Riff RAF Racing

Team all present, at dinner....

2011-09-23T17:35:00.001-07:00

We came...we mounted and demouted tires...we're through tech and at team meal. Looking forward to tomorrow...

18th!

2011-09-04T22:19:00.001-07:00

We're done, apparently my last post courted one final mechanical demon as we ran out of gas with 10 mins to go....a great team gave us 5 gals of fuel because Kebin was at the other end of the pits (we didn't know what was wrong at first, he should have had fuel). So, 18th it is! I'm extremely proud of our ten that was here AND our ten members that couldn't make the trip!Stay tuned for more updates in the future!

One hour to go...

2011-09-04T18:40:00.001-07:00

We are now in 16th, and barring mechanical catastrophe of ours or the competition, that's probably where we'll finish. A few more problems struck...yet another pair of broken wheels (at the hub, this is getting old...I don't want to run this car any more with stock wheels, it seems they always break on MY shift...hmmmmm.....), a broken wheel stud in the replacement right rear (fixed that one on pit road in style, but I had to run at reduced speed until the team was ready to fix it (again, why does this sort of thing always happen while I'm driving...I don't even drive on the rumble strips!). Robert, Stephen, Dennis, Kevin and myself are all having a great time anyway!

Life is giving us lemons at the moment...

2011-09-04T15:03:00.001-07:00

After a short time back out, we ran into another snag when the steering rack decided it didn't want to turn right anymore. Unfortunately, we're on the road course right now, where turning right is not a luxury....Replaced rack and Robert is back out...turning very quick laps. We think we're in 18th now but live timing was out when I started this post....

2011-09-04T12:38:00.001-07:00

Kevin has now discovered what happens to a TR6 when a half-shaft breaks in the middle of a hard left-hand corner. Answer: pretty much everything on the right rear of the car is junk. Thanks to Jack, we came fully equipped with the spares to do the job. After replacing the halfshaft, hub, brakes, wheel, and trailing arm, then bleeding the brakes, we're back out there but have fallen to 15th. More to come....

9th...but....

2011-09-04T08:36:00.001-07:00

Two cars in front of us got together on the oval...both need major repairs. Not the way we'd like to move up. One of the cars has been pitted next to us and is a nice group...we hope they can get back in. They were running third in a V6 mustang much like Grim Reaper's.

10th on the oval...so far

2011-09-04T07:29:00.001-07:00

Running 10th on the oval this morning, nothing wrong, just some faster cars were right behind us last night.

7th after day 1....

2011-09-04T05:48:00.001-07:00

By the time we finished working on the car and found a 24 hour Walmart that would sell us a battery, we got to bed around 2:30. This meant that the 6 am alarm was greeted with less than enthusiasm...However, we're here, Lacey's ready to start from 7th position, and so are we!

8th...we think...

2011-09-03T20:27:00.001-07:00

Timing/Scoring is temporary down, so we're not completely sure... :-)

10th again....

2011-09-03T19:49:00.001-07:00

But on the bright side, we've made our final pit stop (tonight). Robert driving. I'm hoping some of the cars in front of us have to pit again. We're about a lap and a half behind the car in 9th. Lacey is running well... :-)

Climbed back to 7th

2011-09-03T18:42:00.001-07:00

We dropped to 10th after pitting, but Kevin has us back to 7th...

Now 7th

2011-09-03T16:22:00.001-07:00

Stephen is proving that yes, Triumphs belong on ovals too.... :-)

9th and catching 8th....

2011-09-03T16:08:00.001-07:00

We're now 9th and Stephen has been catching the 8th place car by about 4 seconds a lap. They still have a lap on us though....

13th and climbing....

2011-09-03T15:38:00.001-07:00

Now running the oval...I just finished my stint, most of which was intermittent rain on the oval...

Still raining!

2011-09-03T11:22:00.001-07:00

Up to 10th, Robert doing well!

12th in the rain...

2011-09-03T10:10:00.001-07:00

Now 12th, under yellow for some incidents (other cars).

It's a downpour....

2011-09-03T09:36:00.001-07:00

Serious rain here. Been running yellow for a while. Up to 10th position!

We're Racin'!

2011-09-03T08:21:00.001-07:00

Running 18th, out of 47, just started. Kevin driving.

