One Czeque That Won't Bounce

I decided a while back to make my own pipe.  Just short of doing the whole thing myself, I bought a pre-drilled/stemmed carve your own block from my local pipe shop, The Pipe Puffer in Greenwood, IN.  The block was in pretty rough shape having a square shank and bowl.  Of course I started work, forgetting to take a 'before' picture. The poor drilling of the stummel made final sanding difficult as none of the holes were true to, well, anything!  I had been speaking with a full fledged pipe maker, Wayne Teipen, during the whole process, bouncing ideas off of him.  He was most helpful throughout the process of design.
The block took its first cut on a smaller disc sander, a Delta 6" setup with 120 grit paper.  As I roughed in the top of the bowl, the pipe began to direct its shape.  Starting as a general looking 'poker' style pipe with the shank still remaining square, I flattened both top and bottom in parallel.  To leave the fore and aft bowl faces unparalleled seemed to give the pipe an interesting look.  I partly borrowed the idea from a Danish inspired bent 'brandy' shape I had recently seen.  At this point I roughed in the shank the best I could with the disc.  The rest of this part would be done with my Dremel at home.

The shank was probably the hardest decision of the pipe shape.  I wanted to utilize a form that complemented the bowl but was still sleek, as I could envision the shape being almost aerodynamic. I used my Dremel tool, fitted with a flex shaft and a cone shaped carbide cutter, to give form to the shank.  I hoped to mimic the curve of the stem and continue it to the shank, which proved to be a bit tricky.  After the basic form was made with the cutter, I changed it out for a 1/2" fine grit drum and accomplished the final curve I was seeking. I was able to obtain a decent symmetry all around the pipe with only minor nuances of asymmetry.
After shaping the stummel and getting the basic shape of the stem done, I decided I would give sand blasting a go.  I decided on a partial pattern on the stummel/shank to accentuate the pipe's shape.  I learned a great deal during the process and the absolute necessity of precision masking before blasting.  The final result was well worth it though!
I asked Wayne to help with the finish and he told me to take a trip out to his shop.  We put the finishing touches on my pipe there and enjoyed a smoke together.  He showed me the finer points of 'contrast' staining, starting with a very dark base stain, applying it 3 times.  After the base application, over to the red tripoli buffing wheel to remove the dark stain and obtain the desired level of coverage.  I left the blasted sections darker than the smooth surfaces to accentuate the unique blast.  Completing this step, we went back to the stain selection and I picked and orangey-red color for the surface stain.  This took only two applications, then back to the buffing wheel.  This time the white diamond wheel which only polishes and does not remove any finish.  The gloss had begun to shine now and the detailing touches were applied to the stain before giving the pipe a high gloss with the carnauba wax wheel. The stummel looked fantastic! The only part left was the stem.
That night I worked with a piece of white pearlescent acrylic Wayne had given me to use as an insert in the top of the stem.  I decided to install a dot and drilled the stem to accept it.  Completing the final size hole in the stem, I moved to the small piece of acrylic I cut earlier.  Using a drill I spun the outside diameter of the insert to the correct size with a drill bit as my spindle.  Glued the insert in the stem and cut small pieces of aluminum and brass tubing and a small brass rod, to finish off the look I wanted.  Glued those into place and filed the whole lot flush with the stem.  Went through the process of sanding the stem, then a polish and finally a nice coat of carnauba wax.  I decided to name the pipe according to its shape and attributes, the check-mark.  Having come up with the general name idea, I let a good friend come up with an interesting spelling.  Czeque it was!  I will be smoking it with friends for the first time tomorrow in celebration of our great nation's Independence Day!

I am pretty pleased with the result of my first attempt at pipe making!  I am looking forward to the next venture and actually drilling my own block and making a stem from solid rod stock.  Until then...

*Edit 07/04/2010* Wanted to add, I smoked the pipe for the first time today with Peter Stokkebye's Luxury Bullseye Flake, and it was great!  Nice draw and cool smoke, had one small gurgle mid-bowl, but it went away with a little reverse puff.  Turned out to be a great smoker!

