North Bay Bavarian: Adventures in Mexico

We are a GO!!

2009-10-16T14:57:00.000-07:00

We have gotten the GO signal from Mission Control, and all is well. The final report came in on the 8th that Rick was cleared to do anything and everything his heart desired, and that left us with just five days to get everything in order. We had been anticipating this would be the case, but nothing was for sure. The track day at Thunderhill Raceway was uneventful, read successful, with nothing breaking, except for a small oil leak that was repaired. The trailer was another matter, it needed new brakes and the spring shackles were shot and had to be replaced, naturally this was all discovered the night before we were to leave, so some midnight candles were burnt.
That all being taken care of, we were off at 3:30 am on the 14th, headed to Phoenix for the first stop. The excitement was only starting. Somewhere around where freeway 580 turns into Highway 5 south, Rich mentioned that he felt some kind of bump when he let off the gas petal, my reply was it probably was the cruise control!? Whatever! As we then stopped to change drivers, we checked the straps holding the car to the trailer, and found the two in back unhooked and one in front slack. The straps in back were also holding down a couple of new spare tires and rims, one was still on the trailer the other may still be rolling along on the Richmond Bridge somewhere. With that little problem solved, it was 900 miles to Casa Grande, Arizona where we spent the night. Next day on to beautiful Alpine, Texas, where we discovered the phenomenon of the Lights of Marfa! Next time you travel through West Texas, do not miss this sight, seriously weird! Today is the 16th of October, and I'm writing this from Convoy Headquarters in Laredo, Texas. We will be going to the border in a few hours to see about getting out visas and car permits. There has been some disturbing talk that things will not go smoothly because of the problems Mexican truckers have had getting into the United States. Gerie Bledsoe has been on the phone all afternoon trying to remedy this, we'll soon see if his efforts pay off.
Sorry there are no pictures to post on the blog, but you just can't remember everything, like the cord for the camera. We'll try and keep the reports coming from ol' Mexico as the days go on, until then, hasta luego!
Please see: www.lcp2007.blogspot.com

Hurry up and wait

2009-09-21T10:24:00.000-07:00

With about 22 days left until joining the convoy, we are in a holding pattern. Rick is feeling much better, almost 100%, but until he has his last MRI and chat with the doctors on October 8th, nothing is certain. The plan at the moment is to GO, and with HANS devices, driving suits and video cameras being purchased, things are moving in that direction. But nothing will be certain until the next visit at the hospital.

What is certain is that Gerie Bledsoe's Durango Deuce 2 has a new motor and is almost ready for some track time. A few more modifications are due before the Deuce is set loose. Anonymous inside sources say the car is fast and it could do some real damage in Historic C Class.

As for the 2002, it's debut will be a track day in early October at Thunder Hill, and until the next doctors appointment, we'll continue to with plans to meet in Laredo.

Please read: www.lcp2007.blogspot.com

Yikes!! You scared the Hell out of us!

2009-08-26T16:08:00.000-07:00

The day after the the trip to Monterey, Rick woke up not feeling good with a bad headache. As the week progressed it didn't get better, and on Friday his wife Claudia took him to the Emergency Room, where it was determined that he might have a brain aneurysm. Anyone who has looked into this condition knows that it's very serious with not many favorable outcomes. After tests at UCSF, it was most fortunately concluded that a blood vessel had broken and had healed itself, and that had caused the bleeding. Not that this cause for celebration, but the danger seems to have passed.

It's unfortunate, but our bid to run in the California Melee will not happen this year. At this point, Rick is feeling much better and will now be slowly making his way back into work, and with approximately 45 days until it's time to leave and meet the convoy, there's some major decisions to be made about the race. Does Rick carry on with "business as usual", and drive the Carrera with his son James? Does his other son Matthew take over driving duties, and Rick becomes the crew chief? With the entry fee paid, will the race organizers give a refund or roll it over onto next year? Does Frank, in the other car, take over Ricks spot? There are many scenario combinations possible, and we'll soon see which one emerges. At this point, we're just very happy to have choices.

There's also good news in that Gerie Bledsoe's engine has arrived and is ready to be installed,... almost. There is a few miscellaneous parts needed, like a transmission, to complete the job. This should be appearing any day, so a couple break-in laps around the track are still possible. The BMW still needs attention, with doors to be hung, a hood to be fitted, and road testing to be thought about. All in all, things are as they should be.

