[twcom]

 

[twcom]

This will be where I journal my SmartBall 2021 experience for future days to confirm or refresh a fading memory from a time when I was directing my own adventures.

So, SmartBall for me began in May of 2019. It was at the end of my 2019 Brock Yates Jr. "One Lap of America" tour. I drove the entire tour, 8 days covering 5,000 plus miles. I drove my 2014 Smart Car dubbed "The Harlem Edition". I had a fantastic time running state to state with the pack of One Lap competition cars. I did not enter my Smart as a competition car. My goal was to see the event up close and then actually compete in 2020 's One Lap. By the end of that event it was fully apparent it would be near impossible for me to build a competitive Smart car. As Brock Yates Jr. said "find some horse power". Though there was a Smart Car that was entered Competitively years past, to me the only way to make it fun and not just be in the way out on the track would be to convince 5 other Smart Car owners to also run in 2020 and then we would compete against each other.
I quickly put that thought on the shelf and scrapped any plan to run One Lap in 2020 in the Harlem Edition.

With that I began thinking PCH. As the One Lap tour took us as far west as Nebraska, I figured the Smart would be up for the trip. And that is how I decided to take The Harlem Edition out west and run some Canyon roads and the Pacific Coast Highway from San Diego to Seattle.
2 weeks in May of 2020.

Then Covid 19 shut down the world..............

 

[smark]

Instead of Redondo Beach. Why don’t you head, for smart madness, in Signal Hill California. 40 minutes South. smart car, candy store.

 

[twcom]

Instead of Redondo Beach. Why don’t you head, for smart madness, in Signal Hill California. 40 minutes South. smart car, candy store.

View attachment 66183

We would have enjoyed that opportunity. However Smart Madness Signal Hill location is closed on Saturdays. We had reached out to them to see if a Smart car meet could be held there on May 8th but could not get that done in time for proper planing By the "So Cal Smarties" group who are so gracious to be hosting a Smart Car meet to welcome the SmartBall participants. They have made arrangements to meet at The Automotive Driving Museum in El Segundo.

Now Due to what SmartBall is about, which is the celebration of 50th anniversary of the original test run of the infamous Cannonball Run. Portifino Inn, Redondo Beach California is the official finish of Cannonball Run's. It will be no different For SmartBallers

 

[smark]

The Automotive Driving Museum in El Segundo, is where my best friend works. At the moment, he’s putting together a couple brand new exhibits there.

I bet Boris and Rachel, would open their doors at Smart madness. For a smart car event. There are great people.

 

[Jo e Lefors]

The Automotive Driving Museum in El Segundo, is where my best friend works. At the moment, he’s putting together a couple brand new exhibits there.

I bet Boris and Rachel, would open their doors at Smart madness. For a smart car event. There are great people.

According to this post smartmadness wasn't interested enough to even reply to a request from So cal smarties.

There has been no response from Smartmadness so I have come up with an alternate location for the So Cal Smarties to meet up with the Smartball 2021 group.

 

[twcom]

The Automotive Driving Museum in El Segundo, is where my best friend works. At the moment, he’s putting together a couple brand new exhibits there.

I bet Boris and Rachel, would open their doors at Smart madness. For a smart car event. There are great people.

Reach out to them and let them know if they happen to reach out to "So Cal Smarties" there is a opportunity. Of course if Boris and Rachel show up at the Automotive Driving Museum with a 451 Underdash Subwoofer box. Just ask for the Harlem Edition and the sale is done. I also want a small Smart Madness window decal.

