The axle did show up late afternoon on Monday, and the few hours waiting for it in the morning gave us a chance to catch our breath and even render some video. Here are two clips – the car launching for its very first test run, and a later run on the lower section. The engine is so quiet it really sounds like an electric. We’ll most likely make a set of unmuffled pipes for the race (still retaining the catalysts and emissions legality of course).

Once we picked up the axle, a 10-hour drive (with a couple more thrown in for sleep at a truck stop) reunited us with our trailer just before dawn, in a dirt parking lot. Fortunately the guys are used to these conditions by now, and we just happen to have the needed equipment 🙂 The axle even fits.

Dropping off the U-Haul, picking up a few extra lugnuts at a NAPA auto parts store just as it opens at 7am, then we’re on the road. The rest of the trip is uneventful but long. Not particularly looking forward to repeating this a few days from now but that’s what we’ve signed up for.

We get back around 9 pm to a much-changed but not yet completed shop and a long list of things to do in a very short time. In a CarsYeah interview a while back I said that when faced with challenges I always look for a way to get something done rather than look for an excuse why it ‘couldn’t’ happen. Doesn’t get any more real than the last few days. More of the same soon.

Tomorrow I’m half a century old. It’s been quite an eventful ride so far, but it really feels like I’m just getting started 🙂