Road Atlanta Trip 2006        Pictures

 Walter Mitty vintage races April 2006

  It all started out as a good morning. It was about 4:30 am when I left the house. I had done all the usual preventative maintenance on the Z to get her ready for the trip. You know, fluids, tires, belts, etc.. You know that feeling you're forgetting something? I had that feeling. I got to the place where I was supposed to pick up my air mattress and realized I had forgotten my sleeping bag at home. Too late for that, I'll just go pick one up at W-mart. I get there and they don't open till 6 am. Oh well, I can get one in Atlanta if I need. I go to the Home Depot parking lot where the caravan of vehicles which includes a Triumph TR-4A, a Mazda Miata, and a Nissan Sentra is meeting. I am a little early so a quick under hood inspection is performed. All looks good and I am ready for my 500 mile road trip.

  We hit the I-10 at around 6 and she's running' smooth. I got the radio playing Walton and Johnson and it's a nice cool morning. About 15 miles down the road I remember the real reason for that I forgot something feeling. The ticket for the event was sitting at home by my computer. "That's going to be expensive!", I thought. Oh well, press on with the journey. We stopped at a gas station at about 8:30 for gas, food, and another quick mechanical inspection which looks good. I had just disconnected my electric fan the week before and installed a mechanical fan from a Datsun 260Z I had lying around so I wanted to check that too. I bought some milk and donuts and we were on our way again. Feeling good with the window down and rolling about 75mph last in line and looking at the taillights of a beautiful TR-4. Time to check the gauges.....uh-oh.....what the??....my temp gauge says over 250 degrees.....that's impossible!! Start to slow down, tap on the gauge face.....nothing, slow more, turn on heater full blast.....cold air comes out and I think, "That's not good!". There must be no water in the system at all. I look up and the Mississippi state line is coming up, my crew is far ahead now and I start to flash the headlights as the valves start to clatter. "I'm burning up my engine!" I think as I look down and see the oil pressure dropping to 10 or below as the oil heats to a watery consistency. Time to pull over now!!!! (This all happened in about 5 seconds) Luckily, Luke and Dave did see me and were backing up to me. When I stopped the steam was rushing from under the hood. I look over the situation and see that my fan has a bent blade which has gone into my radiator and cut 4 coils off of the top tank. I let it cool for a while and slowly added water to the radiator. The temp comes down and I start it back up. It runs ok but is still very hot. Fred, in the Miata, has turned around now and is getting more water and on his way back to meet us. We get her across the state line bridge and pull into a weigh station. Now what to do? Go home limping and miss the trip or leave the car here? I asked the attendant if I could leave the car there and they graciously allowed me to for 4 days (thanks Mississippi DOT!). I packed up all my junk in Luke's Sentra and pressed on. We made the rest of the trip fine except for hitting Atlanta traffic at rush hour. Got to the track a little stressed and Fred loaned me the money to purchase a new ticket (Thanks again, Fred). We set up camp after going to Waffle House to grub and settled in for the night after a few beverages.

  The next morning I awoke to find my air mattress was deflated and I was on the cold ground and would be the rest of the weekend. The wondrous sound of 20 angry Porsches screaming up the turn 7 hill made up for it. I never get tired of that sound! I called and woke up my cousin Mitch to let him hear the roar. He owns a 1971 Porsche 911 and wanted to come with me but couldn't this year. We ate breakfast and we were off to see the sights. The next three days were a blur of noise, beauty, and horsepower. A sensory overload to a car guy. At any given time you could be surrounded my millions of dollars worth of exotic cars. There were clubs there like the South East Roadster Owners Club (I am a member), and the Georgia Z club. This made me miss my car a little but I still enjoyed it. The racing was great all weekend and we even got to drive around the track quite a few times! I drove Fred's Miata on one of these track laps, man, was that fun??!! I took a shower Saturday morning in the COLDEST water I have ever been in by far! It was so cold it actually took my breath away as if I was doused in ice water! I went out to dinner Saturday night with the Roadster guys and got to drive a friend's 2000 Roadster back to the track. I got to drive Lotus Elise a few times around a small track they set up for the public the next afternoon. This is a car that makes most modern sports cars fell like an old truck with worn out steering. I have never driven anything like this and will definitely do it again next year! The last night there we were one of two groups left on the infield. It rained on us a bit Sunday night but it was cool cause we lit a fire and had the place to ourselves. We talked and drank a bit then off to bed for the last time this year. We packed up the next morning and took off early, around 5 am.

  The trip back to my Z was uneventful which was good as I had plenty of eventfulness to come. Fred peeled away from the group in Mobile, AL to go to the beach and we stayed the course for the Mississippi line where Luke dropped me off on the opposite side of the interstate and I ran across while they went turn around at the next exit. I pulled the fan off and reconnected the electric fan. I filled her up with aqua and hit the road. I discovered I could make about 10 miles before having to refill with water so that's how we paced the return trip. Dave went ahead at some point and Luke and I kept with it (Thanks Luke for that). That leg of the trip from the state line to my parent's house took us almost 5 hours. I got the car to my parents place and left it there to be repaired by me at a later date. We made it back to my house later after almost a 13 hour trip in the heat. I can't wait for next year. The Z is ready now for sure! (I think)

Z is completed now. Check out the pictures on the paint projects page. Paul