Day 1 - Tire Rack

Today has been a roller coaster to say the least. Sleeping was rough… lots of tossing and turning. The morning was met with nerves and anxiousness of the unknown. Over breakfast we discussed what we were getting ourselves into. We’d met a few One Lappers on the road yesterday, and got some contradictory information from information we’d heard from others a few weeks ago. Regardless, we made a pact to take one day at a time… and only do what we felt comfortable doing.



We pulled into Tire Rack this morning and nerves turned quickly to excitement. Each car was designated two parking lot spots… many were there, still more were on their way and trickled in as the day progressed. Some of the cars were beyond insane. Nissan Skyline GTRs, Ferraris, Porsches, Challengers, Chargers, Corvettes, Vipers, Kit Cars, BMWs of all shapes and sizes, riced out Hondas, Alfa Romeos, Mini Coopers, the list could go on forever… See the few I liked best and photographed below.






Thanks to BMW Performance, all teams racing a BMW got a free hat! Woot woot! How do I look?



Already we can see how this becomes a family; everyone helps one another, shares in stories and laughter, gives each other tips (especially when they are veterans), and shares in the same exhilaration. Upon driving in, we were told that we were car #19 (If you know Amanda… you’d know the dismay on her face at this assignment since she hates odd numbers)… but thankfully at check-in it was discovered that we were given the wrong number and were actually #36 (Amanda was ecstatic). Haha We filled out paperwork and quickly received our “Route Books”, wrist bands, and a pile of sponsor stickers.



After we had everything prepped and stickers on, it was time for tech. Here they check to make sure that you have all the safety equipment required, and spray paint your tires to make sure you can't switch them on the road.



We went to work putting all the stickers on Ronnie; battling the wind, but thankful it wasn’t raining. We anticipate some bad thunderstorms tonight driving to the next track so pray that we don’t cross paths with a tornado!!



We just got out of the official drivers meeting and most of the day has been spent perusing the parking lot in the super windy and sunny weather. Yes, we remembered to put on sunscreen. During the drivers meeting we learned some great tips. 1) PULL OVER or switch if either person gets tired. The drivers of One Lap have put in over 10 million miles… not one band aid yet. That was comforting. 2) In the event of a tornado (they’ve dealt with this in the past) – ditches are preferred. Super. 3) All state police departments have been notified of our route, timings, and events. The cops know we’re coming… they will be watching. Speeding is not advocated in One Lap and bad behavior could result in being kicked out of the event. 4) They’ve notified us of a town they’ve had a run in with the sheriff in the past. We were told to avoid it at all costs.

So far our organizational skills (plastic bins) have paid off – and Amanda’s tarp is now forming a giant burrito around our earthly belongings. That and the bungee cords were both good calls.

It’s currently 4:30 and at 5:00, we’ll start the first event – the wet skid pad. Rain-X will be Dave’s friend. Dave’s never done this – but it should be rather exciting. He’s gotten great pointers from the other veterans. We are planning to videotape his adventure. I’m hoping we’ll be able to post it later tonight. Once we’re done with the event, we’re going pack the car and head for Elkhart Lake, Wisconsin. Talk to you soon.

The Road to the Starting Line

Well, we are on the road to the starting line: Tire Rack in Southbend, IN. We received many warm farewells on our way out of work this afternoon. Getting onto the interstate we opened a little gift from our awesome mom: a box of homemade cookies and a sweet card. Mom's chocolate chip cookies are the BEST. I'm guarding these suckers! :)



Not only did our friend Joe help us tremendously with preparing Ronnie (the car) for One Lap, he ALSO loaned us his E-ZPass for tolls. So, now we've had our FIRST experience driving through a toll booth without even opening a window! Crazy! Technology these days... Thanks Joe!




Our car is filled; maybe because we are deemed "Lap Puppies" (aka One Lap newbies)... or maybe we were just taught to be well prepared by our Eagle Scout father... or maybe it's because Dave chose to have a girl come with him on this journey... regardless we both are laughing and joking about ditching some of it along the way. I thought I did pretty well packing! If you see my normal baggage for a weekend trip... this is NOTHING! :)

THE BEST thing just happened. No joke... as I'm typing this. We have officially met up with a convoy of One Lap cars. Six to be exact. We were so stunned and giddy we forgot to take a picture; our time lapse camera caught one though! (See Challenger on left side of car in picture below). If you saw some of these cars... you could very well drool. 2 Corvettes, 1 1970s Challenger, 1 tricked out Honda Civic, 1 Porsche, and 1 Ferrari. That's a cool half a million dollars in cars. Wow. Thank GOODNESS the big dogs I just listed won't be competeing against us in our class. Oy.



Don't worry, much more to come, but wanted to let you all know we are on the road and super excited!!

Four Days to Go!

A week has gone by since the last update and we’re off to South Bend on Thursday evening as registration opens Friday morning. The wet skidpad event begins in the afternoon and then we’re headed to Road America in Wisconsin.

