THSCC Forums

$148 from Walmart.com. Same brand as the red one I ride around but smaller and lighter.



http://www.walmart.com/catalog/product. ... id=5238216

Once you get one you'll wonder how you lived without one. Then again, I'm impatient and don't like walking.

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Mike Whitney
whit32@gmail.com, 919-454-5445
V10, V8, V8t, I6, I6, V6, F4t, I4, I4, I4, I4, I2, 1, 1

Eric's done the trip multiple times in a CS car with all his stuff shoved IN the car with him and only stopping for fuel and food. That's pretty insane. Eric and I did the trip in the toter once with exactly ONE stop between Topeka and HIllsborough. I drove 7.5 hours with no break at all and then we stopped and fueled up and he drove 10.5 hours with no break. That's got to be some kind of record for driving without pissing. I am certain he pissed himself, but there was no sign of it on the seat when he got up. I don't know how he did that. I barely made the 7.5 hours.

Going out there you'll be mad at yourself if you try to do it without a night's sleep in between. You will waste your trip, IMHO. Veterans can sometimes get away with it. Feinbergs and the like (ie. people who just don't need sleep) can get away with it. Mortals need it. The trip back home is another story entirely.


--Donnie

That looks like the most practical solution, thanks for the link Mike. Relatively inexpensive too which is great.

I did some more searching and found this page. All the bikes are way more than I want to spend but that green one looks interesting from a design standpoint. I'm not sure I'd be man enough to be caught riding around on it but it looks cool even if it is a prototype according to the page.

Jim

Just as an FYI, most of the little electric scooters from China are user repairable. They usually have basically UPS batteries in them and there are places online where you can get replacement speed controllers and such. They actually work pretty well and have decent battery life, though I'd imagine schlepping one to an AC source at an autocross each night might be a bit cumbersome. But for folks that do single day events and have limited space, they might be just the ticket.

I dig some of those folding bicycles, too. Ultimately I'm figuring on getting a Honda Ruckus, though.


--Donnie

A bike is nice, but is not a must. The paddock/course layouts cut the distance down on the walk. Plus, if you are running the Pro Finale you should be able to pit closer to the courses & indoor rest facilities. Also, you could go to Wal-mart and buy a super cheap bike while in Topeka.

I've made the drive 14 times (and flown one other) and have done it in all conceivable fashions, about half of them straight through. Although, it's definitely a much more pleasant and safer drive if you stop to get some sleep and a shower. Please do avoid driving all night if you can. Getting a decent night's sleep on the way out certainly helps you for the Finale - being sleep deprived is not good for your racinig.

You should be able to make it in about 19 hours from Raleigh without pushing too hard. Leaving Tuesday night works. Also, if you leave really early Wednesday morning (e.g., 4 - 5:00 a.m.) then you have two choices depending on how you feel: 1) stop somewhere deep into Missouri and sleep so you have a short trip on Thursday morning like Pastorius said, or 2) drive all the way to Topeka, arrive between 10 p.m. - midnight CST, then sleep in late Thursday. Any of those options should work well.

We prefer going the I-77 to Charleston to I-64 to I-70 Route. It take the same time as I-40, but time seems to pass faster (to me), there are more/better places to stop, and I've rarely had traffic problems going that way.

FWIW, my record is 16:30 in the Spyder with a tire trailer, from Topeka to Hillsborough after spending all day in 107 degree temps at the Midwest Divisional - the heat was punishing. My average speed was 67.94 MPH including stops. That was the event where Tim took a shower in the carwash at South Topeka Blvd after the event before getting on his plane. He said that people in the car wash looked at him like he was crazy, but it was worth it. He never told me whether he used the lemon wax or spot free rinse features while in the car wash I was upset that I didn't think aobut it myself, that was a long and brutal trip home. I'm too old and wimpy to do that now.

Eric

To us, the human (VS superhuman) way to do the trip is to leave early in the AM day one and arrive on the other side of St Louis (DON'T make the mistake of stopping east of St L, the morning traffic is brutal even on the weekends) just after dark for the nite. Still leaves time to get a good supper and settled into a hotel room for a full nite's sleep. Next AM leave about 8:AM have a good breakfast and arrive T around noon. Going home we stay the nite after the banquet and leave early the next AM and drive thru or stop when both of us are tired of driving.
HPT paddock to grid to course distance is MUCH shorter than the old site, and last year we could drive our support vehicles right up adjacent to our grid spaces, so pit vehicles are not a neccessity even for us OGs with bad knees.
FYI: There is a 50.00 charge to bring in any motorized vehicle that is not street licensed! Stand up scooters, self propelled or rider propelled are also prohibited.

We prefer MS Steets and Trips with GPS on a laptop over a dedicated GPS since we are bringing a laptop anyway and S&T is MUCH more user friendly and flexible than our 500.00 Garmin which I HATE with a passion!
Audio books are a godsend for any trip over 3 hrs, and you can't beat the Cracker Barrel rental system.

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SPIN or WIN!
there's no glory for going slow.

WOW, I didnt realize it was that quick to get to Topeka.

My wife and I make the 17hr trip to Michigan all the time in 1 day.

Leave Greenville at 2:30am arrive at the in-laws at 7:30pm, just in time for supper.

Did it twice in 3 days last summer, just before our wedding and the NCAC.

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02 Focus SVT
STF 9

Granted, Bryan and I are known to have driven all night for most of the events we attend, but I've driven straight through alone twice so far and it isn't that bad. If you get on the road after a good amount of rest (6-7 hours) at around 3am, you can make it to Topeka by about 8pm or so. The hardest part of the drive is in the early morning going through the mountains, but once the sun comes up, I am good to go. The last couple of hours you're running on adrenaline, but it's not hard.

Going home is more difficult because the anticipation of the event is now gone, but Bryan drove straight through leaving at 10pm after the banquet in 2003 and made it home fine. The key to driving safe is when you get tired, pull over at a rest stop for an hour or so. Even that little sleep will get you alert enough to go another 3-4 hours.

Personally, I don't use GPS Navigation, although the Garmin Bryan has is pretty nice. The only thing I need is my Sirius radio and bunch of Amp energy drink

It's possible I will now do the ProSolo Finale and Tour Finale this year. They'll be my only events for the rest of the year, but I'm getting to Topeka the right way: by plane - AB

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'14 Toyota Sequoia Platinum 4WD
Super Westerfield Bros - '93 Integra - LeChump Du Jour
STX 93 - Scion FR-S