Business

Wednesday, Aug. 27, 2008

Biz Buzz: Locals to race dragster across the pond in U.K.

SLO native will oversee performance of 3,500 horse-power dragster competing to smash two international records

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Jim Rizzoli, president of Rizzoli’s Automotive in San Luis Obispo and Santa Maria, will monitor the speed performance of a rear-engine dragster—a sleek, black vehicle with a carbon-fiber body—with a team of six to eight people at the Santa Pod Raceway in the United Kingdom next week.

The San Luis Obispo native is part of a Los Angeles area-based team that developed the more than 3,500-horsepower vehicle, he said. The car, which has raced at several U. S. competitions, was built by Spitzer Race Cars in Indianapolis and was recently sold to Derek Flynn of England. It’s worth about $150,000, Rizzoli said.

Flynn purchased the car, which is classified as a Top-Methanol Dragster and runs on nitromethane, to beat two records administered through the Federation Internationale De L’Automobile (FIA), said Kyle Rizzoli, Jim Rizzoli’s son and general manager of the local shop.

The records are in the elapsed time category, which charts the time it takes to travel one-quarter of a mile from a standing start, and also in the miles-per- hour category.

Twelve cars will compete for a spot in the FIA European Drag Racing Championship at the venue north of London, and eight will qualify based on speed trials set to take place Sept. 4-6.

The vehicles will then race on a straight quarter-mile track, two at a time, on Sept. 7.

Jim Rizzoli has worked with fast cars since the 1970s and recently focused on performance tuning consulting—analyzing information from a vehicle’s internal performance computer and then adjusting the fuel and ignition systems, compression ratios and other elements “that utilize the power the car has,” he said.

—Tonya Strickland

Grand-opening tours of home sites planned

A wine tasting, guided tours by trolley and foods will be featured at the three-day grand opening of Las Ventanas, a development of 56 two-and three-acre home sites for sale just above the Arroyo Grande Valley.

The Talley family of Talley Vineyards owns the project and will be at the event, set for Sept. 19-21 at 3031 Lopez Drive, Arroyo Grande.

Call 489-0446, ext. 32.

—Tonya Strickland

Job fair coming to Paso Robles

A job fair will be held in Paso Robles on Sept. 18 from 3 to 7 p. m.

The event is being sponsored by San Luis Obispo County’s One Stop Business and Career Center, the city of Paso Robles and The Tribune.

It will include private and public employers. There will also be workshops on résumés and interviewing.

For more details, call 237-3962 or 546-3204.

—Leah Etling