Testing Complete

2011-09-02T17:17:00.001-07:00

Testing is done for the day. No problems... We changed the rear fuel filter and checked everything else. She uses a lot of fuel running the oval! Worked on tire pressures all day and nailed them for tomorrow.There are definitely a lot of fast cars here compared to a "regular" chump race. Of course, that's what you'd expect!All drove well today. I'm the slowest, as usual, especially on the oval. But it's only by a second or two, not the 30 seconds some of us were slower at VIR in the dark.Race starts for real at 10 am tomorrow. 3 hours on the road course, then 5 hours on the oval, then 5 hours on the road course...then Sunday!More tomorrow. Let me know with a comment if you read this...

2011-09-02T09:44:00.001-07:00

We sailed through tech as the first car through, no problems. Getting ready for practice now.

In Iowa!

2011-09-01T18:31:00.000-07:00

Ok, folks...I'm going to try to real-time post from Iowa, if the electronic gods cooperate.

The team is all here, Stephen, Robert, Kevin and myself, along with Dennis. Everyone got here fine and we're going to bed. We'll be attempting to get through tech early tomorrow and practicing on the speedway. Robert, Stephen and Dennis actually got to ride around the track today with the Iowa Speedway "track boss," they report that the "rumble strips" in the infield section are essentially CURBS and we should treat them as such...hope none of us end up going over one!

Check back here for more updates...

Jamie

The Race!

2011-08-25T11:41:00.000-07:00

To make a long story short...we came, we raced...we had a few minor problems...we finished!

The Top Ten Notes:

Having your first ever time around VIR full course being at 10:45 pm on a moonless night is...not fun.

Having a wheel center break out (!) of the left front wheel under braking is...exciting, but not fun.

Racing 83 other cars at VIR is...FUN!

Some folks on our team can really drive. I'm not one of them. Wayne is.

Changing out superheated calipers when the caliper seals blow is...not fun. Being filmed for a documentary/reality show WHILE this is going on just makes life more interesting. Being interviewed immediately after the fix was...surreal.

Lacey 2 is a better race car than Lacey 1. Period.

Ethanol-based gasoline outgasses A LOT MORE than avgas. This leads to interesting experiences when you pop the filler cap at the first pitstop after using avgas. Thank you, Robert and Stephen figuring out and instituting a fix.

Watching the sun come up after a day and night of racing should be on everyone's bucket list. Awesome...and that's an overused word.

The 'never say die' attitude within RiffRAF Racing is something I wish everyone could experience. Very uplifting!

If we had to lose a position in the final hour due to having no brakes, I can't imagine anyone I'd rather lose it to than Piggy. Nice job, Ken!

We finished 20th of 84 cars...first time out with a new car that was much better than anticipated. On to the Chumpionship!

VIR Pre-race--Keeping Calm and Carrying On!

2011-08-12T08:31:00.000-07:00

The "Classic VIR 24" has been over for almost two weeks now, but I'm still coming down from the great feelings of accomplishment. Simply making the race at all, considering where we were May 1 (no car, little time, oh my...) was a Triumph of monumental proportions, but to finish 20th out of 84 entries was even better! Here's the whole story...

After the usual mad dash to finish the final components on the car, Kevin and Robert drove up Thursday night to make sure we got good spots for the paddock and the camping trailer they had brought (which became RiffRAF HQ for the weekend). They ended up 14th vehicle in line if I remember correctly.

When I got there early am Friday, there were probably 100+ vehicles in line outside the gate. I found Robert and Kevin by walking up the road just in time to have the gates open and them start the long path in. By texting back and forth, we could follow each other's progress, which was added to when Tim ended up about 8 vehicles behind me in line.

Kevin and Robert got a GREAT parking spot for the trailer at John Condren's recommendation and we found ourselves in a good paddock spot as well. We were able to thank John by dropping off an ice-cold bottle of water on the way through the line.

Honestly, it was amazing how ChumpCar managed to organize us all in that little space. I heard few if any complaints and we certainly were happy. Soon Joe arrived and we prepared Lacey2 for her first laps in anger.

Practice on the South course went well...but it was really hot. One mistake we made was hooking up the power brake booster on Lacey2. The original Lacey didn't have a functioning booster so we never worried about it. Thinking more brake action was better, we made this one functional, but it cost us dearly down the road. More later.

