TomoHawk

The only way I'd go through Detroit is by going up the river on a fast boat. In a way, I was not impressed by the way you saw so many modern cars at MidOhio. Since it is a "vintage race," I'd be expecting cars to be at a minimum of 35 years old, or cars raced as late as 1978. The SVRA caters obviously to cars from the 50s to the present-day. the Goodwood Revival would be a good example of vintage racing.

I took an 8-pack of "TopCare" drink (which is similar to Ensure) on the trip to midOhio. It was obviously nutritious, with all the vitamins and stuff, but was not a substitute for a burger or fish sandwich, which you should also be eating occasionally. I chose a nice omelet for breakfast with the drink, and got the "Hospitality" lunch (which was BBQ Pork on Saturday, and pasta on Sunday) to make for what you might call a balanced diet. I didn't eat any supper over the weekend; I spent time preparing the car for the next day, so I went straight to sleep. I will try some of the Pedialyte later, when I get to the grocery store. IMO, I'd take some of both drinks- the Ensure to enhance your diet & nutrition, and the Pedialyte for hydration.

How!? You had 50 extra LBS. of mud, and all the stuff! You would probably have spilled your coffee and hit the tyres. Mine was safe in the cup holder. Too bad you didn't make it to the 2008 ZCON, when we did (low speed) laps for a hour while the (racers) were on their lunch break.

I posted a video of the parade lap we did. <iframe width="420" height="315" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/olcbFYtqdes" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

I thought I would offer a few remarks from the Zed's point-of-view: It rained a little each afternoon, but it wasn't too bad; it made things interesting. Black Gold Man, from Detroit, was there Friday and gave me a driven-tour of the paddock while it rained Friday. I met a Hungarian food-vendor lady that made food specially for me (a pan-fried fish sandwich with onions& cheese, and hand-made omelette's with extra mushrooms, onions and cheese, free coffee refills.) I didn't meet any celebrities even tho some people were talking about John Morton. I had the hospitality tickets, so I got a fancy lunch Sat. & Sun. with a cold beer. I even got to church Saturday evening (there was a church close to the track on the way to the hotel) and the priest saw my wristbands when I was leaving, and asked me if I was at the races. Then on Sunday, a guy stopped by to say HI because he remembered my car from the church parking lot. The 2BAD challenge was shortened to only 12 laps to try to get back on schedule. I got a parade lap of the track at a reasonable speed (top speed 80 on the straight, 25 on the turns) and after the carousel turn, they turn you into the paddock area and the I saw the guys with the 240Zs checking me out. A few more laps were expected, but they were behind schedule from a couple cars into the tires and some oil, so we only got the one lap, but I had the computer going and got some video. Saturday's British cars got about 6 laps, then to the paddock. At the Councours show, I actually got some votes and the judges gave me a good score. There were extra souvenirs, and a little kid brought two to my car (I was in the post-1978 category, with all the new cars like Corvettes, MB, Porsche :disappoin I thought it was an event for vintage cars? What's the 2008 Porsche doing in the corral?? so I felt like I got a trophy of sorts. ZROC got the club participation trophy- again. They had 20 cars there. After that, the place cleaned out. I got home Sunday in time for the usual Sunday night cruise-in in, and people kept asking about the wristbands ("you need them to go on the track") So we will look forward to net year's Vintage weekend at MidOhio.

Oh yeah. My buddy Bill (Black Gold Man) was there for the whole weekend., in a tent!

Datsun won it again this year.

In the paddock :

Or like your car battery? :eek:

It sounds like a certain scene from the movie Gumball Rally.

NOt to mention what the driver behind you will see or experience!

That's kind of why I started this topic. I believe that there are beverages you can drink while on the road that don't go straight through you, or reduce the need to stop many times, and the experience of the people here should reduce the need to experiment with the drinks myself. SU- I suppose you just stop on the side of the road briefly to use your "wizz bomb?" It would certainly save time from looking for a rest stop or off-highway gas station.

