Silver State write-up
05-24-2006, 04:22 PM
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Burning Brakes
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Silver State write-up
I promised in this thread to write a few words about my experience at the Silver State Classic last weekend.
I had intended to keep it short, but it has expanded beyond my expectations so please bear with me and my British spelling. The second part will follow soon:
NEVADA OPEN ROAD CLASSIC - 18-21 MAY 2006
Sunday – It’s 9:51am, and I’m about to leave the start line and drive down what looks like an almost endless road, disappearing into the mountains in the distance. I’m more than a little nervous, as my experience with rear-wheel drive cars is limited, and with rear-engined cars it’s non-existent. I hope that I’ll remember that stability comes from applying a little gas.
The seconds count down on the atomic clock in front of the startline, and my navigator Jared makes sure his stopwatch and course notes are ready. This is a first for him, too, but either he’s very confident, or he’s just better at disguising his nerves than me. “Three, two, one, mark”, we count, and as he starts his watch I reset the trip computer to give us distance covered and average speed attained. We had agreed that there was no need to leave the line in a cloud of tyre smoke, so once we’ve got clean starts from the watch and computer, I ease away into the race, following in the tracks of the Honda S2000 that left 60 seconds before.
A need for speed
It was British journalist Nick Trott’s article in CAR magazine that finally got me to sign up for the Silver State Classic, which is the oldest open road race in the USA. His tales of hurtling across the desert in a Dodge Magnum made me determined to follow suit, and in March 2006 I signed up for the event. Two potential navigators had to drop out due to personal commitments, but it turned out to be very easy to persuade my friend Jared to come down from Salt Lake City to navigate for me.
By mid-May, I had unexpectedly acquired a beautiful midnight blue Porsche 996. It was almost too pretty to drive hard, but I don’t hold with garage queens, so it became my ride instead of my faithful Saab 9-2X. This last minute change of car would dramatically alter my experience of the race, as well as causing confusion to the unfortunate race officials who had my out-of-date race registration papers.
Qualifying, and new friends
It was unbearably early on Thursday morning, and I was blinking in the sunshine at Las Vegas Motor Speedway. I had left my girlfriend with her mother the previous night in preparation for her trip to Brazil, and then drove through the night to get to Vegas in time for just three hours’ sleep before I had to go to rookie qualifying school. To my disappointment and surprise, this did not involve driving round the banking at speed, but would instead be on the tightest road course I have ever seen, just behind the parking lot. The drill was simple: a short classroom session, then several laps of follow-the-leader at modest speed behind an instructor showing us the line in a Z3. After a few more words in the classroom, we were sent onto the track a few at a time to practice our lines, before pitting to take on an instructor for a sign-off lap. As I waited my turn, I started to get to know some of my fellow rookies: James and Martin, two young guys from Michigan who were using the race to promote their tuning firm in their beautifully modified Civic Si; Paul and Lou, buddies from Oregon in Paul’s M5; Scott from Orange County in what looked like a slightly battered ’90 Mustang, but in which lurked a 400hp motor; Mike and Jill from Vegas looking suave in their immaculate Jag S-Type R; Bob in an old police Crown Vic he had picked up on Ebay for the race!
I was waved onto the track, and I started concentrating on learning more about my new car’s handling in these relatively safe confines. Some people say that the infamous lift-off oversteer of earlier 911s has been almost eliminated in the 996, but they must be much better and braver drivers than me as I rapidly discovered that my front-drive instincts could get the tail rotating at surprisingly low speeds! After about 5 laps I was feeling much more comfortable and I had identified a line with a very late apex where I could use the amazing traction out each bend. Still, after 7 or so laps, I was feeling that I was ready to come in and pick up an instructor. That was when my first real problems started: the tight confines of the track with its frequent stops from 90+mph had boiled the brake fluid, leaving me with a long pedal and little real stopping power. I was very surprised as the brakes had performed flawlessly during an HPDE weekend two weeks previously, and I had checked the pads.
I gained permission to circulate the paddock to try to cool the system, but time for qualifying was running out and I was forced to make the decision to make my run despite the limitations of my brakes. Fortunately, the instructors were looking for line rather than speed, so by remaining mostly in 2nd rather than 3rd and using a long lift into the slowest corners, I was able to qualify with a minimum of further drama. After a short classroom debrief, we were issued with our qualification certificates and the rest of the group started to make their way to the hotel for registration and technical inspection.
I, on the other hand, had to do something about the alarming swish/scrape sound that was coming from the left rear brake, and unbeknown to me, Scott was having to source a replacement clutch release lever for his Mustang. I drove to the only Porsche dealer in Vegas and threw myself on their mercy. Although there were no appointments that day, the service manager was kind enough to take my car round the back, where the mechanic identified a brake shield that had warped in the heat. A quick piece of metalbending later, I had a brake system that would be good enough for the weekend.
Arriving back at the hotel just in time for the end of the welcome lunch, I started to realise that as the only Brit - and indeed the only Porsche driver - present at that time, I was something of a (very) minor celebrity. The inimitable Steve Waldman made a couple of references to the English driver in his opening speech, but I concentrated on food and caffeine to restore my spirits. Shortly after, untech’d and unregistered but at least with a legitimate braking system, I joined the 200 mile convoy to Ely and the race, led by Blue with his sleek RX-7 who took us rookies under his wing.
