Tuesday, April 14, 2026
what does it take to keep racing a rare car? A lot of frames, and other parts of course. But, George was just telling me how many chassis he built for the Grand Sport Corvette, and getting mentioned in the book about them
.png)
.png)
Shortly after I opened that shop (new one after moving from Texas) I got a call from the Grand Sport people wanting me to build them more frames which I agreed to do.
I built a dedicated fixture to build their frames that was light years better than their flat table. Things went along pretty good for a while.
I always required them to bring a check in full for each frame. Then, they sent the driver with no check. Since it was about 500 miles one way I told the driver to have his boss just send me a check.
Took a while for that to happen so I decided that I would never let a frame leave my shop building without a check in my hand.
That's the other take away from this, not only do race cars go through a lot of frames, but they might not be ready to pay for them on time every time. Always get paid first. No matter how bad they need what you have, some people won't blink and stabbing you in the back.
I built a dedicated fixture to build their frames that was light years better than their flat table. My fixture built with the bottom side flat so I could flip it over to build a roadster
Another take away is when building a frame jig, put it on a plate you can flip over, and build something else with on the other side!
Thank you George!
If anyone has a copy of this book, and you find the page that mentions George building the frames/chassis, can you take a photo of it and send it to me? I want to make sure I get George credited for this! Seriously, imagine you constantly get to talk to a race car frame and 9" rear cases, and get to blog about it? So, hell yeah I'd like to post that page
the fastest lap for an American OEM on the Nordschleife has now been set by the Ford GT Mk IV, and it set a lap at 6:15.977 (thank you Dale! ) So, the only competition, is what, a Corvette? Cadillac doesn't have a factory race car anymore, do they?
So, yes, unlimited funding and engineering expertise can make a winner. Ford proved that in 65 with the GT 40s beating all competition at Le Mans.
But, does it really mean anything useful? So, Ford can build a race car... what, that's supposed to be news? or some accomplishment?
A track-only vehicle classified in the prototype category — is the fastest car currently available for purchase, to lap Nürburgring .
It's cheaper to buy a race car that can get around it faster, that's something I'm pretty sure of...
Ford has a production schedule for 67 of these, I'm guessing 2/3rds of them are going to be investment only purchases, never taken to a track, and flipped in less than 5 years.
round 1 Winter Nats, Top fuel, James Stevens had a nasty crash @ 270 mph. The dragster went sideways, then slid over the K rail, then flew backwards down the trackside. He's in the hospital
video at https://www.facebook.com/watch/?v=959720213108864
the crash resulted in a broken forearm, broken left wrist, broken C-7 [vertebra], bruised lung, rib fractures, and possible broken back (again).a C6 Corvette Z06 lost control at a Goodguys event in Pleasanton, and crashed through concrete barrier, a fence, and ended up against a planter box. The only thing it didn’t hit was the crowd. An arial video of the crash was also posted on Facebook.
https://www.corvetteblogger.com/2026/03/30/accident-c6-z06-crashes-during-autocross-event-at-goodguys-event
An aerial video of the crash was also posted on Facebook, skip the 1st 8 seconds https://www.facebook.com/reel/864883439939312
Monday, April 13, 2026
never let a chance for good free publicity go to waste!
A KitKat truck in Canada was flanked by a security escort through Toronto, on Wednesday (8 April), following the theft of more than 400,000 bars in Europe.
Nestlé confirmed that thieves had made off with around 12 tons of the chocolate, after a vehicle carrying its new chocolates set off from central Italy bound for Poland but did not reach its final destination.
The stolen vehicle and the merchandise remain unaccounted for. The food giant said they are working with local authorities and supply partners to investigate.
KitKat Canada leaned into the headlines, transforming a logistics nightmare into a marketing bonanza!
Last month, approximately 12 tons (over 413,000 bars) of KitKat chocolate, specifically a new Formula 1 line, were stolen while in transit from an Italian production site to Poland. The heist occurred just before Easter, and both the truck and the cargo remain missing.
coolest thing I saw today? Bruce building a kit airplane in his garage.
Bruce is a cool guy, and did time in the Coast Guard, and got stuck at Adak Alaska for a year, keeping diesel generators going that powered Loran.
Then he was an aircraft mechanic and inspector.
His dad was a P38 pilot in WW2!
Cool looking tach popped up on facebook's Vintage Moroso
I haven't seen anything by the PI brand before, but, compared to an RAC it's a dead ringer.
PI must have licensed the tachs
electric seems to have cost less than the amount of gas it would have taken, to drive 52k miles
According to the app, after driving across several states, the Tesla used just under 7,000 kilowatt-hours of electricity. Based on the average cost per kilowatt-hour he cited from public charging of 34.5 cents, a quick calculation showed that the total spent for charging came to $2,385.34. As a comparison to his claim, a non-hybrid Toyota Corolla getting a strong 33 miles per gallon across 50,000 miles would require over $6,000 in fuel costs at $4 per gallon.
But according to the article, his numbers are off.
Even with a more generous estimation of 4.5 miles per kWh, that's 31,500 miles of driving, so the data he got from the Tesla app was likely incorrect or missing times the vehicle was charged, or the 50,000 miles accounts for driving done before he took ownership of the vehicle.
Sunday, April 12, 2026
I bet this diorama made inspired by a photo is going to amaze you, made by Ramón Cubiró / Velasor Legendary Models
I'm so impressed, I'd like you to see a couple more:
when getting lunch on Friday, I see this BMW, similar to one I posted a week or two ago. It's Qualcomm's lunch bunch
last week they were in a taller version, but still BMW
and at another fast food place I go to.
Subscribe to:
Comments (Atom)