    Czeque

• Style: Mod. Poker/Tankard
• Material: Briar
• Stem: Vulcanite
• Finish: Smooth/Partial blast
• Group Size: 4
• Length: 5 5/8"
• Height: 1 9/16"
• Bowl Dia.: 1 3/8"
• Chamber Dia.: 13/16"
• Chamber Depth: 1 1/8"
• Weight: 40g

Briar Buffer

Having written about pipes, I will show a before and after of a pipe I have 'restored'. Typical for most pipes, I will ream the excess cake from the chamber and clean the draft hole. The top of the bowl will have any buildup removed. I restore the stem by removing all the brown or green oxidization and restore it to the original black vulcanite color. I then polish the stem being careful to not round any crisp edges or harm any insignias that may be on it. I clean the stummel (the main body of the pipe existing of the bowl and shank) and polish it and give it a good waxing. For my own pipes and if requested, I will run a 'sweetener' through the pipe.

There is a quick run-down of what I do for my own pipes as well as most pipes I sell on Ebay. The pipe above was done for a friend of mine. He won the pipe in an auction on Ebay and asked if I could clean the pipe for him. This beauty is a Savinelli Punto Oro in a bent prince shape. Be sure to check my listings on Ebay: http://myworld.ebay.com/gearking/

Pipe Cleaners

It has been a long time since my last post. A lot of water, a lot of bridges. Moving along...

I have found I really gravitate to vintage items. You can see in my last post I have grown fond of records. Around that time perhaps before, my memory fails me, I had taken to tobacco pipes. I had always thought they were cool and enjoyed the fragrance, unlike any other form of tobacco. It all started one fateful summer night at a friend's place. Up on the balcony of his place enjoying the calm evening and sunset after having eaten a great meal, he and another of my friends lit up. I was offered and it's history from there. I soon went to my local tobacco shop, Randy's on Lafayette Rd. here in Indy, and got my own kit. I picked out a full bent 'basket' pipe and they supplied all the other tools in the kit I bought.

My first light up with my own pipe was at a bachelor party my friends and I had at my place that fall. Of course I made the rookie mistakes and could hardly get the pipe lit, nor keep it lit. With some practice I got the hang of it. With more practice I learned how to keep a 'cherry' lit in the center, although later I learned it was too hot and the reason I was getting so much tongue bite. I was getting pretty good at building a nominal 'cake' in the bowl too. Being a details person, I truly love the intricacies and for lack of a better term, the intimacy with each pipe.

My affinity for the pipe led me to look in thrift shops and antique stores for old pipes. I was on the hunt for a pipe like Bing Crosby smoked. Throughout my search I have found many variations of pipe I like. This also brought me to getting 'lots' of pipes on ebay and cleaning and selling the ones I didn't care to keep. The process grew and so did my knowledge of pipes. I now list on average 8-12 pipes every Saturday night on ebay. Still a growing hobby and a growing knowledge. I hope to be able to use my creative abilities and make my own soon. For now, I just clean and refurbish. More to come.

Vintage

I recently acquired my grandparents' 1965 Zenith record player. A fine example of 60's style with dark wood grain and flashy chrome. The mechanism required some attention and the needle was practically destroyed. Over the past couple of months I have replaced the cartridge and needle and adjusted the tonearm tension to get it to play correctly. The tension may still need to be tweaked a little, but it is now in nominal working condition. I have the benefit of having 4 play speeds: 16, 33, 45 and 78. It is not only great to hear the most popular 33 1/3 RPM vinyls records, but also the older, thicker shellac 78's.

I have obtained many records recently, scouring numerous Goodwill and Salvation Army stores as well as antique outlets and some record shops. I have gotten some steals at each place I've gone, but I'd have to say getting 30 78's of various artists such as Glenn Miller, Benny Goodman, Stan Kenton and Harry James for only $3.00 was probably my best find. I have done a bit of shopping on eBay as well, which has its own jab of excitement. Getting a good deal and beating someone else to get it, what more could a thrifty and competitive guy such as myself ask for?!

In addition to my retail finds, I have a few couple great friends who have seen the enjoyment of my new found pastime and have helped my cause by giving me some of their old vinyl. Having musical friends has been a great experience, learning different things from each. All different but all sharing the same love of music. Along this line of thought, I have come to realize there is a greater connection, a greater intimacy with records. In a world of loading cd's and now mp3's and iPod's I think to some degree we've lost the reverence of music. Now there's nothing tangible, just a little box with ear buds. I have found it exciting to stack a few LP's on my turntable and watch brainchild of some engineer at Zenith work almost flawlessly, dropping records, moving the tone arm to just the right spot and then hearing the warm sound floating from the speakers. A wonderful sound to hear, pops cracks and static included!