 

[twcom]

Covid-19 Paused the 2020 driving season. The Harlem Edition found its self confined to the tri-state area NY ,NJ and CT, but for one run down to Va to pick up a set of winter tires. (Those same wheels will be on the car for SmartBall although they are shod with Summer Tires.) But over the pandemic pause time. I was glued to Youtube watching cross country drives, PCH drives and most of all sports cars on the California canyon roads. With the false pride of saying "if it wasn't for this pandemic I would be driving those roads." Of course the CanonBall runs come into focus and with 2 record runs made during the shut down it came to notice that May 1971 was the initial year the first Brock Yates CannonBall route test run. 4 drivers in a Dodge Van and 40 hours and 59 minutes later the Cannonball run was an American Culture Icon. That makes May 2021 50 years.
During the pause, to get the Harlem Edition out to The California coast was a solid plan. But the cross country drive went back and forth from a nice easy drive with some Route 66 exploring, saving the car for spirited canyon road driving or a quick pace across country. Then conversations and post tuned the focus towards a CannonBall style run in commemoration of the 50th anniversary of the of the first run with the Brock Yates van, and that became The May 6th 2021 SmartBall. A chat with Brock Yates Jr. (who was with his father as one of the 4 drivers of the Dodge Van in 1971) about a pack of Smart Cars running across the country prompted a giggle and prediction that it would be the "slowest CannonBall in history". .. WHAT..... a Villain is born....lol.. and the call to "BEAT THE VAN". hence the 40 hour pace I intend to run.

 

[Jo e Lefors]

Do you have a co-pilot going with you, or are you going to be making is 40 hour run staying awake the whole time yourself.

 

[twcom]

As It stands today it's a solo run. In an overall thought 2 cars with 3 drivers rótating could be a fun situation. 2 driving one resting at all times.
I will pretty much know my time in the first leg.. NYC to St. Louis. Google says 15 hours, I will be pushing for 13 hours, 2nd leg will be St Louis to Albuquerque. Another 15 hour stint per google. Again 13 hours is the target. Final leg Albuquerque to Redondo is a google 12 dash. If I am in Albuquerque in 26 hours I think I would head south to Phoenix then west to Redondo as I feel it's more populated route and I would be more comfortable stretching out the gas tank further. If I get a gas can, as I decided to run the trip smelling gas fumes is unappealing, so I will not initially have one, it would be to grab one in Albuquerque to run the last leg.

 

[Jo e Lefors]

Do you have a co-pilot going with you, or are you going to be making is 40 hour run staying awake the whole time yourself.

As It stands today it's a solo run.

That's pretty ambitious....

 

[twcom]

Fully committed to the SmartBall run

That's pretty ambitious....

Yeah it is...I've driven 3 times from El Paso Texas to NYC and back 3 Times Solo, just 9 additional hours... As Ralph Cramden would say " A mere bag of shells. " Lol

 

[twcom]

So now the car. My Smart was purchased with front end damage. I bought a new passenger fender, front bumper cover and service panel. I then duck tapped, screwed and Glued it all back together. Made it functional and pretty and had it that way for 2 years. It made it through the 5,000 mike's it took to follow the 2019 Brock Yates Jr "One Lap Of America" tour, and got in some laps on the Watkins Glen track during a Rally at The Glen Smart car event. About a month after the tour the cracked radiator support was now allowing the radiator fan to wobble and rub. Since all of my field surgery patch work would have to be removed to change out the radiator fan with a new one. I had the shop change any broken or damaged piece they came across. ..., They did $$$ and 7 days later I had a really nice riding fully serviced Smart 451. Plan was to massage it all winter and then Spring of 2020 take it to California coast and do some Canyon carving. All was on target ..... Then came Pandamainia...... So it has been and still is, a treasured daily driven, street parked, go to work, grocery getter restricted to the NY, NJ, CT tri-state area. It did manage a trip to Virginia to score a nice set of Alutec Grip 3 wheels with Continental winter tires. That blessing prompted me to sell my 17 inch Black Genius Darwin wheels and tires. It seemed like a long winter and in that there was some car neglect. I drove 6,500 miles on that oil change, double the usual 3,000 mile interval. Little nicks, scratches and bumper rash began to show through the normally. High waxed shine. Now I am fully vaccinated and with a break in the weather and my full commitment to The SmartBall run, can I get the Car cross country canyon carving ready? Or is it ready or not here we come time.