Please read: www.lcp2007.blogspot.com

California Melee... did I say Mille?

2009-08-17T21:42:00.000-07:00

Our leaving to meet the Coyote Convoy in Laredo, Texas is now about sixty days out and the 2002 is ready to start road testing. The wiring has been finished and the engine has been started for the first time. The initial start of a 4 cylinder does not have the same impact as that of a V8, but is satisfying in knowing that it runs, so far so good.

Still no word on whether the other 2002 will be going to the Carrera, and the engine builder, Joe, has not surfaced yet with a motor for the Durango Deuce. That gives the shop time to finish Rick's car, adding the seat belts, seats, doors and hood.
Some track days are in order to get Rick back in shape to advance his high speed driving habits, but also the car needs a workout too. We've decided to try and get into The California Melee, which is not The California Mille. The Melee is a 750 mile, 3 day romp through some of Northern California's most beautiful back roads, on the cheap, as they say. It's a fun event and would be a great way to shake out any bugs the car might have.

Check out http://www.californiamelee.com/ for more information.

We also made a trip south this last weekend to see the Monterey Historic races. Porsche was the featured car at this years event, and there were a couple that had some La Carrera Panamericana history. The 550 Spyder was not originally a hardtop, but was being refurbished as one by Jerry Steinfeld. We were surprised not to see any 2002's racing at all. Afterwards we stopped at Tarpy's Roadhouse for a La Carrera gathering, mostly to

grab a copy of Gary Faules DVD on the 2007 race. It's a great story on the history of the race and of the building of his Mustang, and what it takes to make it to the finish line. Personally, I thought it could have had a few more shots of a red Chevelle, but that's just me. Wonderful job to all who worked on it, it's a beauty Gary! Now we'll wait and see if we get into the Melee for some road testing and keep checking things off our lists.

Please Read: www.lcp2007.blogspot.com

Busy, busy, busy...

2009-07-28T16:37:00.000-07:00

Things are busy around the shop these days. There has been weddings for two of the shop techs, a death of an old valued customer, a shoulder operation for one one of Rick's sons, a retirement to become a stay at home dad for John, who ran the front office, and some well deserved vacation time for Rick and his family. Out in the shop, things have also been lively, the race car is coming along, an emergency rebuild for a crashed BMW Spec E30 racer, and a new engine for the Durango Deuce 2, Gerie Bledsoe's Chevy Nova. The engine is being built by Joe, who did the one for our Chevelle. At that time he was mostly a Chevy guy, but since then he's been working for Dembesti Motorsports in Windsor, CA, who specialize in Carroll Shelby products, to say the least!

Once Gerie's car is finished, the 2002 will come back into focus and with only about 75 days until we leave, the pace should quicken.

Please read: www.lcp2007.blogspot.com

Back to Business

2009-06-12T11:35:00.000-07:00

It's now the middle of June and it's time to get back to work from a short sabbatical with the blog. The Chihuahua race has passed and the boys had a decent finish considering the car had almost zero testing. There were a couple mechanical problems, but nothing that wasn't solved, or at least subdued. The biggest problem was lack of horse power, due to the stock cylinder head that had to be used, as the racing head had been sent wrong. That problem has been resolved
and these beauties should be putting out somewhere between 185 to 200 HP for the La Carrera.

As you can see in these pictures, the second 2002 has been painted and is progressing through the building stage. The brakes, brake lines, suspension, fuel tank and lines are in. All the other main components, except the engine, are ready to be installed. The car should be ready for some road tests within a couple of weeks.

One of the more exciting things to have happened this summer is have a film crew sniffing around, talking about doing a piece for the History Channel. Here's a picture of Rick getting interviewed our man Jeremy. If their funding comes through, there could be some interesting camera angles from the cockpit,... everybody wave to the helicopter.

At this point, there is some question as to if both cars are going on the make the trip to Huatulco. The car that went to Chihuahua is in the "definite maybe" state, and a decision will have to be made soon so plans can be made.
There are 121 days till the start of the race, and about 112 until we leave....it's time to get busy!

Please read: www.lcp2007.blogspot.com

Adios amigos, buena suerte!

2009-03-23T07:39:00.000-07:00

Today it's Monday, March 23rd, 2009, the car is in the trailer and ready to go... more or less. It's been a scramble to get things wrapped up to this point. The engine was started on Saturday and the car was first driven on Sunday, so everything is fresh and untested, to say the least.

