Purple in Sector 1

Now that the rough and tumble of the Supernats is behind me, it’s time to focus toward next season. Specifically, should I do a Spec Miata (my personal fav), a drag car (Ambi has a soft spot due to her father’s rides in the desert in a 67 Charger at full tilt) or some sort of circle track car?  I’m going to race, I just haven’t decided what I’ll race.  (actually, it’s going to be a Spec Miata…if she’d let me, I’d do a drag car and a road race car) I know that racing karts I won’t be competitive, I’m just too big.  I just sold the Rotax, a great deal at US$1650 for a full kit.  I’m likely to turn it into a Spec Miata.  Drags are cool, circle track is OK but I’d rather road race.  On Weds I may buy a 97 Miata that the guy has been trying to sell for about 6 months.  I’m still keeping the shifter kart for practice and plan in the next couple of weeks to hit Grange for some testing.  Two days after SNATs I got back on my workout program.

In two weeks we close on the house.  Since I started driving the kart down here I’ve had a single car garage and for the last year I’ve had a full blown shop in a two car garage.  When we get the house I’ll get the workshop space sorted.  Already have an Ingersoll Rand 3HP, 60 gal single stage compressor on order. 15 CFM @ 90 PSI. I’m going to plumb the shop for at least four air lines.  I’ve had a 180 amp Lincoln MIG welder for a while now and will wire the shop for that plus a few other outlets.  Thanks to help from Dave Robinson at EKN our floor guys are contracted to do a three layer urethane coating on the shop floor.  And I’m about to pull the trigger on a Hypertherm PowerMax 30 so I can get down to some serious cutting.  In a year or two I’ll lease a shop space but for now I need to do it in the garage. Just like I have for the last few years.

The next series of posts will chronicle how I convert a two car garage in the suburbs into a race shop.   It will be enough to build a club racing sports car and keep a shifter karting program going for practice.  After the floor (and a new insulated garage door with a Liftmaster 1/2 HP belt drive opener mechanism), the first purchase is the compressor.  An Ingersoll Rand SS3L3 plumbed for the workspace.  I’ve got most everything else.