A town called Ely
It was on Friday morning that I started to grasp the scale of the event. Every hotel in the small town of Ely was full, and there were race cars all around. Corvettes were the dominant species, but Mustangs, Vipers, 350Zs and Dennis “Mad Dog” Antenucci’s brave band of Panteras all formed significant minorities. My new next-door neighbours had arrived with a flame-bedecked pickup that they expected to run at over 170mph thanks to an enormous supercharger and the strategic decision to move from one to two bottles of nitrous in the truck bed!
The day passed in a blizzard of preparation, and James and Martin showed their car preparation skills as they taught me how to apply the race decals to my freshly washed and waxed car. Scott and I also took the opportunity to investigate Ely’s other claim to fame: an operational narrow-gauge station and steam train. At the end of the day, we took part in a Silver State tradition: a parade from the high school along the town’s main street, each of us with a local schoolchild riding shotgun in our race cars. It was great to have the chance to give the kids a fun experience, and I think young Seth enjoyed his ride in a Porsche.
Jared drove down from Salt Lake City that night, and joined us as we partied the night away in “Maggie’s Lounge”, chatting to other racers and the raucous but very helpful safety crew, and enjoying the videos of previous races on the big screen. After an eventful couple of days, I certainly enjoyed the cold beers – maybe a few more than was strictly good for me, if my head the following morning was anything to go by…
I had intended to keep it short, but it has expanded beyond my expectations so please bear with me and my British spelling. The second part will follow soon:
NEVADA OPEN ROAD CLASSIC - 18-21 MAY 2006
Sunday – It’s 9:51am, and I’m about to leave the start line and drive down what looks like an almost endless road, disappearing into the mountains in the distance. I’m more than a little nervous, as my experience with rear-wheel drive cars is limited, and with rear-engined cars it’s non-existent. I hope that I’ll remember that stability comes from applying a little gas.
The seconds count down on the atomic clock in front of the startline, and my navigator Jared makes sure his stopwatch and course notes are ready. This is a first for him, too, but either he’s very confident, or he’s just better at disguising his nerves than me. “Three, two, one, mark”, we count, and as he starts his watch I reset the trip computer to give us distance covered and average speed attained. We had agreed that there was no need to leave the line in a cloud of tyre smoke, so once we’ve got clean starts from the watch and computer, I ease away into the race, following in the tracks of the Honda S2000 that left 60 seconds before.
A need for speed
It was British journalist Nick Trott’s article in CAR magazine that finally got me to sign up for the Silver State Classic, which is the oldest open road race in the USA. His tales of hurtling across the desert in a Dodge Magnum made me determined to follow suit, and in March 2006 I signed up for the event. Two potential navigators had to drop out due to personal commitments, but it turned out to be very easy to persuade my friend Jared to come down from Salt Lake City to navigate for me.
By mid-May, I had unexpectedly acquired a beautiful midnight blue Porsche 996. It was almost too pretty to drive hard, but I don’t hold with garage queens, so it became my ride instead of my faithful Saab 9-2X. This last minute change of car would dramatically alter my experience of the race, as well as causing confusion to the unfortunate race officials who had my out-of-date race registration papers.
Qualifying, and new friends
It was unbearably early on Thursday morning, and I was blinking in the sunshine at Las Vegas Motor Speedway. I had left my girlfriend with her mother the previous night in preparation for her trip to Brazil, and then drove through the night to get to Vegas in time for just three hours’ sleep before I had to go to rookie qualifying school. To my disappointment and surprise, this did not involve driving round the banking at speed, but would instead be on the tightest road course I have ever seen, just behind the parking lot. The drill was simple: a short classroom session, then several laps of follow-the-leader at modest speed behind an instructor showing us the line in a Z3. After a few more words in the classroom, we were sent onto the track a few at a time to practice our lines, before pitting to take on an instructor for a sign-off lap. As I waited my turn, I started to get to know some of my fellow rookies: James and Martin, two young guys from Michigan who were using the race to promote their tuning firm in their beautifully modified Civic Si; Paul and Lou, buddies from Oregon in Paul’s M5; Scott from Orange County in what looked like a slightly battered ’90 Mustang, but in which lurked a 400hp motor; Mike and Jill from Vegas looking suave in their immaculate Jag S-Type R; Bob in an old police Crown Vic he had picked up on Ebay for the race!
I was waved onto the track, and I started concentrating on learning more about my new car’s handling in these relatively safe confines. Some people say that the infamous lift-off oversteer of earlier 911s has been almost eliminated in the 996, but they must be much better and braver drivers than me as I rapidly discovered that my front-drive instincts could get the tail rotating at surprisingly low speeds! After about 5 laps I was feeling much more comfortable and I had identified a line with a very late apex where I could use the amazing traction out each bend. Still, after 7 or so laps, I was feeling that I was ready to come in and pick up an instructor. That was when my first real problems started: the tight confines of the track with its frequent stops from 90+mph had boiled the brake fluid, leaving me with a long pedal and little real stopping power. I was very surprised as the brakes had performed flawlessly during an HPDE weekend two weeks previously, and I had checked the pads.
I gained permission to circulate the paddock to try to cool the system, but time for qualifying was running out and I was forced to make the decision to make my run despite the limitations of my brakes. Fortunately, the instructors were looking for line rather than speed, so by remaining mostly in 2nd rather than 3rd and using a long lift into the slowest corners, I was able to qualify with a minimum of further drama. After a short classroom debrief, we were issued with our qualification certificates and the rest of the group started to make their way to the hotel for registration and technical inspection.
