[theastronaut]

Didn't realize it's been so long since I updated this. The red car is munching oil and fouling plugs on two cylinders so I haven't been able to drive it any since getting it running. I need to check to see if it's the rings or just valve stem seals but it's been too cold to mess with it and I've been having too much fun with the white car...

I took the white car to Arizona again for the Festiva Insanity track event from Feb 2-3rd. The total trip was 5,257 miles with no major problems. I had a flat tire in Texas on the way out and the shifter linkage bolt at the shifter came loose in Alambama on the way home. I averaged 30 mpg at 90-95 mph, mid 30's at 80-85, and 39-40 mpg at 65-75 mph. It used about two quarts of oil over the 5200 miles trip, including what was blown into the catch can on the track; the original engine venting wasn't made to handle 4-6000 rpm for 300+ miles


I left SC on Saturday morning and arrived in Phoenix on Monday night. The hotels I stayed in each night were super friendly and let me bring my race tires in took keep them from dropping below freezing on my way out. My sister and brother in law flew out and met me on tuesday night to do some sightseeing before heading to the track on Friday. We took 89a from Prescott, through Sedona on our way to Flagstaff, then spent all of the next day the Grand Canyon National Park.












I ran a best of 2:17.14 on 120tw 165/50-15 Nankang NS2R street/track tires last year. This year's best was a 2:14.75 on softer 80tw 185/60-13 Nankang AR-1 dot legal track tires. The new wheel/tire package was about 43 pounds lighter for the set than last year's set, plus I've added a cam and header which added a few mph on the longest straights. I put in 312 miles on the track over two days, and it rained the second day so it was super fun to practice sliding and drifting the car (next to last pic) at lower grip levels without chewing the tires up.
















Also, my BIL has been wanting a Festiva so I gave him one of mine for his birthday last month. It's complete and will run on starting fluid so it shouldn't be much of a project to get it back on the road. We pulled the interior out this weekend to start the cleaning/detailing process.