Larry,
As long as you have some suspension Nelson is a lot of fun. We would catch the
440's in the corners and they had enough power to beat us down the straights
and park it, and screwed up many a good vee race. Only the best 440 drivers
stayed ahead of the fast vees, and those drivers weren't a problem for us.
Running with 440's at Watkins Glen wasn't much of a problem with all the
straights, unless it rained. I'll never forget the sensation of catching up to
them driving up through the esses with visibility measured in yards, and
identifying them by smell before you could see them. I started road racing in
1975 and enjoyed several years of 30 car car F/V fields before the
introduction of the F440's, and I'm happy to have experience the heyday of F/V
racing.
John
--- On Sun, 3/6/11, Larry Daniels <ladaniels at sbcglobal.net> wrote:
John, I heard all about Nelson Ledges and stayed away for that reason. The
guy I bought my car from was a pro test driver for Goodyear and even he said
he didn't like that track. It sounded like a terrible track -- especially
for a 440. I only raced at Road America, Blackhawk, Brainerd, Indianapolis
and Grattan. IRP was bad enough.
Yep, they are fast and a handful to drive, but that makes them fun -- if you
are a masochist! They will sharpen your driving skills! Going through The
Kink at Elkhart flat out at north of 125 mph in one of those things will
test your cojones.
BTW, how did you pass a 440 with a Vee? The 440s are considerably faster.
Unless, I suppose, the 440 driver was pretty incompetent or scared. The new
ones with the 500 motor are outrunning Formula Fords now.
|