Free To A Good Home

Or this post might be called "What are the odds?"

When I sold my house I also sold my snowblower and power washer to the guy who bought it.  The o.e.m. wheels for my Honda Civic Si came with me and turn out to be a fine table for the trickle-charger hooked up to the Mustang.  (There's no workbench in my new garage.)

I'd previously tried to sell the Panasport 15 X 6 wheels from my long gone RX-7 in my club's newsletter. No takers.  A fair number of Gen. I RX-7's remain, but most of them around here have been turned into Improved Touring class race cars.  My wheels are unacceptable for racing.  (That street runs both ways: consult the websites for aftermarket alloys and you'll see disclaimers that racing wheels are unsuitable for road use.)

The guy who bought my house is a bit of a buff: he drives a VW Passat diesel and pays attention to performance cars.  So I sent him an afterthought email: "BTW, those Panasports in the garage will fit a Gen. I Mazda RX-7.  In case you decide to restore an RX-7 and terrorize Chicagoland's offramps. ;-)"

He emailed right back: "My brother has a 1979 RX-7.  Is that a Gen. I?"
"Yes, it is, and those Panasports will fit without interfering with steering lock or modifying the fenders."

I could be "glass half empty" about not having found a buyer for premium rims in excellent condition. Or I could be "glass half full" about having found a home for them: a 34-year-old street-driven RX-7, on which they will look and perform as fine as they did on my car.  Believe I'll go with "glass half full."

There were few things you could do to a Gen. I RX-7 to improve its appearance.  One was to replace the o.e.m. wheels
with Panasport "Minilite look-alikes."  And if you upgraded the stock 13 X 5.5 inch wheels and 70-series tires with
15 X 6 wheels mounting stickier 50-series rubber, the RX-7 became a go-kart.

Fun With Search Terms (#7)

This (until now) recurring post may have to be given up.  Lately the blog is getting search queries like "correct TR-6 valve cover restoration color" and "Porsche 962 spool differential." Oh, you're no fun!  They're a far cry from "What did Joan of Arc look like?"  But here's the latest harvest of searches that brought me a smile:


"crown vic front suspension on mustang"  Really!?!  Seriously!?!

"los angeles used car ford gt 40"  Good luck with that...

"jackie stewart short wheelbase"  Well...he was called 'The Wee Scot...'

"prisca taruffi hot"  Was that a query or an affirmation?

Prisca Taruffi

"fat man in a cobra 289"  Thanks for asking...  I'd like to be one...

"yellow porsche on scenic highway"  Desperate for wallpaper, are you?

"drag anti-roll bars in car"  I think I know what you're looking for, but what first came to mind was a bar with a boa wrapped around it, dusted in sequins, and lubed with heavy eyeshadow.

Not Prisca Taruffi.

True That!

"I'd say Fernando Alonso had about an 8 season with us."
                                                      --Luca Motezemelo, Chairman of Ferrari

"I'd say Alonso had a 10 season and the car had a 7 season."
                                                      --David Hobbs

Goodwood / Lister Jag / Chris Harris Video

The Lister-Jaguar "Knobbly" was the hot setup in sports car racing in 1957, but it inspired Lance Reventlow to
 build the Scarab ("we can do better").  The one-off Lister-Jag coupe in the video didn't make any impression
on FIA GT racing back-in-the-day.  But at Goodwood in modern times, the ante has been considerably upped
with demon-tuned engines and retired professional "ringer" co-drivers...

I don't need much of an excuse to post another Goodwood video, especially when it includes an Alfa Giulietta Sprint Veloce.  Or, for that matter, the GT racers that stirred my blood back-in-the-day and still do. The video runs 18 minutes.  It tells a story, and is therefore best watched from beginning to end. (Sorry, you thumbnail-scrolling, race-footage seekers...)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y6x2RZB4O6s&list=TL86oWBKdg9G-IXmR8t25O8WqHcTiruHT-

Two More Great Circuits

Earlier I posted that I try not to miss the Monaco and Belgian Grands Prix.  Monaco for its ambience, but more for its nearly unchanged layout.  And, although Spa-Francorchamps was radically shortened in its new layout, it still has the daunting Eau Rouge, Raidillon, and Blanchimont corners.  For that matter, the new infield segment of the circuit respects the character of Old Spa and adds the equally daunting Pouhon.

Lately, I find myself trying not to miss Suzuka in Japan and Interlagos in Brazil as well.  And for the same reasons.  Both courses challenge even the best drivers.  I missed Suzuka this year, but won't miss Brazil this weekend.  It matters not that the World Championship was decided a month ago and that Sebastian Vettel will probably win again.  Racing on these courses is interesting compared to the cookie-cutter venues that have come on line in the past few years.

Until it was pointed out on TV, I failed to note that Suzuka has almost the same number of right and left-hand corners
because of the underpass in the middle.  It has a couple of famous corners too: Spoon, in which multiple and
decreasing radii feed into an off-camber exit leading onto the long Back Stretch; and 130R, which is flat out
or nearly so in a modern F-1 car.

Interlagos has a lot of swoopy elevation changes too.  The turns 1-2-3 complex is easy and tempting to over-drive,
with Turn 1 being off-camber into the bargain.  So there's a lot of "over-under" passing when a lead car gets into
Turn 1 too hot.  The long uphill run from Bico de Pato to the pit straight provides some fine video too.

Affinity Groups

Last spring, I worked corners at one of my club's events with a 20-something employee of Autobahn Country Club and a 30-something who was there to watch his father autocross.  They fell into a conversation about Jay Cutler.  The employee vouched for Cutler being a jerk.  The 30-something said "Yeah, I could understand that from what I see of his TV interviews."  They continued speculating about why Cutler dumps on his perceived inferiors, and I finally got the idea: he must be famous.

"So, who's Jay Cutler?"

"He's the quarterback for the Chicago Bears, man.  Where have you been?"

"Well, I did watch the Bulls when Jordan, Pippin, Rodman, and Kerr were playing..."

"Cubs or Sox?"

"Nope."

"So I guess we won't ask about the Blackhawks or soccer."

In my old neighborhood, I went for 20 years without a mailbox conversation about football.  Any stick-and-ball sport, come to think of it.  Nobody had logos on their cars (with the exception of my own discreet Tail of the Dragon sticker, which was not noticed or inquired about).  My former next-door-neighbor and local best friend is interested in history and farming.  (The guy across the street was teaching his kids baseball and basketball.)

In my new neighborhood, there's a pickup truck with a large Indianapolis Colts logo on the tailgate, and a classy-looking black late model Chevy Impala with a small "Dallas Cowboys Girl" sticker in the rear window.  A 20-something who lives across the way informs me that my cars are "Sick!  And I mean that in a good way, sir."  He works at Best Buy but doesn't know what a GoPro is.  So I'm wondering about across-the-decks conversations here next summer:

"How about those Sox!?!"

"How about that Fernando Alonso!?!"

"Who does he play for?"

"Ferrari."

"Ferrari has a baseball team?"

My Favorite Killboy Picture Of 2013