Last OLOA 2013 day

Bad night, the rotator cuff (or bursitis) in my left shoulder makes it hard to sleep, much less do anything else. But today is last day and after the awards luncheon, we will head straight home to our families.

The schedule today is; 8 am group picture with a dry skid pad event after that. The awards banquet is the last event, chances to say see you next year, compare notes, etc. we will buggie on out of here as soon as it is over. 

We arrived at Tire Rack around 7:30AM with temp at 45 degrees and a steady wind and haze of moisture in the air. We feel like we are in a cloud and getting soaked slowly. I am taking shelter in the car to complete my blog entry and staying dry and warm for now. Picture soon, have to run.

Pictures will be mostly on Instagram under rstauffer43 if you are interested.

Remember, we are raising $$ for Pa Breast Cancer Coalition Nd appreciate any donations you could make. Checks should go to PBCC at 344 N Reading Road, Ephrata, Pa Attn.: ONELAP 2013. Thank you for any donations.

Last round at Pittsburgh

Scott on his first hot lap at Pittsburgh.

Jim on his last hot lap at Pittsburgh. 

Signing off for now.

Pictures will be mostly on Instagram under rstauffer43 if you are interested.

Remember, we are raising $$ for Pa Breast Cancer Coalition Nd appreciate any donations you could make. Checks should go to them at 344 N Reading Road, Ephrata, Pa, Attn: ONELAP 2013. Thank you for any donations in advance

Noon at Pittsburgh Intl Race Complex

The morning race is done and we were able to gain a position in the overall Standings. We had rain this morning but it was light and did not affect the track too much, but I think it did affect the drivers. It seems like there is better times to be had, but what do I know, I'm not racing at all.  This afternoon race will start around noon and probably finish by 2 pm. Then we can get on the road to South Bend, IN and get ready for the last day. 

Arrived in Virginia

We made it to the hotel tonight by 10 PM. What a luxury for us, but tomorrow is 3 races at VIR and that will be possibly a long day. After those races we will drive to Wampum, PA and Pittsburg International Race Track.
Today ended with a trip to the BMW Performance Center and a Autocross/Road race hybrid. Tight turns and elevation changes are challenging and a cone costs 10 seconds as Scott Breneman found out. That marks one of the few times we saw Scott's score on the same page as ours.

Pictures will be mostly on Instagram under rstauffer43 if you are interested.
Remember, we are raising $$ for Pa Breast Cancer Coalition Nd appreciate any donations you could make. Checks should go to them at 344 N Reading Road, Ephrata, Pa, Attn: ONELAP 2013. Thank you for any donations in advance

Carolina Motorsports Wed

Ok, we had a good session going for the morning when we smelled oil on Jim's first hot lap. By the second and third hot laps, he was smoking a lot, all oil smoke. He got to our pit area and stopped, and opened the hood, what a mess all over the engine, oil was everywhere.
After some looking and help from lots of people, Jim determined the Accu Sump oil line (AN-8) was being cut by the power steering pulley, finally letting loose this morning.
We were able to jury rig a fix with hose and clamps and Jim ran his afternoon session, although with a 10 second penalty as he ran out of his group.
The fix worked and held with no loss of oil. Yahoo!
We are on our way to BMW Performance Center and a great Autocross course and then on to Virginia International Raceway.
So, although it looked bad, we got filthy and oily, and we ran late, WE Ran and got a time and NOT a DNS! Again - Yahoo!

The afternoon sessions have started

Daytona in the afternoon is a busy place, with some repairing problems that have been identified and others getting suited up and racing. Those that are working on the problems are all in a rush to get the problems solved before their scheduled run time, or suffer 10 second penalties, or worse yet a DNS and receive no points for the afternoon.
Jim is out and lined up to run, I am organizing and blogging. We will stop downtown Daytona at Grassroots Motorsports for a treat. Then on to the Columbia, SC area for tomorrow's racing. We are now down to 68 cars as of this mornings run.
First picture is as I sit in the garage here, second is Jim going past the grandstands this morning on a hot lap
Pictures will be mostly on Instagram under rstauffer43 if you are interested.
Remember, we are raising $$ for Pa Breast Cancer Coalition Nd appreciate any donations you could make. Checks should go to them at 344 N Reading Road, Ephrata, Pa, Attn: ONELAP 2013. Thank you for any donations in advance

