Richard S

Well, since Battle Mountain now has wi-fi, I can actually post updates instead of making all of you wait until Monday or Tuesday.

Today was the practice session. We get to use about a 10 mile section for our practice runs. Traffic is held during sessions, then allowed to pass in between. This can make for some long delays, but everyone can get at least 2 round-trip runs, possibly 3 or 4 if lucky.

This year we have 5 928's entered:
George Suennen with Tim Bosserman....90 928-S4 Murph SC...160mph class
Tim and Cheryl Dey....88 928-S4 stroker....145mph class
Bill Ball...89 928-S4 Jag-Eaton SC...145mph class
Rich Sanders (me )....87 928-S4 Devek L-II headers...130mph class
Andy Goetting....93 928-GTS stock...rookie, 110mph class

Practice went well, no issues for anyone. George hit 179mph, his tech speed (max allowed) is 180mph. He will be allowed to go unlimited on raceday through the trap section of the course, but is limited to 180mph everywhere else.

I reached 160mph on the speedo, but the radar readout showed my actual speeds to be about 5mph less....so I'll call it 155mph actual speed. So far that is the fastest I've ever driven. My goal was to feel out the car, not charge up to my tech limit of 168mph. The car felt fine, but 5th gear acceleration is slow with the 2.20 rear end. Long corners at 140mph felt stable. Cheryl was able to run them at 150mph.

Anders made it from Sweden. He is navigating for Roland Roth in a new Corvette ZO6. Roland usually brings his Ruf, but not this year. At the practice, Anders got to ride with Richard Hille in his unlimited Camaro. Down on power, they were only able to reach 205mph , the fastest Anders has ever been in a car .

Tonight is the welcome party, and Brothel Tour The Ladies will have a Ladies Choice Award for best car. Winner gets a trophy and hot tub session Don't worry Ann, if I win I'll give the tub session to Anders

Here are a couple of pics. I'm sure George already has a boatload of better shots, so I'll try to get some of his to post.

Me and Andy on the practice grid.



The 928 team waiting for George to return.


That's it for now. I'll continue to update when I can.

Rich

H2

Cool! Drool!

Harvey

Stan.Shaw@Excell.Net

Nice, good luck!

pmotts

How is Bill doing?

gersar928

Yeah Rich, nice pics, but isnt someone keeping a clock out there WTF, no times . No pics from the brothel tour?
Gerry

Cameron

Jealosy over here!

IcemanG17

Rich
Nice update......how is Bills new suspension working?

Tahoe Shark

Checking in also.

The beast ran great all day until Anders drove it. We went for a ride after practice and had a sudden coolant loss. Turned out to be the aluminum sleeve that is pressed into the housing that connects the heater valve. We went down to the Napa store and got some epoxy, clamps, and coolant. glued it in and will test fire it up around noon today to see if it will hold. I got up early this morning and put it back together, just waiting a few more hours to cure then then I'll put the coolant in and I will go out on the freeway and drive about 100 mile with Cheryl in the truck and trailer following in case it fails.

Meanwhile I will tech the Yukon XL tow vehicle for the 85 mph class and run that in case all else fail.

Will check in later and tell if the fix holds.

Later

mark kibort

no no no!! JBWELD!!!!! if it doesnt hold, get some JBweld! Ive permenantly patched a radiator hole with the stuff. over a year and still holding!

MK

IcemanG17

Tim
I vote for duct tape and chicken wire!! But I do think the epoxy should hold.....how long was the required "cure" time?

Stan.Shaw@Excell.Net

Sounds like the same failure JV had at Sebring in 2005

Richard S

Today is the car show day, so not much to report. Bill and I got up early and drove the course down to Austin and back. Bill said the car is much better than at Bonneville, but still isn't perfect. It feels safe at 160mph, so he will run in the 145mph class. When he gets home the Bilstein/Eibachs will go on the car.

Tim thinks his fix will hold. The test drive went fine, the epoxy held, so far no leaks.

The Brothel tour had a huge turnout. The Ladies gave group tours of the facilities, and everyone had a great time. My car didn't win Ladies Choice, but car #169 did.....hmmmm, I wonder why? Sorry, I didn't take any pictures for you lonely guys out there.

Rich

Ron_H

I guess I move through Nevada too fast when I pass through. I'm ususally trying to get away from my bail bondsman.

What is this about a "brothel tour"?

Tell Bill not to worry because I can help him do the supension parts if he needs someone.

