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Looking forward to driving there Saturday morning, making my traditional one or two 20-second passes down the strip, getting beat by anybody who's more consistent (not hard, since most everyone else is running an automatic transmission) and then heading home again.
Yee ha! My hat's off to Norm Foster-- he can write 11.78 on the window, and then run an exact 11.78 down the track. Total consistency. And enough for the win last night. Good job!
I managed one time trial at 19.43, then started eliminations right next to Norm... yea right. Didn't stand a chance. Couldn't "hear" my tachometer, and shifting on the column is ridiculous even when I can. Had no clue what the car would run, but 19.43 is faster than anything I'd ever seen yet, so I shrugged and put 19.42 on the window. The track hooked up well-- no spinning or chirping the one P185R13 tire at all. Seeing Norm coming up on me in a great big hurry, I figured I'd still cross the line first even by lifting the throttle... a fact he noticed right away despite my "Sunday Driver" status... Imagine my surprise when I broke out with a 19.06, despite lifting. Wish I'd stayed in it, just to find out what it'll do. Ah well, there's the problem with running on a track only once per year.
Charlie had called me from the track Friday night, wanted to try a different ignition curve. I brought a spare distributor, then he worked on the slots with epoxy this morning to lock the weights in place, set it at 24 degrees. That cured the high-end misfire enough to try nitrous, and he successfully pulled off a time trial this morning of 13.41 @ 96mph... then found out it would cost $70 to run Pro for the day. Ouch. Well, always good to learn something about the car, I guess.
What a great treat to meet so many helpful folks, to get a chance to find out more about the Slant Six racing community. Hanging out under a tent at about the 1/2 track location, out of the sun and enjoying the breeze, several of us playing with laptops to a gentle background noise of open exhaust pipes roaring past every minute or so... a pretty good relaxation day!
- Erik