Silver State Classic Open Road Challange
09-17-2007, 06:45 PM
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Silver State Classic Open Road Challange
Hi everyone,
Cheryl and I just pulled in from beautiful Ely, Nevada after a 4 day trip to their Silver State ORR. This is the 20th year event so there were 136 competitors in little Ely.
We pulled in on Thursday late afternoon and were to tired to even unload the car so we parked the trailer and went to dinner with some friends. Friday morning we unloaded the car and drove around town and down the highway to make sure that everything was still working properly. We headed down to registration and got our decals and tech forms then went back to the motel to install our mandatory car numbers and sponsor decals. The wind had come up so our best effort only produced decals that were "kind of" on correctly. Every time we got a corner tacked the wind would pull it off and stick the stupid thing crooked. I finally decided that I would get our trailer blanket and make myself a giant wind block and have Cheryl tack the decals on and then I would run around and help her finish the job. This approch worked pretty good until I ran around to help her and the blanket took off across the parking lot at about 45 MPH. We finally got them all on but the worksmanship was somewhat suspect.
Then it was off to tech to have the car inspected. We had jumped up in class this time to the 170 MPH average class and were unsure if they needed anymore safety gear on the car. We breezed through the inspection because they remembered us from last year and we had all of the required equip plus some. Then it was back to the motel to double check everything and put the car to bed.
Saturday morning is the car show in the town park so we drove down and parked with some friends. Up pulls a brand new Ferrari 430 and parks right next to us. (Georgeous Car) About 15 minutes later a Lamborghini Gallardo pull in across from us. (Also Georgeous but not my type). Cheryl and I started walking around looking at the cars and renewing friendships and were gone for about 30 minutes. When we walked back to our car to start taping it there was a small crowd of folks in the isle between the Ferrari and the Lambo. When we got to the car they were all actually looking at our 928. Tons of compliments about the car and its performance during the year. All day long folks would come up to us and tell us how nice it is to see a 928 back at the Silver State (A referance to Marc & Susan).
One of the most interesting cars out there was a 1986 Pontiac brought over to the USA by a gentleman from Norway. His name was Polly and he brought the car and a 40 man support team to break the all time record at the Silver State (227mph) It was a 1450 Hp monster. The Procharger SC was as big as a manhole cover it seemed. He had already broken the Bugati Veyrons record in Germany (he ran 263 at Sea level) and wanted the Silver State record as well.
Saturday night was the drivers meeting and we got the bad news that they were expecting 15 - 25 mph sustained headwind on Sunday but the good news was that it would be much cooler. Kind of dashed our hopes of running well but who knows what the weather would bring.
Since Super Sport runs last at these event we did not get to the starting line until about 9:30. For once they were actually able to start on time and they were about 2/3's the way through the cars. After the last car left the line they brought is all up and told us that we would be starting at about 11:30 which was good what was bad was that the wind were increasing. We all lined up under the huge Optima horseshoe which they blow up and it crosses the entire road. At 11:00 we head to the car to finish hooking up the cool suit system and and tape some extra water to the roll bar when the winds start howling. I mean really blowing. It was blowing so hard that the Optima banner colapses and start beating the sh* t out of the cars. It is down on the ground writhing and pounding like a beached whale. Everyone on the start line jumps on this thing and tries to get some control over it. Richard Hille (1st out) is under this banner and we all push his car backward so it doesn't get ruined by the pounding. Then the unexpected happens and the generator that is trying to pump this back up quits. Everyone breaks into a huge laughter and we all give up on saving the banner. There is only 6 of us on the line so who really cares if the banner is there.
Now the really good stuff. We are started at 11:50 and the spacing is 3 minutes apart. The guy in front of me also has an unlimited tech (no speed restrictions) so we talk briefly and we are good with each others strategies.
