CustomersSuck.com Sponsorship deal (image somewhat heavy)

[Rapscallion]

Your car looks a bit on the small side to tow a car on a trailer - the platform trailers I've seen around here all need at least a class 3 (maximum gross trailer weight somewhere between 3501 and 5000 lb) and usually a class 4 (between 5001 and 10000 lb) hitch, which pretty much dictates a pickup or full-size SUV as the tow vehicle.

I was worried about that a touch, but it managed just fine. 1.6 engine and not designed for speed or economy (trust me on this). Also, the car we were towing is gutted and reasonably light by normal standards for the UK, and we generally have lighter cars than the US.

What you need is the shirt that says "Pit crew guys do it in 10 seconds."

Probably stolen.

Rapscallion

[Irving Patrick Freleigh]

The decal is only on the car's roof, so they only way a spectator might see it is if Chum wrecked like Brad Keselowski did in today's NASCAR race.

Still, very neat. I'm now involved in auto racing!--somewhat.

Need to get a jacket with "(s)PIT CREW" on it for a laugh, methinks.

What you need is the shirt that says "Pit crew guys do it in 10 seconds."

[wolfie]

"That car you bought to replace the Bastardmobile - does it have a tow bar?"

"The Clitoris? Er, yes. Why?" (I named my current Bastardmobile for the fact that I can't find it in a car park).

"Great - I'm going to have to get a trailer to transport this car, and nobody down here has a tow bar, and I can't find a car with one on the back for hire anywhere!"

Bit of translation for people in North America - he was looking for someone whose car had a trailer hitch. Around here, "tow bar" is something mounted on the front of a car (removable) so you can tow it behind a recreational vehicle.

Your car looks a bit on the small side to tow a car on a trailer - the platform trailers I've seen around here all need at least a class 3 (maximum gross trailer weight somewhere between 3501 and 5000 lb) and usually a class 4 (between 5001 and 10000 lb) hitch, which pretty much dictates a pickup or full-size SUV as the tow vehicle.

he let rip on the advice of the guy who'd built the car and was chuffed to bits.

Sounds like he got a bit too close to a working steam locomotive.

[Rapscallion]

Now I'm home, a little more information.

Chum has always been fond of racing cars and the desire to race them. As we joked during this week, it's known as a mid-life crisis because that's the age you have to be to afford it. We also joked that divorce is expensive because it's worth it to someone who is going through a messy divorce, but that's his problem that he ended up offended, not ours.

He'd planned this decently ahead and I booked off time from Wednesday through Saturday this week to go down (he lives over a hundred miles away), chill out, and watch him race.

Come the Tuesday, I got a call.

"That car you bought to replace the Bastardmobile - does it have a tow bar?"

"The Clitoris? Er, yes. Why?" (I named my current Bastardmobile for the fact that I can't find it in a car park).

"Great - I'm going to have to get a trailer to transport this car, and nobody down here has a tow bar, and I can't find a car with one on the back for hire anywhere!"

Well, that was my week spoken for. Had to get down there far earlier than I'd intended on Wednesday to get the trailer from the hire company and then spent the next 150 miles or so remembering that the car was about six inches wider each side. Oh, and I couldn't really pull out at junctions quite as fast as I was used to.

I'd forgotten that he'd asked for the site print quality images. He proudly showed me the decal on the roof. I grinned my stupid face off.

We got the car secured on the trailer that night and took up most of the road. Chum really hates early mornings, so we left about six am (him groaning about the fact) to avoid most of the traffic and got there about a quarter hour before registration started. Silverstone really isn't that impressive when you see it in the flesh. When the F1 championship's on, it's a hive of activity so you don't notice the fairly shabby paint jobs etc. However, we dutifully arrived at the Paddock and he signed in.

The sign-in was in the race control tower. That's right - I've been in Silverstone's race control tower. I even used their toilet. Gone up in the world, me.

Driver's briefing came and went. It wasn't an actual race, but more a testing thing - there's actual racing later in the year. I was safely in my car listening to the radio and dozing during this, but the car got a few appreciative looks from passers by. All we needed now was the race quality tyres.

Briefing ended at 9am or so. We waited. Had a cooked breakfast at the Paddock's cafeteria. Waited. No trolley jack. The mechanics assigned to Cab's car were late and a touch Neanderthal. No trolley jack. Borrowed one. Lunch declared!

He finally got onto the track approaching one pm with advice from the bloke who built the car for him - don't go over 4k revs etc. The atmosphere in the pits was really good - you needed anything and people would lend it to you. Grass track racing over here, something else Cab's tried, is an event where you have someone watching you car at all times as otherwise you'll have sand in your fuel tank. This place? Great spirit. Sod all spectators, really, siince it wasn't a race proper, but great attitude. I got to introduce myself as the 'idiot friend with a tow bar' on several occasions.

He loved it. As in really, really loved it. Like a child on Christmas Eve. After a run or two, sometimes being overtaken by dedicated road cars, he let rip on the advice of the guy who'd built the car and was chuffed to bits. I took various bits of shaky footage on his camcorder. It's nothing that dramatic to me - just cars going by - but it's racing and great fun. He even had a camera inside his car for in-race footage, and it looks damned good. However, he kept forgetting to turn that on.

When he did turn it on, he got three laps and his big end went. The car's about twenty-years-old and used for racing, so there's only a mechanical guarantee for the first race, so it's being used. Great after-sales service by the Stoner racing guy (chatted to him on a few occasions). He even insisted I drove the car into the pit area for him during the driver's briefing. I needed his help getting out of the car after, since I do not fit into small spaces with any elegance these days, but that was part of the fun.

http://mr2racing.8.forumer.com/viewtopic.php?t=1554 for some pictures of the car before he got it. http://s197.photobucket.com/albums/a...%20Test%20Day/ for some photos from someone who knows how to take them and has a decent camera. You can see the damage done to one guy's car when he tipped at high speed. Some duct tape, got the broken glass out, and with the marshal's approval he was out there again. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w9eBtZbYoR8 - look at the left at about ten seconds in and you'll see him roll.

http://s197.photobucket.com/albums/a...%20on%20Track/ for more action shots.

I'm going to be taking more time off this year to get some weekends all over the country in actual races. Need to get a jacket with "(s)PIT CREW" on it for a laugh, methinks.

Rapscallion

[Kristev]

Wicked. Absolutely wicked.

[McGoddess09]

That is cool!

[SG15Z]

freakin amazing!

[DeltaSierra]

Totally cool!

[Mike Taylor]

Awesome!

[PepperElf]

hah that's cool

[HYHYBT]

That beats a Google ad all to

"Stoner Racing." Of course, when you said "stone racing," having just watched some of the winter Olympics, I imagined something related to curling

[JoitheArtist]

Cooooooool!

[Becks]

Awesome!!!

[JustaCashier]

How cool!

Customers Suck!'s first venture into advertising, goes all the way to the top!


Mike

[dalesys]

...This required me testing out the towing hook ... built it for him is called Stoner...

So you're the stoner hooker now?