Friday, June 10, 2011

Feature Friday: A JBH Report, Part 1

As most of you know, we at The Daily Hoon are open to any and all submissions. The idea behind this site is to document all levels of motorsports and hooning; be it at races, auto-shows, or just the every day drive around town. One of our friends from JBH1126 is lucky enough to be interning at both Lime Rock Park and the Classic Car Club of Manhattan. He offered to document his summer for us here at The Daily Hoon. Every week or so JBH will provide updates with new photos and behind the scenes info of his motorsports summer. It just so happens that today we have two user submissions, the first from Smoky this morning, and now JBH this afternoon. This has been a great first Feature Friday and we hope to continue with more in the future. Enjoy the update from JBH:

This first post only accounts for my first two days at Lime Rock, and my first day at the Classic Car Club of Manhattan.
My first day at Lime Rock came with a somewhat daunting challenge. I had to post up as many signs in the surrounding towns as possible. I have to admit; I did feel a little weird walking into the odd nail salon or women’s clothing store, having to explain what the acronym “ALMS” stands for, and awaiting final judgment from the proprietor. Few said no, most said yes. In fact, the positive response to not only the poster, but to the fact that someone from the track was in whatever store it may be, was almost overwhelming.  Most shop owners were enthusiastic about the next event, some folks even asked me to “tell Skip that _____ said hello!”…I haven’t met Skip Barber (Lime Rock track owner/racing school founder) yet, but have been assured the time will come in short order.

            The endless soliciting did wear on me a bit, but the whole situation was made all that much better by our company owned transportation: a BMW X5 35d.  While I fawned over the prodigious torque that the diesel motor provided, I was assured that compared to the track’s other X5 (M), it’s nothing.  The second day at Lime Rock was more of the same, drive, stop, ask for permission to post, fiddle with tape, repeat....etc. I’ll be helping with a booth at some sort of car show in Hartford, CT on Sunday, with one of the track liveried M3s, I’m quite looking forward to it.

And then of course, my first day at the Classic Car Club of Manhattan, I don’t even know where to begin. The day started with a ride in the club’s Nissan GT-R, up the FDR from their Lower Manhattan garage, to the Upper East Side location.  Aside from the sick mural on the garage wall, there were four cars in the garage. We shuttled the old Mini and the Cobra back down to the main garage, where the Mini threw a major tantrum upon arrival.  Literally, the second I turn it off, steam is pouring from the hood.  I’d been told this Mini was quite susceptible to overheating, which is precisely why I had babied it on the short drive down.  No matter, the coolant was literally boiling…that is, the small amount that was left after it expelled the rest from the underside, like some kind of toddler with a stomach virus. 

The rest of the day consisted of first getting lost in industrial/murder-town NJ, a quick stop at a wheel shop for some tiny part, and then on to Edison in our Mercedes C300 club car, part of the “A2B” fleet. At the Audi dealership in Edison we picked up the R8 V10, which had been in for service, and high tailed it back to the city. A lot has happened, and I’ve only been on these jobs for three days total.  I’m so excited for the rest of the summer. 


2 comments:

  1. Sounds like you're in for a Summer you'll never forget, JBH. Living the dream!

    -Trampa

    ReplyDelete
  2. Wow what a summer this is gonna be for you. Can't wait to read more...

    ReplyDelete