Extra Credit...

One semester of college under my belt. I took Art Appreciation and CAD Fundamentals this semester and received "A's" in both courses. The work took some getting used to, and the nights of working until at least 1 AM seemed perpetual. Although some assignments were difficult I got into a work rhythm and they proved to be quite rewarding. The work paid off and I have a 4.0 GPA for the time being. I know these were fairly easy courses and work will be more difficult as I move forward, but I am reveling in my success!
I wrote my first research paper on the Prairie School of Frank Lloyd Wright's architectural design career. I had a great editor to help me and got 38 of 33 points available. I took a trip to Chicago with Neil to gain information about Frank Lloyd Wright and his design. I was able to include my own images in my paper which gave me extra credit. The overall available score for the course was 111 and with extra credit I was able to get a score of 135.6. I received a nice note from my Art professor following the course:

"Nathan,

You are the Man!! No worries Mate!! You definitely aced an A. I wish all my students were as prolific, proactive, and throw themselves into their work has you did. I have to say, out of all my ARTH classes (I taught two this semester, over 50 students) you scored the highest of all, and accumulated extra credit on top. I enjoyed your research paper, and your discussion units. Are you a research analyst as your 40/wk job? Do you write books for living? If not, you might look into this! Nathan, I truly enjoyed you as a student, and wish you all the best as you pursue more college classes, and other adventures you take on. You will do well, I can tell..." Steve Lambert

Very encouraging to hear! I am in the process of signing up for Advanced CAD as instructed by my professor, but the system they have indicates I need to take the Technical Graphics course prior. Because I am not seeking their degree for this, I am going to speak with the Chairperson of the Technical Department to see if I can waive this particular course.
I am looking forward to furthering my education and attempting to gain a position at an architectural firm as soon as I am able. Current economy has hampered that goal for the moment.

Undergrad

Having taken my first mid-term tests last week, I have completed half a semester of my first experience with college. Both midterms went very well, I got 39 of 40 questions correct in my AutoCAD class and I aced my Art History exam. I am pleased with my grades so far but have a couple more tests and my first 'college level' research paper to complete for my art class. I have selected 'Frank Lloyd Wright, and the Prairie School' as my subject. This is fitting to my desire to seek a degree in architecture. I am a bit apprehensive of composing a research paper, but I am certain, in the end, I will do well.
I spent a few hours today at the Crown Hill Cemetery to study a couple of books I have checked out of the downtown public library. I have found the area surrounding James Whitcomb Riley's memorial to be a serene place to read and think. Today proved to be somewhat less tranquil as the memorial saw quite a bit of traffic. Nonetheless, I was able to get some study done and enjoy the unseasonably warm day.

Showing some leg...

Another great weekend of culinary endeavors!  

I joined Joel, Heather and their daughter and went to the City Market in downtown Indy.  Such a great place for fresh foods.  Joel had his eye on a Greek eatery in the far corner of the Market,  and we all agreed that would hit the spot.  Quickly after ordering, they explained they only would accept cash, so I hurried off to the nearest ATM to obtain a different form of 'dough'.   We all ordered gyros, but I added an order of baklava.  Serving Pepsi products, I naturally

 ordered my drink of choice: Mountain Dew.  Sadly, they were out of Mountain Dew, so I settled for an orange soda.  Fortunately for me, the rest of the meal made up for the lack of Dew.  The gyros were excellent and the baklava was exquisite! 

  Having finished lunch, we visited Moody Meats and got a beautiful leg of lamb to make for dinner.  We also utilized a coupon Moody offered in their brochure: if you buy $10.00 or more, they give you 1 pound of hickory smoked bacon! 

 I can't wait to use the bacon for another cooking venture.

  

  After the purchase at Moody, we returned to Joel and Heather's, as she had a baby shower to attend.  Joel and I t

hen ventured to Whole Foods to pick up the rest of the ingredients for our meal.  

One great thing about Whole Foods is the tasty samples to munch on while browsing the store! 

 Sometimes the most simple things in life are the best!

I was mainly involved in the prep work as Joel didn't need much help to prepare the courses.  We began the dinner with pita bread, sliced into strips and baked with oil and salt to flavor, served with artichoke hummus and baba ghanoush.  For the most part, I snacked on the 'appetizer' while Joel finished the main course!  Like I said, Joel had the cooking under control.  Needless to say the lamb was incredible!  Beside the lamb was a nice butter leaf lettuce salad with a caesar dressing, new potatoes mashed with a hint of rosemary, and some colorful kidney beans.  We happily ate, and were quite full after.  Another fine meal presented by the culinary masters!

