The Cobra Lives!

[mhiggins]

Great news Alison......Did you say hi to Ed for me?

Mike
# 270 SPA

[dinoracer]

cant seem to find anything in the rulebook about smack-talkin
can we get a ruling here?

COM rule book is silent on smack-talk. Therefore, you're free to bring all the smack you care to back-up with your funny looking, engine-in-the-wrong-end vvolkswegen...

Tom -

P.S> my Rustang is older than 1/2 of our drivers, and runs within seconds of really expensive cars, when it isn't blowing up

[StephanAlfa]

cant seem to find anything in the rulebook about smack-talkin
can we get a ruling here?

COM rule book is silent on smack-talk. Therefore, you're free to bring all the smack you care to back-up with your funny looking, engine-in-the-wrong-end vvolkswegen...

Tom -

P.S> my Rustang is older than 1/2 of our drivers, and runs within seconds of really expensive cars, when it isn't blowing up

Yeah... tell me about it. Who was born on or before the year of my Alfa (1973)? and look what this car is doing ... I wish she would be a little more discreet about shoiwng her body ... roll that is

[jrottn]

all smack-talkin-mustang-trashin talk aside, it is truly great to have Alison back in the cobra
I was also at tremblant in 2005 (bmw club correct?) with my brothers in the 318 (back when I owned the car it was a lot less dented)
it was awesome to watch the cobra fly up over turn 1
have fun Alison it must be great to have the car back
hope everyone has a great event wish I could go (tremblant is my #1 track)
john

[alisonnic]

Thanks to everyone for your good wishes! I am really looking forward to this trip! Can't wait to get out there on the track with the Cobra!

See you Monday, I hope!

[alisonnic]

Woohoo indeed, glad to hear the Cobra will be back in action!

Did I tell you the outside rear on the S2000 was corded by the time I got home from Mosport? No wonder it was such a mess on time trials day.

See you there...

Woah!! Well, that explains the oversteer!

See you there!

[alisonnic]

That's great news Alison.

You took me for a ride in your Cobra on my first track day and I've been hooked ever since. I had to borrow Nate's fire suit for the ride. It wouldn't fit over my pants, so I had to strip down to my tighty-whities in the paddock to put it on. Well worth the embarrassment.

I don't know the back story. Why did it need to be decontaminated of a nasty toxin?

LOL! Good story, Mick! Luckily, I don't remember you having to strip down...

To make a long story slightly less long:

In the winter of 2004 I suffered a chemical injury which eventually led to the sale of my house and disposal of all of its contents.

I moved the Cobra (which had been in a detached garage) along with my tools, trailer, tow vehicle and other equipment to a hangar at a small airport in Vermont.

Unfortunately, there was another toxic chemical in the hangar, and I became extremely sensitive to it. By the time I realized the problem, the chemical had contaminated everything there, including the Cobra and my van, trailer, tools, equipment, and some other things I'd stored there, including a really awesome computer I'd built just a few months earlier.

I had the Cobra cleaned by a detailer, but the cleaning failed. Worse, via my shoes, clothes, and hair, I inadvertently contaminated the place where I was living, and then the next place, along with everything in them - clothes, books, computers, cooking utensils, etc. - before I understood how potent this stuff was or, rather, how sensitive I was to it.

That's why I didn't run the Cobra last year. I was terrified of contaminating the place where I am living now.

Hence the dismantling of the Cobra's interior - disposal of the carpets, seats, belts, heater, etc. - and removal of the dash, transmission tunnel cover, wheels & tires, etc., for the recent cleaning project.

[Mick]

Oh wow, that must have been an ordeal. Let's hope the cleaning was successful!
See you at Tremblant.

[alisonnic]

I just wanted to follow up on the Cobra saga, and explain why I didn't bring it to Tremblant after all.

As I mentioned in my earlier post, the Cobra, van, trailer, tools, and all my racing equipment were all contaminated by being in a hangar that was itself contaminated with an unknown toxic chemical.

The decontamination of the Cobra last month seems to have been successful. To avoid recontaminating it from the trailer, which was still contaminated, Amos and I drove the Cobra home and parked it.