What it cost us at this point was proper brake bedding. We had new Hawk pads and were not able to modulate the pedal well enough to get them bedded in properly. Consequently, the brakes were very grabby and there was A LOT of vibration when they were applied. After consulting with Dennis and looking up bedding in directions again on the internet (thank you, smart phone!) we took the pads out, ground them to a fresh surface with an angle grinder and tried again. Better, but still not ideal (and still had vibrations). However, the car was at least stopping RIGHT NOW when you pushed hard enough on the pedal.

After we had all tried out the South course (and found out yet again that we have exactly ZERO straight line speed but can out brake and out corner almost any other car in the series) it was time for dinner. We all headed to Shoney's, had a good time, and then crashed for the night.

As for the race, that will have to wait for the next post!

Lacey2 is Finished!!! Yay!

2011-07-23T11:53:00.000-07:00

Yay! Lacey2 is finished! Ok, almost finished...there's some numbers/letters coming that will finish dressing her out, we'll apply those at VIR. Kevin's taken her back to Siler City today and will be safety-wiring the caliper bolts, repacking the front wheel bearings, and installing the radio...but...other than that, she's done. Huge thanks go to team members and the extended team with Dave, Ted, Robert, Stephen & Doug especially allowing us to make it to VIR. I wish I could say that I never doubted that we'd make it, but considering the mountain we had to climb starting after the Charlotte debacle...totally phenomenal work, folks.

Anyway, here she is in all her glory... :-)

June 18 Update

2011-06-18T17:32:00.000-07:00

Doug, Tim and I worked on Lacey2 today. Doug was able to completely finish and test all the wiring harness and installed all the toggle switches and the main switch into doug-made holes in the new instrument panel. We now have relays for all the lights and fuel pump installed in a really professional looking panel in the footwell, and a cool suit switch on the panel so when we forget to start it in the pits, the driver can start it!

Also, Tim was a workhorse, installing the carbs, exhaust downpipe w/new gasket, brake master cylinder, clutch master cylinder, fan belt, generator, and fabricated screens for the grill and two ducts in the front valence and figured out a way to install the grill as well.

I, on the other hand, can only account for the trunk latch and alignment and replumbing the fuel system up to the new conduit, including a new breather location where it's both more protected and going to stay cleaner and a better location for the pre-pump filter and cutoff valve. Also installed choke cables, temperature sensor, catch can and other miscellaneous items like a ground cable between the body and engine.

I also asked Tim to remove the offending part of the choke mechanism that caught the throttle linkage at Charlotte...it's gone! I have temporarily hooked up the mechanical linkage with a replacement clip (it broke in the wreck) until the cable system is worked out.

I'm hoping to install the rest of the fuel system this week, which will allow us to start the car for a short period (no cooling system yet) just to verify ignition and that everything's OK since the accident at Charlotte.

Please see attached pictures for more details. Note the great front and rear bumpers (that was for Jack's benefit)! Note that the radiator is just placed in and still needs to be recored in Siler City.

Please note that Doug mounted all switches so that "down" is off, "up" is on. We will be labeling everything this time as well, and the switches and gauges are in a much more logical order.

Further Progress

2011-06-17T06:24:00.000-07:00

More pictures to share as Lacey-er (Lacey2? It rolls off the tongue better...) comes together. Work session at my garage this Saturday, but you can see the cage & bumpers are finished and there's actually wheels back on the car! Yay!!!!! Tim was kind enough to move the car to Raleigh while I've been out of town this week...

Projects this weekend will include finishing the dash and wiring, sheetmetal work between the rear of the car and front, and many other "small" details :-)

Well, it's been a long time, but here's an update

2011-06-11T20:06:00.001-07:00

I had stopped using the blog for updates, but since there have been a lot of pictures taken, it makes it easier to use this for our mailing list. So...

We had a work day today. To catch anyone up that hasn't known what's happened, we turned the TR6 into an awesome...ok...a semi-awesome racecar. And then, when I didn't shut it off as quickly as I should have at Charlotte...it was totaled. So, since then, we've been working on making the car all over again starting from a new frame and tub donated to the team by Joe, our wonderful team member.

