1984 LONGEST DAY-NELSON LEDGES

Rupunzell

Rupunzell

Bernice Loui
Since we started running the X at LeMons.. I have been trying to find an article in x1/9 Road & Track magazine about the x1/9 they ran at Nelson Ledges 24 hour show stock race.. Memory also says, the x1/9 finished 1st in class in 1983 & 1984. Both times, Kim Baker ran the cars and team..

This appears to have become a forgotten bit of x1/9 racing history..
Recently, I found some photographs from that race posted by a race photographer who has been at this for over 30 years...


http://mwphoto.smugmug.com/Cars/LON.../1984-LONGEST-DAY-NELSON-LEDGES/1316068_G7JzH

Photo of the Road & Track x1/9:
http://mwphoto.smugmug.com/Cars/LON...N-LEDGES/1316068_G7JzH/1/62071510_LQNGn/Large


and the two Baker Racing x1/9s:
http://mwphoto.smugmug.com/Cars/LON...-LEDGES/1316068_G7JzH/1/263038703_yw7oN/Large

If one looks at the top finishers at this event, it's similar to the roster of finishers at 24 hours of LeMons...
 
Full years of R&T 1982 and 1983 on Ebay

Rupunzell said:
Memory also says, the x1/9 finished 1st in class in 1983 & 1984. Both times, Kim Baker ran the cars and team..
.
Click to expand...

Not sure if it is of any interest to you Bernice, but I did a little searching and these auctions popped up:

1982: http://cgi.ebay.com/12-ISSUES-ROAD-...emQQptZLH_DefaultDomain_0?hash=item414af17604

1983: http://cgi.ebay.com/12-ISSUES-ROAD-...emQQptZLH_DefaultDomain_0?hash=item414af79f1a

And also this hit in Google books for the 1982 Popular Mechanics where PM apparently had a 944 sponsored in the Nelson Ledges race and won? Maybe?
http://books.google.com/books?id=49kDAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA92#v=onepage&q=&f=false

I will do some more searching tomorrow if I remember. The info has to ge out there somewhere, it's just a matter of tripping over the right sdearch string. :)
 
My first SCCA drivers school was at Nelson Ledges

in '82 I think, in my ssc carb'd '80 X. Couldn't believe how bumpy and potholed it was, like St. Louis streets after a hard winter. No such thing as a line through a corner really, you bounced around so much. I'd gone to the Russell school in Canada at Mt. Tremblant, which was amazing; I couldn't believe they held races at NL, much less 24 hr enduros. Maybe they filled in the potholes before the 24hrs. Interesting that one of the R&T drivers was Innes Ireland, the former F1 ace - but wasn't he the one who first reviewed the X for R&T in Europe? I bought the car because of that article.
 
Kim Baker also ran this car (though not at Nelson Ledges enduro)

KimBakerx19.jpg
 
Baker Automotive X1/9

Somewhere in my magazine clippings collection, I have the 2-page article from R&T on the Baker X1/9. This is the article showing the X1/9 with a little kid off to the side in the main picture. This is the red, wide-body kit, with some odd 'lower the body around the suspension' modification. Wish I had a scanner.
 
How ironic...

I was just thinking about this very article last night and trying to get-up the motivation to dig it out from amongst the rest of my R&T collection! :help:
 
This site maybe has the article..

It takes a bit of digging, but if you go to www.fiatX.com click on the X1/9 picture and then choose "Press Room" and "1980's" you'll find the article a few clicks down.
 
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