Hot Rod Power Tour 2023 Recap

[tony-muscle]

I know it has already been a week, but I have been busy since back but I am going to repost some of my daily post from Facebook with a few more pictures.

HTPT Day -1
Today after spending a long day racing with the Madison Sports Car Club i got home and changed the Mustang from race trim to street trim (tires, seat, harness), loaded the trunk with 100 lbs of tools and parts to get ready for this year's Hot Rod Power Tour. Tomorrow i will drive to Chattanooga with the idea of making it to Atlanta on Monday where the tour starts this year.

 

[tony-muscle]

HTPT Day 0
Today i drove 730 miles to Chattanooga. It took me 11 hours. It rained most of the way. And when i say it rained it poured. I think there was about one hour of no rain. Tomorrow i will know if my fix for keeping the rain out of the trunk worked. Tomorrow morning heading down to Atlanta to start the Tour. The car so far fantastic.

PS: the fix did not completely worked since there was a lot of water on the trunk drop offs. The drains are not working so water just accumulated.

 

[tony-muscle]

HRPT Day 1
What an awesome day in Atlanta. Got here at around 2pm and spent most of the afternoon at the AutoX section. Takes a while to pack and unpack all the junk i am carrying but is all worth it. Even more that while i was packing i all the sudden see the Roadkill crew right in front of me. I had a chance to chat with Freiburger and Dulcich. They are here filming an episode of Roadkill. There were taking the Duster around the AutoX track and it was hilarious how much that thing leaned.
PS: When I emptied all the junk from the trunk for some reason I missed the big craw bar I brought. When I started autocrossing I heard a big tug in the rear but ignored it since it didn't affect how the car drove and didn't come back. Well, when I was done I saw a new inside out dent on the trunk area and then I realized the crawbar was there. Another self inflicted wound!

 

[tony-muscle]

HTPT Day 1.5
Tonight was the best HRPT night ever. At the hotel next door we had burnouts, a guy in a Chevelle literally doing a non-stop burnt out around the whole building and a live rock band to top it off. All in the same parking lot.


I loved this one. The wood grain on the doors was actually painter. It was awesome!

 

[tony-muscle]

HRPT Day 2
Today we traveled to Columbia, SC.
It did not go that well for me. The bracket that holds my clutch cable cracked and bent which left me without clutch. The good part was that it happened right as i was coming into the venue. I am glad that this morning i crossed path with my friends from the PT-303 Crew . They all helped me and stuck with me at the venue until 9:30pm. We were able to figure out a temp fix. Now i have to find more permanent fix so i can finish the tour and drive back home. It was a long day with a visit to a nearby weld shop and the hardware stuff. I really appreciate all the help from the crew.


Cracked bracket after welded at a nearby shop and cracked again:


Temp fix with a cut 3/8 wrench used as support:

 

[tony-muscle]

HRPT Day 3
Today we traveled to Rockingham Speedway, NC
Today we skipped the official route and drove straight. Still this took us through the countryside and nice little towns. We left Columbia late since one of the cars of the crew broke down with a blown engine/transmission. A rental trailer took care of that issue. I made some adjustments to the clutch cable and yesterday's invention still is holding up. We stopped at a machine shop in Patrick, NC where these guys fabricated a new temp bracket. Thank you to the machine shop and the crew that waited for me while the bracket was being made.
PS: I ended up not using this bracket but kept it as a spare just in case the wrench fix stopped working.



And some pictures from the venue.
The infamous Horse Force 71 Mustang with wide stance:

A fully road worthy license airplane car, but no air worthy


Typical tire marks left at the hotel overnight:

 

[tony-muscle]

HRPT Days 4 and 5
Sorry. No report yesterday. I was wiped after the long day at zMax dragway north of Charlotte. I was able to make one pass at 13.6 @ 107mph. I thought I could do a bit better since i have more power since last time when i ran a similar time. Regardless it was awesome to see so many different cars in the drag strip.
Today the drive was from Charlotte area to Bristol. This was a beautiful drive through winding narrow roads. I drove together with two Wisconsinites i met at the hotel. They happen to live a few minutes from my place. The Bristol Speedway was stunning. It looks like an arena with a road course around it. I competed in the AutoX event and i was definitely one of the fastest after the C10s from the guys running the show. My #mikemaier suspension is running awesome. After the event I drove 3 hours west and tomorrow will drive 9+ hours to go back home.



