Here we are, Friday April 4, and the first race of the season is just one week away...Drivers' Meeting at 7:30AM, first track session at 8:00 sharp, next Friday, April 11th. The only teensie-weensie little problem is, I'm not exactly ready for it yet.

The picture you see to the left was taken in my garage this morning, today, on my way to work. Don't mistake the gray for silver...it's primer. The car is supposed to be blue with lots of colorful graphics. And, with a little luck, it will be come next Friday.

But there are a few long days of work between here and there.

It wasn't supposed to be like this. I wasn't supposed to be running right to the edge on time and preparation. I was supposed to be done early, with plenty of time to sit back and plan out my first racing weekend.

But then the winter disappeared.

In fairness, I've done a lot of work on the car over the winter, some of it to recover from the unfortunate events at last year's NASA Championships (see the photo below for evidence of Incident #1...of 2), but most of the winter's work was done in an effort to get weight out of the car.

I've replaced all the glass with Lexan; gutted, stripped, and painted the interior; replaced several body parts with fiberglass; removed unneeded heavy things under the hood (air conditioning, anyone?); and so on. Really, the get-a-bunch-of-weight-out-of-it initiative has been pretty successful...the car is down about 250 lbs--which is a lot--and that ought to show up on the track in the form of lower lap times.

And, there has been plenty of mechanical work, too. The boys at Steinel's had it for a couple of weeks fixing all manner of broken and/or worn things and doing a few go-faster tweaks I'm hopeful about.

So, it's in really good shape for the racing season...except for the darned paint. Oh, and all the glass--well, Lexan--is out of it except the windshield. And, it still needs reassembled. And, the graphics still need to be both cut and installed. And, there are mirrors and trim and...well, you get the idea.

If you need me, I'll probably be in the garage.

1. Vitor Pereira04/04/2008 08:19:44 AM
Homepage: http://www.vitor-pereira.com

Scott, paint is only going to put back more weight on the car, who needs that?

Seriously, you've put a lot of work on the car I hope it shows up on the track. Good luck in getting the car ready and also for the first race.

2. Benoit Dubuc04/04/2008 09:07:39 AM
Homepage: http://www.benoitdubuc.com

Good luck with all the work that still needs to be done before the season starts and good luck for the new season too!

Keep us posted with lots of pictures!!!

3. Scott Good04/04/2008 01:46:24 PM
Homepage: http://www.scottgood.com

Thanks guys...I'll post some photos when I get it done.

4. francie04/04/2008 01:56:13 PM
Homepage: http://blog.visitusinanguilla.com

You accepting race-car sponsorships for that new paint job?
I can just imagine a "Bleeding Yellow" type car racing around the track!

5. Scott Good04/09/2008 02:00:31 PM
Homepage: http://www.scottgood.com

Hi Francie,

I would LOVE some sponsorship toward the paint job (or anything else)...as it sits today (see the next post), bleeding yellow may not be an option but, on the other hand, I'm still in the game for any Big Blue company that might be interested....