Yes Chef!

A friend of mine, Joel, and I have been enjoying the great television programming on Monday and Tuesday nights.  'American Gladiators', 'Wipeout', and 'I Survived A Japanese Gameshow' to name a few.  But, being 'foodies', we are drawn most to the reality cooking show 'Hell's Kitchen' hosted by Gordon Ramsay.  It has been one of Joel's interests to cook Chef Ramsay's cookbook in its entirety.  So I decided to help him in his first venture.  I may have promise as a 'sous chef'!   

 

 I sat in Joel and Heather's apartment Saturday night having enjoyed three great dishes we made from Chef Ramsay's cookbook.  We were able to replicate his Risotto with Wild Mushrooms and Baby Squash (we used Acorn Squash) Stuffed with Mushrooms and Artichokes.  Both main dishes turned out wonderfully!  I'm not a big fan of mushrooms per se, but I loved both items. The acorn squash was cooked perfectly, and the butter sauce that topped the medley was excellent!  The risotto was a welcome companion to the squash.  The flavors complemented each other extremely well.

  After the dinner we made Chocolate Fondants, and watched the movie Drillbit Taylor.  The fondants were quite rich and the movie was a hit.  At the end of the night, bellies were full and compliments were paid to the chefs.  Overall, a great evening.  Food is a wonderful thing!

A Takeoff And A Landing...

  A lot has transpired since my last entry; to say the least!!  10 months later, life's a bit different...

Frustrations and life-lessons learned, after a half a season last year in the ChampCar World Series, I decided to leave auto racing and try my hand in another field: aircraft maintenance. Working on aircraft is actually very similar to working on race cars, but has brought some challenges and opportunities to grow. I actually find the different cars I have worked on far more difficult than most aircraft.
  

  The jump from racing also brought a parting  with my 2006 Subaru Sti. I was able to get into another Suby; a year older, double the miles and half the payment! My new 2.5 RS lacks, well, everything that was cool on Sarah (my Sti), but is exactly what I need.

 

I do like the color, andI receive much 

less grief about it being a 'shopping cart'!  In fact, I don't think anyone I know has used this nomenclature for Hagar (the other car). 

 

 

 This change also gave me more time at home with friends and likewise time to see concerts I haven't been able to attend because of travel.  I had the pleasure of going to see The Family Values Tour, Rush, Genesis, Regina Spektor, Brandi Carlile, Bill Cosby, the John Butler Trio, and finally Robert Fripp and the League of Crafty Guitarists.   All of the artists were absolutely phenomenal!!  What a blessing to have the chance to take in such great talent!  

Flyleaf and Korn during the 'Family Values' tour at the Verizon Wireless Center in 

Indianapolis, IN

  

 

            

            Genesis in Columbus, OH                                         The John Butler Trio in Indianapolis, IN

  Bill was spot on and absolutely hilarious!  He never missed a beat and was as animated as he has ever been!  He interacted with the audience quite a bit, and even made fun of the Bears, as they were competing in a game during his show.  I sure am glad I got to go! 

I realize while I'm typing, how much I enjoy driving and road trips.  I guess it fits, being I spent most of my life in a car of some sort traveling around the world.  I guess it's just in my blood!   

 More blogs to come, and I doubt it will be another 10 months!

And So It Begins...

Work….Testing….Much craziness. Test number three: Laguna Seca Raceway, Monterey California. Sun and a little warmth, but no love. A beautiful racing circuit, set against the backdrop of a state park. An area that used to be a military base, and some portions are still ‘off-limits’ with signs posted ‘Live Ammunition’ and areas riddled with unspent cartridges. Still, it is quite picturesque. We had a nice hotel and a beautiful view of Monterey Bay, but sorry to say, we had no opportunity to enjoy it as we left in the morning darkness and returned every night after the sun had set.

We were testing two cars, two drivers this test. Robert Doornbos and Zsolt Baumgartner were the pilots of our two entries. This was Zsolt’s first drive in the new Panoz chassis. He did well, but unfortunately he had a couple of ‘offs’ and the second shunt finished his test altogether. Robert, with about twenty minutes of track time left on the second day, had an almost identical crash. So after loading the two crashed cars onto the transporters, we had to wait for the end of the ‘standing start’ practice before our fuel tanks could be emptied. Sadly, this meant we ended up sitting around two almost loaded transporters for over an hour. We finally got the fuel tanks loaded, the transporters closed and ready for the return home. Not the greatest of ways to finish pre-season testing.