Wow. Some Aloe vera extracts were used as laxatives and were considered class III carcinogens.:paranoid:

I'm glad to see how Gatorade and such is not advocated much. I too have heard many people (mostly athletes) prefer the diluted Gatorade. It's a little surprising that they don't change the makeup of Gatorade if it really is "too salty." Obviously, the Gatorade people don't think it is. When I was cycling, we drank water and saved the sports drink for after the race. I don't go for the Gatorade myself. Instead I'd drink milk or orange juice, or just plain tap water from home, which is soft water. Are there no advocates for RedBull or 5 Hour Energy drinks? I'm surprised to hear about your granny, Stanley. One slogan of Ensure is "Nutrition to help you get strong on the inside." My opinion on the Ensure is to drink it for between-meals nutrition. Or just have yourself a V-8 Of course, eating while on the road is a different thing altogether. Research on WebMD suggests that you eat 100 Calorie amounts of low-sodium and sugar foods of proteins and beneficial fats.

Does anyone know where the procedure for changing the oil is on the 280Z, including how to reinstall the drain plug? It doesn't seem to be anywhere in the tune-up section. There is an entry to tighten the drain plug 14 - 22ft-lb. Is that all, besides using a new copper crush washer with each oil change?

Maybe another, good question to ask here would be,what drink do you take on a road trip?

The CVS website has Ensure, as does Walgreen's- both liquid and powdered. Ensure reminds me of the old Carnation Instant Breakfast. Unfortunately, milk doesn't work well on summer road trips, so I'd go for the Ensure. Ensure is kinda expensive, no? I'd get the milk when at a restaurant or a convenience store.

I can't remember where it was, but I have heard th drinks like Pedialyte or Ensure are good to take on road trips, instead of drinks like Gatorade, because they hydrate you and provide balanced nutrition or whatever, without making you need to stop for a potty five minutes later. Is there a source for these drinks, or shall we discus them here? Google doesn't seem to have any related pages. I have no preference for either Pedialyte or Ensure; Pedialyte is more like a hydration drink, and Ensure seems like a substitute for a snack. ThxZ

That would spoil all the fun of tinkering with the L-Jetronic wiring :laugh:

Congratulations to AUDI for their win- using a hybrid vehicle?? The Audi R18 E-tron Quattro Is A Diesel Hybrid AWD Race Car It kinda makes you want to start thinking differently about "hybrid cars." The Nissan deltawing was back again this year, but a Toyota hybrid car hit it and the both were out. Audi's hybrid takes Le Mans victory, twice | The Car Tech blog - CNET Reviews

After about a minute, when the engine gets warm, the idle is low (about 1100-1200) and smooth. My first idea to replace the AAR with an electric valve would be to use the Thermotime switch to start a timing device that operates a very small solenoid valve (or similar) to provide the fast idle air for about a minute. The air would use 1/4 inch hose (about a 1/8 inch NPT valve) or have that large of a valve opening (about 5mm diameter.) I think it is possible that the Thermotime switch closes even when the coolant is hot, because it's in an area of high airflow, so a more reliable temperature sensor/switch is desirable, probably one that is considerably enclosed within the thermostat box, in the same place where the coolant bypass orifice for the AAR is!. One less hose cluttering the engine head area...

I used a little strip of aluminum from a pop can (they're useful little, and you can cut them up with hobby scissors.) I loosened the screws where the air goes into the throttle, slipped the strip in, and tightened. The cardboard strip I tried before had a hole in it. I used a knife to trim off most the exposed part of the aluminum strip. Now the idle is very low when you start the engine, as you'd expect) so I give it a minute to warm up by stepping on the gas pedal a little. You'd think they would add a thing to do that for you! Something like a timed valve to increase the idle for about a minute? If only you could get a thermotime switch that closed after about a minute when the coolant is 'cool'. You could add a solenoid valve, and take off the AAR.

There are a bunch of hotels with affordable rates (under $90 a night) near Lexington, all with some rooms available. I'm only 5 miles from the track.

It would really be something if we could get "everybody" to MidOhio this year. Actually, 2010 was the year when they had Datsun as the featured marque, but having the BAD challenge is kinda special too. Maybe John Morton will be there; I didn't have a good autograph book in 2010.

I was looking at the schedule, and I noticed an entry called Bmw/Alfa/Datsun race, which is why it's called the BAD Challenge. Neat, huh? I'm going down Friday morning and be there about 8am. I'll see whoever is there.