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dennis68
09-25-2004, 10:48 PM
1st off Ralph had asked for some details that I figured everybody would be interested in. I spoke to a friend of mine about running in high speed events and air management. He has been 167MPH (fastest radared speed), but more importantly 158MPH with a 25MPH headwind which equates to about 180MPH. This was done in a 1st gen Camaro and done several times over the past couple years. We talked about air management under the car, it does get loose at 160 or so, he decided not to do any belly pan work, just not worth the aero advantage for the amount of work that would be required. Keep in mind before proceeding with that kind of work that if you break and need to trackside or road side repair that that pan needs to come off for access.

2nd, we need to collectively picket SSCC events. A couple friends of mine have run with them as well as Pony Express and the other venue I can’t think of right now. The last couple events have been total chaos, no tech inspection at all. No under hood inspections, no radio on the course (wouldn’t that suck to wreck at 160MPH and nobody know it for several hours), and still collecting full entry fees (for those that don’t know it costs about 1K to run these events). That’s a lot of money for no services other than use of the highway. Boycotting is the only to let the board of SSCC know that the racers out there take their safety pretty seriously.

3rd, and again more for Ralph than anybody, overbuild the car, Tracy says he can roll off the trailer at any event and set alignment/tire pressure and is ready to race. They actually ask him to help tech cars. He says if you are at all in doubt, go bigger, stronger, more bracing, more whatever. BTW, he also says that 1st gen will go 200MPH easy with enough HP and big enough ba!!s.

Ralph LoGrasso
09-25-2004, 10:58 PM
Thanks for the followup, Dennis. Much appreciated! 200mph, eh? I'll stick with the goal of 185 for now, lol. So there is no tech at the SSCC events? That's not good. How do they determine your tech speed though?

dennis68
09-26-2004, 07:14 AM
They still have the radar stations set up, just seem to have eliminated the pre-race inspections and course workers have no way of communicating with each other.

spanky the wondermuffin
09-26-2004, 07:56 AM
i didn't know 'ol fidel was running up in the higher speeds.i thought he was in the 120mph class.guess the new motor is working out well.i've been told so many time that my car can't go 200mph,funny how levan protho broke 200 in a 67 camaro,in 1967,but now that is impossible.i guess we have a lot more gravity and thicker air now or something.there are many reasons not to run with the ss,safety is just the latest issue.i am considering a stab at the 200 mph club in '06.all i need is about 150 more hp and a lower 5th gear ratio and that pleather jacket and tin can trophy can be mine.that's fine,rich corinthian pleather.and a solid gold painted trophy.estimated cost-$35,000.anyone considering a run towards the top of the field should probably gather all the money they have and flush it down the crapper right now-just to get in the mood.the mid range(125-140mph) is a good range to be in.

dennis68
09-26-2004, 08:27 AM
You know Tracy? Shall I say hello for you? Yeah the new motor hauls ass-I would have thought more RWHP but I guess it's enough for now. I think reliabuiltiy was more important than high HP numbers (don't want anymore explosions at 140+). He actually turned me on to the whole "run it balls out until it breaks" type of open road racing. I'm going to "try" and make at least one of next next years runs.

spanky the wondermuffin
09-27-2004, 08:26 AM
i wouldn't say i know him,but it's hard not to be aware of another 1st gen in open road racing.and i see him at goodguys every time also.come on out to bonneville next year for the season opener.weekend of may 8th.we need course workers.i'm thinking of running in 145.

Gonzostyle
09-27-2004, 10:00 AM
Dennis,
I just got back from the Silver State. I agree the tech inspection that they had going seemed light. Even though we were running the 110 touring class I had expected more. It seemed a basic auto-x tech. I guess it is a good thing we did a lot of work to the car before hand, then double and tripple checked everything.
As far as radios were concerned they did have them for this race. This race also seemed to be fairly well run.
I don't know, I had a good expirience with the SSCC. The only part that got me was the prevailing "if it isn't a corvette, or american, it isn't worth bothing with" attitude. oh well hopefully next year the Japanese guy will take the record with his 350Z...

-Jeremie

dennis68
09-27-2004, 11:19 AM
They have raidos-they just don't work. The range is so short they cannot communicate between stations. This last race is the one everybody is soooo pissed off about. Glad you had a good experience but the guys runing in the higher speed class' are not impressed with the lack of concern over their safety.

spanky the wondermuffin
09-28-2004, 05:11 AM
the attitude is why i stopped doing silver state.the safety issues keep me away.yes the ss starts on time and the pony express always starts late-but it is easy to start on time if you don't wait til all course workers are in place and communications are established.some of the silver state racers have set up a yahoo group to discuss issues.you would be well advised to check it out and make an informed decision.there is a link on the pony express board in the thread about todd's letter to the ss.try out mkm (the pony express) next year.i'm sure you will feel more welcome.thinking an event is well run as a rookie only shows how they fool people.once you start to pay attention to the man behind the curtain it is disturbing.there will be an mkm event in cali next march if there is enough interest.'open road racing' on the oval in fontana.we need 60 people signed up by november to proceed.if you've never driven on a super speedway you need to take this rare opportunity.the following excuses are disallowed-car not running yet.wife pregnant.can't make bail.pregnant wife can't make bail.can't go because of job.can't go because of lack of job.worried about participating in a sport that requires more than one ball.

Gonzostyle
09-28-2004, 08:28 AM
Dennis and Spanky, thanks for the heads up. I will look up the mkm, actually the SS was just a stepping stone. I had heard the Pony Express was more safety oriented.
The tech inspecion really bothered me actually. That is why I said I am glad we had done some much to ensure our car was safe. I can only imagine what the higher speed catagories were thinking. Also, since I was planning on running an higher speed catagory the next time out, I will take this as a warning.
It was a good time, but then again it was not much different than driving on I-5, just no tickets and no traffic.

Thanks again.

-Jeremie