The shop closes in Lakeville

[dalyduo]

Visited the Lakeville office last week and the last two trailer loads from the old shop were being sent down to the new shop in Atlanta. Lots of great experiences and memories have been created with the open wheel cars that came out of that shop. Untold hours spent there developing, building and rebuilding the stuff we've raced and wrecked for years. Lots of blood sweat and tears from so many great technicians. Time to move on but poignant none the less.
Of note:
- The dash board is from the violent front stretch end-over crash at VIR during the Nationals last year. Emergency services used the jaws of life to extricate the driver. Check out the cleanly pinched off frame rail tubes.
- Old "Driver Development Ladder System" poster from the Cart days.
- The black and white poster is of the old Crossle factory in Ireland where the original DNA of our open wheel cars came from.

[GregS]

any chance that SB will ever run out of mopar (neon) engines?

[dalyduo]

As far as I know there isn't a pressing need for new ones as SB may be the only place on the planet that rebuilds them as needed...

Believe there's a Mazda powered open wheel mule sitting somewhere but the question of putting the considerable amount of money that re-developing a re-motored old open-wheel car would cost into the even higher cost of creating a new open wheel car has historically kept that decision from moving forward.

Originally Posted by GregS

any chance that SB will ever run out of mopar (neon) engines?

[GregS]

Originally Posted by dalyduo

As far as I know there isn't a pressing need for new ones as SB may be the only place on the planet that rebuilds them as needed...

Believe there's a Mazda powered open wheel mule sitting somewhere but the question of putting the considerable amount of money that re-developing a re-motored old open-wheel car would cost into the even higher cost of creating a new open wheel car has historically kept that decision from moving forward.

ah they rebuild them

ok i guess that could last for a while

[LimeRockRacer]

A sad day in Paradise....end of an era.

[Jim Pace]

Thanks Pat. Incredible number of lives touched by the experiences associated with the Lakeville shop (and down the road at the old dealership). Important to remember the past and so many that played a part, both good and bad.

[Slowhands]

Thanks Pat. You can sense the bloodlines and the human energy that went into everything.

[cdh]

Originally Posted by LimeRockRacer

A sad day in Paradise....end of an era.

Originally Posted by Jim Pace

Thanks Pat. Incredible number of lives touched by the experiences associated with the Lakeville shop (and down the road at the old dealership). Important to remember the past and so many that played a part, both good and bad.

Originally Posted by Slowhands

Thanks Pat. You can sense the bloodlines and the human energy that went into everything.

Well put lads, thanks so much for these shots Pat , I somehow missed these posts, they do capture the feel of the place, but the above quotes say it better. Saddens me :/ but hopefully this will lead to a better SB

[Magical Trevor]

Originally Posted by dalyduo

Visited the Lakeville office last week and the last two trailer loads from the old shop were being sent down to the new shop in Atlanta. Lots of great experiences and memories have been created with the open wheel cars that came out of that shop. Untold hours spent there developing, building and rebuilding the stuff we've raced and wrecked for years. Lots of blood sweat and tears from so many great technicians. Time to move on but poignant none the less.
Of note:
- The dash board is from the violent front stretch end-over crash at VIR during the Nationals last year. Emergency services used the jaws of life to extricate the driver. Check out the cleanly pinched off frame rail tubes.
- Old "Driver Development Ladder System" poster from the Cart days.
- The black and white poster is of the old Crossle factory in Ireland where the original DNA of our open wheel cars came from.

Thanks for stopping by to get some documentation, Pat. Skip himself toured the facility yesterday and was finally handed the keys; windows dusted, floors mopped. I forgot to let you know about that very unique body-in-bubble-wrap... but it's on its way to Braselton now so anyone can check it out during their next race weekend at Road Atlanta. One should also be able to find a pair of "Formula Dodge Show Car" center-sections from 1995 or so there.

After a reminder about the end-of-year auction, I rescued some items that I hope can be useful at next fall's banquet.

It's been said that more than 1000 cars have been built/rebuilt by Skip Barber in Connecticut. The last one was completed on November 5.

[ORBlues]

Originally Posted by Jim Pace

Thanks Pat. Incredible number of lives touched by the experiences associated with the Lakeville shop (and down the road at the old dealership). Important to remember the past and so many that played a part, both good and bad.

Remembering the past - don't forget Boxborough MA - unless someone has any earlier info, that was the first shop. Each time it moved, there was a big jump in conditions. I figured it would end up south one day - winters in NE just add too much to the overhead.

ChrisZ

[dalyduo]

Trevor,
Thanks for that final image of Skip touring the shop, and double thanks for grabbing those auction items. Great stuff.
Pat

Originally Posted by Magical Trevor

Thanks for stopping by to get some documentation, Pat. Skip himself toured the facility yesterday and was finally handed the keys; windows dusted, floors mopped. I forgot to let you know about that very unique body-in-bubble-wrap... but it's on its way to Braselton now so anyone can check it out during their next race weekend at Road Atlanta. One should also be able to find a pair of "Formula Dodge Show Car" center-sections from 1995 or so there.

After a reminder about the end-of-year auction, I rescued some items that I hope can be useful at next fall's banquet.

It's been said that more than 1000 cars have been built/rebuilt by Skip Barber in Connecticut. The last one was completed on November 5.