Tuesday, May 31, 2016

June Update


Happy month of June, and a quick shout out Happy Birthday to the Nixon Motor Sports #1 Pit Crew Fan Julie Nixon!

Nixon Motor Sports has announced that June 18th will be the first time in 2016 that will see both NMS founding drivers co-driving the same car. This will mark the third year in a row that the NMS team has competed together on Father's Day Weekend, so remember, you should always let Dad win!


The NMS Miata will be competing with the North Carolina Region of the Sports Car Club of America on June 18th at Marine Corps Air Station Cherry Point near Havelock NC. While most of the press is predicting that Brian will take the NMS victory in his own car, others have stated that Robert will be able to out-drive the Miata man and take round one in the NMS-Showdown for Bragging Rights 16. You can check out the current registration list at this link: NCR LINK

NMS South at the SCCA National Convention

After that Saturday event on neutral ground in North Carolina, the NMS team will be competing again the next day farther north at Joint Base Little Creek in Virginia. This makes for an all military base weekend, one event at a Marine base and the other on a mostly Navy base, so we'll call it a little salute to America! For the Sunday autocross with the Tidewater Sports Car Club, NMS plans on running Brian in the Miata's ES class, while Robert will return to the FIAT in GS class. Cars entered at this event are listed at this link: TSCC LINK


What could be better than two autocross events on a two day weekend? Nothing.

Monday, May 30, 2016

Fun from Honda!

Not a Honda, but an Acura NSX, same thing!
Honda has a good reputation for building reliable cars, but did you know they also sponsor several auto racing events? Just for fun, here's a couple of Honday events you might want to check out.

First off, who wouldn't want to ride in an Indy car with Mario Andretti? You can enter this contest, for FREE, every day, and you might win a ride-along with Mario (or another famous racing driver) on the warm up lap for one of the IndyCar races!) Sorry, it doesn't look like you get to drive, but you will be in a special 2 seater Indy car, on the track, right before the race starts, so that's as close to being a racing driver that you're likely to be!  Enter the "Fastest Seat in Sports" contest at this link: Race With Honda LINK

Oh, and besides the riding in the car part, of course Honda will fly you and a friend to the race, put you up in a hotel, and get you into the race too!

OK, now here's another fun link on the Honda website. They call this the "Indycar Simulator." You enter your address, or any address you want, and then the program creates a lap around the neighborhood, and then simulates what it would look like if you could drive it at about 180mph! I think it's just a sped up version of the street view from say Google Maps but you probably get the idea. The video doesn't seem to scroll as smoothly as  it could, but it's a fun little freebie you might like. Hit this link and hold on to your seat: IndyCar Simulator


Friday, May 27, 2016

The Pick-N-Pull Airshow: Adventures and Alternators!

One word: HALF PRICE SALE!

Here at NMS, we pretty much enjoy anything involving automobiles. We also appreciate saving money. So, when we heard the good news that the local Pick-n-Pull auto yard was having a 50% off sale for Memorial Day weekend, we put out the word to our friends, and received a request for a 1998 Mitsubishi Galant alternator. A quick check of the on-line list of cars available showed that they had one such car, so we headed on out this morning with a bag-o-tools (and some gloves) to see what we could find.

Saab, Honda, Toyota, Gazing for Galants
OK, I didn't head RIGHT out, first I had to Google what one of these things would cost at the auto-parts store, and it looked to be about a $125 part. With the half off sale and a bit of work from under the hood of a wrecked one, it would only cost about $19. Sounds like a deal, let's do this!

98 Galant FOUND!
One good thing about Pick-n-Pull, they put all the Fords together, all the Chevys together, and all the imports together. That meant I only had to wander several aisles of BMWs, Volvos, Saabs, Toyotas, Hondas, etc, until I found the Galant. The first two Galants I found were the wrong year, so if nothing else I got some great practice on my smart phone looking up Galant VIN numbers to make sure I had the right year. Finally I found it, the elusive 98 Galant!

Alternator after Surgery

It looked to be in good shape compared to most of the cars that had been picked over, and the hood wasn't even open. After prying the hood up with a screwdriver, the engine bay looked a bit dirty and oily, but all the parts were there! First step, find the alternator! Lucky for me I'd looked this up on line and knew that it only would take removing a few bolts, removing the battery connection, and maybe one other electrical wire. Easy!

The P&P Air Show part comes in right here, because this lot is close to the Oceana Naval Air Station in Virginia Beach. Not a big deal, but that means that every 15 minutes or so you might enjoy a fly-over from some screaming Navy jets! A few of them were directly overhead, usually when I was busy under the car without a camera in my hands!  Here's a few shots anyway. (Yes, they are loud!)




There's a hand in the white car, some guy getting some parts!


After finding the alternator, it just took some wrenching from the top, and some wrenching from underneath to free the alternator. Laying on your back on a pile of gravel on a warm morning isn't the worst thing in the world, so other than not having a ratcheting wrench that would have gotten this one particular bolt off much faster, it wasn't so bad. I'll remember to take more wrenches next time.

After finding the alternator and heading for my car, I noticed that Pick-n-Pull also sells full cars, so I checked out a couple. If you're looking for a cheap car, that's probably OK with a little work, they've probably got something for you! For the average price of a new car sold in the US (about $32,000), you could go through a lot of these and save a lot of money over the years!

Volvo wagon for $1199, why not?

BMW 7 series under $1500, sure!

Find of the day: 72 BUICK for $1400!

Wednesday, May 25, 2016

Memorial Day Motor Racing Multiplies! SUNDAY SUNDAY SUNDAY!

Does NMS do Charlotte? Brian says YES!

Have we got a deal for you! Not ONE!

NOT TWO!

BUT THREE GIGANTIC RACES THIS SUNDAY!

OK, it happens every year on the last Sunday in May, but it's still very cool!

FORMULA ONE=MONACO!

INDY CARS=THE 100th RUNNING OF THE INDY 500!

NASCAR=THE COCA-COLA 600 FROM CHARLOTTE MOTOR SPEEDWAY!

Does NMS do Indy? Robert says YES!


If  you can't be in all three places at once, you can probably find your couch and tune in to a LOT of racing action starting this Thursday. From what we could find on  line, here's some of the practices, qualifying, and racing coming up:





THURSDAY
TIME
NETWORK
F1 PRACTICE 1
4AM
NBCSN APP

F1 PRACTICE 2
8AM
NBCSN

NASCAR QUALIFYING
7PM
FOX





FRIDAY



F1 PRACTICE 2
12AM
NBCSN

INDY CARB DAY
11AM
NBCSN

INDY LIGHTS 100
12PM
NBCSN

INDY CARB DAY
1PM
NBCSN





SATURDAY



F1 PRACTICE 3
5AM
NBCSN APP

F1 QUALIFYING
8AM
NBCSN

NASCAR PRACTICE
10AM
FS1

F1 QUALIFYING
1130PM
NBCSN





SUNDAY



F1 PRE-RACE
7AM
NBCSN

F1 RACE MONACO
8AM
NBC

F1 POST-RACE
10AM
NBCSN

F1 RACE RE-RUN
1030AM
NBCSN

INDY 500 RACE
12PM
ABC

GP2 MONACO
130PM
NBCSN

NASCAR PRE-RACE
530PM
FOX

NASCAR RACE
6PM
FOX

F1 RACE RE-RUN
11PM
NBCSN