A nice Sunday Drive

Discussion in 'Classic Mini' started by Minidave, Feb 8, 2015.

Tags:
  1. Minidave

    Minidave Well-Known Member
    Lifetime Supporter

    Dec 22, 2009
    5,559
    4,419
    113
    Male
    Overland Park, Ks
    Ratings:
    +5,003 / 1 / -0
    #1 Minidave, Feb 8, 2015
    Last edited: Feb 8, 2015
    to the racetrack!

    Well, sorta....

    Don brought out his P'up and I took Buzz for about 150 mile shakedown run this morning, the temps started in the low 50's and on the way home it was mid-60's. Going south with the wind behind us it never got above 165° - coming back - uphill so to speak and against the wind - it ran between 180-190°. It would slowly climb up to 190, then it's like the thermostat opened and it would drop back, then slowly climb again. If that's where it runs I'll be a happy camper, but I won't know for sure till it starts being 80-90° out - that will be the test.

    We took back roads down to Lake Garnett, where they used to run SCCA races in the 60's.....I attended many there, and in fact that's where I first saw what later became MY Dino Ferrari. The track was simply the road that ran around the lake, and at one end after a long straight section there's an almost 90° turn, leading onto the dam, which has lovely rock columns all along it, and then at the other end a sharp 90° right turn again leads into the curvy part of the track with a sharp 270° turn back onto the straight, which is a bit of a misnomer since it wanders a bit and is rather lumpy along the way.

    [​IMG]

    [​IMG]

    Yep, ol Carol brought the factory Cobra team there a few years too....

    [​IMG]

    [​IMG]

    [​IMG]

    Back in the day you'd have Cobras and Corvettes duking it out around this course which is barely 2 lanes wide, and they'd be hitting up to 120 mph down the straight before having to fight for the right line onto the dam, with it's lovely rock walls!

    Today they hold a revival meet there every Oct and take laps round the track in controlled groups, the fastest of which were hitting 90 or more down the straight.

    Here is the web page for the new event with some vid of the cars going around the track. Note the complete lack of guard rails, hay bales or anything else to protect the cars if you make a mistake!

    Lake Garnett Grand Prix Revival 2013 Event

    https://www.facebook.com/pages/Lake-Garnett-Grand-Prix-Revival/272930049546062?ref=hl

    [​IMG]

    [​IMG]

    And here's what it would have looked like from the cockpit of my 948cc Sprite MkII, mind you we didn't have a chicane to slow us down before the dam!

    [ame="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CEI-s53HYR4"]2014 Lake Garnett Grand Prix Revival - YouTube[/ame]

    Don and I did about 5 laps of the course, we didn't go too fast - even tho there was no one there - we didn't want to get into trouble if someone saw us burning laps around the course. It brought back a lot of memories to me, not only of spectating, but working as support for two different racecars over the years, and running my own H-Production Sprite. As I said, that's also where I saw my Dino the first time, four or five years before I bought it, and I was also there for the last race - one of the drivers in C-Sports racing lost control of his Zink Daytona while trying to pass a slower car and hit a tree head on....that was the end of it. To my mind, I was surprised more people didn't die given all the trees and natural hazards around the track......

    But what a great day for a drive in a classic Mini!
     
  2. Nathan

    Nathan Founder

    Mar 30, 2009
    25,144
    10,052
    113
    Writer
    Short North
    Ratings:
    +10,069 / 0 / -0
    Thanks for sharing.
     
  3. Crashton

    Crashton Club Coordinator

    Jun 4, 2009
    19,424
    10,031
    113
    Retired old fart
    Hooterville Ohio USA
    Ratings:
    +11,656 / 2 / -0
    Thanks for the history lesson. I'd read about that place in the past, but your info filled in a lot of blanks for me. :Thumbsup:
     
  4. Minidave

    Minidave Well-Known Member
    Lifetime Supporter

    Dec 22, 2009
    5,559
    4,419
    113
    Male
    Overland Park, Ks
    Ratings:
    +5,003 / 1 / -0
    #4 Minidave, Feb 9, 2015
    Last edited: Feb 9, 2015
    I found a couple of pics I took from the last race held there in '72....

    First is a C sports racer powered by a fuel injected Mini Cooper engine with a cross flow head.

    [​IMG]

    [​IMG]

    This is my Dino, parked up on a hill, about 4 years before I bought it. I didn't realize it was the same car I'd photographed years before till well after I'd bought it. There were a couple of tell tales - the white turn signal lenses (all US Dinos had yellow lenses), the knock off hubs (illegal in the US since 68) and the slightly droopy left rear bumper and the left quarter paint that didn't quite match the rest of the car.....I never had it painted, a guy at the dealership wheeled out the paint and when shiny it matched perfectly. The reason for the non-US spec is that the car was imported straight from Europe by a local TWA pilot - you could do that back then.....

    I took this pic because I thought this was the most beautiful car in the world and I'd never seen one in person before - years later it was mine!

    [​IMG]

    [​IMG]

    Did you notice in the newspaper article about the Ferrari Testarosa in the race - KC used to have a thriving race car and high end import car culture....now, not so much. At one time we had two Ferrari dealers in town....

    There were three of these type races held in the midwest - races on public roads around a city park with a lake in the middle - Lake Garnet, Ponca City (Ok) and Lake Afton near Wichita.....I ran all of them over my career but the fellow in this pic is the reason they stopped immediately after this race. He's driving a Zink Daytona with a 2 litre Cosworth engine (BDA?)

    [​IMG]

    and here's all that was left....he was trying to pass a slower car and clipped it sending him straight into a tree. He succumbed to his injuries at the track. And that was the end of it....

    [​IMG]

    After that all SCCA races were held at proper racetracks, no more public road courses.
     

Share This Page