The team had a major work session today; the second one in the past two weeks. LOTS was accomplished. We now have four wheels worth of suspension, the engine and tranny are installed (bolts not tightened yet, but they are installed!), all four fenders are installed (thanks, Joe!), a new dash panel was fabricated and pre-installed (will have to be pulled one more time and painted) from Lacey's old drivers' side door. Brakes were installed, fuel pump and ALL electrical harness was put in place (THANKS, Doug!!!) and both headlight buckets were installed (we now have a TR7 bucket on the driver's side).

We actually would have put the car on its wheels, but didn't have enough straight wheels and tires to put it on yet. Jack sent three wheels by Joe today and I will be cleaning them up and painting them to re-create the famous ORANGE set of wheels.

From the top, you can see the new door (and Kevin's temporary (?) numbering). Nice to see how the door fastening will go.

Wanted to show Doug pondering the next move....

You can see the nice electrical panel Doug created for us installed in the footwell.

Also the fuel pump installation (in the trunk for more protection this time)...we will be running the fuel line through conduit through the interior to keep it away from the hot exhaust. This is "chump legal."

You can also see the (currently) camo dash and proof that the engine is installed.

Looks like more work next weekend as long as we can figure out a way to transport the car to Raleigh...I'm out of town, so it will have to be someone else...

Jamie
Squadron Leader, RiffRAF Racing

Success...and Failure...

2010-09-28T19:18:00.000-07:00

As you can tell by the date, I'm very, very late in updating this blog. Since so much has happened, I won't be able to give you a blow-by-blow accounting. Here's the "cliff's notes" version:

Somehow, by some herculean efforts, we got Lacey ready for Roebling. This was after numerous (!) cylinder heads, clutches, blown head gaskets, more valvetrain issues than I thought possible and all sorts of other problems. Everyone contributed.
We drove at Roebling. Highlights included finishing 14th out of 31 on Saturday, 17th out of 31 on Sunday, and even leading for a little while on Sunday. While the car was difficult to start after running, and several of us (including me) put the car off the track, Lacey kept running and gave us some confidence heading into the next race. It should be noted that we got a lot of help from non-driving friends, such as Doug Lawson, Dennis Andrews, and Mr. Wayne Andrews. We certainly couldn't have done it without them. We did lose a lot of oil, which led to Tim replacing the front seals and pan gasket with a little help from Jamie. Unfortunately, as it turned out, our team's confidence was misplaced!
We tried to drive at Sebring. Again, the details are too painful to recount, but suffice it to say that over the course of Friday night/Saturday, we either rebuilt or replaced the following:

alternator (twice)
fuel pump (rebuilt and replaced)
fan belt
front carb float and jet
rotor button (twice)
distributor
distributor cap (twice)
spark plug wires (twice)
exhaust system mounting

Additionally, we filled the master cylinder that was new when we put Lacey together at every pit stop to try to stem the flow of fluid entering the booster.

When we crossed the finish line at 9 pm, we were the last car still running, and the five cars preceding us in the finishing order had all previously dropped out, but still had more laps in than we did.

So now, we're licking our wounds and prepping for the next race. Chump Car is racing at Roebling at the end of January. Will we be there? Time will tell. I know if we are, Lacey will be a different car by then.

I'll try to post some pictures later.

Jamie

Flush, Flush, Flush...and then flush some more...

2010-06-22T16:07:00.000-07:00

These pictures say it all. After over an hour of flushing the block, including physically breaking open the clogs from the rear block screw-in plug, this is what the residue looked like when the water dried. I won't tell you how it felt when the plug let go in my face...let's just say that when Lacey's incontinent...she's REALLY incontinent.

Jack's take: The Trail of Tears...looks, to the casual observer, like a trail of rust...but this is actually the trail of tears of neglect shed by Lacey's engine block and heater core.

All this time, we thought she was just stubborn - resisting every effort to remove every rusted, neglected fastener - now we can see she actually was crying for help: "my block is clogged with rust and I've got a blown head gasket!" - she is now being much more cooperative - I have removed the intake and exhaust manifolds without encountering a single stubborn fastener - keep your fingers crossed and hope this continues through water pump housing and head removal this week.

"Head removal"? Watch for the next post.

Them's The Brakes!

2010-06-22T15:59:00.001-07:00

From a 5/25 email from Jack titled "Them's The Brakes":

What another time sucking nightmare of frustration this was - Lacey's calipers didn't wanna give up their pads, let alone their pistons - got em all out though - only got one piston out of the farm car's calipers so far - will briefly try again this am before i send them off and let a pro try - rebuilding calipers is dead-nuts easy to do - if you can get em apart.
The pads looked almost new - but I'll bet the last time this puppy was driven, the outboard pistons weren't moving at all.