After we all took quick showers and packed up, our van made the trip to San Francisco for the return flight to Indy. It was difficult to remain conscious and I think I nodded off a couple of times on the ride to the airport. The long awaited stop at In-N-Out Burger helped though! A Double-Double, ‘Animal Style’ combo and a chocolate shake, a thing of beauty…and tastiness!! You gotta get a stylin t-shirt too; that goes without saying.

We had a 12:01 am flight on Northwest that stopped in Minneapolis/St. Paul at 6:27 am with a more than three hour layover. Most everyone took the opportunity to sprawl out and sleep. I could not sleep so I took pictures. Due to the overwhelming amount of, and severity of the threats I received, I have chosen not to post these photos. We finally arrived home at 12:43 pm the next day, having a delay receiving our bags. I think we left the airport at 1:30, but we were finally home!

Eager Anticipation...

Back again. A new racing season has rolled around once more. This one brings great promise for my team. Before the last part of the 2006 season, there had been rumors of a Formula 1 team wanting to purchase and take over operation of an Indianapolis based Champ Car team. We are one of 5 teams in Indy; the only remaining team on Gasoline Alley.
After the final race of the '06 season down in Mexico City, our team owner had a meeting alluding to the fact we had been chosen for the Minardi Formula 1 team to purchase. Just before our Christmas party, the official announcement was made, and we were officially to be 'Minardi Team USA'! We got to meet our new team owner, Paul Stoddart, and a few key players of Minardi at the party. We are all very optimistic for the 2007 Champ Car season.

The new chassis arrived for the teams just before the end of December. Teams took delivery of their new cars at the Champ Car world headquarters here in Indy. The car manufacturer (Elan Motorsports) was behind on production, therefore each team only received one chassis at the first delivery. Just one chassis would provide plenty of work for the coming weeks; preparing for the first test in Sebring, Florida.

Receiving the newest livery to the team, we dissected the car. Inspecting the new design, the shop was abuzz with excitement. The lines, the form, emulating the sleekness of a Formula 1 chassis. The fit and finish from the factory was good. Cars, in years past, have been somewhat of a nightmare to build and had required much more work to bring them to racing level. All cars will need preparation, but the newer constructions have lent themselves to better builds.
The weeks of preparation brought extended shop hours to accomplish all the aspects of a new car build. As stated earlier, the newer chassis designs require less work, so we have not had a very hard build. Deadlines are met, but toward the end of a build, the little things cause the biggest headaches. Not having all the parts, and having to fit parts because the design and the actual part don't coincide are a couple of these headaches.

Last night was the ubiquitous 'late night', having the deadline of actually loading the car on the transporter to leave this morning for the first test. We loaded the car and finally left the shop just minutes after 11:00 pm. A great sense of completion and satisfaction comes over you as you see the racecar rolled onto the upper deck of the transporter. Also, a great sense of relief!

As I write now, the transporter is on its way to sunny Florida. Part of the team is traveling Monday to run a 3 day test. I wasn't selected to make the trip, so I will remain and wait for our next car to be delivered - supposedly tomorrow. Many on the team doubt it will make this deadline! As the first car runs in Sebring, those who have back home will begin preparing our second livery. Time is rushing toward the first race, and I'm sure we'll have even later nights and tighter deadlines. The price of 'big-time auto racing'!

Deals Gap 2006 - The Best Road Trip!

