Glen, List,
The rest of the crew oughto be getting in soon with more results from
Sunday, but Saturday's racing went very well. Lots of "Maxton Horsepower"
throughout the day. I thought it was about an average first event turn-out,
but the number of first time drivers/riders shocked me. The word must be
getting out about the ECTA. Even with the super efficient volunteers
getting record numbers of machines down the mile I think my days of making
30 passes in a day may be history. There were a few very interesting new
cars, lots of new bikes, and plenty of regulars.
Joe Timney's new timing system opened a lot of eyes with the split trap
times and helped quite a few folks get a better idea of what their machines
were doing right, or their drivers were doing wrong. Most memorable pass of
the day was a bike that ran late in the afternoon. I heard it come off the
line and commented to someone at the VP truck that he was either spinning
the rear tire or had fried the clutch. It did turn out to be tire spin,
with an exit speed in the second half of the 132' trap of over 229 MPH! His
average speed through the trap was just a tick below the all time Maxton top
speed for a bike. I'm sorry I can't recall the riders name or class, but
I'd be surprised if he didn't go 230 today.
Grassroots Motorsports Magazines' Tim Suddard and Rennie Bryant did well
in their Rotary Spitfire project car. After some searching in the rulebook
it was decided to put them in E/FMS (open record). Morning passes of
125-128 MPH were below our expectations, but still put them in the rulebook.
Rennie Bryant, who'd been at the wheel after the first pass was barely out
of the car before he was on the cell phone reporting in to family and
friends that he'd set a record. As time ran out in the afternoon several
changes were made at the same time, including the addition of some low-tech
cardboard and duct tape to the front end. Their final pass was a bit over
131 MPH. We'll never know which change was most effective or if it was just
a good tail wind, but the time is plenty respectable for a street car on
its' first outing at Maxton. I suspect these guys will be back!
The ECTA annual awards banquet was another great success. These things
are the social highlight of my year. (sad ain't it!) We had another great
meal, a very nice point-leaders awards presentation, and then several
unusual awards were presented. We didn't need the armed guards, but John
wasn't kidding about that. Overall it was just what I needed to get me
motivated again and I really look forward to hearing more about what I may
have missed on Sunday, and to the next event.
Hope that everyone makes it home safe and sound and that nobody has
earned a new grenade award at this event.
Chuck Rothfuss
ECTA
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