I, on the other hand, had to do something about the alarming swish/scrape sound that was coming from the left rear brake, and unbeknown to me, Scott was having to source a replacement clutch release lever for his Mustang. I drove to the only Porsche dealer in Vegas and threw myself on their mercy. Although there were no appointments that day, the service manager was kind enough to take my car round the back, where the mechanic identified a brake shield that had warped in the heat. A quick piece of metalbending later, I had a brake system that would be good enough for the weekend.
Arriving back at the hotel just in time for the end of the welcome lunch, I started to realise that as the only Brit - and indeed the only Porsche driver - present at that time, I was something of a (very) minor celebrity. The inimitable Steve Waldman made a couple of references to the English driver in his opening speech, but I concentrated on food and caffeine to restore my spirits. Shortly after, untech’d and unregistered but at least with a legitimate braking system, I joined the 200 mile convoy to Ely and the race, led by Blue with his sleek RX-7 who took us rookies under his wing.
A town called Ely
It was on Friday morning that I started to grasp the scale of the event. Every hotel in the small town of Ely was full, and there were race cars all around. Corvettes were the dominant species, but Mustangs, Vipers, 350Zs and Dennis “Mad Dog” Antenucci’s brave band of Panteras all formed significant minorities. My new next-door neighbours had arrived with a flame-bedecked pickup that they expected to run at over 170mph thanks to an enormous supercharger and the strategic decision to move from one to two bottles of nitrous in the truck bed!
The day passed in a blizzard of preparation, and James and Martin showed their car preparation skills as they taught me how to apply the race decals to my freshly washed and waxed car. Scott and I also took the opportunity to investigate Ely’s other claim to fame: an operational narrow-gauge station and steam train. At the end of the day, we took part in a Silver State tradition: a parade from the high school along the town’s main street, each of us with a local schoolchild riding shotgun in our race cars. It was great to have the chance to give the kids a fun experience, and I think young Seth enjoyed his ride in a Porsche.
Jared drove down from Salt Lake City that night, and joined us as we partied the night away in “Maggie’s Lounge”, chatting to other racers and the raucous but very helpful safety crew, and enjoying the videos of previous races on the big screen. After an eventful couple of days, I certainly enjoyed the cold beers – maybe a few more than was strictly good for me, if my head the following morning was anything to go by…
Last edited by NNH; 05-24-2006 at 08:36 PM. Reason: Font correction
05-24-2006, 05:40 PM
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Burning Brakes
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Race weekend
Despite the late night and the slight excess of beer, we managed to make our way to the city park on Saturday morning to join the show of cars, and enjoy the local Little League’s breakfast sale. Pancakes and coffee rapidly improved my state of mind, and we were able to admire the other cars, including new arrivals who were lining up for scrutineering. I was pleased to see a 928 and a GT3, though I didn’t get the chance to meet their drivers. Blue had set up “Team Invaders” for import cars to take part in the team challenge against “Vegas Vettes”, “Team Pantera” and other notables. Paul, Lou, James and Martin also joined, and in fact interest was so high that Blue had to set up two teams of ten cars each.
The wonderful spirit of the racers was also in evidence: probably due to my poor communication skills, Jared had brought a motorcycle helmet with him instead of the required fireproof SA helmet. The scrutineers were prepared to give him one-time-only authorisation to run if he could find a fireproof headsock, but Ely is a small town with no speed shop so it looked like we would have a long drive to Reno, Vegas or Salt Lake City. However, Bob came to the rescue with a spare headsock, which he had acquired during his own helmet-legality dramas the previous day, which had forced him to drive all night to Reno!
Saturday was also the day of the High Noon Shootout, in which cars could compete to set the highest speed on a one-mile or half-mile (for rookies) section of highway. As ever, the Nevada Highway Patrol had given their blessing, and the Vegas ‘Vettes Club provided superb organisation. Paul was pleased to get over 120mph in his M5 in half a mile, after unceremoniously ejecting Lou to save weight, but the highest speed of the day was in excess of 190mph!
A notable competitor was magazine editor Daijiro Inada, who had brought his ultra-modified 220+mph 350Z from Japan for a third attempt at the Unlimited class. His previous two attempts had ended in crashes, so we all hoped he would have better luck and a safer drive this year. His performance in the Shootout was certainly fun to watch, as the Nissan could spin its wheels all the way up to 4th gear, although we were pleased to see that he didn’t actually need to use the reserve parachute mounted on the back of his bright yellow car.
The formal part of the day drew to a close with a meeting for drivers and navigators to ensure we understood the rules and requirements of the race. For a rookie like me, this meant a clear appreciation that exceeding my “tech speed” of 124mph would result in disqualification, and that there would be at least one hidden speed trap to ensure my good behaviour. As you can expect in any large group of people, there were one or two who were struggling to grasp this basic concept, but eventually all the clarifying questions came to an end and we were free to go.
Jared and I planned to get a light dinner and a soothing glass of wine so we could get an early night in preparation for Sunday’s 6am convoy to the race start. This plan was doomed from the moment we bumped into Silver State director Steve Waldman: once more my origin was gaining me notoriety, and he invited us to a special dinner that was mainly for the event organisers. Steve and course worker coordinator Kelly are old friends who have competed in all sorts of motorsports: Steve raced motorbikes for Honda and others in the early 1960s, while Kelly is an old hand at Mexican road racing, which is a lot less “structured” than the US version! Kelly regaled us with tales of high speeds and adventures across Mexico, from crashing a car on top of a cactus to demolishing a small hut with a spare tyre that escaped from the trunk of an elderly MG. Meanwhile, Steve told us about the woman of 82 who set the first women’s record at the Silver State Classic: 142mph in a stock Aston Martin V8!
