Randy Forbes
New member
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... as of just a few minutes ago, so thanks for letting me in the group.
Before I get sidetracked, I wasn't able to put a pin on the map; tried using the password that was self-generated, maybe I don't know how to follow directions?
So, I live in SW Florida, about 40 minutes south of Tampa's airport, been here coming up on 8-yrs (and loving it).
I built my first mini-bike when I was eleven, finding tossed out parts, and my $1.00/wk allowance. The first time I actually got to ride was on the 1st day of school, 6th grade/1966. The occasion was that I still needed something like $1.37 to buy a v-belt pulley to fit on the (donated earlier in the summer) REO lawnmower horizontal shaft engine. I told about 4 or 5 of the most gearhead boys that they'd each get a ride if they bought the pulley. Sold! Picked it up at the EPP's Sporting Goods & Army Surplus up the street from my house, put it on the motor and stretched the belt tight__yep, direct drive/push to start and jump on! No brakes, but Hush Puppies provided an acceptable coefficient of friction, and no throttle either, just work the butterfly directly.
The fun lasted until the Detroit Police showed up__lady across the street called them on EVERYBODY, nothing special about me__so they stopped me down at the end of the block, and made me push it against the compression home (remember I'm an 11 yr old runt) alternating with carrying the back wheel. Ultimately, they just said "park it" and probably something along the order of "if we ever see you again..."
So anyway, that led to several more home-built mini-bike projects, but at 15, a guy on my paper route, who I also worked on weekends with trimming and felling trees, helped me find a McCulloch go kart with a Mc9 on it. Well that changed everything!
Almost overnight, I went from drooling over hot-rods and muscle cars (practically a requirement for a kid in Detroit) to looking at sportscars and things that could take a corner without tipping over...
... leading to a life-long__and still counting__association with 1st British and for the last 20 yrs, German sportscars. I developed a structural repair and upgrade for the 1998-2002 BMW Z3 and M Coupes/Rdstrs in 2004, allowing me to quit my day job a year later to keep up with the demand and its implementation. I've personally done the repair/upgrade to the trunk floor and differential mount on just over 100 cars, and shipped some 1000 of the kits all around the world (they're on 6 of 7 continents).
Sports cars do not qualify as a mid-life crisis for me, as I have been in continuous possession of an open 2-seater since I was 18 (1st was a 1973 MGB that I bought new). I STILL HAVE the 1957 Austin-Healey 2-seater (MOST of them are 2+2s) that I bought when I lived in San Francisco in 1978.
Since 2000 though, I've been hooked on BMW M Rdstrs (a 1999, adding a 2001 a year later__still have both). In 2014, I had the opportunity to buy a former customer's car, the 1st one I put a Eurosport Twinscrew Supercharger on (I LOVE this car
). My wife's no slouch when it comes to cars either, picking out and buying a CPO 2016 BMW X5M Dinan Signature Series (the short story is it has 716HP/702Lbs-Ft). Okay, I LOVE that car too!
The mid-life crisis: late 2003/early 2004, I discovered ebay, and started searching for things that I used to have, like McCulloch kart engines at the top of the list. Eventually, I found a couple of engines (Mc91-Series) and following up on an old post on a vintage kart forum (Bob Dinozzi's site?) led to a dilapidated McCulloch R1 chassis and most of the parts. There was still LOTS of parts that needed to be sourced, but that was fun in itself too__the jubilation upon scoring a hard to find item. It took a couple of years, but turned out to be a nice finished result.
That was back around 2006, and well, I got busy with other stuff, and the kart languished in the basement (Ohio has basements__sure wish I still had one here in Florida...).
2019 saw me attend my 1st Vintage Karting Association sanctioned event in January at Bushnell Motorsports Park (an hour or so north of Tampa). I arrived with a kart sporting twin engines, neither of which was running__carb issues__and one of the guys there, Tony Severino, had me running in 12-15 minutes, and out on the track shortly after! Tony organized a "playdate" back in Bushnell just before Christmas, and now I'm looking forward to February and this year's VKA event at Bushnell.
As a new(est?) member, not sure if/how many pictures I can post, but I'll give it a go...
So this is what I got out of Oklahoma, bussed to me via Greyhound to Toledo, Ohio.
Fresh from an alkaline-immersion bath, all tube repairs finished (and new seat hoop swapped in).
Turned the corner!
Some interim testing__I mean, who could resist doing a few hot laps?!?!
And pretty current, just after the Bushnell event last year.
