The latest on the Fiat

Over the last two day's Andy and I have been cutting and measuring and re-cutting areas of both the MR2 and the Fiat. Here is the latest.

The first thing that needed to be done is separating the back of the MR2 from the front. Here you see a bonafide rickshaw in the making.

Here you can see the cancer being removed from the patient.

More trimming of the rust.

Flintstones eat your heart out!

Still more trimming.

Removing fenders and wheel wells for the sub-frame removal.




The Multipla with the rear sub-frame and suspension removed.




More trimming to make the panels fit.

The rear fenders will be tied into the existing body, and then flared out to make a seamless panel.

The body fits over the subframe, at this point it is a matter of trimming to match and then spot welding the two pieces together.

So here is the latest on the Fiat 600 Multipla Abarth X2S

A new car coming!

So Judy and I visited Jeff at his work. His Boss is designing a new 3 wheeled car and Jeff, Blaine and a couple of other design engineers get to build them. Lucky @#$$@#%'s

Jeff showed us the original mock-up and three new concept designs that he gets to work on. It was interesting to see how the concept has Evolved from a square tubed frame that weighed close to 700 lbs. down to round tube frame that is closer to 300 lbs.

They all have motorcycle engines, they originally were going to be chain drive, now they will have a direct drive shaft with paddle shifters on the steering wheel. One design has a Porsche front end and a couple of others are designed off of BMW steering components. All have Willwood braking components with huge disks up front and a smaller rear disk.

Jeff says a thousand will hopefully be produced, they will all be leased and even though they are licensed as a motorcycle they will all have airbags. WAY COOL!

Pictures would follow but since this is still under development, Jeff and the team are sworn to secrecy. Once they put them on the road I will post some really cool pictures.

In the chop Shop

For those of you who don't know, we here at Stick Figure Racing are pretty crazy!
For our latest endeavor we will be chopping up a perfectly good Toyota MR2 and trying to squeeze what we can under the Fiat Multipla body. For most of you that is a travesty but for us it make perfect common sense. :-) It was a sad day when we brought our little Multipla home and found that there is no frame left, which meant the body is literally the only thing that can be saved. So here are the first steps in our Plight to revive one of the very first Fiat 600 Multipla Abarth X2 's

As you can see Larry is in one of his moods and cannot be bothered at this time.


After about 30 minutes this is what has been accomplished.


An hour and a half into the project and after going to Home Depot for more Sawzall blades the top is removed.


Here is Larry explaining the rear wheel drive features of the MR2.

Tune in next week for the chop shops latest damage that will ensue when we get our hands on the Multipla.

Last of Animal House

Buttonwillow raceway was the scene of the 3rd and final part of the trilogy we called Animal House. I would have to say that this year was all around our best performance so far in the 24 hours of Lemons endurance racing. To wrap up I would like to say Thanks to all who supported us in our endeavors.
Andy: For all of the electronics expertise, willingness to get in and get the job done at crunch time.
Bill: Working on the car on every weekend even though you missed out on the last two races. Getting us Parts at cost, that was awesome. Racing at Sears with us and keeping me from killing another driver on purpose.
Larry: Helping on the car even though for two of the races you were on your brothers team. Racing with us at Thunderhill and willing to dress in a Toga and looking like an idiot like me and Pete.
Pat: For sending me a plethora of invaluable info on the MR2. Allowing me to come out and race in your car to get a better feel of what the MR2 can really do. Racing with us at Sears and keeping me from killing another driver on purpose.
Stevo: For flying all the way from Indianapolis to drive with a bunch of idiots and not complaining about how tight the car was to get in and out of. Oh yea and keeping me from killing another driver on purpose.
Pete: For being a real stand up guy and racing with us at Thunderhill. Dressing up in a toga and enjoying it a little too much!
Ruben: For joining us at Buttonwillow and driving the hell out of the car. Committing to race with a team you had no previous knowledge of and being a real stand up guy.
Judy: For all of your support financially, mentally, and most of all your willingness to get your hands dirty without any complaints. Also thanks for being the only driver on our team who had "0" black flags for the whole season...Way to Go!
Bob: For doing most of our Logo designs, theme designs, and working on the car even though we never got you out on the track.
Team Snowspeeder, Killer Bees, and Free Range Racing for supporting us in the pits.
Thanks to all of you. Next year will be bringing a lot of changes to Stick Figure Racing. As most of you know we have a new car in our stables and another that we will be building in collaboration with Team V-Ram so come out and join us in all of the fun.
If I forgot anyone please forgive me and thanks for your help. If your reading this and have a tingling feeling in your pants and want to race with us let us know. We welcome all people and sponsors and cash.