Jared and I got to bed rather later than planned, and in navigational manner Jared calculated that our start would not be till long after 6am as the faster competitors would be going first, so we resolved to sleep in for an extra hour and get a good breakfast before making our own way to the start.
Sunday
In hindsight, it would have been a good idea to tell our friends of our plan to set out a little later, as they were worried about us as they waited in their assigned positions at the truck stop a mile or so from the startline. When we finally arrived, replete from French toast and pancakes, we found that we had indeed cut it fine as our speed class was already being sent to the starting area itself. Apologising as we went, and with James’ welcome to “Team Not-On-Time” ringing in our ears, we went to the final staging area. My nervous banter was drying up completely by this time, although I was able to distract myself by enjoying my newfound popularity as the owner of a roll of racing tape: tape is one of the fundamental structural elements of many race cars, so I was able to help a few people lock seams and fasteners into place.
In what seemed like no time at all, it was time for us to roll up to the start line. As we staged behind the line, we watched other cars hurtle into the distance, and went through our final tyre and safety checks. We lined up alongside an S2000, giving us a chance to watch how they took the start, before the 60 second countdown started for us too…
Despite the late night and the slight excess of beer, we managed to make our way to the city park on Saturday morning to join the show of cars, and enjoy the local Little League’s breakfast sale. Pancakes and coffee rapidly improved my state of mind, and we were able to admire the other cars, including new arrivals who were lining up for scrutineering. I was pleased to see a 928 and a GT3, though I didn’t get the chance to meet their drivers. Blue had set up “Team Invaders” for import cars to take part in the team challenge against “Vegas Vettes”, “Team Pantera” and other notables. Paul, Lou, James and Martin also joined, and in fact interest was so high that Blue had to set up two teams of ten cars each.
The wonderful spirit of the racers was also in evidence: probably due to my poor communication skills, Jared had brought a motorcycle helmet with him instead of the required fireproof SA helmet. The scrutineers were prepared to give him one-time-only authorisation to run if he could find a fireproof headsock, but Ely is a small town with no speed shop so it looked like we would have a long drive to Reno, Vegas or Salt Lake City. However, Bob came to the rescue with a spare headsock, which he had acquired during his own helmet-legality dramas the previous day, which had forced him to drive all night to Reno!
Saturday was also the day of the High Noon Shootout, in which cars could compete to set the highest speed on a one-mile or half-mile (for rookies) section of highway. As ever, the Nevada Highway Patrol had given their blessing, and the Vegas ‘Vettes Club provided superb organisation. Paul was pleased to get over 120mph in his M5 in half a mile, after unceremoniously ejecting Lou to save weight, but the highest speed of the day was in excess of 190mph!
A notable competitor was magazine editor Daijiro Inada, who had brought his ultra-modified 220+mph 350Z from Japan for a third attempt at the Unlimited class. His previous two attempts had ended in crashes, so we all hoped he would have better luck and a safer drive this year. His performance in the Shootout was certainly fun to watch, as the Nissan could spin its wheels all the way up to 4th gear, although we were pleased to see that he didn’t actually need to use the reserve parachute mounted on the back of his bright yellow car.
The formal part of the day drew to a close with a meeting for drivers and navigators to ensure we understood the rules and requirements of the race. For a rookie like me, this meant a clear appreciation that exceeding my “tech speed” of 124mph would result in disqualification, and that there would be at least one hidden speed trap to ensure my good behaviour. As you can expect in any large group of people, there were one or two who were struggling to grasp this basic concept, but eventually all the clarifying questions came to an end and we were free to go.
Jared and I planned to get a light dinner and a soothing glass of wine so we could get an early night in preparation for Sunday’s 6am convoy to the race start. This plan was doomed from the moment we bumped into Silver State director Steve Waldman: once more my origin was gaining me notoriety, and he invited us to a special dinner that was mainly for the event organisers. Steve and course worker coordinator Kelly are old friends who have competed in all sorts of motorsports: Steve raced motorbikes for Honda and others in the early 1960s, while Kelly is an old hand at Mexican road racing, which is a lot less “structured” than the US version! Kelly regaled us with tales of high speeds and adventures across Mexico, from crashing a car on top of a cactus to demolishing a small hut with a spare tyre that escaped from the trunk of an elderly MG. Meanwhile, Steve told us about the woman of 82 who set the first women’s record at the Silver State Classic: 142mph in a stock Aston Martin V8!
Jared and I got to bed rather later than planned, and in navigational manner Jared calculated that our start would not be till long after 6am as the faster competitors would be going first, so we resolved to sleep in for an extra hour and get a good breakfast before making our own way to the start.
Sunday
In hindsight, it would have been a good idea to tell our friends of our plan to set out a little later, as they were worried about us as they waited in their assigned positions at the truck stop a mile or so from the startline. When we finally arrived, replete from French toast and pancakes, we found that we had indeed cut it fine as our speed class was already being sent to the starting area itself. Apologising as we went, and with James’ welcome to “Team Not-On-Time” ringing in our ears, we went to the final staging area. My nervous banter was drying up completely by this time, although I was able to distract myself by enjoying my newfound popularity as the owner of a roll of racing tape: tape is one of the fundamental structural elements of many race cars, so I was able to help a few people lock seams and fasteners into place.
In what seemed like no time at all, it was time for us to roll up to the start line. As we staged behind the line, we watched other cars hurtle into the distance, and went through our final tyre and safety checks. We lined up alongside an S2000, giving us a chance to watch how they took the start, before the 60 second countdown started for us too…
Last edited by NNH; 05-24-2006 at 08:38 PM.