I decided to put the trailer up for sale. Since it has a wooden deck, which I felt was probably impossible to completely decontaminate, I didn't want the Cobra near it ever again. To facilitate this, on the Thursday before Mont Tremblant, I went out to where the trailer is stored to take photos of it. While doing this, I handled the tie-down straps and the ramps, in order to get better photos.

And here's my mistake: unlike the days when I was working on the Cobra, getting it ready for decontamination, I didn't wear painter's coveralls, booties, and respirator. I thought that since the trailer had been outdoors for nearly two years, the rain and wind would have washed off most of the toxic dust.

But I was wrong. Not only did I re-injure myself while working on the trailer, getting it set up for photos, but I contaminated the cab of my new Tacoma tow vehicle, and also brought some contamination home to my apartment.

I had the Tacoma cleaned by a detail shop on Saturday morning, but that failed. I'd gone down to Gary Cheney's to borrow his trailer, but after 20 minutes in the Tacoma I realized that if I carried on and picked up the Cobra, I'd almost certainly re-contaminate it, too. I turned around and went back to Gary's. When I explained the situation, he invited me to ride up to Tremblant with him.

As it turned out, we both had a great time. We enjoyed each others' company on the drive up and back, and Gary got to run his fabulous Indy Car on the equally fabulous Mont Tremblant.

And I got to ride in and drive several excellent cars on my favorite track. A thousand thanks to Greg Metzger and Craig Herrick for letting me drive their wonderful Mustangs!

What's next? I borrowed a HEPA vacuum cleaner and vacuumed my apartment, which seems to have helped a bit. I'm going to go over it again today, more thoroughly, and hope for the best. Last resort will be to call a cleaning service that deals with toxic contamination problems.

On Monday I'm taking the Tacoma down to Massachusetts to Details, Etc., the same magicians that did such a great job decontaminating the Cobra, and hope they can work the same magic with the Tacoma.

[DanDarcy]

Hi Alison;
sorry to hear you didn't get to use your Cobra , but at least you got to drive and not just instruct . I'm glad to hear that you appreciate such fine machinery as the Mustang

[ctkag]

Wow - almost sounds like you're dealing with plutonium!

Seriously, I'm guessing whatever you've developed this hyper-sensitivity to is something that you wouldn't normally run into. I'd hate for one of us to inadvertantly re-expose you to whatever this is.

Good luck getting it all cleaned up. Glad you were able to make the event and enjoy yourself anyway.

[alisonnic]

Wow - almost sounds like you're dealing with plutonium!

Seriously, I'm guessing whatever you've developed this hyper-sensitivity to is something that you wouldn't normally run into. I'd hate for one of us to inadvertantly re-expose you to whatever this is.

Good luck getting it all cleaned up. Glad you were able to make the event and enjoy yourself anyway.

Thanks to both of you for your good wishes. I was so glad I was able to go to the event!

Yes, in a way it is like plutonium, except only for me, not anyone else. I've had to try to train myself to think in the same way about the substances to which I'm sensitive that one would think about plutonium. And it's when I don't adhere to this kind of thinking that I get into trouble.

Apparently that substance from the hangar isn't too widely used, because I haven't run into it since, AFAIK. Although there are other things that trigger my symptoms, nothing seems to be as potent as the hangar dust. But I really appreciate your concern. And I hope I don't come across that substance again, ever!

Despite my struggles, I'm actually quite fortunate compared to other people who have had chemical injuries. It could be a lot worse. Here's a quote from a mailing list for people with chemical sensitivities:

Note: This was posted by someone else on the mailing list, not me!

I'm wondering if anyone knows of safe shelter in Vermont, specifically between Rutland and Burlington. I have family there, but can't stay with them because of my extreme mold toxicity/sensitivity, along with the chemical injury aspect.

Also wondering if anyone else out there is unable to travel by train/plane/etc. -- I can barely tolerate my own car and even with carbon masks, a highway rest-stop can be lethal, so safe rest area ideas are also welcomed.

Isn't that ghastly? Makes me feel lucky that my injury wasn't worse, and that I have been able to make significant progress in recovering from it over the past three years.