Irony of ironies: right after this struggle, i went in the house for dinner and Caroline handed me a bottle of sparkling wine she couldn't get the plastic cork out of - "sure - I'll take it out to the garage and hit it with a torch and some PB blaster - then maybe an air hammer". She decided to have something else to drink with dinner.

I must say the arrival of this box was yesterday's only real bright spot:

Update

2010-06-11T06:34:00.000-07:00

No time to update the blog lately, but here's what's been going on:

Lacey has suspension, steering and almost brakes
We have another work session scheduled for Saturday
Jack has been slaving away on the car
We're hoping to have her driveable by the time we leave on Saturday
It would be nice to at least be able to have a little time to shake her down
Jack wants to run her in an autocross at the end of June...
Lots of fabrication work left (metal bulkheads, installing taillights, aux. headlights, cool suit cooler mounting, battery isolation, etc....)
The car has acquired a (used) graphic that inspired me to change the blog background today... :-)

Work Session!

2010-05-17T12:22:00.001-07:00

A lot of work was accomplished on Lacey this weekend:

Front suspension largely assembled -- ask Jack about SUPERPRO if you want a good laugh...

Belts installed (required 'modification' of driveshaft tunnel...)

Steering rack re-installed

Seat 'kinda' bolted in place (need different hardware, but it fits)

Replaced engine and tranny mounts (with very good safety-related reasons...)

Finally...we'll need a new thermostat. Boy, will we EVER need a new thermostat.

And look below at the wonderfully clean cooling passage...just imagine what the inside of the block looks like! LOTS of flushing in our future, for sure!

There's no going back now...

2010-05-07T06:17:00.000-07:00

We are officially entered for the August 21-22 ChumpCar race at Roebling Road (near Savannah, GA). Come cheer us on!

Jamie

CAGED!!!!!

2010-04-30T12:05:00.000-07:00

Lacey's cage is finished!

Hot Wheels salutes RiffRAF!

2010-04-19T12:42:00.000-07:00

Ok, not really. And this car looks a WHOLE lot better than Lacey ever will (although I'll take our safety equipment). But I thought it was cool...

More Cage Updates!

2010-04-19T12:01:00.000-07:00

Again, mostly pictures from Jack...she's looking good...and safe!

Getting Cagey!

2010-04-12T10:52:00.000-07:00

Just a bunch of cage pictures.... :-) Please look and comment!

Todd hard at work...THANKS, Todd!!!

Seat brace to go here

Door bars aren't in yet

fuel cell will be moved forward slightly. We had to go to a cell as the rear bars would go through the stock tank!

Amazing!

2010-04-04T21:25:00.000-07:00

(post from Jack)

the driveshaft continues to be Lacey's most cooperative part.

I would have sworn this puppy wasn't coming apart without considerably more time, effort, and perhaps some damage. I credit Sili-Kroil and careful application of brute force with freeing the stuck splines.

Credit that can o stuff in the picture, from the sample pack Paul gave us, with dissolving the rust around the collar enough to unscrew it with relative ease.

No heat source or cutting tools were involved.

Cheers,

Jack Mc

Just when I thought I'd seen all the damage....

2010-04-03T19:33:00.001-07:00

(post from Jack) ...I noticed the left front spring/shock tower brace is cracked at both ends.

(from Jamie) We have access to a free bent frame that may well have less rust...maybe Todd can cut/weld to section this thing back together solidly.

What's interesting is that this car was on the street as late as 2002, according to the license plate that came with the car...scary thought.

And all we want to do is race it for 24 hours straight....hmmmmmmmm....

One of these things is NOT like the others...

2010-04-03T19:25:00.000-07:00

One of these things just doesn't belong....

In other words...how you DON'T want a differential mount to look.

No telling what happened to the other half of the mount.

"Oh, Todd..." (our cage welder)

Part Removed Without a Torch!!!

2010-04-03T19:20:00.000-07:00

News flash: Jack was able to remove his first part without a torch or saw!

Unfortunately, it's the driveshaft with a seized middle joint. Hopefully, copious amounts of solvent and PB Blaster will free it up...

