John,
Great weather, great salt, and eventually great results!
Our week started off with me taking a checkout run on Thursday. My
glasses fogged and I was mostly blind so I was pointing at the opening
between two orange mile markers (wasn't able to read the numbers). As it
turned out I went 212MPH+ in the last mile. That was before I tried the
Nitrous for about 1/2 mile, I finally read a sign board, #7, though it
was time to shut it down. Through all the confusion, I forgot to turn on
the tach, so I have to take the 212MPH in the third mile.
Jeff made the next run at 223MPH shutting down about half way through
the 3rd mile because it seemed to be dropping a cylinder. As it turned
out, he had a 229MPH Kilo. The next run had about the same results
registering 225MPH. Friday morning, with a new set of spark plugs, we
again went to the starting line, this time running 230MPH, and on to
impound. On the return run we fell short with a 216MPH time. We then
requalified at 233.06 and came back with a 235.775MPH for a 234.418
average. (Sorry John, but I had to borrow the record back.) The record
is nice, but the real mission was to get Jeff a red hat. Now both Jeff
and I are members of the Muroc and the Bonneville 200 MPH Clubs. I am
also a Dirty "2" (El Mirage 200 MPH Club) member. We will be trying to
fill Jeff into that slot in November at the El Mirage 2-day meet.
John, as you have stated, "There are no easy records at Bonneville."
This one was a difficult and an expensive one for us. See the web site
report a little later for the details.
I tried to keep up with what others were doing while we were thrashing.
I will report what I think I know about that:
After setting the AA/BFS at 390 MPH Al Teague backed up a couple of
miles and closed the meet with a 405 MPH middle mile. Vesco qualified at
428 & 427 MPH, but was unable to back up either because of mechanical
problems. Nolan White ws there with his new 2-engine version of his
streamliner and made a couple of easy passes working out problems.
Wooden ran a 290 MPH average in AA/FCC and hurt the engine on a
subsequent run. The Electric Streamliner went 251 MPH, the first
electric car over 250. Dave Haller was fighting A/F mixture, had run in
the high 190s. The Danny Boy Streamliner made a 240+ average in C/S.
(FIA)
It was really a great meet. My hat is off to the SCTA for running a low
profile quality meet. The atmosphere harkens back to the sixties when
life wasn't so hectic.
Tom
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