It'd been a few years since I'd done a Solo I, and I'd promised Renee some seat time in the ITC car, so we headed over to L.A. (Lower Alabama) for one of my favorites... Skelly Airfield.
Skelly is part of Fort Rucker, and is an active facility. However, every Memorial Day weekend for the last 18 years the Army graciously clears their equipment off the field so we car guys can play. Pretty cool huh?
The course layout is fun and the surface is nice and smooth. The event is always low attended due to being in the true middle of nowhere (between Enterprise and Opp Alabamy), but the organizers don't care because there is no site rental. Just EMTs and insurance. The entry fee is a staggering $90, and with an average of 30 entrants per year, you run until you get tired or cord all of your rubber. Or... something breaks (note: foreshadowing).

Saturday went well. We burned up a set of dead Hoosiers Bobcat graciously sent us and had fun sliding around. Renee was busy learning the car, and was progressively faster on each run. I was just enjoying the stress free weekend getting to play in the car where results dont really matter.
Fun was being had by all.

Sunday, after mudering the first set of already dead Hoosiers, we mounted up some good ones. Renee went out first and immediately chopped 2 seconds off her best time from Saturday. Equipped with huge grin, she came through the paddock and went right back up to the starting line. 1st lap of her next run... another second faster. At this point I'm looking at her results and seeing that she's only about a second slower than my best time (not bad considering road courses aren't her strength, and she'd never driven the car before), she's on her second lap and just plain flying, and I'm thinking "Oh ****. She's about to go ahead of me." Then, as is so often the case when someone is picking up the pace in an unfamiliar car, she locked up the fronts braking into the slowest turn on the course. I mean really locked 'em up. Damned near corded the insides of both of them, relegating them to eternal duty on the rear of the car.

So then, after "thump thump thumping" up to the line I'm ready to go out. This POS SPU Pinto (yes... Pinto. And it was slower than our ITC car on dead Hoosiers) is sitting in front of me. I hear a "clank clank" sound like something metal hitting the ground and my first thought is, of course, "Oh great, ****'s falling off the damned Pinto."
Uhhh... no. The starter looks at me and yells "Hey, your crank pulley just fell off."
Huh? No way. It had to come from the Pinto. Right? Wrong.
It was mine.

We never did find the bolt or the key, just the pulley. Weekend ended way too early, but at least it happened before Renee beat me .

As a result of being car-less. I got to take a friends Spec Miata for a spin. My review is thus...
1. Easy to drive fast
2. Very Predictable
3. Too damned cramped inside
I couldn't even get comfy because my left shoulder was scrunched up against the door. When I got out I felt like I'd been locked in a small box for about an hour.
I had a Miata, and didn't have this issue. But once you add a cage, net, harnesses, helmet, and suit to the equation, things shrink in a hurry.

Condensed version...
- Skelly Solo I is very cool
- My girlfriend really needs to slow her *** down before she damages my ego
- Check the torque on your crank pulley bolt
- Spec Miatas are a little less than roomy inside

 

I'm just hoping she doesn't do the same to me when she drives my car this weekend.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by ryan12321 &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">I'm just hoping she doesn't do the same to me when she drives my car this weekend.</TD></TR></TABLE>

Bah. It's good for you. It definately makes you turn yourself up a notch when you're getting beaten by your own car.
Tends to take all of the excuses away.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by Catch 22 &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">I got to take a friends Spec Miata for a spin.

3. Too damned cramped inside
I couldn't even get comfy because my left shoulder was scrunched up against the door. When I got out I felt like I'd been locked in a small box for about an hour.
I had a Miata, and didn't have this issue. But once you add a cage, net, harnesses, helmet, and suit to the equation, things shrink in a hurry.</TD></TR></TABLE>
dammit. Dont tell me this. The miata bulletin boards had me convinced that my 6'3" 200lb rear would fit in a SM like its a cadillac.........

 

Scott - how was the seat mounted in the Miata? I've hopped into several and didn't think they were too bad (or at least no worse than my Spec RX-7). The cars I sat in had Piper Motorsports cages and the seats were mounted on the floor. However, the ones with modified (real door bars) Autopower cages were cramped.

 

The seat could've been a little lower, but it wasn't mounted "high." I'm 5'10 and my helmet was touching the padding on the roll cage.

Real NASCAR door bars, but the window net and the top of the interior door panel were what was interfering with my left arm.

The set-up wasn't a bad one. But I guess I'd say that space wasn't maximized.
From what I learned, if you're over 5'10 and over 200lbs you'll NEED to do the following to be comfy in a SM:
- A custom cage that is absolutely fitted to the interior of the car maximizing space for the driver
- A completely gutted drivers side door with NASCAR bars
- Small, removable steering wheel
- Momo or Sparco seat (not a Kirkey or Ultrasheild or any other type with "wings" that wrap around the drivers torso. this further minimizes space between the left arm and the door) mounted pretty much on the floor.

 

I prefer "Puckett barz" myself.