05-24-2006, 06:25 PM
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Burning Brakes
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Racing
We’re off, and I accelerate briskly towards our planned 100mph initial speed, savouring the sound of the flat-six behind me. We both laugh at the sounds and feelings. Jared has a set of course notes on his clipboard, with the principal corners and calibrated positions and ETAs for various points along the course. Within seconds we are approaching the first left hand bend, followed by a 3 mile straight where I can check the car is feeling good and Jared confirms that we are coming up on our first checkpoint. We’re 40 seconds behind the theoretical optimum, but that’s not a surprise give a standing start and a cruise speed below our intended average of 105mph. The car is feeling great, and maintaining 100mph is no problem at all on this two-lane road, despite a light crosswind. The butterflies in my stomach are long-gone, and I’m grinning into the morning light.
As we cross into Nye County ten miles later, I am letting the speed creep upwards in the knowledge that we will soon be entering the longest straight of the course at 14 miles in length. We make the long left sweeper onto the straight, and I discover once more that the car’s acceleration is startling, even from 110mph at an altitude of 5000 feet. Quickly we reach 120mph and I have to watch the speedometer carefully to make sure we don’t drift over 124mph and risk disqualification. After a few miles of this I set the cruise control so I can concentrate on the road and Jared’s flightplan. At this speed, we are making up almost five seconds per mile on our time, which should let us build a cushion of time before we enter the infamous “Narrows” – a twisty section of road hemmed in by a canyon, where I really want to be able to take it easy.
We are passing a flag station every ten miles – about six minutes at this speed. We’ve settled into a routine of 100-110mph for the bends, and 120-122mph for the straights, allowing us to make up yet more time. I’m very glad to have Jared here to tell me which way the corners are going, especially as some of them are blind or immediately after hill crests. This road feels easy at the 70mph limit, but it looks very different at three-digit speeds. I find myself wondering how it must look for the drivers in the really fast classes, where they aim to achieve an average of 150mph or more. I’d love to know, because my car is clearly capable of far more than I am ready to ask of it.
Still, some of the faster cars have clearly been asked to do too much. Every so often, we pass a car parked beside the road, which must have been some kind of mechanical failure. It’s later rumoured that one car even ran out of fuel. Sadly, the supercharged pickup is another victim, its engine giving way at high speed.
Around the halfway point is the official speed trap, which will be used to give us our top speed certificates later. Obviously, the game is to get as close as you dare to your tech speed without exceeding it, but I choose a cautious indicated 123mph, which I believe to be closer to 120mph in reality based on some calibration at lower speeds on Thursday.
The Narrows are approaching fast, and we have built a cushion of more than 15 seconds. Jared warns me he’ll be giving me the corners quickly as they come up: left, right, left, right, all rolled together, then a hundred yard straight followed by another complex sequence. I’m taken aback by the sheer tightness of it all, and spend too much time analysing instead of trusting Jared. As a result, I sink to just 80mph or less, and we exit the narrow almost 10 seconds behind our plan with only 18 miles to go, instead of perfectly on time as we had intended. Working from our calculation that 120mph will gain us almost five seconds per mile, I start to make time as quickly as I can so that we can fine-tune over the last ten miles or so.
We spot Blue’s RX-7 parked on the side of the road. Our hearts go out to him, having got so close to the finish. As we enter the last ten miles, Jared’s job gets even busier. We have calibrated positions for every milepost as they flash past every 35 seconds, and Jared tells me if we are ahead or behind on each one. I’ve long since abandoned using the average speed readout, since I knew it was only accurate enough for approximate work in the first half of the race. The difficult bit is maintaining an indicated 107mph through straights and bends, but the cruse control turns out to be sensitive enough.
Three miles to go, less than two minutes remaining, and we’re perfectly on time. Two miles, and we’re still good, just a minute and a few seconds to go. The last milepost comes up, and Jared is silent: something’s wrong. I don’t know whether to speed up or slow down, but it’s important that Jared has a moment to think things through. “We’re slow”, he tells me, and I punch the gas. We cross the finish line in the high hundred-and-teens, not 105mph as planned. We’ve made up some time but we don’t know if it is enough.
We’re off, and I accelerate briskly towards our planned 100mph initial speed, savouring the sound of the flat-six behind me. We both laugh at the sounds and feelings. Jared has a set of course notes on his clipboard, with the principal corners and calibrated positions and ETAs for various points along the course. Within seconds we are approaching the first left hand bend, followed by a 3 mile straight where I can check the car is feeling good and Jared confirms that we are coming up on our first checkpoint. We’re 40 seconds behind the theoretical optimum, but that’s not a surprise give a standing start and a cruise speed below our intended average of 105mph. The car is feeling great, and maintaining 100mph is no problem at all on this two-lane road, despite a light crosswind. The butterflies in my stomach are long-gone, and I’m grinning into the morning light.
As we cross into Nye County ten miles later, I am letting the speed creep upwards in the knowledge that we will soon be entering the longest straight of the course at 14 miles in length. We make the long left sweeper onto the straight, and I discover once more that the car’s acceleration is startling, even from 110mph at an altitude of 5000 feet. Quickly we reach 120mph and I have to watch the speedometer carefully to make sure we don’t drift over 124mph and risk disqualification. After a few miles of this I set the cruise control so I can concentrate on the road and Jared’s flightplan. At this speed, we are making up almost five seconds per mile on our time, which should let us build a cushion of time before we enter the infamous “Narrows” – a twisty section of road hemmed in by a canyon, where I really want to be able to take it easy.
