Winter Maintenance and Storage
With the onset of winter, it is important to remember that it's time to get your vehicle serviced and either prepped for storage or prepared for duty in the cold and snow. If storage is in your plans, there are a few tricks to remember so your automobile is ready to sit for the season. First, over inflate your tires to minimize flat spotting, being careful to adhere to the tire's factory specifications for maximum pressure. Treat the fuel tank with a preservative or additive recommended for storage. Test your car's coolant PH levels with a strip tester from the local auto parts store. Even though it may look fresh, coolant can be very acidic and it may need to be changed. For the best battery maintenance, connect a trickle-charger. Also, it's important to change the oil. By keeping fresh oil in the crankcase you create a positive environment for the bearings and other internal parts, ensuring long life. For you perfectionists out there, close your doors on the first click of the catch to prevent compression of the door seals. Finally, if you’re storing your vehicle in an older building, cover your CLEAN car and set some traps for rodents. No poison though, you don’t want a smelly mystery in the spring! If that all seems a little too involved for you, give us a call. Fox Motorsports offers storage for all types of vehicles and we can see to it that your car is prepped, cleaned, and taken care of all winter long.
As far as detailing is concerned, if you like to take care of your car as much as we do, then you’ll want to visit us this fall/winter. Rather than waiting in line at the carwash and doing damage to your paint, call us to arrange a thorough cleaning. It may cost a little more, but it will save you in the long run as you'll have a better cared for car.
Track Day, Spec Miata, and Racing Cars
September saw the last Fox Motorsports track day of 2009 at Grattan raceway. The turn-out was excellent, with many of you making it to all of our track days this year. Thanks to all of you for coming out and making it a great success. We are looking forward to 4-5 track days again in 2010 and we will post a calendar as soon as dates are sorted. Thanks again for a safe, incident free season full of fun as well as excellent camaraderie.
Speaking of track events, the Spec Miata series is alive and well here in Grand Rapids and one of our own clients, who happens to have his Miata prepped and maintained by us, deserves a ‘Well Done’ for successfully campaigning his car all season. Many improvements to both car and driver have been realized through the season and deserve recognition.
If you have interest in a Spec Miata or any other type of race experience, we encourage you to give us a call and chat about it. We can handle many facets of the process and will provide a ‘turn-key, show up and drive’ experience that will make track events more fun and less work. Next summer is right around the corner from our prospective, so now is the time to book any car prep or project work that may need to be done before the next season of track days. Give us a call to get on the schedule before it’s too late.
Employee Profile: Alex Hamstra
From wrenching in his backyard, to the corporate dealership world, to on-site tech support at our track days, Alex Hamstra brings a portfolio of varied service experience and passion for automobiles as well as motorcycles to Fox Motorsports. He’s the younger man on the ladder but his age doesn’t sell him short when it comes to experience and know-how. These days, you'll find him setting up customer race cars of all types, performing the latest service on the newest machines from around the globe, assembling vintage Jaguar engines, or assisting Bob Kolenda with the many restoration or rebuild projects at the shop. Alex is an important part of the specialized team at Fox Motorsports, meet the rest of them here.
Fox Motorsports is now on Facebook. Become a fan and get up-to-date information, pictures, and news. Find us here.
FOR SALE: 1968 Mercedes 250SL. The "pagoda" SLs are some of the nicest driving Mercedes convertibles. This example just arrived and is ready for purchase. Check it out here.
The Kirkham Cobra, built by Fox Motorsports, is complete and on the road. It’s now back with us for pre-winter maintenance and seasonal storage. See pictures here
