Hurry up and wait

My engine builder told me yesterday that if all goes well the engine will go on the dyno early this week.

Does anyone know what time it is?

One very important part of doing well in the La Carrera Panamericana is knowing when to be where. Confusing? Well, not really but it will take some getting used to but Jon and I are quick learners. In the past Jon and I knew to be at three places on time... the driver's meeting, the starting grid and the impound after taking the checkered flag.

But now we have to learn there is more to timing than just drivers meetings and checkered flags. For this race not only will there be be meetings but we will be asked to go like hell from point A to point B and then not get to point C too early or too late and this goes on all day. Being someplace too soon has never been in our vocabulary so we will get some help the best ways we can.

One place we have gone for advice is to a very good friend of ours who we have enjoyed racing with for years. Her name is Tammy Hull and not only is she one of the directors with the National Auto Sports Association (NASA) where we are also directors but in fact Tammy is one of the winners of the famous Targa Newfoundland. Since the Targa is considered to be one of the highest ranked rallies in the world who better to ask for advise than her. Even if she is a girl. ;) Thanks Tammy, we really appreciate all your help.

One thing my team mate Jon pointed out is that if you look at any well prepared rally car more than likely you will find one key piece of equipment as standard equipment..... A TERRATRIP Rally Computer. Since Jon is the navigator and because he has a very good technical awareness of all things electronic he performed all the research for our navigation needs among other chores. The unit Jon ultimately chose is nothing short of the latest and greatest device know to rally racing. (Big tool man grunt Uhh Uhhh Uhhhhh!) It is the NEW TERRATRIP 303 PLUS. This new model has new features, easier data entry, new display indicators and a completely new ergonomic facia design. It also has an optional Remote Display Head that can be switched to show the driver/navigator either speed or interval distance.

Pulleys And Wires

There's not much a guy can do when waiting for the engine. Oh sure you can twiddle your thumbs, look thru the catalogues finding more ways to spend your money, or help the little lady clean the kitchen.... NOT! I chose to pick up some items I knew I was going to need. One thing I picked up today was a set of plug wires I had ordered. They are MOROSO ULTRA 40 RACE WIRES, the most powerful and RFI/EMI resistant ignition wire available for racing today – bar none! From dual-mag Fuelers and high-compression Comp Cars, to the demands of Nextel Cup Racing, Moroso Ultra 40 establishes a new standard for ignition wire performance that has the competition scrambling to catch up!

They have a Kevlar® core, four times stronger than other aramid fiber cores which allow them to increase the tensile strength of the wire while reducing its center diameter and that enables them to increase the surrounding insulation, resulting in greater dielectric strength.

I can't begin to tell you how many times I have seen guys build expensive engines only to hear about engine misfires created by nothing more than a plug wire. Many times it's simply because they didn't spend enough time making sure they are never going to get near a hot header but more often than not it's because they let the "B" word interfere. Taking into consideration the rough duty this car will require for a race like the La Carrera Panamericana with high ambient and engine temps, the better the plug wire the less need to worry about them.


Speaking of high temps I also picked up a special set of pulleys for the water pump, crankshaft and a very special pulley for the alternator. Another reason for this special set of pulleys is because Lucky is going to have power steering thus an extra belt groove for the power steering belt. The water pump and crankshaft pulleys are made from billet aluminum but the hi-po alternator pulley is made from solid steel. The hi-po alternator pulley was an original piece of equipment on the GT350 R model engines and it is considerably larger in diameter than stock pulleys. The purpose of the larger diameter was to reduce an overcharging alternator at high speed. Many have rookie engine builders/racers have made the mistake of buying the same size pulley with the exception that they get it in aluminum to make the others on the engine for that "trick" look. The big problem with that is aluminum alt pulleys allow the fan belts to slip and who wants that when you're doing all you can to keep the engine running cool. Not us.

