Carlisle--Any report?

Looked like rain Thursday and Friday but clear for Sat and Sun.

Did Hoss and the guys from down South arrive?

Inquirying minds need a post. JKL

I was not able to go this year due to changes at work but it rained steady all day Friday here and hour and a half from Carlisle. Cold nasty driving rain, not Speedster weather for sure.

Tony

Greetings from sunny Carlisle. Arrived from NJ Friday afternoon. The weather was very rainy, but today (Saturday) is gorgeous. A perfect day for the show. Hoss made it in his subytub. Great representation from the SOC folks. It's good to be able to put faces to names.

I know you'll be hearing more from everyone soon. This was my first Carlisle show and even though I couldn't bring my Roadster, Emily, I'm so glad I came and had the chance to meet new friends. And now, it's off to the Sunnyside Restaurant for dinner and more great SOC stories.

joepea--thank you very much for the first report. jk

I posted a couple of Carlisle pictures in Greg B photos.

Greg B

THANKS Greg. jk

And..........SOC member Al and Bobbi Shapiro WON the Carlisle "Giveaway" 1976 red Fiat 124 Sport Spider 1800 Fiat convertible!

OMG!! Thats some news!! I guess I shoulda stuck around another hour! Here's a couple of pics. In one they are having Bruce stage his car for the trophy presentation. The car Al won is right above Bruce's car with all the other givaway cars for the other shows.

BD

Carlisle '05 First Place award for largest club !

I just got home about half an hour ago. We left the hotel around 10:30 right in front of Jerome and Kevin, and made it back to the microstate around 6:30pm. I stuck around to unpack, detrailer, and hit Mom up for dinner, and then took off for home.

Overall, it was a great weekend. It was a blast seeing all of the old faces, and a pleasure meeting lots of new ones. The weather didn't turn away our spirits, and Saturday gave us a really fantastic sunny day.

All of the things that made last year so much fun were all there this year - the cameraderie among all of the SOC members, the ribbing of the Cobra owners (ironic that of all the car club spaces they accidentally could have parked the Cobras at mistakenly, it was OURS!), the parking lot shenanigans, all of the great people that showed up, and of course the injuries when people tripped over Bruce Stumpp's exhaust..... :)

Really cool weekend. Thanks again to Bruce for all of his hard work organizing the event, to Alan Merklin for arranging the Sunnyside dinner, and to Bill for the EMMR event. He picked a route that had some FANTASTIC speedster roads. Too bad it was raining. :( Next year, I think a cruise is in order down that same route, even if we don't get to the museum. :) I'm gathering pictures to toss up a big huge gallery, so if you have any, shoot me an email at nichols(at)theta.net and I'll figure out some way for you to get them to me.

Chris

Back home and totally exhausted, the wife and I were both passed out on the couch, just woke up to check email and SO.com. Once again the people on this website and many others turned out in force and created a weekend of memories. Rain until dinner time Friday and threatened showers on Saturday didn't dampen the spirits.

The highlights were many, having difficulty deciding which to list. 47 Speedsters and 6 Spyders at Carlisle during the weekend (photos of all to follow soon) and many members also came out without Speedsters; Longest Distance Driven Award to Bob (Biggs) Bingham from Georgia; Longest Distance Trailered to Sean Howley from Tennessee; lots of debate but it looks like Chris Nichols took the Saturday night go-kart title away from Hot-foot Norma; Ted Hatem won the judged Excellence contest in his IM; Al Shapiro wins the drawing and drives home to New Jersey in his new-found Fiat Spyder convertible (plans to sell it and invest the $ in his Speedster build); Speedsterowners wins first place and a huge trophy for the most official registrations by a replica club.

Thanks to all for making this another enjoyable and memorable weekend. We had a fabulous time and made many new friends.

Got to get some sleep. I'll try to write a recap of the weekend this week. Many photos available soon. THANKS EVERYBODY!!!!

I'm sitting here wondering how you guys are going to split that beautiful trophy....perhaps number of cars divided by 12 months, til next year....