The true level of...rustness...is evident on looking closely at this part.

I wonder if taking advantage of the factory lightening program like this is legal? :-)

It Fits!!!

2010-04-03T19:03:00.000-07:00

Thanks to Randy, our ace aluminum welder, we were able to split the seat down the middle and shrink it to JUST the right size to fit Lacey...and still fit Kevin and me...our more "ample" team members.

So now Lacey can be taken to the cage welder on MONDAY!!!! Can't wait!

What... the Diff?

2010-04-01T14:08:00.000-07:00

(post from Jack)

The diff is out - you'll have to take my word for it since i forgot the camera today.

But first - this morning, Joe let me in his rented garage to collect the wheels and trailing arms from "the farm car" that we recently dragged out of a field. This is when I first really missed the camera - Joe removing the front wheels in his lawyer shirt and tie would have been a great shot. Loaded with 8 wheels - 4 from the farm car and 4 from Lacey - I went to see Jon Cannup - he dismounted all 8 dry-rotted Michelins - all 8 had tubes - which is surely the only reason any of them held air more than 5 minutes.

Anyway - we spun all 8 wheels on Jon's balancer - on a TR6 lug pattern adapter - I'm gonna call 5 of them pretty good and 3 of them good enough to use...

On to Concord - Lacey let go the diff with little resistance today - all 4 bolts on the front flange broke loose - then I managed to borrow a vise grip small enough to grab the pin inside the broken mount and keep it from spinning. Unfortunately the broken mount is worse than I thought - I had thought (by feel) that the front edge of the mount had just separated from the frame - turns out the whole front half of the mount is missing - along with a bit of the frame to which it was attached.

Todd - our welder / cage fabricator - looked at the car today on the lift - before I got there - I should let Joe report on that as he talked to Todd and I haven't - but I gather he saw nothing un-repairable and gave the thing a really good look as he spotted something I had not - the part of the body shell to which the front right corner of the driver side floor pan is attached is ...ah...not really attached to anything anymore - but it sounds like Todd can fix everything - and weld the diff - and still be cheaper than anybody else.

Cheers,

Jack Mc

well, THIS isn't going well...

2010-04-01T14:01:00.000-07:00

(post from Jack)

Lacey gave up the rear part of her exhaust pretty easy - but won't let go of her diff - and the front right diff mount is broken - that's the hardest one to see with the exhaust in place - and the break had been effectively hidden by a rather half-baked repair - which I will try to explain once i get the diff out. Right now the pin in the right front mount threatens to spin in place forever - and after wasting a lot of time with PB Blaster, Sili-Kroil and a torch, I wound up cutting all 8 bolts holding the axle flanges to the diff and tomorrow will probably cut 2 of the 4 bolts holding the driveshaft flange to the front of the diff.

You may have noticed I have loaned Lacey 4 other wheels to wear while I get the tires off her old ones - which I will then evaluate before I blast them.

watch for another update tomorrow.

Cheers,

Jack Mc

PS. Will Taylor (owner and co-driver of last year's One-Lap of America winning Nissan GTR) stopped by today, pointed to a part on the car and said "What's that - part of the brake bias system?" He'd never seen or heard of a lever-arm shock - geez... kids these days...

I had a disagreement with Lacey today....

2010-03-25T19:12:00.001-07:00

(Post from Jack)

- she didn't want to let go of her windshield frame.

things got messy...and ugly.

But, in the end, Lacey let go the windshield frame and survived just fine - same cannot be said for the windshield and frame - both of which died an ugly death.

I especially like the trail of dislodged rust dust under the sill.

Cheers,

Jack Mc

HoleyFramenCruciform!!

2010-03-25T19:04:00.000-07:00

(Photo from Jack in Charlotte)
Picture says it all. Welding will commence shortly.

eBay auctions begin...

2010-03-22T13:39:00.000-07:00

So, the great sell-off has entered Phase II; if you need TR6 parts, please check out our auctions at:

eBay Auction Link

and bid, bid, BID!!! :-) Just remember, you're supporting a grassroots Triumph race team looking to show everyone that a Triumph can still win races...

Update from Charlotte!

2010-03-21T17:49:00.001-07:00

From Joe:
"Lacey arrived safely. After some "Triumph Shuffling" she is resting comfortably at a shop (Jack's rented space) in Concord N.C. We have names of several cage builders in the area and plan to move forward ASAP."

