Bob K
Enthusiast
Sorry for the long post to follow, but....
After VOI8 I drove from Dallas to Las Vegas by myself in the '96 GTS. The first day I covered 770 miles and the second day over 500miles. Interstae 40 from Oklahoma City to Vegas was great and I spent most of the time between 90 and 110 mph. I managed to get one speeding ticket in Arizona (94 in a 75 zone) despite my Valentine One. He was well hidden and used instant on . I didn't know that in AZ anything over 85 is "criminal speeding" and subject to jail time. The trooper was cool and so was I so he let me go with just a ticket.
First of all I was surprised at how few cars showed up at the host hotel (Sam's Town). I expect at least 100 or more but there were probably only 30 there. We had a ground school (sort of) at the Las Vegas Speedway combined with some classroom instruction from a guy who liked to hear himself talk. We then convoyed about 280 miles up to Ely where most people stayed for the weekend. The good thing about the convoy was driving the actual road course, albeit in reverse. It was a good opportunity to judge the curves and road surface conditions before running it at speed. I discovered that my odometer was inaccurate - it read 86.45 miles over the 90.00 mile course. It made me wonder if the speedometer was off as well.
On Saturday we participated in the "High Noon Shootout" . I had looked forward to running the one mile shootout but the cross winds were so strong (38 to 46 mph) and dust was flying so they limited everyone to half mile runs. The winner was a black w/ silver stripes GTS from DC Performance with a speed of 148.xx mph. I came in 6th place at 128.2 mph and was the fastest naturally aspirated car. The conditions really sucked. We ran 4 times and the results were pretty consistent.
Sunday was race day. It wasn't nearly as windy (about 25mph head winds for most of the course). Since I was a rookie the fastest class I could run was 130mph target speed (the average speed I was shooting for over the 90 mile course). My tech speed was 165, which was the fastest I was allowed to go. We were told that they had several radar posts along the course and would DQ us if we surpassed our tech speed. This concerned me a little since I didn't know how accurate my speedometer was. We were to be released from the starting line at one minute intervals starting with the 150mph class and working down to the slower classes (95mph being the slowest). Once the course was cleared of all of these cars the unlimited group would be released. James Retych, WA VCA president, was my navigator. We didn't expect to win but wanted to finish with a respectably close average and come as close as possible to our tech speed through the known radar trap. We talked to the drivers of the cars to be released just before and after us so that we knew what to expect as far strategy and possible passing. The mustang ahead of us planned to start slower to get the feel of the road so I knew we would pass him fairly early. The Corvette behind us didn't seem to have much of a plan and had no navigator.
I had mounted 4 video cameras in the car (one pointed out back, one pointed forward, one pointed at James and me and one right on the speedometer. We also had a microphone on the rear license plate frame to get the exhaust sound. There were 3 VCRs and a power inverter in the back.
When the atomic clock ticked down to our start time I got a good launch with a little fish tailing. We reached 130mph very quickly and soon passed the Mustang. We tried to bank some time by going 140 to 150 on the striaghts so that we could slow down for the infamous"narrows". We were about 1 minute ahead of schedule when the Coervette behind us decided to pass us (don't know why). After passing us he stayed in the middle of the road. As we approached the known speed trap we wanted to get as close to 165 as we could . the Corvette, however, did not want to move over for us to pass. I was right on his a$$ at 160 mph before he finally moved to the right lane. I went by him at 162 according to my speedometer. As we neared the narrows we thought we were about a minute ahead of schedule so I slowed to about 90 to negotiate the curves (could have gone much faster). It was then that we discovered the error in the course notes that were furnished and found ourselves behind our target speed. I hit the go pedal for the last few miles and crossed the finish line at 160mph. We had no idea how close we came to our target speed or our tech speed.
Reults:
Our average speed was 128.2 mph ( winner in our class hit 130.0001mph !!!)
Our trap speed was 165 mph (just what we wanted but damn close to being DQed)
Fastest car in the unlimited class averaged 190.xx mph and crossed the finish line at 212 mph. It was a later model Camaro (not stock of course).
One crash - a 60's Corvair (yes, a Corvair!!) in the unlimited class left the road and went a$$ over appetite several times at 160 mph+ . The car was a mess but the driver escaped with minor injuries and spoke briefly at the post race banquet. He wore a soft neck collar but otherwise appeared OK.
Overall, it was a blast! There was a lot of concern about the poor communication systems between the course workers, the 3 airplanes and the start and finish lines. There was little or no cell phone coverage as well. I tried to call my 2 sons who were manning video cameras at the start line. I could not get through to them to let them know we made it safely. They saw the ambulance respond to the crash but had no idea who the victim was (could have been me for all they knew). Hopefully this will be corrected before next season. I would like to run it again in a faster class. We are working on putting all of the video together into some sort of movie with music, etc. It will take some time.
This will go on my list of most memorable life experiences.