We all had a great time. It rained Fri., but the cruise went on as planned. A local dirt track champion gave us a very informative tour of the Eastern Museum of Auto Racing. Who was Tommy Hinnershitz anyway??
With a name like that he had to be special! We found out! Here's a link for a virtual tour. This was a really neat place. www.emmr.org/tour.htm
Hung out at the field and had a great dinner at the Carlisle All-Star Cafe. The hotel provided a hospitality suite for us to gather along with a bar and pool tables right aroung the corner. Oh yeah, there was brewskis!

Saturday was a great day with sun and breeze to stay cool. We again had another great turnout. Henry Reisner gave an informative carb seminar. He tore one down and reassembled it and passed on many tips on Webers and Dells. Topped off with dinner at the Sunnyside, Jim Young from Kit Car Builder gave a brief talk and then we had travel trophy presentations. Headed out to the go-carts to work off some of that dinner and then back to the hotel for more bench racing.(more brewskis)

Sunday was wind down day and was sunny with big puffy clouds rolling by. Gave a warm adieu to Johnny Two Bolts in the a.m. Everybody loved the SubyTub!! Then it was off to the track for their famous breakfast. I tell ya for after eating one of their platters you were FULL. We went to the auto-cross track to watch newcomer Wendall Green give it a go with his Fuel Injected Spyder. Then it was down to the Grandstand for trophy presentations. I'm pleased to announce that the SOC won first place for the largest club participation. Another trophy was won by Ted Hatem who entered his IM in the Standard of Excellence Judging.
A great time was had by all and I'm sure many pics are on the way.

BD

Thanx to Theron for the commerative wine!! The keepsake for this event was appreciated by all!!
We had a few extra bottles left over and made good use of them during Sat. late night festivities.
The wine was pretty good actually, I slept like a baby and didn't get a
headache.

Thanx Theron again,

BD

Home safe and sound!

What a weekend! No "sophomore slump" here! (Even with the rain)

Here's a few pics.

Jerome

Bruce was doing this all weekend.
EMMR Tour.
Friday night line up at the All-Star Cafe.

I'm not sure we got the same wine as the left coasters.
The Nichols Boys doing some parking lot repair work.
Saturday morning, they just kept rolling in.

Haven't downloaded my pics yet, but to amplify on Jerome's pics - we were helping out Karl Macklin whose clutch decided to loosen out of adjustment and gave him more pedal play. I'm under there looking for the actuator arm on the top (where it's supposed to be) and can't find it. Finally, I remember that this is GB's old car, and I ask Karl; "Hey! Is this a 901 transmission??" Sure enough, it was, and the tiny throw-out lever is on the BOTTOM!! Anyway, it was an easy fix and Karl has a very nice IM - glad to see him back at the meet.

We were in the same field spots as last year, and surrounded by Cobra's (who had inadvertantly parked in the SOC area, but quickly moved when they realized where they were supposed to be - nice bunch of folks, too, even if they drive LOUD cars!) Jerome's shot up towards the hill shows about 1/8'th of the place - Carlisle covers close to 20 acres, half of which is flea market booths of all types automotive, and they have indoor pavilions and show/vendor areas and some of the best food booths I've seen at any event anywhere. Somewhere in Jerome's field shot is a portable Dyno that you can pay to run on. It was a hoot watching (hearing) everything run from Lamborghini's to Cobra's to some guy with a Rally-ready Saab 2-stroke (which screamed, but probably produced 80 hp)

BTW: That nice 550 Spyder at the forefront of Jerome's picture was from Philadelphia. I don't think that the owner (wish I could remember his name) is a member of either SOC, but showed up and arrived early enough that we parked him and another Spyder (from New Hampshire - distance award winner for trailering) right at the tent.

