40+ Pictures and Commentary about R&G 2007

[petek]

I took a few pictures at the 2007 Run & Gun. OK, I really took nearly 600 pictures. Here are 54 pictures that I think give the flavor of Run & Gun and why I intend on returning every year!

Morning. My wife stayed back at the hotel and would be coming to the track later with Lisa, Dean's wife. Sharon (Clois' wife) and Kim (Dave's wife), however, were at the track already and getting everyone signed in and legal. The rest of us were pulling out cars out of our trailers or, if you sprung for the extra bucks for a garage spot, pulling the car cover off of your car.


Drivers' meeting. Each morning there was a driver's meeting to discuss things like what the heck would be going on that day. We each received a transponder which made timing the cars on the road course a breeze.


One of the things gone over in the drivers' meeting were the flags. Yellow = caution. Green = have fun. Black = stop having fun. And this flag means that there is a race going on and you are not in it.


Every car had to go through tech inspection. I had two things "wrong" with my car... I forgot to take my wife's ear plugs out of the side door pocket and I neglected to remove the fake spinners from my wheels. A late arrival to the track, a Ferrari P4 replica, gets the once-over in tech inspection.


There were all sorts of cars at R&G 2007. This was a high-bucks aluminum Cobra replica. Actually kind of hard to describe this car as a Cobra replica, perhaps a Cobra evolution?


There was a large group of Lotus 7 replicas. Some, like this one, had V6 engines. Some with V6's had supercharges too. This cars went like stink and handled like they were on rails. Great track cars!


Another high-buck evolved Cobra. I'm not a great fan of the evolved Cobra - but hey, each to their own!


Corvette GTP, fast; very fast. I think the driver of this car was a hired gun. The car (and driver) were amazing on the track. Smooth, fast, fun to watch. The car uses C4 mechanics including the transmission and differential (bolted together). The drive train is quite long! Somewhat roomy interior, I think I would fit. This car was one of the few black-flagged cars during the event. Early in the event the track folks noticed that at speed on the front stretch the front of the car was bottoming out and hitting the track. They black flagged the car to bring it in to let the driver know what was going on. The driver's commented that he noticed that the car had a bit of a shimmy on the front stretch!


Just a picture of some of the cars in the garage area.


Corvette Grandsport replica.


This car was a real hoot! Take the chassis and drive train from a Dragon (a Lister-like replica), remove the body and drop on a T-bucket looking body. Best of both worlds - Dragon for the sports car crowd, t-bucket for the main street cruise crowd!


My Cobra is about as "pure" street as you can get. All I have is a full-width roll bar and a fire extinguisher. This Cobra is at the other extreme and typifies the phrase "full race"!


Dean and his RCR GT40. Dean had a bit of trouble with the brakes on his GT40. Apparently a bit of rubber got into one of the lines and his brakes more-or-less went south at 120mph. He was able to get the car slowed down (he hadn't lost all of the brakes) and brought back in. Tony (a plumber by trade!) was able to find and fix the brake problem. During the whole thing Dean had to disconnect the accelerator cable - and lost the 10-24 screw that held the cable in place. In this picture Dean is trying a screw in the fitting to see if it will fit. Dean ended up taking out the accelerator pedal assembly in order to find a correct screw to hold the cable.


Getting ready to go out for some fun on the track...














The next few pictures are of action shots. Since I was in the "Street" group I wasn't able to take any action shots of the novice or street folks so my pictures are limited to the other groups.

[petek]

Radio frequency transponders were given to each participant who then duct taped or tie-wrapped the transponder to their cars (Dean, I still owe you 6 tie-wraps to replace the ones I borrowed)! Using the transponders the track computer was able to determine each cars' lap time. There was a small glitch with some of the transponders not being fully charged, but on the whole the transponders worked great. Everyone was able to check their lap times to see how they were doing on the track. Me? I didn't bother!


Which is not to say that the event wasn't marred by driver and/or mechanical challenges. My car suffered from a shock mounting bolt failure (grade 8 bolts fracture rather than bend). Fortunately for me the failure occurred in the paddock and not the track. Others weren't as fortunate. Herschel's GT40 suffered from a starter gear failure. Make that a "spectacular" starter gear failure. When the gear fractured the pieces of the gear put a small hole in the transaxle bell housing as well as breaking on of the bolts holding the pressure plate to the fly wheel. Herschel's GT40 wasn't down for long as he and some friends pulled out the headers/exhaust system, dropped the transaxle, determined the problem, ran out to get the parts necessary to fix the problem, and had Herschel's GT40 back on the track again the next day. I'm not sure how much sleep Herschel got between the failure and repair but the challenge and solution typifies the sense of comradeship at R&G!


