Speedfest at the Classic Motorsports Mitty 2010

[Carl Beck]

As Ron said - it was a pleasure to meet everyone.

Jim Frederick and my son Carl made the trip with me. That is a long story by itself...I'll only say that if it isn't one thing it's another...

I am sorry that given the time devoted to displaying the BRE Baja Z, and the associated activities - - that I really didn't get a chance to spend more time with everyone.

"Associated Activities" included finding someone to weld a broken weight distributing trailer hitch and trying to get the Z to run over 3,500 RPM at the track for the Parade Lap {it was running perfectly at home before the trip !!}...

Nonetheless, it was great seeing Les again and getting to meet Ron and his father in person. I hope everyone enjoyed the weekend as much as we did. Ron's Z was amazing..

Jim was shy, but I forced him to get in the picture... I also had to tell him to get his hand up where we could see it. ;-) Note that it is NOW around her waist....

Carl B.

[Skyhook]

Carl, it seemed as though there were gremlins in a lot of the cars. I think they spent too much time idling and loaded up. I also am sorry there wasn't a lot of time to talk. I introduced myself as you exited the rally car in the pits with the GIRLS. I took time out from timing and scoring in the tower. ALL of the cars were beautiful. It sure took me down memory lane, watching the Datsun contingency spank the TR-6's and Jags.

[Ron Carter]

Thanks Carl,

Well said, I think we all had issues to some degree. It was well worth the trip across the country for a special glimpse into a piece of history.

I hope we have the chance to do that again some day. As Road Atlanta was important for the BRE Z winning the national championship there twice, so was Laguna Seca for the BRE 510. Perhaps there will be a chance to repeat this in Monterey some day.

As for the people. I was humbled by the folks that came from all over the country and Canada. We made many new friends and had a great time. Like Carl, I would have liked to spend more time with everyone.

I will post photos and video as soon as my car returns to California (with my video camera).

JMark took many great photos too!

Thanks again!

Ron

[jmark]

^ Thanks Ron!

[SteveJ]

Apparently it was an epidemic. I was fighting with both cars all weekend. Sunday morning, I dropped an order for a few hundred in parts to cure some of what ails my cars.

[jmark]

I added more shots from the Mitty with heavy Datsun content to my page here:

http://picasaweb.google.com/jmark240z/BREReunionApr2010?feat=directlink

Edited May 4, 2010 by jmark

[Carl Beck]

Apparently it was an epidemic. I was fighting with both cars all weekend.

Jim, my son Carl and I had "planned" to leave Clearwater around 8:00 PM Wednesday night.

Thinking we would take our time, the drive to Road Atlanta would take 10 hours. That would put us at the track around 6:00 AM Thursday. Drop the Z and the Trailer off at the track and be checked into the hotel around 9:00 AM. That would give us time to rest from the trip, clean up and be back at the track around 3:00 PM. Ready to stage the car then go to the BRE Reunion Dinner at 6:00PM.

We actually hooked up the trailer around 9:00 PM... About 7 miles from the house Carl ask me if I smelled something burning. I did. We pulled off the road to find the trailer brakes were staying on, and they were HOT... For some reason the trailer brake controller had gone haywire... Humm, I thought it felt like the trailer was a little harder to pull....

We returned home and opened the garage... Three hours of trouble shooting the electrical circuits left us without any cause, other than the digital brake controller simply had a melt down. We could wait until the morning when shops opened and have a new brake controller in stalled - but that would mean that we would miss the BRE Reunion Dinner.... Or we could leave my Silverado 2500HD at home and take my son's Silverado 1500 also equipped with a trailer brake controller. Big difference between the two when you hook an enclosed car hauler and car behind them..... Nonetheless the 1500 would do the job.

So we hooked up the 1500 and we were off again... this time around 2:00PM. We had to switch trailer hitches between the two trucks, as I have a weight distributing / anti-sway hitch on my truck and trailer.

By 3:00 AM we were swinging by Jim's house in Lutz, to pick him up... and one of the weight distributing bars broke a weld and dropped down... Bummer!! We could safely pull the trailer without the weight distributing hitch and anti-sway control.... but it sure makes driving a lot more work as the entire rig is far less stable at speed. What the heck... we were on our way.

The 10 hour trip turned into a 12 hour trip, as by the time we were half way there - we were too tired to continue - so we pulled into a rest area and took a 2 hour nap. I'd rather get there late and alive.. than the alternative.

By 3:00PM Thursday were arrived at the track, unloaded the Z and took it to the BRE Display area. There too things were slightly behind schedule.. so we waited to see where/how the car would be parked.... We were all somewhat tired, with now 18 hours of road dirt/sweat and somewhat less than clean cloths... The good news was that everyone else was in the same condition... so we all went to the BRE Reunion Dinner in what Ron termed "true racer style"...

Friday and Saturday I tried to find a local machine shop or welding shop to get the weight distributing trailer hitch fixed before the return home and I was having no luck. While touring the Pits, I ran across a beautiful 240Z parked by an 18 wheeler that had a DATSUN roadster parked beside it. A great looking BRE Tribute Roadster no less. So I stopped to see who owned them.

To my surprise... Steve Heimsoth, IZCC #14498 came to meet me. He owned the 72 240Z we were admiring... and one of his team mates owned the Datsun Roadster. More amazing, the 18 wheeler was equipped with full arc welding capabilities and Steve's friend Gary said he would be happy to repair / re-weld the trailer hitch!!

At that point - I felt that perhaps some balance was being put back into our universe... a bit of good fortune to start off-setting the earlier bad luck. "Balance In All Things", a creed of Systems Engineering.

On the way home.. I was thinking about the wonderful week-end we just enjoyed and looking back over the decades I was reminded that most of the good fortune I've experienced, can be attributed to the good people I have had the pleasure of knowing.

Pictured below is Steve's Z and Bill's award wining BRE Tribute Roadster... picture from Steve.

[mgood]

Mark Bouducies took some great images of the BRE - 370Z, I combined them to create a composite of the car. I used them with his permission, here it is.

http://photographictrends.com/CAR/370Z composit.jpg

thanks Mark.

[Carl Beck]

Hi Michael:

Looks Great - but it should say 2010 BRE 270Z ;-)

What software did you use to create it?

Carl B.

[Nazgul280]

Carl, Ron, Les, everyone at the Georgia Z Club and the 510 Club, it was an awesome time for me. My favorite parts were the friends I made and the people I finally got to meet that have inspired my Tribute Z (and of course the parade lap with the BRE team & cars). Thanks

Thanks to Peter, Gayle, and the whole BRE team and their support members for making this happen.

Carl, it was a real pleasure seeing your Baja 240 there in person! You did a really nice job with it.

Cheers everyone!

-Dana

[Ron Carter]

Great to meet you guys too, what a stunning Z! really fantastic job! It was a pleasure to meet you guys too. I hope you can make it out to the west coast some day

Ron

[mgood]

Carl, I fixed the lettering and made it a BRE - 370Z, I used Photoshop.

http://photographictrends.com/CAR/370Z%20composit.jpg