We are passing a flag station every ten miles – about six minutes at this speed. We’ve settled into a routine of 100-110mph for the bends, and 120-122mph for the straights, allowing us to make up yet more time. I’m very glad to have Jared here to tell me which way the corners are going, especially as some of them are blind or immediately after hill crests. This road feels easy at the 70mph limit, but it looks very different at three-digit speeds. I find myself wondering how it must look for the drivers in the really fast classes, where they aim to achieve an average of 150mph or more. I’d love to know, because my car is clearly capable of far more than I am ready to ask of it.
Still, some of the faster cars have clearly been asked to do too much. Every so often, we pass a car parked beside the road, which must have been some kind of mechanical failure. It’s later rumoured that one car even ran out of fuel. Sadly, the supercharged pickup is another victim, its engine giving way at high speed.
Around the halfway point is the official speed trap, which will be used to give us our top speed certificates later. Obviously, the game is to get as close as you dare to your tech speed without exceeding it, but I choose a cautious indicated 123mph, which I believe to be closer to 120mph in reality based on some calibration at lower speeds on Thursday.
The Narrows are approaching fast, and we have built a cushion of more than 15 seconds. Jared warns me he’ll be giving me the corners quickly as they come up: left, right, left, right, all rolled together, then a hundred yard straight followed by another complex sequence. I’m taken aback by the sheer tightness of it all, and spend too much time analysing instead of trusting Jared. As a result, I sink to just 80mph or less, and we exit the narrow almost 10 seconds behind our plan with only 18 miles to go, instead of perfectly on time as we had intended. Working from our calculation that 120mph will gain us almost five seconds per mile, I start to make time as quickly as I can so that we can fine-tune over the last ten miles or so.
We spot Blue’s RX-7 parked on the side of the road. Our hearts go out to him, having got so close to the finish. As we enter the last ten miles, Jared’s job gets even busier. We have calibrated positions for every milepost as they flash past every 35 seconds, and Jared tells me if we are ahead or behind on each one. I’ve long since abandoned using the average speed readout, since I knew it was only accurate enough for approximate work in the first half of the race. The difficult bit is maintaining an indicated 107mph through straights and bends, but the cruse control turns out to be sensitive enough.
Three miles to go, less than two minutes remaining, and we’re perfectly on time. Two miles, and we’re still good, just a minute and a few seconds to go. The last milepost comes up, and Jared is silent: something’s wrong. I don’t know whether to speed up or slow down, but it’s important that Jared has a moment to think things through. “We’re slow”, he tells me, and I punch the gas. We cross the finish line in the high hundred-and-teens, not 105mph as planned. We’ve made up some time but we don’t know if it is enough.
Last edited by NNH; 05-24-2006 at 08:50 PM.
05-24-2006, 06:50 PM
#4
Burning Brakes
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We did it! We finish the course, and we drive up to the finish staging area. More volunteers are there from the Vegas ‘Vettes club to greet us and take back the emergency radios we were issued at the start. We park in the staging area next to a heavily tuned and battle-scarred El Camino, and take off our sweaty helmets and gloves. This is America, so of course there is already a barbecue set up, and many of the drivers and navigators head for the scent of burgers. I guess I haven’t quite blended in yet, because I’d much rather have a cup of tea, but I’m impressed at this display of typical American organization and ingenuity. I’m even more impressed at the guys who found a place to store a cold six-pack in their luggage space, but I’ll choose not to name them here 
Quickly it’s time for the rookies to get together for congratulations, and then we need to wait to see if either of the Unlimited class cars come through at the end. Daijiro Inada’s 350Z had a mechanical failure, but Richard Hille achieves 184.114mph in his Camaro. We get some gas, and swap some stories before the drive back to Vegas, and Jared lines up a ride with the Pantera guys back to Ely so he can pick up his car and go home to Salt Lake City.
I head back to Vegas with James and Martin, and since I appreciate the Fifth Amendment, I’ll merely say that Valentine manufacture a very fine product… In Vegas we have a few hours in hand before the prizegiving dinner that night, so the three of us decide to take in the Star Trek rides at the Hilton. The rides are OK, but I can say that putting three large guys in a Porsche covered in race decals is an effective way of gaining attention even in Vegas!
The awards dinner starts at 7pm, and I’m ravenous. The best three time errors in each speed class receive trophies, and Team Invaders and the rookies start well with a first place for Mike and Jill in the 95mph class with their Jag, just six seconds away from a perfect time. Bob is second behind them. A notable placing is Dean Smith in his gorgeous 1957 DeSoto, who comes second in the 100mph class. The results for the 105mph class come around, and to my genuine surprise we had come third, getting the error down to 3 seconds, and achieving an average speed of 104.8877mph. Many other Invaders members had also done well, including Ron Landaker who managed the most precise time of the day, barely a tenth of a second fast in the 115mph in his Mini, and all without a navigator!
The Invaders teams eventually come third and fourth in the team challenge, behind the dominant Vegas ‘Vettes teams, and we all promise to come back and do better in September.
I planned an early night so I could make an early start to drive straight to work in Orange County the next morning, but I had too much fun staying up and chatting with the other guys, so Monday was probably not the most productive day I’ve ever had!
