My wife threw together a quick video entry for the Post-It Notes "You Stuck it Where?" contest.   BlueFirePony is the star of the Video ;)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tegszsyG6m8

If you are thinking about taking your car to a road course or even contemplating racing you might find something useful in here.

http://www.bluefireracing.net/Article.aspx?aid=bfpbuild

I started the article a couple years ago and then finally found time this weekend to at least get most of it done. 

Had another great time racing last weekend with the NASA Texas American Iron/Camaro Mustang Challenge series.

With all the move and everything I only had time to make the Saturday sessions.  I got to the track on Friday to try and get the car sorted out early but the rain was crazy all day.  About 6 of us got there by midday and had lunch together.  I finally just unloaded around 5PM and headed home hoping the rain would stop..."it can't rain all the time".

Saturday, woke to no rain at home..yeahh!...as we drove to the track (2 hour drive), it started to rain...nooooo!!!

Sure enough light rain through the early morning made for a VERY wet track...I punted on practice session...those that ventured out had fun but no real practice on any lines or braking...just too goofey slick.  MSR Cresson is one of the slickest tracks in the country when it is dry.,..crazy slick when it is wet.

Qualifying was interesting...I did a 4 tank slapper on my out lap.  Kept her on the track though :)  I think someone has some video of my *adventure* - I'll post when I find it.

Finally just decided to just drift the turns and then it got fun!!

Race 1 was pretty slick but we managed decent laps.  I finished 3rd in class...which is not that big a deal since there were only four AI cars out that weekend...we did have the largest field of CMC cars though...20 cars so the field was a good size and made for great racing on a 1.7 mile track.

I managed to finally get my wheels under me and made a run for 2nd place in the last lap...me and the #132 had a cool drag race to the checkered flag and he inched me out by .2 seconds.

We had an inverted start for Race 2...which put me outside pole - only the pole sitter chose outside so I got inside!!

Yeah well don't get to excited...I screwed it up...I had 1st place for all of about half a second and then a comedy of errors dropped me back to last in class and I think 7th overall?

I fought back through the field and actually finished in 2nd place in class and got the 4th fastest lap time of the race...so not too shabby for a Rookie

Lots to learn but I am making progress!!

I've uploaded some in-car from last weekend.  Sadly I had camera issues for the first race so nothing there.  Window cam did not like the high capacity stick I had and ...er...hmmm. forgot to load tape into the in-car camera

 ...too bad since the track was pretty wet and made for a lot of *drama* during that race.

Just to show my humility and hopefully so others can learn from my mistakes, I've uploaded a great 3 step program to losing 1st place....do what I say...not what I do

I finally had time to clip out some of the in-car video from the American Iron/Camaro Mustang Challenge race at Eagles Canyon Raceway in October.

I've uploaded three new videos:

1. Start of the race - check out that awesome 1969 Camaro that gridded up in front of me.  That car has been a race car since 1970 and competed in the Trans Am races during the 1970's I believe.
2. Have Mustang, Must Pass - Honestly I still can't believe I had the balls to try this pass.  I set it up perfectly and was almost ready to give up...luck or skill?  You decide :)
3. In Too Hot - just to prove that I still have a lot to learn, in particular about tire and brake management - here's some evidence.  I had an issue with the right front brake duct so I took them both off in order to get to grid on time...bad idea.  I clearly cooked the brakes and well...just glad I managed to keep her on the track...that would have been nasty.

Hope you all enjoy!  Let me know what you think...always welcome comments!

Well, it's been a LONG time in the making, but I finally drove BFP in her first weekend of wheel-to-wheel racing at Eagles Canyon this past weekend.

The NASA Texas AI/CMC gang is a fantastic group of weekend racers and everyone had a blast on and off the track.

Being a rookie I started each race from the back, and despite being a tad under-powered, BFP still made a respectable showing.

 I also had a chance to hang a bit with the Texas Time Trials crew who welcomed me in their midst earlier this year while BFP was being prepped for legal race prep - they are also a great group of people!

I've got in-car video from most of the quallification and races that I will post in a week or so once I have a chance.

In the meantime, here's a montage from one of the other racers...look for BFP's cameo appearances at the beginning and then toward the end

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hq8WeYHi8OI

Well, my pony has street smarts and track 'tude and has NEVER been a trailer Queen...well all that will change next year as we look to campaign BlueFirePony in NASA and SCCA.

I'm excited and sad at the same time.  BFP has demonstrated the true pony heritage for the last couple of years taking me around the track, to work and to the grocery store all in the same weekend.,,and she's looked DAMN good doing it.

To finish out the year I drove her down to MSR Houston in late October for some test n' tune in preparation for next year.

Have some video from that weekend on my page if you are interested.

Getting these done one at a time..if I could upload a 1.5G video it would be done already

Anyway, just uploaded Lap 2 video...this is after my buddies in the mini coopers...the vette's gridded up together at the front so it took a lap for me to catch them

I probably should have passed the first 'vette early in the lap, but I had gotten black flagged earlier for a pass in that zone so I got off the throttle and waved it off - turns out I got radioed that the grid marshall was mistaken and I get a nice pass in that same section on my buddy in his porche later on.

 And yes, I did miss my shift and hit the stupid wind shield wipers..and you can see how much aero drag they caused

 Edit: Uploaded Lap 3 vid...more 'vettes

I've just uploaded another in-car vid...this is the first hot lap from a session a couple weeks back.

I gridded up behind a few of my buddies in their supercharged mini coopers.  Those things are great momentum cars and a lot of fun.

My wife added a track map so you can follow along; I'll do some commentary and other stuff later - have several other videos in "post-production" now...should be uploaded this week.

 Enjoy!

I managed to remember the camera mount AND the camera this weekend so I actually have some in-car video to share from this past weekend at MSR Cresson.

I just uploaded a quick shorty that had no other cars in view for now.  I'll upload more interesting video after I edit to blur license plates and such - I am a good internet citizen yes I am :)

So take a look and come on back in a week and I'll have more.

 Let me know what you think.

Had a great time cruising to Austin and enjoying the MOCATX 27th Annual Roundup of Mustangs and other Fords.

We had 3 generations of Mustangs on the cruise from 1966 to present (gotta give HUGE props to the guys who brought their '66 and '68 with us on a 200+mile cruise!!)

At the show there was just about every model and configuration of Mustang...I am sure I missed taking a photo of more than one though!

Hope you enjoy the photos

Cruise and Car Show Photos

Some more that Shoot To Kill (1994 Cobra pace car) took.