winner finished weeks ago.
 
Spent yesterday evening at Palm Beach International Raceway, and I am heading back in a few hours. The are hosting this years Pro Winter Warmup. Lots of top fuel and funny cars and a bunch of Pro mods. Saw John Force put in a real good run yesterday.
 
I saw him last night talking to someone next to his car trailer. It took me a full minute to decide if it were him or not he has probably lost 50-60 lbs. Still winning at 71 years old. I am not sure what you were talking about.
 

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