At last, the end of the racing season! (I know, I'm a few months late...) After the last race of the season our benevolent team allows us a week off as the shop closes for that time. A great time so sit back, relax and reflect on the year's happenings? No way! This means 'Road Trip'! A road trip I had been looking forward to for half the season. Sam (one of the mechanics on our team who happens to own a Mini Type 'S') had said he was going to Deals Gap, and gave me a dvd of his previous trip. The main section, called the 'Dragon's Tail', has 318 curves over the short span of 11 miles. This looked like great fun, and being a racer at heart, I couldn't pass up the opportunity to take my newly purchased '06 Subaru STI to have some of that 'great fun'!
With all the anticipation behind, the end of the season finally came and we journeyed south. Meeting at the Greenwood exit on I-65 S, we had breakfast and began the trip. Overcast and sprinkles was the beginning, however, most of the trip down gave us a deluge of rain. Yay. 6 hours of skating around in rain on the freeway. If that doesn't say 'great fun', I don't know what does!
We got to Knoxville in the evening and planned our drive for the following day. Morning. A brand new day, a fresh start! Get ready, shake off the sleep and open the curtains and.......more rain...... Great. What a lovely surprise. The rain did not cease. We managed to make our pilgrimage down Hwy. 129 and had brief moments of dry spots. Despite the rain we had 'great fun' and found many things which were quite humorous along the drive. One of which was, after all the preparation, I missed an exciting portion of driving as the camera wasn't recording. Mr. Technology here.
Alright! Day two! Started out great! Sam went the wrong direction on I-40, but we righted ourselves and went on. We got to the exit for Hwy. 129 and what did we find? More rain....and a lot of fog added! This wasn't funny anymore, especially for Sam. His car doesn't handle well in wet conditions, and that's all we had! Apparently, neither does mine. Well, the car does - I don't. I had, as we say in the racing world, an incident. No harm, no foul; I just spun (check the video below). Weee! We trudged through the end of day two, and made our way back to the hotel.
Day 3. Our return home. Hmm...I wonder what the weather will bring? Wait....what's this? Sunshine?! Yeah....great. Sunshine for the trip home! Of course, you know what that meant. "I wonder what the 'Dragon's Tail' is like?" Needless to say, we left the 'Gap' around noon! Wonderful sunshine brought dryness and traction to the drive allowing us to 'rip it up'! I foresee many trips to a dry 'Dragon's Tail' in my future!
The trip home was good with no incidents, very uneventful and we made great time! ;-) Cannot wait to go back, and maybe infect more friends with the dragon's venom! Until then enjoy the video...

Buenos Dias Mexico......

Wow! What a season! It's had its ups and downs for sure. We have reached the finale in Mexico City. Finally... I think I resonate a big 'whew!' for all crew members involved. This season has seemed to be especially long. But the end finally came!!
Most arrived in Mexico, and asked 'Are we done, can we go home now?'. The weekend started normally, unloading the trucks and setting up our garages. The truckies had most of this work done already by the time the team landed and made the van ride to the race course. The cars were setup and we were out of the track en route to the hotel. By this point in the season many people just stay at the hotel during their evenings. I'm not sure if it's because we're in Mexico or it's the end of the season and we're just tired!
Friday morning practice rolled around and the cars went out for their warmup lap. Nelson got 3/4 of the way around the circuit and I heard a phrase no gearbox guy wants to hear...'I think 5th and 7th are backwards!'. I looked at the engineers on the timing stand and they confirmed the mishap. This is a mistake all gearbox guys who've worked with a Lola gearbox have made. About 15 minutes later the switch was complete, we poured the oil back in and Nelson was on his way.
Dan had a pit lane incident coming back in after his warmup lap. He banged up the car a fair amount, but the crew repaired it in time to qualify later that afternoon. The rest of practice and qualifying was uneventful. We didn't set the world on fire, but qualified alright.

Warmup was pretty normal, no issues to speak of. Everyone was ready to go racing. The green flag dropped for our final battle of the season and the carnage began. Not even off of the front straightaway, three cars were involved in a scuffle which left two cars without front wings! One of these cars was hometown hero Mario Dominguez. You could hear the crowd 'boo' over the roar of the cars as they passed the pit lane. Dan had radio issues early on in the event and pitted to try to resolve the problem. He later had an issue with a mysterious situation which would stall the engine when he would down shift. We later found a faulty line coupling was the culprit. Nelson had a decent run keeping himself alive to finish 7th, which secured his 4th place finish in a very competitive championship points battle. We were happy to be able to garner 4th position; competing with much larger and better funded teams!

Well, a van ride and a couple of flights later, we were back on our home soil and finished with a grueling season of ChampCar racing. Looking forward to the promise of next year, but happy to have some rest! Adios...

Road America Redemption; or 'No Worries' Down Under...

Busy time overseas; this is going to be a jam-packed blog! It’s quite long, so pack a snack and rest up!