Nicole

LOL! The famous Swedish Race Car Driver...

Did he get his racing suit?

Best of luck to you all in the races!

Richard S

Well folks, this year's Pony Express was a success. I just returned to the hotel, so here's the latest scoop.

The race started about an hour late, but the morning weather was perfect! Cool temps and no wind at all. I was gridded 46th out of 84, so I was right in the middle of the pack. The first leg of the race is 83.55 miles. My plan was to average 135mph for the first 47 miles, then slow down to 110mph for the 10 miles of curves through the canyon, then exit and keep 130mph for the final 27 miles. My speedo was reading approx 5mph fast, so I needed to keep that in mind. Also, the first section has the two speed traps, where we can get official speed timing and the unlimited cars are allowed to exceed 200mph. The first trap showed my speed at 146mph by radar, but I didn't want to go too fast and get too far ahead. The second trap is the light timed trap, so I put the pedal to the floor, and could only muster 160mph on the speedo readout. I won't know the official speed until later this evening.

By this time I was a bit ahead of my schedule, so I slowed a bit early for the canyon section. No problems through there, and I think I exited on time. Unfortunately, some of the mile markers I intended to use as time checks were either missing, or I didn't spot them. When I did get a mark, I was waaaaay off my schedule. Damn, how did that happen? I figured I was 20+ seconds slow, so I pushed it to make up the time. The first leg finish line was about 10 miles away, so I needed to make up 20 seconds. Time to speed up! But for some reason, I'm gaining on the Corvette in front of me. Damn, is that guy slow or what? The finish line was now less than 2 miles away, when somebody flicks the switch, and my brain says "oh oh..." I committed the classic mistake of interpreting the stopwatches backwards ....DUH! I was never 20 seconds behind, I was 20 seconds ahead, and adding to it! I slow it down as I spot the finish, but had to remember that I couldn't cross the line 30mph below my target. So I cross at about 110mph, hit the stopwatch button, and head for the parking lot.

Some quick math, and I figure I was 38 seconds too fast . Damn, now I have to re-do all my return leg calculations. The good news is that I don't have to push it so much to the canyon entrance. My original plan was to finish the first leg on time. The second leg is much shorter, returning 46.35 miles to the finish line near the rest stop just past the canyon. This leg doesn't have the loooooong straights of the first leg, so cars in the upper classes really have to scoot the first 27 miles to bank time before the canyon. My strategy had been to average 140mph to the canyon, 110mph again thru the canyon, then 130mph to the finish. Now that I had to sandbag 38 seconds, my speed for the first section dropped to 133mph. Much easier to do than 140mph, that's for sure.

I re-did my checkpoint calculations, and waited for the re-start. We spent about 3 hours at the south end waiting for the other cars to finish, and a safety sweep of the course. My second leg started at 2:30, and by then it was getting hot. My new timing worked pretty well. After exiting the canyon, I was fast by a couple seconds. Believe me, I had to check myself to be sure I didn't make the same mistake. With about 2 miles to the finish line, I'm on time and everything is going well, when the red Z-06 that left 60 seconds after me is now passing me....WTF? I think it occured to him at about that time that something was wrong with his timing. I let him get safely ahead of me, and checked my time with 1 mile to go....right where I should be But now the Z-06 is slowing, and I'm rapidly gaining on him with the finish line in sight. ****, ****, ****, ****, ****......MOVE IT....I check the countdown timer...14 seconds, start mental countdown, watching the Corvette and finish line in front of me. Do I slow down, knowing the Corvette is trying to scrub time and will hit the brakes after crossing the line, or do I have room to stay on it and zero out? I decide to push it, floor the gas pedel and hear the timer alarm sound just before I cross the line. No time to hit the stopwatch button, I have to slam on the brakes so I won't push the Vette up to the parking area. Whew...that was AWESOME

I pull into the rest stop parking area, give a big to George taking pictures. Lots of congrats all around, happy faces, and sweaty race suits. The guys in the Z-06 lost track of their mile marker checkpoints, and figured out way too late what had happened. Thankfully they knew enough to keep it going and let me finish on my schedule. They were trying to slow as much as they could and still stay safely ahead of me. I totally understand, and thanked them for leaving me enough room.

So that's my looooong story, while it is still fresh in my mind. Final results with times and speeds will be announced tonight at the awards dinner. I'll let the other 928 drivers relate their adventures, but as far as I know nobody experienced any problems......

Except for Anders , but he wasn't riding in a 928...

Rich