Last time I wrote and left off that I had struck a deal with my friend Judd Evans on the 1967 Sunbeam Alpine that needed an engine rebuild, and that I needed to apply with Rocky Mountain Vintage Racing (RMVR) to attend Competition School. My friend Kerry Smith joined Judd and I one Saturday in mid-March to help pull the engine. We had less than 60 days to be ready; race school is May 13 – tomorrow!
We got the engine out in a few hours. Judd personally drove it to Oklahoma where he had contact with a man who could rebuild the engine and add 30 horsepower to the 90 already there. Judd was comfortable with the man who had his own racing Alpine as well as a road car – both performed very well. I work out of town, and occasionally get a week home – this happened in mid-April and I spent three afternoons under Judd’s supervision taking care of maintenance issues on the car such as packing wheel bearings, replacing brake pads, lubing every grease point I could find, rotating the tires and replacing the fuse box under the dash – that was a bear, about three plus hours in a very contorted position – not nice on my back. It felt really good to be working on my race car!
The application deadline for the RMVR Competition School was April 30 – latest, April 18 preferred. I pushed it waiting to hear from Oklahoma that everything was going to get done to rebuild the engine and shipped back in time – I would have the weekend of May 7-8 to install said engine and hopefully test the car. All looked good, so the application was sent in along with the appropriate check. The next thing to consider was clothing – you don’t race a car in jeans and T shirt! Again, Judd guided me to 24hoursoflemons.com…At the end of April the order was placed for socks, underwear, suit, boots and gloves – all fire safety equipment – you know you’re going to have fun when you have fire-proof underwear (thanks Toby for mentioning it that way). A helmet and neck brace were also in the order…if you think girl’s clothes are expensive, go price shop racing gear! My size was not in stock, but I’d get it in time for school, but no chance for exchanges!!
Next came the news that the push rods needed to accommodate the new 12:1 pistons, were no longer available off-the-shelf and would have to be manufactured. Not really any more expensive, but it would put the engine rebuild back two to three weeks: the Alpine would not be ready for school! Darn. Judd inquired if I could do the class and first race in another car he has, but in the end the car is not in the same category and so I would not be able to use it, but fortunately the door was not shut: I could do the class in a road car, but not race on Sunday!
So, here we are the day before school. I will attend and run the track in my 2005 Volvo S60R…and if you’re thinking soccer-mom car, check out the model…she is way more car than the Alpine with 311 horse power and modern technology – ye-ha!! That’s going to be fun…pity I cannot race it on Sunday, but perhaps that is a good thing too. The suit et al arrived on Monday – it all fit!! I have spoken to my instructor and look forward to meeting him – I have done my homework: classic car racing is a gentleman’s sport and I am glad to be joining.