Surfers Paradise, Queensland, Australia. Beautiful weather nearly all year. After a 4 and-a-half hour and 14 hour set of flights, both of which were delayed, your body is thoroughly confused. What makes it worse is you leave Sunday night - fly all night, and then arrive early a.m. on Tuesday morning. Upon our arrival at 7:00 a.m. Tuesday morning in Brisbane we went through Australian Customs and meandered out to the busses, dreary and ready to get to the hotel to shower (and probably get a nap to make up for the poor sleep on the flight). The bus drive is about an hour and a half, and after the 18+ hour flight you just don’t want to ride anymore! So, getting to the hotel and moving around is quite the accomplishment! Showers usually never feel as good as after around a 20 hour travel trip!
Tuesday is a full ‘day off’ for most crews and the time you can go out and see Australia. I was fortunate enough to be one of five guys to go to the 'WRX Rally Experience' course using nearly the same car as I recently bought back in the US. I had a blast!! I have a new respect for WRC and any rally driver for that matter. Car control is much more difficult than it looks! The pros make it look so easy. Nevertheless, a great time was had by all and I have new experience which will help in driving my car. The instructors ride with you and critique how you drive, and as Mark said to me ‘I’m not here to tell you how to drive, just how to drive this car on this track.’ The car handles nothing like any other car I’ve driven and car control tended to be opposite that which I had learned up to this point. One of the most confusing parts is Australian cars are right hand drive, which means the shift handle is on the opposite side! That was quite weird, but by the end of the day I was getting pretty comfortable with it.

After the rally course, the course owner had a surprise for Luis. We drove for about another 15 minutes to… well, a cow pasture. We then realized, in the midst of this pasture was a grass air field and soon saw the reason for coming. Luis was getting a ride over Surfers Paradise in a Gypsy Moth (very close to the Tiger Moth) airplane! As they came back to land after their 20 minute flight, the pilot gave Luis a great time of aerobatic maneuvers including loops and wing-overs! The Moth is quite an agile plane being so rudimentary in design and construction. This was built in 1942 and was a cloth covered plane!

Wednesday was ‘unload day’, time to sort out our crates, cars, pits and garages. Setup went quite quickly and we were out of the track by 1:00 pm. This gave Marty, Mark, Brett, and me some more time to venture Australia! We decided to hit a mall (the guys needed to pick some souvenirs for their families) then journey south. We made a trek to Byron Bay. Very interesting in the compact rental car we got - the Toyota ‘Starlet’ – great name for such a car! It made strange noises and we wondered if it would make such a trip! You could barely see out of the windshield, and the brakes ground to a stop!
Byron Bay is the East most point of Australian mainland and has a beautiful lighthouse and rugged coastline.

Unfortunately, by the time we got to there the sun had set; but it was a beautiful sight to see the lighthouse at full beam lighting up the night sky!

Thursday brought another short work day. We made the trip back to Byron Bay, during daylight hours this time! This time we traded Mark for Foggy (one of our ‘truckies’). So, now we have almost all the biggest guys on our team in our ‘Starlet’! The brakes sounded worse every mile, but some rain kept the windshield clean! Being such an adventurous group, we hiked all the way down the trail and beyond onto the jagged sandstone rock shoreline. ‘The sea was furious that day….just kidding! It was actually a beautiful day and even though there was great power in the waves we saw, it was quite calm. I decided to make passage out to the ‘safest’ far rock to have Marty get a picture of me at the most Easterly point of Australia. I climbed out and waited for him to shoot the photo. He snapped a couple of shots and as I started to return he told me to wait because there was a better wave coming. Me, being so trusting, stayed, and as you can see it was a great wave! I think my clothes are still wet! After this, on the climb around to the other part of the Bay, I managed to lose my cell phone. So if any whales call you, tell them to send my phone back! I think it may return to me when we travel to Long Beach next year, with the sea currents and all! We did get to see some whales and some dolphins as we walked back up to the lighthouse. Amazing time!

The ‘race weekend’ went quite well, to say the least! Everything was smooth; no dramas. Nelson gained his highest qualification position of his ChampCar career on Saturday obtaining 5th position. Dan ran 8th. Red flags hampered both he and Dan on their qualifying runs, so the results weren’t quite up to expectations.
Raceday is always exciting in Australia! They have many festivities going along with the race and it is great for the fans to enjoy. Our day was extremely thrilling! The race was very eventful, and unfortunately one of these incidents included Dan. He made a mistake and found himself sideways in the tire barriers. This was especially bad because he had the opportunity to close the gap from 2nd place behind Will Power for the ‘Rookie of the Year’ points. Oh well; we’ll get him in Mexico!
Strategy and skill finally paid off for Nelson down under. Pit stops went well and he and the car were working seamlessly together! The team was at last able to convert to victory!! An exhilarating end to a great trip! Well….except for the 19 hour long series of flights home, but… ‘No worries mate!’

