LSR List, Friends, and Crew,
This diary is going out to a wide spectrum of people so bear with me on
its content.
Most of you know that my consuming passion is Land Speed Racing, the 5
mile straight-away speed trials at Bonneville, UT Salt Flats, the 1.5 mile
Muroc Reunion at Edwards AFB, and the 1.3 mile El Mirage Dry Lakes meets held
in the Mojave Desert 6 times each summer.
As you know from earlier messages the year has been good to our crew
consisting of Son Brian, Ed Weldon, Kent Walton, Mike Gorvad, and Elon Ormsby
whom we drafted at Speed Week 2000.
The year began on a mixed note at the June El Mirage meet with the
magneto going sour during a 174mph attempt on Don Ferguson's 184 mph record.
Later that month we ran on 2 open (no minimum speed) records at the
Edwards AFB Muroc Reunion, turning 172mph on gas and 192mph in the unlimited
fuel class. In the process the bellypan on the car ruptured from the
aerodynamic down force it was designed to create. About that time we started
experiencing problems with the exhaust valve seats in the Ardun/Merc
migrating around and spoiling the compression leakdown, a problem we later
attributed to inadequate valve spring pressure.
Late June saw us on the chassis dyno in Visalia, CA producing 327hp on
gas and 425hp on 55% nitromethane.
By Bonneville Speed Week in mid August we had fabricated a more rigid
bellypan, shimmed up the exhaust valve springs to the proper tension, and
tucked the spare Ardun/Merc engine in the support-truck "just-in-case" the #1
bullet failed us.
I was fully expecting the #1 engine to self-destruct early in the meet
but was pleasantly surprised when it made a total of 6 runs without us as
even pulling the rocker covers or changing the oil. The week netted us a
210mph fuel record, Brian a 181mph gasoline record, membership in the
Bonneville 200MPH Club for me, and licensing runs for two of the crew
members. The engine was sealed after the first record.
Back home in the shop the engines "vital-signs" checked within acceptable
parameters so we started test-n-tuning on the supercharged Ardun/Merc in the
Dragmaster Dart drag race car.
The November 2-day El Mirage meet was to be the season finale. I had
originally wanted to run one day against the 160mph gasoline Vintage Modified
Roadster open minimum and one day against Don Ferguson's 1983 class record of
184mph. SCTA rules, however, prohibit changing classes at El Mirage meets so
we decided to concentrate on the XXF/FMR fuel mark.
Tech inspection is the day before the meet so instead of electing to
leave home at 4:00am Friday, arriving at El Mirage by noon with plenty of
time for Tech, for some reason I left Thursday morning, still arriving on the
lake bed after dark. After dinner I realized that I had neglected to bring
any reading material, leaving me no choice but to hit the sack at 7:00pm.
Lancaster weather was showing 29 deg. as the daily low but in reality it was
closer to 10 deg. that night.
Friday afternoon I got my Tech inspection from fellow Vintage Engine
racer Jim (J.D.) Tone. By then the pit area was starting to look like a
"happening" was in the forecast. My crew wasn't scheduled to arrive until
Friday night or early Saturday AM, so it was the same routine, dinner at
6:00, sack time at 7:00.
Saturday AM we started preparing the Roadster for the first run only to
find that the mag was dead after 6 runs at Bonneville and the water pump was
frozen solid in the 10 deg. weather despite the antifreeze in the system. The
record holder in the class, Don Ferguson, was on hand helping us prepare the
car. Where else but in Land Speed Racing can you find the record holder
helping prepare the car that's challenging his record?
We were #98 to run but they were up to #125 when we finally got to the
starting line a little after noon. The temperature (60's) dictated a
density-altitude of approximately the elevation of the dry lake, somewhere
between 2000' and 3000'.
The Roadster launched pretty well, pulling hard in low and second. In
high gear the engine was willing, but ran out of real estate about 5500rpm,
netting a new record of 188mph. By then the course was getting pretty chewed
up and the normally docile Roadster was a handful the last 1/2 mile. A couple
of times I thought that I was about to drift off the course or spin while
overcorrecting. To add to the problem, the chute failed to deploy at the end
of the run. The pin pulled out of the cord OK but the pilot chute spring
couldn't overcome the friction of the cord going through the eyelet's of the
chute-pack. I was hoping for 200+mph but it looked like the combination just
plain didn't have the "grunt" to do it.
