Crew and Friends,
I just finished reading Tom Bryant's synopsis of his season. Nice job
Tom. Sorry I missed visiting with you at this last El Mirage. I saw you a
couple of times while we each were on "missions" around the starting line but
never got a chance to say "hello".
The King$ Ran$om XXF/MR had a good season. Eleven runs over the course
of three SCTA/BNI events, 4 records, and 2 Two Club hats for my son Brian.
Speed Week was our first outing of 2001. Brian had the privilege of
making the first Long Course pass of the meet and create the first
rooster-tail. Unfortunately I had the straight-alky tuneup a little lean and
he turned out just before the first timed mile. We richened it a "click" and
made a second pass in mid-afternoon of 215 in the 1/4 and 219 in the mile.
This qualified us on Hayseed's 165 XXF/BFMR record.
The following morning Bri ran a 212 in the 1/4 and 215 in the mile for
a new record of 217+ and a red hat. This was one of my proudest moments,
right along with my marriage, the birth of our children, my own induction
into the Two Clubs (even though it was with an asterisk), and my first
left-seat trip in a heavy-jet.
Next, we switched to the blown gas class by changing blowers, tuneups,
and being re-inspected, then set out to license my good friend and Crew-Chief
Kent Walton. After a 174 pass on the short course Kent experienced a
"big-bang" when my lean tuneup backfired the blower as the car entered the
first timed mile, rupturing the burst plate, soiling Kent's underware, but
otherwise doing no serious damage.
We repaired the minor damage but neglected to re-torque the heads, an
omission that would later haunt us. That same afternoon Kent ran 195 in the
mile and qualified against Hayseed's 155 blown gas record. While in Impound
we discovered that the head gasket was leaking badly between cylinders #7 &
#8. I then made the decision to make the return run the next morning.
When we fired the car for the return pass the next morning There was
water pouring out of the left side exhaust, but the blower evidently gave
enough "squeeze" to fire the two leaking cylinders and enough "breeze" to dry
the corresponding spark plugs because Kent cranked off a 194+ pass in the
mile, setting the new record at 195 and a little change.
Back home after Speed Week we changed the blown head gasket and one rod
bearing that was grooved from debris in the system, then waited for the
October El Mirage meet.
At El Mirage our starting position was very late due to it being our
first Lakes Meet of the year. Running in XXF/BGMR, Bri turned out early on
the first pass due to my tuneup being far too rich. We leaned the pill and
made a second pass at 179+ on a 165 minimum. I felt that the car was capable
of about 190, but elected to take the record and try again later. We got in
line again, but the meet was called when we were #2 to run.
In retrospect, I probably should have stayed with the Hilborn #30A
nozzles in the hat that I used at Bonneville. I had switched to
Crawford/Enderle #42's and the Ardun didn't like the setup.
The November El Mirage was our final event of the year, running
XXF/BFMR against a 195 minimum. Despite the engine being only 260ci in a
325ci class, I felt that we could go 200 without the "can".
I arrived at the lakebed early afternoon on Friday, pitted next to 2002
SCTA Prez Elect Roy Creel, rolled out the car, and got teched with the help
Performance Measurement Systems Don Barr.
The crew, consisting of Ed Weldon, Elon Ormsby, Mike Gorvad, Brian,
Luke Taylor, and Bob started arriving after dark Friday, taking up residence
in their pickups and 20' enclosed trailer/bunkhouse. Ed has been with me
since I started running the XX/STR in 1988. Without his help I could never
compete in LSR.
Saturday morning we were #96 to run, mainly due to setting a record in
October. Bri's first pass at about noon was 198+ on straight alky, not quite
what I wanted, but a record is a record. We made some minor tuneup changes
and got back into line. When the first day of the meet was called at 3:00PM
to give the staff time to move the course and do a course-walk we were far
back in line. We did, however, get a pretty good starting spot for Sunday
morning.
Saturday night we held the 3rd annual Cree/King Pot-Luck Bar-B-Q,
attended by no less than 9 people. Afterwards we sat around the fire lying to
each other about our speed prowess, the power of our tow-vehicles, our
various health concerns, and our PSA readings.
During the course of Saturday evening Roy Creel suggested that we
"sweeten" the alky in the MR tank a little "just to make the plugs easier to
read" and put in a little more gear. I had some 13% from Speed Week that I
never used, so we dumped that in the tank first thing Sunday morning, changed
the 2.7 gear for a 2.58, richened the pill from a .092 to a .075, and got
back in line.
On his first run Sunday AM Bri took the "warm-up" lap at the starting
line and promptly hit the kill-switch while lining up to launch. Luckily we
use a stock Ford starter and the Ardun starts readily. Shortly after he
launched I knew we were too lean. The engine shot ducks all the way down, but
managed a 200+, good enough for the record and a hat. It was reported that
the meet had to be shut down while all the waterfowl carcasses were cleared
from the course.
We had one run left, so we richened the pill to .067 and got back in
line at about 1:00PM. This time the car launched hard, stayed loose through
low, second, and the first part of high-gear, and turned a 210+. After the
run the blower pressure "tattle-tale" gauge showed over 20psi boost. It seems
that the only thing an Ardun likes more than nitro is supercharged nitro.
Back through Impound for the last time, this time finally measuring the
engine and seeing Bri get his second hat of 2001. Another very proud moment.
In 2002 we may back-off a little regards LSR. Bri and Cami are
expecting our first grandchild in late April. In that we have just about done
everything with the blown motor that we set out to do I may re-install the
normally aspirated Ardun and with Jimmy Stevens driving run against our
181MPH Bonneville gas record, try to up our Bonneville fuel record of 210
with Kent Walton driving, and run against the 178MPH gas record that Monte
Osborn and Don Ferguson Jr. set this past weekend at El Mirage.
I know that this is a pretty "wordy" letter, but I wanted it to serve
several purposes including keeping friends and family, LSR List members, and
Crew up to date on our plans and what we have done recently........
Thanks, Ardun Doug &
Brian King
///
/// land-speed@autox.team.net mailing list
/// To unsubscribe send a plain text message to majordomo@autox.team.net
/// with nothing in it but
///
/// unsubscribe land-speed
///
/// or go to http://www.team.net/cgi-bin/majorcool
///
///
|