My 4106 in August issue of CAR and DRIVER Magazine.....

[OneLapper]

Hi Guys,

It's been many months since I last posted anything.  My last post was about trailter hitches on a 4106.  I did build a reciever for the bus and I'll post some pictures soon.

I bought the bus to tow my race car to track events and to stay in for a couple of days at the tracks.  I also wanted a comfy place for my wife and kid (soon to be plurl) to travel and stay in during these events.

Long story short, the major race we do is the Cannonball One Lap of America.  We won it for the fourth time in a row.  Car and Driver magazine covered the race and will write an article about it in the August issue.  Well, the staff photographer for Car and Driver LOVED our 4106 and took two dozen or so pictures of it.  I just got an email from the magazine that they are putting two or three pictures of the bus (and a writeup as a side featurette) in the article about the race!  I answer some questions about GM buses in general as well as about the 4106 model, and some more specifically about our bus and it's conversion.  They asked if I was willing to let them do an instrumented test on the bus for a future feature.  This means driving it out to their Dearborn, MI headquarters, though.  We'll know soon if they are still interested in the road test.

BTW, we towed my car and trailer (about 5000 lbs) 2000 miles with the bus and averaged 8.5 mpg drive 65 to 70 mph between Connecticut and Southbend, Indiana and back.  I get about 10 mpg without towing.  We had zero problems with the hitch.  I'll post some pictures soon.

Check out www.onelapofamerica.com and http://www.caranddriver.com/features/13001/2007-one-lap-of-america.html for info on the race.  We're the car at the top of the page.

Mark

[Sammy]

Congratulations on your 4th win.
Very cool!
Post pics of the tow rig (4106) when you get a chance.
Sammy 

[Dallas]

Way Cool! Ya gotta give us ilitrit bus owners pitchurs!

Oh, and just 1 more post will make you a not newbie anymore!!!!

Dallas

GO BUSSING!

[OneLapper]

Here you go, Dallas!  Post number 50.  Wait, let me get a beer....   ahhh, that's better!

Pictures on the way.  I'll see if I can get some of the pictures that Car and Driver took.  Drew, my co-driver during the race, took pictures of the rig on the way out and on the way back.

Mark

[Nick Badame Refrig/ACC]

Congrats Mark...

On the rese and the mag artical..

Nick-

[OneLapper]

Here is a pic of our rig after driving 980 miles overnight, nonstop from CT to Southbend, Indiana.  The bus ran great, got 8.5 mpg, burned only 1 gallon of oil and towed the car trailer like a champ (except for a couple of hills in PA)!

Mark

[Dreamscape]

That is one neat set-up!

Thanks for posting pictures, they both look great.

Paul

[RJ]

Mark -

I'm just a little corn-fuzzled here. . .  Did you tow the Porsche between all the tracks involved on One Lap w/ the '06, or just to South Bend?

[OneLapper]

Russ,

The '06 was used to tow the car to and from South Bend.  During the race, you are not allowed any support vehicles of any kind.  We carry our own spares and the entire event has to be done on one set of street tires.  The race is 8 days, 24 hours a day.  We race at tracks during the day and drive over night to the next.  I have a co-driver that splits the transit driving.  The car is 650 hp, does 0-60 in about 3 seconds and does 208 mph.  it's completely street legal with a/c, cruise, power windows and even has cat. converters.  In 8 days we drove 4800 miles, not including the 1800 miles to and from the race in the '06. 

The race is the modern version of the Cannonball Run and is run by Brock Yates, the original Cannonball record holder.  It's been held almost every year for 27 years.

Mark

[niles500]

4800 miles / 8 days = 600 miles day / 24 hours = average speed of 25 MPH