The main problem is you wear everything else out while ironing out the original weak spots.  My main weak spot was the bolts holding the fenders on.  Many of them are missing.
Did everyone remember to return their Spot Trackers?  I forgot all about mine, but it is gone from the car so I am assuming they took it at the finish line.

hmmm... looks like something to add to everyones post race check list. No joke... I noticed they were loose and tightened them before the race. Maybe the entire rig needs to be disassembled and every bolt gets loctight upon reassembly

hmmm... looks like something to add to everyones post race check list. No joke... I noticed they were loose and tightened them before the race. Maybe the entire rig needs to be disassembled and every bolt gets loctight upon reassembly

Thats the key to finishing full dissasembly and prep. a bolt sponser helps alot

my fenders broke too. one bolt tore out and the other is missing..

damage list:
two rear brake lines.. (yep first one broke between the start and pit 1, second one broke about 5 miles out of pit 1)
both hood pins ripped out
fenders ripped out
cable to the starter broke off
horn mount broke
broke off both front lower shock mounts
1 flat tire.
UPDATE:
Punched exhaust pipe through front of the muffler.
Ripped reinforcement strap over back of tranny in half
Ripped body under fender in half.. Yeah the car literally ripped in half.

But she still runs and drives!

My dad an I spent 3 hrs pressure washing the car.. Ready to start repairs now..

hmmm... looks like something to add to everyones post race check list. No joke... I noticed they were loose and tightened them before the race. Maybe the entire rig needs to be disassembled and every bolt gets loctight upon reassembly

This is how teams with budgets and payed employees work.
For the rest of us, you do what you can, when you can, make it to the race, and hope for the best.
When I used to have a shop and no kids I would do a little each night.  i would change all the fluids, take apart the brakes, pull the diff covers, and generally inspect everything.  Now my family and other obligations take priority.

I broke the Calmini upper link on the rear end(took me out of the race), 3 flats, exhaust broke off behind the cat(i had 6 hangers on it) fuel pump fuse blew more than twice. I had to use 4 ratchet straps to secure the rear end enough to drive the car 25 miles to the next pit. It took me 4.5 hours to complete the journey and the last tire blew right as I pulled into the pit. I think the car just gave up as I crossed the line.

Are you required to have a cat on your race truck?
or you just didn't change it from how it was?

I left it on so I could use the secondary O2 sensor for my A/F ratio guage. It was hollowed out.

Good job on driving it in Greg.  It always amazing what you can do with ratchet straps, tape, and zip ties.  
One of the other racers had to make this repair when the back of the cage was breaking off.

went through half a roll of gorilla tape trying to keep our junk together..  I can only image the damage we would have cause if we had a motor with reasonable power... like enough to get up the first hill....embarrassing!..

so seems as if we are short on pictures... We have none.. our SLR was dead.. got a couple Iphone but nothing special..

Trouble Racing has HD footage of us pulling him out of the silt beds...

I got a picture from another team.. nothing to exciting..

I'm starting already trying to coax my wife into attending the next race so she can take pictures of all the Zuki's at the start of the race and anything she can snap through the day. Seems she doesnt have the same desire to spend a day out in the blazing sun and blowing dust that I do. Who's the wierd one? she or I?

got these pics from another racer..

Back on-line finally.   Work has been nuts since I came back, no time to do much...

What took us out of the race was the transmission.  I lost a clutch cable, but thought it was the clutch.  It blew out right next to the engine, maybe it was getting hot?  Or it was just old.  In any case, I drove 70 miles without a clutch then destroyed the shifter when downshifting when I hit some silt beds around the 100 mile mark.  There was a grind, a crack, then the shifter didn't find anything anymore.  I'll have to pull the top of the transmission off to see what happened.

No issues with power, the 2.0 worked great.  If the brand new serpentine belt hadn't come apart the engine would have been completely trouble free.  I'll put a recap of all that broke in the build thread.

Oh yea, pictures will be uploaded to https://picasaweb.google.com/Drone637/VorraUSA500 as they come in.  Right now it's just some pics from my phone.

Oh yea, pictures will be uploaded to https://picasaweb.google.com/Drone637/VorraUSA500 as they come in.  Right now it's just some pics from my phone.

I didn't take any photo's (even on my phone).  To busy chasing broken Tracker.  On the plus side My Tracker worked great as a chase truck & tow truck.  I think I might have put more miles running between pit stops and broken car than the Racers did in the cars that finished.  Loved the Nevada speed limit 75, and race support vehicles get to add 10 - 15 mph (YES, just humming along).  It was dusty, tired from the 14 + hour drive down, hot (finally), frustrating (breaking parts that shouldn't of), on and on...      And yes, I would join MX5Man

ok, ok, ok... I might have gotten a little worked up about the whole clutch thing. laugh  So if I just leave everything in the truck and go back next weekend do you think someone will be running the course and they will let me work on thier pit crew?  Undecided

The only on course time I got was going out to retrieve the Trouble Race car on the last break down.  If that was any indication of what the Racers were doing, I can't wait to be in one.  (We pulled the second seat at race to have a spot for the spare tires, we didn't need.)