How to Attend Track Days and Autocrosses with your Dog

Feel bad about leaving Fluffy at home all day?

Many of us in the Motorsports hobby have dogs. After all in order to pursue this hobby you probably don’t have kids so what do most DINK (dual income no kids) families have, yup loads of pets. So lets go over some options both budget friendly and not so budget friendly on how to bring your best friend along with you.

The DIY Approach

German car enthusiast and fellow racer here at Spectro has a novel and budget friendly solution to bringing your dog with you to races.

Paiku sleeping in his cool AF kennel on a hot day at the Florida International Rally & Motorsports Park

Paiku, a Shiba Inu, is a great doggy. How does Ash bring him along to races, especially on those hot summer days? The answer is this modified crate. Here is what you need. (Links to our amazon page!)

• Standard Dog Crate with the side cut out.

• Window AC Unit

• Inverter Generator

• Some insulation

• Water bowl

• Carabiners (Shibas are known for figuring out dog kennel locks)

With this setup Ash can take his dog on course walks, walk him around the paddock to hang out, and when hes ready to race or work his corner station Paiku goes in his air conditioned crate. Total Cost is around $700 if you dont already have a genny and setup time is about 10 mins. Some additional mods to this could be a wifi linked temperature sensor. I use this in my RV to make sure the AC hasnt died, and the doggos dont get to hot. However this requires an internet connection. A work around would be if you had your wife or friend come with you and to leave a phone there hot-spotting or to have a hot spot device.

Pros:

• Cheap

• Portable

• Modular and can be used for other types of events

Cons

• Setup time

• Have to lug around all the equipment in an already jammed packed Tow Vehicle or Race-car

The Expensive Route…

Churchill and Saxa fighting for attention from mom at a race

So you have an enclosed trailer? How do you bring Fluffy. Well from here it just takes money. Basically you need your enclosed to support 120v system and an air-conditioner. You can go the traditional route and install a roof mounted AC system. This can be tricky to install or expensive to pay someone. Other options include just copying Ash’s approach and obviously running a power cable to a genny (far away from the trailer) and and then just running a portable AC unit. Though this would involve exchanging the heat somewhere. I have seen many racers just cut holes in the side of their trailers and install window AC units. If it works and its stupid its not stupid!

Pros:

• Trailer Lockable

• Manager Temperatures easier

• Minimal setup time if you just leave a kennel in the trailer.

Cons

• Cost

• Storage

• Fumes like gas storage and car exhaust

• Need tow vehicle
  

My Setup

Leaving Creek Fire RV Park In Savannah GA

Now i know what your thinking. I would never be able to afford this…You would be surprised….Longcat is my 48’ Toy hauler, which has a 24’ living quarters and a 24’ garage. She is 18 years old and i paid 19k, yes you heard that right $19,000 dollary doos. www.racingjunk.com is a fantastic resource for people like us that have the disease of spending oodles of money on racing things. I found her for sale and drove half way across the country site unseen and i did get a bit lucky. It had a few minor leaks, needed 6 tires and the interior partially redone. But after about 3-5k of additional spending and work it was ready.

Basically Longcat enables my wife and I to travel across the country and bring our doggos. It has a generator and we can cook meals and store food in the refrigerator. Most importantly we have an air-conditioned toilet. No more poopy sauna’s from hell, better known as porto potties in the summer.

Watch my video here for the full overview.

How do you bring your doggos to races?

Come join us on our Facebook Group and let us know!

Thanks

Grant

Spectro Tests Vredestein Ultrac Vorti Tires for Grassroots Motorsports

Our very own Ash, Tests out the new Vredestein Ultra Vorti Tires for Grassroots Motorsports. check out the Article here.

https://grassrootsmotorsports.com/articles/your-tests-vredestein-ultrac-vorti-tires-2000-bmw-/

[BLOG] Hoosier A7 after a full season of Autocross

Well the season is over and I just took off my 315/35/18 Hoosier A7s to see how they had worn.

I am more of a data oriented person so here are some facts on the tires and how I managed the wear through 2016
 

Settings

• Cross rotated after every event

• Flipped left to right after the 5th event (see below)

• They are on a 2008 Mustang GT with significant weight reduction

• Car weight ~3200lbs. 4x 18x10.5 Enkei PF01s 10mm Spacer up front

• -2.9 Camber F, 0 Rear

• 1/16th toe out

• 7 Degrees Caster

Amelia Island Airport is particularly hard on tires

Autocross and Track day runs

• (6 runs) Amelia Island Airport

• (5 runs) Florida International Rally and Motorsports Park

• (6 runs) Amelia Island Airport

• (6 runs) Roebling Road Raceway

• (10 laps) Florida International Rally and Motorsports Park - Track day

• (6 runs) Amelia Island Airport - Alignment out of wack

• (6 runs) Amelia Island Airport - Spin out

• (12 runs) Florida International Rally and Motorsports Park - Spin out

• (4 runs) Brookesville Airport

• (15 runs) Amelia Island Airport

Wear better than the A6?

Yes, without a doubt.

~66 total AutoX runs, 10 track day laps. VS ~61 Autocross runs on the A6

They also have almost no drop off. The A6 had, in my experience had significant drop off near the end of the tire life. (edit: They still had drop off but not as pronounced, at least in autox)

To also add the rears have at least 6-12 runs left in them. The fronts were most likely nuked due to doing 15 runs at the last event.

Worth the cost vs Street tires?

Probably not. They do mask some errors in driving and take longer to master. I still have much to learn. Though to stay competitive in a Mustang they are a must in my opinion. They were $1.722 shipped vs $1,358 for BFG Rival S 200tw street tires. So for ~$400 you can go a few seconds faster but sacrifice wear and obviously having two sets of wheels/tires.

The cost per run this season was $22. Haven't run street tires in awhile what was your cost per run? Write us!