Datsun Roadster in car Camera at Coronado Speed Festival

[Ron Carter]

Here is the in car video from my race this last weekend at the Coronado Festival of Speed. We had a great race with Omar and his Alfa who wanted to block me more than race

You will see Adam Carolla in his 610 gridded in front of me at the beginning of the race.

Enjoy!!

http://www.youtube.com/rcs240z

Edited October 1, 2009 by ron carter

[preith]

Thanks Ron, entertaining, glad you got the Alfa, missed shift? Interesting course, autocross-ish in some respects.

Good to see Adam out there too, he seems like a cool guy to hang out with. Another member here posted some interview vids with him:

http://www.classiczcars.com/forums/showthread.php?t=35976

[Ron Carter]

Yes the Alfa missed a shift, good eye Phillip

Here is a write up of the event with additional photos:

http://rcnetworksracing.wordpress.com/racing-2009/

[260DET]

Interesting video Ron. A friend of mine races a roadster in historics, he sits a lot lower than you. Any particular reason for the high seat or is that a physical necessity?

[DoubleXL240Z]

Great video Ron! Has anybody ever shown that guy( red Alfa) what a line is suppposed to look like? He was all over the place! Usually at vintage events those guys get a talking to!!

Nice driving though!!

[Pablo]

Good video Ron, Nice driving

[Ron Carter]

Thanks All, I am a big guy in a little roadster. The seat is as low as I can get it in the car. so it is what it is.

As for Omar (in the Alfa), he was all over the place and blocking like crazy...it was too bad for faster traffic behind him. We will see, I doubt he will be invited back next year.

Ron

[preith]

Thanks All, I am a big guy in a little roadster. The seat is as low as I can get it in the car. so it is what it is.

Same situation with the roadster guys in my club, the seat's down as far as possible and yet they sit up so high. I was thinking maybe a seat with a higher layback, but that would probably require some rollbar alterations.

Dunno if it's legal, or if anyone would be up to cutting the car, but I was thinking the only solution would be welding a recess into the floor, might get you a few inches.

On a side note, one of our members was dubbed "the roadster from nowhere" this year. He dropped an honest 4 second off his lap times and had his first front row start with me, quite the happy camper.

[Kathy & Rick]

Nice driving, Ron, glad you finally got a break!!! I'm formerly w/Bob Sharp so I was kind of assessing the race as it went. You obviously had a much better line and drove a lot smoother than the Alfa guy did. So it occurred to me that either the other driver was much less experienced or had an ill-prepared car, to get off-line so badly so often! But you were there, you could tell if he was blocking a lot better than I could from here, and I'm glad it finally worked out for you. All Z Best,................................Rick

[sblake01]

We had a great race with Omar and his Alfa who wanted to block me more than race

I guess that's just what Alfa drivers have to do when they race Datsuns. Ron, are you old enough to remember the duels between John Morton in his 510 and Horst Kwech in his Alfa in the early 70's?

[Ron Carter]

Hi Phillip,

There are some things that could be done to the car to get me lower in the car, but I am unwilling to modify the car. This car has history back to 1968 and It is a half year car, a 1967.5 2000, the rarest of the rare Datsun roadsters (there were only 1000 1967.5 2000's produced), so cutting up is not an option.

I am working on a 510 and as soon as it is done it will become the work horse racer, the roadster will get a little bit of a break.

Kathy and Rick, Do you know Vinny Bedini <sp>? he is still working with Bob Sharp on a couple of projects. I have purchased parts from Vinny from time to time.

Thank you for your kind words, Omar is a very nervous driver, and although you don't see it in the video, he pushed really hard at the beginning of the race and then held up a bunch of traffic. I was right at the front of 6 to 10 cars trying to get around him.

In talking to Omar after the race, he complained about his tires. But he was on racing radials and I was on hard compound bias ply tires. The video tells the story, he should have let us by and raced with cars at his level, but oh well. We had fun and that is what counts!

I was 5 years old when John and Horst raced at Laguna, but I do know the story and am looking forward to seeing John and Horst next week at the Peterson Museum for the Trans AM revival.

[preith]

There are some things that could be done to the car to get me lower in the car, but I am unwilling to modify the car. This car has history back to 1968 and It is a half year car, a 1967.5 2000, the rarest of the rare Datsun roadsters (there were only 1000 1967.5 2000's produced), so cutting up is not an option.

I hear ya. FWIW, the car I have linked is also a '67.5 with an extensive history similar to yours.