Reflections
We’ll definitely be back. The race was so much fun, but the social atmosphere is even better. I want to move up to 120mph in September, as I felt the 996 was just coming alive at that speed. A BK harness mount and a pair of 6-points will allow me to do that, with a tech speed of 140mph, which is probably enough for the moment. Jared’s wife and my girlfriend have agreed to be our navigators, on condition we let them drive the following spring. It’s amazing how the girls are suddenly much more motivated to learn stick to drive Jared’s WRX and my 996…
Quickly it’s time for the rookies to get together for congratulations, and then we need to wait to see if either of the Unlimited class cars come through at the end. Daijiro Inada’s 350Z had a mechanical failure, but Richard Hille achieves 184.114mph in his Camaro. We get some gas, and swap some stories before the drive back to Vegas, and Jared lines up a ride with the Pantera guys back to Ely so he can pick up his car and go home to Salt Lake City.
I head back to Vegas with James and Martin, and since I appreciate the Fifth Amendment, I’ll merely say that Valentine manufacture a very fine product… In Vegas we have a few hours in hand before the prizegiving dinner that night, so the three of us decide to take in the Star Trek rides at the Hilton. The rides are OK, but I can say that putting three large guys in a Porsche covered in race decals is an effective way of gaining attention even in Vegas!
The awards dinner starts at 7pm, and I’m ravenous. The best three time errors in each speed class receive trophies, and Team Invaders and the rookies start well with a first place for Mike and Jill in the 95mph class with their Jag, just six seconds away from a perfect time. Bob is second behind them. A notable placing is Dean Smith in his gorgeous 1957 DeSoto, who comes second in the 100mph class. The results for the 105mph class come around, and to my genuine surprise we had come third, getting the error down to 3 seconds, and achieving an average speed of 104.8877mph. Many other Invaders members had also done well, including Ron Landaker who managed the most precise time of the day, barely a tenth of a second fast in the 115mph in his Mini, and all without a navigator!
The Invaders teams eventually come third and fourth in the team challenge, behind the dominant Vegas ‘Vettes teams, and we all promise to come back and do better in September.
I planned an early night so I could make an early start to drive straight to work in Orange County the next morning, but I had too much fun staying up and chatting with the other guys, so Monday was probably not the most productive day I’ve ever had!
Reflections
We’ll definitely be back. The race was so much fun, but the social atmosphere is even better. I want to move up to 120mph in September, as I felt the 996 was just coming alive at that speed. A BK harness mount and a pair of 6-points will allow me to do that, with a tech speed of 140mph, which is probably enough for the moment. Jared’s wife and my girlfriend have agreed to be our navigators, on condition we let them drive the following spring. It’s amazing how the girls are suddenly much more motivated to learn stick to drive Jared’s WRX and my 996…
05-24-2006, 06:52 PM
#5
Burning Brakes
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Sorry for the very long write-up! I'll probably tighten up the writing before I publish it elsewhere, especially towards the end, bt I hope this is of interest to people thinking about doing the Silver State. I had a fantastic time, and I can't wait to do it again. See you there!
Simon
Silver State #153
Corrections, Notes and Disclaimers
- The problem with the final milepost definitely wasn't Jared's fault. I think we had a miscalibrated distance, so we'll GPS it next time before the race.
- It's fabulous fun, but a late-model Porsche is total overkill for the slower classes. There were stock Mini Coopers and Miatas going faster than us. Still 120mph should be more of a challenge, and those of you with competition licences can start at higher speeds than the rookie limit of 110mph.
- There were many other great people whom I made friends with, but there just wasn't space here to list everyone
- The organisation was very good, and very safety-conscious. I'd be happy to take my loved ones to this event, and I that's not something I can say for every driving organisation.
Simon
Silver State #153
Corrections, Notes and Disclaimers
- The problem with the final milepost definitely wasn't Jared's fault. I think we had a miscalibrated distance, so we'll GPS it next time before the race.
- It's fabulous fun, but a late-model Porsche is total overkill for the slower classes. There were stock Mini Coopers and Miatas going faster than us. Still 120mph should be more of a challenge, and those of you with competition licences can start at higher speeds than the rookie limit of 110mph.
- There were many other great people whom I made friends with, but there just wasn't space here to list everyone
- The organisation was very good, and very safety-conscious. I'd be happy to take my loved ones to this event, and I that's not something I can say for every driving organisation.
Last edited by NNH; 05-24-2006 at 08:40 PM.
05-24-2006, 07:30 PM
#7
Burning Brakes
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Some people manage without a navigator by putting a large countdown clock and a reduced number of checkpoints times near their line-of-sight. Another technique is to record an audio track for yourself with the right times and bends, and play it from an Ipod or similar.
Most people feel that civilian GPS can't keep up at more than regular highway speeds, so it's not all that useful for the race itself. However, if you have time it's perfect for getting good locations for checkpoints before the race which you can transfer to a spreadsheet. On the whole, I'd say that during the race any more technology than a stopwatch is asking for trouble!
I hope to see you in Nevada in September.
Most people feel that civilian GPS can't keep up at more than regular highway speeds, so it's not all that useful for the race itself. However, if you have time it's perfect for getting good locations for checkpoints before the race which you can transfer to a spreadsheet. On the whole, I'd say that during the race any more technology than a stopwatch is asking for trouble!
I hope to see you in Nevada in September.
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05-25-2006, 12:47 AM
#8
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Intriguing. If a rookie 'accidentally' went over 124MPH, and they clocked him at say, 128, do they kick him out immediately, or do they just disqualify him and ban him for a year?
05-25-2006, 01:06 AM
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It's a matter of interpretation, I gather: a "flagrant" offence results in a long ban, while a minor overspeed merely leads to humiliation that evening in front of everyone at the banquet, plus they won't publish your results.
05-25-2006, 01:10 AM
#10
Banned
Very interesting read, Excellent. You should think of a career in journalism!