Peter McEwan drove his Baby-Blue Speedster from Beaufort, SC starting very early Saturday morning and arriving around 10am. He has no top, so he drove the distance wearing a motorcycle helmet to keep the noise and wind down. He also had not arranged for a hotel room and then decided to head home early Saturday evening (he could not be talked into staying). Hope he made it OK (I'll report later). BTW: Before this trip, the farthest he has ever been with his Speedster is 30 - 45 minutes from his house - WOW!

The trip to the Eastern Motorsport Museum was fantastic!!!! Do a Google on Lynn Paxton - he was our tour guide and is a legendary dirt-tracker here in the East (although he would argue about the "legendary" part, but it's true). A real down-home boy who has gone from track racing to restoring classic race cars for collectors and REALLY knows his stuff and personally knows EVERYONE in the motor racing sports. Great time, and Thanks to Bill Drayer for setting this up! And the drive to-from is the ultimate Speedster road!!

gn

Actually, the Carlisle fairgrounds covers more than 80 acres. Just ask my poor, tired legs! Those hills were killers, but created an awesome view of all the cars.

I believe that the silver Spyder was owned by a fellow named Wendell who said he had some 220HP in that sucker. Wow! He also said his favorite passtime was to go "Viper Hunting".

Oh yeah, the other Spyder, a Perry, was trailered from Tennessee, not NH (sorry Gordon - I know you're just glad to be home :). All in all it was quite a collection of beautiful cars.

I'de like to say that it was our sincere pleasure to meet you all, (some of you for the second time) this past weekend. We had a fantastic time. Thanks to all that had a hand in the organization, (and their wives.) Bruce, a trophy deserved. Absolutely a positive experience. Seeing some of your cars has given me some great ideas on updating my own. Marcos' 3.2 would be a bit out of my league, but I really witnessed some high quality examples of cars I've fallen in love with since I was a kid. I truely hope to be able to show off a better Cabriolet the next time I see you.
Carey, thanks again for dinner Saturday night, it was good for me to spend the time with you. I look forward to future contact. Chris, thanks for the advise. I was tweaking the dials as I drove home and it seemed to do more good than harm. She ran beautifly on the way home.
Henry, thank you for the test drive. It was good to see you get the recognition when Ted's car took the award. Qualtiy, work from a quality individual. I hope to be picking up some seats from you and quite possibly a few other items in the coming weeks.
To all that left early, sorry we didn't say good bye.
To all that missed the event... You really missed out.


Mitch & Lucy

John and Sarah would like to report a safe return trip on Sunday afternoon (5:15PM) after having a great time in Carlisle. I think that the Subytub would like to make a return trip next year.

It was great meeting so many "cyber buddies" and reconnecting with the few who we have met face to face previously. All things considered, it was a great event. At least it didn't rain all weekend, and despite Friday's downpour, the road trip to the museum was just great. Thanks Bill, and let's do it again!

Many thanks to E.C. Bruce, Alan and all others who took part in the planning and execution of a really fun event. I look forward to the September/October edition of Kit Car Builder for at least three reasons ;-)
John & Sarah

I have to add something here:

Thanks to Gordon "Five Cents Racing", he as well as Bruce helped convince me to drive to Carlisle, and thanks to John Hallstrand. I think his commitment to Speedsterowners.com by driving to both events is unparalled. If you figure in both of his trips, to Knotts and to Carlisle, I bet he drove over 5000 miles roundtrip for both events.

I think he deserves a "special" prize. I wonder what we can do to commemorate his achievement in 2005.

Great Job HOSS.

BIGGS!!!!!

Hey, No Sweat.....this is a driving hobby and you, getting the long distance drive-in award, exemplify what this is all about (Oh...and the constant polishing and dusting of a black car is a big part of that, too!!)

Nice to see your "Black Beauty" at Carlisle again, and I'll be looking forward to hooking up with you this coming Winter back in the Southland.

gn

The Aircooled half of "Five Cent Racing"

Gordon, $.05, hopefully we can get a few Speedsters together in the late fall, if not winter, for a drive near Augusta, or somewhere else between us.

You may want to hook up a heater, or not...

