I’m here in lovely Connecticut somewhere, where it’s verdant and feels sort of low-key wealthy, like how rural areas in the UK are. Where I’m from, there’s plenty of verdant rural areas, but they’re populated with trailers and moldy Monte Carlos that haven’t run since their owners were making jokes about Bill Clinton getting fellated. But here, there’s a scent of affluence in the humid air, maybe because the mosquitos always have breath that smells of fine wine-tainted blood. Who knows. The point is I’m here because of the 1rd Autopian Member’s Only Track Day! And I’m excited.
As you may know, I towed my Citroën 2CV to the track, because I promised I’d do a lap for every new member we got to sign up as a result of this track day. I don’t have the numbers yet, but I’m both happy to say it’s a good-sized number and alarmed to say it’s a good-sized number, because I may be on that track for a while. We’ll live-stream it, so you can share in the magic, of course.
All of this is great to know, of course, but it hardly makes for a Cold Start, right? You have certain demands for what Cold Start is: automotive related random crap, and sometimes just random crap, delivered to you each and every morning. So, allow me to provide.
First, here’s the Ranger Ford kindly loaned me for the trip, towing the 2CV. The Ranger did a fantastic job, pulling that 2CV at speeds far beyond what it ever could do on its own. Has that little French snail ever seen 80 mph before? I’m not sure, but I was pleased that the roof didn’t fly off.
The Ranger has a nice array of features to make towing easier; I’ll get into those in some more detail in a later post, I hope. One nice little thing is that you can turn on the rear camera at any point to just check and see that nothing is slipping or flopping or some safety line has become unmoored; I kind of wish they got rid of that Full View Not Available bar there; what do they mean by “full view” anyway?
Speaking of towing cars, this jackass pulled up at a rest stop, clearly trying to steal my towed-car thunder. I think that’s a ’58-ish Rolls-Royce Silver Cloud I. Is that classier than a 2CV? I guess so. Jeez. Actually, wait. I ran the plates. It’s a 1961 with a 6.2-liter engine, and I think it left the UK way back in 1984. It’s lovely! I guess I don’t mind being body-on-frame-mogged by such a machine.
I also saw at the rest stop the new Transformers trailer! Exciting!
Happily without any scary incidents other than my gas can spilling all over my trunk (pictured, lower left) we made it to the campsite. There’s the CrossCab that Mercedes drove up from Illinois! We were camping near Watkins Glen track to see one of our members race a Lamborghini and cheer them on.
Also, the campsite area was lovely. Look at this moss! I freaking love moss.
It’s easy to forget either how small a 2CV is or how big and bulky the CrossCab is until you see them side-by-side.
Mercedes did get to ride in and later drive the 2CV, so some low-horsepower French joy was spread.
At the track, I noticed this advertisement for nicotine pouches, which are required to warn you they have nicotine in those nicotine pouches. Also, nicotine.
There were, of course, a number of good cars just around the track. These two Porsches, nestled together like that, feel like they’re suggesting some kind of allegorical Leonardo DiCaprio joke:
You know, with the whole won’t-date-anyone-over-25 thing? That scans, right?
There was also this very lovingly-maintained C1 Corvette; I think it’s a 1961. What are the odds that both vintage cars I happened to see and get pictures of are both from 1961? Something is going on. This is a sign.
This track event is going to be a blast; I’m very excited to see everyone, excited to see the cars that are coming out, and maybe even excited about the two hours of laps I’ll have to do in the 2CV.
Honda Hack will let you turn on the rear view camera any time you want. You can even bind that to steering wheel buttons! I replaced the call buttons with that and other things because I don’t need all the fingers on one hand to count the number of times I made or received a call while driving the Civic before it was totaled
NW CT is almost as rich as SW CT. The MTA stops up near NW CT, and it’s also a nice short drive from the city where the rich buy their weekend houses. It’s also beautiful. I’m gonna miss ya’ll, wish I was there. I plan to be there next year, for sure.
Waitaminute, Otto is shaving? When did that happen? I swear last week he was eight years old!
See you all tomorrow!
Just arrived in Great Barrington, MA. Looking forward to seeing you all tomorrow.
the sahlens 6 hours was last week. best hot dogs made.
They don’t say how much grizzly is in those pouches…
But I guess the banner only needs to contain the bear minimum.
COTD
“… it’s verdant and feels sort of low-key wealthy, like how rural areas in the UK are.”
You have got to visit my patch of rural UK. Low-key full of burnt out stolen cars.
“ Has that little French snail ever seen 80 mph before? I’m not sure, but I was pleased that the roof didn’t fly off.”
My 2CV used to see 70mph quite regularly, and definitely 80mph at least once. At those speeds the tops of the doors were being pulled out by enough that you could stick your fingers through the gap. Dunno how much faster you could go without bending them…
Steep hills in your area, or LS swap?
JATO!
I used to have to cross The Fens in England a lot, which is a flat featureless plain, with almost no one living there. It would reliably got to 70mph eventually on the flat, and stay there, foot to the floor, until the next roundabout. 0-60 was 29 seconds which while very slow is still, in the UK at least, faster than the average driver manages.
80mph was in Yorkshire, steep hills. I got used to double declutching down to first gear (no synchromesh) just to keep going up the hills.
From experiencing similar with my Maverick, the “Full View not Available” is telling you that the 360 view is disabled because you opened the camera at more than like 6 mph. I guess someone decided that they if the 360 view is available at highway speed someone is going to try to use it to lane split in a pickup?