We leave the line and within a mile are running 170 MPH. We warm the car up from about 5 miles they put the pedal down. We actually cruise the 11 mile straight at 202 mph and start banking time. The car feels so darn good even in the winds that we slightly change our planned 30 seconds back to a "just go" stategy. For the next 25 miles we are averaging over 180 and loving it. Just before the speed trap entrance comes up I see a car on the road in front of us. What the ???##$%. It was the Mustang that started in front of us. Oh no!! not in the speed trap!! I make a personal decision that he is not going to spoil my day and floor the car. Unbelievably the car is acellerating from 202 mph we are closing really fast on this guy. We are now only 2 miles from the gun and our car hits 205, then 206, then 207. We can see the other car and the radar station and Cheryl is saying go go go go. I get into the left lane and thankfully the other car moves to the right. We go by the radar station at 208 mph and pass the other car at the same time. How cool is that. We are higher than a kite and are leaving this other car in the dust. We slow the car down and try to relax and I ask Cheryl to get our time so we don't get to far ahead. She checks the time at the next mile marker and oops, we are averaging over 180 MPH. That is not good. We slow to 145 and coast to the Narrows and take the narrows at a very slow 115 mph trying to dump this time. We came out of the turns and are still 35 seconds fast so I keep the car at 145 for the next 10 or so miles. At 5 miles out we are with in 2 seconds so I start the climb up to 170 again. We cross the finish at .800 seconds off of perfect 170 mph time.
I will not bore you with the rest of the story, but at the awards we took first place by 5 minutes over the other 170 competitor. My GPS says 208 mph (yet to be verified by the promoter) I have my doubts because two cars in the trap at the same time is not good for accurate readings.
I'm exhausted today so I apoligize for this long winded acount of the weekend and poor spelling and grammer.
By the way, the team from Norway did apparently break the record at 234 mph but ran out of gas at the finish line. Silver state will have to verify the radar speed for them also.
Bye for now
Cheryl and I just pulled in from beautiful Ely, Nevada after a 4 day trip to their Silver State ORR. This is the 20th year event so there were 136 competitors in little Ely.
We pulled in on Thursday late afternoon and were to tired to even unload the car so we parked the trailer and went to dinner with some friends. Friday morning we unloaded the car and drove around town and down the highway to make sure that everything was still working properly. We headed down to registration and got our decals and tech forms then went back to the motel to install our mandatory car numbers and sponsor decals. The wind had come up so our best effort only produced decals that were "kind of" on correctly. Every time we got a corner tacked the wind would pull it off and stick the stupid thing crooked. I finally decided that I would get our trailer blanket and make myself a giant wind block and have Cheryl tack the decals on and then I would run around and help her finish the job. This approch worked pretty good until I ran around to help her and the blanket took off across the parking lot at about 45 MPH. We finally got them all on but the worksmanship was somewhat suspect.
Then it was off to tech to have the car inspected. We had jumped up in class this time to the 170 MPH average class and were unsure if they needed anymore safety gear on the car. We breezed through the inspection because they remembered us from last year and we had all of the required equip plus some. Then it was back to the motel to double check everything and put the car to bed.
Saturday morning is the car show in the town park so we drove down and parked with some friends. Up pulls a brand new Ferrari 430 and parks right next to us. (Georgeous Car) About 15 minutes later a Lamborghini Gallardo pull in across from us. (Also Georgeous but not my type). Cheryl and I started walking around looking at the cars and renewing friendships and were gone for about 30 minutes. When we walked back to our car to start taping it there was a small crowd of folks in the isle between the Ferrari and the Lambo. When we got to the car they were all actually looking at our 928. Tons of compliments about the car and its performance during the year. All day long folks would come up to us and tell us how nice it is to see a 928 back at the Silver State (A referance to Marc & Susan).
One of the most interesting cars out there was a 1986 Pontiac brought over to the USA by a gentleman from Norway. His name was Polly and he brought the car and a 40 man support team to break the all time record at the Silver State (227mph) It was a 1450 Hp monster. The Procharger SC was as big as a manhole cover it seemed. He had already broken the Bugati Veyrons record in Germany (he ran 263 at Sea level) and wanted the Silver State record as well.
Saturday night was the drivers meeting and we got the bad news that they were expecting 15 - 25 mph sustained headwind on Sunday but the good news was that it would be much cooler. Kind of dashed our hopes of running well but who knows what the weather would bring.
