Friday, April 30, 2010

Some success on the Wet Skid Pad




Competition started today with the Wet Skid Pad competition. I didn't win but I am smiling. I came in 14th place out of 68 registered entrants. This was a major improvement from last year showing of 52nd place. Last year it was the first event ever for me in One Lap and I was probably a little consertive. I certainly didn't want to spin out and make a fool of myself so I didn't push real hard. Add to this that our tire choice last year was great in the dry but not so good in the wet and the two things left us near the bottom of the group after the first event.
The one picture above show them stenciling our tires. All tires are branded and stenciled to be sure you keep the same tires on for the entire event. Several factors come together to do well at One Lap. Good vehicle preparation, good tire management, personal endurance and of course some ability to get the car around a track quickly. The second picture is of Scott putting on the final stickers on the car before we took it through tech.
Tomorrow is Road America in Elkart Lake Wisconsin. I won't promise an update tomorrow since after we finish tomorrow afternoon we have a 583 mile trip to Pacific Junction, Iowa. Tomorrow also sets the seeding order for our run groups for the rest of the event.

Thursday, April 29, 2010

We are on our way!

We are on our way. Not much else to report. The only picture I took today was of the flag at the left that was hanging in the rest area food court on the Ohio Turnpike. We put about 600 miles on today and we are right outside of South Bend, Indiana. Tomorrow we will register, have the car teched, put on the rest of the national sponsor decals have a welcoming dinner and have our first competition, the wet skid pad event. For the wet skid pad we get two laps around a 200 foot circle in one direction then through a keyhole turn and then two laps in the oposite direction. They will take our best lap in each direction and calculate our average G forces. Points will be awarded. We will have a final count tomorrow but it looks like about 70 entrants. Points are awarded from the 1st place finisher down to the last in 5 point increments. If there are 70 entrants it would be 5 points X 70 entrants, so 1st place would get 350, 2nd place 345 and so on down to last place with 5 points. All of the events will be scored the same. Other than the wet skid pad event at the start and the dry skid pad at the end, we will have 2 events at each of the racetracks. Tomorrow is game on. Wish us luck.

Monday, April 26, 2010

Two weeks ago I spent some time at Pocono International Raceway to get in a little practice for our One Lap of America effort. The event was a drivers school where I was instructing for the Cumberland Valley Corvette Club. We had about a dozen members from our Lancaster County Corvette Club. Everyone from our group didn't get in the attached picture since some were out
on the track at the time. I'm hoping for little better weather for One Lap since it was cold and windy for our weekend and we even had an overnight snow shower and we woke up to lightly snowed upon cars.
Unlike our regular track day events where we use competition tires, we will be using street tires for the entire One Lap event. The tires are branded and stenciled so they can be easily identified, and you need to take care of your tires so they last the entire trip. If you injure a tire on a road hazard you may be able to substitute a tire if it does not give you a competitive advantage.
We will be leaving shortly and I will try to do nightly updates so check back often during the first week of May. For those new to the blog, be sure to scroll down a few pages and read some of the stories from last years event.

Thursday, April 22, 2010

Some early pictures of the car










Just wanted to post and show a couple of the pictures of the car with some of the new sponsors on it. I'd like to welcome Two Cousins Pizza of Mount Joy as I already announced as the Title Sponsor, The Mount Joy Diner,SSC Tint and Graphic and Mick's All American Pub. These four are new to the effort this year. I would also like to thank our returning sponsors. Jones Family of Dealers, Jim Roberts' West Main Auto, Auto -Locator, Rutt's Appliances, Krunch Kritters, and Brady's High Performance. The rest of the decals should be on in a couple of days, and when we get to South Bend we get to add the National sponsors that are part of the overall event. Can you believe it is less than a week until we leave for South Bend.

We have already received some checks donating to our charity Spina Bifida Resources of Greater Pennsylvania. Please feel free to start a pledge form and sign up your friends to help us raise money for Spina Bifida, we have a long way to go to match last years effort.

Thursday, April 15, 2010

Title Sponsor is Two Cousins Pizza, Mount Joy


We are very happy to announce that we signed the title sponsor to our One Lap of America effort for this year. For 2010 it will be Two Cousins Pizza in Mount Joy. They will have their company name and logo prominently displayed on the hood of our 2002 Zo6. Time is getting close and it is less than two weeks away until we are on our way to South Bend, Indiana to start the competition.

Last year we were able to raise funds for Spina Bifida Resources of Greater Pennsylvania and decided to try to raise funds for the same charity this year. With the challenging economy most charitable organizations are having a very difficult time, so it is even more important this year. I was very pleased at our Lancaster County Corvette Club meeting last night that several members came forward to donate or to make pledges for our Spina Bifida effort. Anyone that would like to donate to Spina Bifida Resources please make your check out to SBR One Lap and send to Jim Roberts, 14 W. Main St. Mount Joy, Pa. 17552. If you would like take pledges or donations from your friends, we anticipate completing nearly 5000 miles so people can make a per mile donation or just an outright donation.

This years field is up to 73 vehicles in several different classes. Our class is the SSGT1 Big Bore. At last count there were 12 cars in our class which includes a Ferrari F430, a Viper, a couple of the larger displacement Porsches, an Ultimate GTR and a few other Corvettes. The entry list is truly international with several teams from Canada and even a few teams from Europe.

Modifications are almost unlimited except the tires must be street tires of 140 tread wear and above from a list of approved brands. No track tires are permitted since the tires must last the entire event and also be used for the transit distance between tracks. This event is a challenge to personal stamina, vehicle preparation and durability and driving skills on the track as well as a little strategy thrown in. At each track you get one lap to recon the course then three hot laps and a cool down lap. The total time for the three laps count and the scoring is similar to NASCAR with the top finishing team receiving 365 points (73 entries X 5 points each). The second place for that event would get 360 and so forth down to the last place vehicle which would get 5 points. A DNF (Did Not Finish) would get 0 points.

Tuesday, April 6, 2010

Several Sponsors committed to the effort


Just a quick update. We have signed up several sponsors, some that are returning again this year, including Auto-locator, Rutt's Appliances, Krunch Kritters, and new for this year the Mount Joy Dinner. I would just like to say thanks to those who have signed on, and say we still have space for a few more. It is amazing how fast the time goes by, we will be leaving for this years adventure in just about three weeks.
As last year, we decided to add a charity component to this amazing adventure. We are listing as our charity Spina Bifida Resources once again. Just like last year, charities of all kinds have suffered greatly from the reduced giving due to the tough economic times we are in. We expect to log nearly 5,000 miles in this years effort, from leaving Lancaster County, Pa. to returning home again. Some donations last year were of the cents per mile type (1 cent per mile for example rounded out to about $50), while some just made a check out to an amount of their choice. All donations are greatly appreciated. Please send any donations to Jim Roberts 14 W. Main St. Mount Joy, Pa. 17552. Make your check out to Spina Bifida Resources. Above is a picture of my grandaughter, Adaline, who has Spina Bifida. You can see it is a cause that is very close to me. She will be 4 years old in May and in the past year has started school and now has her very own wheelchair.
Don't forget, just scroll down to see some of the stories from last years adventure. Also be sure to check back often, I will be trying to post each days news once we start the trip in early May.