Before I get sidetracked, I wasn't able to put a pin on the map; tried using the password that was self-generated, maybe I don't know how to follow directions?
So, I live in SW Florida, about 40 minutes south of Tampa's airport, been here coming up on 8-yrs (and loving it).
I built my first mini-bike when I was eleven, finding tossed out parts, and my $1.00/wk allowance. The first time I actually got to ride was on the 1st day of school, 6th grade/1966. The occasion was that I still needed something like $1.37 to buy a v-belt pulley to fit on the (donated earlier in the summer) REO lawnmower horizontal shaft engine. I told about 4 or 5 of the most gearhead boys that they'd each get a ride if they bought the pulley. Sold! Picked it up at the EPP's Sporting Goods & Army Surplus up the street from my house, put it on the motor and stretched the belt tight__yep, direct drive/push to start and jump on! No brakes, but Hush Puppies provided an acceptable coefficient of friction, and no throttle either, just work the butterfly directly.
The fun lasted until the Detroit Police showed up__lady across the street called them on EVERYBODY, nothing special about me__so they stopped me down at the end of the block, and made me push it against the compression home (remember I'm an 11 yr old runt) alternating with carrying the back wheel. Ultimately, they just said "park it" and probably something along the order of "if we ever see you again..."
So anyway, that led to several more home-built mini-bike projects, but at 15, a guy on my paper route, who I also worked on weekends with trimming and felling trees, helped me find a McCulloch go kart with a Mc9 on it. Well that changed everything!
Almost overnight, I went from drooling over hot-rods and muscle cars (practically a requirement for a kid in Detroit) to looking at sportscars and things that could take a corner without tipping over...
... leading to a life-long__and still counting__association with 1st British and for the last 20 yrs, German sportscars. I developed a structural repair and upgrade for the 1998-2002 BMW Z3 and M Coupes/Rdstrs in 2004, allowing me to quit my day job a year later to keep up with the demand and its implementation. I've personally done the repair/upgrade to the trunk floor and differential mount on just over 100 cars, and shipped some 1000 of the kits all around the world (they're on 6 of 7 continents).
Sports cars do not qualify as a mid-life crisis for me, as I have been in continuous possession of an open 2-seater since I was 18 (1st was a 1973 MGB that I bought new). I STILL HAVE the 1957 Austin-Healey 2-seater (MOST of them are 2+2s) that I bought when I lived in San Francisco in 1978.
Since 2000 though, I've been hooked on BMW M Rdstrs (a 1999, adding a 2001 a year later__still have both). In 2014, I had the opportunity to buy a former customer's car, the 1st one I put a Eurosport Twinscrew Supercharger on (I LOVE this car
). My wife's no slouch when it comes to cars either, picking out and buying a CPO 2016 BMW X5M Dinan Signature Series (the short story is it has 716HP/702Lbs-Ft). Okay, I LOVE that car too!The mid-life crisis: late 2003/early 2004, I discovered ebay, and started searching for things that I used to have, like McCulloch kart engines at the top of the list. Eventually, I found a couple of engines (Mc91-Series) and following up on an old post on a vintage kart forum (Bob Dinozzi's site?) led to a dilapidated McCulloch R1 chassis and most of the parts. There was still LOTS of parts that needed to be sourced, but that was fun in itself too__the jubilation upon scoring a hard to find item. It took a couple of years, but turned out to be a nice finished result.
That was back around 2006, and well, I got busy with other stuff, and the kart languished in the basement (Ohio has basements__sure wish I still had one here in Florida...).
2019 saw me attend my 1st Vintage Karting Association sanctioned event in January at Bushnell Motorsports Park (an hour or so north of Tampa). I arrived with a kart sporting twin engines, neither of which was running__carb issues__and one of the guys there, Tony Severino, had me running in 12-15 minutes, and out on the track shortly after! Tony organized a "playdate" back in Bushnell just before Christmas, and now I'm looking forward to February and this year's VKA event at Bushnell.
As a new(est?) member, not sure if/how many pictures I can post, but I'll give it a go...
So this is what I got out of Oklahoma, bussed to me via Greyhound to Toledo, Ohio.
Fresh from an alkaline-immersion bath, all tube repairs finished (and new seat hoop swapped in).
Turned the corner!
Some interim testing__I mean, who could resist doing a few hot laps?!?!
And pretty current, just after the Bushnell event last year.
I'm thinking Rupp A-Bone, but I'm probably wrong, itsid will probably be along shortly. *elevator music*
