IcemanG17

way to go Dr Rob....I also agree with your "street legal" learning plan, since a trailer and tow rig cost big money....

Honestly a 2800ish lb 928 with a well running stock S4 engine is PLENTY fast on a track.....my old Estate had a whopping 198whp at 2800lbs and got around the track pretty good....Casper is near 2600lbs with 243whp and its worlds better...

You are gonna have SO much fun.....take your time and LEARN......spend your time-$$$ on seat time plus instruction (Mark and Jim are great choices)......

Down the road we will have to get you up to norcal or we can come down...buttonwillow is about inbetween us.... NASA has DE groups every race weekend..... We will race, you can run DE....just like what Anderson and Dennis used to do years ago....

dr bob

Does the other dr edwards know yet?


I did the weekend racer gig for a few years in the early 1980's. Not married, no kids to pay attention to or put through college. Campaigning a car, even with excellent sponsorship (engines, plus tires x 2, and access to a good fab shop), the little 'hobby' chewed through spare time and capital at a fierce rate. It's way addictive.

.....

Remember that the car will smog fine with doors that don't open and headlights that don't work, so long as all the smog and exhaust pieces are there.

That said,... An even marginally competitive racer is unusable on the street, and trying to manage any 'conversion' back and forth on a regular basis will prove overwhelming. You can't really "race" a car that you must drive home from the track.

Were it mine to plan, the GT would go on the market now, the GTS would stay on as the road car, and the race car would stay the race car. You will have logistics with storing the car and the trailer (trust you made a package deal...), plus you'll need a reliable tow vehicle with the same storage requirements.

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I miss wrenching weekends, and thoroughly enjoy prepping the cars for duty. You should have the logbook with SCCA/NASA/POC/PCA blessings, and hopefully have all of Mark's setup notes. Get your safety gear (suit/helmet/etc), new belts in the car, and start a Renn sponsor fund so we can donate to it discretely. Call it "Rob's Baby Always Needs New Shoes" so we can support your needs. Put a picture of one of the kids on the title page. Buy a fractional share of 928 International with the car to help with spares and such.

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Congrats on the purchase, by the way!

Rob Edwards

I don't know the history of that name. I asked Mark the other day and he said he never gave any of his racers a name, but there was an Excellence article written about it in October 2001 where the author called it the White Zombie.

Here's a scan of that article (most of the pics from the 2001 Speedvision WC race at Lime Rock, May 28, 2001. Mark qualified 18th, and finished 25th, with mechanical issues after 7 laps :

https://webfiles.uci.edu/redwards/pu...e%20Zombie.pdf

Rob Edwards

Bob-

College accounts are on track (25% of my pay check, every month, for 10 years now...), and after this home remodelling project, I have been appropriately conditioned to hemorrhaging cash at a frightening rate.

The other Dr. Edwards is on board, contingent on the GT going bye-bye. I am in the process of replacing the (9000 mile old) timing belt, putting new rotors and pads all around, the biennial coolant and brake flush, and a detail, and she'll go on the market. (The GT, not Dr. Swimbo...) Will be interesting to see what I can get for an admittedly high-ish miles GT that is in outstanding cosmetic and mechanical condition. So with the GT gone, I'll be down to street car + race car, with 2 2-car garages to spread them over.

I know this is going to sound incredibly naive, not having actually really taken a hit off the Go-Fast crack pipe, but I am purposefully handicapping this effort by putting the car back to street legality for now. I cannot realistically store a trailer and tow rig at home, so driving to track days will be a given for now, however painful that is in a caged car with no sound insulation (It did not escape notice that PorKen appears at Sharktoberfests with earplugs on a rope, around his neck.....) I am not looking at this as a racing effort, but more of a weekend POC PDS driver's clinics/NASA DE / track-day car. If I discover that I suck at this, then it can stay at that level. If I want to move on, all the light/go-fast pieces can be bolted back on, and we can worry about trailers at that point.


The short list of issues pre-smog is engine (covered), air pump (covered), exhaust (covered), fuel vapor recovery, a stock fuel tank filler neck, and being able to lock the damn thing at rest stops. Mark had some old GM headlights on it at one point. Mark offered up a complete fuel vapor setup and a set of doors/hood/hatch, and I've been all over the shell making sure various brackets and mounting points are still there. (Upwards of 900 pictures in the 'Race Car' folder by now..... ) The windshield wiper mounting stuff is all long gone, but when does it rain in SoCal?

I am certainly interested in the 'replicate the factory tow hitch' discussion from a few weeks back!

Jim Devine

It might be easier to get something like an older Chevy Suburban (pretty cheap- only has to do a couple thousand miles / yr) & a trailer & just store them somewhere. Seems too involved to try to make it even close to street legal. A "fix it" ticket for items missing, the hassle of smog checks
and insurance for a street driven car could be eliminated. Looks like a fun project!

IcemanG17

Rob
Sounds like you got the big stuff handled and have a solid plan.....driving to events is also a great idea, since it doesn't get nearly as hot in socal as it does up here......I remember Dennis driving his BLACK non AC 928 around and nearly getting heat stroke!!!!!!

In an effort to properly get you hooked on track crack....you are welcome to come up to Thunderhill!!! Sean and I have both our race 928's there & Seans has two seats!!!! You are welcome to fly in to Sac and do a DE day with me-us....we can run double groups in my car....or you can drive Seans-etc....(I'm sure it would be fine with him)

I am looking at NCRC on Friday Feb 8th?

jleidel

I didn't realize Mark rocks out the socks+sandals... wow... just wow.

Harvey928

Congrats Rob, Keep up the good work

Mark Anderson

I am thrilled to have Rob carry on the torch and I look forward to staying involved with the car and helping in any way possible. My racing days may be over but I want to see my car carry on. It has way too much history for it to stop now.

Mark Anderson

Ok that needs to be corrected in photo shop. I must have been hung over or maybe I gave my shoes to a homeless guy. Yea I'm sure that was it

jcorenman

Not to worry, those look like Nomex socks.

Rob, congratulations! This is going to be a great adventure, and we look forward to following it!

the flyin' scotsman

Wishing you all the best Rob...........the adiction of speed is very hard to shake once you've been to the edge and back

James Bailey

Rob I am thinking as soon as I get the trans fixed (locked out of 1 and 2nd) in the old very brown 1980 we get you out to some track days in IT !! You could do the required 3 PDS days in it and get a license. No need to put in a second seat in the white car...something to be said for learning to drive a low powered car since horsepower covers up a lot of mistakes For that matter you can do the school and first three events in your minivan !!!! and still learn a lot We have had students in Hertz rental cars as well !

drnick

Great to see the white zombie with a future

I agree with James above, add big brakes and tyres to a car with bhp (or should that be torque?!) and you can actually believe you are quite fast.

BC

This I can assist you with Dr.

Wipers are only important when you do not have these also:

1) Rain-x by the Gallon.
2) Several 100 yards of paper towel to reapply every 200 miles at underpasses.
3) The ***** to do 80 in the rain because at 60 you can't see as well. 80 worked perfectly.

Did this for about 800 miles one time. Worked fine. And in SoCal, when will you be driving that car when you need wipers?