If I remember correctly there were three cars that didn't fare as well after experiencing turn one. A fellow from Texas just kissed the wall with his Cobra, doing a little bit of damage to the front right corner of the Cobra. Another fellow went off-track back wards and hit one of the barriers. I never did see the results to his car but I do know that he was taken to the hospital for a look-see. The news the next day was that he was fine but a bit disoriented so they were keeping an eye on him. His message to everyone at R&G was that he was fine and thanks for to everyone that helped his son collect his things and his car. An aluminum Cobra got bit by a cone (in the autocross?) that bent a bit of the aluminum Cobra body. The third to get bit by turn one was the Ferrari P4 replica. Ouch (but it did look repairable to me).





Just a couple of pictures of folks getting their cars ready for the next session on the track, Herschel and his RF GT40 and Tony and his 1000 cubic inch? Cobra.




Some more pictures of the fun folks had on the track. I should mention that although I had a LOT of fun on the track, I was probably the SLOWEST person on the track. If you've ever worried about coming to R&G and getting laughed off of the track because you were the slowest on the track - don't worry! My Cobra has some OLD BF Goodrich T/A's that have nearly 14,000 miles on them. The tires are about a grippy as wet ice. I can pull about 0.6 G on the corners (I have some data logging equipment so I know just how bad my car corners). Next year I'll have some better rubber on my Cobra but I also have to mention that nobody, and I mean NOBODY laughed me off of the track. Nobody came up to me after my runs and said "dude, you're the slowest one out there." I felt completely comfortable driving just as fast (or slow) as I felt safe. Frankly I know that I could take my MINI Cooper around the track faster than I took my Cobra - but I doubt that I would have had as much fun! On many of the corners my Cobra went into four wheel drift - all four wheels sliding through the corner at 0.6 G! Too much fun!!!

















Between and after each session there was time for some chit-chat and fun. Nothin' like some bench racing to pass the time.


Or trying on Dean's RCR GT40 for size. Tony fit pretty well. I didn't fit very well. I've simply got to get out to Detroit to try on Fran's RCR 917 replica; even if it means surgery to remove part of my legs so that I fit!




Keith Craft was on hand to discuss engines. I was particularly impressed with the non-commercial way that he presented information. If I needed a new engine, his company would be on my short list if for no other reason than he was at R&G and freely sharing his experience!


And of course the gas powered margarita machine was on site and ready to go!


The awards dinner was pretty darn good. Two types of pulled pork, chicken, beans, salad, rolls, desert.


The three amigos who made it all happen (well, not quite all of it... Sharon, Kim, and Lisa helped!)


I don't remember who suggested it, but Herschel's hat was passed around to collect contributions to the organization that helps disabled vets from Iraq and Afghanistan learn new mobility by rebuilding cars. Jay is involved in the organization. If I remember correctly over $860 was collected until someone stood up and said they would contribute a $100 bill if others would pony up to make up the difference to $1100. I don't know how much was in the final collection but I'm sure it was over $1100! Jay was visibly touched (as were many others in the room).


The next day was the drag races. After suffering a shock bolt failure I decided I'd make a few runs and quit when I started to feel uncomfortable. My last run had a lot of axle shakes and I figured I'd pushed it far enough. I did get a chance to run against David and his big block Cobra. I got the jump on him with a 0.6 second reaction time and I held him off for most of the run but the extra 100 - 200 hp he had over me won in the end!








There were a lot of cars interested in the drag races but others understood that the folks who manage the drag racing track operate under a single rule: if they prepare the track correctly your car WILL break something!


But others seemed to simply like the opportunity to burn a little rubber!


And so ended my participation in Run & Gun 2007. Last year I attended the event and learned that my Cobra's front end alignment was off far enough that driving at 80 mph was an event unto itself! I've fixed the alignment problem and this year I was able to see over 110 mph without concern. On the other hand I've learned that my old T/A radials are worthless as track tires and I really need to invest in better tires. I had some GPS instrumentation aboard my Cobra and found out that my Cobra is hard pressed to push anything above 0.6 g without slipping the tires. (My MINI Cooper with some semi-sticky street tires can push over 1.1 G.)

Two thumbs up for the best R&G yet!

[lineslinger]

Way to go Pete!
Good shots amigo. I have been talking with Pete on this site and others for quite a while now and finally got to shake hands this past Friday. He's right about the easy going atmosphere and the friendly attitude that prevails.
I was only able to attend for a couple of hours on Fri. but you could tell everyone was having a blast.
Neat post Pete, hope to see you again before next years event.

