Registration process

I took the car to an inspection mechanic Thursday to begin the registration process. Despite having called ahead, I was told they wouldn't have time to do the inspection that day. Understandable since it is a lot of hassle and paperwork, just wish I had known ahead of time. Anyway, rescheduled for next Wednesday and will call before driving there to make sure they will have time. One week delay isn't a big deal for a project over 5yrs in the making.

The day didn't turn out all bad. Since I had the car on a trailer I decided to take it to a weigh station. 980 lbs ! This is about 100 lbs lighter than I expected. The gas tank was about half full so car with a full tank will be just over 1000 lbs.

A quick overview of the process as I understand.
1. Mechanic inspects the car, takes pictures, verifies receipts and helps fill out the Specially Constructed Vehicle form. (Will try again next week)
2. I take the packet of info to a license center, pay sales tax, and the packet is sent to PennDOT.
3. PennDOT reviews the info, if all looks good they send a VIN plate and license plate. Best case could be a couple weeks, but delays are not unusual and they may ask for more info/clarification/modifications which will add more time.
So in short, I have no idea how long it will take, but the good thing is that I can still enjoy the car at autocrosses while I wait.

First Autocross

Satisfying but exhausting best describe this weekend. I decided to register for the Philly autocross even though a lot of prep work remained, figuring that a deadline will help move things along. It did.
Before the event I needed to fabricate and mount a roll bar, make sure everything was fastened, tightened, aligned...and figure out how to load and secure the car on its trailer for the 1hr drive to Philly.
I spent all day Saturday (8:00 am until midnight) getting done what I could, then woke up at 5:00am the next morning to finish prep and try to make the 8:15 registration start...
Despite the lack of sleep, oppressive heat/humidity, and afternoon downpour, it turned out to be a good day. They gave us 5 runs, which was good because it took the first few to learn the course and start to get used to the car...very different from a leisurely drive around the block...

Some pictures after my runs were complete...the wife and kids stopped by to see how things were going. This was taken just before the rain started.


Below is a video of one of the runs, sound is mostly wind noise since I forgot the foam mic cover. I still have a lot of room for improvement, mostly in the driver, but I'm looking forward to dialing in the car and learning to drive it over time.
http://www.youtube.com/user/R1SE7EN#p/u/1/QYdZ2aWkre4

I took advantage of the nice weekend weather to get the car out again. Took the kids for spins around the yard then went for a couple laps in our development. Here are some pics next to our Sentra, gives you an idea of scale...

Also did a test fit on the trailer. Loaded easily and fits well but I need to check the tongue weight, seemed a bit light...


Some onboard video of a drive but quality isn't the best.
http://www.youtube.com/user/R1SE7EN#p/u/0/1hfPGB0oBu0