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Re: International records and such

To: "John Beckett" <landspeedracer@email.msn.com>
Subject: Re: International records and such
From: "glen barrett" <speedtimer@charter.net>
Date: Tue, 30 Jan 2001 14:16:33 -0800
John and list
There is one thing that's needs to be addressed and that is the turnaround
time. With today's modern and sophisticated and multi engined cars and the
distance a small group or team has to travel ( 11 to 13 ) miles to make the
one hour turn around if tough to do. With multi engine cars and two or three
chutes to pack, cooling the engines, changing plugs, running the valves etc.
the one hour time frame might not realistic for most. A two hour frame is
closer to the real world.

Turbine powered cars have little or no engine maintainance compared to a
piston engined vehicle. Having been the timer at two of the world finals these
guys bust threir butts to make that turn around. It's easy to set in an office
and make these rules but I can almost bet not one of them in todays world have
ever worked on a land speed vehicle.

Overlooking one thing while under pressure to have the vehicle under way
before the 60 minutes is up, causing someone to overlook one thing can be a
disastrous ending.
If one is ready to run, say 1hour and 20 minutes into the 2 hour frame thats
fine. It's do-able. Just a thought from my observations. The time limit we ars
on the salt and to deal with mother nature all counts in the overall time
frame.
Glen (thinking out loud)
  ----- Original Message -----
  From: John Beckett
  To: glen barrett
  Sent: Tuesday, January 30, 2001 1:03 PM
  Subject: Re: International records and such


  Glen

  My thoughts too. Start fresh. Guess we need to get a core group of the
people most interested in this and start. E-mail be a good communication tool
to begin with.

  John
    ----- Original Message -----
    From: glen barrett
    To: John Beckett
    Cc: landspeed@autox.team.net
    Sent: Tuesday, January 30, 2001 1:39 PM
    Subject: Re: International records and such


    John
    The LSA was taken over by Jack Dolan who is a motorcycle FIM type. As far
as I know it's in limbo with him. We would need to start a whole new LSR
assoc. Fresh meat is the best way to regroup and start at ground zero. All of
the wording etc. along with classifications would require some research and
fresh paper. Not impossible but the research and back up along with bylaws
etc. just won't happen over night and we all know that. I feel it's workable
and the need to get the personnel from each organization to add their input
will take a little time.
    Glen
      ----- Original Message -----
      From: John Beckett
      To: glen barrett
      Sent: Tuesday, January 30, 2001 10:18 AM
      Subject: Re: International records and such


      Glen

      Where is the LSA today? Dead, in limbo or...? I don't know if a
resurrection is in order or a whole new organization, but there does seem to
be some interest for an over all governing body that's NOT part of the FIA.

      John
        ----- Original Message -----
        From: glen barrett
        To: Keith Turk ; John Beckett
        Cc: landspeed@autox.team.net
        Sent: Tuesday, January 30, 2001 12:01 PM
        Subject: International records and such


        Some years back we the SCTA looked into the lack of international
recognition of land speed records. It took the Summers bros. something like
nine years to get a certificate from FIA. Jim Latten and several others
including myself had a meeting and started the Land Speed Authority.

        The whole purpose was to become the LSA as the name implies. We felt,
and many of us still feel that we the SCTA/BNI are the experts in this area.
We have been doing it for years and will continue for years to come. Some of
those out there don't give the hot rodder a lot of recognition for their
efforts.

        It was hard to get everyone on the band wagon with the LSA, We did set
rules and basically the same requirements of FAI to assure that it would still
draw the same types of vehicles and to give the racer that qualified and
obtained the record would get the recognition within a short period of time.

        As it turned out the interest was not as great as we expected at that
time and was very expensive to put on with only a hand full of vehicles. There
are hidden costs and the requirement of again the volunteers to do the event.
It could have been the timing was a little off. The interest of the hot rodder
and other world class entries are starting to surface once again. With the
Save the Salt program getting better each year we should be able to run two
ways before long.

        The primary reason for all current record runs in the same direction
is safety. There is simply not enough hard salt to run on and safely stop the
high speed vehicles going toward the highway. Over the years since  we started
the World Finals which was the whole purpose of setting FIA records and BNI
records at the same meet because of the smaller number of entries the SCTA
went to extremes to give the racer as much room for two way runs the salt
would allow.

        Al Teague started a return run in the mud and looked like a sprint car
coming out of a turn onto the salt. Others that tried to run found the course
conditions very from mile to mile, rough, wet, rutted and all of it because
the mining away the surface. The SCTA and the volunteers that spend hundreds
of hours three or four times a year pick out and prepare the best we can for
you to run on.

        The LSA went away because of several things but the SCTA is still
looking at ways to become the world authority on land speed records. I hope to
see it come to that myself. As far as trying to combine Bonneville and lakes
records it would be a mass undertaking and the rule book would become
volumes.

        Think about what the undertaking of the nostalgia class thing has done
over the past feel months. The addition of all of the new classes and sorting
out of records etc. has been difficult at best. The people doing it are as
good as you can get and after seeing the first draft of their work impressed
me. It's still not done but well into getting the proposal to the board for
their approval.

        The bottom line is this has been in the talking stages for a long time
and with the input of other organizations it will some day become a reality.
The mention in one of the letters for two people from each one of them is the
right direction to develope the rules and standards to make it happen. I think
we all want the same end result but it's going to take time and many hours of
everyone pulling together. The other thing is we don't live in the same
neighbor hood so the e-mail, telephone and old fashion snail mail will be
doing a lot of work.

        Just my thoughts on the matter.Hoping it all makes sense

        Glen

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