The motor is not the version Rick foresaw, the cylinder head that came back was not compatible with the pistons, so a stock head had to be used instead. The upside is that the car ran well when driven on it's three mile break-in. Everything seems working, but there are many things yet to be tweaked, too much to mention, which should make for some interesting stories by the enthusiastic rookie crew. There's not much else to tell at this point, just the hope that all goes well for the car and drivers. Hasta luego amigos.

Please read: www.lcp2007.blogspot.com

Pepper White

2009-03-08T13:10:00.000-07:00

It's amazing how a little fresh paint will part the clouds of doubt and brighten every ones outlook, particularly with a race car on a time schedule. The car is painted "Pepper White", that's an old BMC Mini color that was brought back with the with the new Mini.

Now the mountain of parts can be bolted, screwed and welded on to produce a finished product. It will be a close call as to having the car ready for Chihuahua, but it won't be for lack of effort. It may be for lack of an engine if those parts don't show up this week, that's been a sore spot, and a lot of work to be done there.

The brakes are finished along with the front suspension. The shocks for the rear need to be resized, but that's an easy fix. The petal box is in along with the brake lines.

There's 15 days until the car needs to be on a trailer for Mexico, everyone involved is on task, it remains to be seen if there is enough time.

Please read: www.lcp2007.blogspot.com

Standing Still

2009-02-15T20:34:00.000-08:00

If you are standing still you can hear the clock ticking for the countdown to have a car ready for the Chihuahua Express. Unfortunately, it's looking like things aren't going to progress fast enough to be prepared for that race. The up side is, the roll cage is finished along with the dash and mounting the fuel cell, which means the car is now off to the body and paint shop. Once that's done, the stack of parts can be assembled and things will start to advance more rapidly.

The seats are here along with most of the safety gear and communications. There was a problem with the coil-over suspension, it came for a completely different type car, but that's been remedied. All the brake parts are sitting in boxes, waiting. The transmission and differential are all set to be put in, but the motor is another story. The head has been sent out to the experts to be worked on and it's ready. But the pistons are another week away, and that means the block can't be worked on until they're here. No pistons= no block= no motor. The math is unfriendly, but there's thirty days until the convoy leaves El Paso, let's see what happens.

Please read: www.lcp2007.blogspot.com

Moving Forward

2009-01-20T21:15:00.000-08:00

The projects aim is to build two cars for the 2009 La Carrera Panamericana race and to have one of them ready for the 2009 Chihuahua Express race in March. For that to happen, a lot of things are going to have to move forward...quickly. The red car has been to the body shop to have the fenders and nose panel replaced, and will now sit while the green car advances in the fabrication process.

The fuel cell has been set into place, and some brazing done to the body to fill holes where trim was attached and rust had settled. The inside of the car has been taken down to bare metal, and most of the mechanicals

have been removed except for the wheels to keep it mobile. The present job involves building a roll cage. This has become one of the most important requirements to let a car through technical inspection, after an accident in

2006 critically injured a co driver without an adequate one. Once the roll cage is finished, a dashboard will be fashioned and then the car is ready to paint.

Please read - http://lcp2007.blogspot.com/

One Plus One Equals Two Two Thousand Two's

2009-01-06T14:15:00.000-08:00

Two cars will be built because we have two interested party's. One is Rick, he's done the race before, he wants to promote his BMW repair business, he also wants to involve the people who work for him and to include his family. The other is Frank, and he simply wants to go racing, he's done it in many forms before, and now the Carrera is his intention.

So now we need something to start with and Frank was first to find two available candidates. One had been locked away in a shipping container for a decade or more and the other set rusting nearby in the same backyard. Both of these cars came at the right price, free, that made the decision easy to take a closer look at them.

While Rick owns a shop, and sees a lot cars come through, 2002's aren't as commonplace as they once were, so the next one came from an ad on Craigslist. The pictures advertised what looked to be a solid choice, except they never showed the front left fender. Sure enough, that was bent along with the frame, but for $500 it was worth seeing if it could be straightened. In short order two more appeared. One being an orange lovely, dragged out of a garden in Sebastopol, and traded for an oil change. The other, a very clean 1976 square taillight, big bumper model. Too nice to cut up, and when sold, it's worth its weight in racing parts.

