Mission CACC Race #5

Post by **bertvorgon** » 20 Aug 2023 10:24

Morning World,

Saturday, Aug 19..my alarm screams for me to wake up at 5 AM. I like to have 2 hours to decaffeinate,
at least a few cups under the belt.

In the early light I could see that the fire smoke was spilling into the lower mainland, the Eastern sky was ORANGE!

As I still cannot break my lifelong pattern of having a clean car BEFORE a trip, I washed the Infinity at 6:30 AM.

The drive out Zero Avenue was so nice, no traffic, quiet, spying small rabbits along the way.

Arriving at the track by 8 Am, the orange sun was up, Mnt. Baker gone in the smoke.

Routine is that we all have a nice coffee and donuts together under the canopy, violating our mantra of NO SUGAR. I do a quick wander of the pits to say hi to anyone I know and snap a few pics, while the light is nice.

Larry Sandham was there in his Mini, a competitor of mine over the years at Knox Mnt. Hillclimb. I saw Dave Doan's old 510 but did not spy the new owner anywhere.

Malcolm as there with his 510, looking really good.

Over the day a few other people from my past showed up, one with sad news that RANDY CUSTER had passed away, He was one of the first people I had set my sights on beating, back in the 70's at Boundary Bay.
Bizzare thing too, I had just been looking at a picture of him and his car the day before, to bring it to the track in case he showed up..CRAZY!!!

John Haftner also came to get some race fuel from Andy, his NEW car almost ready, but it will not be a Knox car this time, Solo only. So nice to see him too, as he also goes back to the 70's with me.

Race car routine...start car about 20 minutes before per-grid, oil MUST be to temp, so it does take some time. Tire pressures checked, eye-ball EVERYTHING.

10 minutes before pre-grid, Tracey gets in, radio hooked up, Hans on, belts tight, window net on. Push car back, help car go forward...off she goes.

Practice, a few laps, Tracey comes into hot pits, lets Andy know what wide band showing, all good, in the 11's.

Car in, tires checked again, visual on brake calipers to make sure no debris between caliper and rim, visual of engine, soaking wet cloth onto waste gate arm and leaf blower onto turbo to help cool it down. My tinnitus starts with a vengeance.

More coffee....and donut....

Qualifying, repeat above, Tracey has traffic to deal with but qualifies on the pole! Next to her the Dodge Viper and then Malcolm.

Repeat procedure. Lunch break, QUIET for a bit....maybe another donut....yikes.

Race...Tracy and Viper have at it for a few laps with Malcolm doing a fantastic job hanging in! Tracey destroys the pack, leaving Malcolm and Viper for a barn burner of a race. Viper had a bit more torque out of the corners, but Malc would suck him in on some corners and braking, at one point diving to the inside, almost getting him but the Viper guy was driving his mirror, so no way was he going to open any small hole.

A small "pit maneuver" would have worked here..snicker...snicker..

Malcolm drove that 510's wheels off, did a great lap time, car looked so very good on the track.

Race over, Tracey wins, Viper second and Malc 3rd.

By now it was hot at the Track, 29C and the smoke was down pretty good at that point, a white haze in the trees on the other side of the track. Hopefully not too bad today.

I did not take a lot of pictures this time, figured you have seen enough of the Miata.

I retraced my steps at 4 PM, with traffic not too bad on the way back. Zero avenue was busier but at least above the slow speed limit.

Post by **bertvorgon** » 20 Aug 2023 10:25

Post by **bertvorgon** » 20 Aug 2023 10:30

Murphy showed up for Don Nimi in the Formula Ford. As they started to get the car ready, when they tried to start it the starter motor made funny noises and then would not disengage.

Long story short it came out and various people worked on it for over 4 hours, even Andy. The motor came part, clean, went back in..back out, etc.

Bottom line was that it was NOT the starter motor at all...when Don jacked the car up the jack was slightly hitting the flywheel, which is exposed on those cars!

They did make it for their race!

Post by **bertvorgon** » 20 Aug 2023 10:39

R.I.P. RANDY CUSTER

This photo shows Randy being given his muffler back when it came off during one of his runs at Boundary Bay
in the mid 70's. He ran Atlantic tires on that totally stripped car. He would go up to Westwood back then and buy the off takes from the Formula Atlantic teams.

That is when I started buying the Atlantic fronts from Randy, to begin my life with race tires on my 510.

Problem with the Atlantics , as it turned out, as they were not made for the weight of a 510, the front of an Atlantic was really light. Good thing they were relatively cheap then. Randy taught me how to plug a race tire.....

