January 2009 Archives

I recently developed a leak in my gas tank and due to the fine Italian engineering you must pull the motor to get the tank out. Since the motor was out I decided to open it up and refresh things. We've put 4 open road races ( including one at 5800 for 35 minutes ), 6 track events, and many road miles.

I opened up the manifold to find that two of my Comp Cams roller lifters had worn badly on the roller due to bearing failure or over tightning. Also the two cam lobes were also worn. Additionally I found one coil spring which lost a coil and broke.

After all my bragging about how this motor has held up despite the roller lifter setup, she finally had it. I do have to give some props to Comp Cams, after I called them with my situation they give me a big discount on replacement parts.

All, rumors of my involvement in a reality TV show are true! I recently participated in the second season of Bullrun which is set to air on Speed TV Feb 19th at 10pm EST.

"The show, based on the international rally of the same name, follows 12 teams of diverse personalities, driving everything from Corvettes to Ferraris to a VW microbus across 3,500 miles of the southwestern United States in search of fame and fortune. They don't just drive from point A to point B - without benefit of GPS navigation or cell phones. The teams also must survive challenges, conflicts and car problems to try to win $200,000 in cash and prizes."

http://auto-racing.speedtv.com/article/popular-bullrun-moves-to-speed-for-2009

http://www.bullrun.com/node/5

Each episode a "rally" leg is driven and a "challenge" is held with the two last place teams and a third team selected by the first place team. The team with the lowest combined time is sent home. It was an amazing experience being on the show but I cannot contest to the "reality" of the show, as the producers have many ways to "script" the reality into their vision. My participation was an experience of a lifetime.

Current commercial featuring the "smoking" Pantera is on YouTube;

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6JZrkBjbRIg

After the show airs I will be able to discuss in more details what happened.

Now back to your regularly scheduled program.