TopSpeed Time Attack Treck Across the Country*Destination Miller Motorsports*
Well Ladies and Gentleman (mostly gentleman) The trek across the country from Atlanta, GA to Salt Lake City, UT begins! Me and three others are set out to the Red-Line time attack at Miller Motorsports on Saturday.
Redline: Time Attack!!
(The Agenda)
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Cobb Tuning Thursday night by 5pm to retune the race car at 5,000ft. +
Miller Friday for last minute tests and setup
Miller Saturday to kick a**
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(The Crew)
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1) Doug Wilks
founder, owner, tuner TopSpeed in Alpheretta, GA
2) Cicio
friend, logger, photographer(yeah right), IT, helper, tech, driver(the rig that is)
3) Justin
friend, tech, beer drinker
4) Keith
friend, general keep awake and good extra hand
Day #1
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Monday the day started with some dyno time for the race car. Doug threw her on the dyno and started at his magic! After a few pulls she was sounding good and running strong! We then started loading the rig with everything we would need at the race track. ie....tools/tires/welders/straps/race fuel/jugs/chairs/canapys/extra parts/....and lets not forget.....the race car!
nto the rig goes the clothes/cameras/laptops/food/drinks/sleeping bags/blankets/pillows...you get the idea. Oh and lets not forget the xboxAt about 3pm Justin and Keith show up from Jacksonville,FL and we get on the road.
The drive begins, we are all excited and full of energy and high hopes for a great week. We get about 50 miles and realize that the rig is loosing coolant. (not good) After pulling over and looking around we found that it was coming from the overflow on the coolant reservoir (or what we thought was a coolant reservoir. So we do a pressure test on the coolant system (which came out fine) we decided it must be the cap that wasn't holding pressure. So off to auto zone to get a new cap, topped off the coolant, installed the new cap and back on the road.
Yep....we wish it was that easy...5 miles down the road here comes the coolant again. Doug decided there was no way we were gonna make it on the rig (we all thought it had a blow head gasket) So we turned around and headed back to TopSpeed.
Our plan "B" was to get in the dually pickup....hook to the smaller trailer and get back on the road. (none of us were very excited about taking an almost 40 hour drive in a extended cab pickup BUT we were going to do it)
Doug and I decided to get on google and see if I could find a 24 hour truck service station to at least get the rig diagnosed before starting the LONG trip in the little pickup. We were 3 miles from getting back to TopSpeed when I finally got ahold of a nice mechanic, coolant reservoir he said? Thats not a reservoir, thats an expansion tank..you never fill that all the way up!
We are race car guys we informed him....we fill our coolant to the top
So AROUND we turned again and RE-started the journey. (it was 10pm by this time)
So after Doug and I taking turns driving through the night, the morning finds us in St Louis, MO! The rig is running great, and the crew is pumped and ready for action.
I will be updating and responding to this thread when I am not driving, and Doug will be when I am. So ask questions, make comments and wish us luck!
Subys FTW!
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