I still miss my first car. It is the memories that are attached to them.
Wheels? I still could use the sizes/offsets or possibly purchase them.
Glad you are walking around.

I’m sorry to hear of your decision and see the video. BUT, thank you for the safety reminder. Not 5 min before stumbling across this thread I was contemplating why I use my full gear when running my car in DE... now I remember!

Keep your head up, might be a good time to see how nice more modern gear works. I continuously talk myself out of selling my 914 and buying a prepped cayman for the track. Maybe in a year or two.

Glad you’re safe and injury free, good luck on your next choice of race car. You still have Huey to get the vintage bug out of your system.

I think that is the right call Bob. After our chat and walk around the other day could not help but be sad but stand by the comment that a new adventure may be best. You can still rally the other car and there are plenty of rsr chasis waiting for new hearts and you can still play with the usual gang? Or something totally new!

The best part of this is you werent hurt.

OMG! I am so glad you did not get injured. But I am sad to hear Papa Smurf will be retired for good. Just an excellent car. Not the way I wanted to start my morning.

So sad to see after the Steller rebuild of this car. State of the art everything. It proved it was a champion right out of the box. Good luck with the next direction.

sorry to see this post
and really glad you are ok.

what are you using for data acquisition?
the video is better than anything I have been able to achieve

Damnit! If you stay in the sport would you please keep posting your videos. Look forward to those.

Hi Brant
Sorry...I replied the other day but didn't hit "add this" right away. when I came back was when the site was down and it was lost...

We use an AiM MXL2 for data acquisition/dash and AiM Smartycam GPHD (bullet cam) for video. Simple. Data overlay is automatic - no RaceRender or having to merge files - the driving part of the video is straigt from the card - no changes. what's nice is you can set it to automatically start and stop recording based on a parameter - Speed, RPM, etc. so no missed video, no video of sitting in the paddock, grid, etc.
We are an AiM dealer afterall so...

I use Window Movie maker to make the movies/text part.

That absolutely sucks, Bob. I was really hoping you'd be able to get the car back together again.

Bob,

Above all else, I am really thankful you're okay. Cars are fixable or "replaceable," or we were merely lucky to have certain cars for a certain time—sometimes a long time. Such was obviously the case with Papa Smurf. And I watched with no small delight the refresh of this very cool 914. I thought I knew I knew its story "fairly well," but Jeff's post made it even cooler. And the refresh came out so well. To see the latest chapter cut short, and so soon, is hard to see even all the way out here in CA. But that gets me back to my first point…

I am so glad you're okay, and that you were wearing all the gear—and particularly a HANS. I balked at the price of a new HANS recently, but paid it with gritted teeth. Your video is proof of how quickly it can go wrong and you're along for the ride. But back to my first point, again: When I was hired by PCA, Nadine and you were high points of the first few PCA National leadership meetings I attended. Your enthusiasm, your welcoming attitude, and your obvious work to make space for others. And me. And that's worth a whole lot more than any car.

Hope to see you down the road…

Definitely a bummer. I remember riding in an earlier iteration of Papa Smurf at Pocono many moons ago. Sorry to see him go. Thankfully you walked away. Thoughts on what's next?

Bob,
I am glad that you walked away without any injuries. Papa Smurf will be missed and it is a sad days.
I look forward to your next adventure.

Glad that you are ok Bob , looking forward to your next venture.

Thanks Pete. (but you didn't buy the HANS from us? LOL)

Papa Smurf has been with Nadine and I pretty much since we've been married, and in Nadines family since the 70's. To many, that car defines us. Because its what got us into PCA, racing, and honestly cars in general, very few people know us without him. I just wish if this had to happen, it happened BEFORE we put in all the time, effort and $$$$$ we did a couple years ago. But then again, it was 2020 right? Nadine lost her father in March, so I guess it's appropriate we should lose his car this year too....

I still remember your first PCA board meeting when Betty Jo was still Pano editor handing it off to you (Petit LeMans weekend I think). I distinctly remember a bit of tension in the air... lol.... She did a phenomenal job with Pano through all those years, especially considering the budget and personnel constraints she was under. (I think she was actually paid well below minimum wage!!) In your brief time there, your ideas, style and perspective took Pano to a whole other level, on par with the best publications out there (though I still perfer the smaller format! ) I suspect your tenure with PCA ended for similar reasons as mine did, which I would love to discuss one day over an adult beverage or two. In the end, I think it's worked out for the best for both of us....

If and when this craziness we're all going through now ever gets back to some semblance of normalcy, Nadine and I plan to come out to Napa again. I'll let you know when and maybe we can get together and share a few stories.

Bob,
Thanks for sharing your journey with Papa Smurf with us. It is sad to see it end but I am glad you are well.

Sorry to see the end for Papa Smurf but glad you were ok. Sorry to hear of Nadine's dad's passing as well. I recall many an NNJR PCA event in the 1990s.. you guys with your 914, and me with mine. Good times/memories indeed.

I'm sorry for the loss of your car.

Bob- just in case you are looking for a replacement, I’ll have this for sale. It will be a roller - no engine or trans but complete otherwise. Currently the engine and trans are in the car so it’s running and driving. $14,914 located in Parksburg PA. Email me with any questions. Mark@MarkEpstein.net

Engine is a Peter Dawe built 3.6 RS.

@naro914

Do you know your wheel sizes and offset?
Thanks
DJ

I don’t.

Thanks Mark. However, we’ve pretty much decided if we can’t fix Papa Smurf we’re going away from 914’s as a race car.

Dwayne - I apologize for not getting the wheel offsets for you. We pushed him into a trailer and I forgot to take the wheels off first to measure them.
I’m out of town this weekend but I will try to remember to do it Monday. Please PM me your email and I’ll take pictures of the measurements so you know exactly instead of just my interpretation of the measurement.

Pm sent.
Hopefully I get to purchase one of your sets. I really like the design, and we know they fit.