Desert Dingo Racing

Category: The Car

  • Prairie City on my mind


    OMG! OMG! Two Larrys and a Megan Racing will pay!

    The last of this season’s short course races start this weekend at Prairie City, just outside Sacramento. 1107 is mechanically sound, which is code for “The car is in 100 pieces in the front yard.”

    We (ok, Crusty) power washed about 100 pounds of dirt out of the car this week. I pulled out everything that wasn’t bolted down. Richard hammered out dented stuff. It really just needs fenders put on.

    Some photos from this weekend’s work.


    Richard autographs his masterwork.

  • We’re red-shirting the Baja 1000 this year

    Take a meeting
    Shawn and Scott confab on Bob’s futon/sofa during the team meeting.

    We decided Wednesday night to skip the Baja 1000 this year, focus on beating our arch rivals Two Larry’s and a Megan Racing for the Stock Bug season points championship in VORRA and spend the off season doing a body-off rebuild of 1107.

    The issue was financial. The 1000 is our most expensive race, costing close to $8,000 to run in a good year. Because the course this year is a straight shot from Ensenada to La Paz, our fuel bill – always our biggest line item – automatically doubled.

    So the plan is to race the last two VORRA short course races at Prairie City the weekends of Oct. 9 and Oct. 31 and then cut what’s left of 1107’s body away and begin a ground up rebuild. This gives us the time and access we need to make tweaks you can’t otherwise do with the car body on. We’ll replace 1107’s current body with that of a 1970 Bug body now covered in pine needles in the front yard.

    It’s a bummer knowing we won’t be in Ensenada in November, but we’ll be back at it next year and giving nine-time Baja 1000 winner (and good friend) Eric Solorzano a run for his money.

    The wait is almost over

  • Hawthorne 225 video (Good stuff at 2:08)


    No, we weren’t hit by a meteor, or a freight train or anything else, thank you very much.

    Charlene Bower of Bower Motorsports Media was kind enough to include some video of us (for insurance purposes) in her video coverage of the Hawthorne 225. I’m about to head out right now and start unloading stuff from 1107.

    Team meeting this coming week to plan for the short course racing in October.

  • “Whatever you do, don’t roll the car”

    This won't buff right out
    VORRA organizers felt so sorry for 1107 they awarded it a finishing pin.

    Before we did our first Baja 1000, I asked Eric Solorzano, nine-time Baja 1000 winner, why he had his auxiliary oil cooler mounted to the roof, and wouldn’t it get crushed if he rolled the car. His advice to me was “Don’t roll the car.”

    Naturally, we rolled the car this weekend.

    It started with pre-running on Friday. We (Richard driving, me co-dogging it) rolled out of the pits around 1 p.m. figuring two hours on the course, back to the pits, then driving into town for tech and contingency.

    Right.

    Just past RM45 we hit the climb people had been talking about. A mix of rocks, silt, berms, a hairpin turn and more of the same. We made six runs at it and couldn’t get over the top. I turned to Richard and said “I’m man enough to cry right now.”

    Then, backing down the hill, we high centered 1107 on the side of the road. Making a long story short, using a folding Boy Scout shovel, a few rocks and a dessicated lizard, we built an offramp that would make Caltrans proud. We backtracked on the course and found a road that got us back to the pits.

    Race morning. It’s down us and The Green Booger, as Bob Messer (1177) threw a rod during pre-running. (Note to self, never drink a bottle of rum and pass out in a camp chair around people with access to colored Sharpies and video cameras).

    Following the first eight miles of rocks, sand, silt and whoops, we settled into a pace with us in the lead, followed by David Oram’s 9 car and The Green Booger right behind. About RM15 things went to hell in a handbasket. The Booger apparently missed a turn in the dust and went into a ditch. In a show of solidarity, we promptly rolled 1107 on a sweeping left turn and I ended suspended above Richard in my five point harness. I was halfway out of the car when David Oram got to us.

    Making a long story short, Oram and his co-driver got us back on our wheels, we pulled out the bent fenders as best we could and were on our way. The VORRA team cut down a berm on the RM45 climb and we were good to go.

    Pitting after the first lap we removed what was left of the two front fenders, took fuel and  little bit of oil and were on our way. We figured we didn’t have any chance to catch The Booger, so spent the next two laps kvetching about the trucks and Class 1s chewing up a perfectly good course.

    Congrats to Boogers Gary and Megan on the win and taking over first place in season points for Class 11. Thanks to everyone who helped us in the pits and on the course (“Can you help a brother out with a quart of 10W-40?”) and of course thanks to the entire VORRA team for all their dedication and hard work to pull off another great event.

    This morning Roxanne said “How did you get bruises on your back?”

    A gallery of photos from the Hawthorne 225 weekend here. (The good ones were taken by Megan’s mom, Marsha. Thanks for letting me post them.)

  • 1107 teardown commences

    Who wants a burger?
    Everyone uses their gas bbq grill as a mobile work bench, right?

    I pulled everything out of 1107 Sunday and started cataloging what needs to be done to prep for the Hawthorne 250. Main things are fixing the oil leak (probably a big deal), replacing the brake fluid reservoir (it leaked everywhere and we had very little brake pressure), checking the wiring on our transponder and installing a replacement spare (Scott and I really taco’d one on the last lap of the Fallon 250 night race).

    A handful of photos here.