Arrived at Daytona Beach, FL

We arrived after a 658 mile trek, at our hotel in Daytona Beach at 1AM EST. Remembering that we also lost the hour of sleep, with the change from CST to EST and that we left at 2:30 PM CST from New Orleans, we had a 9.5 hour trip last night/morning.
Now I am of course awake at 5:30 as usual, and feeling the tiredness already, but we must press onward. Today we will have 1 morning and 1 afternoon session at the fantastic Daytona International Speedway.
Jim has started climbing the point scale, after having a slow start. He did have a small off road excursion yesterday at the beautiful NOLA Motorsports Park, but the afternoon session was much better. Scott is fighting some clutch issues, seems like it is a C5 issue that is known to happen on hard racing. Overall, we are having a great time and enjoying the racing, weather and hospitality of the people running each track. I must say, those running the tracks and race have been some of the nicest and most organized I have seen. All of our races have gone off without a hitch and are run with a minimum of wasted raceway.
Leh Keen is by far the best driver I have watched from the racetrack sidelines and it is exciting and educational to watch him run the track. All I could say yesterday was "Wow, look at him take those corners".

Pictures will be mostly on Instagram under rstauffer43 if you are interested.
Remember, we are raising $$ for Pa Breast Cancer Coalition and appreciate any donations you could make. Checks should go to them at 344 N Reading Road, Ephrata, Pa, Attn: ONELAP 2013. Thank you for any donations in advance - Rick

New Orleans and NOLA Motorsports Park

We woke at 6 am after a good nights sleep, and suffered through New Orleans traffic on Rt 10. Got to MickeyD's and had a sit down breakfast and drove to NOLA.
This is a beautiful course, less than 2 years open, and huge. We will be using the 2.75 mile course today, not the one over 5 miles long.
Gary Shenk flew in yesterday and was happy to be able to come see Jim race today. So now 4 members of LCCC are here today.

Finished in Indiana and in AL

We left Grissom AFB around 2:30 and arrived in our Alabama hotel at 11:30 (10:30 local time). Jim and I found more gas stops with McDonalds next door or in the same building. Saved time eating at MickeyDs today.
NASCAR is in town tomorrow, and our track is close enough (20 miles) to be a pain with traffic, more tomorrow on how we fair. The weather forecast is for rain tomorrow and 46 degree temps. Hopefully we will get to run at least once and maybe have a drag race.
Scott is 4th overall so far and Jim (with some ABS problems) is 27th overall. There are 59 cars that have run, with two more listed but have not run a race yet. We will see if they show up tomorrow or Monday. Tomorrow is also placements for the rest of the week. Ie. if you place 5th tomorrow, you will run 5th the rest of the week and finish each track ahead of 54 or 56 others.
We hope for a 27th or above placement.
Another cool car is the Factory Five below, that is under our 'on the road shot'.

Wet skid pad done

So far after the run, we were 10th overall, but a lot of cars still to run. 2nd in class as of Jim's run again with a lot of cars left. On the way to Grissom AFB and the auto cross.

Yellow Vette is Jim and I, Blue Vette is Scott and Nick.

Auto cross done finally. Left Grissom at 2 pm and now at 2:30 we have 515 miles to the hotel.

A bit of time to relax and read

This is probably the last time this week we will have extra time to relax. We ate a good lunch at 2:15 - I had a great Reuben, fries and a cherry coke. Tomorrow we start racing, wet skid pad is first at Tire Rack. Off to Grissom Air Force Base in Grissom, IN. After an auto cross there we will drive to Munford, AL and Talledega Gran Prix Raceway. We expect to see some traffic from NASCAR as they are also running at Talledega just a few miles away. After a morning and afternoon of road racing, we go to Alabama Intl Dragway for bracket drags.
Then the big run to New Orleans and NOLA Motorsports park, and more road racing morning and afternoon before driving to Daytona Beach.
Enough all ready, for now we rest!
Pictures will be mostly on Instagram under rstauffer43 if you are interested.
Remember, we are raising $$ for Pa Breast Cancer Coalition Nd appreciate any donations you could make. Checks should go to them at 344 N Reading Road, Ephrata, Pa, Attn: ONELAP 2013. Thank you for any donations in advance.

One Lap ready

In line for Tech, car cleaned, stickers on, ready to go.

First morning in Indiana

We made it to Indiana around 6:30 last night, checked into the hotel and ate at Applebee's. The highlight of the trip so far is that nothing that could not be fixed, was wrong with the car. On arrival, back in Pa, at Jim's house, I parked in the street to keep out of the way. Well, a small accident caused my drivers door and rear door to become pushed into the car, I will have to get that worked on when I get back to Pa.