"On another front, Jack was kind enough to spend several hours (even though he had an autocross to prepare for!) to help me move a '76 TR6 parts car out of the woods where it had been for 10+ years into a rented garage that I have. We removed the gas tank, which Jack will inspect for integrity. If it is in good shape, we have our gas tank! There could be additional parts that we can use. A good couple of days!"

Hooray for the Charlotte guys!

Lacey moves to Charlotte

2010-03-20T19:00:00.000-07:00

On Friday, four of our six team members met up at Wayne's Alignment in Siler City to talk about Lacey and transfer her to Charlotte to the custody of Jack and Joe for cage installation. We also resolved to enter the August 21-22 ChumpCar race at Roebling Road as our first event. That seems awfully soon as I type it.

Joe took this picture of me "driving" the car as we winched it on to Jack's trailer...seat is just placed into position...actually, it's not even in position yet...we decided we have to take 2" out of the middle of the seat, so we need to find a friendly TIG welder...

On the bright side, the eBay auctions for the remaining parts will start shortly... :-)

10:31 pm...

2010-03-18T19:31:00.001-07:00

After working all night on the floor and the first stuck carb, I still have one carb to rebuild and have to load the car on the trailer to take it to Siler City tomorrow. Remind me again why I'm doing this?

Back to the garage...

Triumph...and Failure...and Triumph!

2010-03-12T19:52:00.000-08:00

Got a lot of help today from Doug, a friend that volunteered his time in the rain today to pull and clean Lacey's gas tank. Unfortunately...some DPO (darn previous owner) beat us to it and did a crappy job of repairing the bottom of the tank. So...we're looking for another TR6 gas tank. Know of any?

The repair looks like brazed copper with fiberglass...weird. And some ugly sealant put in the tank bottom for good measure.

On the bright side, we were able to finish gutting the interior, including doors/side windows and the dash.

AND...SURPRISE...we STARTED THE CAR!!!!! Now, it didn't run very well because the rear carb's fuel jet was locked up solid. After looking at the carbs closely, they will need a rebuild. Luckily, I picked up two rebuild kits for the grand sum of $11.00 each at the Gathering auction a few years ago! So that's the project for the rest of the weekend...

Thanks to Doug!

Other important news: We've finalized the drivers at 6:

Jamie P.

Tim R.

Jack McG.

Joe D.

Vern B.

Kevin A.

Best of luck to the ChumpCar teams racing at Rockingham this weekend!!!

But on the bright side...

2010-03-09T06:39:00.000-08:00

The driver's side floorboard was a different story...it was NEW, yes, NEW. Still painted in that electrostatic black primer...

Of course, in keeping with the workmanship of the rest of the car, it was held in with sheet metal screws...

But NEW! Wow!!!

Flt. Lft. Palmer

P.S. Thanks to Paul for being the first purchaser of the finest in used, RiffRAF Racing TR6 parts! We will be $33.33 closer to being legal (<$500), just $66.67 to go...

Just in case you didn't think this was a Chump-worthy car...

2010-03-05T14:18:00.000-08:00

Whew! Who'd have thought that the major tool needed to remove the seat would be an air chisel (!) After 2 hours of fruitlessly trying to save the seat slides to put on ebay to help the budget...I gave in and air chiseled the seat slide out on the passenger side.

Turns out it was a TOTAL waste of time to try to save them. Reference the pictures...

So, at least I don't have to worry about auctioning those off! On the other hand, there were some useful components that I removed today, more to come. We have until Thursday to get the interior gutted as that's when Lacey will be displaced from the garage... :-)

Here's what the floor looked like, first right after I removed the seat, then after cleaning. Note the two layers of carpet...a layer of black indoor/outdoor carpeting was placed directly over the original carpet...or what was left of it.

Later on, what you see is what the floor looked like AFTER the debris...which was more substantial than the floor in some places...was removed. Look at the chump-worthy aluminum pop-riveted patch right over the rust! Of course, they missed a few holes, as is evidenced by the closeup...

TR6 back in the Garage!

2010-03-02T18:16:00.000-08:00

Well, Lacey is back in the garage...I'll be taking parts off for eBaying later this week. Yea!!!

Flt Lft Palmer out...

RiffRAF Racing Gets a New Team Member!