The most annoying part to me is that it won’t reenable the view when you drop below the speed threshold so if I accidently turn my camera on too soon pulling into my driveway I quit and reenter the camera to get it to load the 360. (I use the camera to give my wife as much space as possible pulling out of the garage without me driving on the lawn)
The 2CV on the trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_Hxk9-WNdGQ
Looks like it’s going to be a blast. Wish I could have made it this week from Western PA, but life gets in the way at times. Did attend a very nice car cruise in Butler PA yesterday. Not all Tri-5 Chevy’s, Mustangs and Camaros. One guy I chatted up had an unrestored ’59 Series 62 Caddy Sedan. Did you know the fin bullets were seperate pieces not welded and filled?
*Stares at the 55mph sticker on the U-Haul trailer*
Strategically placed to show at every glance of the mirror. Towed a 15′ U-Haul for a friend moving from MI to Pittsburgh years ago with my old MDX.
Hey, be cool
What’s the first rule of
Fight Clubtowing U-Hauls?Every towed car is a 1995 Civic.
I prefer going with “1974 VW Type 1” because then they get distracted while figuring out that I mean a Bug and they don’t ask any other potentially awkward questions, but you’re right about never, ever naming a vehicle that isn’t in their database of approved vehicles, or perhaps not even in their database at all. That never ends well.
Photo of a 1974 VW Type 1 (Bug) for reference:
https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/48830457201_847ae98004_c.jpg
I saw a first gen MDX towing a Ford Econoline backwards on a tow dolly recently.
Mighty nice, that Volvo!
Pretty funny especially since when my kid & I rented a U-Haul trailer to pick up our project 1954 Panhard Dyna Z we went with “1954 VW Beetle” (which was actually surprisingly not all that dissimilar in size, lol.)
Volvo? I thought the V on the hubcaps stood for Volkswagen. I suppose it was an honest mistake.
Ha, yeah, one could also say it was a daf-fy mistake
They will tell you how long the trailer is.
The information will be wrong.
A 2CV can hit 56 mph, if it’s a cut-down, race special. 😉
C’mon, people!!! It’s not that bad… I hit almost 60mph in a stock 2CV that isn’t THAT well-tuned with two people and the top down on the flat. Keep in mind that a stock 2CV is already hilariously stripped down. I try not to think about the lack of mass or space between me and anything that might hit my door
You need the Joe Isuzu disclaimer that a 2CV will hit 60 going downhill in a hurricane.
I take that 55mph warning semi-seriously. “Hey, slow down and be careful!” is the paraphrase. If all is tracking well I might hit 65mph on the interstate to avoid being flattened. But I don’t speed. Things can go burly wrong very fast.
Got a vivid front row seat to the alternative yesterday. A full size Chevy blasted past me with a mid-sized trailer doing 95mph in the rain. About a half mile ahead, the trailer suddenly swung 30 degrees sideways, then oscillated like a waltzing sperm whale through progressively larger swings until it flipped on its side across 1.5 lanes of traffic, with the truck jackknifed across the passing lane and the median. It was miraculously upright with two very pale people in the front seat. Code brown, I’m guessing.
Too. Damn. Fast.
I’m not usually into superstition, but it couldn’t hurt to proudly place that “42” placard on any of your trips.
It really is doing its best to obscure the geology, isn’t it?
Jason, you were in WATKINS GLEN this weekend???!?! I was there too having dinner at Pudgies Pizza and letting my son swim in the freezing cold Seneca…
Seneca as in Seneca Lake? I went swimming there yesterday! Though it was not cold to me. 🙂
Seneca as in Seneca Lake! I bet you were in Clute Park…that’s where I went swimming all the time as a kid. The new pavilion they have there now is a far cry from the New Deal era restroom/changing rooms that were there up until just a few years ago. I hope you didn’t step in any goose poop…it’s everywhere.
Seneca is a VERY deep lake, ~600 feet deep in places and it stays cold for a very long time, typically. I’ve taken guests to swim there many times and warned them, and no one believes me…
If you’re ever that way again, I highly recommend (and prefer) Keuka Lake, the next biggest one just to the west of Seneca. It’s a much nicer lake.
Did you get ice cream at The Great Escape?
I went to a place called Lodi Point, actually! Sadly, didn’t have enough time to enjoy the local cuisine or ice cream.
Lodi is very nice and a much better spot.
Keuka is definitely much nicer to swim around in. Can verify that. Hopefully they went to Grist Iron for some lake view beers too.
Excellent di Caprio joke.
818BLY (Chassis SZD35) just sold on Bring A Trailer 18 days ago, must be in transit from Florida to its new owner: https://bringatrailer.com/listing/1961-rolls-royce-silver-cloud-ii-7/
I wonder if Bibbly was the chauffeur’s name in 1961?
Holy crap!
Someone got a great deal on that lovely machine!
I was hoping the new owner was bringing it to Lime Rock for a few laps!
That moss is indeed nice! Being from the Northwest, that sort of moss growing on my roof can get annoying, but it’s nice to see when hiking.
I’d say that Moss is Sterling.
Always see the best cars on track day
“…maybe even excited about the two hours of laps I’ll have to do in the 2CV.”
You only had 2 people become members?!
lol
Moss? Sir Stirling Craufurd Moss ? Competed in F1 from 1951- 1961!
COINCIDENCE?!? I think NOT!!!
The full view is not available because the Full View Not Available bar is obscuring a portion of the full view.
Also, Transformers trailer. The kind of straight-up dad joke we don’t normally expect from Jason, but well played.
Well, he had to come up with something new at the rest stop after he realized that he had not in fact seen a Ghost.