While I was picking up the other goodies I had ordered I found out my 3 inch wheel studs had come in as well. These are the exact studs and nuts found on the original GT350 R models to help quick change and safety.

Enjoy this video

CLICK ON THE SCREEN TO VIEW VIDEO See some of the towns, some racing and some crashing, all of what makes the La Carrera Panamericana what it is... considered by most drivers to be the most grueling race in the world by far.

It's official!

Well at least according to the State of California it is. Lucky is officially a licensed vehicle soon to be street legal to drive on the public highways. Amazing isn't it to think that you could soon be driving down the freeway and have a car pull up beside you with a 12 point roll cage, a 500 plus horsepower small block, racing seats, and it's all legal. (Well, almost but we're not going to point out those little oversights now are we?)

Like the car, I wanted the plate to make some sort of statement so instead of saying GT 350R it says, GF 350R. Can you figure out what the GF stands for? If you can, then you're going to love the GT strips that will go on the side of the car.

For the last couple weeks Lucky has been enjoying some company. When I see the two of them sitting side by side I can't help but wonder what they would be talking about if they could talk. Two awesome cars in any one's book and a lot of great stories I'm sure and many more in store.

One thing after another

I have been excited all week hoping my engine would go on the dyno tomorrow (Thursday) however when I spoke to my engine builder today he told me it wouldn't happen until next week. CRAP! Well, it's not like I don't have other things to do so I'll keep plugging way with other parts of the car.

Today I finished installing and fastening the two braided fuel lines that run and from to the engine compartment and the trunk. Then later today I received the FLUIDYNE oil cooler. Even though I don't have the engine I'm excited to get the oil cooler. I have been waiting to mount the oil cooler so that I can install some sort of screen/grill over it before I finish installing the front grill pieces. That should help prevent the radiator or oil cooler from the occasional rock or two should they jump off the roadway.

The FLUIDYNE all-aluminum, furnace-brazed line of engine oil coolers incorporates extruded oval tubes and patented lanced offset oil flow turbulators to create the most efficient coolers "pound-for-pound" in the market today.
The CAB-brazed construction (no epoxy) of the FLUIDYNE Air-to-Oil Coolers was subjected to more than 100,000 hot-oil, high-pressure cycles without failure before the designs were validated. With this performance and durability, it's no wonder FLUIDYNE's Air-to-Oil Oval Tube Engine Oil Coolers are chosen by top racing teams from Winston Cup to the GT-2 LeMans winning GTS-R Team Vipers.

Boy Scouts are always prepared

Like many other seasoned race car builders a after having raced for many years one of the lessons I have learned is that building a car for "best case scenarios" is for dreamers. If it were possible that a car would never have reason to leave the comfort of the tracks smooth surface then that type of thinking would be possible. On the other hand when a driver feels the need to push the edge of the envelope it sometimes happens that edge may be in the weeds.

Personally I don't any (good) driver that hasn't down some "agricultural" driving. For that reason it's wise to prepare the car for the inevitable. In Australia many of the rally cars utilize what has been nicknamed "Roo Bars" which are simply SUV style bumper guards intended to help in the event a Kangaroo should decide to share the roadway with a high speed rally car. While I have no intention of being the first to build a "Burro Bar" for the La Carrera Panamericana I do plan on adding a few additions to Lucky to help in the event we find some loose gravel on a sharp turn, some missing highway, an oil slick or even some other competitor's car that may be unwilling to get out of the road. As a matter of fact when one considers the roads we will be racing over and how many miles it takes place on, any one of those possibilities seems more like a reality than a "what if".

The above photo was taken during a rally in Africa. Husband and wife team, Paul and Mary-Ellen Kane co-drive the GT350 and have run the La Carrera Panamericana for 6 years before moving to England and have since raced the Inca Trail, The Shield of Africa, The World Cup Rally London to Dakar and the Kenya Airways Safari Classic. From the looks of the photo they too have apparently understand the need to come to the track prepared.