[COBRA36]

Thank you so must for the pictures.It gave people who could not attend a chance to see some nice car in action

[Dwight]

petek

thanks for the time to post the pictures and give us a written description.
Maybe you can post all the pictures you took!
Dwight

[Sminor]

Outstanding post,Pete. Loved the pics. Will you be going to London in June ?
steve

[ROUSHAC]

Great pics and commentary, Pete!

Tell the truth though. You knew I was only going to make the one run, since I had to drive the car back home, so you let me have the "win".

[mschjone]

Very cool! I could look at your pics and read your commentary all day. Nice work.

[Naumoff]

Thanks Petek,
It was nice to finally meet you and your lovely wife.
I had a blast and the next time I come I will be more prepared.
Roushac thanks for all your help.

Lineslinger sorry we couldn't talk some more but it see you had an apointment with a deer.

[Badsnake427]

Good stuff, Pete! Give us (the people that couldn't make it) a chance to see what we missed.

[hey,littlecobra]

great Pete!!! Seems you got great lessons on pics and commentary from somebody.
sorry i couldn't be there. Looks to be a great time.
Perhaps another year for me.

kristen

[dlampe]

Thanks for the incredible write up on the event. We will be able to post all the times and winners pretty soon. I want to than everyone that came to the event this year. You really made this event a success. There is a real chance that next year we will close registration early due to the number of cars likely to attend. My personal thanks goes out to all the volunteers that gave up their track time/ margarita time to help keep the event running smoothly. You guys are the best!

[cobrajeff]

Thanks for sharing your pictures. I haven't been to a R&G in (quite) a few years, but it looks like you guys are still havin' a really great time!

regards,

Jeff

[BT SNAKE]

Pete,
That was an absolutely great crono order and story of R&G. Thanks so much for that. It wasn't easy getting all those photos to tell that story.
Without a doubt I had the best time ever at this great event. Once again I had more track time than I could do. Got wore out pretty quick after several sessions.
Jay, Clois, Dean and many others have out done themselves. A fine
job and a fun time was had by all due to your hard work. I'm already excited about next year. Who knows.. maybe Bernie Knight and a contigency of Aussies might show up next year.
I do have to take time and thank Rick Lake, Cliff Speck, and Bill Leslie for their help.
As Pete described, my car let loose of the bendix gear and it grenaded all the teeth on the starter ring. We all jumped in on Ricks insistance that it could be taken down and fixed in an hour.
Well turns out he was right. We pulled it completly apart and found no damage to the clutch or pressure plate. We cleaned it up and stuck it bacl together as no parts could be found to fix it so we push started the GT for the rest of the event. Boy was I glad about that. Thanks also to the pushers What could have been the end of my fun turned out to be the best time I ever had there.

THANKS GUYS ! !

Hersh

[JUS BIT]

Pete, great story and pics of the event in St Louis. I really had a great time as well, ,except for kissing the front wall.

Thanks for sharing your prespective and recapping a wonderful event!

James

[RICK LAKE]

Pete Pictures and story are great. We had another great 4 day event. Gald everybody got a lot of track time. Hersh's GT got to run after eating a starter gear. It was just like the old days of push starting the cars. I am getting old, it took 1 hour and 10 minutes to pull the trans axle out of the GT. If racing at the time we would be burnt by the exhaust and 35 minutes it would be out. I would like to thank you for not getting pictures of me working on Hersh's car bent over. Jay, Clois, Dean, and others made this another great event. Hope to see everybody back next year. Rick Lake

[big-boss]

Great right -up thanks again.

[Clois Harlan]

Hershel,

Thank you again for your creative genus in the design of this years t-shirts. In case you didn't know we sold all 200 plus shirts and have re-ordered another 75 or 80 to satisfy all the demands we have had. I can't wait to see what you do for next year!

I wish I had had more time to help you when you needed it but I was putting out fires from one end of the garage to the timing tower all weekend. I owe you buddy, and thanks for helping with anything we ask of you.

Clois

[Clois Harlan]

Rick Lake, Get that kitchen finished for the little lady.

Clois

[BT SNAKE]

Clois,
You were indeed overwhelmed and your offer of assistance was most appreciated. I posted this on the other forum.
http://www.runngun.net/forum/viewtopic.php?t=84

I promise something really good for the 2008 R&G. I will be calling you soon for some more input and suggestions if you don't mind.

Once again I just can't thank you guys and all the others that helped me get going again.

Hersh

PS Sorry Rick but if you follow the above link you will see that bent over the GT photo ...