2010-02-11T08:21:00.000-08:00

A hearty 'ello! to our latest team member, Flt. Lft. Joe! Welcome to the merry band!

Update

2010-02-03T19:00:00.000-08:00

Due to the weather being so rotten, we're not visiting the LeMons race at Kershaw this weekend like I thought we would. However, our friends at Grim Reaper Racing will be competing and we'll be asking them lots of questions when they return. Go Number 13!

ChumpCar

2010-01-19T22:19:00.000-08:00

Wow...blown away after meeting Lloyd Boggs from ChumpCar. Looking forward to competing with these folks this year...I'll be asking Lloyd a lot of questions, no doubt...it helps to have the competition director for the whole shebang living in this area... :-)

Jamie

Original Ad and location update

2009-12-10T03:31:00.000-08:00

I've gotten some questions about the origins of Lacey, the Riff RAF Racing TR6...so here's a link to the original ad as placed by Scott in the LeMons forums...

http://forums.24hoursoflemons.com/viewtopic.php?id=2152

It looks like Flt. Lft. Rohrbach will be taking possession of the car for the all-important recapture the budget parts tearoff (i.e. take off anything we can that's non-essential and sell the heck out of it on eBay). More to report soon...

Signing off,
Flt. Lft. Palmer

Pictures!

2009-12-03T06:59:00.000-08:00

I'm sure Scott's thinking I'm nuts at this point....

On the trailer, ready to head home...thanks, Cristina!

Back home...disassembling the pieces parts...

2009-11-28T20:09:00.001-08:00

I worked on the Austin Marina today (don't hurt yourselves laughing, its actually too NICE to be a LeMons contender itself) that's taking up the garage space intended for the TR6. One more day and it should be ready to pass it on to the new owner...then we can start a quick strip of the parts of the 6 that would be better off on eBay...i.e. to pull us back under $500 budget range!
I also ordered a set of tires tonight since they were on fire sale pricing through midnight from Discount Tire Direct. No affiliation, but they've been good to me before.

I have two other team members locked in...hoping to find some other suckers, I mean lunatics, this week....

Flt. Lt. Palmer signing off for tonight. Pictures should be posted this week...

2009-11-22T21:30:00.000-08:00

Dateline -- Sandusky, Ohio. 12:31 am.

We're on our way back home. Pickup went perfectly, thanks to Scott, and we even heard the car run (albeit on starting fluid only) for the first time. Interestingly enough, the car is perfect for the task. For example, it's obviously been in some accidents; both the front end and left rear fender are seamed (poorly) where parts from another TR6 have been spliced in. The drivers side sill almost doesn't exist. On the other hand, someone has welded in a new factory floorboard on the driver's side & the engine may have as few as 58k miles; the frame looks straight and solid and there are probably enough parts to strip off to get us far enough below the $500 limit that we may actually be able to add something back!

As the ol' girl (thinking of naming her Lacey, after both Ginger Lacey, the WW2 Spitfire pilot that appeared in the BL ads AND the lovely pattern of holes in the sills, doors, fenders, etc...) was cranked onto the trailer, it almost appeared that she was happy to be entering the fray again...being used as God and the Brits intended, top down and speeding along... :-)

Flt. Lt. Palmer signing off for the night....

Riff RAF Racing is formed!

2009-11-18T19:49:00.000-08:00

What, you may ask, is Riff RAF Racing? If you're familiar with the 24 Hours of LeMons you're already familiar with $500 car racing...if not, check out the website!

Most people that try this type of racing go for a car that actually has a record of reliability...for example, past winners include BMW's, Volvo's, etc. There are a lot of Honda's as well.

We're not most people.

We have decided to try what some would call the ultimate exercise in futility...try to compete in a $500 car that wasn't reliable when it was new!

Some of the great comments about this vehicle and it's components include:

--All parts falling off this car are of the finest British craftsmanship!
--The Lucas 3 position switch: Dim, Flicker, and Off

Yes, we're planning on running a Triumph. Not just any Triumph, but that "last of the hairy-chested British sports cars," a TR6!

Thanks to Scott Mackela, a LeMons competitor from Michigan, who found the TR6 and then sold it on to us, we'll be preparing the car for racing in the LeMons series...

In case anyone reading this is wondering where we got the idea for our theme...take a look at this!