 

[Bob Ricewasser]

Just to let anyone involved or considering attending the meetup at the ADM, I have been in contact with the executive director and I will touch base with her again next week after their busy grand re-opening on Saturday. Anyone can also just drop-in but they may restrict how many people are in the building at one time. They want visitors, especially those who will donate.

 

[twcom]

The Car; 2014 Smart Fortwo Passion Harlem Edition
1.0 3cl, 70hp @ 6500 rpm, 68 lb-ft torque @ 4500 rpm.
5 speed manual sequential shift transmission
Curb Weight 1808 lbs
Rear Wheel Drive
Stock Springs and Shocks
Alutec Grip 3 wheels 15x5 front, 15x6 rear
Kumho Ecsta PS-32 tires 185/55 15 front, 205/50 15 rear
Bendix Front Disc Pads, Bosch Rear Drum Shoes
Mobil 1 0w40 european formula oil
KnN Air filter
Premium unleaded fuel
Fuel Capacity 8.7 Gal
Exterior Black
Interior Black
Counter measures None
Cruise Control manual ankle angle application
Driving Strategy Speed limit plus 7mph alone or second fastest in flow of traffic groups.

Sponsor PMD Motorsports

.

 

[twcom]

Well My Smart is just not happy with me right now Monday May 3rd, Running a little hotter then I'm use to. Although new pads (3 weeks old front and new shoes installed Sunday) ABS/Traction control issue has emeraged, I am not goint to do anything about that because car driving feel is soooooooo much better with abs traction control assist off. And its to late to have touch much poking around on the car before the run, a good mehcanic is bound to do something to put it out of service. I have been promising the car I would be putting on the new red undertray for months now Sunday the lift i intended to use was out of service and it was rainning so no laying on the ground to put it on was going to happen. So I dont see anytime left now to put it on for the trip. So my Smart is pouting and frowing at me, even started beeping and flashing lights at me for a key fob battery. So with two years of planing this west coast drive, I managed to have the car soooo not ready. There is only one way to handle these situations........ Zero out the credit card buy a new battery for the Key Fob and head out. We will sort it all out in California.

 

[twcom]

Well its Tuesday, I spent a little quality time talking to The Harlem Edition today.

Tomorrow a little exhaust work, some flex tape, a wheel alignment appointment, then I'll load up the Spare tire and yes ready or not......... SmartBall 2021

 

[twcom]

Wednesday May 5th 2021 830 am muffler delete in progress. We will see how this goes . We unhooked my coat hanger and set the old muffler free. Instant 30 lb weight loss.. it was not attached to flex pipe so sound with a short pipe exit shouldn't be too bad. But again we will see. Should evaluate heat out of the engine area better though. I will start imagining exhaust tips while work continues.

 

[twcom]

40 min later.. Well it's what I asked for and it looks good... Yes.. it is louder. As well as louder not a great tone, I'll will revisit the overall sound after we get to California. Changing my under dash sub woffer to an exhaust install at Smart Madness for sure. Lol. Now some Silverstar Ultra white H7 head light bulbs. Lucas injector gas treatment. Prolong engine treatment (just a dash in case I am running hotter) not gonna debate the merits of prolong its just in all my vehicles since 1995. replaced the Bosch envision passanger side wiper that has been loose since I broke it trying to install a year and a half ago. Dont want it to blow off and scratch the windshield. I also took out my KnN filter to clean it, it was very dirty. I replaced it with a STP filter. I'll wash it and let it dry re oil and install it at some point on the trip. I Had an appoint ment for 12 noon for a wheel alignment was told it would be pushed back to 230 to 3pm ...... cancle that another thing to deal with in California. It is rainning so flex tape is ready and at some dry point tomorrow I will sure up my undertray.

 

[twcom]

4:30pm Wednesday, Cinco de Mayo. Car is loaded with spare a 155/60 15 Continental on one of my orginal 5 incf front rims. I have eaten dinner and about to relax and rest until 3am and will be at Red Ball garage by 3:30........ oops I only have 2 bars of gas... lol so unready....... so I'll get up at 2 am. Happy Cinco De Mayo !!!!!

So turns out I am taking the Harlem Edition to California to have it repaired