Breakfast this morning and then on to Tire Rack to get checked in, tech the car, wash the car and put stickers on it for the race. Then we get to browse the competition and talk with everyone else there.

Pictures will be mostly on Instagram under rstauffer43 if you are interested.

Remember, we are raising $$ for Pa Breast Cancer Coalition Nd appreciate any donations you could make. Checks should go to them at 344 N Reading Road, Ephrata, Pa, Attn: ONELAP 2013. Thank you for any donations in advance.

Leaving Mt Joy for Indiana

Getting ready to start for One Lap and South Bend, IN. Car loaded, trailer loaded, Jim ready!

On the road again

Made it to Indiana and have about 100 miles to go.

Getting ready to leave on One Lap tomorrow

Trying to think of everything I need to take with me, and worried I am too concerned with the food? iPad, PowerFlask, bluetooth headset, jeans, tees, PBCC tees, flip flops, packing tape, gloves, and so much more to pack.

Looks like the snacks are ready! 

Until Ruby goes home tonight, that is it for the packing.

See you all tomorrow on the road to Indiania.

5 Day to One Lap 2013

We have been busy getting ready for One Lap this week. The iPad is connected to 3G and is ready to ride along. A Power Flask is ready to charge electronics and a new Jabra headset is ready to use on the trip. We are supporting Pa Breast Cancer Coalition again this year, and have started the raising of funds. Both Jim and I will have PBCC shirts to wear on the journey, and I still need to print out some iron on OLOA logos and iron them on the shirts.

Of course, it always pours before I leave, so I am fighting with a Windows server and crashes on a weekly basis. I think it might be ok for the trip and having me gone for the 10 days.

Ruby and Adele say they will miss me, so I loaded Skype on Adele's Nexus 10 and Ruby has FaceTime on her iPad. I think we will be connected well.

If you can, please send in a donation to Pa Breast Cancer Coalition, 344 N Reading Rd, Ephrata, Pa 17522 and mark it for One Lap 2013. Their website is at http://pbcc.me for more info on what they are doing. 

See you on the road!

One Lap 2013

It is time to start posting again for this year’s One Lap of America effort. We have already started with some of the behind the scenes work.

 

We have been working on the car and will soon be finished with the preparation. One of the goals this year is to get all of the gremlins taken care of before the trip. Last year (2012) it looked like Jim was headed for a top 15-20 finish early on only to have a tuning problem set him back a couple times and they started slipping. He still finished in the top half but we are working to improve on that this year.

 

I have included a map that will show you our route this year. Try clicking on the map to enlarge it so you see it in better detail. Tire Rack has been one of the national sponsors for about 10 years now and since then the event has started at their location in South Bend, Indiana with a wet skid pad competition on their test track facility. After that we are off to tracks in Alabama, New Orleans, Florida, the Carolinas, Virginia, Pennsylvania and back to Indiana. We will compete in about 20 events. They are mostly road courses plus a wet skid pad, an autocross on the runways at Grissom Air Force Base, two drag strip events, and a dry skid pad competition all in eight days.

We expect to log over 5,000 miles in total counting the trip to the starting point in South Bend and back. The official route will be about 3400 miles plus the miles on the tracks and round trip to South |Bend which will add up to the total.

Keep checking back for more news. I will try to post an update every week or so and continue to post until we return.

Thanks to all of you who follow along and I hope you enjoy it. Also, please feel free to share the blog address with anyone who is a motor-sports enthusiast or who you might think would also enjoy following this grueling motor-sports event.

The Brock Yates One Lap of America has its roots in the not very legal, Cannonball Run of the early 1970's where the goal was to get from New York City to Redondo Beach, California as fast as possible. After three of those races and then trying a few different formats of competition from 1985 to 1991, mostly road rallies while driving around the United States, the present style of One Lap of America was started in 1992. In this format all the competition takes place on the tracks, but the endurance part comes in traveling from track to track sometimes as much as 600 miles a day.

Jim Roberts has a blog at http://onelapadventure.blogspot.com

Rick Stauffer has a blog at http://rick1lap.blogspot.com/

PA Breast Cancer Coalition info is at http://pbcc.me

Jim and Rick will be blogging every day, either between races or while riding in the passenger’s seat during the drive between race tracks.

Jim Roberts (717) 653-1023 jimbobcorv@embarqmail.com

Rick Stauffer  (717) 951-4908 rick@ephrata.com

Accepting Donations for PA Breast Cancer Coalition