Everyone uses their gas bbq grill as a mobile work bench, right?

I pulled everything out of 1107 Sunday and started cataloging what needs to be done to prep for the Hawthorne 250. Main things are fixing the oil leak (probably a big deal), replacing the brake fluid reservoir (it leaked everywhere and we had very little brake pressure), checking the wiring on our transponder and installing a replacement spare (Scott and I really taco’d one on the last lap of the Fallon 250 night race).

A handful of photos here.

This may have been 1107’s first wiring diagram

Bill “The New Guy” Rickard came by the office yesterday and picked up the GPS unit, the VHF radio and our satcomm display to work his magic on 1107’s electrical system. I accidentally forgot the GPS/Iridium transceiver in the car and Richard picked it up earlier today and he will drop it at Crusty’s tomorrow.

All this means we should be able to travel backward and forward in time finish a race without a short circuit knocking us out of the running in time for our first off road desert race of the season Memorial Day weekend at Yerington, Nevada.

A work day this weekend. Updates as they occur.

This is pretty much what our work days look like.

Work day tomorrow. Bill “The New Guy” Rickard is going to make a first stab at rewiring 1107. The car was remarkably undamaged from the short course racing. We should remedy that late May at our first desert race of the season in Yerington.

Finally finished Carroll Smith’s “Prepare to Win” that Crusty loaned me. Chapter titles like “The care and feeding of a race engine,” “Basic metal work” “Plumbing and plumbing stuff.”

Here’s his take on painting:

“It is necessary to be practical when it comes to painting the race car. Race cars tend to crash a lot. And when they crash they need to be repainted. This rules out lots of coats of hand-rubbed lacquer. It also rules out elaborate multi-color paint schemes. The most practical approach is two colors…and stick on vinyl striping.”

And this on wiring and electrical:

“I have a tendency to look on anything having to do with electricity and/or electronics as a disaster waiting to happen. Care must be taken in running wires from the dash to where ever they go to and come from. It is desirable to have as few wires as possible (If it’s not there, it can’t fail). Since it takes me hours to figure out how to wire the most simple car – and I know full well I will never be able to remember how I did it – I make a wiring diagram for each car and I color code the wires. Then I never let the diagram out of my sight until the car is no longer my responsibility.”

A wiring diagram. That’s crazy talk.

Car cam video from the third moto at last week’s Bug Invasion I at Prairie City.

Crusty gets us on two wheels. I honk at the fans. We have a near miss with a baby in a stroller.

Under the lights. Also under Crusty’s deck.

Two weeks til our second race of the season, a VORRA short course race that is also “Bug Invasion I”. Richard, Crusty and I spent the day working on the car. Richard focus on hammering out dents from the rollover, Crusty and Richard worked on straightening out the frame, from the rollover, I scraped off decals, damaged as a result of the rollover.

Road trip planned for Tuesday to Sanger to meet with Scott Sebastian with MetalCraft to build one or more transmissions. I hope Richard, Scott, Crusty and Bob enjoy that 4 a.m. departure time.

A handful of photos from today’s work.

Lefty and Bob, fresh off the first moto.

Wrapping up coverage of the VORRA season opener with this gallery of photos.

Apparently a shot of us tearing it up at last weekend’s San Felipe 250.

Bob worked overnight and through this morning, reporting at 1 p.m. today that he had disassembled, replaced a seized main engine bearing, reassembled and tested the engine. We will be ready to race come Saturday and Sunday.

El Jeffo, who handle chase duties for us in his tres cool International Harvester whenever we pass through San Felipe (and who is kind enough to let us crash at his place whenever we’re in the area) shot these photos of 1102 during the San Felipe 250 this past weekend.

This is us apparently leaping a spectator’s truck. Note the vandalism to the passenger side door. What is it with today’s youth?

And this is us apparently going up a pretty steep hill.

Scott, momentarily not under the car fixing something, fixes something inside the car.

One week til the the first short course race of the VORRA season and we were all set to button up 1107. Realized that the pulley is tight. Engine was back on the truck. Bob and Mike will be going through it tomorrow. As a backup, we’ll pull 1117’s engine, but we will be racing.

Some photos from today’s work day.

It’ll be good as new in a week.

This light bar has nothing to do with what I’m about to write, but it took me all winter to paint, clear coat and install the TrailGlow HIDs, so you’re gonna have to check it out.

We head out on Friday, March 19, for Prairie City for our first race of the 2010 season and between now and then we need to get the skid plate and bumper integrated, our transmission put back together and the engine installed. Piece of cake.

Creech is trailering 1107 to the race. Seth is cooking for everyone. Robert and Mike have been putting the finishing touches on the newly rebuilt engine. Skid will be there. Crusty and I will be working on integrating the skid plate with the rear bumper this weekend (technically, Crusty will be doing it and I’ll be standing around). Also, I’ve volunteered to do scoring because, as I told the organizers, “it makes it easier for me to black flag any other Stock Bugs that get too far ahead of us.”

Am I missing anyone?

While I can’t mention any names, I want to thank the anonymous sponsor who is providing us with equipment we need and who, for reasons I entirely understand, doesn’t want to be mentioned. Thank you.

So remember how, in the The Sporting Life interview, I said my favorite race vehicle of all time was one of the Kamaz trucks that won Dakar? Here’s a video and photos validating that statement.

Now if only I can convince our team manager to take a vacation to Russia in the winter.

Brett Svatek did a piece on the team and I spent most of my time talking about eating.

INTERVIEW: Jim Graham – Desert Dingo Racing
The Sporting Life, February 24, 2010
Jim Graham and his Desert Dingo racing team set out to conquer the Baja 1000 in a car that most people wouldn’t feel safe driving to the 7-11…they are truly living The Sporting Life.