A very nice Cyclone:


A Cuda carrying a cozy:

 

[tony-muscle]

Some pictures from Bristol:

 

[tony-muscle]

HTPT day 5+
Made it back home after 2500 miles. This was an awesome trip which was about all the car people I met and new friends I made. Off course, there were a lot of cars I saw, a lot of new places I visited, new food I tasted, a lot of hours i drove, some AutoX seat time, etc.....

The car was a mess so now a few days to clean it:


So much brake dust that the wheels look almost one color. Actually a guy at a rest stop was talking to me and he apologizing told me that his only criticism was that the front wheels didn't match the rear, but all it was is the brake dust

 

[tony-muscle]

After a week back I built my own clutch cable bracket. This version is a lot more beefy attaching to two bolts of the booster and using an angle stock. The next project is to replace the header gasket. During the final miles the engine was sounding like a expresso machine during idle. I eventually figure it was a exhaust gasket leak. I lost one of the header bolts and the leak ended up burning the gasket.

 

[PoFoMoCo]

Wow, sounds like a great trip even with the clutch cable bracket issues. Thanks for the update and the pictures.

 

[tpj71mach]

I would love to do that tour someday. My car would have to be done for some time and have a lot of confidence miles on it before I would attempt it though.

 

[72MustangSprint]

Look like a lot of fun . Been on a few HR power tours. Need to do another one. Glad you made it relatively unscathed.

 

[jpaz]

Very cool, looks like you had a great time! Glad you made the trip and got back home safe. Thanks for posting all the pics and info!

 

[Sheriff41]

Nice write up and looks like a great time! Just wondering if you've shared your clutch cable bracket with the MDL bubbas. Seems they could produce these...and give you one of the first ones...for providing a design improvement.

 

[Kilgon]

Thanks for taking us along on the tour with the great pics and narrative. I glad to see you were able to fix the clutch bracket and continue on. Got to give you credit for your dedication to the tour.

 

[Cleveland Crush]

HRPT Day 3
Today we traveled to Rockingham Speedway, NC
Today we skipped the official route and drove straight. Still this took us through the countryside and nice little towns. We left Columbia late since one of the cars of the crew broke down with a blown engine/transmission. A rental trailer took care of that issue. I made some adjustments to the clutch cable and yesterday's invention still is holding up. We stopped at a machine shop in Patrick, NC where these guys fabricated a new temp bracket. Thank you to the machine shop and the crew that waited for me while the bracket was being made.
PS: I ended up not using this bracket but kept it as a spare just in case the wrench fix stopped working.
View attachment 78323
View attachment 78324

And some pictures from the venue.
The infamous Horse Force 71 Mustang with wide stance:View attachment 78325

A fully road worthy license airplane car, but no air worthy
View attachment 78326

Typical tire marks left at the hotel overnight:
View attachment 78327

That's one righteous tire patch someone laid down!

 

[tony-muscle]

Nice write up and looks like a great time! Just wondering if you've shared your clutch cable bracket with the MDL bubbas. Seems they could produce these...and give you one of the first ones...for providing a design improvement.

I based it on their own newer version. However, the bolt pattern of their bracket somehow won't match mine since the bolt holes in mine are not in the same plane. Also, in my case I need to access the nuts from the left side so the location of MDL's rib won't let me. That's why my bracket's rib is on the right side.

MDL sent me this picture of their new bracket:

 

[Sheriff41]

I based it on their own newer version. However, the bolt pattern of their bracket somehow won't match mine since the bolt holes in mine are not in the same plane. Also, in my case I need to access the nuts from the left side so the location of MDL's rib won't let me. That's why my bracket's rib is on the right side.

MDL sent me this picture of their new bracket:

Hmm. Yep, that gusset on theirs seems counterintuitive. They should put it on the opposite side like yours.

 

[69 Rustang]

What a trip—I wish it was more West Coast once in a while. I would love to do this with my boys. Thanks for sharing!