Anyway, a record is a record. We towed back to Dan Warner in Impond to do
the paperwork. Since the engine was still sealed from Speed Week we were on
our way in short order.
The spark plugs looked about right so we decided to give the engine some
more "grunt" by upping the nitro percentage from 55% to 65%. We mixed some
fuel, richened the bypass pill (.012), and started trying to figure how to
keep the thing from freezing that night.
That night McCain & Houtz (XF/BFL) had a barbecue at their pit so the
evening went a little faster.
At 4:00am Sunday Crew Chief Ed Weldon stuck his head in the RV door and
said that I'd better fire up the pan heater. The temperature was below 10
deg. I hit the Onan starter switch (the generator was hard-wired to the oil
pan heater) and went back to sleep.
At about 8:00 Roy Creel (SCTA Vice President, owner/driver of the only
Model "A" engine (V/4) powered car in both the Bonneville Two-Club and the
Dirty Two Club) stuck his head in the RV and asked what quick-change gear we
were pulling on the previous days 188mph run. When I told him that we had
left the 2.48:1 Bonneville gear in it he suggested that we remember that El
Mirage was nothing more than a long drag race and that we drop the gear to
what will make the engine scream at our target speed, 200mph. Son Brian said
that he'd change the gear if I wanted to, so we calculated that the 2.70:1
gear set would net 205mph and Brian set about removing the rear belly pan and
making the change.
The coolant tank that gave us so much grief at Speed Week was developing
new leaks, probably caused by the overflow line being too small and
pressurizing the thing when the engine steam was introduced into it. The crew
removed the filler cap gasket, taped up the leaking seams, and wedged a
plastic covered pad around the tank to keep the hot water off of the driver
in the event it leaked more during the run.
Sunday was a little warmer than the previous day, reaching 60 deg. by the
time were in line at 11:00am. The course had been moved to fresh dirt and
there was no significant wind blowing.
The launch was a little more slippery due to the lower gear, second gear
got a little loose as usual right after the 1-2 shift, and the engine quickly
accelerated back from 4500rpm to above 5000rpm after the 2-3 shift. A glance
down the course told me that we had a pretty good amount of real estate
before passing Glen's timing trailer. The new course was much better than the
marbles I was running on the previous day, but the car still was spinning the
wheels enough to need constant attention and small steering corrections. The
Ardun engine was really liking the extra 10% nitro and the lower gear,
pulling really hard and showing 6500rpm as the finish line flew by.
I hit the parachute and fuel shutoff levers together and this time the
chute deployed, instantly slowing me nearly 100mph. As the car slowed to
about 60mph I started a slow left turn off the course toward the Patrol guy
and his big helium filled yellow balloon, knowing that he would be able to
give me my speed since he was listening to the "party-line" CB channel. It
turned out to be Keenan Tatro, the ever competitive SCTA motorcycle
competitor. He said that I'd gone 200+. Boy was I happy!
About that time Roy Creel came roaring up in his car and presented me
with my brown "Dirty-Two-Club" hat. The actual time was 202.44mph, breaking
the 188mph record I'd set the day before.
Back to Impound we did the paperwork again with Dan Warner and were
presented with the official "Dirty Two Club" tee-shirt, decals, hat, etc.
What a weekend!!!!!! What a year!!!!!!! Four meets, five records (okay,
okay, two of the records were open with no minimum speed), and two 200mph
club hats. I am one happy and lucky guy.
If it weren't for the support and encouragement of my wife Mary Lou (aka
the Queen Mum), my son Brian, Crew Chief Ed Weldon who's been with me from
the beginning in 1988, Kent Walton, Mike Gorvad, Luke Taylor, and 2000 Speed
Week draftee Elon Ormsby none of it would have happened. I keep telling Brian
that someday he'll tell his grandkids "you wouldn't believe what your Great
Granddad and I used to do with some contraptions they called
internal-combustion-engines on the dry lake beds and salt flats that are
covered with houses now".
Thank you for all of you that have had the patience to read this missile.
Ardun Doug King
|