I haven’t been keeping up with blogging so I’ll try to catch up with a few things in this post. With the economy in a tailspin here in the US, I’ve put my BMW project on hold for a while. There are a couple of advantages to this strategy: It preserves cash should we have to throw everything in the Volvo and head to Mexico; and if I wait until January, then the BMW will qualify as “historic” according to the great State of Maryland and I can skip the Maryland State Inspection (and associated fees).

Since I’m not making any progress mechanically, I thought it would be a good time to even out the flat black paint scheme. Here you see it before the attack of the black spray bombs.

And here it is afterward. You can see how far I’ve gotten by looking at where the door meets the rear quarter-panel. From that point back to include the roof remains to be painted. My goal is a uniform satin finish. Sort of Stealthy.

Back in October, I went to the Fall Driver’s School at the Shenandoah Circuit, Summit Point, WV.

It was a great three days of track time, but at the end of the first day, my friend hit the wall at the start of the main straight.

He and his passenger were both unhurt, but his 2005 Corvette was totaled. I was actually quite surprised how well the passenger compartment held up. He dropped a wheel off the outside of the turn going 85+ MPH and skidded across the track hitting the opposite wall with the car rotated about 110 degrees. Both airbags deployed as the car ricocheted off the wall. Now you know why I’m working on a dedicated track car.