The latest addition to the Tinkler Motorsports racing stable. This was an impulse buy, we had no plans or ideas of purchasing such a vehicle. In fact, KVT had asked last year that I purchase a 'Cup Lite' car for him, but I declined as I didn't want to have to learn about snowmobile motors. Plan was for him to do Karts again for the 2005 season (mostly dirt circle track, with some asphalt Solo II's thrown in here and there). Then to have him move up to the 4-cylinder class at Dothan or Milton dirt tracks next year.

But, one day we see this car on the Twickenham Auto Club (www.teamtac.org) classified pages, and the price was right. No, make that..the price was RIGHT! Needed a little work, but nothing that we shouldn't be able to handle. Here is a picture of the car in all it's previous glory, as it was run at the major road tracks around the Southeast.

The car has ran Solo 1's at Skelly Field, and has done some road racing at Roebling Road, Road Atlanta, and Talladega Gran Prix Track. It was also run up north a bit, in the Great Lakes area.

Here we are unloading it off the trailer after picking it up in Guntersville, AL. Fiberglass nose and tail pieces were removed to keep from damaging them during transport. As you can see, the car received the official 'Beagle Hound Seal of Approval'.

Car fit nicely in the shop, amid our other racing projects (sorry Aaron, the RallyX Saab had to be moved outside to make enough room, it'll return soon. Not discriminating against it, it's just the only one that actually has a top)

Decals had already been removed, and some minor body repair had been started. We removed the body panels, made a few strengthening repairs and replaced some pop rivets.

Then loaded up the panels for a trip to our buddy 'Critty' at Dothan Auto Body.

The stripped down version. Here you can easily see the on-board fire suppression system and the place where the battery goes. On the other side/wing pod is the radiator (out of a VW Rabbit), which is visible in one of the next pictures.

We then put it up up on some saw horses so we could work on it without being on our knees on the cold concrete floor of the shop. Car weighs almost 600lbs, so we used the tractor with a engine hoist/cherry picker to lift it up. Removed the wheels and tires so we could check the axles and bearings and front end parts. We'll also check the frame for stress cracks and then clean and repaint the frame/cage.

Found some wiring problems, so I started working on them. Now maybe the engine temp guage will work (very important on a 2-stroke motor). Working tach and wiring for the electric fuel pump would be nice too.

JHT is reworking the radiator plumbing. (There 'should' be a expansion tank on the end of the red hose, but it was gone and the hose was plugged with a piece of round aluminum. Hoses were also bent around the corners so much that they were collapsed.)

Built a screen to go behind the front wheel, where it was kicking up rocks into the radiator. This should help. Will install some ducting later to make sure all the air coming in the side pod passes thru the radiator.

Body panels are back from Critty at Dothan Auto Body. As always, he did a excellent job for us and at a very reasonable price.

First Event: Time Trial (old Solo 1) School at Talladega Gran Prix Track - 16-17 April 2005