Desert Dingo Racing

The videoconference was a bust (my fault), and so was using our fancy teleconferencing unit (my fault again), but I did connect with the folks at the International Diabetes Federation in Brussels to map out what we’ll likely be doing for the World Diabetes Congress in Montreal in mid-October.

The Congress draws researchers and industry reps from all over the world and attendance this year is estimated at 12,000 to 15,000. We’ve tentatively identified a spot for 1107 near the entrance to the Montreal Convention Center where all attendees will pass on the way to registration and the seminars. In other words, high traffic.

We’ll be painting the car and adding all new sponsor logos before it begins the 10 day trip East. I’ll meet it at the loading dock and put the display together. One of our tame racing drivers will fly in and handle autograph and fan appreciation duties.

We’ll be printing several thousand new hero cards in English, French and Spanish using our new favorite photo along with the IDF’s new key messages on the back. I expect they’ll be a big hit.

A lot of work to do between now and then to get everything ready. Creech, Crusty, Skid, Seth and A.J. head out tonight with the car for the Black Rock Desert for some driver training as part of the annual Fourth of JuPlaya gathering. Should be a good time.

Scott retrieves a dropped bolt. Or nut. Or wrench.

Actually Scott is bolting in the co-driver’s race seat. We designed it such that it requires a contortionist to get one of the bolts properly torqued.

1107 is coming back together now that we’ve had time to go through it from stem to stern. The reinforced bumpers went back on. Shawn even painted them to match the car. Shawn and Bob worked to bleed the brakes. Shawn installed the rear skid plate. Crusty and pretty much everyone worked to re-install the fuel cell.

Crusty and I fueled the car and I managed to get my first “Sunoco facial”.  Actually, considering how much 110 Octane fuel I spilled on myself because I hadn’t tripped the fuel cell flapper valve, it was more a Sunoco full body wash.

Skid, Seth, Creech and Crusty will be hauling 1107, sans fenders, out to the Black Rock Desert this week for Fourth of Juplaya for a bit of a shakedown run. Our next race, the KC Hilites Midnight Special, isn’t until August, so we’ve got plenty of time to dial the car in.

I’ve got a 7 a.m. teleconference with the International Diabetes Federation folks to discuss plans for the World Diabetes Congress in Montreal in October and for World Diabetes Day and the Baja 1000 in November.

Here’s a gallery of photos from today’s work.

You think you know a guy…

So Travis here was a first timer with us at the Baja 1000. Totally unflappable. Can-do attitude. Attacked the dirtiest jobs with gusto. Sometimes he attacked them with verve.

So most of the team had been up for more than 24 hours when we crashed out of the race after the car hit a tree. And then the transmission failed. And we pulled the engine and tranny to replace it, only to realize the replacement tranny wouldn’t fit. So we pack everything up and make the long drive back to Ensenada.

Everyone, exhausted, crashes. And Travis, and some wristwatch-wearing accomplice, wanders from trailer to truckbed, from RV to crew cab, photographing sleeping people with our 1102 pit sign, which, I’m assuming, he used for perspective.

Here now, is his gallery of images.

The brainstorming on a robust, long range race car to chase truck communications system for the Baja 1000 continues, this time between A.J. and me via instant messenger this morning:

A.J.: Ok looks like we can build our own satellite pager with built in gps.  this little bad boy can do it all and all from the car. each message can be tagged with gps data so we’d know what the car is doing and where. automatically and ever few minutes. [link]

Jim Graham: How much for a full up unit per car vs. renting the suckers?

A.J.: Well we’d need to buy a modem for the car. set it up with sensors and just turn it on.  the system would automatically ‘ping’ us with it’s location and status at a rate we choose. the drivers could also operate it with a series of buttons to add pre-programmed messages and there is a voice option as well. that little box does it all.

Jim Graham: So we might have a car with a blue screen of death?

A.J.: Well I’d use the data911 cpu system I have. It has zero moving parts so it would be really hard to crash it. [link]

Jim Graham: I didn’t understand half of what you just said.

A.J.: That’s ok, you’re pretty.

Jim Graham: Ok, I green light this.

Since I’m not in the car for the KC Hilites Midnight Special, I’m volunteering to staff Road Crossing 11, which the closest one to the start/finish line. Fidel, who manages Class 11 Coalition and is the brains behind Unlimited Dirt, said he’d drop by with a “Ford Super Duty or Jeep XJ equipped w/ BBQ & ice chest…chips, dip, sausage, corn and Gordon Biersch.”