Special thanks to Patrick and Hugh for their help ‘down under’!!

Status Quo....

Nothing exciting to report. The team got the cars turned around for our Australia pilgrimage. We packed all of our equipment into its respective 'overseas' crates and bagged the cars in preparation for installing them on the shipping racks.
After all this had been accomplished the team (well most of it) had to repaint the interior of our shop. We TriSodiumPhosphated the wall to clean the years of dirt and grime off. We suggested the use Kilz primer, but to no avail. Unfortunately, this meant most walls received at least 4 coats of paint. In hindsight they realized the Kilz would have worked more efficiently. :-) After this feat, we then had to strip what seemed like a decades' worth of wax off the shop floor. Zep heavy duty stripper was our weapon. Through many tries and a few phone calls to some janitorial companies, we figured out how to attack the floor. The fumes were quite antagonistic and the floor was being exceptionally difficult, but in the end we prevailed! Many hours of scraping, mopping, and well, for lack of better terms - 'getting high', we triumphed over the nasty wax! Our parts manager is going to re-apply wax to the floor while we are gone to Australia. Oh the fun....
My friend Neil and I have taken up bowling many nights of the week. It is always interesting when we venture to the alley! Our most recent trips have brought frustration, as the alley we attend usually has less than courteous people. We always manage to enjoy ourselves. Even when we have nights we won't mention we ever went bowling!
I have done a little tuning on the 'ol Subie. I just installed a new 'Cold Air Induction' kit as the first step of customization for my car. I have a couple of weeks after resetting the Engine Control Unit before it 're-learns' the fuel mapping. In other words- it's quite sluggish!
Other than that....blah blah blah....just the status quo.

Discovering Disappointment

The Road America racing circuit, Elkhart Lake Wisconsin. Chilly, rainy, pretty miserable. The circuit is over 4 miles and laps seem to take forever. Being in a park setting, it is quite a beautiful track with areas to camp and enjoy on nicer days.
The practice sessions were typical, no surprises there. Nelson was getting over being sick and gave his best effort in qualifying, but the weather didn't cooperate with our setup.
Dan and his engineer made a great gamble during Friday's qualifying session. The track was quite wet, but the rain had subsided and the driving line was drying off. Having just had an off track excursion, they decided to change from their rain tires to run a set of slicks. The crew nervously put the new tire set on and sent him on track for the end of qualifying. After a few laps the gamble payed off for Dan, having run a lap 2 seconds faster than anyone else! The time allotted for qualifying ran out and he was on top! Charles Zwolsman was the only other car to follow suit and run slicks. He also had favorable results and ended up 2nd.
Our team had been selected through ChampCar to be part of a new Discovery Channel television program about jobs which have significant risks. We had the host of the show, and all of the behind the scenes personnel following the crew and interacting with us all weekend. The show begins next January, and the episode filmed with the team should air sometime in February.
Dan drove well, but through course of the race fell back to 6th place and couldn't regain positions. Toward the end of the race, a horrendous looking accident by Katherine Legge caused by a rear wing failure brought the cars to pit lane and caused a subsequent 15 minute red flag. We are glad to say Katherine walked away from the accident! After the restart, and with only 3 laps left in the race, 6th place is where Dan would finish.

Our engineer and strategy team had developed a plan for our less than desirable 16th place starting position race day. Through this plan and some opportune yellows Nelson was able to get to 3rd place. Nelson drove extremely well and kept his opponents at bay after he got up front. This all would change during what would have been the final pit stop. The stop went well except for the outside rear tire changer had a problem that I did not see. As the airjack operator, you must observe the tire changers and make sure everyone is finished with their duties before dropping the car. The tire cannot be tightened with the car on the ground, as the tire is not aligned correctly and won't pull up fully to be completely tight. Needless to say, the tire wasn't tight and I dropped the car and it was sent on track. Nelson made it to turn 5 before the tire came off the car. He was able to limp back and get new tires to finish the race, but this error cost us a lap and sent up back to 14th position. A devastating error, costing not only damage to the car but moving Nelson from 4th to 5th in the points behind Paul Tracy.

Quite a sickening and humbling experience, but we'll do better 'down under'!