One Lap stipulates that a fire extinguisher must be included in each car. After a little direction from Matt (whom I met at Mid-Ohio), I went with a Brey Krause universal mount. It uses the seat attachment bolts to secure a very adjustable and well built unit designed to hold a 2.5lb extinguisher. After an evening on my head and a trip to the hardware store, the unit was mounted and ready to go.

After fitting the extinguisher, Joe took Ronnie into the shop and graciously performed an oil change, tire swap (new rubber at all 4 corners), and final prodding before giving the thumbs up.

During the week, we received notification that our graphics were done. We picked them up on Friday and began the installation on Saturday.

On our hood is a “Team AC ~ DC” graphic that was concepted by Amanda and designed by Omar Hernandez. You’ll notice that we chose a white splatter as the hood already had stone chips that added to the motif!

Ronnie’s rear bumper is now sporting a red and gold banner for George Dadas. He’s my insurance agent and a really good guy – definitely breaks the stereotypes and understands my mild car related insanity.

Guido’s (my 90 lb 4 legged friend) favorite activity is to stand in the rear seat of the car and stick his head out the sunroof. While this extensively entertaining (he sneezes…), it does leave quite the layer of hair. Needless to say, Ronnie is now fully vacuumed and ready for the final fitting of interior accoutrements.


My fiancé was gracious enough to bless me with an early birthday present this year – getting me a Go Pro Hero HD Camera so that I could capture some of our activities on One Lap. This thing is totally waterproof and has a suction cup mount that I’ve personally tested to 115mph (legally, of course). I’m excited.

Only 4 days left before departure!

OLOA Preparation

It’s Sunday about a week and a half before One Lap begins and I figured I ought to describe some of the activities that took place in the last month.

First, I must thank my best friend (and soon to be brother in law) Joe for donating his time and expertise and installing oodles of new parts on my ’03 BMW 325i sedan. He’s also been quite accommodating with the myriad questions I’ve asked leading up to this event. Without him, we might not have been headed on OLOA this year (and the car might still be in my garage sans a wheel or two).

Secondly, I need to thank the guys in Ganley’s BMW parts department (in Cleveland, Ohio) for helping me with the many parts needed for this project. Their support was invaluable and well appreciated.

Leading off was a complete replacement of the cooling system (including the radiator, water pump, thermostat, expansion tank, hoses, and belts) as this is a reasonably common failure point on my vehicle. Also being replaced was the valve cover gasket (leaking), a cam positioning sensor (also leaking), and spark plugs (they were right there…). Dinner that night was a Wendy’s spicy chicken sandwich, fries, and frosty (one of my favorites).

A few days later, the campaign moved into a bunch of shiny new bits from Tire Rack – including an H&R Touring suspension (shocks / springs), braided stainless steel brake lines, and Hawk brake pads (HP-Plus). They squeal like a banshee – but they stop faster than one.

It’s always a good idea to justify a few new goodies for a big project…this time it was a set of new lightweight wheels to improve the performance. The new wheels (Kosei K1s) are 16.8 lbs versus the 23 lbs for the OEM units – a nice improvement. One Lap of America’s rules indicate that all tires much be purchased from Tire Rack (to keep well connected individuals from running special rubber – but mostly because they’re the main sponsor). Over the years I’ve purchased untold numbers of tires and wheels from them and I’ve always been happy with their efficiency and prices.

With all the new hardware installed, it was time to make sure it all worked well prior to One Lap’s start on April 30th. I used the BMW CCA Driver’s School at Mid-Ohio on April 2-3 to verify that Ronnie (my car’s name) was good to go. Also, this is one of the eight tracks on One Lap – so it was a great refresher and, as always, lots of fun.

I was fortunate enough to meet a veteran One Lapper at the event and was able to get a lot of good advice on what to expect and helpful hints on the preparations. Thank you Matt!

Another friend of mine was testing his heavily modified BMW E30 at Mid-Ohio in preparation for OLOA. He and the guys at DTR Performance have really put together a nice setup. I’m impressed and only slightly jealous. Follow them at http://dtronelap.com/

Did I mention it was in the mid 80’s that weekend? We had initially planned on bringing a propane heater as April in Ohio doesn’t normally yield such mercury readings. The event proved that Ronnie was good to go and the emphasis then turned to making sure that we had all of the supplies and required items needed for the journey ahead.

Since everyday there is both transit driving and on-track adventures, part of the challenge is to keep your stuff organized so that it can be taken in and out of the car quickly and easily.

So…yesterday, my Dad and I measured the trunk of the car and headed to Bed, Bath, and Beyond to find some strategically sized plastic bins. Normally males need to be chaperoned in this store – and, after a few minutes, my Mom and sister arrived with enough coupons to get all 10 of the plastic bins for 20% off (I’m not sure how they found out we were unsupervised – but my wallet was thankful). We declined the glass cleaner they offered us at the check out even though it had received good housekeeping’s recommendation.

After the Bed, Bath, and Beyond experience, my Mom and I headed to Costco to gather all sorts of consumable supplies for the event. A case of 5 hour energy anyone?

Until the next post…Dave