I’m providing the marinated steaks. We’re going to set the standard by which all other Southern Nevada Off Road Enthusiast (SNORE) flagged road crossings are judged.

We’re gonna need more laptops.

Desert Dingo Racing’s Logistics Department held its first planning meeting in preparation for the Baja 1000. We had bbq’d tri-tip, potato salad, salad and lots of beer. And we discussed logistics. Figuring out where to set up shop this year (we had some equipment stolen in 2008), how to move chase trucks and people around, and mainly how to improve communications between the team and the car.

We’re looking to go with satellite pagers, since mostly what we need to know is where the car is and what it’s doing. We’ve used satellite phones but they’re expensive and the Iridium system gets overwhelmed by everyone making calls. We understand that the pagers keep trying to send their messages even if the satellite network is busy. That’s a tremendous help. More on these later.

No work on the car this weekend, so here’s a high def video documentary of a trophy truck running the Baja 500:

We run Bilstein shocks and they’ve been working great for us.

We’re going through the car from stem to stern. Looking at the front shocks, we noted the hoses between the shocks and reservoirs were a bit frayed from rubbing against the inside of the fenders. I got in touch with Joel, the Off Road MotorSports Technical Supervisor for Bilstein. I asked whether his team could fab a couple of shorter hoses. He came back with an offer to upgrade us to their newest reservoir design.

“Let me think about this yes.”

The team got new bushings in the front beam and got the whole front end buttoned up. Our first logistics meeting is tomorrow. Seth is bbqing tri-tip.

Rust gets everywhere.

Richard, Bob and Crusty were kind enough to unbolt the light bar so I could take it home and start sanding it down. With a couple of months before the KC Hilites Midnight Special, we’re going through the car with fine-tooth comb. I’ll sand off all the rust, Richard will weld another support bar onto it (the entire light bar sort of fell off at the Mint 400 due to vibration) and then we’ll repaint the whole shooting match.

We got word from SNORE that we’ll be flagging Road Crossing 11 - the last one before the start finish line - at the race. You get to see all the race cars, you get an official t-shirt, and it’s great to help the volunteer organizers of the race.

SNORE just released the map for the KC Hilites Midnight Special race coming up in August. It looks relatively flat, with the course skirting any major mountains. I’m sure they’ll make up for it with lots of silt and big rocks.

Work on the car continues. Richard had pulled the fuel cell. He and Crusty disassembled it to get a look at the foam inside to determine whether it had deteriorated at all. It looked good, but we found a cracked hose that did something. Richard’s taking it to the local hose shop to get a metal braided hose replacement.

I’m playing with a service called 12seconds.tv, editing down some of our existing video to bite-sized morsels. I’ve started a page here. And here’s my favorite so far:

Getting air in a ‘69 VW at the 2008 Baja 1000 on 12seconds.tv

Taking a look at the steering box.

Updated: Photos! We’ve got photos!

Crusty, Bob, Scott ‘n Carrie set to work on the car on Saturday. We found a problem with a sleeve inside the front beam. A problem in that the sleeve was trashed and we’ll need to figure out what happened and what we can do to reinforce it.

Crusty has continued on his campaign to rid the car of rust and nearly the entire inside has been chemically stripped and painted. Not quite clean enough to eat off of, but definitely “five second rule” clean.

Logistics meeting coming up on the 21st and driver practice the following weekend. KC Hilites Midnight Special in early August.

Photos of Saturday’s work to come.

We’ve been working with the great people at the International Diabetes Federation in Brussels, Belgium since before our first attempt on the Baja 1000 back in 2007. We’re the official World Diabetes Day race car and take every opportunity at races to distribute information (like our hero cards) to race fans. We also do a drive-a-thon fundraiser to support the IDF’s education and awareness programs.

They’ve just announced their new campaign for 2009-2013 and we’re looking forward to helping them spread the word. The key messages are:

• Know the diabetes risks and know the warning signs

• Know how to respond to diabetes and who to turn to

• Know how to manage diabetes and take control

They’ve done some great graphic design work and I’m hoping I can convince them to send us some of the posters to distribute at the Baja 1000 this coming November.