The job of evaluating the last four and reducing to a final two was fairly easy. The '67 beige 1600 yard find had too much rust to be rebuild and made reliable. It's headed for the scrap bin. The 1973 gray primered car, while a good prospect, but with the bent frame, will be held in reserve. That leaves us with the green 1969 container find, and the orange '72, as the best prospects. This pair is over 35 years old and have some dents and corrosion that needs to be repaired and thats the next step.

Both of these will now be stripped down to the bare minimum inside and out, scraped and sanded, have some excess metal removed, and bodywork done.

Please read - http://lcp2007.blogspot.com/

The BMW 2002

2008-12-23T20:52:00.000-08:00

A short history will tell you that BMW or Bavarian Motor Works is an old company, dating back to 1916. Originally a manufacture of aircraft engines, they were forced to stop production after WW1 and shifted to motorcycles by 1923. In the 30's they began again to build aircraft engines for Germany's Luftwaffe. In the long run, that didn't work out, so by 1959 they were on the brink of bankruptcy. The gas shortage of the late 50's revived the company with the building of the Italian designed Isetta or the " Bubble Car". In the early 60's BMW started to produce what was known as the "New Class" starting with the 1500. This was the start of

the company's comeback into the automobile market. The 1500 ultimately led to the development of the 1600, 1800, 2000 and 2002. The 2002 was produced between 1968 and 1976 and was probably the most important model in BMW's history. It's designation stands for 2 liter engine and 2 doors, hence 2002. The 2-door sedan redefined the image of BMW. It combined powerful engine and agile handling with solid German build quality and practical 4-person accommodation into a reasonably priced package.

It actually started life in 1966 in the form of 1600-2 (2 doors). It was derived from the contemporary 1600 sedan, with rear doors deleted and wheelbase shortened by 50 mm to make it lighter and more agile for handling. Its 1.6-litre sohc engine produced 85 horsepower and enabled the 2100 lb little car to outperform many contemporary sports cars. Its all independent suspensions (with MacPherson struts up front and semi-trailing arm at the rear) and front disc brakes were not found in any cars at the same price level, providing great handling. On the other hand, 1600-2 provided all the practicalities of a sedan - a properly-sized rear seats, excellent visibility (thanks to large windows and slim pillars) and a big trunk.The 1600-2 received many appreciations from the press and the market. Sales exceeded BMW's expectation and production volume ramped up quickly to meet demand. But this was only the beginning. Next year, BMW introduced 1600ti, a hotter version of 1600-2. It used higher compression ratio and twin-choke Solex carburetors to raised the output to 105 hp.

Because the 1600ti engine could not pass Federal emission regulations, it was not offered in the US. With the huge potential of that market in mind, BMW developed a 2.0-litre engine for the car. Big engine in a small car, it became the mighty 2002. About 80,000 were produced for the US, in total about 425,000 were produced world wide. The cars built from the years 1968 to 1973 had the round tail lights, while the cars built from 1974 to 1976 had bigger bumpers, and square tail lights. Various state of tune were available: the regular 2002 had a single carburetor to produce 100 hp, the 2002ti got 120 hp through twin-carburetors and lastly, a mechanical fuel injection and higher compression ratio helped 2002tii to squeeze out 130 hp. In the latter form, it could top 118 mph and did 0-60 mph in 8.2 seconds.

So this short history of the "The Ultimate Driving Machine" now takes us to finding one or two for the La Carrera Panamericana.

Please read http://lcp2007.blogspot.com

Once Upon a Time....

2008-12-23T13:46:00.000-08:00

Once upon a time.... there was a small, independent BMW repair shop in Santa Rosa California named North Bay Bavarian. The owner, who we'll call Rick, had raced and done well in the 2007 La Carrera Panamericana

driving a Chevrolet. That was all well and good, but he wished that he would be allowed to to use a BMW because this was his car, he was familiar with them and it would help promote business. The rule of the race said any car built after 1965 would be denied. Of course BMW made cars in 1965, but they just weren't right for a race like this. Then suddenly, like magic, the rules changed. It was told that a special class had been created that would allow cars made up to 1972! Rick thought "Why that means I could build and race a BMW 2002 and everything would be perfect". So that's what he did, and he won the race and everyone lived happily ever after.....

WHOA WHOA WHOA..... wait a second, something's not right here, we've gotten ahead of ourselves. Let's back up a bit... this is 2008, and that means the 2009 race hasn't happened yet. And that means that the car is still on the drawing board. So let's have a reality check. Everything up to the rule change is about right, but now there's a car to be built, or is it cars?

Please read http://lcp2007.blogspot.com/