Bob K
After VOI8 I drove from Dallas to Las Vegas by myself in the '96 GTS. The first day I covered 770 miles and the second day over 500miles. Interstae 40 from Oklahoma City to Vegas was great and I spent most of the time between 90 and 110 mph. I managed to get one speeding ticket in Arizona (94 in a 75 zone) despite my Valentine One. He was well hidden and used instant on . I didn't know that in AZ anything over 85 is "criminal speeding" and subject to jail time. The trooper was cool and so was I so he let me go with just a ticket.
First of all I was surprised at how few cars showed up at the host hotel (Sam's Town). I expect at least 100 or more but there were probably only 30 there. We had a ground school (sort of) at the Las Vegas Speedway combined with some classroom instruction from a guy who liked to hear himself talk. We then convoyed about 280 miles up to Ely where most people stayed for the weekend. The good thing about the convoy was driving the actual road course, albeit in reverse. It was a good opportunity to judge the curves and road surface conditions before running it at speed. I discovered that my odometer was inaccurate - it read 86.45 miles over the 90.00 mile course. It made me wonder if the speedometer was off as well.
On Saturday we participated in the "High Noon Shootout" . I had looked forward to running the one mile shootout but the cross winds were so strong (38 to 46 mph) and dust was flying so they limited everyone to half mile runs. The winner was a black w/ silver stripes GTS from DC Performance with a speed of 148.xx mph. I came in 6th place at 128.2 mph and was the fastest naturally aspirated car. The conditions really sucked. We ran 4 times and the results were pretty consistent.
Sunday was race day. It wasn't nearly as windy (about 25mph head winds for most of the course). Since I was a rookie the fastest class I could run was 130mph target speed (the average speed I was shooting for over the 90 mile course). My tech speed was 165, which was the fastest I was allowed to go. We were told that they had several radar posts along the course and would DQ us if we surpassed our tech speed. This concerned me a little since I didn't know how accurate my speedometer was. We were to be released from the starting line at one minute intervals starting with the 150mph class and working down to the slower classes (95mph being the slowest). Once the course was cleared of all of these cars the unlimited group would be released. James Retych, WA VCA president, was my navigator. We didn't expect to win but wanted to finish with a respectably close average and come as close as possible to our tech speed through the known radar trap. We talked to the drivers of the cars to be released just before and after us so that we knew what to expect as far strategy and possible passing. The mustang ahead of us planned to start slower to get the feel of the road so I knew we would pass him fairly early. The Corvette behind us didn't seem to have much of a plan and had no navigator.
I had mounted 4 video cameras in the car (one pointed out back, one pointed forward, one pointed at James and me and one right on the speedometer. We also had a microphone on the rear license plate frame to get the exhaust sound. There were 3 VCRs and a power inverter in the back.
When the atomic clock ticked down to our start time I got a good launch with a little fish tailing. We reached 130mph very quickly and soon passed the Mustang. We tried to bank some time by going 140 to 150 on the striaghts so that we could slow down for the infamous"narrows". We were about 1 minute ahead of schedule when the Coervette behind us decided to pass us (don't know why). After passing us he stayed in the middle of the road. As we approached the known speed trap we wanted to get as close to 165 as we could . the Corvette, however, did not want to move over for us to pass. I was right on his a$$ at 160 mph before he finally moved to the right lane. I went by him at 162 according to my speedometer. As we neared the narrows we thought we were about a minute ahead of schedule so I slowed to about 90 to negotiate the curves (could have gone much faster). It was then that we discovered the error in the course notes that were furnished and found ourselves behind our target speed. I hit the go pedal for the last few miles and crossed the finish line at 160mph. We had no idea how close we came to our target speed or our tech speed.
Reults:
Our average speed was 128.2 mph ( winner in our class hit 130.0001mph !!!)
Our trap speed was 165 mph (just what we wanted but damn close to being DQed)
Fastest car in the unlimited class averaged 190.xx mph and crossed the finish line at 212 mph. It was a later model Camaro (not stock of course).
One crash - a 60's Corvair (yes, a Corvair!!) in the unlimited class left the road and went a$$ over appetite several times at 160 mph+ . The car was a mess but the driver escaped with minor injuries and spoke briefly at the post race banquet. He wore a soft neck collar but otherwise appeared OK.
Overall, it was a blast! There was a lot of concern about the poor communication systems between the course workers, the 3 airplanes and the start and finish lines. There was little or no cell phone coverage as well. I tried to call my 2 sons who were manning video cameras at the start line. I could not get through to them to let them know we made it safely. They saw the ambulance respond to the crash but had no idea who the victim was (could have been me for all they knew). Hopefully this will be corrected before next season. I would like to run it again in a faster class. We are working on putting all of the video together into some sort of movie with music, etc. It will take some time.
This will go on my list of most memorable life experiences.
Bob K
I too would love to see your video / camcorder recordings.