Since Super Sport runs last at these event we did not get to the starting line until about 9:30. For once they were actually able to start on time and they were about 2/3's the way through the cars. After the last car left the line they brought is all up and told us that we would be starting at about 11:30 which was good what was bad was that the wind were increasing. We all lined up under the huge Optima horseshoe which they blow up and it crosses the entire road. At 11:00 we head to the car to finish hooking up the cool suit system and and tape some extra water to the roll bar when the winds start howling. I mean really blowing. It was blowing so hard that the Optima banner colapses and start beating the sh* t out of the cars. It is down on the ground writhing and pounding like a beached whale. Everyone on the start line jumps on this thing and tries to get some control over it. Richard Hille (1st out) is under this banner and we all push his car backward so it doesn't get ruined by the pounding. Then the unexpected happens and the generator that is trying to pump this back up quits. Everyone breaks into a huge laughter and we all give up on saving the banner. There is only 6 of us on the line so who really cares if the banner is there.
Now the really good stuff. We are started at 11:50 and the spacing is 3 minutes apart. The guy in front of me also has an unlimited tech (no speed restrictions) so we talk briefly and we are good with each others strategies.
We leave the line and within a mile are running 170 MPH. We warm the car up from about 5 miles they put the pedal down. We actually cruise the 11 mile straight at 202 mph and start banking time. The car feels so darn good even in the winds that we slightly change our planned 30 seconds back to a "just go" stategy. For the next 25 miles we are averaging over 180 and loving it. Just before the speed trap entrance comes up I see a car on the road in front of us. What the ???##$%. It was the Mustang that started in front of us. Oh no!! not in the speed trap!! I make a personal decision that he is not going to spoil my day and floor the car. Unbelievably the car is acellerating from 202 mph we are closing really fast on this guy. We are now only 2 miles from the gun and our car hits 205, then 206, then 207. We can see the other car and the radar station and Cheryl is saying go go go go. I get into the left lane and thankfully the other car moves to the right. We go by the radar station at 208 mph and pass the other car at the same time. How cool is that. We are higher than a kite and are leaving this other car in the dust. We slow the car down and try to relax and I ask Cheryl to get our time so we don't get to far ahead. She checks the time at the next mile marker and oops, we are averaging over 180 MPH. That is not good. We slow to 145 and coast to the Narrows and take the narrows at a very slow 115 mph trying to dump this time. We came out of the turns and are still 35 seconds fast so I keep the car at 145 for the next 10 or so miles. At 5 miles out we are with in 2 seconds so I start the climb up to 170 again. We cross the finish at .800 seconds off of perfect 170 mph time.
I will not bore you with the rest of the story, but at the awards we took first place by 5 minutes over the other 170 competitor. My GPS says 208 mph (yet to be verified by the promoter) I have my doubts because two cars in the trap at the same time is not good for accurate readings.
I'm exhausted today so I apoligize for this long winded acount of the weekend and poor spelling and grammer.
By the way, the team from Norway did apparently break the record at 234 mph but ran out of gas at the finish line. Silver state will have to verify the radar speed for them also.
Bye for now
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09-17-2007, 07:36 PM
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Putting that in perspective...that's nearly 100mph slower than the previous section. Wow.
BTW, how fast was the other guy going when you passed him? Was he having any mechanical problems....or sack problems?
Rich
09-17-2007, 07:42 PM
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Half & Half, his car is written up in a current Mustang magazine as a 200 mph show piece. Show piece it is 200 mph it ain't. Giving the guy credit he said the car did not feel good in the wind and he was having problems with the temp. If my car was not feeling good I'd slow down also.
09-17-2007, 08:03 PM
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Half & Half, his car is written up in a current Mustang magazine as a 200 mph show piece. Show piece it is 200 mph it ain't. Giving the guy credit he said the car did not feel good in the wind and he was having problems with the temp. If my car was not feeling good I'd slow down also.
Another 200+ run in the books!! Way to go!!...thats makes 3 official ones right?
Mustangs make great power on the dyno and on the dragstrip.....but high speed stablility is not a strong suit! Just because the motor, gearing and drag say it can go 200+ doesn't mean it will you want to actually do it! Unlike the 928!
Now you just need to add twin turbos to teach the 1450hp guy what fast really is.....lets see 6.5L....new pistons for lower CR....lots of boost....maybe 2+ bar...you might be able to make 1450hp?
09-17-2007, 08:05 PM
#13
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Tim
One more ??? for ya.....so you managed an 180 average not really pushing it.....what do you think you could have averaged if you left your foot in it the whole time....185+ ??
One more ??? for ya.....so you managed an 180 average not really pushing it.....what do you think you could have averaged if you left your foot in it the whole time....185+ ??
09-17-2007, 08:09 PM
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09-17-2007, 08:31 PM
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