New Theme?

We have yet to announce a new theme for Lemons 2011 but we do have some Ideas.:-)

For those who don't know, Stick Figure Racing is working on a two front approach to racing in the new year.
We will be joining forces with Larry and his team V-Ram in designing and building one of the most wanted, dependable, powerful, and of course best looking race cars of 2011.
Larry will be posting the threads to this most ominous vehicle once we get back from Buttonwillow.

As for the second theme for 2011 we have gone into the shop and started inventory of all the super, great, ludicrous, and powerful parts that will make our car impossible to beat in the new year.
During this process we have found the following.
One 4x4 toy with real moving wheels....

One jack stand that can also be helpful in frame support.

without frame support...



The car doing its part.... Loosing as much weight as possible so we won't have to worry about qualifying under the 4000lb. rule.



And of course one slightly used 21 Hp powerhouse that some say may actually be worth it's weight in gold!

Buttonwillow?

Well it's that time again....
A time when family gets together the sound of buzzers going off, the fresh smell of Turkey in the air and promises of no more eating after the holidays, and of course Racing!
Buttonwillow is the last race in the trilogy of Animal House dementia that started with the Death Mobile at Sears Infinion, the Toga party at Thunderhill (Thanks for coming by and drinking the beer) and will now finish with the all important Cake.

I am real sorry to say that the original plans for creating a full size cake float that would be driven around on the track have fallen gravely short. We will have some cake to eat on Saturday night for all to enjoy, along with beer and champagne because we know cake and champagne go so well together. So all are welcome to stop by and get their buzz on and join us in the hysteria we call Lemons. We hope to see you there!

Latest and Greatest

Yes I know it has been a long time in coming, so here is the latest.
We have been accepted to Buttonwillow, so as usual the date has been coming up fast.
There are only two weeks until the car hits the road for the infamous trip to Bakersfield California, that's where I tell everyone the race is at because Buttonwillow is a craphole town nobody knows about.

Judy and I have prepared the car for it's long journey and are excited to welcome Ruben to the team, he lives 2 hours away from Buttonwillow and knows how to get to the track, a nice plus, I don't have to explain how to get there.

So here is the latest....
I was invited to Race with Pat Mulry and the tarp team at MSR Houston so Judy and I flew out there an did a little clowning around. During the process we had a little rain and Pat had created some very ingenious rain guards that deflect the rain away from the drivers body. As you can see I stole the design for our version of Pats design. Thanks Pat.




So on to the "greatest" at least I think so....
This is the new design element to help us maneuver the engines around at the track.


I had been talking with Bill and Larry for a long time about designing an engine stand that would allow us to move motor around the shop and still be portable enough to take with us to the track. It had to have the ability to roll under the car. Elevate to the right height of the chassis for mounting purposes and disconnect quickly enough to get it out of the way for final motor installation.


The design also allows for easy loading and unloading from the truck.


The big plus for this stand is that allows for great maneuverability around the shop because it utilizes the footprint of the engine and doesn't snag up an anything.
It is also capable of just carrying the motor without the transmission.


So the race car is loaded, parts are inventoried, nerves are frazzled and new projects are on the horizon. Our plate is full and I still feel like I am missing something.