BEO 510 · Post by **BEO 510** » 26 Aug 2023 02:14

I really like these reports. There is something in my memory about the name Don Nimi and a very trick/high tech 510. Partly or full tube frame/chassi?
Painting reminded about those Nissan teams 300ZX. (blue and red with white)
Can't remember where or when i was reading about that car, but it must be more than twenty years ago i think.
Nimi's 510 i think the article said. Is my memory into something?

iceman510 · Post by **iceman510** » 26 Aug 2023 07:23

Here's some mention of Don's car.

https://ratsun.net/topic/69540-looking- ... race-cars/

Doesn't look like the link to the car info is any good though.

Post by **bertvorgon** » 26 Aug 2023 07:48

Your memory is good.

Specialty Engineering built the tube frame 510, commissioned by a fellow named Brian Richards. He ran the car till he decided he wanted to run Trans-Am, at which point Don Nimi bought the car. He ran it for many years up and down on the West Coast. The engine hatched at a time that Don was so very busy and it has sat now in his garage.

It is a FULL tube frame car.

These pictures are of the FIRST test day we did with the car at Westwood Race track, Andy of course first drove the car. I would have to look in my album ( pre-digital cameras) to see if I have a picture of the car in Don's colours. Ah, I do have them scanned.

Brian had a 510 before he decided to have the tube frame built, then it was sold. That person on the orange fire suit is the founder of the 510 Club of B.C. at the Knox Mountain hill climb, Noel Koehn.

I had the honor of driving the tube frame 510 at Mission Raceway, during one of our club track days. Just as I was getting a feel for the car...the throttle stuck wide open on the back side of the track...HOLY CRUDMUCKER....!!! I managed to hit the kill button and coast off the track, as the motor was heading to the moon!

Post by **bertvorgon** » 26 Aug 2023 07:49

Final pic at Westwood

Post by **bertvorgon** » 26 Aug 2023 08:07

At least I can hijack my own thread..heh..heh

Might you have been thinking of the "Killer Colt" that Andy built during the late 70's? When I first met Andy in 77/78' he had the Dodge Colt 1600 in a Datsun 1200, with a suck through turbo system. It made close to 300 Hp then. For anyone that had a ride in this thing, it was an insane, scary, heart stopping blast into hyper dive. Andy would run it till something let go, and then make it stronger.

Post by **bertvorgon** » 26 Aug 2023 08:15

Wow, were we all kids then.....so much fun in those days as a collective group of racers.

The local neighbour's close to Andy's shop hated race weekends, as at the crack of dawn race engines fired up to be loaded or DRIVEN to the track.

Andy at the time also built and raced a "Super Bike", an insane machine of there ever there was. One morning, 6:00 AM, we pushed it outside and fired it up, the crack of the exhaust resonating through the new apartment towers. WE shut it off, and then..I heard faintly...a voice screaming at the top of their lungs from the 20th story...."SHUT UP....SHUT THE F*#K UP...SHUT THE F*#K"IN HELL UP!!!!!. We quickly rolled the bike into the shop and closed the door. Too funny.

BEO 510 · Post by **BEO 510** » 26 Aug 2023 13:13

Great! As #75 is how i remember the car, as #21 i don't think/remember i have seen it. Iceman510, not sure if i have seen your link before but it was not there i read about the car. Keith, since 2010 when i started reading here, i think i have been reading everything you have posted. And that is too many post to keep tracks on in my memory. Add all the other great post's here and forgetting is a sure bet. The colt i recognize from your post's. What's the origin of the colt? A Dodge? (i am thinking of the Mitsubishi colt?).

iceman510 · Post by **iceman510** » 26 Aug 2023 18:30

Mitsubishi made the Dodge Colt and Plymouth Champ (maybe different in Canada) for Chrysler as "Captive" imports in the 70's. This continued into the 90's I think. Mitsubishi used the Colt name on their own cars in Japan, but never in the US. The Mirage was the name for their version here.

SeeDub_17 · Post by **SeeDub_17** » 13 Sep 2023 12:41

Is the red #727 510 Noel's old car? Looks the same as it did in the early 2000's racing at the Indy. Loved seeing that car when we brought our car from Edmonton down. With all the wild cars at that event it was always one of my favorites.

Dreamed one day of having a race car just like it.

Post by **bertvorgon** » 15 Sep 2023 11:35

That would be correct.

Georges Kruzecamp built that car at the same time I built mine and Tracey's.

George did most of the rear tub himself with some help from Specialty, ran it successfully at Westwood till it closed. He lapped in the 15's.

Then car was sold to Pete Robichaud/Noel Florack, then to Malcolm. Pete drove it at INDY.

Here are some pics of when the cars were right out of the body shop and we went to test at Westwood.

George working on his car and in the top photo, ALL the Specialty 510's, Tracey, George, Collin and mine. Cool thing is they all still exist to this day, other than Tracey's car is still awaiting the re-do.