From the World Diabetes Day website this morning:
Desert Dingo Racing, one of the World Diabetes Day campaign “Champions“, will be displaying the official World Diabetes Day race car – a 1969 Volkswagen Beetle that races the deserts of Mexico’s Baja peninsula during the annual Baja 1000 – at the World Diabetes Congress in Montreal, Canada, Oct. 18-22 2009.
(Find out how you can become a World Diabetes Day champion here)
I’ve got A.J. looking for one of these on Craigslist. It has nothing to do with us, except I want one.
Richard pulled the front shocks off on Saturday. Bob pulled the rear shocks off on Sunday and today they were shipped to Bilstein in Southern California for upgrades in advance of next month’s KC Hilites Midnight Special out at Ridgecrest, Calif. Richard has also asked Joel and his team to prep a spare front and rear shock for us as well.
It’s four months til World Diabetes Day and we’re in full planning mode for our outreach efforts. Designing a new hero card that will have the new WDD messaging in English, Spanish and French printed on the back. We’re locking in plans for the World Diabetes Congress in Montreal in October, where the car will be on display.
After the KC Hilites race, we get a one month break before the 40th Annual South Point SNORE 250 on Oct. 2-4 outside Las Vegas. Then we have roughly three days to paint and re-decal the car before shipping it to the Montreal Convention Center .
And we’ve got two big announcements coming up….
1107 and Logistics Maven Seth Schrenzel on the playa. (That’s Seth on the right.)
Creech hauled 1107 out to Black Rock Desert for Fourth of JuPlaya and a plethora of team members took turns at the steering wheel. The consensus is that 1107 is “ready to win.” It hauled PVC to Double Hot. It floated across the mud flats and we’ve still got intercom issues. (You were expecting perfection, maybe?)
Now that 1107 is back, we’ll be fixing a few bent parts and shipping the shocks down south to Bilstein for upgrades. There’s a lot more in the works as we prepare for the KC Hilites Midnight Special in August, the World Diabetes Congress in October and the Baja 1000 in November.
This has nothing to do with us, but who doesn’t want to see what Top Gear can do with Ken Block:
Updates as they occur. (Photo of 1107 courtesy of Michael “Skid” Aquino)
The videoconference was a bust (my fault), and so was using our fancy teleconferencing unit (my fault again), but I did connect with the folks at the International Diabetes Federation in Brussels to map out what we’ll likely be doing for the World Diabetes Congress in Montreal in mid-October.
The Congress draws researchers and industry reps from all over the world and attendance this year is estimated at 12,000 to 15,000. We’ve tentatively identified a spot for 1107 near the entrance to the Montreal Convention Center where all attendees will pass on the way to registration and the seminars. In other words, high traffic.
We’ll be painting the car and adding all new sponsor logos before it begins the 10 day trip East. I’ll meet it at the loading dock and put the display together. One of our tame racing drivers will fly in and handle autograph and fan appreciation duties.
We’ll be printing several thousand new hero cards in English, French and Spanish using our new favorite photo along with the IDF’s new key messages on the back. I expect they’ll be a big hit.
A lot of work to do between now and then to get everything ready. Creech, Crusty, Skid, Seth and A.J. head out tonight with the car for the Black Rock Desert for some driver training as part of the annual Fourth of JuPlaya gathering. Should be a good time.
Scott retrieves a dropped bolt. Or nut. Or wrench.
Actually Scott is bolting in the co-driver’s race seat. We designed it such that it requires a contortionist to get one of the bolts properly torqued.
1107 is coming back together now that we’ve had time to go through it from stem to stern. The reinforced bumpers went back on. Shawn even painted them to match the car. Shawn and Bob worked to bleed the brakes. Shawn installed the rear skid plate. Crusty and pretty much everyone worked to re-install the fuel cell.
Crusty and I fueled the car and I managed to get my first “Sunoco facial”. Actually, considering how much 110 Octane fuel I spilled on myself because I hadn’t tripped the fuel cell flapper valve, it was more a Sunoco full body wash.
Skid, Seth, Creech and Crusty will be hauling 1107, sans fenders, out to the Black Rock Desert this week for Fourth of Juplaya for a bit of a shakedown run. Our next race, the KC Hilites Midnight Special, isn’t until August, so we’ve got plenty of time to dial the car in.
I’ve got a 7 a.m. teleconference with the International Diabetes Federation folks to discuss plans for the World Diabetes Congress in Montreal in October and for World Diabetes Day and the Baja 1000 in November.