[Nader]

After three solid days of driving East on I-90, I was within minutes of Road America. Then I turned south for another 2 1/2 hour drive to my buddies house in the Chicago suburbs.

We were college roommates in the early 90s, and used to spend long hours talking cars. He is a big Alfisti as well, and I think my visit there to RA five years ago inspired him to start racing, too. So for the last for five years, he's also been racing a Spider. A pretty fast 1978. He's done well with it, too. Having won the Kimberly Cup at this particular race a couple years ago. I missed that race five years ago when I burned up the head after losing coolant on that Sunday morning practice session.

Anyway, after the long trip, I decompressed at his house, then the next day we both caravaned back up north to the track. Here we are in the paddocks at Road America at the infield of Turn 14 just before the main street, pitted next to each other. Could not have imagined this happening over 25 years ago when we were just car-crazy college students.

 

[BrundleFly]

Looks like big fun. I'm so envious. RA is one of the few major tracks I've visited - I was there for AMA races in 2007, and got to ride a parade lap of the circuit on the FJR1300. Would love to make that pilgrimage in the Spider someday. Such an interesting, challenging and beautiful venue. A real driver's track. Enjoy!

P.S. I read this thread 'cover to cover' a while back when I first got 'bitten by the Spider'. Very inspiring; love the Gulf livery!

 

[Nader]

But wait, there's more!

Thanks for following along, Brundlefly. I, too, gather inspiration from other people's build threads, which is why I started this thread back in '09.

The three-day weekend of racing was marvelous. Weather was beautiful, track and conditions were great. There were a few accidents, but I luckily avoided them.

My buddy and I were running very similar lap times. We were gridded number three and four for the Kimberly Cup. Mind you, the Kimberly Cup is the feature race for the slower guys with smaller displacement motors. At the start, we passed into the lead, and swapped it back-and-forth for the whole race. I was told later that the race announcer on the P.A. system had a great time with it.

In the end, I prevailed, and won the race. I think my late-braking and cornering speeds overcame his 2 L straight line speeds. My buddy won this very race two years ago (without me in it). So now, we each have this souvenir bottle of wine.

Here are pictures of the close racing, photo-op in the winner's circle, and the aforementioned bottle of Vino. Good times!

 

[gprocket]

Congratulations! Looks like you had a blast!

 

[BrundleFly]

Bravo!

 

[60sRacer]

Congrats too! I do like his roll bar better....

Robert

 

[spydaman]

Congrats too! I do like his roll bar better....

Robert

Congrats looks like you go just as fast no matter roll bar, shape, height, width, weight, arrrh anchor > (insert big spoon for stirring) :laugh2:

 

[Dr.G]

Terrific what you did for the car. I remember taking a look at the car north of Seattle somewheres and all I took home was the right rear bumperette. Looks better without the bumpers.
All that time going to med school in Milwaukee never got to the Oshkosh fly in or the races.

 

[Nader]

Race season is upon us again. I finished the last season without any DNFs or DNSs, but I did pick up a loud rattle at the last race of the year. Couldn't tell where it was coming from, thought it was clutch for some reason since it got louder when I disengaged the clutch at idle while in gear.

So I removed the transmission from the engine to inspect the clutch and flywheel, only to find it in perfect condition. Along the way, I did notice this broken mount on my exhaust megaphone, which likely explained the rattle:

 

[Nader]

So I re-welded most of the exhaust system FOR THE FOURTH TIME. Beefed up the attachment points on the header's collector pipe, and added another muffler hanger to quell the vibration that led to the megaphone's demise. After reattaching everything, the rattle is gone and the megaphone doesn't vibrate near as much as it did before.

 

[Nader]

Then I turned my attention to the bodywork. For several years, I've been meaning to close off the large holes in the snout that serve as a parachute when I'm at terminal velocity. But on the driver side is my oil cooler, and on the passenger side is the air intake to the carbs. So I'd have to include some ducting. Check out my hillbilly method with coat hanger wire framing and duct tape.

 

[Nader]

Really sloppy, but invisible, and should hold. Maybe someday I'll pull it apart and use it as a mold for a fiberglass shroud.

 

[Nader]

Here's where I use some of that old Alcoa 6013-T4 aluminum sheet I bought from Boeing about 15 years ago when they still had their surplus available for sale to the public. I've mentioned before that I bought A LOT of Al sheet from them in varying grades and thicknesses without really knowing what I'd be doing with it all back then. This stuff is used on jet plane fuselage turbine cowling sheet metal.

 

[Nader]

And here it is fastened up and with ducting in place. Not thrilled with the fit of the sheet metal, might have to make some adjustments if it keeps bothering me. Shot it with truck bed paint. Maybe I'll pick up a couple MPH at the end of the straight?

 

[gigem75]

How could one pass up the opportunity to acquire anything that might possibly come in handy down the road? It just can't be done. Southern engineering at it's best, and it works!

 

[Nader]

Racing in the PNW. It is indeed as miserable as it looks. Despite that, I'm still waving in both pics!

 

[60sRacer]

Sure reminds me of how small the Duetto is!

Robert

 

[Nader]

That's just the optical effect from the enormous cage, Robert. It's just the cage.

BTW, a beautiful and very fast BMW 2002 slid off the track and rolled over in this muck today.

 

[60sRacer]

Well, that may be. I do remember the days before reasonable safety rules when the roll bar was just advice to the driver not to flip. In those days a Duetto with this plexi windscreen could slide underneath most F-100's. And look cool doing it.

Like mine was....

The only car I loved more was the silver-blue D-Jag that was my first experience with sports racing. [I grew up in drag race country]. Oh, I only watched that one. Even then I couldn't afford one.

Anyway, today I love to relive it all with RJ's reports. Thanks my friend.

Robert

 

[Nader]

Last year I was bumped from the small bore production group to the mid bore group, just as I was nearing the front of the small bore pack. I think the cut off for small bore was under 2L. Here are lap times from today's dry races #3-5. Check out the displacement sizes. Makes me look like I'm punching above my weight. Though my lap times were getting faster with each race, my standings kept dropping. I can say that closing off the gaping holes in the snout were worth about 1.5 sec/lap. I don't think anything I ever do short of a $$$ 2L engine will get me close to that fast GTV. It's a monster! (so are those cheater BMWs)