Well I have to get to work, I have a lot of washing and polishing to get the Black Beauty back to its normal shiney self.

Just checked the camera and we have 100 photos including a video of the 5-cent racing team wrenching on Karl's IM (and the crowd of supervisors/spectators standing by) and a video of Wendel Green burning up the SCCA tarmac. Plan to get them off to Chris so he can post them.

Thanks for posting the early pics and reports. That was quite a line up of 356Rs.

Kudos to all that attended and to the organizers. Bob Bigg's trip from Atlanta is impressive and so is John's Road Trip sweep of the west and east meets... way to go Hoss! Let's see some more shots!

PS. More info on Ted's car would be appreciated.

Mitch and Lucy- It was my pleasure. It's always nice to put faces to the posts/emails. I had a great time!
Likewise for everyone else. What a great group! I truely enjoyed it...

Carey

We're all glad you could make it again, Carey. You had us nervous with
your trip to Brazil. We gotta hit them go-karts more next time.

BD

Update on Peter McEwan (he had that baby-blue Speedster at Carlisle)

He departed for home around 8pm on Saturday, intending to get down around Gettysburg or so and find a hotel. First one he stopped at was all booked up. Seems there was some sort of Civil War re-enactment going on around there and they took all the rooms (and I thought those folks were supposed to be camping out in leaky tents and such??)

He pressed on and got a place farther down the road, then made it home on Sunday afternoon. Car ran great the whole time, but it was getting pretty chilly in a topless car for the driver!!

For the folks who left Carlisle early, the awards started coming our way Sunday afternoon:

Photo #1 was just emailed to me by Jenn, the events manager, and will soon be posted in the Carlisle website. This was taken at 1:00 and was the 1st place trophy for the most registrations by a club (Speedsterowners.com). The people surrrounding the cars are the hangers-on we were able to grab and get into the photo. Note the license tags of the cars in the photo - Maryland, Canada and New Hampshire - pretty impressive.

Photo #2 is Ted Hatem, wife and builder (Henry Reisner of IM) with the 1st place winning car in the Standard of Excellence judging event. This was the first year for this event at Carlisle. Congratulations Ted!

Photo #3 is Al Shapiro, his wife and the 1976 Fiat 124 Sport Spider 1800 they won in the 3:00 car giveaway drawing. Congratulations, Al! How was the drive home?

Wow!

That post says it all.

The SOC at Carlisle......

We came, we had a great time, and we took home the trophies!

You guys rocked at Carlyle....I had 3 Fiats, 2 124 spyders,
one was great the other left a little to be desired, OK a lot to be desired......Allen, good Idea you have to unload it...can't imagine parts are easy to find any more, and when you do, they may gouge you just a bit...they are fun to drive....
for those who don't know...Fix It Again Tony (FIAT)

Here's a thought...

"Carlisle '06 Invitational Go Cart Grand Prix"

Featuring a Grudge Race between:

Jim Youngs (Kit Car Builder)
John Steele (JPS)
Henry Riesner (IM)
Carey Hines
Carlisle Productions driver
NJ Replicar Club driver
Myself as the SOC anchor driver....what cha' think?

Now you're talkin'!! Hey Alan, lets stuff them guys real good at dinner....they won't be able to steer. :)

Not only that, the autocross action looked like a LOT of fun too!
Might have to check that out next year, just for the fun of it!

BD

We could do a three race Grand Prix

Indoor slick oval track

Outdoor track

Outdoor slick track

...I see some real carnage :)

I request (and I'm probably speaking for Hot Foot Norma as well) a "right seater" entry too. ;)

On that web site; I don't wannabe a Mario wannabe - I just want the damn weather to clear up so I can drive my Speedster!!

Hot Foot Norma says absolutely - count me in! Blondes get pole position!!! How about a powder puff race? She is thinking about some advanced track time: www.driving101.com/default.shtm

We need to get a few of the go-kart photos from Gary Overmeyer's right-seater, Celine. Hey Gary, how about posting a few?