Now that the D1 is running, time to get packing. We started as soon as I got back from the kart track. Pete has loaned us his truck and trailer for the D2 (countless thanks again!) so we actually have a way of getting there. We do a lot with what we have, but the limited resources mean we must rely on the support of our customers, investors and sponsors. We truly appreciate it.
Of course no packing endeavor for a race is complete without some fabrication – finishing the various wings in this case.
Then all is done, we go home at midnight with the plan to get on the road 5am-ish the next day.
In the past, with only one trailer, I’ve driven the 23 hours straight through. But it’s sketchy and dangerous at night with the combination of fatigue and wildlife wondering into the road. So this time we decided to only drive in daylight. This gives us some 15 hours to get to Wyoming, stay the night in a cheap motel, then 8 hours on Sunday. Which is what we do, without adventure or incident. It’s just boring. Neither Tristan nor Morgan are up for marathon drives on little sleep and much stress but I must enjoy it or something, so I alternately relieve them in the truck and van on the first day. I essentially ended up driving each vehicle half way to Wyoming, and then the van the rest of the way, but that’s just what had to be done. We got here and that’s what matters. Spending 6 hours in a motel makes a huge difference, especially safety-wise, so it was a good call.
This year we have two cars and two crews so the place we rented last year, nice as it was, simply wasn’t big enough. Hotel gets really expensive really fast when you multiply number of people by number of days. So we rented a really cool Airbnb house. Awesome location, 6 bedrooms, views, and even deer in the back yard eating flowers. And, crazy enough, it’s about the same price as 4 nasty motel rooms, per night, but we can get way more people in here and comfortably too. It still does add up and if you’ve wondered why we ask for support – this is part of the reason. The luxury is quite coincidental (and I think we might have earned it a bit) but the reality is that logistics take a lot of money. The truck and van get about 8-9 mpg when towing so with 1,300 miles x 2 it’s about $800 in fuel each way.
The best part about this setup though is the three-car garage. We basically have our shop away from home, and a place to unload some of the spares and extra equipment that we want to have here but don’t need on the Mountain every day.
Today’s main goal was getting through tech, which we did. We then used the rest of the day for final tweaks, checks, tire changes, aero settings, GCU calibration and so on.
We spent half a day in a very hot parking lot and second half in the garage and in the trailers back at the house, with many errands run. Lots got accomplished though and we’re ready for our first test tomorrow. We leave the house at 3:30 am. Wish us luck.