Desert Dingo Racing

Category: SNORE

  • This is not a picture of Francis the Mechanical Mule

    “A.J., when you visit Francis this weekend, get a photo,” I told him.

    “Ok,” A.J. said.

    This, obviously, isn’t a photo of Francis. It is, however, a photo of the aluminum ramps A.J. scored off Craigslist to get Francis (and our pre-running motorcycles and maybe my ATV) on and off of AWACS, which will be our mobile command center for all future races. The man knows his Craigslist and I defer to his mad skillz.

    The ramps, AWACS, the motorcycles and maybe Francis and my ATV will make their debut at the KC Hilites Midnight Special race in early August.

  • Deconstructing 1107

    Crusty and Robert take a meeting.

    Our next race – the KC Hilites Midnight Special – isn’t until early August, so we’re taking the time to take the car apart and go through it with a fine tooth comb…something we’ll do to varying degrees after every race.

    Crusty worked the past couple of days removing the seats and fenders and today he and Bob pulled the engine, drained the fuel cell and began inspecting things like wheel bearings and brake shoe wear. We made the decision to move the front shock reservoirs back into the space that usually holds the spare tire. We’d moved then under the fender wells to increase the airflow, but found that they were too difficult to work around and the hostes from the shocks to the reservoirs were fraying.

    Shawn put in a good amount of time today primering things like bumpers and fenders (rust is a big issue for bare metal parts). Seth is writing up his notes from Wednesday’s team meeting and we’ll shortly have our marching orders.

    Some photos from today’s work here    .

  • Food, folks and logistics

    An army marches on tri-tip, salmon bruschetta and wine.

    The team gathered at Scott’s place earlier this week (he totally has a custom-built motorcycle displayed in his living room) to celebrate our third place finish in SNORE’s Caliente 250 and to start mapping out logistics for future races and the Baja 1000.

    After a phenomenal dinner prepared by Scott & Carrie, we settled in to talk our way through the car from front bumper to exhaust pipe, mapping out what we need to do to improve the car, what spares we need and map out what we’ll be doing between now and the KC Hilites Midnight Race to up our game. A.J. updated everyone on the progress on AWACS and Francis (more on this later).

    A photo gallery of us eating is here.

    I haven’t mentioned this to Roxanne yet, but I’ll be entering separately to reprise Mouse’s 2003 solo ride on the course. Creech gives me my first lesson.

  • Photos from the Caliente 250

    1107 blows past a Class 9 at the Caliente 250. (Ok, it could happen).

    Bob was kind enough to shoot some photos at the Caliente 250, where, as previously mentioned, we finished third. Next up, in August, is the KC Hilites Midnight Special at Ridgecrest, California, on August 8. This race is unique in that it’s run entirely at night. Should be interesting.

    Bob’s photo gallery is here    .

  • Desert Dingo Racing finishes third at the Caliente 250

    No photos to go with this yet – the team is expected to arrive back in Ben Lomond around 6:30 p.m.

    Here’s the details as I know them. First, the morning of the race, 1107 wouldn’t run smoothly and kept dying. The team borrowed an entire ignition system from another Class 11 team, installed it…and…nothing. Then a guy from another team came over, said “Hey, sometimes the carburetor float gets stuck”, he taps it with the handle of a screwdriver and we’re off to the races.

    Bob starts off with Creech co-driving. (Actually Richard, the driver of record, started, then hopped out just after the start line and belted Bob in). First half of the course is reported to be pretty tough. The get stuck at Mile 27 and a truck tows them out of the silt. Creech takes over driving and finishes off the first of two laps.

    Cary starts the second lap with Crusty co-driving. Sometime during the second lap Richard got word that one of the Class 11 teams had broken a spindle, so he headed over to their pit, grabbed one, handed it to a race car heading out with instructions to drop it with the car (SNORE rules require only race cars to deliver spare parts). The part was dropped off, installed and the car was back in the race.

    Crusty crossed the finish line and the team was packing up when they got word that Mark Murrell was broken down eight miles out. Because SNORE wasn’t offering retrieval at this race and Murrell didn’t have anyone with a chase truck, the team went out in Creech’s dually and retrieved Murrell and his car. They spent the night in Vegas and headed out this morning.

    The unofficial results have Felipe Neri-Sanchez taking first place, Robert Johnson taking second and us in third. I expect to get more details (and photos) when I meet the team when they pull in tonight. Next up the KC HILITES Midnight Special July 24-26.