1. Other than the helmet do you need any other personal gear?
2. Did you need to mod the car? Tires, brakes, seats, springs, coolant, oil, decals (not exactly a mod)?
3. Does your regular auto insurance cover a possible crash?
4. There is no other traffic on the road, right?
1. Other than the helmet do you need any other personal gear?
2. Did you need to mod the car? Tires, brakes, seats, springs, coolant, oil, decals (not exactly a mod)?
3. Does your regular auto insurance cover a possible crash?
4. There is no other traffic on the road, right?
05-25-2006, 01:13 AM
#11
wooooowwwww...great ride up.......interesting race. I have heard about the boiling brake fluid before..kind of worries me...to a point that I wouldn't want to join a race like that....the actual race should be fine...the track is the killer....but it must be (and reading your "novel") a great experience.
05-25-2006, 01:30 AM
#13
Burning Brakes
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Originally Posted by discoganya
Very interesting read, Excellent. You should think of a career in journalism!
1. Other than the helmet do you need any other personal gear?
2. Did you need to mod the car? Tires, brakes, seats, springs, coolant, oil, decals (not exactly a mod)?
3. Does your regular auto insurance cover a possible crash?
4. There is no other traffic on the road, right?
1. Other than the helmet do you need any other personal gear?
2. Did you need to mod the car? Tires, brakes, seats, springs, coolant, oil, decals (not exactly a mod)?
3. Does your regular auto insurance cover a possible crash?
4. There is no other traffic on the road, right?
Thanks for the kind words! I did actually write for a living rather a long time ago, but sadly not on such fun topics!
1) Gloves also.
2) No mods necessary, though I wish I had changed the brake fluid. They supply the decals. Loping along at speeds of 124mph or less is so far within the capabilities of the car that I can't imagine any need to change anything. Obviously, everything needs to be in good condition, and they are particularly obsessive about tyres - one nail and you're out. Still, that's the same as any well-run trackday.
3) Apparently some people have successfully claimed, on the basis that the event is on a public road, though this has generally led to a policy cancellation. Still, it's probably a good idea not to crash the car! This is a very different discipline to DEs, in that the corners are taken at the limit of visibility rather than at the limit of grip, so it's a lot harder to crash the car.
4) The NDOT closes the road at 5am, and course-workers man every gate along the road to ensure that there is no other traffic.
05-25-2006, 01:35 AM
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Burning Brakes
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Originally Posted by Nicolaasdb
wooooowwwww...great ride up.......interesting race. I have heard about the boiling brake fluid before..kind of worries me...to a point that I wouldn't want to join a race like that....the actual race should be fine...the track is the killer....but it must be (and reading your "novel") a great experience.
As you rightly guess for the race itself, I used the brakes on only two occasions: once to get a clean entry to the Narrows, and once to stop the car at the end. Otherwise a gentle lift of the throttle let me work in the range 100-120mph happily. I might need to use the brakes more when I move up to 120mph in September, so I will definitely pay more attention to them very soon.
The experience is fantastic, and I enjoyed meeting some great people. Come along next time, they're taking entries at www.sscc.us
05-25-2006, 02:42 AM
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Simon, I saw your post on the SSCC message board and followed the link. Nice write up. I'm glad my fellow team mate, Blue, took good care of you.
Welcome to the world of ORR!! We are lucky enough to have four different organizations putting on these events in Nevada, Texas and Nebraska. Do check out these other links and come join the fun!
Silver State Classic, Nevada: http://www.silverstateclassic.com/
MKM Racing, Nevada: http://www.openroadracing.com/
Big Bend ORR, Texas: http://www.bborr.com/
Sandhills ORR, Nebraska: http://www.sorcrace.com/
To answer your questions:
1. Helmet, gloves and fire extinguisher up to 110 mph. For speeds above that more safety equipment is required.
2. I'll let Simon answer the specifics for his car, but in general it all depends how fast you want to go - and how much of an excuse you need for doing those mods!
3. Not advisable to count on your insurance company coughing up. In fact best not to let them know what you're doing.
4. The road is closed to all except race traffic for the duration of the event.
Welcome to the world of ORR!! We are lucky enough to have four different organizations putting on these events in Nevada, Texas and Nebraska. Do check out these other links and come join the fun!
Silver State Classic, Nevada: http://www.silverstateclassic.com/
MKM Racing, Nevada: http://www.openroadracing.com/
Big Bend ORR, Texas: http://www.bborr.com/
Sandhills ORR, Nebraska: http://www.sorcrace.com/
Originally Posted by discoganya
Very interesting read, Excellent. You should think of a career in journalism!
1. Other than the helmet do you need any other personal gear?
2. Did you need to mod the car? Tires, brakes, seats, springs, coolant, oil, decals (not exactly a mod)?
3. Does your regular auto insurance cover a possible crash?
4. There is no other traffic on the road, right?
1. Other than the helmet do you need any other personal gear?
2. Did you need to mod the car? Tires, brakes, seats, springs, coolant, oil, decals (not exactly a mod)?
3. Does your regular auto insurance cover a possible crash?
4. There is no other traffic on the road, right?
1. Helmet, gloves and fire extinguisher up to 110 mph. For speeds above that more safety equipment is required.
2. I'll let Simon answer the specifics for his car, but in general it all depends how fast you want to go - and how much of an excuse you need for doing those mods!
3. Not advisable to count on your insurance company coughing up. In fact best not to let them know what you're doing.
4. The road is closed to all except race traffic for the duration of the event.
